I would like to start off by thanking everyone for their comments on my last post. It was nice to have more than two, although I thought that some of the responses could have been a little more understanding of my lack of posts. We have all established by now that I don't have much of a life outside of work so this won't be a very exciting blog. In fact, I put that out there in my very first post: "Clearly my life isn't anywhere as exciting as moving to NYC and spotting random celebrities or seeing life through a set of two year old eyes again." There you go. I admited it early, I'm not in denial.

Moving on. Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow is Wednesday. I know that you're all, "No sh*#, Sherlock" but maybe you don't know that tonight, Mom and I are starting the drive to Virginia. Then on Wednesday, we're finishing it and get to see Michelle and the AJ! Then of course comes Thursday and Turkey Day and Sydney flying in! So I'm kind of super excited. The only thing putting a damper on my mood is that I've been at work since before 7:45 this morning and I won't be leaving until after 7 tonight. Like I already told my coworker, Siena (pronounced seen-uh), I don't want to talk about it. So yeah.

We're pretty much ready to go. Mom and I packed all of the random stuff that has to go with us (Syd's Christmas decorations, some random hand-me-down toys from the neighbor for AJ, and a ton of Christmas presents that we won't have to ship now) and a bunch of grocery items for Thursday's meal. I threw my bag in as I left for work this morning so all that's left is Mom's stuff and the cooler. The plan is to get to Ohio and get about 4 hours of driving in before we stop tonight. Then we'll (hopefully) get on the road early enough tomorrow morning that we can have a few quality hours of AJ time once we get to VA.

Oh, one last thing. More of a forewarning than a thing. Anyone who will see and be in a car with a cd player with me over the next few days will be subjected, almost constantly, to Sara Bareilles' cd, Little Voice. Best. CD. EVER! Just prepare yourself.

That is all, Happy Early Turkey Day everyone!

A Tale of Two Comments...

So here's the thing. I seem to recall a lot of people making comments on here a couple of weeks ago about how I hadn't posted in forever and I needed to update and blah blah blah. So I update, complete with a bunch of pictures, and only two people respond (thank you Claire and Sydney, this message does not apply to you. Although it did take you awhile Syd, and I even told you that I had posted.)! Anyway, being the bigger person, I am choosing to put the lack of comments to my latest post after a barrage of comments telling me to update behind me and moving on with my life, such as it is.

I didn't feel so hot yesterday, I called in sick to work and spent the day with the dogs at home and at the Mezydlo's because I'm dog sitting again. I wasn't great company, but the dogs didn't seem to mind. When I came home from hanging out with the girls, I went to let O'Malley and Maggie out. It was spitting ice, it looked like tiny balls of hail! O wanted nothing to do with it, but Maggie was in doggie heaven! I sat with O'Malley in front of the back door and watched Maggie run through the leaves and ice on the deck, then down in the yard. She ran inside, jumped in my lap to lick my face, then she ran back outside with the whole back half of her body wagging like crazy! O'Malley finally went out but I had to go, too. Those 10 minutes pretty much made Maggie's day! It was pretty cool to watch how excited she was...until the ground got really wet later in the day and it started getting muddy...not so much fun!

Anyway, there's another update so no more comments from the peanut gallery, unless they have something nice to say!

Fondant is Fun-dant!

So ignore the stupid title, I wasn't feeling extremely creative tonight. I did, however, import a couple month's worth of photos onto my computer so I thought that I would post and do a massive, Reader's Digest version of an update on my life.

Sydney came for a visit for the last couple of weeks in September during her off-time between a couple of shows. It was nice to have her around for a couple of weeks. We even got to celebrate our friend Samantha's birthday while Sydney was here. Here's the obligatory photo op in the car:

While Sydney was visiting, Michelle and AJ flew out and we drove down to Southern IN for a couple of days to visit with the clan down there. Since we were visiting with Grandma, swimming was a must and AJ thoroughly enjoyed himself:We got back from visiting the family and Dad took us to the Purdue v Notre Dame game in South Bend. So here's touchdown Jesus:

And Sydney and I getting bored with losing and taking a photo op break:
But alas, Sydney, Michelle, and AJ left me. So I had to go back to the normal life of work and no one to entertain me when I wasn't at work. Cue sad face. Anyway, I have been taking a cake decorating class since the beginning of September. The only down side is that it's on Thursday nights so I don't get to watch my Ugly Betty and Grey's until Friday or sometime on the weekend. That's what they invented DVR for! We've worked a lot with buttercream. I've gotten much better at torting cakes and they're pretty level when I finish filling and stacking them now. We made homemade fondant and chocolate ganache. There's been a lot of baking, piping, spreading, rolling, cutting, chilling, and decorating going on the last couple of months. I have a couple of pictures of the two fondant cakes I've done. I'll post pictures of the other cakes I've done when I have those photos uploaded. For now, here's the two fondant cakes:

That's basically been my life the last couple of months. Last night I went out with a bunch of work people. One of them is a friend Sydney and I have from high school who just got engaged. She asked Sydney to be her maid of honor and last night she asked me to be one of her other bridesmaids! Yay for weddings and for having three years to plan showers and bachlorette parties! Congrats to Mike and Sam, we love you guys!

So there you go. Family, friends, football, and fondant...fun, fun, fun!

It's been awhile...

So I realized that I haven't posted in more than a month.

I'm going to work on that...

Can you have your cake and eat it, too?

Yesterday was my day off so naturally I enjoyed it just for that reason alone. I got to sleep in (well, I was sleeping on and off between 7:30 and 8:45, but I didn't get out of bed until almost 9, so woo hoo for me!), then I supervised the dogs and watched some shows on the DVR while Mom went grocery shopping. I also started my laundry while she was gone. She got back and we put the groceries away. Then I took the staple gun outside to try and fix some of the holes in the lattice work that is up around the bottom of the deck to block the animals from getting underneath. The holes kind of defeat the purpose! That wasn't working so well. After going inside again to grab a hammer and a pair of wire clippers to remove the old staples, I managed to fix one part before the next section got me so frustrated that I went back inside. I washed the dirt and mulch off of my feet and legs, then Mom and I went to pick up my license plates! I haven't put them on yet, but they are in my car and I have until November before the temp plate expires, so I figure I'm good for a while. We had lunch and Coldstone (they have Nutter Butter ice cream, omg!!!) then went home.

The most exciting part of my day was that I started my cake decorating class last night. It's every Thursday night from 6-10pm and we're going to work with different kinds of frostings and learn how to use different pastry bag tips to make flowers, leaves, basket weave, and to write on cakes. All we did last night was see the classroom, the baking area, talk about all of the things we would be doing and what supplies we need or might want to have for class. I'm super excited to get everything I need this weekend and to get started with the actual baking, filling, and decorating next week. I mean, like, soooooo excited!!! I'll be taking my camera with me to class once we start producing cakes and I'll post so that you can see all of the prettiness that will be my cakes. And if mine don't look pretty, I'll be taking pictures of other people's cakes and passing them off as my own, so yeah.

Just a little FYI...

Let's see, what has been going on with me this past week? I set up insurance on my new car. Definately more expensive than what I've been paying as a sometimes driver on the Jetta, but when you hit 23, it's kind of hard to not be the principal driver on a car, especially when you're the one on the title and the loan. We got a letter from Toyota Financial Services letting us know that the car is officially paid off, woo hoo! I signed release papers so that State Farm could gain access to my medical records from the emergency room visit I made the day of my wreck. The check I deposited from State Farm cleared so now I'm just waiting for the check I wrote to the dealer to come out of my account.
The new fridge was delivered on Friday and it was ever so slightly too tall. So on Sunday, we took the cabinet above it down and shaved about a 1/2 inch off the bottom and ta-da! So the fridge is in its rightful place again after spending five days hanging out in the middle of the kitchen.
I worked on Saturday so I didn't get to watch Purdue win (GO BOILERS!!!) even though we finally have the Big Ten Network! The upside was that we snuck in a DVD player and had a movie day at work. It took us over four hours to watch one movie because we had to keep turning the TV off when customers came in, but at least it was more entertaining than staring at a computer screen all day! The two highlights of my weekend were on Sunday: a giant Coke Slurpee and the Bears winning their season opener at Indianapolis with Kyle Orton as starting quarterback!

Can refrigerators explode?

We've had a few issues with the fridge, mostly with the ice maker and dispenser. So when we had to call a repair man to come and figure out why we had hollow ice cubes and a giant puddle of water in the bottom of the fridge that seemed to be coming from the back of the freezer, I was (not) hoping for good news. (I don't think that it's any secret that I think the fridge should be replaced) When Dean (the repair man) told us it would be a few hundred in parts and labor and he wasn't even sure that all of the problems would be fixed after that, Mom and Dad decided it was time to bite the bullet and replace the (18 year old!) fridge.
Mom had sensed this was coming and had checked out Best Buy on Tuesday so that's where we stopped by first so she could show me what she had found. We found another, better one while we were there. It's a black side by side with an ice and water dispenser and it will be delivered on Friday.
Our other excitement yesterday (other than me wanting to muzzle my stupid dog because he wouldn't stop barking!) came around 7pm while we were eating dinner. The phone rang, I answered it, and we spent the next hour or so in a giant cleaning frenzy so that someone could come and see the house. Mom's happy because now the house is clean and picked up. They stayed for more than twenty minutes and were still standing outside talking when we got back. It was a couple that just had a baby and are trying to find something quickly. Everybody keep your fingers crossed!

It is called LABOR Day...

So as you know (or at least you know now), Michelle and AJ are coming for a visit later this month, yay! AJ sleeps in a port-a-crib, pack-n-play thing when he visits Chicago, but we noticed that last time he was here, he was getting a little big for it (I think the thing shrank, but that could just be me in denial of him growing up!). We heard that he got to sleep in a big boy bed on the way down to South Carolina for vacation last week. Gramma decided it was time to buy AJ a new place to sleep when he visits. Where do you go when you want to find inexpensive furniture that doesn't have to be delivered and that you can put together yourself with nothing more than a hammer, screwdriver, and the little hex key? Come on, I know you know! IKEA!!!!!

So that's where we went on Sunday, and let me tell you, we were soooo not the only ones with the "Let's go buy furniture and put it together because it's a long weekend and we actually have time!" idea. Let's just say that it was a madhouse, people were cutting each other off, blocking intersections, running out in front of people, and all that was just the parking lot!

Eventually we got inside and here's how the trip went. We looked at the beds, looked at the children's beds, found a new hall table lamp and got lost in the lighting section trying to find a bathroom. Then we found a couple more random things, got a blanket for the new bed, saw a cute table, found me a new headboard/footboard set, sat/laid on some matresses, looked at sheets, tried to remember where previously mentioned cute table was making a complete circle in the process, went back to children's beds to look at more sheets, and then nixed the sheets. We found the elevator down to the first floor where you pick up all of the furniture you find, waited for someone to come and get the flatbed carts unstuck, set out on our mission to find everything, couldn't find everything, found out that one of the things we couldn't find had to be pulled from a seperate area and picked up after we paid. Then we paid, Mom waited for the thing we couldn't get ourselves, I pulled the car around, tried to fit my bed in, and called Dad to bring the van because I couldn't fit my bed in. Then I waited for Mom, went back in to find her and help bring the rest of the stuff out, finished loading my car, waited for Dad with the van, loaded my bed in the van, went home, unloaded everything, and Mom and I put it all together.

It was a lot of lifting, pushing, pulling, directions, and hard labor, but eventually we got both beds done. Here's AJ's new bed at Gramma's house:

This bed is nice because it has three length settings. This is the longest, making it a twin sized bed but you can push the two ends together until the curlicues on the side almost meet, making a good little toddler sized bed.

And this one is my new set:

Isn't it prettiful?! I lurve it!

Monday was less eventful with a trip to Best Buy to find a couple of cords and chargers I needed and then on to Trader Joe's which was slightly less insane than it was the first time we went. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing absolutely nothing, my favorite way to spend time!

Hope everyone else had a relaxing Labor Day weekend!

Get in the car, and just go...

I bought my new car last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sidenote: I'm pretty stinking excited about it!


This is it, a 2008 Honda CR-V, Whistler Silver with a black interior! I drove it home from the dealer last night and to work this morning and I had the moonroof open both times. I love all of the controls and the backlights and the stereo system and the colors and the steering wheel and the displays and the moonroof and all of the airbags and other safety features and the fact that I own the title alone and that I got a good rate on a loan without having anyone co-sign and I pretty much just love everything about this car!

Right after the accident, everyone kept talking about my car being totaled and I thought that it was the worst thing that could happen. Now I'm glad that I have a new car that has never been through an accident like that. Even though it stressed me out all week trying to research every car I thought I might possibly like, I'm glad I did all the research and drove a few different kinds of cars because now I'm sure that I made a great choice for myself.

Thanks Mom for driving me to dealers, sitting in the backseat while I test drove cars, and listening to me talk about different cars for the last week; thanks Dad for going down to Lisle, helping me negotiate, and being willing to co-sign a loan with me if it would get me a lower rate; and thank you to both of you for telling me to stop second guessing myself. Thanks to everyone else for all the suggestions on what to look at and what to ignore.

I bought my new car last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Seriously, I'm really excited!)

If you can't beat 'em...

You know that old stand-by you use when you're trying to convince the parentals to let you do something that they clearly aren't going to let you do? "But Mom/Dad, EVERYONE'S doing it!!!" Well, it kind of seems like everyone is blogging these days, so I figured I'd just bite the bullet and do it.

Clearly my life isn't anywhere as exciting as moving to NYC and spotting random celebrities or seeing life through a set of two year old eyes again, but I've had some pretty exciting things going on lately, good and bad. Plus, some of you don't get to listen to me vent nearly enough these days so I'm re-subscribing to the ever popular Kindergarten mantra: sharing is caring!