Happy Days!

Scan the Book Blog for good news! (Link to the right!)

Something I've been getting quite good at...

Banana BreadWhich is basically another way of saying that I'm really bad at eating my bananas before they go rotten. Still, its the one good thing about salvaged, otherwise-unedible fruit! Yum!

Sisters

Despite her prone-to-attract-accidents-practically-out-of-nothing sort of a personality, my sister, Lisa, is probably one of the sweetest people in the whole wide world! The other day we woke up to this on our kitchen table:In case you can't tell... those are sticky notes! I can't even imagine what posessed her to spend all that time lining sticky notes up on a kitchen table in the morning when you're pressed for time to get out the door, but it was so stinkin' cute and made me laugh! Thanks, sissy poo!

Basketball Baby!

Last Friday, Rob conned Lisa and I into attending his highly anticipated big rival CHURCH basketball game. (Oh brother... eye roll to church ball!) Although I wasn't the most thrilled, we did end up going, and actually enjoyed watching Rob and his smooth moves! I was, of course, the nerdy wife with a camera (you Londoners know the drill... I take the pics and everyone begs them off me later), but unfortunately since I have a new camera, I'm still learning the ropes on shutter speed and lighting, and as a result, they are a little blurry. Still, you should get the idea.Sadly, Rob's team actually did NOT end up winning. Both teams were tied, neck to neck for most of the game, however the other team pulled ahead in the last few seconds. This, however, can mostly be attributed to Mike... whom you might as well just refer to as "M.J." the all-star black athlete on the other team. M.J. was a friend of a guy on the other team, and almost all the steals and half the points can be acredited to his athletic prowess! Without their star player, I'm sure the game would have favored Rob's team by about 40 points!

Now if I was REALLY into church ball, I might suggest we start recruiting our own "M.J.'s" for next season... heehee.

Still, you're a winner in my book, babes!

New Job

So about a month ago, Rob lost his job at Bailey Lauerman. This was, of course, no fault of Robs... the advertising firm was just suffering from the effects of a bad economy. They had just recently lost two major clients (Union Pacific Railroad and Allstate Insurance) and he was let go with about 5 or 6 others (including a few who'd been working there over a decade). I was impressed with how very graciously he took things! I would have stomped out of the room in a flury of scattered papers and knocked bookstacks with a carefully (albeit, probably not too original) expression such as... "You can't fire me! I QUIT!!" But not so with Rob. He understood the company's perdicament and despite the obvious stress of being out of work in an unstable economy, we were happy his employment with them had ended. The job was a great experience and a nice resume builder for Rob, but they did not treat us very well financially and he was paid much lower than market value for his work. Still, Rob loved the people he worked with, so he never would have left on his own. So in more ways than one, this job loss was actually a blessing!

Happily, after only a month of job applications, interviews and waiting, Rob now has a new job! Yay!! The job is with the National Research Corporation (NRC) and is basically a corporate sales job (or so I believe... you'll have to check with Rob on the details). He's on a sales team that sells something (sorry, I don't know what!) to big companies. The job not only pays more than his job at Bailey, but gives better benefits and vacation time! Yay, yay, YAY! He also has the opportunity to get a 10% commission on each of his sales to the companies (quite a chunck of change). We're very excited to have work and Rob is thrilled to have founds such a nice replacement job!

February 25

Happy Birthday, Leash!!

All my love, Rottweiler ( :

Above and Beyond

This week, I've been sick. As such, yesterday Rob chivalrously volunteered to go to the store to get me some chicken noodle soup (as our cupboard seemed to be empty of all suck "sick food" items). He returned home with....

Not 1, but 3 different kinds of chicken noodle soup options,

A box of Saltines,

Flowers,

A Redbox movie (chick flick, of course)

and a new release book from Barnes and Noble.

Swoon. Best. Husband. Ever.

I love you!

This is coming a little late... but Happy Valentine's Day! I love Valentine's Day!! What a day to express love and gratitude to the ones we love. Do I need a holiday to give me an exuse to tell my man how much I love him? No way! But is it nice to have one? Absolutely!

I've never quite understood the animosity that some people feel towards this "fake" holiday...

why is this day--set aside specifically for the purpose of showing the ones we love how much we appreciate them--so frowned upon? Rob says the only people who hate Valentine's Day are single people.... maybe. Maybe not. I know a few who aren't single who hate it, so that can't be ENTIRELY true. Or perhaps its because it's a Hershey/Hallmark conspiracy? Could be. But then again, doesn't the corporate world--as a general rule of thumb--seek to take advantage of EVERY holiday? What makes V-day so special and different that we feel the need to hate it so badly. I don't know! For any Valentine's Day haters out there reading this... if you hate the holiday, PLEASE SHARE! I'm genuinely curious of your reasons!

In any event, I had a good holiday. And here are a few pictures from our festivities:

Now with all these festive, heart-warming acts of kindness... how can you really hate Valentine's Day??

Water for Elephants

So excited! Today I heard that one of my favorite books is being made into a movie! Water for Elephants, the story of Jacob Jankowski and his adventures in the traveling circus, Benzini Brother's Most Spectacular Show on Earth, has supposedly already casted Reese Witherspoon as the lovely Marlena, and possibly Sean Penn (Eeek!) as her crazy husband, August. Robert Pattinson, it seems, is thinking about accepting the role of Jacob Jankowski... and my only question is: is there even a question?! Why would you even hesitate to take such a spectacular role alongside such a dynamic duo as Reese and Sean?!?! As an-the-rise-A-lister, this could be Pattinson's chance to really break out of the Twilight role in another big movie. The filming is slated to begin in June of 2010 and I can't wait to see this book adaptation on the big screen!

Needless to say, if you haven't already read this book, get down to Barnes and Noble today. Its a fabulous read... one in which I would highly recommend to anyone!

My Little Sister.... the Human Piggy Bank

Unfortunately, however, the change slot wasn't quite wide enough for the quarter and dime, both of which got lodged inside the Human Piggy Bank. Said dime and quarter were surgically removed last night and doctors happily concluded the Human Piggy Bank will make a full recovery.




The only lasting damage is Natalie's wounded pride.

Christmas 2009 in Review!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... and since I'm lazy and do not want to WRITE an 18,000 word blog post (and lets be honest, you don't want to READ something that long)... here's my attempt at Christmas in review in picture form. Enjoy!

By Request... London Calling!

So sorry to all you Londoners out there who were not able to make it to the London reunion at Riley Lord Voldermort's casa.... (which, by my calculations, was almost everyone)... it was truly wonderful to see those few that came and we deeply missed everyone who couldn't make it! Sadly, it seems as though that will probably be the norm for any future London reunions to come. After all, with jobs, grad school and other such activities taking us to new places around the globe, it will be harder and harder for all of us to be together again. However, we DID have a splendid time this holiday, and by popular request, I'm posting pictures (this one is for you, Allie baby!) So without further adue and with no more gilding the lilly... I give you... photos!
Anne and Justin... two peas in a pod

Melanie, Riley and Tina's oh-so-famous Banana Cream Pie! Yum!
Me enjoying said amazing Banana Cream PieJustin's pervert faceAnd then there were 8...

And then there were 8 making truly hideous ugly faces (not "cute ugly") except for Riley, of course, who missed the memo...

I'm sure the feeling is mutual when I say that the night ended all too soon! It was SO good to see dear friends, and we missed all of you who couldn't make it. Hopefully we'll have a better turn out for the next reunion (fingers crossed!) But until then, let the good times keep rolling, London gang!

P.s. Anyone who is interested in seeing some hilarious videos from our little party--including the LC's best kept secret (no, not the location to Steph's missing argyle), check out my facebook page!