Some Audio/Visual Entertainment

Some snow pictures






But better than pictures is video of Zoey trying to get through the snow on her stubby little legs.


Also, for your enjoyment, we have finally captured footage of Zoey and Reagan wrestling!

The Funk

I think I've got a bit of the funk.

This weekend was crazy. Wonderful, but busy. I saw many friends who unless I saw them everyday I could not see them enough. Perhaps because these were friends, who for a brief time, I saw every day. I still don't feel fully accustomed to the idea of barely seeing them 3-4 times a year at best. They're only an hour away, how does that happen?!

So I saw wonderful friends and family this weekend, but really from Thursday through Monday I was not home very much at all. Then the snow came (In light of the SNOWMAGEDON in DC I feel lame just mentioning our 6 inches.) and I got to work from home. While I thought this would give me time to play catch-up, and it did,  I still feel the crazy to-do list towering over me and I can't find the few minutes I need to sit down and just get things sorted out.

Sometimes it feels like life is that mole game. You know the one at Chuck E. Cheese where the moles pop up and you have this big thing to beat them with but there's always another one popping up somewhere else?

I haven't read or worked out nearly as much as I need to. I really need to.

But I made it to the grocery tonight so now I have more food options other than Oreos. (Although I'm still suffering from a menu-planning mental block and even when I look through recipes the only thing I can manage to come up with is spaghetti. Ah...crazy funk!)

And I will be in bed tonight by 11 o'clock. That alone can cure many funks.

Side note: When I say "the funk" I free associate to Old Greg.

Reality Check

I mentioned before that I'm reading Pride and Prejudice with Lee's almost 13-year-old sister. Since this is my seventh time reading the novel, I'm loving her fresh response to the novel.

During last night's reading (We read during the Super Bowl and took breaks to watch the commercials. Jane Austen > NFL football), Jane received the letter from Caroline Bingley saying that they whole Netherfield party had gone to London, was unlikely to return anytime soon, and hopefully Mr. Bingley will marry Miss Darcy. Ouch.

Jane thinks Caroline must have had some sort of kind motive in saying that she hopes her brother marries some other girl when Jane obviously (unless you're Mr. Darcy) loves him. Elizabeth rightly thinks Caroline is an evil wench. Danielle declares, "Jane needs a reality check. Someone could come up to her with a gun and be like, 'I'm going to kill you!' and she wouldn't believe them."

So true. :)


image: www.allmoviephoto.com   

Week in Review: 2/5

One of my favorite thing about Fridays is People.com's Top 10 Celeb Quotes of the Week. This week there was one I was especially fond of from Ashton Kutcher: 
"I think every day should be a day of romance. Then, on Valentine's Day, you should get to tell whoever you hate that you cannot stand them. There would be one day of hating, and 364 days of love."



How convenient! I found some pork tenderloin recipes from Redhead Recipes right after I bought some pork tenderloin!


I am loving this accent wall from All Bower Power. 


Wonderful photo idea via Cubic Dreams.


I'm on this preservative-free, knowing-what-the-ingredients-are kick (Twix and Oreos excluded, of course) so I'm starting to consider baking my own break. This looks easy-peasy right?

This link I save for last because you will click on it and leave here immediately once you know what it is (I don't blame you.) and I like to think you'll stay for the entire post, so here is my weekend gift to you: the recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough truffles.

Pearls

I don't know why, but I love wearing pearls.



I pulled out all my pearls yesterday, just feeling fancy.

The pearl earrings from my aunt for my Confirmation, that at the time seemed like a horrible gift (I was 12 and confused.) but I now love dearly. The one necklace was my grandma's. Another, my father-in-law made me. The third was $1 at a garage sale.

Why do I love putting on my pearls? I think this has a lot to do with it...

Skiing!

Have I mentioned that I'm generally a big chicken? My fears range from reasonably common things (sky diving) to not as reasonable (bees...really all insects including flies if they catch me off guard) to really ridiculous (97% of my visits to WebMD). So trying new things that have higher injury rates than channel surfing tends to make me nervous.

Like skiing.

I have wanted to go skiing before, I just haven't had an opportunity. This doesn't mean that I wasn't slightly concerned about falling and rolling down the side of the hill at such a rate that my ski or pole will get loose and go straight through my brain.

This weekend Lee and I finally hit the slopes (We went to Perfect North, if you're in the tri-state area and care.) Trouble started right away when I couldn't get my skis on, due to a combination of general weakness and afraid that applying pressure to my heel would cause me to slip and fall on my butt. Lee had to slam my boot into the ski himself.

Lee dropped me off at ski class and by the end of the hour I was feeling pretty good so Lee and I headed for the bunny slope. (Yes, I got nervous riding the ski lift. I really wish it had a lap bar.) After some hesitation at the top of the hill, I finally began my descent, intentionally falling at one point because I was going faster than I wanted and couldn't get myself to slow down (Lee said I wasn't pointing my skis up enough as I was turning.)

After this setback I headed back to the extra bunny slope (You know, that one that has the moving sidewalk to the top instead of the actual ski lift.) for two more practice runs before returning to the big bunny slope. There we stayed for the next two hours. Up and down. My confidence slowly grew and I got to where I was enjoying it enough to want to come back and ski again.

As night fell I headed back inside to my book and iPod so Lee could have a chance to do the more challenging slopes. All in all, I'm pretty proud of me and my skiing accomplishments, though small.

Be Well-Read

Today starts a new month (already?!) and a new focus of my resolution-ing: reading.

For as long as I can remember, I've been an avid reader. In high school I always took a pleasure book with me to class to read if there was any free time. I was the nerd who had read the required reading a few years before it was required.

And then there was college. Reading books of my choice became something I only had time for on breaks. Once I graduated and could read whatever I wanted whenever I wanted...I didn't. It would take me months to finish a book. I would come home from work and busy myself with chores or mindless activities. I told myself I would read before bed but by the time I went to bed I couldn't stay awake for more than a page or two.

Despite how disappointed I've been with myself over this, I never really set about fixing it. So that is the goal for the month: making reading a priority again. I enjoy it when I take the time to sit down and do it, so now I hope to proactively find the time for it, as opposed to waiting until I have a free hour because that doesn't happen.

For added incentive/frustration/goal-setting, I'm hoping to read 50 books this year. I'm already behind probably because I'm working through The Lord of the Rings, (January 1 I was 60 pages into The Two Towers and now I'm starting The Return of the King. I did read another book in between though.) but I'm still moving at a faster pace than before. Probably because my default activity when I arrive home is to read. Not to watch TV or open my laptop.

I can't wait to get caught up on all the books I've bought or been given that I haven't read, all the ones I want to read, and all the ones I've been recommended!