French rude and their hotels smell
So, my favorite part of this article is the headline! I’ve stayed in a couple dilapidated French hotels- none that smelled though. French rude and their hotels smell
Kristen Leep
My days. My nights. My life. Lived well.
Archive for December, 2007
List Of The Day: Great Olan Mills photos
List Of The Day: Great Olan Mills photos
Man o man, these are freakin’ awesome! I love the captions! I have many Olan Mills photos from my childhood. I’ll have to dig some up and post them. I laughed my butt off the both times I’ve looked through this list. The first time when I was alone I snorted from laughing so hard. Then I showed them to Rob and still laughed so hard I had to get my breath. Enjoy!
You Got to Have Friends
So, this holiday season has been a whirlwind! But it has probably been one of my more favorite years on record. Not so much for the loot- although it was pretty sweet- but for the general cheer and the getting to hang out with our friends and family.The Friday before Christmas we ended up at our friends Steve and Jamie’s house. It was an impromptu party organized over the internet during the day. It was good to be surrounded by good friends.Then on Saturday we met Jeff and Carrie at The BAR at the Broad Ripple Steakhouse for a couple martinis. It was good to see them, and we can’t wait to go to their wedding in L.A. this fall!Sunday, we headed up to South Bend to my parents’ house. The day of Christmas Eve I was woken by a wonderful phone call- Joe (my best man) and Carisse got engaged in Paris! I knew it was coming, but it was still exciting knowing she had the ring. Congrats, you two! Then Rob and I picked up pies, switched my car, ate at Bob Evans, and wrapped a few last-minute gifts. Then we trekked to Angola for Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. The kids were super cute and the Swedish potato sausage was tasty. Dylan got a toy piano and he played and sang us some songs. After we got back to South Bend, we went to Zoë’s and hung out with her family after catching the tail-end of their mostly annual Christmas Eve party.
Rob and I ended up wth the largest gift- a giant cartoon made from a couple photos from our wedding rehearsal. There was only one place to hang it when Jimmy brought it down to us (it wouldn’t fit in my Subaru Outback) this weekend- our entryway!
Then it was off to Greenfield on Christmas morning where again the gifts were lovely and the company was good.
Rob gave me a Nelson spindle clock at his parents’ house and his mom made both of us stockings, which can all be seen in this picture:
Then on the 27th it was practically a Warren Central HS reunion when we met up with Rob’s friends Lyle and Catherine, who coordinated a get together at the Broad Ripple Brewpub. Good friends were in abundance as we hung out with Carly and Kevin, Amanda and Neal, Matt and Pooyan, and too many other cool people to list.Anyway, I’m still pretty beat, but I have managed to be fairly productive since the festivities died down. And I feel another big burst of energy coming this week; the New Year can be super energizing!As always, there are more pictures over at my Flickr page. I post a lot of stuff over there and never refernce it here, so you should think about bookmarking my Flickr page or adding me as a contact if you have a Flickr account.
Favorite Christmas Albums
So, I’ve been a little under the weather the past few days and my mom came to help out around the house yesteray, so no posts. But as I promised before, here are my picks for best Christmas Albums. These are the ones you can buy and put them on and just let them play straight through.
- Bing Crosby- White Christmas
I don’t know if it gets any better than this album for a classic Christmas. In my eyes, Bing is the King of Christmas. Plus, the Andrews Sisters are on it, and it has one of my favorite Christmas songs ever- “Mele Kalikimaka”. - Vince Guaraldi Trio- A Charlie Brown Christmas
The only reason this comes in at number 2 is because it doesn’t have the singalong quality that Bing does. However, it does give you the opportunity to dance like a Peanuts character. - Various Artists-A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector
There are so many gems on this record. It is definitely of a time and tons of fun. It’s so darn upbeat and poppy. I can’t get enough of Ronnie Spector or Darlene Love on this album. - Various Artists-A Very Special Christmas
Many of the modern rockin’ Christmas classics you know and love come from this album. It really is a great album. It seems like this one became a classic pretty fast with Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Run DMC. - The Three Suns- A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas (click here for a download link to a ZIP file of MP3s)
This one is a realtively new addition to my repertoire. I didn’t know about this album until I met Rob and now I don’t know if Christmas would be the same without it. It’s great for wrapping presents and feeling like you’re in a Technicolor movie.
BONUS: Watch the Peanuts kids dance and pick your favorite dance to do!
Worst Christmas Song EVER
I give you “The Christmas Shoes”- which apparently they made a TV Movie out of? Ugh. It’s bad…really bad.
My Top 20 Christmas Songs
I don’t know if you know how much I love Christmas music. I have quite a bit of it. Rob thinks it’s weird that I like Christmas music so much. Today I give you my Top 20 favorite Christmas songs (this year, it tends to move around a bit year by year). Tomorrow, I will give you my top Christmas albums. Share your favorite Christmas songs in the comments!
- Do They Know It’s Christmas- Band Aid (not the newer one)
This is seriously my favorite Christmas song ever. Plus there’s a big celebrity singalong you can be a part of at the end. - Mele Kalikimaka- Bing Crosby
I don’t know if it gets any better than Bing for Christmas…well Band Aid, I suppose, but Bing Crosby’s Christmas album is my go-to album, and this si my favorite track off of it. - Sleigh Ride- Leroy Anderson
You know this one. It’s the instrumental that gets slightly swingy in the second verse. Love it! - Last Christmas- Wham!
I think the worst part about this is when George Michael says that he’s not surprised his lover from last year doesn’t recognize him because it has been a year. A year! I love this song though… - White Christmas- The Drifters
I don’t know how Clyde McPhatter and his bunch found a way to improve on a Christmas classic, but they did. Dare I say, I may even like this one more than the original. Maybe, I mean Bing is the King of Christmas. - All I Want for Christmas is You- Mariah Carey
I’m not normally a Mariah Carey fan, but damn, this is one catchy song. I think its genius lies in the fact that it sounds like something written for the Ronettes or an old Phil Spector-produced girl group. It sounds like a remake. And apparently it hit the Top 10 this year. - This Christmas- Donny Hathaway
I love this song. It’s got a nice easy groove and it’s heartfelt without being schlocky or overdone. - Blue Christmas-Elvis Presley
A classic. Simple and effective. - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)-Darlene Love
Phil Spector back when his crazy was a little more genius than murderous. Not only that, but it was hard to narrow it down to just one Phil Spector-produced song, but this one is so good. Plus, it has a great cover by U2. - Merry Christmas Baby- Otis Redding
Every day deserves an Otis Redding song, and Christmas is no different. - The Christmas Song- Nat King Cole
I have to go with the classic here, although the Mel Torme version is probably equally as classic- and Torme wrote the song. - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day- Wizzard
This one isn’t that well-known here in the US and my real exposure to it came from living in London. It ends with a choir of kids, which is always a good thing. And it really conveys the joy of Christmas. I DO wish it could be Christmas every day, but we all know that’s unrealistic because then Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas. - Carol of the Bells- Traditional
I just love this one…it has such a sense of urgency. - O Come All Ye Faithful- Carol Brady (Florence Henderson)
I live for watching the episode of The Brady Bunch when Mom Brady gets her voice back after Cindy asks Santa for it. It gets me every time I hear Carol Brady sing. - Let It Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!- Dean Martin
Just a nice, easy swingin’ version. Love Dean Martin on this. - Merry Christmas Darlin’- The Carpenters
I love to sing along to this and pretend that my voice is as velvety as Karen Carpenter’s. It’s not. I never liked this song until I met Rob G. I think it may fall of the list next year, because it’s kind of depressing. I may have to go back to my old favorite depressing Christmas song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. - Christmas in Hollis- Run DMC
It’s a cute story about Santa leaving a couple mil for Run. DMC’s mom cooks chicken, collard greens, and rice….not potatoes. - Baby, It’s Cold Outside- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong or Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews
This song is so fun. I honestly don’t know whose version I like better. I mean, I like the Louis and Ella one, but the Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews one is so campy and fun and over-the-top. - I’ll Be Home for Christmas- Frank Sinatra
I really like this version as it’s an interesting arrangement combining background singers humming “Silent Night” - Christmas Wrapping- The Waitresses
Gal decides to beat stress by celebrating Christmas alone, then runs to the grocery and happens to be behind the guy she’s had her eye on all year, and they end up spending Christmas together. It’s Christmas Magic!
“There are no books in Johnny’s room.”
So, this cold and blustery winter day just got a lot better for laying in bed. I found the last hour of Dirty Dancing on Encore. Score! Nobody puts Baby in a corner!
Toro Toro Toro
So, I am totally convinced that even though I paid a $50 (17%) premium on an in-stock snowblower at a local store that it was worth every penny. And I am also totally convinced that I made the right decision getting the electric snowblower over a gas one. It’s light and makes quick work of the snow. It only clogged about 3 times and that was at the end when I was doing cleanup in some already-thrown banked snow, but it was easy to clear. It worked pretty well and it was pretty cheap. Plus, it’s a Toro. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its quirks, but for something I’ll probably use about 8 times a year- and maybe less in the future with global warming- I am happy.
I have to say that the Snowpocalypse was faking us out pretty good last night. I thought the white death was going to end up the clear death because it was all rainy and then it started freezing. There was a nice layer of ice under the snow on our front steps. It was really satisfying to pour the salt on it and hear it crackle. 
Before- note the line on the left where you an see where I cleared about 2-3 inches off the driveway yesterday.
After
The latticework:
It’s a winter wonderland!
Take That, Snowpocalypse!
So, we live at the bottom of a hill (my last driveway was uphill and I would sometimes have to get a running start in my neighbor’s driveway across the street to get up the hill when it was icy- before I learned about low gear LOL). Anyway, we decided that it was time to not be at the mercy of the plow anymore. Plus, I don’t want to get sued. Because it is the responsibility of the property owner to clear snow and ice and if someone falls they can sue you. It varies by city, but you usually have 24 hours after the snow has stopped to clear the ice and snow (or somewhere it was within 6 hours of daylight after the snow has stopped falling). And if you live with a city sidewalk in front of you, it’s usually your civic duty to clear it. They can sue you for not clearing wet leaves too. Anyway, I don’t want the mailman or UPS guy to fall. Now the solicitors on the other hand can bite it, and they couldn’t sue because they would be uninvited.
Anyway, I went out this morning and tracked down a snow blower. I had already used Home Depot’s online product finder before I left to find that Home Depot didn’t have any suitable ones in stock. So I went to Lowe’s first. They had none. Then I went to this local place and they had a power shovel and a bunch of gas snowblowers starting at $699. I didn’t want a gas snow blower because we’d have to keep it in the garage year-round and that would take up too much space. Plus, I didn’t want to worry about keeping gas and oil around to mix to use it. I went to the grocery store for some waffle mix (I bought a circus waffle maker at Tuesday Morning between hardware stores while I was out and I made waffles for breakfast this morning after I got back). Then I went to this other independent hardware stores and they had none- not even a spot where they used to be, but were sold out. However, they did have a nice LGB Train layout by the Christmas trees and they had a couple of the same trains and cars I have.
Finally, I decided I would go back to local store #1 and just get the power shovel and call it a day. Well, when I got there, I saw they had the electric snow blower I was looking for after all the gas blowers had cleared out. I ended up paying a $50 premium to the local store over what I would have paid at Home Depot, but it’s a local store and they had them in stock and Home Depot didn’t. So now check out my clean driveway!
Snowpocalypse
Thanks to Matt for the photo via xtra-rant.com. This is released on a CC license, redistribute, by attribution, free to remix, non-commercial
So, whenever it snows here Rob always warns of the coming Snowpocalypse because the chance of snow is seriously the lead story on the news for days before. It’s supposed to snow tomorrow and we’re supposed to get 4-8 inches. Now, for someone from South Bend, like me, I’m all “Eh.” I mean, I know how to drive in the stuff, so that doesn’t intimidate me. Although down here because it’s slightly warmer, there is usually more ice. But seriously, the world stops.
So, tomorrow we’ll probably be doing more stuff around the house and wrap some Christmas presents. This is the first ear I have ever been done so early. It’s weird, but it’s good. I guess the Guernseys are rubbing off on me. I have plenty of food after a recent trip to Trader Joe’s and I am looking forward to drinking hot chocolate and playing with the kitties.
I live life well.
I feel like I live my life well, and this blogs serves to help me remember life's awesome moments and lets me reflect on some not-so-awesome ones. I'm a work in progress, but I take having fun very seriously. Whatever reason you're here, I hope you don't think it's a waste of time. Nothing but love.
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