best junkmail ever

A few weeks ago I lost my favorite pen. Although it was a freebie from a funeral home & I'm not sure how I ever got it since I've never been to that funeral home it was a pretty blue & fit into my paw perfectly.

Today a fundraising company sent me a freebie of their product. A pen that is an even prettier blue WITH MY NAME lasered onto it. Maybe I won't lose this sucker.

YAY! 

It's the little things,  people.

Also, the ministry will not be selling or purchasing any pens anytime soon so my keeping the freebie is not a bribe.

i want

this man to be president so badly I can hardly breathe.

And I want all his rhetoric to come true.

Is that too much to ask? 

Let's break now for a song lyric that applies to my life:

Be careful with me. I'm sensitive & I want to stay that way.

I missed the infomercial, workin' you know, but what did you think?

smelleriffic

tonight, at a ministry meeting something:

the room, the carpet, the teenagers????

SMELLED LIKE FEET.

now, as I type my hands:

SMELL LIKE ONIONS

because Rebs & I just prepped dinner for his parents who are coming over tomorrow night. There will be more cleaning.

And less smells.

We made this but added chicken. It is a good one. Try it.

sometimes at youth ministry

I reign as the Queen of the Chaos.*

Sometimes I am the ChaosMaker.

*When I was a young, rapacious reader I thought the word chaos was pronounced, "CHA- Ohs". When I finally asked my mom what that word meant there was firstly: confusion, secondly: laughter, & then, finally, a explanation.  Also, we were on a camping trip when this happened, sitting at the kitchen table of our pop-up.

That's all.

bloggie pride

I am impressed with this whole thing. I am impressed I was able to format this enough for a beauty-lovin' Libra to feel satisfied for now. 

I consider myself quite a dumbo when it comes to any-beyond-the-basic computer skills but I have tenacity & have come up with some gypsy MacGyver solutions to do what I've wanted to do.

Yay me.

After all, I climbed a mountain in Thailand. With the help of this stick.

I really loved that stick.

vestiges of garden state

In our otherwise nearly perfect apartment we have a very tiny kitchen & since we have been trying to cook much more often (with mostly happy results barring a potato soup that was a DISASTER) Rebby & I are often bumping monkeys in there.*

Also, since we have both viewed Garden State a number of times we are always VERY intentional in warning the other if the dishwasher is open since the biggest slab of clear, flat surface is directly across from it. Basically if one is cooking at aforementioned slab there is just enough clearance behind one for someone else to load the dishwasher. However, one false move & one could potentially end up in a wheelchair for life with an estranged husband & a son addicted to downers.

Neither of us is prepared to let that happen.

Hence, always the warning. Now it is a talisman. If we don't say it the above scenario will play out.

Out we'll break the damn thing & lose our security deposit.

*That sounds sexier than it is. Seriously, this kitchen may even be too small for that.

mystery explained

In case you are thinking to yourself, "How on earth did this blog of several posts appear within a matter of hours?"  I'll explain.

I had a blog with what I can assume NO readers, published through mobileMe on my mac but decided that this would be more fun if I had the possibility of others reading this & painstaking transferred everything other here.

It was painstaking because blogger doesn't allow a good old cut-n-paste. :P 

But I was determined like a burro.

pleasure center activated

I really, really like watching previews at movies or on DVDs.  I especially love it when there are so many & they are so good that I forget what movie I'm actually there to watch.  I can physically point to the part of my brain that feels joy when doing it.  I think it's the anticipation of future viewing.  

Mostly, I just like any kind of anticipating. I'm a bit too future-oriented. I wish I could be just as thrilled with the present moment.

But seriously, I would watch an entire DVD of previews & probably be just as happy as watching a real movie. 

clumsy monkey

Rebs & I were headed off to dinner at a friends. I had  a poopy day.  All we had to bring was some cookies- so easy.

But as I wrapped them in plastic wrap I accidentally pushed the plate off the counter.

I stamped off to cry a minute (not really about cookies) & Rebs, the good guy, came to hug me. Which was nice but then we missed the 2 Second Rule. 

I know, I know that doesn't apply to food you are taking over to someone else's house to eat.

We salvaged some cookies that had landed on other cookies. Rebs grabbed a floorcookie for the road.

I had to ask,  "Was it floorific?"

setting bar high for 29th

Yesterday was my birthday. It was my 27th but Rebs sent out the evite (yes, we still use those, really should hop on the Facebook train) with the title ---- Swanky 29th Birthday.  I made him print a retraction.  I think he really wants me to join him in the 30s club. All in good time.

But it was a FANTASTIC birthday! & now the bar is set VERY high for my real 29th. As my mom wrote in me card, "Enjoy your 29th birthday & this years too."

Anyway, I spent the day outside of my socioeconomic class (in a higher one, I don't know if it would be as fun if I spent time in a lower one).  I went to an amazing spa with a gift certificate left over from my bachlorette party.

Time out for trials of a short girl:

The spa doors were HUGE- like the doors to the Emerald City. I wrestled one open & then had to approach the desk. The desk was taller than my nose. I was wearing heels & still had to stand on my tip-toes to peek over & say, "Hi, I'm here for my appointment."  So intimidating.

Anyway, after that the spa situation improved immensely with a big fluffy robe, amazing facial, frivolous magazines, a hot tub, gorgeous showers with lots of expensive products. sigh. It was so relaxing. I could have stayed all day except the house wasn't ready to have people over. Next time (hoping there will be a next time) I will make sure I have the WHOLE DAY.

After the spa I shopped at Anthropologie for the first time in my life & fell in love. I also got this amazing & perfect dress for my birthday dinner. Plus it goes perfectly with my lavender wedding shoes. I've been looking for things that match them.

Then back to the casa to decorate with my fun neighbor J who volunteered to help.

Later, we met friends at one of my favorite restaurants & lots of people showed up including my beautiful nephew E-man. He's getting so big & was dressed in kid clothes instead of baby ones - he looked like people!  And he was happy & cuddly for the whole dinner.

Then people came over to our place. It was decorated beautifully & we had a cupcake bar. It was my idea & it was really fun. Now I want there to be a cupcake bar at all my parties. 

Later we played Catch Phrase, (my friend are a bit addicted) but by then I had had so much wine I couldn't track very well. I did my best & was slightly dozing surrounded by friends, cupcakes, presents, confetti, & Rebby. It doesn't really get better than that. 

Also 2 friends announced their engagement at the party! SO great! Rebs & I totally started the marrying trend. AND I'm taking credit for their meeting because without one of them volunteering at my youth ministry & thence helping with the Tahoe retreat they wouldn't have met. 

I've always wanted to be cupid.

I've always wanted to be anything that involved wings.

Maybe doesn't sound like the most exciting birthday but it was near perfect for me. Also it beat the socks off last year when I was: homeless, owned a melted car, it was a Wednesday, Andy didn't have time to hang out because he had a retreat the next day. :( 

Clearly, in comparison 27 is treating me GOOD.

And a final thought: this new anthropologie affair is going to be a problem.

oh yes

I bought these:

with money my parents sent for my birthday.

I'm wearing them right now.

Poor Rebs.  It's hard to turn to a girl with lust in your eyes & have to say the words, "Let me unzip you from your blanket sleeper."

so many times a day

I want to text Rebby, 

"Love, bring chocolate- STAT!"

But I don't because being married is not the same as having a personal assistant.

And I know that.