Strange social encounters

Don't you love pictures with work colleagues?

Look at us below, we are so incredibly awkward. Bob (the guy in the middle) has no idea what to do with his arms.

Clearly he has decided touching us is out of the question. I love it.

WHAT THE FETCH?

Did anyone watch the bachelor last night?
Are you kidding me?

New York, New York

I had a great time in New York.

When I go to NY people always want to know what I did:
Did you climb the empire state building? No.
Did you go to a Broadway show? No.
Did you see the statue of Liberty? No.

I hung out with Sara, and it was fabulous.

I also learned some valuable lessons this trip that I'll share with you:

Lesson #1: I would advise against sharing a bed with your adult siblings:

My brother Rand happened to be in town for business the first night I was there. Rand is 12 years older than me, so we have never had to share a bed before. Space was tight at the NY casa, Dave hadn't joined us yet, and I couldn't convince Rand to sleep on a air mattress in the unfinished basement. So there I found myself, at 10pm, frantically borrowing PJs from Sara, and sliding into bed with my 40 year old brother wondering if it is taboo to make conversation once the lights go out. Don't get me wrong, I really love Rand. But sharing a bed with a 40 year man who is not your husband is just not natural. In fact, it was quite awkward. I wasn't the only one feeling strange about the situation. Rand suggested I sleep under the sheets and he sleep on top of the sheets. Instead, we put C's giant stuffed snake down the middle of the bed. Even with the barrier in place, I was worried I would breath too loud (as I've been accused of before), drool, or worse case, snuggle him in my sleep. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, as I didn't get a wink of sleep.

Lesson #2: I am completely out of style

I had a sneaking suspicion how out of style I was, but I figured a NY trip was just the medicine I needed. With a few key items I figured I could get my wardrobe back on track.

I was wrong.

When Sara and I walked into H&M I immediately sunk into a state of depression. There was no way anything in my closet could ever be worn with these H&M items. It would be like trying to pair a poodle skirt and cowboy boots. I felt like I was like shopping for clothes in the future.

Sara said enthusiastically "So, what do you need?"
I paused and said "everything."
Sara "everything?"
Me "everything."

I bought a new coat and called it good. I figure I can hide all my out of style clothes underneath my cute new coat. I'm always cold anyway, I'll just never take it off.

Lessons #3: I am the most inefficient grocery shopper in the world.

Watching someone else complete everyday tasks can be a real eye opener. Shock and awe do not do justice to the emotions I felt watching Sara at the grocery store. I've never seen anyone move with more velocity or precision. We may as well have been at battle. Where as I have been known to spend 10 minutes trying to pick out the best carton of strawberries, Sara gave produce a concentrated 2 second once over and then would make a decision and never look back.

As she explained "sometimes you pick the wrong one, and its OK."

It felt like super market sweep. I pretty sure Sara wasn't holding her arm out as she ran the aisles, knocking items on the shelf into her cart. But I can not for the life of me figure out how when she sent me to get one item, I returned to a cart with 30 new items in it. In 20 minutes our overflowing grocery cart was filled with ingredients for well planned and coordinated meals. I still get chills thinking about it.

Lessons #4: If you take your camera somewhere, use it.

Despite hauling my camera to each event I only took 3 pictures.



Here is Dave at Rockefeller center. After exploring Mid-town with Sara, Dave and I headed to Soho for shopping and dinner at tiny and amazing place recommended by Travis.



I snapped this picture of Sara on the way to the airport. You know. To prove that I saw her.

We had so much fun. I love Sara's kids. They having fantastic personalities. Oz may just be the fattest, most kissable baby in the world.

Sara and Travis --- thank you SO much for your hospitality. We love you and wish we could hang out more often.

"CLEAR EYES, FULL HEARTS, CAN'T LOSE!"

Let's talk shoes

Yesterday I was unpacking Dave from our recent NYC trip. I know, I'm such a good wife. As I was trying to shove Dave's shoes into his minuscule closet, I came to the conclusion he has got to downsize his shoe collection. I cite the following examples as proof:

1. In 3.5 years of marriage he has purchased 9 pairs of shoes and thrown away 1 pair. He agreed to part with the 1 pair only b/c they literally fell apart at the seams. (Translation: I threw the broken shoes away after they sat in his closet for 1 year and didn't tell him about it).
2. He has 4 pairs of shoes that will not fit in his closet. 2 pairs he is "storing" in the laundry room, 2 pairs he is "storing" in the middle of our office floor. It doesn't get more annoying than two pairs of shoes in the middle of my office.

I've tried to get Dave to part with shoes before and have never been successful. So last night I employed a new strategy. I got all his shoes out (with the exception of his pile of flip flops, a battle for another day) and lined them up in 2 groups:

To Keep
To Toss

I thought this would help Dave say good bye as it would clearly illustrate:
1. He has far more shoes than he needs or wears
2. His old shoes are dirty and nasty
3. When given the choice of all his shoes, why would he ever select a pair from the "to toss" pile?

These are the shoes I propose we GIVE AWAY:



If this was a scratch and sniff picture, it would be much more effective. Trust me - you don't want this odor in your home.

These are the shoes I propose we KEEP:



Dave's initial reaction was to give me a pained look and ask:
"Why are you doing this to me?"

Finally I got him to commit to parting with ONE pair of shoes. One. His old, nasty, new balance, mowing shoes.

Are you kidding me? He doesn't want to get rid of the Dr. Martens that were worn every day of his mission, and haven't been worn since. Why? As he put it "I might wear them one day." He doesn't want to part with the Tevas I have never seen him wear in 7 years, and seriously people...if he tried to wear these Tevas anywhere I would have to shoot him.

So please weigh in. Am I being unreasonable? What shoes would you get rid of? (Bear in mind his closet is so small he has to hang his clothes diagonally as the closet isn't as deep as the average sized hanger).

I forgot to mention...

...2 pairs of Dave's shoes came with a recent shopping trip. Just before Dave left for his training in Connecticut, he decided he needed to dress more professionally. Apparently wearing the same pair of over sized, grease stained, khaki pants every day wasn't cutting it anymore. He announced 2 Saturdays ago he was "going shopping for new work clothes."

When Dave left I hardly expected him home in 1 hour, toting the following:
-3 pairs of dress slacks
-1 dress shirt
-2 pairs of dress shoes
-2 dress belts
-6 pairs of dress socks
-1 clock radio for the shower

..all for $200. Unbelievable right? Now that is a talent.

You've got to love that my husband gets his work clothes from a place that also sells shower radios.

So cute (but sad)

Dave and Carrie just left today after a long weekend in New York. We had such a great time... we were ALL sad to see them go. I have a post or two up my sleeve about their visit, but this is a quick one. C has been plagued with bad dreams lately. Tonight as I was putting him to bed, he grabbed his blankie and said, "If I sleep with my kiki I won't have any bad dreams." Then he told me he had the "worstest bad dream" last night. I asked him what it was about, and he started sobbing. He said it was too bad to talk about, and finally I got him to tell me. In his dream, Dave had decided he didn't want to be C's friend any more. He was crying so hard he could barely talk.

It would be hard to say exactly when C's love for Dave became cemented. Could it have been:
-baseball in the park
-2 hours of Poke battles
-the Webkinz challenge
-his never-ending supply of Kit Kats
-riding on Dave's shoulders
-reading the dragon book together
-being chased by Dave all through the house with a spray bottle
-watching Dave take the oven COMPLETELY apart and put it back together, in order to fix the annoying noise it was making
-the fort they made out of Oz's crib and a few blankets
-the Primary Program (and Dave's roll in getting C to do his part)

All this in only 2.5 days. Where does Dave get the energy to be so cool? Oh yeah. Diet Pepsi.

These are a few of....

I saw this great commercial last night while indulging in Sunday night TV. Addison from Grey's Anatomy was in a loaded red Cadillac talking about her....favorite things. Also, Oprah in her magazine each month, lists her favorite things (though I think these may be influenced by advertising)

So I was thinking, what are some of my favorite things...
- Driving to work w/out hitting one red light
- when the CU students LEAVE for the summer and Christmas vacation (or even the day)
- when M says "extraordinary fella"
- when S says anything
- watching C walk one inch behind his mother when she goes anywhere
- massaging my dad and chatting
- baking
- Veronica Mars, Brothers and Sisters, My So Called Life, Felicity
- reading on the Stairmaster
- running on a hot day
- chocolate chip ANYTHING
- Hawaii with my family
- S's(the Colo one) wardrobe
- listening to Leslie my sister-in-law sing
- sitting around with Sara, Carrie, and mom AFTER the kids are in bed just chatting
- listening to any story that Sara and Carrie tell
- being with any and all of my nieces and nephews
- going to a good chick flick
- electricity
- my condo
- Boulder, Colorado
- the desserts at a potluck
- a cookie exchange (I NEVER get to go to these things)
- Christmas lights

Just a few

Threat

"If the first word the baby says is poop, I'm going to kill you."

Daylight Savings Time

Apparently Oz didn't get the memo on the extra hour of sleep. We've been up since 5.45. Ugh.

Dave's halloween creation

Life's Lessons

Yesterday after a fabulous Halloween Party for the KBVN employee's kids (somehow I ended up planning/executing when it wasn't even my idea) I cruised home to feed dad, treat the trickers and watch "Elizabeth" on the big screen.

Is it just me or have kids forgotten how to say trick-or-treat? Of the 15 or so door-knockers 70% of them just looked at me with expectant gazes. Except of the course the little girl and her brother, ages 5 and 3, who with big eyes queried "do you have anything without peanuts"? Holding my bowl of snickers I panicked and said "hold on a minute". I sashayed to the kitchen and started to forage through our candy cupboard at 655 Emporia in desperation for something w/out peanuts. All I saw was a tiger's milk bar, a Luna bar, one cert, 3 breathsavers, a couple of sesame treats, opened packs of gum and balloons. My mind raced to other alternatives, would they accept an easy mac 'n cheese, or maybe fruit snacks? Were frozen girl scout cookies from 2 years ago not an option? What about the caramels from England that mom had in the freezer dated 8/1982?

Suddenly I looked up one shelf and found a small (very worn) package of skittles, a $100,000 bar (left from Sara's visit in August) and two mini Reeses. Afraid I was taking too long I sprinted back to the door and said "here, I found these. Can you have peanut butter"? Their dad vetoed the Reeses but said the Skittles and $bar were fine. Luckily the kids smiled and seemed okay.

Lesson 1: always buy the variety pack of candy

At 8pm we turned off the porch light and descended to watch Elizabeth. Dad and I had read several Phillippa Gregory books about English Monarchs and had looked forward to this movie for a couple of weeks. Suddenly there was a very LARGE and graphic scene of Lord Norfolk and his chambermaid. Yep, right there on the BIG SCREEN in HIGH DEFINITION. Let's just say I was a little embarrassed. I hadn't even thought to look at the rating.
Lesson 2: English History is apparently R Rated.