Princess & the Blog

100,000

2012-01-25T07:43:00.001-05:00

My car hit a huge milestone this morning on the way to work:

It may not be the fanciest car. It doesn't have XM radio or built in navigation or bun-warmers but it is the only car I've ever had. It is the car that I learned how to drive. I plan to drive it until the wheels fall off. Happy 100,000 "Bliz".

My 3 Tiny Little Reindeer

2011-12-19T07:00:00.070-05:00

For many years now, I have had a tradition of humiliating my cats by dressing them up in festive headgear. The tradition started in 2008, when I found a pair of pet antlers and thought my then 17-year old cat, Katy, would look adorable in them. Since she was the most easy-going cat in history, she played along:

Katy Sue Wigglesworth. 2008.

The following year, Willie and Kimmie got the antler treatment. Kimmie was still way too tiny for the antlers:

Kimmie at 9 weeks old.

In 2010, we took a break from the antlers and instead dressed up like the big man himself- Santa Paws:

Willie as Santa Paws.

This year, I had a challenge with the antler pictures. Goog was out of town, so I had to set up my camera on a timer, place the antlers on the cats, and position ourselves in the chair all within a 10 second time frame. It worked with Kimmie, but when the pipsqueaks both wiggled out of their antlers, I had to go with my trusty iPhone.

Reindeer Kimmie.

Reindeer Mitzi.


Reindeer Pippa.

Even though you couldn't see my whole outfit in any of these, I was completely antlered out head to toe. Antlers, reindeer shirt, and big-nosed reindeer pants:

Reindeer Sarah.

I'm Antlering Up! With Taming Insanity!

Testing the Blogger+ App

2011-12-16T14:30:00.001-05:00

Hi.

Long time, no see! Guess what I've had running around my house the last 2 months- new kittens! They are about 5 months old and just had their bits removed. Mitzi is in the first picture; Pippa is in the second picture.

This random post is to make sure this Blogger+ App doesn't crash on me the way the BlogPress one did!

Wordless Wednesday: Goodbye, My Sweet Boy

2011-08-10T07:00:00.001-04:00

My sweet baby boy, Willie, past away a week ago. He was just 2 years old. I'm heartbroken. Rest in peace, little buddy.

WDW (Nearly Wordless) Wednesday, Part 2

2011-06-08T07:00:00.017-04:00

Guess where I'll be approximately 2 weeks from today:

Disney Cruisin'

You just can't beat a 2-week Florida extravaganza!

WDW (Nearly Wordless) Wednesday, Part 1

2011-06-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

Guess where I will be in approximately 2 weeks:

2 weeks from now, less approximately 1 pair of wedding ears.

Squee!! I've got a major case of Disney on the brain!!

I better get to packing!

I Was a (Future Corporate Accounting) Senior Hottie!

2011-05-27T15:43:00.000-04:00

I had a strange request this past week. My Sis needed me to scan a couple of her senior photos, and it was URGENT. I soon found out it was part of a link-up with a Belle, a Bean, and a Chicago Dog where everyone was digging out old high school photos. So, I "dug up" my class of 2001 out of the depths of my external hard drive.

First up, the classic senior portrait, including gold leaf name and date in the corner. The most tragic thing about this picture is that I still look exactly the same 10 years later. Not the worse thing in the world, except when people think I'm a certain co-worker's daughter.

Starting my corporate accounting look early in life.

The most memorial thing about my senior year was my future husband and I started dating about 6 weeks before graduation. We started dating just in time to go to senior prom:

Fun fact: I wore these same shoes on my wedding day.

We also got to spend our senior spring break together in exotic Cincinnati, OH (before I moved here for college):

Old married couple?

Finally, graduation! We were forced to chose a career path in 8th grade, so that big pink ribbon I'm wearing meant I was going to be in the medical field and the Goog's yellow ribbon meant he planning on being in the liberal arts (as a radio broadcaster). Neither of those career choices lasted much longer after this picture was taken (I'm now an accountant, and he is a physics teacher!)

I promise I own more clothing than light blue shirts & dresses!!

Go join in on the fun!

Friday Fun Facts

2011-05-06T07:00:00.001-04:00

FACT. God drives a Ford Explorer. I had the honor of following God out of downtown Cincinnati last night:

FACT. Finding 10 Q's is harder than it sounds:

FACT. Today begins 1 of 3 times of the year when I'm not super swamped and crazy busy at work. Squee!! It's going to be a very happy Friday!

One Year Later

2011-04-29T07:00:00.018-04:00

One year ago today, my mom had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer a few weeks before hand. By her request, we kept pretty quiet about her breast cancer- she's a strong woman and not the type that wants a lot of sympathy.

Seems like yesterday that I was sitting in the waiting room during her surgery. Goog kindly suggesting that maybe I should have been the one getting a strong done of chill pills before the surgery. My dad drifiting off to sleep because he apparently wasn't that interest in my People magazines or what crazy antics Britney Spears was upto.

It has been a long road, but a year later, Mom's doing great. The surgery, the chemo, the radiation- that is all SO 2010. She's even rockin' a cute little short hairdo.

My momma- Easter 2011

For my friends out there going through this battle right now- stay strong and stay positive. You'll have ups and downs, but just remember it gets better.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-03-08T07:00:00.011-05:00

10 fun facts for the day:

1.) My nephew, Luke, was born last November. It is hard for me to believe that he is already 3 months old. It makes me a little sad that I have to watch him grow up from afar. Isn't he just the cutest?

Luke says: How dare you not mention me until now.

2.) It is a FACT that he was the cutest thing born last year, even though he had some stiff competition:

Baby Animal Pictures from Zooborns.com

3.) My new cube mate keeps telling me that I sigh too loudly. Maybe that is because I constantly have to listen to her financial phone calls; or maybe it is because I have to listen to a certain WDM call everyone on the planet his "buddy" and his "pal." Or maybe it is just because I'm so busy I forget to breathe.

4.) We were talking about maniac drivers today at lunch. For the life of me, couldn't come up with a specific example. Then on my drive home, I had not ONE but TWO maniacs pull out right in front of me then come to a complete stop.

5.) My annual "financial thing" is over and done with for another year. This is the representation of what the Goog thinks I do when I talk about 10-Ks...he thinks I just go around taking random pictures of K's for 2 solid months.

6.) I drove home from work before the sun set 4 days last week. That hasn't happened since early January. It. Felt. AWESOME.

7.) I have become slightly obsessed with documenting my every day life....more on that later.

8.) To reward myself for 2 months of hard work, I bought some new, exciting scrapbooking tools, like this Crop-a-dile , a Tiny Attacher, and a Rub-On Roller Stylus.

9.) Willie has gotten into the unfortunate habit of meowing bloody cat murder every morning around 4:30 A.M.

10.) My 15 coworkers and I will be taking a 47-seat charter bus to Knoxville on Thursday. We'll be spending approximately 8 hours round-trip on the bus and approximately 5 hours actually in Knoxville. Probably not the best use of time or resources, but it gets us out of the office for a day!

Hello?

2011-01-28T13:19:00.001-05:00

Hello?

Is anybody still out there?

No I haven't completely abandoned my blog. It has just been a crazy busy couple of months.

I spent half of December in Florida. Most of that time was visiting my new little nephew, with a couple days for a business trip thrown in.

Then came Christmas and the Goog's birthday then my birthday. I had all intentions of starting back blogging over New Years...

...then I came down with the flu on New Years day. A really BAD case of the flu with a 104 degree fever and a trip to the ER.

Then my grandma passed away.

Right now I'm in the middle of the busiest time of year at work.

I just wanted to thank anyone out there still reading this for sticking with me. I have a new blogger app on my iPad and not 1, but 2 brand new cameras so hopefully I will get back into the swing of things!

Snapshots of Life: 4 P.M.

2010-11-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

Snapshot of Life: Thanksgiving Edition!! We had our Thanksgiving dinner at 2 yesterday, so by 4 P.M., we were all ready for a nice, long turkey-coma nap!!


Truff and I in our pre-turkey coma.

Sister and B-i-L right before a nap.

The Goog already in his turkey coma.

The Goog had was in such a good turkey-coma nap that I was able to sneak in, take a nap, and then sneak out without him even realizing I had taken my own turkey-coma nap. He asked me where I napped and I told him "right beside you" and he didn't even realize it!!

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!!

Snapshots of Life: 9 P.M.

2010-11-19T07:00:00.002-05:00

Finally! A Snapshot of Life when I'm NOT at work! This week's picture is from 9 P.M. on Thursday night, when I was in full force multi-tasking mode:


9 P.M.

I was watching the Office, scrapbooking, Facebooking, and hanging out with the cats (Willie is in his leopard dream bed in the upper righthand corner, while Kimmie is multi-tasking with her 10 different toys on the bed).

Next Thursday...I'll be in FLORIDA, BABY! Hopefully cuddling a baby!!

Snapshots of Life: 8 & 10 A.M.

2010-11-12T07:00:00.007-05:00

I'm a little behind on my ~~I Have No Life~~ Snapshots of Life. Last week, November 4th, I took the picture, just didn't post it, mainly because I was so exhausted from the day that I was asleep by 9:45 that night- a solid 2 hours before I'm normally asleep. Here is my 8 A.M. picture:

8 A.M.

Normally, I'm not at work at 8 A.M., but the 4th just happened to be the one day out of the quarter when I have to be at work by 7 in the morning. It was a busy, busy morning and taking this picture was the one 5 second break I took between 7 and 10. No bathroom breaks, no time for breakfast, just a straight up 3 hours of work. This picture was taken right before everyone else got to work, so it was still peacefully quiet. Do you like the HGTV notepad in the background? It is because HGTV is awesome! *plug*

Yesterday's assignment was for 10 A.M. Between 10 A.M. and 10:30 A.M., my cohorts and I usually take a water break. This is a picture from the breakroom, a.k.a. the "Fun Room." Do you like the Food Network mug? It is because Food Network is ALSO awesome!

10 A.M.

It would appear after 3 weeks of my Snapshots of Life that I'm a work-a-holic. Maybe I should start taking my pictures on Saturday or Sunday, when I'm at least at home doing something a little more exciting, like napping with my cats or watching TV in my pj's.

Mascot Battle: World Series Edition

2010-11-01T23:41:00.000-04:00

It has been well documented that I chose who I root for in all sports teams by who has the best mascot. I base my entire basketball bracket on the awesomeness of a mascot.

So let's take a minute to analyze the San Francisco Giants vs the Texas Rangers to see if the best team (and mascot) won:

Luigi Francisco Seal

This guy, born July of 1996, gives great interviews and has his own twitter account. Plus, who doesn't love seals?

Isn't he cute? Thanks, Google Images!

VS.

Rangers Captain

He is a horse, dressed in a Rangers costume.

Kinda lame-o. Thanks again, Google Images!

Here are some fun facts about him (thanks to MLB.com):

Height: 6'6"
Weight: 300
Bats: Both
Throws: Smoke
Resides: In The Ballpark's tunnel right behind home plate
Favorites: Foods: Hot Dogs, Peanuts, Nachos, BBQ, and Chili
TV Show: Rangers Highlights
Songs: Take Me Out To The Ballgame and Cotton Eyed Joe
Colors: Red, White, & Blue
Vacation Spot: Surprise, Arizona

Sorry to all you Rangers fans, but a seal beats a horse in my book any day.

Clearly, the best mascot won the World Series. Congrats to Lou Seal!!!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T12:32:00.000-04:00

Have a Happy Halloween and don't eat too much of the candy you are planning on giving out to the little kids!

Snapshots of Life: 5 P.M.

2010-10-28T23:18:00.000-04:00

I'm a total sucker for documenting my life. I love scrapbooking. I take an obsessive number of pictures of my cats...nightly. I am constantly taking cell phone pictures when I'm out-and-about.

So when I saw this new feature on Eighteen25, I knew this would be another great way to document!! How it works is every Wednesday night, the site will post a time for everyone to take a picture the next day. So then you have to take a picture at that very moment of whatever you are doing. Today's time was 5 P.M. Here's my picture:

I was really hoping that this 5:00 P.M. shot would be of me actually shutting down my computer for the night, but alas, I had to work past 5 again tonight! (One more week, one more week. I can do it!) So instead, here is what I was doing at 5 tonight- finalizing workpapers for the quarter. Good times.

And Another Quarter Begins...

2010-10-11T08:00:00.001-04:00

Today starts another busy time of year for me, work wise. I'm already feeling like this:

Yep, I'm feeling like a crazy-haired monkey and if I have another person ask me if we are done yet, I might just start sucking my thumb!

I need happy thoughts and prayers today that I'll be "allowed" to leave work at a decent hour or at least "allowed" to eat dinner tonight.

Caturday Presents: Faucet Fun

2010-10-02T07:00:00.003-04:00

Willie and Kimmie have recently discovered faucets. Apparently when you are a cat, fresh water out of a bowl just doesn't cut it. Nope, you have to have water straight from the source. I've almost been late for work just about every day this week because they are most amused with the water first thing in the morning...and their amusement amuses me.

Her head was soaked after this. I tried to give her a little Mohawk, but she was having none of that.

I thought cats were supposed to be adverse to water!

What is your favorite part? How Kimmie sticks her whole head under the faucet? How she gets water up her nose? How she gets a soaking paw then flings it all over everything How Willie acts like he is too cool for the faucet, when he actually loves it?

The Hunt for Reds October...Merch

2010-09-30T07:00:00.001-04:00

While most of the world has moved on to fall sports, our house is still in baseball season. The Goog is a die-hard Cincinnati Reds fan, or at least the biggest Reds fan I know, and this happens to be is first year since we've started dating (10 seasons!) that they have actually been good. Personally, I think they were good this year since I attended Opening Day. I'm just sayin'.

Play-by-play of the Goog's reaction to the Red's walk-off home run

Tuesday night, the Reds were able to clinch the National League Central division and are going to the playoffs for the first time since 1995. If you heard an extremely loud "WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" on Tuesday night, that was the Goog. I'm pretty sure my friends over in England could have heard his excitement.

Ain't no party like a shopping party 'cause a shopping party don't stop

Of course nothing says "NL Central Champion party" like ~~fine champagna~~...~~cigars~~...an all-night shopping spree. I'm sure there were plenty of people who went to the game and stayed out until 4 AM partying and HAD to have a Championship lapel pin RIGHT THEN. For real, the top story on the 7 A.M. news Wednesday morning was about the Reds Merchandise Shop being open for a continuous 36 hours to celebrate the Red's NL Championship. They had the JV newscaster at the store saying that the store was completely out of lady's shirts and the lines were 6-people deep. AT 7 A.M.

NL Central Champs MERCH

Because I'm a good wife, I decided once I got downtown, I should probably go over to the Reds store sooner rather than later because I'd much rather stand in a 6-person-deep line at 9 AM instead of a 12-person-deep line at lunchtime. I recruited my co-worker, JessMel, to walk over with me so that she could reign my spending in, in case I went on a crazy 24-hour shopping spree. Maybe we went at a good time, or maybe the newscaster is a BIG FAT LIAR, but the store wasn't that crowded. I was able to grab all the merch I was after - Tshirt, hat, pennant, baseball - and had my choice between 2 no-wait lines. The cashier tried to get me to buy said Championship lapel pin because it was "cute", but JessMel reminded me that I already looked at the pin and already decided I didn't need it...no matter how cute it was.

As we were leaving the store, one of the employees told us to "enjoy the game." It must have been a long night...

At lunch, JessMel and I went on yet another walk; this time to find a Cincinnati Reds special edition newspaper. We walked all over downtown Cincinnati trying to find a copy of the Enquirer. One would think this wouldn't be that hard since nobody reads the newspaper anymore. Of course, by "all over downtown" I mean the news stand 2 blocks from my building and the convenience store in the lobby of my building. We finally found a copy from an admin that works with us. I also had my dad check at the grocery store near my parent's condo, and he found the extra-extra special edition!

Showing off his new shirt

The Goog claimed this was his cool guy pose...because cool kids wear baggy shirts and their pants pulled down below their waists. Obvs.

Would you go on a late-night shopping spree? Are lapel pins cute? Do you read the newspaper? Am I a good wife or am I a great wife for getting all this merch?? Gooooooo Reds!!!!

C is for Cookie

2010-08-31T07:00:00.001-04:00

Recently, RecipeZaar.com was rebranded to Food.com. I only know this because I got a free brownie and a booklet with several "5-star" recipes to commemorate the rebranding. It was a big to-do when Sister found out that RecipeZaar was no more because she used RecipeZaar ALL the time. No joke, I got some pretty angry text messages from her about what happened to RecipeZaar, and I had to explain that it was the same site, just a different name!

Anywho, I thought this past weekend would be the perfect time to try out a 5-star recipe since we were having company this weekend. There would be 3 big, strapping men in the house and what do men like better than freshly baked chocolate chip cookies? Well probably lots of things, but they do enjoy chocolate chip cookies. The 5-star recipe for these soft chocolate chip cookies can be found on Food.com :

I prefer a combo of Semi-Sweet and Milk Choco Ghirardelli chips.

Flour & Baking Soda Mixture

Sugar sugar sugar sugar!!

This was the first time in my house (just over 2 years) that I had made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. It was also the first time EVER I made chocolate chip cookies by hand, with nothing more than a bowl and a wooden spoon.

Just call me Suzy Homemaker

Raw cookie dough

Freshly Baked!

The only difference I made in the recipe was in the size of the cookie. The suggested cookie size just seemed way too small for 3 grown men and a girl with an incredible sweet tooth, so I made them about 4 times that size.

I think the cookies turned out great and they were a big hit. They were nearly gone by the end of the weekend (as of Monday night, we only had 2 remaining). The guys were especially impressed that these were from scratch, as in, there were more steps than "break cookies apart, place on baking sheet, bake for 10-12 minutes."

Yummy Yummy!

Disclaimer: I should probably note that I was not paid to advertise these delish cookies OR Food.com. This is based on my opinion, and my opinion alone. I'm just sayin'.

Fun with Photo Apps

2010-08-26T07:00:00.002-04:00

This past spring, my harddrive tragically crashed when my woolly mammoth of a cat, Willie, jumped on my laptop. Along with about half a year's worth of photos, I also lost the copy of Photoshop I had on my laptop and have not been able to find the backup CD. Major sads over here. So I've been trying to find a good (but cheap) replacement for touching up photos. Last night I turned to my iPad to try to find something Photoshop-esque without breaking the bank.

I found an app called "Color Splash" for $1.99 (Not to be confused with the David Bromstad show on HGTV). This app automagically turns your photos black&white, then you paint color back on the photo with your finger. It is insanely addictive. I have a limited number of photos on my iPad right now, but every food photo I had I ran through the Color Splash app. There is something therapeutic about adding color back into photos.

I also downloaded an app called "FX Photo Studio HD" that cost $2.99. With this app, you can add all kinds of crazy effects (at least 128 different ones) like turning your pictures into mosaics, adding water droplets, frost, or...


SPARKLES!!!

This app also has a "Vivid Colors" function that turned Kimmie's little tongue bright pink.

The Original Kimmie (Top) and Vivid Colors Kimmie (Bottom)

Anybody know of any other good (cheap) photo editing softwares? What are your favorite iPad/iPhone apps?

Cheese Coney Guy + Mr. Redlegs = Best Dinner EVER

2010-08-23T07:00:00.003-04:00

Last night, my parents, the Goog and I decided to meet at the The Taylor Mill Skyline for dinner. Little did we know, we were about to have the best dinner ever. We walk into the restaurant and see this sign:

We are about to have dinner with a CELEBRITY!

It wasn't quite 6 PM yet, so Mr. Redlegs was not there, but there WAS a guy dressed as a cheese coney taking orders. His costume reminded me of the Justin Timberlake Omeletville sketch except he never broke into song-and-dance.

Bring it on into Coneyville

Finally, Mr. Redlegs comes out and all the little children (me included) started going wild. I get my cell phone camera out and get photo-happy. As soon as he walked out, I lost all interest in my food, because I was just too busy taking pictures of the guy!!

ZOMG! It's MR. REDLEGS!!!!

He walks all around the restaurant, watches some of the Reds game on TV, munches on some oyster crackers, gives kids exploding fist bumps, signs autographs, acts like he is taking orders, and sits with people while they are eating. When he comes over to our table, he poses for me while I take his picture, then goes over to the ice cream freezer right next to our booth and practically lays down on it because he really wants a ChocoTaco.

It was great! It was like being at a Character Breakfast at Disney World, except our whole bill for 4 people was about the price of a breakfast buffet for 1 person at Disney.

Do you love mascots? Have you ever had dinner with a mascot? Do you like Mr. Redleg's stylish mustache?

2 Legit 2 Quit (Even After 20 Years)

2010-08-09T22:04:00.000-04:00

For anyone who was concerned that I had fallen off the face of the planet, you'll be happy to know I'm back. I've been working 14 hour days, with barely a lunch or bathroom break and have been just too mentally exhausted to string 2 words together once I actually get home. So let me tell you about one of the only fun things I've done of the past 3 weeks. There are barely any words to describe this awesomely bizarre blast from the past, but I'll try my best to give you all the details.

Several Friday nights ago, the Goog and I went to see the Cincinnati Reds versus the Colorado Rockies. Friday nights are always a fun night to go to the ballpark because not only do you get to watch a baseball game, but you also typically get live music and fireworks. This Fridays in particular was a very special night. It featured the musical stylings of

...wait for it...

M. C. Hammer

Yes, as in the guy that really is too legit to quit the music industry even 20 years after his last hit song. I'm telling you, it was Hammertime, ALL the time. 6 straight hours of Hammertime with a small amount of baseball thrown in the mix. As if people actually go to Great America Ballpark to watch baseball.

The first little taste we had of the Hammer was during the pregame show, when he and his crew of dancers came out in their finest tracksuits to sing a handful of songs that I had never heard of before, but one that the Goog was familiar with called "Have You Seen Her". The really sad part was the stage was set up way out in Right field and there were maybe 50 or few people surrounding the stage. His dancers were really something. Some of them look like they were his originally dancers from 20 years ago, some of them look liked ex-convicts, and a few of them looked like ladies he had just picked up off the street before the game, but they all seemed to be just phoning in their performance.

LOOK how close to Hammertime!! I think the Goog is crying tears of joy.

Of course, No M.C. Hammer night would be complete without a member of the grounds crew dressed in a classic gold Hammer suit.

After his pre-game concert, Hammer changed into a Reds costume and became the game's honorary captain.

*Then some actual baseball was played. No need for a recap of the baseball...*

Seventh inning stretch and it's Hammertime again. This time, he serenading us with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame":

A couple things to note during this video:

MC Hammer may or may not have been hammered.
The Lemon Chill guy yelling "LEMON CHILL" over "crackerjacks"
The Goog yelling "REDLEGS" over the "home team" part
Lemon Chill guy once again: "It's not Hammertime, it's Lemon Chill time, let's go!" How long do you think he's been holding onto that gem?

*Some more baseball was played. In typical Reds fashion, the pitcher loaded the bases and ALMOST gave up the tying run. The Goog got mad that the game was almost tied; I got mad that I might have to stay for extra innings.*

After the Reds managed to win, it was time for the post-game concert. This time Hammer went for a classy look: A tuxedo with Hammer pants, a bandanna and glasses. All the dancers were wearing Cincinnati Reds hat during the pre-game concert, but switched to Oakland A's hats during the post-game concert. (For the significance of this, head over to Wikipedia to be schooled on the 1990 World Series). Hammer first came out and did a couple songs like "Turn This Mutha Out" and "Pray" and others that I simply had never heard before. I was really mad when he finished his set and walked off the stage without singing either of his 2 "good" songs.

The lights go down and the crowd starts going wild as through the 2,000% base, we can start making out the tune to "U Can't Touch This." I'm going to warn you that this video contains only about 5% of actual Hammer rapping and the rest is all screams and base. Plus, halfway through the video the guy in front of me decides that is the perfect time to take an iPhone video of...the people BEHIND us, which throws my camera out of focus. As you can see, though, people were actually really into the concert. People were going insane!!

The concert ended and the fireworks began. They
were decent fireworks, but nothing really out of the ordinary. That is, until the fireworks music faded, and MC Hammer came back on stage and started singing "Too Legit to Quit" during the fireworks finale! At first I thought it was a mistake, like Hammer didn't show up to the dress rehearsal and was like "oh snap, I forgot to do Too Legit to Quit" and just started rapping even though he wasn't supposed to do so. It wasn't until the end of the song, when Hammer was doing his Hammer-dance in sync with the fireworks did I realize it was planned all along. Not even Disney World can put on a fireworks display that includes the one and only MC Hammer dancing live to a fireworks finale. It...was...AWESOME.

Ode to Sister

2010-07-19T07:00:00.016-04:00

Today is Sister's 30th birthday. I'm really sad that I don't get to celebrate with her today, but we had a great birthday celebration for her a month ago on our Disney Cruise! Here is my ode to Sister, to thank her for 27 1/2 years of memories and

For loving me unconditionally from the very beginning...

...sometimes loving me just a little too much.

For being my lifelong playmate.

For always taking care of me.

For being a teacher.

For being SO PRETTY.

For not just being a sister, but being a friend.

For understanding me even when nobody else does.

For sharing my love of cake icing and silliness.

For being the wheat bread to my white bread, the night to my day.

We are very different yet very much the same.

For always being a shoulder to lean on.

Even though I won't be with you in person today, I'll be with you in spirit. Happy Birthday to the best sister anyone could ever ask for!

WDW Wednesday: My impression de France

2010-07-14T23:09:00.000-04:00

Happy Bastille Day! I’ve never been to France, but whenever I think of Bastille Day, I think of the France Pavilion at Epcot. More specifically, I always think of the movie at the France Pavilion called "Impressions de France" because there is a scene in the movie that showcases all the Bastille Day festivities. Of course, Sister, the Goog and I always, always, always make the comment that it is really nice to see France celebrating the 4th of July with all those red, white and blue balloons because we are those rude Americans that think we better than everyone else.

The France Pavilion also reminds me of the time back in 1996 when Sister, my parents and I were traveling the (EPCOT) world. When we approached France, we saw a group of people surrounding a mime. Not just any mime though, a mime in a BUBBLE. This mime went by the name Bubble Nicolas. My mom was really fascinated by the mime and wanted to stay and watch him, but Sister, who has an extreme fear of all things clown-and-mime-like, was having none of it.

The red line represents Sister. As soon as she saw that mime in a bubble (represented in blue), she sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her all the way through the France pavilion. We are are talking 2 seconds flat. As if the bubble mime was going to target her and use her as a human bowling pin. It's because mimes are pure evil and can smell fear. True story.

Bubble Nicolas in 1996. Watch it, he's about to sneak attack Sister.

I wondered what happened to ol’ Bubble Nicolas, so I googled him last night. To make a very long story short, this guy was born in the Republic of Georgia. It is the classic story of his parents wanted him to be something respectable like a doctor, a diplomat, maybe a professional curler, but he wanted to be an artist. So he went on “vacation” when he was 15 and never came back to Georgia. Instead he auditioned and was accepted into the Marcel Marceau mime school in Paris. Some time passed and then in 1996, Nicolas created Bubble Nicholas and, naturally, Walt Disney World bought the show and featured the show in the France Pavilion, where it brought joy to some, but terror to people with mime-phobias.

Rockin' a fancier outfit and top hat in 1997.

My favorite part of the whole story was the quote about for Nicolas about coming to Epcot. I think the quote is hilarious, but I'm pretty sure the Goog will die a little inside with Nicolas' description of planet formation:

"I immediately loved America. The first time I did Bubble Nicolas at the Epcot Center, I realized that American people had the dream, and that I could share that dream with them. I knew we shared the magic. That's what it takes to create a new planet - magic!"

(See, even Nicolas agrees America is better than everywhere else.)

How did you celebrating Bastille Day? Do you enjoy clowns and mimes? Do you think the only thing needed to create a new planet is magic?

Sombody's Turning 30...TODAY!

2010-07-13T22:31:00.000-04:00

My sister-in-law, Amy, turns the big 3-0 today. I hope she isn't too stressed about the next decade of her life, because from what I hear, 30 is the new 20. It is waaay cooler than being in your 20s. In fact, I should probably cry myself to sleep every night for the next 2 1/2 years until I turn 30.

Here we are being un-planned twinsies in our matching blue shirts that went along with our matching cameras. Amy always gives me a run for my shutterbug title at all our family functions. I was going to post some really old, embarrassing photos of Amy, but all the old pictures I had of her were even MORE embarrassing for the Goog.

So happy, happy birthday to you, Amy. JUST for you, I made a huge sacrifice and ate this 4-layer Reese's peanut butter cup cake because I am what you would call ~~a piggy-piggy oink-oink~~ thoughtful!

If only I could remember who else turns 30 in 6 days...

Why you should never let boys pick up food alone

2010-07-12T07:00:00.001-04:00

The Goog's best friend, G, came to visit us this weekend. His visits always guarantee a weekend full of food, movies, and sports. Luckily, I like 2 out of the 3 of those things. Early Saturday afternoon, the guys decide it is time for some lunch, and since I was not completely dressed yet (Saturdays are lazy days in the Mac house), I suggested that they go to McAlister's deli to pick up some lunch so that I didn't have to go out just yet. It was a risky move sending the guys out in search of food on their own, considering last time the Goog (and my B-i-L) went out on their own, they came back with matching 2-in-1 shirts.

Half an hour later, I hear banging on the front door and open it to find both guys standing there with the 3 HUGE bags of food. 2 of the bags were from McAlister's, as planned, but then the other bag was from my favorite bakery of all time, Servatti's. That bag included:

Zebra striped doughnuts...

Butter cookies...

and the most delicious, chocolately, dreamy pie on the planet...

Triple Chocolate Flan.

I definitely appreciate them bringing me Servatti's, but if I let them go out to pick up food too often, I'm going to end up weighing 400 pounds. I just can't resist sweets, especially when they are as wonderful as the triple chocolate flan!!

That wasn't all that they did while out picking up lunch. While we were eating, they tell me they came up with this BRILLIANT plan on the way home. See, apparently, they want to start a Curling team because there are very few teams that even try out for the USA Curling team, so this would be their best shot at going to the Olympics. But since curling is such a boring sport, they want to be the Happy Gilmore(s) of Curling.

They already have their team picked out too. The Goog will provide the physics background, G and another of their friends are very coordinated, and they also have a 6'8" basketball-player friend that is (obviously) very athletic. Plus, the Goog and G both are masters of the broom (they both had a job as a janitor). So watch for us in the 2018 Winter Olympics. I will be the one on the sideline stuffing my face with chocolate flan.

South Carolina: Made for Vacation

2010-07-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

I had an weird conversation with one of my co-workers today. I'll just call him "WDG". He is out next week on vacation so I was just inquiring where he was going on vacation. Not something, in my opinion, that is very prying. The conversation went like this:

Me: Are you out all next week?
WDG: Yep, Yep.
Me: Where are you going?
WDG: Um....(longer than necessary pause) South Carolina.

First off, South Carolina has over 200 miles of beaches. It is, after all, a coastal state. But I can't rule out a vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains or on a a lake. Naturally, coming from Huntington, WV, I would guess he was going to Myrtle Beach because that is THE hot spot beach for all Huntingtonians. Maybe I should be impressed that he is going to see and do everything possible in South Caroline in one week. So i continue:

Me: Well...WHERE in South Carolina? That's a pretty big state.
WDG: Hilton Head (which he said very matter-of-factly, like that is the only thing to do in South Carolina)

What is even weirder is WDG has gone to other beach vacations before and he is always very clear about which beach. It isn't like when he goes to a beach in Floirda. He doesn't just say he is going to "Florida," but will say he is going to Destin or Pensacola.

I'm a little guilty of doing this because I'll often say I'm go on vacation to "Florida," but you can bet your bottom dollar that my definition of "Florida" is a Disney World sandwich on some Gainesville bread...that is a visit in Gainesville, followed by a trip to Disney, followed by another visit in Gainesville.

I decided that whenever I go anywhere now, I'm just going to give just the state I'm going. Let people try to guess what exactly I'm doing in that state. If I decide one weekend to go to Columbus, I'm just going to say I'm going to Ohio, despite the fact that I work in Ohio. Maybe I want to take a trip to Lexington...that just a minor detail, people just need to know I'm going to Kentucky. So what if I actually live in Kentucky.

Was I wrong to think there were other things to do in South Carolina besides Hilton Head? Do you enjoy awkward small-talk conversations at work? What state are you visiting this weekend?

I'm Bananas...B - A - N - A - N - A - S...for my nephew

2010-06-29T22:26:00.000-04:00

I've known since the day Sister told me about her "plus one" that it was a little boy. Obvs, it is my auntie intuition. The Goog and I had the following conversation on the way to lunch no more than an hour after Sister told us about her plus-one, Squirt:

Me: What do you think Sister will have? A boy or a girl?
Goog: A girl. Your family only has girls.
Me: I think it is a boy. Because I don't know what to do with little boys.

The weekend after we found out about my future nephew/niece, my mom and I went shopping for some gender neutral clothing. The very first thing I found when shopping was this cute little monkey blanket that said "I'm bananas." It was the PERFECT first present because 1.) monkey stuff can be for boys or girls and 2.) I have bought Sister some kind of monkey (weather it be a stuffed monkey or a monkey on a coffee mug) every Christmas and birthday for probably over 10 years. Sure, it was blue but GIRLS can wear blue too. I wear blue just about every day. If the plus one ended up a girl, I was going to move the monkey's little orange bowtie above it's ear.

I also got this little monkey bath towel. Because do you know what would make a baby even cuter? If it has a monkey...on it's head.

Sister and B-i-L officially found out last Thursday what Squirt will be, and Sister texted me as soon as she found out: "Squirt is a boy!!! He'd like some buzzz and mickey stuff please!!" Well you don't have to tell me twice to go to DisneyShopping.com, so I headed over there with absolutely no clue what little boys actually like. Luckily for me, Disney Shopping has a whole section called "boys toys" for all us aunts that don't really know.

The boy toy section includes Mickey Mouse, Toy Story, Cars, and Handy Manny. Which of these toys will Squirt get? Probably all of them by the time it is all said and done. This is going to be one spoiled little boy!

This past weekend, my mom and I went shopping yet again, except this time we were looking specifically for little boy (and little monkey) things. Although I want to keep most of the things I bought a surprise, I can't help but share the most precious little pair of monkey booties!! They are for babies sized 0 to 12 months, so I guess Squirt can wear them for awhile. They even have little rubber grippers on the bottom so that when he learns how to walk, he won't slip on those hardwood floor!

The ABC's of our Disney Cruise

2010-06-28T07:00:00.001-04:00

Now that I've fully recovered from my week-long trip to Florida and the Caribbean, I'm ready to give a quick A to Z run down of all the fun we had on our Disney Cruise. While I'm sure approximately 1 of my lovely followers would enjoy browsing through the 2,160 pictures taken between 3 cameras in 5 days (take that, Japaneses couple! Who is the shutterbug now??), I'll spare you THIS time. Instead, enjoy my ABCs of the Disney Cruise Line, with corresponding slideshow below.

Arts & Crafts: We made frisbees, Sister and B-i-L learned how to fold napkins for their next big party and we all learned how to fold our towels into cute little animals.

Bon Voyage! cake and decorations in my stateroom, thanks to the Goog.

Castaway Club Silver Members: You are automatically a member of the Castaway club once you go on a Disney Cruise.

Disney Dreams: We got to see a Broadway-style show almost nightly, but Disney Dreams was the BEST of all.

Ears: Every time I go to Disney World or on a Disney Cruise, I get a new pair of Mickey ears. This time, I got some pirate ears.

Freebies: The number of freebies that I got this cruise was ridic and really deserves its own blog entry. I'll save that for another day!

Golden Mickeys: Another of the Broadway-style shows. This one was about an Oscars-type show giving out awards to the best Disney films (you know, like the Hunchback of Notre Dame...). Best part was the Red Carpet outside the theater that Sis and I could pretend we were celebrities on.

Hidden Mickeys: Little Mickey Heads hidden all over the boat. My favorite was the Mickey head made out of coconuts on one of the statues on Castaway Cay.

Ice carving: Every buffet had these elaborate ice carvings, and we even watched a demo of the professional ice carver in action!

Jazz Hands: It's a revolution, y'all.

Kickin' it with Goofy: Goofy randomly came over to the Goog and I one afternoon and was making the Goog clap along to the music. It. Was. AWESOME.

Lobster, Peacock, Dog, Turtle and Rabbit Towel Animals on the bed every night.

Midtown- A cover band that was like listening to the Blend on XM, except LIVE. They were Canadian.

Next cruise booked for June 21, 2010: Because who doesn't like to save 10% AND get a $100 onboard credit while only paying half the deposit?

One year anniversary: The Goog and I celebrated our 1st anniversary (a week late) with lots of cake. Chip and Dale made us hold up a #1 for our 1st anniversary.

Pirates IN the Caribbean night: The night where we all dress like pirates and then watch fireworks. Fun fact: Disney Cruise Line is the only cruise line that does fireworks off their ships.

Quiet Cove Pool: The adults only pool. No kids around here to put their wet little hands on you.

Rain in Nassau: The worst day, weather wise AND port wise. Let's just say I was not impressed with Nassau.

Smoothies in Souvenir Glasses: I'm a total sucker for souvenir glasses.

Toy Story 3 Premiere…in 3D: Probably the coolest part of the cruise was we got to watch TS3 in 3D at 12:01 AM the day it came out in theaters!! They even had an "adults only" showing, so we got to watch Toy Story 3 without little kids talking during the movie.

Umbrellas on the beach:Very important for people like me who have translucent skin and burn just by looking at the sun.

Vacation Club:The Goog and I recently joined the Disney Vacation ~~Cult~~ Club, so this was why we got soooo many freebies!!

Wonder: Our boat, the Disney Wonder

Xtra smooth sailing conditions: The best sailing conditions I've ever seen. It was like we were on a lake the whole time.

Yellow lifeboat: Fun fact, Disney was granted special permission by the U.S. Coast Guard to paint the lifeboats yellow, in order to keep with the special color theming of the ship -- the colors of Mickey Mouse himself.

Zombie servers: Our servers, Ferenc and Lidia, were a lot of fun (even if not the most efficient). We took their pictures every night so they started making silly faces during the pictures.

Sand Castles in the Sand

2010-06-17T07:00:00.041-04:00

This is a scheduled post because I am on the beach building sandcastles in the sand.

Every time I go to the beach now, I always have the Robin Sparkles smash hit "Sandcastles in the Sand" running through my head the whole day. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then shame on you, but also, here is the video. It is pure awesomeness from How I Met Your Mother.

On our final day of the cruise, we'll be spending another day at Castaway Cay. This is one of the very first 2-stops-at-Castaway Cay cruises Disney has ever offered, so our cruise is pretty much history in the making.

Here's a fun fact. Did you know even water in the Caribbean gets cold in the winter? When the Goog and I went on a cruise at the end of December 2008, the water was a little too cold to swim in, so instead we sat under umbrellas and played in the sand. You tend to get brainwashed after spending 7 nights surrounded by Disney things, so I was making "hidden" Mickeys in the sand:

I'm not the only one that likes to play in the sand. There was this hermit crab that made the most awesome tracks in the sand:

It was too cold to swim, but we still got to take this cool picture of us in the crystal clear water (ignoring the piece of seaweed on the Goog's shoulder).

Tomorrow morning, we'll be kicked off the boat bright and early. With that, we will return to the real world where we must pay for food and don't have to clean our hands with baby wipes before every meal. Stay tuned for sights, sounds, stories, and maybe a little jazz hands from our trip (I have another 13 hour car ride ahead of me!!)

Crusin' at Sea

2010-06-16T07:00:00.005-04:00

This is a scheduled post. I'm out in the middle of the ocean right now.

Today is our Day At Sea. It seems odd to me that we can get to Nassau overnight, yet it takes a FULL DAY to get back to Castaway Cay. Makes you wonder if we are just turning circles in the middle of the Atlantic.

We'll probably be doing some "relaxing" on our Day at Sea. Of course, by "relaxing" I mean, sitting by the pool (with me taking pictures), sitting on lounge chairs on the 4th deck (with me taking pictures), reading books and watching movies...after I take pictures. I've have to document our relaxation just so that I can go back and prove to the Goog that we did, in fact, relax.

The Day at Sea is also a good day to get Shutterbuggy and meet and greet with some characters. I'm thinking jazz hands, and lots of them.

I'm hoping no matter what happens during our Day at Sea, we at least get one thing. It is the most awesomely amazing thing in the history of amazing things and it is 2 words: Dessert Buffet. The Dessert Buffet is about 5 tables, all pushed together with every type of dessert imaginable down either side. Then there is a chocolate fountain in the back. Oh, you don't want a ton of sugar? That's cool because there is also a tiny little sugar-free dessert table in a far dark corner of the room.

I'm going to go slip into my sugar coma until tomorrow...

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot in Nassau

2010-06-15T07:00:00.042-04:00

On our 3rd day of the cruise we will be going to Nassau. I've never been to Nassau before, so I have no idea what to expect with this port. Our plan is to walk around the city and do some shopping. Maybe I will get one braid in my hair and learn to play the steel drum? Who knows. So since I can't provide you with pictures from my last trip to Nassau, here's some pictures from my favorite port-of-call: Grand Cayman. The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory. George Town, the capital of the Cayman Islands, feels like if you took a city in England and a Caribbean city and smooshed them together.

My favorite part of Grand Cayman is the Turtle Farm, where you can feed and hold baby sea turtles. When you take the turtles out of the water, they start flapping their flippers and all you have to do to calm them down is rub their necks. They relax immediately after that.

As you can see from the picture, I pretty much became Queen of the Sea Turtles on my last visit to the Turtle Farm.They would come flocking to me whenever I was near. It had nothing to do with the fact that they thought I had food. Nothing.

I never thought I'd spend my birthday, which is at the end of December, on a beach. So when we went on a birthday cruise, I had to go to Seven Mile Beach! Fun fact: Seven Mile Beach is actually 5.5 miles long.

See ya real soon! (As in...for tomorrow's scheduled post!)

On Which Beach Would You Most Like to be Stranded, Sarah Mac?

2010-06-14T07:00:00.003-04:00

This is a scheduled post because I am ~~soaking up some sun~~ slathered up in SPF 100+ in the Bahamas.

Travel Channel, which is owned by my place of employment, has a blog called Terminal T that let's it's employees blog about their travel adventures. Why should the Travel Channel employees get all the bloggy fun? (You can find the actual, official Terminal T blog here). One of the series of posts on Terminal T was which beach several TC employees would like to be stranded. It just so happens that I am spending today on my very favorite of all beach.

Today we are at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. (Don't be confused like I was the first time I came...it doesn't rhyme with May, it's pronounced key.) Fun fact according to Wikipedia, this island has been used for filming the beach where Tom Hanks first encounters Daryl Hannah in Splash is on the island. Before Disney bought it, it was called Gorda Cay and was once used as a stop for drug runners. Nice.

Today we are at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. (Don't be confused like I was the first time I came...it doesn't rhyme with May, it's pronounced key.) Fun fact according to Wikipedia, this island has been used for filming the beach where Tom Hanks first encounters Daryl Hannah in Splash is on the island. Before Disney bought it, it was called Gorda Cay and was once used as a stop for drug runners. Nice.

I'm not normally a big beach person. I am the whitest person in Holland and I can get a sunburn from sitting under an umbrella. I'm also usually very sensitive to water and I hate to get wet. But Castaway Cay seems to turn me into the biggest beach bum. Here are a few reasons I love it:

Serenity Bay Beach is a mile-long adults only beach. No, perv, adults only doesn't mean some crazy nude beach...come on, it's DISNEY. But it does mean that only no kids or teens. I'm surprised nobody has every questioned if I was old enough to be on that beach since most people think I am 16. The best thing about the beach is it isn't as crowded as the family beach. Notice how in the picture there isn't a soul on the beach.

Caribbean water is so much better than, say, the East Coast water. It is crystal clear and is probably made from unicorn tears just like the sand on the beach is actually pixie dust. I am standing in knee deep water and my feet (or at least the part not buried in sand).

There are cool Disney movie and ride artifacts, so it is like being at a beach version of Disney World. The Flying Dutchman pirate ship, from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, is on display in the lagoon. All the women the walk past the Flying Dutchman like to swoon over the fact the Johnny Depp has been on that boat.

It has a lot of character...and a lot of characters! Happy Monday everybody! Now it's time for me to go back to relaxing.

Setting Sail on our Great Cruise Adventure

2010-06-13T07:00:00.022-04:00

I'm scheduling a weeks worth of blogs so that my blog subscribers can share in all the cruise-y related fun. You're welcome. I'm writing these blogs during my 13+ car ride to Florida on my fancy new iPad, a 1st anniversary present from the Goog.

The Goog and I have been on 2 Disney cruises, one in Aug 2006 and another in Dec 2008. We are old pros when it comes to cruising. So the posts over the next week are my guesses on what we will be doing on this cruise. We are also going on this cruise with my parents (first time cruisers), Sister (first time DISNEY cruiser), and B-i-L (also a first time cruiser). I've been acting as our cruise director for months now, making sure all our paperwork is filled out and giving tips and advice on what to pack and do while we are on the cruise.

"Day 1" of the Cruise is really more of a half a day...that is why it is important to get to the cruise terminal as early as possible so that you can get on the boat as early as possible therefore maximizing your cruising fun and also getting your money's worth.

Typically first days don't include too many activities. The Goog and I will give my parents, Sister and B-i-L a tour of the boat, then we'll eat, go to a deck party, and eat some more!

Make sure you come back every day this week to see where in the Caribbean we are each day. Adventures Away!!!

WDW Wednesday: Faces of a Disney Cruise

2010-06-09T07:00:00.001-04:00

I’m going to turn Walt Disney World Wednesday into a Disney Cruise Line edition this week because I’ll be setting sail on another cruise this coming Sunday. I’ll be taking the Goog, my parents, Sister, and B-i-L with me on the cruise, but I’ll be scheduling some posts next week so that my readers can feel like they are cruising through the Bahamas with me too!!

When you spend 7 nights and 8 days on a boat, certain people tend to stand out. On our first cruise in August 2006, there was a mother, along with her daughter, that we ate dinner with every night who had another daughter that worked on the cruise line as a performer in the stage shows…and a “friend” of the characters. We found this out during a character breakfast, when Chip came around to our table and was being really friendly and interacting with us more than all the other characters had. After Chip left the table, the daughter explained how they “knew” Chip. Every day after that, we kept an eye out for extremely friendly characters. One morning, while I was walking to get breakfast, I saw Wendy (from Peter Pan) with no line so I went to have my picture made with her, and she too was very friendly.

On my last cruise in December of 2008, there was a gal, probably in her mid-twenties, that wore wigs and a different prom gown EVERY night to dinner.

We met her friend one afternoon when we were hanging out around the pool, and her friend told us all about this girl. She apparently had a very wealthy father that paid for her and a couple friends to go on this cruise. She wouldn’t leave her stateroom unless she was in full makeup, because she had a crush on one of the guys working on the cruise ship. She also had brought 2 trunks of clothes, which contained all her wigs and gowns.

You would think based on this picture that it was formal night on the cruise, right? Well you would be wrong. This wasn't even semi-formal night. Maybe I should plan on taking my prom dress with me on this trip.

My all-time favorite people were on that December cruise. There was a Japanese couple that, not that I have much room to talk, were complete Disney freaks. Every day, they were dressed in matching Disney outfits. And everyday, they were in the front of every line to meet every single character available. They must have just spent all the rest of their trip planning which characters would be at which locations. We started referring to this couple as “the Shutterbugs.”

This was the one time the Shutterbugs weren't at the front of the line. The girl is sporting a Minnie red polka dot shirt and the guy has a red headband.

On the “Pirates IN the Caribbean” night, the guy dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow, and while he was waiting in line to meet Pirate Mickey Mouse, somebody came up to the Goog and I and asked us if we were in line for Jack Sparrow. His costume was THAT authentic. The Shutterbugs each had a super-fancy professional camera with a Mickey Mouse camera strap. So whenever they would meet a character, they had a whole routine. The guy would have his picture taken with the character, then the girl would have hers done, then they would have a cast member take both of their picture. They’d also pose JUST LIKE the character. They also were always the first people at all the deck parties, right there, in front of the stage. Even though they probably had to show up an hour early just to get those prime-o spots! To the Goog and I, they were sort of like Disney characters themselves!!

In all honesty, the Shutterbugs were my heroes. I bet they had so many great pictures of the ship and all the characters! I’m hoping that Sister and I will be the token people on our upcoming cruise. Maybe I can convince Sister to wear matching outfits and we can be known throughout the ship as the “jazz hands sisters”!!

Dhani Tackles the Office: The Blog

2010-06-01T00:09:00.000-04:00

Last Monday afternoon, I'm sitting in a "meeting" with a consultant at my desk when I see an e-mail ghost up in the corner of my computer screen from corporate communications with the subject line "Dhani Jones." The e-mail said:

Dhani Jones, Bengals linebacker and Renaissance man who “Tackles the Globe” on the Travel Channel, will visit our office Wednesday afternoon. He will be available around 2:30 for a Meet and Greet in the Fun Room, where he will autograph photos and answer your questions. Plan to stop by and welcome Dhani.

Wednesday was going to be a very exciting day, since we don't get celebrities in our office very much, even though we own the Food Network and Travel Channel. Ice cream sandwiches and cookies were provided that afternoon, because while not everyone is impressed with meeting a celebrity, everyone LOVES free snacks.

I'm trying to bring the jazz hand revolution to the mid-west and was totally doing jazz hands while he was signing his head shot for me. Unfortunately, the lady I had given my camera to take my picture isn't so good with candid shots. Fortunately, my friend and co-worker JM was there and she snapped a shot of half my jazz hands.

Meeting a celebrity. He wanted all us married ladies to change our Facebook profile pictures to us with him.

Once everyone had gotten pictures and autographs, Dhani ate an ice cream sandwich then sat down in one of our Kermit-the-Frog skinned chairs for a little Question and Answer session. Here's the list

of questions and the answers:

Has he talked to Chad Ochocinco since Chad got kicked off of Dancing with the Stars? (Yes, this was actually the first question in the little Q&A session) Answer: No, he isn’t back in town yet. I guess they are not BFFFFFFs that talk daily.

Would he ever do Dancing with the Stars? He would if the producers actively pursued HIM but he would not actively pursue it. He thinks it’s a great opportunity, blah blah blah, but he would rather go to Paris for the weekend rather than do dance training all weekend.

Does he have a thing for boots? Yes. He showed us his brand new boots then told us about how he had a custom made pair that looks like a pair of boots from Romeo and Juliet. He also has a pair of boots with big cats (Bengals) on the back.

Does he like kitties, if so, what kind? Yes. Panthers and other big jungle cats....RAWR. (He really did give a RAWR!)

Does he have any tattoos? No…but he wants one on his left side…he pointed to almost right under his armpit.

Notice how none of these questions are football related. My manager did ask him if the Bengals were going to the Super Bowl this year. (His answer was "that is the plan.”) He didn't seem like he wanted to talk about the Bengals either.

JM saw him as she was leaving for the day, and said he and his agent were just walking down the street. No limo. No mob of people. Just 2 regular dudes taking a stroll in downtown Cincinnati.

Have you ever met a celebrity? If so, what were they like?

WDW Wednesday: Feeling a Little (Chicken) Bleu

2010-05-26T23:18:00.001-04:00

First, let me apologize for my lack of blogging lately. I've had a never-ending busy period at work and lots of personal things going on that I'm sure will all eventually make it into blogs.

So last night was the finale of season 10 of Dancing with the Stars, which reminds me of one of my favorite restaurants at Disney's Hollywood Studios: the ABC Commissary. What other restaurant can you enjoy lunch while watching non-stop commercials for smash ABC hits (and sometimes already-canceled shows like Hank)?

The ABC Commissary has your usual quick service-type foods, except all the foods are named after different ABC shows. There is the Ugly Betty Burger, Lost Down the Hatch fried fish, Grey's Anatomy "The McSteamy" Chicken Curry, Extreme Makeover Home Edition "The Complete Design" Asian salad and Desperate Housewives "Just Desserts" Chocolate Mousse.

My favorite of all is the Dancing with the Stars Chicken Bleu. I get it just about every time we dine at the Commissary and I always wondered what made those Disney Imagineers decide that the perfect show to go along a Chicken cordon bleu sandwich was Dancing with the Stars. I mean, you KNOW those dancers aren't eating fried chicken sandwiches and for that matter, there are only a handful of the "stars" that would ever eat it either. Maybe if it was a DWTS salad or something.

Then it occurred to me last night, after watching a disappointing season finale to Dancing with the Stars...out of the 10 seasons of Dancing with the Stars, I can only think of about 3 of the finales that I was really, really happy with the winner. All the other finales have left me, well, blue. This season was no different, with Nicole Scherzinger, who was favored to win ALL SEASON, won. That was a good waste of 10 weeks. I could have just watched the judges drool all over her- the already professional dancing star- and Derek the first week and not wasted my time.

Don't get me wrong, I usually don't have a big problem with someone with prior dance experience being on this show. I always enjoyed the late 90s pop stars being on the show. These stars haven't actively danced in a good 10 years. Even Kimmie-cub was super excited to see the return on Joey Fatone to the dance floor a week ago.

"OMG, Mommy, it's JOEY! That is Aunt Manny's favorite!"

There was something about Nicole that rubbed me the wrong way this season. Maybe it was because she never really struggled with the dances. Maybe it was because she was more concerned with camera angles than choreography. Maybe it was because she had Derek Hough as a dance partner, and he always seems to make his partners more obnoxious. Maybe it was how she always kissed her biceps in the post-dance interviews. Maybe Brooke Burke is a worse host than Samantha Harris...

Mostly though, I think my Brother-in-Law can sum it up best:

It's those stupid faces she always made whenever the judges told her how great she was. She was just SO surprised that they continuously told her she was the BEST.DANCER.EVER. I ~~threw up a little in my mouth~~ loved how after her last dance, Len told her she should win the competition...before Evan even got a chance to do his last dance. Then right before the winner was announced, she had tears in her eyes because she knew she was going to win, even though she said she was "so shocked". Right.

Every season, I threaten to "quit" the show and yet the next season I get sucked back in. Maybe I should just go drowned my sorrows of this season in a tasty DWTS Chicken Bleu sandwich.

WDW Wednesday: Here's To 37 Magical Years!

2010-04-28T23:26:00.000-04:00

Today is my parent's 37th wedding anniversary and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank them for everything they have ever done for me. They are so loving, supporting and beyond generous to not only my sister and myself, but also to both of our husbands. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful parents and I'm so thankful for them.

It was 37 years ago that my parents started started our family's life-long obsession with Disney World when they visited the Magic Kingdom on their honeymoon. Dad had been to Disneyland in California (I think) once before, but their honeymoon was their first visit to Walt Disney World in Florida. They loved it so much and, once they had kids, decided to start what is now a 23-year long tradition of going to Disney World.

1973/old school Mickey Mouse.

This above picture, along with one brochure and a half-used ticket book, was all I could ever find from Mom and Dad's first trip to Disney World. I think Mom is holding back on me!!!

Naturally, when it came time for me to choose a honeymoon destination, I only had one choice and that was Disney World!!!

The Goog and my wedding ears from June 2009.

Happy 37th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!! Here's to many, many more magical years!

Watch out! Baby fever is gonna getcha!

2010-04-20T23:58:00.000-04:00

Baby fever has seemed to infect almost every women I know recently. It started out mostly around my office about a year ago.. We've had 4 women pregnant in our office, and that is a significant number of women considering we only have about 30 women in the office. Then, the baby fever struck closer to home when my sister-in-law, Amy, announced in early March that she too would be having a baby this upcoming November.

When Sis came to visit in late March, we were discussing how exciting it was for Amy and her baby, and Sis is all "We decided...that babies are not obnoxious and that I want to eat their fat little baby cheeks, sooo...we are having a baby too!"

!?!?!?!

WOAH! WHAT? Who we talkin' about? I'm going to be an aunt...times 2!! All within a 2 week timespan! My parents are retired and this is their first grandbaby AND it is my only sister's first child, so I guarantee Sis's baby will be spoiled rotten!

I've already forbid Sis from buying anything from DisneyShopping.com because Auntie Sarah is going to hook that baby up with some high quality Disney merch! I will be buying ALL the Minnie Mouse/Princess/Fairy stuff I can find for my little niece or ALL the Mickey Mouse/Pirate stuff for my little nephew. Uncle Goog will take care of all the baby Cincinnati Reds merchandise, as long as he doesn't eat that little baby up first! Sis made the mistake of calling it a Turkey Baby, since it is due right around Thanksgiving, now Goog keeps asking "How is that baby turkey?" and "How is she doing cooking that baby turkey in her oven." Good thing she didn't call it a mashed potato baby, or it would be dooooomed!

Look how nice my little niece/nephew is! Left me a little love note on my message board.

Also in the works is my mixed CD of songs for that baby, which I'm calling "Aunt Sarah's Dance Mix...for Babies!" It will include all kinds of diaper-shaking songs, such as"Shake Your Groove Thing," "Hey Ya!" "ABC," the Carnival cruise line commercial song, "Let's Groove" and some classic late-90s pop. Under no circumstances will the mixed CD include "Boom Boom Pow" even though a baby could probably really dance to that one!

What songs would you like to make a baby dance to? Leave your comments below!

What happens when your husband coaches baseball

2010-04-15T23:13:00.000-04:00

The beginning of spring brings the beginning of baseball season and the beginning of baseball season means the Goog spends lots of time away from the house. He is helping coach a high school baseball team this year and has also joined a softball league. If there is any time left after the coaching and the playing, he is probably watching the Cincinnati Reds. Goog LOVES himself some baseball. As we were watching the Reds game tonight, he pointed out how the manager and some assistant coach in the dugout both had on the shirt he bought. There were even modeling it the same way as Goog and B-i-L, with one guy rocking the short sleeves and the other guy with the long sleeves. In the SAME dugout. CRAZINESS!!

With all the baseball-ness going on, I needed to find something to occupy the time that I wasn't watching TV or blogging or reading people's blogs. Lucky for me, FarmVille had this new thing they were calling a Co-Op where you and a bunch of your farmer friends plant the same fruit or veggie or flower all at the same time. Then if you grow them fast enough, you get a GOLD medal. Its kind of like the Olympics of virtual farming.

When I was still in college, I was part of the co-op program at the University of Cincinnati, where you work for a quarter then take classes for a quarter. You rotate between work and school for a couple years, giving you valuable work experience and college credit hours all at the same time. I was so good at my co-op job that I was named "Accounting Co-Op of the YEAR" after I graduated. I just knew I was going to be awesome at this whole Co-Op thing!!

This certificate gives me all the qualifications I need to because the world's greatest virtual farm co-op manager.

It turns out that I pretty much rock at being a co-op manager. My mom and sister, my second cousin, and my great aunt all started coordinating these co-ops so that we were guaranteed gold, and I'm always the leader of these coordination. Under my management, we've already gotten 6 gold medals and are on our way to another. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to include "Virtual Farm manager" on my resume to demonstrate my killer management skills.

The problem with these co-ops is that I usually have to wait a full 24 hours before I can start the next co-op. In my quest to find something fun to do/play while my co-op crops were growing, I decided to give the new Treasure Isle a shot. I'd seen a couple of my friends asking for fruits and gemstones and hey! I like fruit! I like gemstones! So I'm going through the tutorial thinking how stupid and lame the game is and how I don't get the purpose. THEN! Look what pops up:

OMG! How can I NOT play a game that has baby panthers in it? Do you see how it is about to cry? Is that not completely heartbreaking? I am a sucker for sad animals. But wait! There are even more really sad, tear-y eyed animals including a margay, BABY SEAL, toucan and sloth. I want to take a tiny little tissue and wipe away their little tears and make them feel all better.

So any time one of these super sad animals appear on my Facebook homepage, I have to adopt them! I'm the Angelina Jolie of virtual jungle animals. Here's what my own little tropical island looks like.

The thing I like the best about this game is it is preparing me for the cruise my family is going on starting June 13th! One of our stops on the cruise is to a private island, and I might just decide to stay on the island since I'll be an expert Islander by then!

WDW Wednesday: Legend of the Giant Chicken Finger

2010-04-07T22:24:00.000-04:00

Funny story. I wrote this blog during my lunch hour at work. Then I go to check the latest news this afternoon and see that my dear sister has written a blog about her favorite guilty pleasure foods. That's the sister-wister frequency working it's magic.

So my guilty pleasure? Chicken fingers. I love chicken fingers and the best chicken fingers in the world are the old school chicken fingers from Disney World. Every time I begin planning a trip down to Disney World, it also includes when, where, and how many times I can get a chicken finger basket. The fingers WERE big strips of chicken with plenty of breading on them. Unfortunately, the fingers have changed recently to "nuggets". Not like the McNuggets that have really questionable chicken in them, but smaller versions of the fingers, with even more breading and less chicken. Actually, they are called chicken BREAST nuggets because that is far classier than just a regular chicken nugget.

Don't get me wrong. I still would not turn down the chicken nuggets there. In fact, just talking about them is making me want to pack my bag and drive all night and part of a day tomorrow just to go get some of that chickeny deliciousness. Still, the new chicken nuggets don't measure up to the Disney World Chicken Finger of years past.

The most legendary of these chicken fingers was from May of 2007. The Goog and I were at MGM Studios and we wanted to have a nice dinner there, but all the nice restaurants had over an hour wait for each of them. So instead we went to the Backlot Express, a quick service restaurant which isn't one of our typical places that we frequent when we are at the parks. The menu happened to have chicken finger baskets on it and since I hadn't had a chicken finger fix in at least 24 hours, that is what I ordered.

I'm chowing down on my fingers when I discover this:

THE WORLD'S LARGEST CHICKEN FINGER. Goog and I are wondering how big a chicken had to be in order to make a chicken finger THIS BIG. ;-) Oh, it was sooo delicious!

The next time I went to Disney World they had switch to the nuggets, but I will always remember that magical day when I feasted on that giant chicken finger.

Reds Opening Day: It’s like a “National” Holiday for Cincinnati

2010-04-06T23:20:00.000-04:00

The first day of professional baseball is a BIG deal in the city of Cincinnati every year. It is near impossible to get a ticket to the Reds Opening Day unless you are a season ticket holder. You have to camp out for days if you want a single-day Opening Day ticket. Do you know how big a deal it is? There is an entire PARADE dedicated to the day, in which half of downtown Cincinnati is blocked off and there are about 3 parking lots opened for those of us who actually work downtown.

The festivities aren’t limited there. Our building management had an Opening Day Breakfast this year including everybody’s favorite breakfast items- popcorn, Cracker Jacks, and Cincinnati Reds cookies. It’s the breakfast of champions!! Then my office gave everyone a bag of peanuts and let us wear our jeans and Reds t-shirts.

My office also happened to score 4 tickets to the company’s suite- which it shares with 3 other companies. I guess the executives didn’t want to go to Opening Day this year, so instead they held a raffle for the rest of our office. I debated on if I should put my name in the raffle. Did I really want to use my luck on something sports related? I can never resist entering for free stuff, and I really do like going to the suite to watch baseball games, so I went ahead and put my name. Then that night I confess to the Goog that I put my name in but am all convinced that there is no way that I will win this particular raffle and that the Universe does not like me that much since I haven't been winning recently.

But of course the drawing comes around and I WIN. As excited as I was to win, I also was a little nervous about tell the Goog that I won because:

FACT: the Goog is the biggest Reds fan I know
FACT: the Goog is the biggest baseball fan I know
FACT: the Goog has never been to Opening Day
FACT: Opening Day coincided with mine and Goog's 9th anniversary together

Yet, I would be going to Opening Day on our anniversary without Goog. Sorry Goog!! But I'm sure he would be sadder if I won a ticket and then didn't go.

I wasn't going to know most of the people in the suite, but luckily, one of the people going from my office was a very nice intern. I'll just call her Miss Intern. So Miss Intern and I buddied around for the whole game, because it turned out that most of the other people in the suite were from a law firm and a public accounting firm and kept making comments about how the baseball players born in 1980 were "such babies" even though Miss Intern and myself were born in the 80s as well.

The weather was beautiful for the whole game. Low 80s and very sunny. Miss Intern and I sat outside for most of the game, except for the few times we went inside to stuff our faces with delicious chicken fingers, mac'n'cheese, coney dogs, pizza, cheesecake and chocolate covered everything. Our conversations drifted between baseball (Miss Intern: "Who is your favorite player?" Me: thinking really hard "I met Brandon Phillips once" even though that wasn't really the question) and more serious subjects like weddings/engagements/boyfriend and husbands.

In front: Me, acting all fancy up in the suite. Behind me: Albert Pujols practicing hitting the ball very, very far.

Around the 8th inning, Miss Intern decided she was ready to leave and I decided that would be a good time to track down another one of my co-workers that actually had to PAY for tickets to the game. But first, I wanted to go to the Suite-level Merchandise Shoppe to see if I can find any Opening Day merch for poor Goog to commemorate the day that I betrayed him and went to Opening Day by myself. There happened to be one souvenir Opening Day baseball left in the shop, and it also just so happens that the Goog collects souvenir baseballs. PERFECT! The cashier is ringing up my baseball and her jaw about hits the counter when she sees this guy walk past the shop:

For those of you who are not Bengals fans/native Cincinnatians, that is former Bengals player/ current Furniture Fair pitchman Anthony Muñoz. The following conversation ensues:

Cashier: That is Anthony Muñoz! He is NOT very good looking but he is so nice. He is really good with kids.

Store attendant: Down girl.

Me: pulls tissue of out pocket to wipe the Cashier’s drool off my credit card.

I was so distracted by seeing the local celebrity that I forgot all about going to see my co-worker and instead went back to the suite, stuffed my face with some more delicious food and watch the Cardinals hit a grand slam in the top of the 9th. It was a great day, but I hope next year I'll be able to go to Opening Day with the Goog.

If it makes the Goog feel any better, the Universe might like me but the Sun does not. I am now rockin' my first farmer's tan (more like burn) of the year. I don't think I'll ever be able to live this one down.

The Tale of the Ghost Easter Cats

2010-04-04T23:13:00.000-04:00

Let's just get one thing straight. We aren't one of those crazy pet families that have the Easter Bunny hop by for our pets. That would be completely ridiculous and weird. Nope, instead, our cats are visited by the ghosts of our dead cats.

I had 2 18-year old cats that past away over the last year and a half. I always say that Willie and Kimmie think that their Aunts Katy and Smokey were super rich and left them all these toys. So now, apparently, they are also sending them new toys from the great beyond. At least we don't have some creepy bunny sneaking into our house in the middle of the night.

Willie's toy was a "Las Vegas Showgull." It LOOKS like a seagull, except if a seagull was to quit life on the sea and instead become a Las Vegas Showgirl and dress up in lots of feathers. Oh, and of course it is filled with cat nip. Kimmie's toy, which Willie took a big interest in as soon as he saw she had a toy too, was a fish with a really feathery tail and a bungee cord- also filled with catnip. By the way, the bungee cord snapped in about an hour because Willie was playing so hard with it. The Goog claims the cats will be pooping feathers for weeks. Lets hope not!

Kimmie played with her feathery fish all of about 2 seconds before she gave up on it and Willie snatch it from her. She then took an interest in the ribbon tied to their baskets. She looks totally crazy in these pictures. Maybe it was the catnip talking.

While the cats enjoyed their new toys, I cooked a delicious Easter dinner for the second year in a row. We had ham, mac 'n' cheese, and my famous "this-is-why-I-married-you" mashed potatoes. The guests to my dinner included the Goog, my parents, and Seasonal Mickey Mouse, and his basket full of bunny & flowers.

Mickey says: "Oh golly, I think I'll eat all these mashed potatoes out of this duck bowl."

For dessert, I made a baseball cake, in an attempt to make up for the fact that I will be attending Reds Opening Day while the Goog will be at work. The Goog just happens to be the worlds biggest Reds fan and he has never been to an Opening Day and I won a ticket to sit in a suite for Opening Day. Ooopsie!!

Hope everyone had a great Easter!!

WDW Wednesday: The Obligatory Fountain Shot

2010-03-31T22:47:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my second edition of Walt Disney World Wednesday!! I'm going waaaay back to 1987 with this edition to share a little tradition that my family has been doing since my first trip to Disney World: The Cinderella's Fountain picture. I was 4 for our first visit; Sis was 6. Mom’s plan was to take our pictures in front of the fountain every time we visited Disney World so we could measure how much we had grown between visits.

This worked out great for the first 6 trips or so. That is, until I reached my full height at a whopping 5 feet 1 inch. At that point, it became more of a tradition and now it is the only way I can keep track of how many times I’ve visited Disney World. I do not consider a trip to Disney “official” until we’ve taken the Cinderella Fountain photo.

For your viewing pleasure here’s a slide show of my 19 trips to Disney World (!!um, yeaaaah, that's 19 trips from the ages of 4 to 27!!! Am I a WDW addict? Do I need to go to WDW rehab?) Watch me transform from my cute, little 4-year-old self through the awkward teen years to a grown, married woman. My apologies to Sis for revealing her awkward teen years as well. We were rockin' the neon and fanny packs back in the early 90s! Also notice how I'm wearing the same shirt in our 2 trips in 1996...I loved me some Winnie the Pooh back then.

I have a feeling that my next trip to Disney World, my 20th, will be extra special!!

My Tour of the Aronoff Center

2010-03-30T22:11:00.007-04:00

Every spring in Cincinnati, there is a big campaign for the arts called the “Fine Arts Fund.” Companies and their employees are asked to donate to support the arts. My company used to have big events / team building activities for the Fine Arts Fund. One year, we were broken into groups and each group had to go all “design on a dime” on a lampshade. Best lampshade won a prize. Then another year we had a “march madness” themed campaign and we had a pop-a-shot b-ball tournament where my team actually won (surprisingly with MY help) a silver medal and free lunch. Then the following year we had a rip-off of the pop-a-shot tournament, which was a bowling themed tournament. It was not as awesome because my team did not win anything.

Instead of a big campaign this year, the company opted for a special, behind-the-scenes tour of the Aronoff Center. I actually preferred this to some big sports-themed campaign because 1.) I’m terrible at all sports and 2.) I love Broadway shows. The Goog and I had season tickets to the “Broadway Across America” tour for a couple years, so I thought it would be fun to go behind the scenes, since we’ve been to the Aronoff Center so many times. So on Monday, a group of about 10 of our employees went on an exclusive tour.

Highlights and fun facts from the tour:

-The Aronoff Center is not haunted…at least that was what our tour guide told us.

-It isn’t as glamorous or as exciting as you might think behind the scenes. It very much looks like my elementary school hallways. Very sterile; very white.

-The truck drivers that bring all the set up stuff for tours hate the loading docks of the Aronoff because the loading docks are in this tiny little alley.

-Cincinnati has the second largest number of members for “Broadway Across America”. The first largest is Tampa. So Cincinnati gets some of the best selections of touring Broadway shows.

-When the Lion King was in a couple years ago, they had one of the rooms in the basement set up as an “animal hospital” where they would repair the animal costumes daily.

<----This is what I imagine a Lion King animal hospital would look like.

-When the Aronoff Center was built, there was one important thing missing: a giant mirror in the Rehearsal Hall. It would only cost a $1,000 to get one of those mirrors, but it has become a trademark of the Aronoff, so they have never gotten a mirror.

-We got to stand on stage in the Procter and Gamble Hall: the same stage as all the Broadway shows we’ve seen!

-The P&G stage feels springy…perfect for DANCING.

-Mary Poppins is the next touring show at the Aronoff, and we got to see where Mary Poppins herself will be getting ready! We also saw some ensemble dressing rooms.

---> That picture is of the smaller theater. I couldn't get a good picture of P&G Hall because of the Mary Poppins crew setting up the stage. Did you know it takes a full week to set up Mary Poppins? You do now.

-I really, really, really ~~want~~ need to see Mary Poppins.

-The art gallery that is located in the Aronoff Center is hosting a discotheque/rave in the basement of the building on June 5^th of this year. I think I know where the Goog and I are going for our 1^st anniversary!

True or false? These people would enjoy a discotheque / rave.

So this spring, support your local arts! Go to a play or a museum or something else artsy fartsy!

Why you should never let boys go shopping alone

2010-03-28T23:17:00.001-04:00

I had a very exciting Saturday, since my sister and brother-in-law came to visit me for the day. I don't get to see them very often, but they were in West Virginia for a funeral last week and swung by Cincinnati on their way back down to sunny Florida.

Sister and I always have a great time together, and luckily our husbands get along really well too. Sis and B-i-L got here around 1:30 and we went to lunch as soon as the got in. After lunch, Sis and I went back to my house while our hubs went out on a quest to find Cincinnati Reds merchandise, since the only place that you can find Cincinnati Reds merchandise is in Cincinnati, not someplace like the internet. An hour later, we hear the front door open and I go down to see ~~how much trouble they were in~~ how much money they had spent. I asked my Goog what the damage was and he said, "I spent more than B-i-L." Then he confessed that he spent $$$ on one shirt, but "it is a 2-in-1 shirt, so it's like paying for 2 separate shirts."

That's right, a 2-in-1 shirt. How does that even work, you might ask? Well luckily we have 2 male models as husbands, so they demonstrated the awesomeness that is the 2-in-1 shirt:

Is that a male model or my brother-in-law?

B-i-L demonstrated what the shirt would look like as a long sleeved shirt, then the Goog showed us how the sleeves zip off to create a short sleeved shirt:

Hope he doesn't lose these sleeves, or he'll be down to a just a regular shirt.

Are these two different shirt? Did they pay for a long sleeved shirt and a short sleeved shirt? Why, no! It is a two-in-one shirt.

I'm still not entirely convinced that the amount of money they spent on these shirts were necessarily a "good deal", even if they do act as 2 shirts. But then again, I'm the type of person that doesn't like to spend more than $15 on a shirt!

Also noteworthy from this visit was Sister got to meet my baby kitties for the first time. They love their Aunt Manny!!

Look at how cute we are as sisters and how cute my fur babies are.

For more of our weekend, head over to It's Blogworthy!

WDW Wednesday: Donald Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

2010-03-24T23:20:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my first installment of Walt Disney World Wednesday!

As a kid, I used to HATE meeting the characters at Disney World. They just freaked me out, but now as an adult, I love meeting the characters! It always makes for a great photo op and it can be really fun when the characters interact with you. I prefer to meet the fur characters that can't actually talk to you. It's always a gamble on whether or not you'll get a good character interaction. Sometimes you'll meet Mickey and he'll just shake your hand, take a picture and scoot you out the door, but other times he'll give you a big hug, vainly admire your Mickey ears, and make kissy noises at you. Whenever you meet the Princesses, they always try to make small talk, like Cinderella will be all "Oh, is this your Prince Charming?" (what gave it away- my wedding ears?) and Mulan is all "Did the Matchmaker set this guy up with you? I hope the Matchmaker finds somebody for me" (desperate).

One of my very favorite encounters with a Disney character was on my honeymoon in June 2009. It was our very last day in the park and exactly one week of wedded bliss. We were spending a good part of our last day meeting characters and trying to finish up the autograph book I'd been working on since 1993. While in Frontierland, we saw Donald dressed up as Davy Crockett and I just HAD to meet him. I heart it when the normal characters are dressed up in different costumes!! So, once we got to the front of the line, Donald saw my wedding ears, instructed the Goog to look the other way, got down on one knee and:

Yep, that's right, he proposed to me. I know what you are thinking: 1.) Why are you so happy, aren't you already married? and 2.) What about Daisy Duck? Maybe it was a little inappropriate, but it gave me giggles. Of course, it wasn't until after the photographer was finished taking pictures that he kindly reminded Donald of these two facts and Donald was all "Oh Phewy!"

Sooooo, Donald finally let the Goog come back over and "renewed" our vows, a week after our actual wedding, making our union OFFICIAL. You know a marriage will last when you've been married by a duck with a coonskin cap and no pants!!

Dancing with the Tolerant

2010-03-23T19:11:00.000-04:00

It is finally here: Season 10 of Dancing with the Stars! According to ABC, this is the season of stars that all the other (much lamer?) seasons has been building up to...since, you know, Jake the Bachelor and Kate Gosselin were big "stars" back in 2005 when the show started... WAIT A MINUTE, they could barely be considered stars NOW!

I am looking forward to this season more than Season 9. Of course, Season 9 began less than a week after I lost my 18-year old cat: sweet, dearly-departed Katy Sue Wigglesworth. Katy and I watched every season with DWTS together, and since she is not here to defend her good name, I will tell you right now, she LOVED to watch it and also LOVED dancing with me. She especially loved doing Samba rolls. So most of my Season 9 viewing ended with me in tears because the show just wasn't the same without a cat somewhat tolerating me making her dance.

Don’t let the fact that her back is to the tv fool you. She enjoyed every last minute of DWTS.

This new season meant I needed to find myself a new cat dance partner, because there is nothing I love more in life than making animals dance! I started with Kimmie, trying to make her dance along to the opening credits. She had no idea what was going on and pinned her ears back and looked straight at Goog like “Mommy has lost it. PLEASE HELP ME.” Then she wiggled herself up onto my shoulder just to get away. Major sad face. Willie’s turn was next and we did a cha-cha-cha along with Cincinnati Bengal Chad Ochocinco. Willie was actually very tolerant and let me shake his stubby little arms. He really seems to like dancing, at least in comparison to Kimmie. I think I have myself a new dance partner!!

Chad Ochocinco got straight 6’s this week, but I'm hoping he'll do better next week because he is a "Cincinnati guy". I drive past the Bengal's stadium every day on my way to work and DWTS is always more fun when there is a local celebrity on the show (like Drew Lachey and Jerry Springer from previous seasons- also "Cincinnati guys"). Willie thought HIS score was 18, so he, being the sensitive soul that he is, burrowed under his red blanket to reflect.

“I am reflecting on my score, not on my dislike of dancing.”

Also, as a sidenote, Tim Allen of Buzz Lightyear fame was sitting with Buzz Aldrin’s wife. I’m sure having Buzz Aldrin on this season had absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming, highly-anticipated release of Toy Story 3. *Giggles*

Caturday presents: Random Cat Toy

2010-03-20T22:19:00.002-04:00

I have two kittens: Willie,who is 10-month old and Kimmie, who is 5 months old. Last time I had kittens this young, I was 8 years old and didn't really appreciate them like I do Willie and Kimmie.

One of my favorite things about these kittens are the toys that they find to amuse themselves. Anything laying on the floor or on a table is fair game for a cat toy in this house. In fact, every morning after I've scooped their litter boxes, Willie spends 20 minutes walking around the perimeter of it and scraping at the littler liner bag while Kimmie just SITS in the box. So it usually doesn't faze when I see one of them rolling around in a plastic bag or jumping up on the wall trying to catch light beams.

Even so, I was very surprised one morning this week when I saw Kimmie carrying around something small and white in her mouth. Once she dropped it on the floor I realized what it was: one of those push-up bra inserts. You know, the ones that were in those old-school Wonderbras. Most surprising is the fact that I haven't had one of these bras in YEARS. I've definitely haven't had one since I've been living in my current house, so I really have NO idea where it came from. Yet there she is, carrying it around like a prize.

After I stopped laughing, I did what anybody would do: grab the camera and document the whole thing:

See how she is giving me sass and sticking her tongue out at me because I tried to take her toy? Willie is all "Chill out, sister. Take some time to reflect."

Kimmie says: "I will go murder train on you, bra padding."

OK, is dead now. I'm done with this toy.

Curiously, this disappeared the next morning. I'll probably find it years from now under the bed or stuffed in the corner of the closet.

A look into SisterWister-ville: E-mail edition

2010-03-19T21:39:00.016-04:00

My company has recently implemented a new document retention policy that goes into effect at the beginning of April. The good news in this is that all the mail sitting in my Inbox from over 2 years ago that I haven’t had time to clean out will magically disappear into cyberspace. The downside is I’m now forced to clean out my “Personal” email folder from the past 4 years, including emails including such philosophical discussions as “Who will be cuter growing up, Suri Cruise or Shiloh Jolie-Pitt,” “How do you feel about baby animals?” and “What should my wedding colors be?”

See, back when Sister and I weren’t constantly busy at our respective workplaces, we used to e-mail each other daily with complete randomness. We would discuss celebrity gossip, tv shows, animals, and all the other pointless things that now make it into our blogs. These emails stopped after Sis moved to Florida to be a very important Web editor and I became a super important analyst. Thankfully we have tons of social networking sites to keep the sister-wister frequency going strong.

Example of how a typical email would start out. Also notice how the picture I have for Sis is a cat that says "Excuse me, do you has a flavor?" The picture I have for the Goog is a baby beluga whale.

As I was scanning through these emails, which I kept in a “Sister” folder, I had to laugh at all the subject lines. Here are a few of my favorite ones:

…it’s what’s for dinner!
???
HSM:2 (that stands for High School Musical 2, for those not in the know)
2 more thoughts
90’s on 9
Am I a bad wis?
You are a good wis!
Amanda Grammar
MSNBC.com Article 7/26/06: Lance Bass revels that he’s gay
An excerpt from Lance’s blog
Avian Flu (remember that, waaay back in 2006?)
Baby kittens (this one was about Sis's cats, Pepper and Cheeto back on May 10^,2006)
Before Mom tells you…
Before Mom tells you…the sequel
Britney
Britney is back out of rehab
Britney vs. KFed Debate
Cat poo
Celebrity Haiku
Hanson (No, this one wasn’t from 1998, it was actually from 2008)
Happy…

…August 2^nd

…1 month til my birthday!

…1^st Wedding Monthiversary

…last day! (when Sis left the ol’ Herald-Dispatch newspaper in our hometown)

…Pi Day

Holding grudges
Lil stupid and fatty
She’s pepper-licious!
Tom Cruise
Too good not to gossip about
Two days til Sister Wister Day
URGENT CELEBRITY NEWS (also marked urgent) (this one was about Anna Nicole Smith dying)
Why I don’t watch Fox News
You’ve got to be kidding me

Thankfully now we can share our brilliant discussions through blogs and Facebook instead of just between the two of us. You are welcome, World.

March Madness is over now, RIGHT??

2010-03-18T22:37:00.010-04:00

To recap my guest bloggy-ness over at It's Blogworthy, March Madness is all about picking the best mascots to win. So, let's see where I stand at the end of today...or at least right before I go to bed:

LOOK AT MY GENIUS! I'm one smart cookie at 11 for 12, and to think the Goog referred to a lot of my picks as "goofy." Also impressive is the fact that my dad is currently ranked #3 even though he also never watches college basketball. I say we just go ahead and end this tournament. I mean, one day of basketball is enough. I think this is probably pretty representative of the rest of the whole march madness.

As a completely random side note, during my annual mascot analysis, I ran across this really great cake topper:

It's the Maryland terrapin marrying the Rice owl. If there is one bird-related mascot I actually like, it is the Rice owl. So this is like a match made is awesome mascot heaven.

Looks like my luck has finally run out...

2010-03-17T22:55:00.015-04:00

I must confess that I've been pretty lucky the last year at work. Seems like I've won several *but not ALLLLLL, ahem* raffles and giveaways that we've had over the past year. Last spring and summer, I won tickets to the company's suite at the Cincinnati Red's Great America Ballpark on 4 separate occasions. I credited most of these wins on my "wedding luck" since I got married last June, so the Universe seemed to like me at the time. It had to be wedding luck since I even won tickets to one of the games while I was still away on my honeymoon and the first Friday I was back, I got to go to the suite! SWEET!

"This is baseball. In a fancy suite."

My luck continued into this year when I won this really awesome Rachel Ray gift basket for wearing a red sweater on woman's heart disease awareness / National Wear Red Day.

"YUMMO!"

Bright and early this morning, we got an e-mail from our CEO saying that 3 lucky employees would win lunch with Guy Fieri tomorrow while he taped an episode of his "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" at a top-secret chili location. Everyone at work was all abuzz about where the lunch would be and maybe, possibly, how he could come visit us AT WORK (not happening, unfortunately, because he has a very busy schedule...) This is the type of raffle that all us corporate employees really like because it reminds us that we own something as cool as the Food Network! I mean, if I win anything, I'd like for it to be something super cool like this so that I can blog all about my experience being on 3D.

My entire department was already convinced that I would win and were asking me to get autographs for them, but of course the Universe had other plans. The Universe decided that I had enough luck already, but it would lead me on just a few minutes longer. When they announced the winners, they called "Sara...(longest pause in history)...different last name."

I think I'm craving some Blue Ash Chili. Maybe I'll just head over to Kenwood for lunch tomorrow...

Theme park brochures make my life complete.

2010-03-15T21:39:00.013-04:00

It is a well-known fact how much I love Disney World.

My parents would take my sister and I just about every other year down to the World, and when I was old enough, my boyfriend (now husband) would come along as well. We even spent our Honeymoon there last June.

But there is one thing I love even more than going to the parks themselves, and that is collecting every single brochure I can get my hands on within the Disney property. I'm talking about all those guide maps and times guides that most people just throw away. Not me... I collect every one and put them in photo albums, arranged by park and date. For somebody with terrible vision, I have the ability to pick out a brochure I don't have from half way across a hotel lobby, and run at lightening speed, even after a full day of walking around in the hot sun, just to get the brochure. Because, obviously, the cast members don't have another 100 boxes of the same brochure in the back.

I met the guy that does a lot of the drawings for these brochures on a Disney Cruise once, and he referred to them as throw-away art. I almost fainted, because this is how I feel when I find a new brochure:

Actually, I'm probably even more excited than Minnie and that little girl.

So, imagine my delight when I came home from work today and saw a stack of these beauties laying on the desk! Sure, I had picked all these up myself just 3 months ago, but January + February = Black Hole, so i didn't actually remember having them. When my hub got home, we had the following conversation:

Me: WHERE DID YOU GET THESE BROCHURES? (Keep in mind, they were dated December 1-15, 2009) which happened to be our last trip down there.)

Goog: I found them in my laptop case from December.

Me: I AM SOOOOO EXCITED, I almost wet myself!

Goog: (deadpan) I know, I figured.

Maybe he should have held onto them for awhile. They would have made the Best. Anniversary. Present. EVER.

Happy Pi Day / Welcome to my blog

2010-03-14T12:49:00.000-04:00

It's the moment you've all been waiting for (and by all, I mean my sister. Not sure anyone else has been highly anticipating this moment)- I've finally started my own blog.

It's only been 2 and a half months since I first wanted to start my own blog. I was going to start it as a news year resolution. I had all kinds of things to blog about too, like my trip to Disney World in December and visiting my sister and going to Chicago all by my lonesome for a business trip. But I work in financial reporting/accounting, so January through mid March always end up being a big black hole where all I do is work. When I'm not at work, I'm eating dinner or asleep. That's it. So no time to get bloggy.

So now that I finally have a life back, I decided that the next best day to start a blog, besides the new year, was Pi Day (3-14, get it?) Pi day is a pretty big deal around my house, since my husband, which I'll just call the Goog, is a physics teacher. He, and me as his loving wife, always celebrates these science-y and math-type holidays. We are super cool like that. What better way to celebrate this important day, than by starting my own blog?

Stay tuned!!