DJ Earworm

Gross name for a DJ, but I just ran across this guy's mash-ups and I LOVE them!! He takes the top 25 pop songs of the year and makes them into a new song and video by piecing them together in an awesome way. Matt and I sat down and watched all of them - from 2007 - 2010 and so far I think this one is the best:

2009 Mix

(Although the 2010 mix features Justin Beiber, which makes it pretty darn sweet as well :))

Enjoy!

A Case of the "Maybes"

Sometimes I get nervous that politeness is a dying art.

This makes me sad.

But sometimes I am guilty of this myself. So what to do? I am going to make a focused effort to flex my polite muscle on a more regular basis, and (maybe not so politely) force others to do the same :)

Issue #1: A lot of people our age seem to have a bad case of the "Maybes." Now, I have nothing against people saying maybe. Let's say I walk up to you and ask if you want to go grab dinner on Friday. You say, "Maybe, let me check with my husband and make sure we don't have anything else going on that day." Awesome. Totally acceptable. Figure it out and let me know.

The problem is not schedule checking. It's people giving a half-commitment so they can wait and see if something better comes along. "Yeah, maybe I'll come to your birthday dinner," but then you get invited to a movie and feel like doing that instead. Maybes leave people either counting on you or wondering if you are going to flake, and they add stress to what is usually already a stressful situation. If I'm planning a party or a trip, I need to know how many people are going to be there so I can PLAN. How much food to buy, how many people to make a reservation for, important stuff like that. Your maybe throws off everything for me.

Gah! I am guilty of this myself! I've maybe-ed many an event where I decide at the last minute... that I'm too TIRED to go!! I can't believe how rude I feel just admitting that. I lead people on and then bail on them to watch Law & Order SVU marathons!! Bad form. Which is why I am going to try my hardest to change.

From now on, if I am invited to something and I'm not sure if I want to go, I am going to force myself to decide. So the other people involved can plan accordingly, and so I don't feel tempted to bail out at the last minute (because I never really said that I was going, right? And I am tired...) No more of that. Polite initiative #1. Starts today - watch out.

Jack-o-lanterns

Before moving in with Pamela I had pretty much given up on carving pumpkins or decorating for Halloween.  I remember doing them with my family growing up, but after moving out there was no one to initiate the festivities.  If anyone was unaware, Pamela is Mrs. Festive.  So I guess that makes me Mr. Festive.  For the past couple years we have decorated our house for Halloween which included carving pumpkins.  I'm not talking about cutting out a quick jagged face so we have something to put outside of our house.  If I'm going to carve a pumpkin, I'm going to put some effort into it.  Plus, if I'm going to spend $5 on food that I'm not going to eat, I want to at least have some fun with it.  My dremel has become my favorite pumpkin carving tool and has helped me make some interesting designs.  Below is the pumpkin we made this year and also our Jack-o-lanterns from '09 and '08.

Dog Beach

This video captures a majority of our time spent last weekend.  If it were up to Jordan I think we would have spent the entire weekend at the beach playing fetch.  Unfortunately for her we had to take breaks to eat and visit my dad.  But aside from that most of our time over the weekend was spent throwing the ball for Jordan.  It must be the cold water and cooler weather that allow her to keep going and going.

 

I'm glad we were able to bring Jordan with us on this vacation.  We usually have to leave that poor puppy behind when we travel somewhere but this was a treat for us and her to be able to go on a trip together.  Plus it was a break for Kim who usually has to watch Jordan when we are out of town. 

Overseeding Part 3

Here we are, just two weeks after putting down the seed and the lawn is back to green.  We didn't even do fertilizer or a topper and the grass still came in nicely.  All you have to do is make sure you give them enough water and those little seeds just want to grow.  I do think the seed spreader was a good investment this year.  Last year it came in a little patchy at first due to the hand spreading.  In a few days it should be long enough to give it the first mow and then Pamela and Jordan will have a nice green lawn to play in all winter long.

Let's Be Amish Friends

About a month ago, my good friend Brittany gave me a starter bag of and a recipe for something called Amish Friendship Bread. The legend behind the bread is that only the Amish know what to put in the starter, and then the bags must continue rotating around like a chain letter. You break it, no more bread. However, a quick Google search reveals that you can, in fact, make yourself a starter. Hooray technology! But, boy, do they make you work for this stuff! I was skeptical when I saw that it takes 10 days of fermenting, mashing the bag and adding ingredients before you could bake the bread. But Britt assured me that it was well worth the effort so I gave it a try.

It was pretty fun to watch the bag bubble and expand as the ingredients fermented on the counter. Some days we had to let the air out multiple times - it was out of control! On the 6th day, you add some flour, sugar and milk. Then on the 10th day, it's bake time! You add more ingredients, separate out starter bags for some friends, and make 2 loaves for yourself. And it did not disappoint! It actually tastes more like a cake than a bread - and we all know how I feel about cake :) We devoured one of the loaves - breakfast, snacks and dessert - and gave the other to a friend. I would have kept one of the starter bags for ourselves, but the next day we left for our Cabo trip. I'm debating starting up a new one - so let me know if you are interested in some delicious Amish goodness!

Overseeding Part 2

It's been 8 days since I put the seed down in the yard and finally the new grass is starting to sprout.  Pamela makes fun of me during this first week of the overseeding because I get so impatient.  I just want immediate results from my hard work.  In a perfect world the grass would start growing the day after I put it down.

Even though I'm done waiting to see if the seeds sprout I still have about another week of waiting ahead of me to see if it grows in evenly.  Last year it came in a little patchy at first, but we're hoping to do better this year since we bought and used an actual seed spreader instead of doing it by hand.

Crazy Spinning Dog

Jordan has recently decided to do this out of control spinning in which she balls up all of the sheets and pillows on the bed in her fit of excitement. Kills me every time...

Overseeding Part 1

The weather in Phoenix is finally starting to cool off a little bit which means it is time to overseed the lawn with winter grass.  Pamela and Jordan liked having the grass last year so much that we decided to do it again this year.  So that was my project for this weekend.  It's a good amount of work to get the area prepared for the seed, especially if you don't have all the right power mowers and dethatchers.  Since our yard is fairly small it's still possible to get it all done with a line trimmer and a rake, it just takes a little longer.  And now our yard looks like this... covered with about a half inch of dying bermuda grass. 

It's alright though, because in a week or so our lush new rye grass lawn will be coming in.  I'll post some more pictures later to show how the grass turned out.  I hope it comes in alright, to make it worth all the trouble.  Here's an action shot of me spreading the seed:

Chicken Fried Rice

Mmm... Tasty recipe time! To go along with our P90X workouts, Matt and I are also trying to eat a little healthier, which means cooking more meals at home. And this little gem takes only minutes to prepare and is quite good!


Chicken Fried Rice:



2 Chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 Cup Cooked Rice
1 Cup Carrots
1 Medium Onion
1 Cup Celery
2 Eggs
Spices
1 Tbsp EVOO


So the secret is to use day-old rice that has been refrigerated instead of cooking it fresh. One of my Asian girlfriends at work told us this and it makes a HUGE difference in the taste of the meal.

We usually start by cooking the chicken up in a skillet - to save on calories, we don't use any oil or butter for this part (although I'm sure it would taste darn good if you did!)

While Matt mans the stove, I will prep the veggies by cutting them all into small, manageable pieces that can fit into the food processor. It only takes a couple of seconds in the processor to get essentially veggie shavings, so don't over blend those guys and accidentally puree them.

Once the chicken is fully cooked, we add the rice, veggies and 1 Tbsp. of EVOO to saute all together.

At this point, we also add spices to our liking: usually salt, pepper and garlic powder. Don't have an actual amount here, we just add until it starts smelling and looking good.

Once all of that is sauteed together, we push the mixture to the outside of the pan so that a bare circle remains in the middle. Then you can crack the eggs into the center and let them bubble for a bit. Once the eggs start to cook, you can mix them in with the rest of the rice mixture.

Then you're ready to eat!

Only about a 20 minute time commitment to make this, so it is really fast and easy. Yum!

P.S. How envious are you of my pink countertops? Oh yeah...

P90X

So I just started doing P90X for real this week.  Pamela and I tried it out for 2 weeks leading up to our anniversary vacation in Cabo and I really liked it.  I was already starting to see results after those two weeks.  Plus, as a bonus my migraine headaches seemed be improving with the intense regular exercise.  So now that we are back from our vacation I am going to try the full 90 day regimen.  It will be quite a commitment to stick with it as the exercise routines range from 60-90 minutes a day and they are very strenuous.  These first few days have left me pretty sore and tired, but it'll all be worth it when I'm super ripped and my head doesn't hurt.  I took all the before pictures that they suggest but I'm not going to post them until the end.  They are not the most flattering pictures, especially after spending a week eating, drinking, and laying by the pool in Cabo.  Maybe that will help me show even more improvement after the end of the 3 months.  Wish me luck!

Yard Work is HOW Much?!!

Matt is the unofficial landscaper of our house, and he does a very nice job watering, mowing and trimming. But in the summer months, it gets really difficult to find a time when it's cool enough to be outside and also light enough to see what you're doing. So a few months ago, we came up with the great idea to hire someone just once during the summer to do the dirty work for us. A little treat to ourselves - a reward for being so frugal and doing it ourselves the rest of the year. And we figured it would cost about $50, right? So then we let the yard grow out nice and full so we would get our money's worth out of this landscaper we were going to hire.

Flash forward to this week, when Matt calls around to get quotes. 3 visits later, and we find out the absolute cheapest anyone will do the work for is $100!!!!! Am I just cheap, or does that seem outrageous to anyone else? It normally takes the two of us an hour to get the job done, and you'd think it would take a professional half that time, no? One self-professed arborist (who takes care of your trees with a holistic approach - oooh! aahh!) wanted to charge $225!

So then I had a heart attack and when I recovered we got out the gloves and the trash bags and headed outside. Matt worked the hedge trimmer while I followed behind and picked up clippings. 90 minutes, 8 trash cans, 5 scrapes, 4 bottles of water and one thorn (sorry Kim!) later, we tamed the jungle down to a nice garden. It was quite a work-out. When we were done, I realized that I hadn't seen our fence in a few months due to the overgrowth - whoops! So from now on we're back on our maintainance plan so we don't make that same mistake twice. And we are treating ourselves to a nice dinner out as a reward - which feels a lot better than paying some schmuck $100!

How to Grow a New Oleander Plant

I like oleanders as a plant because they are very hearty and low maintenance.  They are awesome because they not only survive through intense Arizona summers, they love the heat.  Our oleanders flower several times throughout the year, their leaves stay green all year round, and they don’t require much water.  Another cool feature is that you have a lot of options when growing and pruning them.  We have some in front of our house that I have trimmed down like a small hedge, about 4 feet tall, in front of our kitchen window.  Then in the back yard one of our oleanders has grown into a bush maybe 12 feet tall and 10 feet across that works great to block out some of the street noise from the road next to our house.  I have even seen oleanders trimmed to grow like trees with a large single trunk.

However, some of my friends do not share the same affinity for oleanders that I do.  Their heartiness also makes them very hard to remove once they are established.  So before planting oleanders you better be certain that it is the plant you want and you are happy with the location.  Also, oleanders are very poisonous.  We have never had a problem with Jordan but you should be cautious if you have pets or little children.

Like I said oleanders flower often and will produce seed pods but the best way to propagate a new oleander plant is to take a cutting off of the existing plant.  The best time to do this is in late summer or fall.  Look for fresh shoots coming off of the branches about 6 inches long or so and cut them off close to the old branch.  The new branches will be a nice bright green like in this picture. 

Take these new growth branches you just cut and put them in a glass or vase of water and let them sit for a week or so.  Make sure the bases of the cuttings are submerged in the water and refill the container if necessary.

 After several days you should start to see little white roots growing from cut end of the clippings.  Be patient with this part.  For the first week or so you wont see any change in the clippings and may be tempted to give up, but keep giving them water and give them time to grow. 

Once these little roots are an inch or longer you can take them out of the water and plant them in the ground.  I put mine in pots so they have good soil with which to establish some serious roots and it makes it easier to make sure they have enough water.

I usually start with about 6-10 clippings.  Not all of the clippings will sprout roots and they may not all survive once they are planted so it’s good to have some extra.  I made out pretty well this time with most of the clippings surviving so far.  I’m planning on using these to grow another bush in the back yard.  I’m also trying to grow one like a tree, which I just recently planted in the front yard.  As he grows taller I’m just pruning off the lower leaves and so far it is looking promising.  Here is a picture of him in the pot before I planted him.

This one is just a few months ahead of the new little guys.  The oleanders grow very quickly, especially during the hotter months.  I’ll try to remember to post an update in a couple months to show how they are all progressing.

Mmm... Avalon...

Last night, my sister Liz took me, Matt & Kim to this restaurant called Avalon. AZ Central had voted it "Best Dessert In Phoenix," which was enough to convince me to give it a try. And we were not disappointed! The menu is small - maybe only 8 entrees offered - but everything we ordered was amazing. A small sampling of the menu:

Grilled Mahi Mahi over rissoto with pineapple butter sauce
Aged Prime Top Sirloin with mushroom glaze sauce and au gratin potatoes with grilled onion
Pork Tenderloin wrapped in bacon over grilled asparagus and fresh vegetable medley

Every bite was as good as the first, and we played Pass The Plate so everyone got to try some of each. Then it was time for the best part: the dessert! Here's what we got (one of each that they offered, actually!)

Organic Strawberry Trifle with tart mousse whip (very refreshing!)
Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Truffle with Raspberry Jam (like a fancy Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!)
Bananas Foster Cheesecake (Basically a little cheesecake with a caramel brulee banana)
Pineapple Bread Pudding (Everyone's favorite - Matt said it reminded him more of a pineapple crisp. But I think he was embarrassed since he professed his dislike for bread pudding as we ordered, then it ended up being the best one!)

Another cool thing about this restaurant was the decor - very cool and modern with lots of blues and browns - one of my favorite color combos. And now I have some good ideas in case Matt and I ever get a house with a basement and want to make it look like a swanky club :)

All in all, Avalon was a wonderful belated b-day gift from Liz and we all had a good time! Then we all went home and fell into a food coma.

http://www.avalon-scottsdale.com/

Baby Jordan

Pamela was checking out her favorite blog, Dooce, the other day and on it there was a picture of her dog when it was just a puppy.  Pamela loved the picture so much that I thought I would put up some pictures of Jordan from back when she was a baby puppy.  Here are a couple of them, plus I put a few more on Jordan's page.

Vacations: The Final Chapter

Trip #3: Back to Santa Barbara for some Team fun!

This past week, I went back out to Santa Barbara for a planning meeting for work. We stayed at this cute historic hotel in the heart of downtown called the Upham. So there is the main hotel and then there is an 8-bedroom house converted into a Bed & Breakfast right across the street. Our team was staying in the B&B so we would have meeting space and also so we could all hang out more and get to know each other. Gross side story now:

We got to the hotel and the innkeeper said that a few of the rooms had a "fly issue" and that those people would have to wait a couple of hours to check in while the problem was being fixed. Of course, my room was one of the infested ones. Around 1:30, she announces that my room is good to go and I head up there to find 4 or 5 dead/struggling flies on my bathroom and bedroom floor. I feel a little sick about it, but I pick them up with a tissue and flush them. Then I head back downstairs for meetings. 4 hours later, it was time to go back upstairs to get ready for dinner. Oh the horror! I walk in and see more than 20 flies scattered around the room - dead or dying on their backs. I grabbed my stuff and booked it over to Kristina's room before the carnage made me throw up. Needless to say, I ended up staying in the main hotel property across the street. Because I doubt General Mills wanted to pay for my therapy bills when I started having nightmares about flies touching me. On to the real story now...

Like most General Mills trips, this one was filled with great food and fun times. We ate at this cute restaurant called Downey's, where I had the most amazing sea bass of my life! And the desserts here were killer too - nobody could stop talking about the sorbet and the homemade peach ice cream. The next day, we went on a vineyard tour of Santa Barbara where we learned how wine is grown, processed and bottled. It was very interesting and I learned a ton about wine that I never knew before. It was also great to learn the correct pronunciations for different wines and how to pair it with foods - something that comes in handy in the world of business and sales. That night we had an awesome time bonding as a team over pizza and Taboo. For what I lack in sports skills, I make up for in board games and trivia knowledge, so I pretty much rocked that game :)

The next morning, I earned my fitness points for the day by attending an impromptu boot camp put on by my co-worker's husband. Holy moly was it intense! My abs and legs still hurt 2 days later. And a word to the wise: apparently if you eat before a hard workout, your body doesn't have time to focus on digestion so your stomach will try to send that banana back up the way it came... Yikes. Before we headed back to Phoenix, we made a stop at CrushCakes - a famous cupcake shop featured on Cupcake Wars. Strawberry Lemonade cupcake = very tasty. Vanilla Bean cupcake = perfection. Another great trip, but now I am glad to just be home with Matt for a few weeks.

CrushCakes... as close to heaven as Santa Barbara can get!

My emu call was apparently spot-on, since I got these guys to come right over...

One of the many gorgeous vineyards we toured

Vacations Part 2

Trip #2: Visiting my baby in Lompoc!

The day after I got home from Chicago I unpacked, repacked and headed off to Lompoc, CA to see Matt! It had been 2 weeks since I had seen him last, which might as well have been an eternity! So it felt awesome when I stepped off of that plane into 70-degree weather and (more importantly) into Matt's arms! Matt's co-worker Jake was out in Lompoc too, so his wife Nicole and I made the trek out there together. Hooray for awesome new friends! We all ate at a yummy steakhouse off the marina in Santa Barbara, and then made the 45 minute drive to the boys' hotel in Lompoc. Initially, we thought that Matt would have to work the entire weekend, but at the last minute their launch was delayed and he was free to hang out with me for 3 days! We got in some good beach time this trip - going to Pismo Beach one day and Santa Barbara Beach another. Jake bought a kite that we tried flying, but there was just no wind during this trip. It was still nice to be smelling the ocean air and out of the heat. We also made a visit to San Luis Obispo to do some window shopping and sightseeing. What a cute little area!

Then, on the 4th of July, we decided to all spend the day in Santa Barbara and top it off with the downtown fireworks show. This day could be known as The Day of Eating 5,000 Calories Apiece :) There was just SO much good food to be had there! We split a mixed cheese plate from some fancy cheese shop, and then went to the adorable Anderson's Bakery where someone decided we could easily split 4 giant desserts. Definitely worth the calories there, though! We took a break from eating to walk along the beach and look at the craft show that was going on. Then it was back to dinner at Aldo's Italian food. WOW!! This is some of the best Italian I have ever eaten - cheese and bacon-stuffed chicken with a sauce that really made the meal. And the best crabcakes hands down! That night, we watched the fireworks over the Santa Barbara pier and it was a gorgeous sight. Not only was the weather nice and cool (unlike every other 4th I spent in Phoenix), but the fireworks shining through the palm trees just made for a nice effect.

The biggest treat of all was that Monday afternoon I got to bring Matt home with me!! Before we left for the airport, we stopped in a little Dutch town called Solvang to walk around and sightsee. The buildings were so cute and Matt introduced me to these donut-like round pancakes called Aebleskivers - mmm! Then it was home again for us. It has been so nice to have Matt back here with me, and I'm sure he is glad to not be living out of a hotel!

Fun Friends, Fun Times


Beach Bums


Fine Dining - Aldo's, Anderson's & Arnie's

Santa Barbara is a weird hippie town...


Matt's gum wall contribution

Reunited! (And check out that beard!)


California-style fireworks

Vacations Like Whoa

It has been a crazy last couple of weeks of travel here at our house. Matt was in Lompoc for a good solid month, and I made it out to visit him between my work trips. The trips were a lot of fun and I got to do and see a lot of great things over the course of 2 weeks. Here's the highlight reel:

Trip 1: Fiscal Year End Celebration in Chicago!

I had never been to Chicago before and I liken trips with General Mills to trips with Mom & Dad: you stay cooler places and do better things because they are older and have more money than you do :) I feel so lucky to work for a company that rewards strong performance and treats its employees well. And GMI wins too, since their kindness just makes me want to work harder for them! So we arrived at our hotel Monday morning - Trump Towers! It was gorgeous - a view of the lake from our window and detailed rooms like no other. There was even a TV built in to our bathroom mirror! We had some time for work and some time for play while we were out here. This included a rooftop viewing of the Cubs game Monday night, a trip to the spa for an awesome mani/pedi on Tuesday, and some fun community service Wednesday before we had to head back home.

Gino's famous Pizza - very cool decor! We even wrote our names on the wall here!









Enjoying the game with my favorite work ladies!




Awesome views!

Launch Beard Time Lapse

While I was out in California growing my launch beard I thought it would be fun to take a picture of it every day so that I could make a time lapse video afterward.  This afternoon I took a little bit of time and played around with Windows Movie Maker and below is the result. There were only 15 days worth of pictures so I went through twice, the second time with fading transitions in between the pictures.  Poor Pamela is married to a huge nerd but it's okay, she makes a guest appearance on day 15 and she looks pretty happy to see me.

Launch Beard Update - Day 14

This will most likely be the last launch beard update since Pamela is coming out to visit tomorrow.  I am super excited to see her.  Even though it's only been a couple weeks it seems like way longer.  Possibly because I've only been home for a few days over the weekends for the past two months.  Either way, it's going to be awesome to see Pamela and spend some time with her.  But that means the beard will have to go.  It was fun while it lasted but I think I prefer not having a beard.  Plus I don't think it helped to give the rocket good luck anyway.  It wasn't anything we did but the launch is delayed again.  So apparently my launch beard wasn't sending the rocket good karma.

Curious Dog

Before I go to work each day, Jordan and I usually play some fetch in the back yard to wear her out a bit. And lately, she has been pretty curious whenever she sees a bird flying over or perching on our fence. It is really funny to watch - she will slow down her body and stare transfixed at the birds. But not in a mean way like she wants to attack them, sort of like she is daydreaming about them and trying to figure out how they get way up there in the sky. She'll just sort of stare at them, smiling, until I snap her back to reality.

On Thursday, I was working from home. When I do that, I typically draw open the shades in the office so Jordan can sit in there with me and look out the window while I work. So I'm typing away and all of the sudden, I hear a thud like a bird has crashed into the window. Matt had noticed some little fledgling sparrows in the front yard a few weeks back, who must be living in our tree and learning how to fly. When I looked over to the window, I was amazed to see one of the little guys holding on to the screen near the top of the window - freaking out about how he got there and what to do next. Jordan wasn't having any of this, so she barked at him and scared him away.

So imagine my surprise 2 hours later when I notice the dog standing by that same window - staring intensely but quietly at that tiny bird. And the little bird is just sitting on the window sill staring back in at Jordan. Like they couldn't figure each other out but were SO interested in what the other had to offer. I was only able to capture the last few seconds of what must have been a 2 minute staring match, but it was pretty cute. I wish I could tell what that weird little puppy was thinking.

Especially since just yesterday she smacked into the back window as she frantically tried to attack a mockingbird she caught chilling on her porch...

launch Beard Update - Day 7

woekI'm still working on my launch beard and I wanted to post an update.  Mostly because there is not much else new going on for me out in Lompoc.  So it's been a week since I stopped shaving and although I would have liked to have a more substantial beard, I do have a decent foundation going on.  In these latest pictures you can see a good amount of growth but I'm afraid some of it is lost in the quality of the webcam image and the fact that my hair is sort of blond and blends in with my skin.  Either way, I'll still be taking pictures and tracking my progress.  I only have one more week until Pamela comes out to visit (Hooray!), so we'll see how much more I can grow before then. 

Father's Day & Toy Story!

Today was Father's Day, so Jordan and I packed up and drove the 45 minutes to Peoria to go visit my parents. My dad is a pretty hard guy to shop for because:

1) He loves electronics and gadgets that I know nothing about
2) He is one of those guys that just goes out and buys whatever he wants or needs as he needs it. No waiting for special holidays. Guess that's where I get it from.



But apparently within the past few years, someone promised my dad new shoes and did not deliver on it. So every holiday he asks for sneakers, saying "someone owes me shoes!" And nobody ever gets them for him. So today when I arrived, I told him to hop in the car and we would go to the shoe store right away. It was a buy one get one half off sale, so he picked out 2 cool new pairs of Newbalance sneakers, one white and one black for a little variety. Then he waited patiently while I picked out some black slingback pumps and cute flats for myself. I guess that's what you have to put up with when you have 4 daughters! :)





Then, we all went to Red Robin for a late lunch which was tasty. I seriously can't get enough of their fries. The seasoning they put on those things should be a controlled substance it's so addictive! Then we headed over to see what I believe is the movie of the year - Toy Story 3. It was AWESOME! It is so weird to think that all of the kids who will be obsessed with this movie weren't even alive when the first 2 films came out. I loved the first two, and every other film that Disney/Pixar has made as well. I am a Disney junkie. This movie had just the right mix of fun, adventure, and comedy to keep everyone entertained. And, of course, I bawled like a baby at the touching parts.





Side note here: it is my theory that the lack of drama in my life makes me a hot mess when it comes to emotional situations on TV or in the movies. When I was a teenager, everything was drama, drama, drama with boys, friends, my family, everything. So I got in a good sob at least once a week. Today, though, I am married to an awesome man, I have great girlfriends in my life, and my family turned out to be pretty cool. And it helps that I don't have any more of those psycho teenage hormones. So zero tears. But my body apparently wants the tears. So it turns them on when we see animated characters in peril or a touching commercial with a baby and a father. Weird. But I'll take it versus having real things to cry about any day!





After the movie, Jordan and I headed back to our house to Skype with Matt for a couple hours before bed. Jordan revealed her Father's Day gift to Matt in a cute little Power Point she made for him (yep, I'm that lady who thinks it's cute to personify her dog and act like she's a child - but only when other people aren't looking). This gives us a chance to buy stuff we want without feeling guilty. Plus, Jordan gets birthday gifts so fair is fair. We pre-ordered a fun game that Matt has been excited about. So he won't get it until July but by then he should be home from travel and have more time to play with it. He is such a good little dog daddy to Jordan that he deserves it!





Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there (of puppies and humans)!

Launch Beard

It was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago that the engineers here at Orbital like to grow beards when they are traveling for a launch campaign.  It's sort of like when athletes grow beards when their teams make it to the playoffs, especially in hockey.  I think it's mostly a superstitious thing and the beards are supposed to be good luck.  I'm not sure about all that, and Pamela prefers me without a beard so I've abstained from growing one.  But now that I'm staying out here until we launch and Pamela doesn't come to visit for two weeks, I thought I would try growing a launch beard.  I haven't tried growing facial hair for a while so this should be fun.  It's just the first day today so all I've got is some minor stubble but I'll post again next week with my progress.  Hopefully this will bring good luck to the rocket too.