Archive for November, 2007
So now if I have a thought cross my mind that I want to share while I
am out somewhere, I have no excuse. I can post by email on my phone.
I know you’ll be hanging on the edge of your seat waiting to hear my
deepest thoughts. LOL.
The flipside is that I can send stupid pictures I take from my iPhone
straight to my blog!
What?
So first, I want to give a big congrats to Charlene and Chris in Maine who recently got engaged! I am so happy for them! Marriage is a beautiful thing. I’d do it again. 
So, it’s almost the end of the semester. I will be totally relieved at the end of this week. I have a big group project we’re presenting on Friday, so once we’re done with that, I will be a happy woman! Seriously, you don’t even know.
I decided to write a blog post mainly because I am sitting here waiting to see if Nico is going to use the litter box anytime soon. See, I have to go downtown this afternoon to get some copies of our marriage license and to pick up some film I had developed (film? I’ll explain after I pick it up). The vet is also downtown. In fact it’s called The Downtown Veterinarian. I took her to the vet last week for some shots and apparently I was supposed to bring a stool sample with, and I didn’t so now I need to get one. The catch is, I need to take it in within about 6 hours of her producing it, and that has just not worked out schedule-wise so far. So I’ve been hoping that she would just poop so I could be on my way and drop it off while I was running all of my other downtown errands, but I don’t think that is going to happen before I need to leave. If anyone would have ever told me 10 years ago that I’d be waiting for a cat to poop so I could collect it, I would have laughed in their face! Who would have guessed these little furballs would become my babies?
Speaking of our cats- look how cute and pretty they are! (Click to see them larger) Nico is still a little grumpasaurus, and she likes to sleep. Beans gets distracted by anything shiny. If he sees a reflection of any kind on the ceiling, he’ll stare at it with his eyes wide open and follow it (see pics 2 and 5 below). They are both just so different and have such distinct personalities. They both love curling up on different levels of the Kitty Pueblo and taking afternoon naps now that the sun shines directly in without the leaves to block it.
So, today was the first real day that I noticed we’re getting into the holiday season. Christmas decor is out on the shelves now. The music is playing on the intercom. The smells of pine and peppermint are permeating my nostrils. I love Christmas! Rob will tell you that I often burst into “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” all year round. I’m excited I can break out the Bing and have peppermint and cinnamon and pine smells around and think about which stockings I’ll hang on my chimney.
As much as I love Christmas, I am not looking forward to shopping. I don’t know what to get anyone this year, and I am really tempted to just do something charitable and buy a goat for an African village from Heifer International or something like that. So, don’t be diappointed if I adopt you an animal instead of getting you anything that takes up space in your house.
Seriously, just think how good you’d feel if a kid had some goat milk to keep him healthy. You can also give gifts like a knitting basket, a flock of chicks, or an alpaca (although alpacas weird me out). All of the above can be ordered from Heifer International.
Or if you’d rather save an endangered species, you can choose to adopt a polar bear, gorilla, vampire bat, or three-toed sloth (plus many
others) through the World Wildlife Fund. They have different packages where depending on your level of adoption, you get a certificate, a plush, and/or a photo. Although, if you choose to go this route, do me a favor. Don’t adopt the woodpecker. I don’t know how these things are endangered. I have a couple in the woods by my house and I often find them eating my house.
If you want to go the traditional route and make a gift list, I’d like to suggest a site called TheThingsIWant. You can basically make shopping and wishlists there, but instead of being confined to one store, you can make your wishlist from items all over the web. You just sign up for an account and put a link in your bookmarks bar. Then when you find something you want, click the bookmark that says “Add to TheThingsIWant” and it gives you a popup to put any notes in before you save the item. You can see my (very paltry right now) list here.
So, if you ever buy anything online, I highly suggest you sign up for an Ebates account (and by clicking that link and signing up, I’ll get a $5 Tell-A-Friend bonus after you make your first purchse through them). Basically, it works like this:
I get 6% at Drugstore.com (plus Drugstore gives you Drugstore Dollars for a future purchase), 4% at Amazon, 4% at Overstock, 4% at Sephora, 6% at Zappos, and the list goes on and on. In fact, I am kicking myself for upgrading my Photoshop without checking Ebates first, because even Adobe offers 6% back through Ebates!
And if you’re shopping at a store, make sure you see if there are any coupon codes floating around. I like to use retailmenot.com or naughtycodes.com
So, I have been sick as a dog for the last two weeks it seems like. I had a really bad chest cold, and I was still getting over it when we went to Vegas for Jen and Tony’s wedding. I don’t really think I felt healthy again until the day before we left Vegas. Then when I got home, I almost feel more congested- allergies perhaps?
Anyway, Vegas. Halloween day- Rob and I went to the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum (which is an arcade with awesome pinball machines from old to new) and ate El Pollo Loco for the second of 3 times while we were there. I left my phone at the Pinball Museum and had to drive back to see if they had it because there is no phone there. Then we dressed up and went to dinner at Trader Vic’s. The drinks were great and the food was good, but not fabulous. I miss the Trader Vic’s in Chicago. For the record, I was Elvira and Rob was a Ghostbuster. It was funny because people really responded to Rob’s costume yelling all kind of stuff from the movie and the obvious “Who ya gonna call?” at him. Elvira- well, when we walked past Margaritaville, people got it, so I don’t know what that means.
Wedding day was Thursday and I don’t think I have any pictures of me on my camera. Anyway, Jen looked gorgeous. Mandalay Bay has a great wedding chapel, and the reception dinner was at the Bootlegger Bistro and it was awesome. I took a few pictures of Jen and Tony around various places. They all look the same- just in different places. I need to learn how to pose people.
The next day we went to the Neon Boneyard and it was super cool. I highly recommend it! It was just really neat! You can get info on tours from the Neon Museum.
Our last night we went and saw the Cirque de Soleil show Love which has the Beatles’ music in it. It was awesome. We sat next to a dutch guy who was the president of Best Western Hotels in the Netherlands. I asked him if Leep meant anything in Dutch and his wife told me it was a weird person. Sounds about right.
Pinball Hall of Fame pics coming later- check my Flickr tomorrow. In the meantime, here are the Flickr sets I’ve already posted:
Neon Boneyard- Click to see all the pics!
Halloween and the Wedding Day-Click to see all the pics!
Recent Flickr Photos
