Memorial Weekend Shenanigans in The Big Apple

Tomorrow I leave for my long weekend in the Big Apple to visit my dear friend Jordan. I have no idea what is in store for us but two girls + big city sounds like fun to me!

Books, Enchiladas, and BPA

I finished my Book Club book last night and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a laugh. The Geography of Bliss is a non-fiction book written by Eric Weiner, an NPR correspondent, who travels the world in search of the happiest places on Earth. He looked at studies of the Gross National Happiness index & visited places such as Qatar, Miami, Switzerland, and Movado.

This book had me laughing out loud and embarrassing myself on the metro and in long car rides.

On another note, today is Taco Tuesday. To spice things up a bit, we are having Enchiladas! yummy! I have been dreaming of them all day.

We always have vegetarian refried beans with our taco Tuesday evenings but now it looks like I need to find an alternative. Studies are out now that canned foods have harmful traces of BPA! Yikes! Are we ever safe from harmful chemicals? Read the article: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=116406

The One!

I found it! The ONE!

Saturday morning Kev and I went to Charleston Alexander in Bethesda to ring shop and I fell in love. The ring is a Michael M. halo engagement ring and the diamond we found was the most beautiful thing my eyeballs have ever seen. It was a perfect cut diamond that sparkled at every angle.

I thought ring shopping would be fun, which it was! But now I am a little regretful. Once I have my heart set on something, it is pretty much a done deal and now that my eyes have seen it and my heart yearns for it, I don't know what to do about it! I just need to be patient but it makes it really difficult when they use their sales tactics of, "we just got this in" or "this won't last long." It makes me want to stomp my little foot and say, "No, that is mine! Get your hands off!" But of course, I can't so now I am just left to think about it and tell about it in my blog.

My Shoe Obsession

Now that the rain has stopped in the district and it is 85 degrees outside and sunny, is it too late to break out these shoes?

As I sit here at work today, I can NOT stop thinking about shoes! I have SO MANY pairs of shoes in my closets but they still are not enough. Believe it or not, I feel as though I can't wear certain outfits because I don't have shoes to match! I am sitting here dreaming of a day (very soon) when I can go to DSW and stock up on 4 or 5 pairs to make me feel better for a few months. All I need is a free weekend to make this happen!

Until then, I wanted to post a few pairs of ridiculous shoes I found.

Feeling the Heat!

Kev & I have decided to go ring shopping!

*SCREAM* (Breath) * SCREAM* (Sigh).

Alright, now that is out of my system, I will give you more details... We have an appointment Saturday morning at Charleston Alexander in Bethesda to look at rings. I assume the purpose is to get an idea of what styles we like for "when the time comes."

Since I have never tried on rings and there are a gazillion different styles to choose from, I am already feeling overwhelmed. My taste my change once I try it on but (as of right now) my dream ring looks something like these:

They are Halo Pave Cushion Cut Engagement Rings and I am in L.O.V.E.

Babies!

Kevin came home to find the babies doing some weird & unnatural poses...

Yikes! So glad Penny is feeling better!

Risse Wedding Recap

May I introduce to the world....

Mr. & Mrs. Ryan Risse

I must say that best friend weddings are a really great excuse for our friend reunions. Look at our high school group! After all of these years, we are as close as ever!

Friends Until the Very End - Tell City High School Class of 2004!

Wedding Weekend

Wedding Weekend #3: Ryan Risse & Kassie Zellers
Tell City, IN
May 15, 2010

Congratulations Ryan! One more day as a single man!

Best Wishes to Kassie & Ryan on a life full of happiness and fun!

I am so thankful for the reunion of the Fab 5! Man, I have missed these ladies!!

Shear Madness

Date Night @ The Kennedy Center

to see...

I feel like a pedophile!

I do not have much to report on today but wanted to recommend three sites to check out if you find yourself bored and near a computer. I want to make sure you are aware that they are highly addictive...and don't say I didn't warn you!

www.myhusbandisannoying.com

www.lamebook.com

www.failblog.org

Book Review - The Mermaid Chair

I finished the Mermaid Chair last week and was glad to finally finish it. I thought it would be a quick beach read but after "She's Come undone" and "The Glass Castle," I could not get into it. I would rate it a 5 out of 10, which means it was ok. The book was readable and perfect for a time when you don't want to use your brain in any way. It doesn't stimulate conversation and the characters aren't all that memorable. Sue Monk Kidd has a big fan base because of her book "the secret life of bees," which I found to also be an ok read. I was definitely not swept away like some of her other readers.

I am now reading The Thirteenth Tale. I am very intrigued. This book has earned high marks in the press and among readers on my social networks, such as Goodreads.com. It is supposed to be a very good read so we shall see. I am only about 100 pages deep so will hopefully have an update within the next week or so.

Dehydration = IVs

I had a big scare this weekend and landed in the Emergency Room! On Saturday, I thought I was suffering from a really bad hang over after a night in Georgetown watching a movie and grabbing drinks with Sister. As the day progressed, I got worse. I could not keep anything down! I kept throwing up whatever entered my mouth. I tried to metro home but once I changed to the red line at Chinatown, my body started shaking and I felt like I was going to pass out. After thinking food would be the cure, I hopped off the metro and headed to McDonald's. After one bite of a french fry caused me to throw up, I headed to Starbucks for a smoothie and water. Again, I couldn't keep it down. Once Kevin got to me, I was shaking and freezing. I felt nauseated and light headed so we headed to the ER. After 3 hours and 2 IV bags, I found out I had a gastro-intestinal bug. Yuck! Talk about coincidental timing!

After medication and lots and lots of sleep, I can happily report that I am feeling much better!

Kick Ass

Tonight Kev & I are going to see the movie Kick Ass. We will pick up a quick bite to eat and then head to the movie theater. I will provide a review of the movie tomorrow. To be honest, I had no interest in seeing this movie until we heard a review on a radio show and now we are going. The previews make it look like a terrible movie so my expectations are very low.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We are having a celebration at work today complete with margaritas, Corona, & a Nacho Bar from Qdoba! Yummy!

Do you know what Cinco de Mayo is? I didn't so I looked it up and found that it celebrates the 1862 Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla and is more of a U.S. holiday than a Mexican one. Basically, it gained its popularity int eh 80s when marketers, especially beer companies capitalized on the celebratory nature of the holiday.

I really do not understand this holiday. I am so sick of getting asked, "Are you doing anything tonight to celebrate?" What? Celebrate what? For one, I am not Mexican. For two, it is when the Mexicans beat the French in a War. Since I am French and completely opposed to warfare, why in the world would I celebrate? I am happy about the break in the work day to eat, drink, and be merry but I don't see myself making an evening of it.

Around the World - Bits of News

CNN.com reports that there are at least 11 people dead in the devastating floods in Nashville, TN. The floods have forced nursing homes and hotels to evacuate and turned common city streets and parking lots into rivers! Tennessee has seen 6 to 20 inches of rain in the past three days and it is still raining. There is literally no where for the rain to go! One of the Fab 5 girls lives in Nashville. I got an email from her today that she is fine and surviving the flooding. Thank goodness!

There was a grisly murder at UVA - an all star lacrosse player killed his on again, off again girlfriend, who was also a star lacrosse player. He comes from a very prominent family here in Chevy Chase, MD and she is from the Baltimore area. News sources say that her roommate found her and called the police reporting that her roommate was not breathing and thought it was an alcohol poisoning related incident. Since her body had numerous marks on it, an overdose of alcohol just didn't make sense. It is recently reported that the guy, George, turned himself in and confessed to the murder. In times like these, you can only pray for the strength of her family and friends.

By law he is "innocent until proven guilty" but this is my blog so I can say what I want! What a monster!!!! It saddens me that cases like this is where the justice system fails! He is the type of kid who was raised with a silver spoon in his mouth and will have mommy and daddy's money to help him get the best lawyers so that he isn't treated like the criminal that he is! Virginia has the death penalty but like so many other rich citizens, I am sure they will find a loop hole that only gives him a few years in prison. I will be watching this story very closely because I hope that I am wrong about him and his sentencing I would LOVE to see the justice system actually work!

I am not a proponent of the death penalty but I do know that if the victim was my sister or my daughter, I would not rest until I knew that he and his family suffered loss too! An eye for an eye!

Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch!

Right before we left for the Dominican last week, we SOLD the house. Kevin & I had countless conversations on our next steps and were very excited to move forward in our relationship. Unfortunately, once we got back from our relaxing vacation, we found out that the buyers got cold feet and pulled out after the home inspection. Now, it is back on the market! The good news is that we have people in and out of there every single day. The bad news is that I just want it to be SOLD! I am so sick of open houses and people dropping by because I can never really relax at home.

Please keep your fingers and toes crossed that our luck will turn and we will sell our house!

Textionships are the Greatest!

Today is the two year anniversary of me and my love! Our relationship started as a "textionship." A little term I coined to describe our relationship in the beginning because we heavily communicated through email and text messaging.

After a series of "non-dates," I fell in LOVE on February 14, 2008 on the drive home from a Burlesque show we attended together. When he dropped me off at my house and kissed my cheek, I knew I was hopelessly in love!

Kevin asked me out on May 4th 2008 through a Monk-e-mail. It was the cutest thing! Things moved quickly and that September, we moved in together and things have been a dream ever since. He is my biggest supporter and I honestly could not imagine how my life would be without him in it.