Update on the Crossroads Circle fox(es): he, or they, is, or are, alive and well.
Nobody has seen hide nor hair of Mr. Fox (we'll assume it's a gentleman fox until proven otherwise) all week. On my way into the building I noticed some scatological evidence of the fox's presence over the weekend. But I couldn't be sure how recent it was, if you catch my drift.
Upon taking my lunch-time stroll around the office park on Wednesday, I happened to see some tracks in the freshly fallen snow. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, since I know we surely have raccoons, squirrels, and rabbits in the area. But based upon basic nature observations gained throughout my life, I quickly deduced that the gait demonstrated in these tracks was not right for a raccoon, with its short front legs and big fat hindquarters. And I surely knew the tracks were too large and wrongly spaced to be from rabbits or squirrels.
The tracks seemed very similar to those left by my dog, only neater - if that makes sense - and smaller. Since foxes are canines, this was enough to convince me that these are indeed the footprints of our fox friend (or his fox friends and family)!
I passed them at first, thinking not much of them, but upon further reflection I decided to have a little fun and try to track the fox. Perhaps I could find out where he's been resting, other than our building's mulch! It appears that the fox was using the walking path part of the time, which was clear of snow by the time I was using it. So his tracks would weave in and out, appearing here, disappearing into the sidewalk, then emerging some 10 feet down the path.
He seemed interested in walking up to each small tree that lines the path - maybe to sniff it, or to mark it. Or possibly to check for prey? The fox clearly has a very comfortable run of the entire business park - I followed his trail across the parking lots and landscaping of 5 different buildings, which makes up about half of the area, before I got too cold and headed inside.
I traced the tracks back through the lot of one business to the place where some landscaping and a small forest separate the business park from a retirement community to the south made up of a few multi-story apartment buildings. Judging by the large number of dumpsters in the area, as well as the slightly wooded terrain, I am guessing Mr. Fox has been dining happily on mice (or rats!) for quite some time, only becoming noticeable as the fall foliage has disappeared.
I'd love to go back over there sometime when there aren't so many people around, though I doubt I can convince anyone to make the trip over to my work on a weekend just to traipse about in the snow with me. I would love to explore the parking lots and the big empty field to the west without the scrutiny of the buildings' tenants.
Alas, I'm sure I won't discover the fox's den. Perhaps I won't even see him again. But I feel privileged to have gotten the few close glimpses that I did! Carry on, Mr. Fox!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Pipe Dreams
If I were a kajillionaire, what would I do?
I would donate a good amount of money to causes that I believe in. I would donate to museums, schools and libraries.
I would pay off my family members' and friends' mortgages and college bills, or at least make a sizable contribution.
I would employ a personal hairdresser and massage therapist, not every day but maybe the massage once a week and the hair dresser every other day. I really hate washing my hair - it would be awesome to have someone else wash and style my hair (or at least do a blow-out). It's so thick and it's such a chore!
I would invest in a nicer wardrobe - nothing ridiculous, but maybe spending $30 on a shirt here and there instead of $5. Making the choice to buy quality that will last and always be in style over cheap, trendy items. Especially when it comes to shoes.
I would pay off the house we live in now, and either use some money to renovate things we're not 100% happy with (kitchen, basement, upstairs bathroom, electrical, new windows, yard, build on a sun porch with French doors...) or buy a new house in an awesome area that fits our needs more exactly. But I wouldn't buy a huge-ass house. Just doesn't seem necessary, and I'm a person who likes smaller, cozy rooms rather than giant tall ceilings and open-concept floor plans. Give me a rabbit warren instead of a cathedral any day!
Once a month, I would dine out and pay for a random person's dinner. And of course I would tip generously.
I'd continue to work, but since I'd be a kajillionaire I could focus on doing work that speaks to me and has meaning to me rather than just working someplace to pay the bills. Perhaps we could do something awesome like open an animal shelter, a youth center, or just running the coolest used books and miscellany store ever.
I would preserve historic buildings and protect wildlife. I would visit museums more often and I would travel more. I would take some college courses in the subjects I'm truly interested in, maybe getting a Master's degree in whatever my final muse ends up being.
I think we are all continually learning and changing - it's ludicrous to ask someone to decide what they want to do with the next 40 to 70 years of their life at the ripe old age of 18 (or younger). There are so many things I would change if I had the chance.
I would donate a good amount of money to causes that I believe in. I would donate to museums, schools and libraries.
I would pay off my family members' and friends' mortgages and college bills, or at least make a sizable contribution.
I would employ a personal hairdresser and massage therapist, not every day but maybe the massage once a week and the hair dresser every other day. I really hate washing my hair - it would be awesome to have someone else wash and style my hair (or at least do a blow-out). It's so thick and it's such a chore!
I would invest in a nicer wardrobe - nothing ridiculous, but maybe spending $30 on a shirt here and there instead of $5. Making the choice to buy quality that will last and always be in style over cheap, trendy items. Especially when it comes to shoes.
I would pay off the house we live in now, and either use some money to renovate things we're not 100% happy with (kitchen, basement, upstairs bathroom, electrical, new windows, yard, build on a sun porch with French doors...) or buy a new house in an awesome area that fits our needs more exactly. But I wouldn't buy a huge-ass house. Just doesn't seem necessary, and I'm a person who likes smaller, cozy rooms rather than giant tall ceilings and open-concept floor plans. Give me a rabbit warren instead of a cathedral any day!
Once a month, I would dine out and pay for a random person's dinner. And of course I would tip generously.
I'd continue to work, but since I'd be a kajillionaire I could focus on doing work that speaks to me and has meaning to me rather than just working someplace to pay the bills. Perhaps we could do something awesome like open an animal shelter, a youth center, or just running the coolest used books and miscellany store ever.
I would preserve historic buildings and protect wildlife. I would visit museums more often and I would travel more. I would take some college courses in the subjects I'm truly interested in, maybe getting a Master's degree in whatever my final muse ends up being.
I think we are all continually learning and changing - it's ludicrous to ask someone to decide what they want to do with the next 40 to 70 years of their life at the ripe old age of 18 (or younger). There are so many things I would change if I had the chance.
Monday, December 17, 2012
A Fox Jumped Up
I know I have been a bit sporadic with my updates here. Sorry about that!
First a housekeeping note: If you want to know what I think of Friday's terrible shootings, you can talk to me in person or via chat or whatever. It's not my place to spout off about it on the internet, and I'm not going to. I am not an expert and I do not have all the facts.
In happier news, we saw a fox at my work last week! He showed up for several days in a row - he seems to like to bed down in the mulch around the building. When my coworkers and I arrive at work we wake him up, I think. He wasn't there this morning, though. Hope he's okay. Here is a photo that my talented coworker Jon Good snagged of him:
In other work-related news, my boss came back from maternity leave last week so I finally have some leadership again! Also I found out there is no one doing Customer Marketing on "the other side of the mirror" at JDA, so I have no evil mirror twin to compete against for my job. It's still a toss up whether I'll stay or go on January 7, however. The "new company" could decide I'm dead weight and an extra mouth to feed, or they could decide that I've got value but only as a References worker again, or they could say "Customer Marketing? What a phenomenal idea! Let's put lots of effort into growing that program over the next two years." So 2/3 I keep my job, 1/3 I lose it I guess. Maybe the odds are slightly in my favor.
Otherwise things are mostly fine on my end. We had a disappointing attempt at installing a new bathroom fan, which we have declared a fool's errand. That project has been scrapped. We got some of those Instabulbs while at Bed Bath & Beyond, and this has actually been a cost-effective "solution" to our light-less basement stairwell. For now, anyway. Where there once was no light, there is now something. It's a soft, dim light but it's bright enough to see the stairs, which is all I require of it. I like that if I wanted to I could carry it down the stairs with me, but it's also not necessary since I can now see all the way to the bottom! I'm happy with it for $10 for 2 of them.
Got pretty much all the Christmas gifts bought and wrapped. Oddly not looking forward to Christmas very much, though. Bummer.
First a housekeeping note: If you want to know what I think of Friday's terrible shootings, you can talk to me in person or via chat or whatever. It's not my place to spout off about it on the internet, and I'm not going to. I am not an expert and I do not have all the facts.
In happier news, we saw a fox at my work last week! He showed up for several days in a row - he seems to like to bed down in the mulch around the building. When my coworkers and I arrive at work we wake him up, I think. He wasn't there this morning, though. Hope he's okay. Here is a photo that my talented coworker Jon Good snagged of him:
In other work-related news, my boss came back from maternity leave last week so I finally have some leadership again! Also I found out there is no one doing Customer Marketing on "the other side of the mirror" at JDA, so I have no evil mirror twin to compete against for my job. It's still a toss up whether I'll stay or go on January 7, however. The "new company" could decide I'm dead weight and an extra mouth to feed, or they could decide that I've got value but only as a References worker again, or they could say "Customer Marketing? What a phenomenal idea! Let's put lots of effort into growing that program over the next two years." So 2/3 I keep my job, 1/3 I lose it I guess. Maybe the odds are slightly in my favor.
Otherwise things are mostly fine on my end. We had a disappointing attempt at installing a new bathroom fan, which we have declared a fool's errand. That project has been scrapped. We got some of those Instabulbs while at Bed Bath & Beyond, and this has actually been a cost-effective "solution" to our light-less basement stairwell. For now, anyway. Where there once was no light, there is now something. It's a soft, dim light but it's bright enough to see the stairs, which is all I require of it. I like that if I wanted to I could carry it down the stairs with me, but it's also not necessary since I can now see all the way to the bottom! I'm happy with it for $10 for 2 of them.
Got pretty much all the Christmas gifts bought and wrapped. Oddly not looking forward to Christmas very much, though. Bummer.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Thanksgiving Leftovers Wrap-Up
Sorry it's been a couple weeks since Thanksgiving and I haven't offered a decent report on those events!
As many of you most likely know, my birthday fell over Thanksgiving weekend this year (it's usually sometime around Thanksgiving). I had a fabulous string of birthday-related events, starting with a wonderful surprise Team Trivia night on Wednesday with Super Husband, Alex and Kate and our favorite server Mindy. I certainly wasn't expecting that! They had party hats and a balloon and we all had some drinks, plus Super Husband got me cupcakes. Hooray! That was tons of fun and a nice way to unwind before Thanksgiving family stress.
Of course we had our turkey and ate it, too. Our main Thanksgiving event with Super Husband's mom was very pleasant, and the fabulous weather didn't hurt! Afterward I hopped over to my parents' house for a family birthday party, which included an Amazing Happy Birthday Candle that looks like a flower, which opens, makes sparks, and plays music as the candles burn down. It was like the 4th of July on a birthday cake. Pure awesome.
That was pretty show-stopping, and both Super Husband and I received some fabulous gifts as well. I've been a bad person and haven't posted any pictures taken since Thanksgiving, and neglected to actually take any at Thanksgiving at all. But I will get those up! The mugs my sister in law Blair gave us are adorable and I've already had hot chocolate in one of them!
We did a little self-gifting too, making the effort to go Black Friday shopping at OfficeMax so Super Husband could get himself a new computer for cheap and we could nab a printer for his mom and a tiny flash drive for my sister. I actually didn't get myself anything but I don't need anything, having just had a wedding and birthday and still having Christmas coming up! I'm living in an embarrassment of gift wealth right now.
One "gift" I "gave" myself was a new cell phone, long overdue (same phone since 2008). It actually still works pretty well, but I wanted to join the 21st century and be able to text, and since it was a flip phone it was not ideal for that purpose. Plus it was starting to just not have the alarm go off, despite being set. Not okay! I need to wake up for work, phone.
This seemingly simple quest to get a new phone turned into a huge waste of time involving dragging my technophobe father and my tech-savvy brother in law to the "Verizon" store nearest to my parents' house, only to discover that this was but a mere authorized dealer, not a true Verizon corporate-run store. So the best they could do was sell you devices and call customer service for you to set stuff up. Thanks, I can do all that myself. To add to their uselessness, they didn't even have the phone I'd chosen in stock, and refused to order it for me despite the fact that it was still prominently on display, since it is now considered "obsolete". But I was told I could go online via Verizon's website and order it for myself, which is what I ended up doing.
But only after I sat on the phone with my dad and got designated as an Account Manager so that they'll let me do anything involving the account. See, I'm still on a Family Share Plan from back in 2006, with no data, and up until recently no texting. I had every intention of signing up for my own account, taking my number with me, and getting a smart phone for myself but when it came out to like $120 per month for one person, one device, one small data plan, I said no thanks.
Maybe if I weren't facing a potential lay-off within the next month I'd have gone for it, but it seems ridiculous to have to pay that when I know other people in my family have smart phone plans with two people, two devices plus a hotspot device/service, and they pay about the same amount. What. The. F.
I know this is all part of their pyramid scheme, just like DirecTV or the cable company. The new people get slapped with the higher prices while the long-time customers keep paying their lower contract rate. To add insult to injury, once I finally ordered my wonderous new device, I was coldly informed that there would be an upgrade fee of $30. Despite the fact that I signed on for another 2-year contract and thus got a "free" phone, and have been "due" for a new "free" phone for 4 years. Since April 2012, for all device "upgrades", be they replacing an old-ass phone or just getting the latest and greatest smart phone to replace the one you got last month, you pay $30.
Thank you, Verizon. Well, here it is: the majestic and functional LG Extravert. It actually suits my needs and use patterns quite well and it's a nice, snappy little phone. But man I had to fight to get my hands on it about a week after I visited the store! I know, it looks like the phone everyone else got 6 years ago. Don't burst my bubble!
After that big disappointment, leaving the Verizon store empty-handed and downtrodden (first world problems), Super Husband and I met up with my dear ladies Caitlin and Sarah for some comforting pizza to binge upon. We ate at Maciano's in Rockford, which none of us had been to before. I Yelped about it here, but suffice to say it was delicious. But all too short! Everyone was tired - Sarah had just come off a 12 hour Black Friday shift, we'd been up all night shopping, and Caitlin had clinicals the next morning. It was still lovely to see them and I'm hoping they'll be available again soon!
After pizza coma, we foolishly enticed my sister and her husband to go to see "Skyfall" with us at 10:10 p.m. I didn't know what to expect and am only a casual Bond film viewer, so my perspective is skewed. But I enjoyed it. It was different than other Bond movies. More psychological and less power-hungry bad guys motivated by greed.
I won't give away any spoilers, but I would like to ask if anyone who is a Bond fan or has seen the movie at least can explain the whole Skyfall thing to me. What's with that? Is it something they made up just for this movie, or did it come from a book? What does it even mean? Seems like a weird name for what it is in the movie. (If you've seen it, you know.)
After the madness of staying up forever and a half, we had an early-ish morning on Saturday that was made better by bacon and waffles (my birthday breakfast request at Nick's mom's house). That was terrific! (No one says terrific anymore unless they're using it negatively - I'd like to change that!) Unfortunately we had to sort of dine and dash, but I received some more lovely gifts. In particular, a book about the American Museum of Natural History's taxidermy dioramas (how they were made, the people and the expeditions behind them, how the art was done, etc) that I find completely fascinating. That book got me through the drive home!
I got to meet up with Kayla and Ali for drinks at Cafe Hollander later that night, and then we all did some ill-advised midnight bowling (despite, again, being very tired). I appreciate them coming out and making the trip! I had a nice time.
The weeks since then have been filled with the usual routine, plus a visit from the electrician for a new Coca-Cola ceiling fan (pictures to come sometime) and lots of gift buying and wrapping. I'm going for a "give modestly but generously" thing this year. Not sure how that works, but basically trying not to spend a lot of money while also giving nice, personal gifts to everyone. I hope it works out.
And Alex, Kate & Kayla came by on Sunday! Maybe I should start calling them "AKK" for short (not sure how they'd feel about that...). We had pasta, chocolate fondue and played Cards Against Humanity, plus there was lots of wine. Pretty dang good way to end the weekend/start the week!
As many of you most likely know, my birthday fell over Thanksgiving weekend this year (it's usually sometime around Thanksgiving). I had a fabulous string of birthday-related events, starting with a wonderful surprise Team Trivia night on Wednesday with Super Husband, Alex and Kate and our favorite server Mindy. I certainly wasn't expecting that! They had party hats and a balloon and we all had some drinks, plus Super Husband got me cupcakes. Hooray! That was tons of fun and a nice way to unwind before Thanksgiving family stress.
Of course we had our turkey and ate it, too. Our main Thanksgiving event with Super Husband's mom was very pleasant, and the fabulous weather didn't hurt! Afterward I hopped over to my parents' house for a family birthday party, which included an Amazing Happy Birthday Candle that looks like a flower, which opens, makes sparks, and plays music as the candles burn down. It was like the 4th of July on a birthday cake. Pure awesome.
 |
| The candle starts out like this (credit to some person's Instagram)... |
 |
| ... then finishes in a blaze of glory like this! (Again, some person's Instagram via Amazon) |
We did a little self-gifting too, making the effort to go Black Friday shopping at OfficeMax so Super Husband could get himself a new computer for cheap and we could nab a printer for his mom and a tiny flash drive for my sister. I actually didn't get myself anything but I don't need anything, having just had a wedding and birthday and still having Christmas coming up! I'm living in an embarrassment of gift wealth right now.
One "gift" I "gave" myself was a new cell phone, long overdue (same phone since 2008). It actually still works pretty well, but I wanted to join the 21st century and be able to text, and since it was a flip phone it was not ideal for that purpose. Plus it was starting to just not have the alarm go off, despite being set. Not okay! I need to wake up for work, phone.
This seemingly simple quest to get a new phone turned into a huge waste of time involving dragging my technophobe father and my tech-savvy brother in law to the "Verizon" store nearest to my parents' house, only to discover that this was but a mere authorized dealer, not a true Verizon corporate-run store. So the best they could do was sell you devices and call customer service for you to set stuff up. Thanks, I can do all that myself. To add to their uselessness, they didn't even have the phone I'd chosen in stock, and refused to order it for me despite the fact that it was still prominently on display, since it is now considered "obsolete". But I was told I could go online via Verizon's website and order it for myself, which is what I ended up doing.
But only after I sat on the phone with my dad and got designated as an Account Manager so that they'll let me do anything involving the account. See, I'm still on a Family Share Plan from back in 2006, with no data, and up until recently no texting. I had every intention of signing up for my own account, taking my number with me, and getting a smart phone for myself but when it came out to like $120 per month for one person, one device, one small data plan, I said no thanks.
Maybe if I weren't facing a potential lay-off within the next month I'd have gone for it, but it seems ridiculous to have to pay that when I know other people in my family have smart phone plans with two people, two devices plus a hotspot device/service, and they pay about the same amount. What. The. F.
I know this is all part of their pyramid scheme, just like DirecTV or the cable company. The new people get slapped with the higher prices while the long-time customers keep paying their lower contract rate. To add insult to injury, once I finally ordered my wonderous new device, I was coldly informed that there would be an upgrade fee of $30. Despite the fact that I signed on for another 2-year contract and thus got a "free" phone, and have been "due" for a new "free" phone for 4 years. Since April 2012, for all device "upgrades", be they replacing an old-ass phone or just getting the latest and greatest smart phone to replace the one you got last month, you pay $30.
Thank you, Verizon. Well, here it is: the majestic and functional LG Extravert. It actually suits my needs and use patterns quite well and it's a nice, snappy little phone. But man I had to fight to get my hands on it about a week after I visited the store! I know, it looks like the phone everyone else got 6 years ago. Don't burst my bubble!
 |
| LG Extravert, photo courtesy of CNET.com |
After pizza coma, we foolishly enticed my sister and her husband to go to see "Skyfall" with us at 10:10 p.m. I didn't know what to expect and am only a casual Bond film viewer, so my perspective is skewed. But I enjoyed it. It was different than other Bond movies. More psychological and less power-hungry bad guys motivated by greed.
I won't give away any spoilers, but I would like to ask if anyone who is a Bond fan or has seen the movie at least can explain the whole Skyfall thing to me. What's with that? Is it something they made up just for this movie, or did it come from a book? What does it even mean? Seems like a weird name for what it is in the movie. (If you've seen it, you know.)
After the madness of staying up forever and a half, we had an early-ish morning on Saturday that was made better by bacon and waffles (my birthday breakfast request at Nick's mom's house). That was terrific! (No one says terrific anymore unless they're using it negatively - I'd like to change that!) Unfortunately we had to sort of dine and dash, but I received some more lovely gifts. In particular, a book about the American Museum of Natural History's taxidermy dioramas (how they were made, the people and the expeditions behind them, how the art was done, etc) that I find completely fascinating. That book got me through the drive home!
I got to meet up with Kayla and Ali for drinks at Cafe Hollander later that night, and then we all did some ill-advised midnight bowling (despite, again, being very tired). I appreciate them coming out and making the trip! I had a nice time.
The weeks since then have been filled with the usual routine, plus a visit from the electrician for a new Coca-Cola ceiling fan (pictures to come sometime) and lots of gift buying and wrapping. I'm going for a "give modestly but generously" thing this year. Not sure how that works, but basically trying not to spend a lot of money while also giving nice, personal gifts to everyone. I hope it works out.
And Alex, Kate & Kayla came by on Sunday! Maybe I should start calling them "AKK" for short (not sure how they'd feel about that...). We had pasta, chocolate fondue and played Cards Against Humanity, plus there was lots of wine. Pretty dang good way to end the weekend/start the week!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Try Gooling Post-Wedding Pinterest, or After The Wedding. I dare you.
I think you will find that entering either of the search terms in this post's title will bring you nothing but links to actual Pinterest boards, or articles from the Huffington Post about Pinterest boards for wedding planning.
Former bride Hannah says it best here in her blog post about the disillusionment that Pinterest engendered in her, as well as her dashed expectations and the way that Pinterest robbed her of her contentment with her own real-life wedding.
I fell prey to a little bit of this for a while. I scoured the internet for ideas of what our wedding could be. I bought into what the Wedding Industrial Complex tells you that you must have:
1) An expensive, big-ass dress
2) A quaint and unique venue
3) Adorable and creative save-the-dates
4) Intricate hand-crafted invitations and response cards
5) Glass vases filled with water, colored lights, and plant life
6) Lots and lots of bunting and little strings of fabric pennants
7) Hand-written signs that say things like "Happily Ever After" and "Love At First Sight" and "Married Bliss"
8) Glass beverage dispensers (I'm guilty of loving these and purchasing two, one by total accident/fate)
9) A colorful signature drink
10) Photo booths with mustaches
I'm not saying that I didn't find some fantastic ideas on Pinterest or other sites, and I still find Pinterest a very useful tool for cataloging all my ideas in one place where I can easily peruse them visually. For someone who is a list-maker, this is very nice.
However, how many of the ideas that I pinned did I end up using or executing? Around 20 out of 254 pins. And of those, nearly half were things that were real-life items/ideas that I added to Pinterest myself based upon something I was actually doing, not something I saw online first and then decided to do.
There are so many details, and they're all so beautiful and marvelous. It's hard to tear away from looking at them and feeling sorry for ourselves. I know, I've been there.
One of my biggest anxiety points before the wedding was that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, and that it wouldn't be beautiful or come together like I'd hoped. In the end, it actually came together really nicely, and we dispensed with a lot of things at the last minute because we (or I) just did not care anymore.
I did not have an expensive dress. I wore a $175 bridesmaid's dress that I ordered in white. It was entirely and uniquely "me". I love it and I still wish I'd also bought one in cherry red just to wear all the time.
Our venue was not quaint or particularly unique, but it suited us and our wedding very well. I am completely 1000% thrilled and satisfied with our reception location (thanks Super Husband!) and I cannot recommend them enough (Country Inn & Suites - they are amazing!!).
Our save the dates were simple - I used Vista Print, and an old photo strip from when we were first dating. They were free, plus shipping, and I ordered WAY too many of them (chalk it up to inexperience). Our invitations were hand-crafted by yours truly using just card stock and my old inkjet printer from 2006. I designed the invitations to be attractive, informational, and practical. Works for me. They got the job done.
There were glass vases, but not by my doing - the hotel events guy actually created our centerpieces, free of charge. They were not filled with water and lights, but colored glass stones and fake flowers. No bunting. No fabric pennants. But I did have a string of lantern lights and some clear glass bulbs that I strung up. No hand-written signs. There were glass drink dispensers, because they're beautiful. We had powdered lemonade and iced tea. No photo booth and no mustaches unless they were growing out of someone's face.
And you know what? We had a fantastic and wonderful wedding. It was perfect.
But when all is said and done and all the last wedding paraphernalia is packed away, it leaves one lingering relic from those maddening wedding planning days - the Pinterest board. What does one do with the precious collection of ideas that may have helped shape your unforgettable wedding day? Just delete it? Let it hang around forever as a fond reminder? Relocate the really cool stuff to other boards and cut the rest of it loose?
I haven't decided, but I'm leaning toward that last thing. The most important thing, though, is to be proud of what we accomplished, and what that day meant for us. And to remember that internet weddings aren't "real", and they are no measure of our own weddings' worth.
Former bride Hannah says it best here in her blog post about the disillusionment that Pinterest engendered in her, as well as her dashed expectations and the way that Pinterest robbed her of her contentment with her own real-life wedding.
I fell prey to a little bit of this for a while. I scoured the internet for ideas of what our wedding could be. I bought into what the Wedding Industrial Complex tells you that you must have:
1) An expensive, big-ass dress
2) A quaint and unique venue
3) Adorable and creative save-the-dates
4) Intricate hand-crafted invitations and response cards
5) Glass vases filled with water, colored lights, and plant life
6) Lots and lots of bunting and little strings of fabric pennants
7) Hand-written signs that say things like "Happily Ever After" and "Love At First Sight" and "Married Bliss"
8) Glass beverage dispensers (I'm guilty of loving these and purchasing two, one by total accident/fate)
9) A colorful signature drink
10) Photo booths with mustaches
I'm not saying that I didn't find some fantastic ideas on Pinterest or other sites, and I still find Pinterest a very useful tool for cataloging all my ideas in one place where I can easily peruse them visually. For someone who is a list-maker, this is very nice.
However, how many of the ideas that I pinned did I end up using or executing? Around 20 out of 254 pins. And of those, nearly half were things that were real-life items/ideas that I added to Pinterest myself based upon something I was actually doing, not something I saw online first and then decided to do.
There are so many details, and they're all so beautiful and marvelous. It's hard to tear away from looking at them and feeling sorry for ourselves. I know, I've been there.
One of my biggest anxiety points before the wedding was that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, and that it wouldn't be beautiful or come together like I'd hoped. In the end, it actually came together really nicely, and we dispensed with a lot of things at the last minute because we (or I) just did not care anymore.
I did not have an expensive dress. I wore a $175 bridesmaid's dress that I ordered in white. It was entirely and uniquely "me". I love it and I still wish I'd also bought one in cherry red just to wear all the time.
Our venue was not quaint or particularly unique, but it suited us and our wedding very well. I am completely 1000% thrilled and satisfied with our reception location (thanks Super Husband!) and I cannot recommend them enough (Country Inn & Suites - they are amazing!!).
Our save the dates were simple - I used Vista Print, and an old photo strip from when we were first dating. They were free, plus shipping, and I ordered WAY too many of them (chalk it up to inexperience). Our invitations were hand-crafted by yours truly using just card stock and my old inkjet printer from 2006. I designed the invitations to be attractive, informational, and practical. Works for me. They got the job done.
There were glass vases, but not by my doing - the hotel events guy actually created our centerpieces, free of charge. They were not filled with water and lights, but colored glass stones and fake flowers. No bunting. No fabric pennants. But I did have a string of lantern lights and some clear glass bulbs that I strung up. No hand-written signs. There were glass drink dispensers, because they're beautiful. We had powdered lemonade and iced tea. No photo booth and no mustaches unless they were growing out of someone's face.
And you know what? We had a fantastic and wonderful wedding. It was perfect.
But when all is said and done and all the last wedding paraphernalia is packed away, it leaves one lingering relic from those maddening wedding planning days - the Pinterest board. What does one do with the precious collection of ideas that may have helped shape your unforgettable wedding day? Just delete it? Let it hang around forever as a fond reminder? Relocate the really cool stuff to other boards and cut the rest of it loose?
I haven't decided, but I'm leaning toward that last thing. The most important thing, though, is to be proud of what we accomplished, and what that day meant for us. And to remember that internet weddings aren't "real", and they are no measure of our own weddings' worth.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
What to Pack for Thanksgiving
I've seen a lot of "what to pack" lists for Thanksgiving that relate exclusively to women's wardrobes. They all make the assumption that you own half of a J Crew or AnnTaylor store already.
I'm less concerned about what to wear fashion-wise - everybody's got their own style, and we don't all have a designer collection. And of course we all know how to pack an overnight bag (toothbrush, etc). But there are a few things that not everyone might think to bring along. Here are my tips on what to bring for Thanksgiving weekend when visiting out of town in-laws or family.
Let's start with the most obvious:
I'm less concerned about what to wear fashion-wise - everybody's got their own style, and we don't all have a designer collection. And of course we all know how to pack an overnight bag (toothbrush, etc). But there are a few things that not everyone might think to bring along. Here are my tips on what to bring for Thanksgiving weekend when visiting out of town in-laws or family.
Let's start with the most obvious:
- Appropriate attire for Thanksgiving dinner
- This depends on who you're visiting, what their style is, and how fancy of an occasion you make Thanksgiving out to be.
- Wear something that looks nice, wears well, and is comfortable but not inappropriate.
- For the ladies, a nice pair of a jeans, or a casual dress or skirt with a sweater or nice top is appropriate most of the time.
- For guys, a nice pair of jeans or khakis (or similar casual dress pants) with a polo, button-down or sweater always looks clean-cut.
- Pajamas if you are staying the night (duh)
- This should go without saying, but if your normal pajamas are your underwear and a t-shirt, you might want to invest in some bottoms if you're staying with family/in-laws
- I advise bringing something that's not too heavy (no flannel) unless you know the room you'll be staying in is habitually frigid. Nothing like overheating in someone's guest bedroom with no way to cool off besides getting naked. You can always add more blankets or put on your sweater if you get cold.
- Reusable grocery bags/canvas bags
- These are useful in so many ways. You can roll or fold them up, so they pack easily. Some even are self-contained (like Chico bags, my favorites).
- If you have been asked to bring any food for the meal, this is a nice way to transport it.
- We use these to contain all the things we bring with for our dog (toy, biscuits, bowls, food, poo bags).
- If you're going Black Friday shopping, some extra, sturdy carrying capacity may come in handy.
- We also use these to carry leftovers home (see below), as well as birthday gifts (or Christmas gifts in December).
- In my family, holiday gatherings also serve as a "crap-swap" opportunity. Hand-me-downs and books exchange hands pretty frequently, so you never know when you might need an extra sack to carry all your loot.
- Layers/Outdoor Wear
- I don't know about you, but for me family holiday visits often involve an excursion into some fields for a dog romp, or a post-dinner walk through the neighborhood. Sometimes there's a trip to the shooting range as well, but I generally skip that one.
- You'll want to bring a warm jacket and hat/gloves just in case the air gets nippy. Fortunately in the Midwest it looks like it's going to be a mild Thanksgiving this year.
- Your outdoor wear may come in handy if your sleeping arrangements leave something to be desired in the warmth department as well. Think of it like camping, only inside with fewer bugs.
- Containers for Leftovers
- This is one that many people might not think to bring. I've begun the habit of tossing a few Ziploc containers into our reusable grocery bag. Then, when the big meal is over and everyone's had their fill (whether it's later that night or the next day), if there are leftovers to be taken away we can get in on some of that turkey or those mashed potatoes.
- This way, you're also not robbing your hosts of their containers (which somehow never quite make their way back to their owner and end up mismatched in your cupboard 5 months later).
- In my particular case, I'll be celebrating my 25th birthday over Thanksgiving and I fully intend to bring some extra birthday cake home with me!
- Holiday Gifts - optional
- Depending on your situation, you may not be seeing everyone at Christmas/holiday time, but they're here now for Thanksgiving. If you live far enough apart that you won't see them again for a while, and if you've already squared away their holiday gifts, it might be easiest to quickly wrap them and bring them with now. Or maybe I'm crazy.
- Electronic Entertainment
- Seems like everybody has a smart phone these days (except I don't). For those that do, this may be less of an issue.
- For those of us who don't, bringing along a laptop and a DVD or a Tablet with its own data plan can be useful when stranded in a no-WiFi zone (like my parents' house).
- Photos of Children/Pets/Events
- If you live far enough away from family/friends that you have added to your household or experienced a life event since the last time you saw them, they might like to see some pictures of your new addition or your big event (or meet the new children/pets per your situation).
- In our case, my parents don't have the internet and we haven't seen them since our wedding in September. Aside from the wedding album I put together for them, they haven't seen our photos from the reception or our honeymoon, and they haven't met our new cat, Jasper.
That's all I can think of. Let me know if I've forgotten something, or if you have any tried and true holiday visit packing tips to share! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
PS - if you saw Twilight this past weekend, and you haven't read my review already, I recommend it. ;)
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Review - The "Twilight Breaking Dawn Parte Deux" Experience
Disclaimer: I am not particularly a Twilight fan, nor have I read the books. I have seen each of the movies at least once, in the first-run theaters however. This of course qualifies me as an expert and a movie critic.
WARNING: SPOILERS!! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN "TWILIGHT BREAKING DAWN, PART 2" AND PLAN TO DO SO, READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK!
We went to see the latest and last Twilight film tonight. Beginning with the previews, here are my impressions. Join me in a trip to the theater...
Of the previews I could remember less than 2 minutes after seeing each of them, "Playing for Keeps", "Now You See Me", "Les Miserables" and "Safe Haven" were the ones that stood out from the fantasy romance previews.
#1 - "Playing for Keeps"
This is the upcoming Gerard Butler/Jessica Biel/Catherine Zeta-Jones flick, planned for release in December. From what I surmised, this film revolves around the exploits of a washed up soccer star who now coaches kiddie soccer in an attempt to stay relevant in his son's life, whilst watching his ex prepare to marry Justin Timberlake, and fending off Catherine Zeta-Jones. Looks kind of like a reprisal of his character in "The Ugly Truth", but I guess we'll see. I'd watch it!
Anyway, Aro gets a glimpse at the future from Alice, who has been mysteriously absent up to this point, then decides to sick the Volturi on everyone. Kind of. The two sides come to blows and all kinds of lovely people and animal-people are dispatched gruesomely. There's some major ass-kicking, and it was a very satisfactory battle scene with a delightful outcome. People clapped and cheered.
And then, wait for it - SERIOUSLY IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, TURN BACK NOW - it is revealed that all of this has been a vision, and will come to pass IF and ONLY IF Aro chooses to fight the Cullens. SPOILER ALERT: he dies if he chooses that. He has walked right into Alice's mind-f@#% trap.
Of course, his selfish nature and desire to remain in power win out, and he decides to let things chill for now. Especially when another half-human, half-vampire specimen comes out of the woodwork stage left and says "Hey, it's cool everyone - sometimes I eat blood, sometimes I eat pizza. I do whatever I want! And I'm not dead yet! But I also might not live forever-forever."
Most people are satisfied with this evidence that Renesmee isn't a threat to vampire kind, and the Volturi depart like they're on VHS being rewound.
The end! Obligatory field of flowers love scene! All I could think during that scene was how many bees there would be.
I make fun, but that's why I go to these movies. I enjoy them, and this one was probably the best. Definitely worth watching, whether you're a Twi-hard or not!
WARNING: SPOILERS!! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN "TWILIGHT BREAKING DAWN, PART 2" AND PLAN TO DO SO, READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK!
We went to see the latest and last Twilight film tonight. Beginning with the previews, here are my impressions. Join me in a trip to the theater...
Of the previews I could remember less than 2 minutes after seeing each of them, "Playing for Keeps", "Now You See Me", "Les Miserables" and "Safe Haven" were the ones that stood out from the fantasy romance previews.
#1 - "Playing for Keeps"
This is the upcoming Gerard Butler/Jessica Biel/Catherine Zeta-Jones flick, planned for release in December. From what I surmised, this film revolves around the exploits of a washed up soccer star who now coaches kiddie soccer in an attempt to stay relevant in his son's life, whilst watching his ex prepare to marry Justin Timberlake, and fending off Catherine Zeta-Jones. Looks kind of like a reprisal of his character in "The Ugly Truth", but I guess we'll see. I'd watch it!
#2 - "Now You See Me"
Some sort of combination of "Oceans 11-13" and "Jumper" and "21", this looks like an intriguing movie. Apparently Mark Zuckerberg and Gloria Cleary are master magicians/Time Lords who can somehow defy the laws of physics and steal tons of money. And Morgan Freeman is there too, someplace. Looks cool. Trailer.
#3 - "Le Miserables"
Once again, though I am not a fan, this is one I'm excited to see. I knew Anne Hathaway was in the film, thanks to her hosting SNL last week. But I continue to be impressed by her singing abilities, and I am looking forward to seeing the other members of the cast play together (Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, and the obligatory Helena Bonham Carter), though with the addition of the last two in the list I can't help but feel like this is a "Sweeney Todd" revival. Overall, this looks solidly executed and I'm hoping that it won't disappoint.
#4 - "Safe Haven"
This movie receives honorable mention just based on the fact that I can't pass up a chance to complain that it looks like the same movie as "The Notebook" - right down to the riding around in rowboats, women wrapping their legs around men like tree trunks, beach splashing, and kissing in the rain. Bleh. I like "The Notebook", but for me once is enough. Pass. Here's the frickin trailer anyway.
And now it's down to the nitty-gritty. The moment you've all been waiting for.
#5 FEATURE FILM: "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
I always enter a Twilight film with skepticism. I was pretty much sold on the opening credits this time, however. They were almost James Bond epic, and set the tone with a "some serious shit is gonna go down" vibe. They were also beautiful, until the whole red rose thing, anyway - then I barfed.
Also, who is Boo Boo Stewart? (Seth, apparently.)
I'm not going to go into crazy details. The movie picks up right back where it left off: Bella is the devil with a blue dress on and whoa, she has super vampire strength powers now. Oh no, stop Bella - you're hurting me, ow, it hurts so good. Etc. Things roll along at this pace, with a few humorous notes thrown in. Everything's cool until it's suddenly her birthday again. Is it always this chick's birthday?
Guess what they give her? A sweet-ass house in the woods. That looks like it's been there for the last 250 years, accumulating ivy, moss and charm. Can someone tell me what the story is with this cottage? As I've said, I didn't read the books (shame on me), in which I assume there is some sort of explanation provided. And of course the cottage is furnished with the most posh West Elm furnishings and accessories, and a collection of books on loan from the Library of Congress. Also a nursery that will become obsolete for Renesmee in about a day.
Just a reminder: my birthday is next Saturday. Nobody ever gives ME a house...
After this point the plot becomes embroiled in the primary conflict, which is that no one knows what the eff to expect from Renesmee, probably because she's a creepy CGI-faced toddler-infant hybrid. Also someone narks to the Vultures Volturi, and all hell breaks loose.
Well, more like all hell slowly crawls to a misleading crescendo. For all the bad-ass-ness that the Volturi are supposed to possess, they sure are slow on the uptake and not so good at swift and decisive action, despite the implication that their vindictive leader has already made up his mind.
Lots of dread and terrorizing goes on, until finally the Volturi show up to assess the situation. They march menacingly toward the Cullen coalition, then take off their black hoods in unison - much to the mirth of the assembled movie-goers. Everyone cracked up, and I'm not sure it was supposed to be funny.
Their leader, Aro, is particularly foppish and ridiculous in this film. He's always been an arrogant dandy, from what I recall (haven't seen the other movies lately). But in this one he's giddily and gleefully absurd. He giggles with delight before he gets to "meet" Renesmee. It's pretty clear from this pre-battle scene that he's a knowledge addict and can't resist the deliciousness of reading anybody's thoughts.
I think that 80% of the acting in this movie involves staring off into space, or at someone's face, while "reading their thoughts" or "using powers" or "listening to things 2,000 miles away". Such talent.
Anyway, Aro gets a glimpse at the future from Alice, who has been mysteriously absent up to this point, then decides to sick the Volturi on everyone. Kind of. The two sides come to blows and all kinds of lovely people and animal-people are dispatched gruesomely. There's some major ass-kicking, and it was a very satisfactory battle scene with a delightful outcome. People clapped and cheered.
And then, wait for it - SERIOUSLY IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, TURN BACK NOW - it is revealed that all of this has been a vision, and will come to pass IF and ONLY IF Aro chooses to fight the Cullens. SPOILER ALERT: he dies if he chooses that. He has walked right into Alice's mind-f@#% trap.
Of course, his selfish nature and desire to remain in power win out, and he decides to let things chill for now. Especially when another half-human, half-vampire specimen comes out of the woodwork stage left and says "Hey, it's cool everyone - sometimes I eat blood, sometimes I eat pizza. I do whatever I want! And I'm not dead yet! But I also might not live forever-forever."
Most people are satisfied with this evidence that Renesmee isn't a threat to vampire kind, and the Volturi depart like they're on VHS being rewound.
The end! Obligatory field of flowers love scene! All I could think during that scene was how many bees there would be.
I make fun, but that's why I go to these movies. I enjoy them, and this one was probably the best. Definitely worth watching, whether you're a Twi-hard or not!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
News Around the Office
As some of you may already know, the company I work for is negotiating a merger with one of their competitors (mild competition, mostly complementary product offerings, which is why this is a good "marriage"). The merger has not been finalized, and decisions have not been made/announced about who will be let go or asked to relocate. We will find out about this after the merger is completed on January 7. That may be some people's last day - it may be mine. Or it may not.
As far as I am aware, the Milwaukee office will remain open. Our headquarters will no longer reside in Atlanta, but instead will be in Scottsdale, AZ (an improvement, if you ask me). Our CEO will join the board of directors, and their CEO will become CEO of the new joint company. The company will receive a new name. There will be "reductions in workforce" and "redundancies". There will be severance packages (rather generous ones).
I will keep everyone abreast of what I find out and am allowed to share. For now, it's "business as usual", and we have been asked to "hold off" on looking for new jobs just yet. I don't know where the next two months will take me, but it will all turn out in the end. I have my suspicions about what will happen at my present job, as well as my own hopes for what will happen. For fear of public disclosure, I won't share them here just yet.
In happier news, I had a fantastic weekend last week! It started with Thursday actually, when I attended a bread-making class at our church and learned to make no-knead bread in a "dutch oven" (in my case, in a stainless steel soup put until I can get a dutch oven - worked just fine but not ideal). The bread turned out delicious, and I'll be making some to bring to my mother in law's house for Thanksgiving as well as to my parents' house so they can try some.
I met up with my siblings for dinner on Saturday night, and we had a nice time. I'm sad to say that the restaurant I chose was inconvenient and hard to get to, but I hope they enjoyed the food and had a nice time anyway. It was great to just hang out with them! I'd like to do it again sometime, after the holidays have died down maybe.
Sunday we went out to Oak Creek to pick up a free hammock stand that I found on Milwaukee Freecycle. We were hoping it would go with the rope hammock that I got at a garage sale for $12 earlier this year, but unfortunately the hammock in its current state is too long/stretched out for the stand. I think the stand is a 9 or 10 foot stand maybe.
The hammock could potentially be shortened/tightened if we were to re-tie the knots along the spreader bar. I may try that and see if that helps. We also need to get hooks for the frame, since it did not come with any. But hey, one thing at a time - if all else fails, lesson learned, and we'll find a different hammock and sell or Freecycle the one we've got. It beats shelling out hundreds of dollars for a new one. If anyone has any advice or tips on this I'd like to hear them!
Our trip to Oak Creek was not in vain, for we also stopped at Woodman's and got some items that we had not found when we checked out the new Trader Joe's the day before. You can read my Yelp! review of the new store on Bluemound here, but the short version is that it's not going to be our go-to grocery store. We found some interesting items, but we just don't care about stuff being organic that much, and the items we usually buy we can find cheaper elsewhere. It was interesting though, and I think we'll go back for a novelty item here and there to spice up our meals. I enjoyed their frozen and pre-prepared food selection and prices the most.
Overall, it was a nice weekend where I got some house cleaning done (which has been largely undone already) and got to see some awesome people. Sadly I missed out on game night on Saturday night in Port Washington, due to my siblings dinner running long, but we'll do another one. This weekend, in fact, I think there may be some game-playing in store!
Anybody else getting pumped for Thanksgiving and keeping busy with holiday shopping already? I've got gifts for everyone but 5 people on my list now, I think...
As far as I am aware, the Milwaukee office will remain open. Our headquarters will no longer reside in Atlanta, but instead will be in Scottsdale, AZ (an improvement, if you ask me). Our CEO will join the board of directors, and their CEO will become CEO of the new joint company. The company will receive a new name. There will be "reductions in workforce" and "redundancies". There will be severance packages (rather generous ones).
I will keep everyone abreast of what I find out and am allowed to share. For now, it's "business as usual", and we have been asked to "hold off" on looking for new jobs just yet. I don't know where the next two months will take me, but it will all turn out in the end. I have my suspicions about what will happen at my present job, as well as my own hopes for what will happen. For fear of public disclosure, I won't share them here just yet.
In happier news, I had a fantastic weekend last week! It started with Thursday actually, when I attended a bread-making class at our church and learned to make no-knead bread in a "dutch oven" (in my case, in a stainless steel soup put until I can get a dutch oven - worked just fine but not ideal). The bread turned out delicious, and I'll be making some to bring to my mother in law's house for Thanksgiving as well as to my parents' house so they can try some.
I met up with my siblings for dinner on Saturday night, and we had a nice time. I'm sad to say that the restaurant I chose was inconvenient and hard to get to, but I hope they enjoyed the food and had a nice time anyway. It was great to just hang out with them! I'd like to do it again sometime, after the holidays have died down maybe.
Sunday we went out to Oak Creek to pick up a free hammock stand that I found on Milwaukee Freecycle. We were hoping it would go with the rope hammock that I got at a garage sale for $12 earlier this year, but unfortunately the hammock in its current state is too long/stretched out for the stand. I think the stand is a 9 or 10 foot stand maybe.
The hammock could potentially be shortened/tightened if we were to re-tie the knots along the spreader bar. I may try that and see if that helps. We also need to get hooks for the frame, since it did not come with any. But hey, one thing at a time - if all else fails, lesson learned, and we'll find a different hammock and sell or Freecycle the one we've got. It beats shelling out hundreds of dollars for a new one. If anyone has any advice or tips on this I'd like to hear them!
Our trip to Oak Creek was not in vain, for we also stopped at Woodman's and got some items that we had not found when we checked out the new Trader Joe's the day before. You can read my Yelp! review of the new store on Bluemound here, but the short version is that it's not going to be our go-to grocery store. We found some interesting items, but we just don't care about stuff being organic that much, and the items we usually buy we can find cheaper elsewhere. It was interesting though, and I think we'll go back for a novelty item here and there to spice up our meals. I enjoyed their frozen and pre-prepared food selection and prices the most.
Overall, it was a nice weekend where I got some house cleaning done (which has been largely undone already) and got to see some awesome people. Sadly I missed out on game night on Saturday night in Port Washington, due to my siblings dinner running long, but we'll do another one. This weekend, in fact, I think there may be some game-playing in store!
Anybody else getting pumped for Thanksgiving and keeping busy with holiday shopping already? I've got gifts for everyone but 5 people on my list now, I think...
Monday, November 5, 2012
Very Busy Times!
We had a fantastic weekend! Super Husband turned 27 on Friday, and I had a lot of surprises planned for him. The first of the festivities involved breakfast in bed (a family tradition from his mom's side) - Krispy Kreme donuts by request. I even put candles in them so he got to blow those out.
This was followed by a scavenger hunt around the house, where each clue was accompanied by a small candy treat (thanks to my coworker's kids, who are not allowed to keep all their Halloween candy). The final clue led him to his gift, which was a Chipper Jones Atlanta Braves jersey that I won in a charity auction at work. Chipper is one of SH's all-time favorite players.
We met up with my father in law for lunch at Noodles & Co then I surprised SH again by working from home that afternoon. This meant I was able to be there when he opened his gift from his dad (awesome Frisbee golf set) and have some cake with them.
The rest of the afternoon I worked, then we waited around until 7 pm for his big surprise outing. I had secretly arranged an evening of greasy food and mini bowling with our friends Alex, Kate, Kayla and SH's best friend Erik. Alex and Kate arrived at our house and hid behind the garage, so they were able to jump out and surprise SH. They scared me too, even though I knew they were back there!
We headed over to Fratelli's on Lincoln Avenue, a little place that serves hot dogs, cheese steak sandwiches pizza and other classics. Kayla surprised SH by being there already. We had blindfolded him so he wouldn't know where we were going, and Alex threw him incorrect clues the entire way.
Everyone had a nice little meal, then it was on to Koz's Mini Bowl. I think SH suspected that we were going there, but he had no idea his friend Erik would arrive! The six of us played a few rounds of bowling, then Kayla had to head home (long day at work!).
After bowling, we went back to our house where we ate some cake and just talked for a while. Alex and Kate got going, and Erik stayed overnight.
The next day I had a church meeting to attend, and then my mother in law came over. We all grabbed some McDonalds for lunch then paid a visit to SH's brother. While MIL and BIL visited, SH, Erik and I went to the Walmart Neighborhood Market (a first time for me!) to grab a few supplies for dinner.
After that we went home and SH opened his gifts from his mom - a nice outfit with dress pants and a shirt and some cool puzzle backing tape (plus a 3D puzzle). We played some Apples to Apples until it was time to start prepping food for dinner.
Everyone chipped in and we had fruit, bread, angel food cake, and lil smokies to dip in cheese and chocolate fondue. It was a very tasty meal!
Erik stayed overnight again, so we went to see the movie "Flight", which turned out to be more about drugs and alcohol and addiction than any of us were prepared for. It was interesting... I'm still not sure what to take away from it.
We got home and I crashed. The next day Erik got going, and SH and I went to church, then came home and had a lazy day to recover from all the fun.
We have another jam-packed week coming up! Obviously we'll be voting tomorrow, as well as meeting with our insurance agent for a yearly update. We've got Team Trivia with R U Bot or Not on Wednesday at Buffalo Wild Wings at Bayshore, then SH will be bowling as usual on Thursday while I attend a bread-making class at our church.
Friday SH will head down to Rockford for a weekend overnight with the youth group from our church. I'll be attending the ladies' game night at church (going to see my friend Tammy and meet in-person with my newer online friend Jenn!). Saturday my siblings are coming up here to meet for dinner, then I'm headed up to Jonah and Kristen's place in Port Washington for even more games and fun. AND THEN on Sunday there is a potluck at church for the young adults at 2 pm.
Whew! Think we are busy enough yet???
And here I am thinking about how it would be nice to find an amateur ballet class for adults as a way to get in shape...
This was followed by a scavenger hunt around the house, where each clue was accompanied by a small candy treat (thanks to my coworker's kids, who are not allowed to keep all their Halloween candy). The final clue led him to his gift, which was a Chipper Jones Atlanta Braves jersey that I won in a charity auction at work. Chipper is one of SH's all-time favorite players.
We met up with my father in law for lunch at Noodles & Co then I surprised SH again by working from home that afternoon. This meant I was able to be there when he opened his gift from his dad (awesome Frisbee golf set) and have some cake with them.
The rest of the afternoon I worked, then we waited around until 7 pm for his big surprise outing. I had secretly arranged an evening of greasy food and mini bowling with our friends Alex, Kate, Kayla and SH's best friend Erik. Alex and Kate arrived at our house and hid behind the garage, so they were able to jump out and surprise SH. They scared me too, even though I knew they were back there!
We headed over to Fratelli's on Lincoln Avenue, a little place that serves hot dogs, cheese steak sandwiches pizza and other classics. Kayla surprised SH by being there already. We had blindfolded him so he wouldn't know where we were going, and Alex threw him incorrect clues the entire way.
Everyone had a nice little meal, then it was on to Koz's Mini Bowl. I think SH suspected that we were going there, but he had no idea his friend Erik would arrive! The six of us played a few rounds of bowling, then Kayla had to head home (long day at work!).
After bowling, we went back to our house where we ate some cake and just talked for a while. Alex and Kate got going, and Erik stayed overnight.
The next day I had a church meeting to attend, and then my mother in law came over. We all grabbed some McDonalds for lunch then paid a visit to SH's brother. While MIL and BIL visited, SH, Erik and I went to the Walmart Neighborhood Market (a first time for me!) to grab a few supplies for dinner.
After that we went home and SH opened his gifts from his mom - a nice outfit with dress pants and a shirt and some cool puzzle backing tape (plus a 3D puzzle). We played some Apples to Apples until it was time to start prepping food for dinner.
Everyone chipped in and we had fruit, bread, angel food cake, and lil smokies to dip in cheese and chocolate fondue. It was a very tasty meal!
Erik stayed overnight again, so we went to see the movie "Flight", which turned out to be more about drugs and alcohol and addiction than any of us were prepared for. It was interesting... I'm still not sure what to take away from it.
We got home and I crashed. The next day Erik got going, and SH and I went to church, then came home and had a lazy day to recover from all the fun.
We have another jam-packed week coming up! Obviously we'll be voting tomorrow, as well as meeting with our insurance agent for a yearly update. We've got Team Trivia with R U Bot or Not on Wednesday at Buffalo Wild Wings at Bayshore, then SH will be bowling as usual on Thursday while I attend a bread-making class at our church.
Friday SH will head down to Rockford for a weekend overnight with the youth group from our church. I'll be attending the ladies' game night at church (going to see my friend Tammy and meet in-person with my newer online friend Jenn!). Saturday my siblings are coming up here to meet for dinner, then I'm headed up to Jonah and Kristen's place in Port Washington for even more games and fun. AND THEN on Sunday there is a potluck at church for the young adults at 2 pm.
Whew! Think we are busy enough yet???
And here I am thinking about how it would be nice to find an amateur ballet class for adults as a way to get in shape...
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Halloween Fun Time & Updates
Yesterday was Halloween (newsflash), and I had a freaking awesome time with some fantastic people!
We headed over to Kayla's place for delicious chicken limo tacos and a feast of fantasticness. Everybody came in costume and then we were off to team trivia. We must have some Halloween magic, because we won!! EAT MY SHORTS, TAUTOLOGY CLUB! That was a really nice way to end our Halloween outing.
Last weekend we got all our leaves raked out of the yard, which was a big accomplishment. We also did a little cleaning, which turned into completely rearranging the living room furniture, like so:
We headed over to Kayla's place for delicious chicken limo tacos and a feast of fantasticness. Everybody came in costume and then we were off to team trivia. We must have some Halloween magic, because we won!! EAT MY SHORTS, TAUTOLOGY CLUB! That was a really nice way to end our Halloween outing.
Last weekend we got all our leaves raked out of the yard, which was a big accomplishment. We also did a little cleaning, which turned into completely rearranging the living room furniture, like so:
Living Room Before:
Living Room After:
Maybe this isn't quite exactly right, but you get the idea. It's a lot more direct and close-up when you watch TV now, and the room feels a lot more open if you walk in the front door or are looking at the living room from the dining room.
Some of you may notice we got rid of a few things. The big bookshelf, which used to be in the top left corner, now lives in the dining room (not shown) and the end table that was on the right of the couch was taken upstairs to be a bedside table, which is what it really is.
Anyway, some small changes but it's nice to mix things up once in a while. Nick should go into professional furniture staging.
Monday, October 29, 2012
For Sale! One Table & Chairs Set
That's right, we're selling this little old table and chairs set.
I came into joint ownership of this dining set with my roommate Whitney when we moved into St. James Court Historic Apartments in the summer of 2008. It had belonged to the previous tenants (perhaps the tenants before them as well), and they didn't want to move it or didn't have room for it in their new place. They sold it to us, along with a monstrous dresser, which now resides in my bedroom.
This little set went with me and Super Then-Fiance to New Berlin, where we lived for a year at Pinewood Creek Apartments. Now it resides in our basement in our house in West Allis.
Our basement is something we haven't quite known what to do with for a while. Initially it seemed like a cool game room and man cave area, but the added expense of having full-blown cable (and now DirectTV) down there put a damper on that. Plus, it's just dark and basement-y.
Our basement is actually quite dry - we live in a well-drained area and have a working sump pump that does its job. Of course, it's still a basement. There are some issues with lighting that we need to deal with. We started our basement rehab project by getting some more attractive sconce fixtures to replace the Nautical-Chic outdoor fixtures that had somehow become the lighting solution down there. The looked like this:
I came into joint ownership of this dining set with my roommate Whitney when we moved into St. James Court Historic Apartments in the summer of 2008. It had belonged to the previous tenants (perhaps the tenants before them as well), and they didn't want to move it or didn't have room for it in their new place. They sold it to us, along with a monstrous dresser, which now resides in my bedroom.
This little set went with me and Super Then-Fiance to New Berlin, where we lived for a year at Pinewood Creek Apartments. Now it resides in our basement in our house in West Allis.
Our basement is something we haven't quite known what to do with for a while. Initially it seemed like a cool game room and man cave area, but the added expense of having full-blown cable (and now DirectTV) down there put a damper on that. Plus, it's just dark and basement-y.
Our basement is actually quite dry - we live in a well-drained area and have a working sump pump that does its job. Of course, it's still a basement. There are some issues with lighting that we need to deal with. We started our basement rehab project by getting some more attractive sconce fixtures to replace the Nautical-Chic outdoor fixtures that had somehow become the lighting solution down there. The looked like this:
 |
| Augusta Wall Mount Outdoor Brass Downlight from Home Depot, $39.97! |
It felt like some sort of weird sailing museum down there with the combination of those lamps (6 of them), the blonde faux wood paneling on the walls, and the metal support pillar (necessary to hold up our house) in the middle of the room. Gorgeous.
We ended up replacing those lights with something sleeker. We hoped to have a cool bar area down there someday, so we wanted to reflect that vibe. This is what we chose, and installed ourselves:
 |
| Portfolio Black Pocket Wall Sconce, $19.98 at Lowe's |
That made a huge improvement in the room. Someday maybe we'll do something about the paneling (even if that just means painting it). This winter will give us some nice cozy time to work on clearing things out to have a garage sale in the spring, and to maybe bring some different furniture pieces into the room. This room has lots of awesome, swanky bar/game room/man cave potential still! Just one thing at a time, starting with making some space.
So for now, if you need a table and chairs, hit me up! We can work out some sort of deal.
So for now, if you need a table and chairs, hit me up! We can work out some sort of deal.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
A Word on Entertainment Media
Maybe it was watching South Park last night, but this morning as I drove to work I got to thinking about Netflix. Sit tight, this is a long one.
I have had a Netflix account since I started college. I've seen many films and watched many awesome TV series through my Netflix subscription, but other than that I can't necessarily say that it has deeply enriched my life.
When we left for our honeymoon we put the Netflix account on hold, which apparently now equates to "canceling" your account temporarily. I don't like this. They make you pick either Streaming OR DVD + Streaming, not just DVD alone, when you "reactivate" - and we have been a DVD-only house for a while now. On top of that, they charge you immediately when you reactivate, not after a month of service, which really sucks if you suddenly change your mind two minutes later, or had to pick streaming plus DVD but only want DVD!
Frustrating. Fortunately they have impeccable customer service, and almost a no-questions-asked policy when it comes to refunds. We couldn't choose between streaming-only or DVD-only when we were thinking of reactivating. There wasn't anything particularly pressing that we wanted to watch on DVD (I mean we have a queue going obviously, but nothing we were itching to see right away). I was trying to come up with something we could watch, or would want to watch, if we reactivated - but in order to see what was available on streaming, I had to activate it. So I did, not realizing I'd be charged right away.
Once I saw that their streaming was mostly crap I'd seen already, we changed our minds and decided to go back to DVD-only, but that wasn't a choice. So I had to choose DVD + streaming just to look at what our DVD queue had in it, and what we might want to watch. Once I was able to look at it, we decided we really weren't in need of watching any of that stuff just yet. So I tried to go in and cancel again, only to realize that I had already been billed for a month of streaming only plus a month of DVD + streaming.
So I called them and explained the situation, and they happily refunded both amounts and put our account back on hiatus.
And you know what? We haven't missed it in the three weeks we've been back from our honeymoon. Granted, we've also had access to Showtime for free (introductory promo, which just ended), but even without Dexter and random movie-watching we have lots of shows that we regularly record on DVR. There's "New Girl", "Raising Hope", "Tosh.0", "Law & Order: SVU", "South Park", and "Brand X", not to mention "The Daily Show", "The Colbert Report" every week night and "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" and "American Dad" on Sundays. I'm probably forgetting a bunch.
Oh, plus "Jeopardy" every week night. And sometimes "Conan". We have way more stuff to watch than we are able to catch up on. And honestly I even find myself getting bored with this selection and wanting to watch stuff on the History Channel, or TLC, or HGTV or Food Network, as well as dumb things on TruTV. We have a glut of entertainment at our fingertips. I think it's safe to say that we watch a LOT of TV. I think it's probably almost always on in the evening, unless we are gone.
Some nights we turn it off and just work on other stuff, like a jigsaw puzzle or a good book or a computer game, or cleaning house. Those are things I wish we did more of, actually.
But it seems impossible to say "no" to any of the shows we watch. Which ones would you axe? It seems sad to say "I don't care if we watch that anymore", particularly with the sitcoms that pull you into the story line There's a general feeling of loss and of missing out if you don't watch. But guess what? You don't have to, and once you stop I bet you won't miss it.
Just like with Netflix. When did it become standard, acceptable practice for everyone to constantly have rented movies? And really, how many DVDs (one at a time) do you go through in a month? More than three? Think about the time it takes to receive the DVD and to send it back in. If you time it right, you can get two DVDs a week. But that assumes you watch it right away and send it back.
I have had a Netflix account since I started college. I've seen many films and watched many awesome TV series through my Netflix subscription, but other than that I can't necessarily say that it has deeply enriched my life.
When we left for our honeymoon we put the Netflix account on hold, which apparently now equates to "canceling" your account temporarily. I don't like this. They make you pick either Streaming OR DVD + Streaming, not just DVD alone, when you "reactivate" - and we have been a DVD-only house for a while now. On top of that, they charge you immediately when you reactivate, not after a month of service, which really sucks if you suddenly change your mind two minutes later, or had to pick streaming plus DVD but only want DVD!
Frustrating. Fortunately they have impeccable customer service, and almost a no-questions-asked policy when it comes to refunds. We couldn't choose between streaming-only or DVD-only when we were thinking of reactivating. There wasn't anything particularly pressing that we wanted to watch on DVD (I mean we have a queue going obviously, but nothing we were itching to see right away). I was trying to come up with something we could watch, or would want to watch, if we reactivated - but in order to see what was available on streaming, I had to activate it. So I did, not realizing I'd be charged right away.
Once I saw that their streaming was mostly crap I'd seen already, we changed our minds and decided to go back to DVD-only, but that wasn't a choice. So I had to choose DVD + streaming just to look at what our DVD queue had in it, and what we might want to watch. Once I was able to look at it, we decided we really weren't in need of watching any of that stuff just yet. So I tried to go in and cancel again, only to realize that I had already been billed for a month of streaming only plus a month of DVD + streaming.
So I called them and explained the situation, and they happily refunded both amounts and put our account back on hiatus.
And you know what? We haven't missed it in the three weeks we've been back from our honeymoon. Granted, we've also had access to Showtime for free (introductory promo, which just ended), but even without Dexter and random movie-watching we have lots of shows that we regularly record on DVR. There's "New Girl", "Raising Hope", "Tosh.0", "Law & Order: SVU", "South Park", and "Brand X", not to mention "The Daily Show", "The Colbert Report" every week night and "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" and "American Dad" on Sundays. I'm probably forgetting a bunch.
Oh, plus "Jeopardy" every week night. And sometimes "Conan". We have way more stuff to watch than we are able to catch up on. And honestly I even find myself getting bored with this selection and wanting to watch stuff on the History Channel, or TLC, or HGTV or Food Network, as well as dumb things on TruTV. We have a glut of entertainment at our fingertips. I think it's safe to say that we watch a LOT of TV. I think it's probably almost always on in the evening, unless we are gone.
Some nights we turn it off and just work on other stuff, like a jigsaw puzzle or a good book or a computer game, or cleaning house. Those are things I wish we did more of, actually.
But it seems impossible to say "no" to any of the shows we watch. Which ones would you axe? It seems sad to say "I don't care if we watch that anymore", particularly with the sitcoms that pull you into the story line There's a general feeling of loss and of missing out if you don't watch. But guess what? You don't have to, and once you stop I bet you won't miss it.
Just like with Netflix. When did it become standard, acceptable practice for everyone to constantly have rented movies? And really, how many DVDs (one at a time) do you go through in a month? More than three? Think about the time it takes to receive the DVD and to send it back in. If you time it right, you can get two DVDs a week. But that assumes you watch it right away and send it back.
Realistically, if we get a DVD int he mail on Monday-Wednesday, we won't be watching it until Friday or Saturday night. In part, this is because we have TV shows we want to watch, but also a movie just doesn't fit well into our weeknight routine of coming home from work at 5:30, dinner by 6:00, clean-up, running errands/going to meetings/meeting up with friends/doing chores, and getting ready for bed.
Even if we managed to watch one DVD per weekend (which doesn't always happen, since we have other fun out-of-the-house things to do on the weekend a lot of the time), we'd probably only manage to watch 3-4 DVDs per month, max. At $9/month, that's $2.25-$3.00 per movie. Not too bad, as far as movies in general go. But then you bring RedBox into the equation, with their $1 rentals. Suddenly $2.25 - $3.00 seems like a fool's price. But included in the price of Netflix you are gaining the broader selection and greater convenience of home delivery, as opposed to having to go to the RedBox location, choose from the limited selection, then return the DVD the next day to avoid additional charges. When you consider the inconvenience, Netflix seems like the better choice I guess.
So basically unless you work at Walmart and there is a RedBox in the entryway that you pass at least 4 times daily and would have no trouble returning the DVDs you rent on time, hitting up RedBox is potentially a losing proposition compared to Netflix or other streaming sources.
Is that how lazy we've gotten, though? We can't be bothered to swing by our local grocery store, Walmart, or pharmacy store to snag a movie from RedBox? I'll tell you two things RedBox has going for it: spontaneity and instant gratification (if the movie you want is offered).
Then there's the question of movies in the theater. It's pretty insane that we're all somehow willing to cough up $10 to see a first-run movie. For the price of two people seeing a movie in the theater once, you can own in a few months later and watch it over and over again, or sell it to recoup some of your losses. Seriously? What a shitty deal! And yet we do it. Myself included. I am an AMC Stubs member, even. It helps to know that a few measly points are coming my way in exchanged for the large sums I'm shelling out to watch "Harry Potter". But you've gotta spend like $100 on movies before you see any serious returns rewards-wise.
We have found a comfortable alternative that lets us watch "current" movies before they've gone out of style, but without paying the crazy prices at AMC and its brethren (though we do sometimes still treat ourselves to that experience). It's the budget cinema. We live pretty close to the one in Milwaukee, and we go there quite often. Movies are $2 per person, and they offer a full concession stand at slightly lower than AMC prices, though it still isn't cheapy-cheap.
Between our DVR and the cheap-o theater (which, admittedly, is a little run down and sticky - but hey, it's dark in there anyway), we manage to stay entertained and abreast of media culture without breaking the bank. I'm not sure we'll ever go back to Netflix, unless they sweeten the pot.
Although they do have "Love Never Dies"... but I'm sort of afraid to watch that. Maybe I'll put it on my Christmas or birthday list, then once I've seen what cannot be unseen, I can decide to keep it or sell it....
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Non-Wedding or Honeymoon-Related Post!!
So now it's just me blogging about whatever the heck I want! Score!
First things first - I am very sad that I foolishly messed with the blog template, and now my polka dots are gone. I can't seem to get them back, since that template is no longer available. Ack! If anyone knows how to get it back, I would be eternally grateful...
Things in the last few weeks have been going pretty well. We adopted a new cat, Jasper, from the Wisconsin Humane Society. He's one year old, all black, and currently suffering from an upper respiratory infection, so he's in cat quarantine. But he's the friendliest, sweetest cat! Here is a photo of him from the shelter. It's really hard to get pictures of him right now because he is always running around our feet, plus he's all black and if you can't see his eyes then you don't know what you're looking at!
First things first - I am very sad that I foolishly messed with the blog template, and now my polka dots are gone. I can't seem to get them back, since that template is no longer available. Ack! If anyone knows how to get it back, I would be eternally grateful...
Things in the last few weeks have been going pretty well. We adopted a new cat, Jasper, from the Wisconsin Humane Society. He's one year old, all black, and currently suffering from an upper respiratory infection, so he's in cat quarantine. But he's the friendliest, sweetest cat! Here is a photo of him from the shelter. It's really hard to get pictures of him right now because he is always running around our feet, plus he's all black and if you can't see his eyes then you don't know what you're looking at!
He is a cutie. If you're ever in our neck of the woods, stop by for a visit! He'd love to meet you.
Other activities lately include Super Husband's dad's birthday celebration and huge amounts of leaf sweeping. Our two big maple trees largely dump their leaves in the driveway, so we're pretty much having to clear things out on a weekly basis, which I guess is normal for fall.
Otherwise, business as usual! Trivia on Wednesdays with the super awesome Team Bot or Not, and Super Husband bowls on Thursdays while I hit the grocery store. All the weekly specials are fresh on Thursdays and no one is there, which makes for some good pickings. One disadvantage is that the deli is closed and sometimes they put away some of the produce for the night really early, so not everything is available. Fortunately, Super Husband taught me that you can ask for a rain-check on anything you see advertised that isn't available when you are in the store, and you can get that price at a later date! I'm not sure how I never knew grocery stores did this, but he has the secret intel from having been a bagger at Hilander and Woodman's back in the day.
We've been cooking a lot lately. We tried our hands at making homemade pasta with our wedding gift from my father in law last night. We got frustrated (too hungry) after a little while and froze the dough for later. We had managed to make enough noodles for a small bowl, which we did cook. They were good! We'll try again when we're not super hungry and have a bit more patience. I'm sure we'll get the knack of it.
Otherwise we've had apple cinnamon pancakes, bacon, steak and mushrooms, various chicken dishes (lots of frozen chicken to eat before it gets weird), soup, sloppy joes, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some equally non-memorable things we've ingested and that I'm sure none of you cares to hear about!
Upcoming shenanigans include whatever we get up to for Halloween, Super Husband's birthday weekend, and a dinner with my siblings for me while Super Husband is gone for the weekend in two weeks.
Stay tuned for more! If you're bored and I've left you feeling unsatisfied, I suggest you check out this fantastic Tumblr page, Sims Gone Wrong. Whether or not you play The Sims games, you're sure to find weird stuff to look at over there. Enjoy!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Honeymoon Trip: Days 9-10
I've been putting off finishing this, but I really should get to it. So here goes nothing!
On Monday the 24th we got back on the train, after dropping off our rental car. The majority of the trip can be summarized by this photo:
On Monday the 24th we got back on the train, after dropping off our rental car. The majority of the trip can be summarized by this photo:
Since the novelty of the scenery had largely worn off, we only really took one scenic picture, which was of the snow that had crept down the mountains in the Rockies over the span of a week. A nice sign that winter is coming.
Other than that, we tried to amuse ourselves. I slept a lot, and we looked forward to every mealtime as a new distraction. I finally tried their chocolate peanut-butter caramel cake, which sounded like a lot of stuff going on at once, but I figured what the heck. Man, I wish I'd tried it sooner! It was like Snickers in a cake.
Other than eating and looking out the window and sleeping a lot, we tried to get some thank you notes written. But I soon realized that I'd left the piece of paper that detailed who gave us what back at home, so we couldn't do much once we'd written a few of the easy ones, like our parents and wedding party members.
Another point of interest for us was that there was a private car at the end of the train, attached to a classic Zephyr Silver Solarium car, for their private use. It costs something like $8,000 a day to rent train cars like that, so whoever was back there was loaded and riding in style! We only saw the outside, really, but a few people who were with a tour group managed to get a glimpse inside. Swank.
Overall, the return train trip was uneventful. It was pretty boring on the way back, especially Utah and Nebraska and Iowa. We came into Chicago about 15 minutes late, which meant we wouldn't be able to hop the 3:15 train to Milwaukee and had to wait for our 5:08 as originally planned.
Longest. Wait. Ever. But finally we were on our way, and we were so ready to be home! I was ready to kiss the ground when I got back into Milwaukee. My mother in law was there to pick us up and bring us home, and man we were glad to be back!
This concludes the honeymoon recap finally. Sorry for how long this took! I'll try to keep up with blogging about normal life stuff - maybe more in-depth reviews of places we go and things we do.
For now, that's all folks!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Honeymoon Trip: Day 8
Sunday was our last day in San Francisco, and we wanted to take a final stab at exploring the city on foot and public transit. We checked out of our Alameda hotel and took the car to the BART station to park it for the day, then headed into town.
Super Husband discovered that there was a Second City performance at the Palace of the Fine Arts, which was on my list of sights to see, so we made plans to go there for the show at 3:00. Until then, we were on our own. We decided we may as well stop at the Aquarium of the Bay (Yelp review), which was conveniently located in the Fisherman's Wharf area.
The aquarium was short, but chock-full of sea life. They had a nice educational section here and there, talking about garbage in the ocean and what types of non-sea life were native to the Bay Area. They also had a tunnel you could walk through where there were sharks and large rays all around you. That part was pretty cool, and we spent a good deal of time in there. The jellyfish were some of my favorite things to photograph.
After getting back into the city, we decided to just pack it in and have the night to get ready for our departure the next morning. So we said goodbye to San Francisco and snagged some McDonald's from a shady Oakland location, then went back to Extended Stay America for our final night. The next day we would be back on the train headed for home!
Super Husband discovered that there was a Second City performance at the Palace of the Fine Arts, which was on my list of sights to see, so we made plans to go there for the show at 3:00. Until then, we were on our own. We decided we may as well stop at the Aquarium of the Bay (Yelp review), which was conveniently located in the Fisherman's Wharf area.
The aquarium was short, but chock-full of sea life. They had a nice educational section here and there, talking about garbage in the ocean and what types of non-sea life were native to the Bay Area. They also had a tunnel you could walk through where there were sharks and large rays all around you. That part was pretty cool, and we spent a good deal of time in there. The jellyfish were some of my favorite things to photograph.
They also had a place where you could pet rays and small sharks. Nick was reaching in to pet this one, and it didn't like the angle of his approach or something, as it jumped out! Here it is just before it becomes airborne temporarily... I think it looks like it's smiling and is pretty cute, actually.
After the aquarium, we headed out to the Palace of Fine Arts (Yelp review), which was a ways away out in the edge of the Presidio area. The PoFA is a remnant from the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition. Apparently it is a very popular photography site for wedding parties, and it houses an actual theater, which is where we were headed.
I foolishly assumed there'd be more food options out near the PoFA, but that was not the case. We had to walk over toward Crissy Field and ended up only finding a gift shop/cafe that sold overpriced, over-gourmet-ed sandwiches. Oh well. We forked it over for those and then went to catch our Second City show, "Second City for President".
The show was pretty funny, and of course very culturally relevant. We had a good time, then we went to catch the bus back into town. We were kind of glad that this was our last day in San Francisco, since the weather was beginning to turn colder and foggier.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Honeymoon Trip: Day 7
Saturday we took the car back into San Francisco to do some things that required a car - for example, driving down Lombard Street (just to say that we did). It proved to be pretty impossible to get a good shot of doing this, since there was a line of cars and you had to keep moving with traffic, and there were pedestrians EVERYWHERE causing traffic issues.
Next we drove west to Baker Beach, which I had been told was a great place to view the Golden Gate Bridge from, as well as a pretty quiet beach. Also there are allegedly people who bathe in the nude at this beach, though it was too chilly for that on the day we went. We were spared that experience, though I'm secretly disappointed since it would have made a funny story.
We were very fortunate that there was hardly any fog at all during our visit - we had some great views of the bridge and the city from Baker Beach!
Next on our agenda, a short drive down the coast, were the Sutro Baths (Yelp review here). This is by far one of my favorite things that we did on the trip. We spent a while climbing around the ruins and checking out all the different structures, trying to imagine what they once were.
If you ask Wikipedia, they will tell you that the Sutro Baths were the world's largest indoor swimming pool complex at the time it was built in the late 1800's. They had one fresh water and six salt water pools ranging in temperatures, as well as a concert hall and an ice rink. The building was scheduled to be demolished in the 1960's, after a steady decline due to high maintenance and operating costs, but a fire finished it off in 1966, leaving what remains.
Here is what they used to look like:
 |
| Sutro Baths, circa 1896. Source: Wikipedia |
And this is what they look like today:
You can actually climb all over the entirety of the ruins - nothing is roped off and there are no pathways. You can go wherever you please, which I guess could be destructive to this historic place, but really there's not much they can do to protect it from the sea no matter what, so why not I guess. I had a great time playing amateur archaeologist here, and I think Super Husband had a good time too. It was nice to do something physical that wasn't just walking.
After soaking up the sun and getting thoroughly dusty from our adventures at Sutro Baths, we found the nearest Chinese-American restaurant and plopped down for some lunch. It ended up being Hunan Cafe 2, which was just what we wanted. YUM.
After filling our stomachs well past capacity, we took our Chinese leftovers and headed for the bridge! We were blessed with immaculate weather as we cross north-bound, as seen below:
After crossing the bridge, we continued up into the Marin Headlands toward Muir Woods. It was about a 30-minute drive. We were unprepared for the treacherous nature of the roads, however. They were twisty-turny and full of hazards and blind curves. We had to take it pretty slowly, though on the way back down it felt like it was over in a second, even though we were in a conga line of slow-moving cars returning home.
When we finally made it to Muir Woods, we were very ready to get out of the car. Unfortunately, we had not heeded the signs that said "Lot Full - Use Muir Woods Shuttle", in part because where this shuttle was located was not entirely clear from the signage. Everyone else seemed to be headed to the Woods themselves regardless, so we did too.
Once we got there, we discovered just how true those signs were. There was very little parking to begin with, which was a disaster at 2:300-ish on a Saturday afternoon. There were a few people leaving, but so many cars waiting to take their place that you wouldn't believe it. I don't know how long we waited, circling the parking lot, but it felt like 50 years. We were completely enraged because people would sit at their cars, fooling around with their hiking boots or their strollers or their picnic lunches, but then NOT LEAVING in their cars. So many times. Completely infuriating!! When we did finally get a spot, we took a picture because we were so damn proud:
But then we got the heck outta there, because we did not want to be ~~those people~~ who loiter in the parking lot!! Here is some proof that we were there:
We decided to take one of the walking trails that ran up along the ridge, since there were fewer small children up there and it looked more interesting. While walking, Super Husband heard a crackling from the embankment above, and stepped back just in time to see this lump of stump crash down where he had just been standing. (It's the pile of splintered, rotten wood and ferns that you see on the trail here:)
Thank goodness for instincts! I don't know what would have happened if that had landed on him! There were no railings on this trail, and there was a steep incline downhill to the right of this shot.
After we had taken in the forest, we headed back to Alameda (and it took us over an hour and 30 minutes to claw our way through fog and traffic in order to do so!!!) and called in a 7:30 dinner reservation at Pasta Pelican, another place we had a Restaurant.com coupon for.
We actually enjoyed Pasta Pelican a lot more than we had Urban Tavern. This was more our style - and it was quiet, on the marina with a nice view, and served food that seemed "normal" and appetizing. Super Husband had some pasta, and I had a pizza. They also served up nice warm bread with olive oil, minced garlic, and Parmesan cheese for dipping. Super Husband was in garlic heaven!
After dinner we went back to the Coral Reef Inn to call it a night. Our next adventure would be an all-public-transit, final-dash through San Francisco the next day!
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