Back Home

We're back in Providence after a week in Chicagoland with my parents.

I don't know if you've heard, but it's been snowing a lot. The day before we were supposed to fly to Chicago, the northeast got hit with a snowstorm. I left work at 1:30 and walked home. About a mile from home, the snow started. It was really pleasant at first, and then it started in earnest. And then the wind started blowing and by the time I got home I was covered in a layer of white. All night long the snow fell and the wind howled around our house. One of my favorite things is to be cozy inside while there's a blizzard outside.

The next morning, we woke up to this:

Since our flight left in the middle of the day, we had a little time to finish packing and to dig ourselves out. Jason started by shoveling the steps so we could actually get to our cars.
The cars:
I've definitely seen worse. Jason shoveled around the tires, while I swept the snow off the top of the car in great heaping armfuls. The plan was to take my car and drive to the house of a friend who would then drive us to the airport. After we finished with my car, Jason said he was going to shovel out his car too, but I pointed out that there was a good chance the snow would melt in the week we were gone. That's usually how snow here works. It snows and then it melts a few days later. We came home today to 52 degrees and no snow as far as the eye could see. I'm glad he didn't dig out his car too.

We got to the airport on time. Our plane wasn't there, but we were. Despite all the snow in the area the night before (and the fact that it started snowing again as we were leaving our house), our flight only left an hour late. We landed in Chicago, where it was also snowing. Oh, and the next day it was 4 degrees in Chicago. The following day we woke up to -2. We didn't really need to go anywhere, though, so we were happy to talk in awed tones about how cold it was outside while we were nice and warm inside.

Snow seemed to be the theme of the week, though, since a couple of nights later we drove out to one of the north suburbs to visit an old friend of Jason's in a mini blizzard. Thankfully we had a pretty substantial car* so we weren't slipping and sliding that much. Sadly we don't have any pictures of that night with them, but we played games and ate good food and their bookish 10 year-old daughter told me she thinks I'm beautiful and gave me a big hug when we left and I think she is utterly adorable.

We had a quiet Christmas with my parents. Here my dad shows off a couple presents.
We got him the Star Wars vault. I looked through it for the first time on Christmas Day and it's pretty cool. You know, if you're into Star Wars, which I am because I'm cool like that. Jason told me he got one for himself too. Yay!

Me and Jason in Christmas jammies. I'm knitting my dad a scarf and my mom wanted an action shot.
Friday we went into the city, which I was really excited about. My parents lived in downtown Chicago for about 8 years, and during that time I spent a few summers in the city and then I moved there myself and lived in a couple of different areas of the city for 3 years. Although it's a little too sprawly for me to want to live there forever, Chicago really is a fun city with a great energy.

A lot has changed since the last time I was there about five years ago. For one, they built Millennium Park (where the big Obama bash took place on election night). Jason and I started at Holy Name Cathedral at State and Chicago, ate pizza at Giordano's**, then walked all the way down Michigan Avenue, from the Water Tower to the Art Institute.

It was a foggy, drizzly day, but not so bad that we couldn't be out and about.
However, my hair, which was super cute when we left my parents' place, had no chance against the drizzle and humidity
The neato shell at Millennium Park
Us in front of the bean. It's really called "Cloud Gate", but whatever. It's a bean. And it rocks. Jason was not impressed at first, but it grew on him. I think it's great with all its big reflectiveness.
***

Jason and I are dead center in the reflection. I'm waving.
The Smurfit-Stone Building below has always been my favorite building in the Chicago skyline. You can always pick out Chicago because of this building. Coincidentally, Jason loves it too. We were walking down Michigan Avenue and he said, "Where's that one slanty building...I want to see that one." I said, "It's just down the street!" and then proudly led him to it.
We had parked in Evanston, just north of the city, so we took the El from the Loop and went over to my friend Beckie's house. I haven't seen them since her 4 year-old was 18 months old, so it was great to spend time with them, though it was way too short.

Here's Beckie's husband Keenan with their daughters, Marlee and Ava.
Both little girls are adorable and have personality coming out their ears. Of course, so do their parents so it's no mystery where they get their charisma from.

Me and the girls.
I met Beckie when I first moved to Chicago and before we even met some people who had met both of us were mixing us up with one another. We don't really look THAT much alike, but are similar enough (although there's this one picture from her bridal shower that we both had to look at for a second to realize who was who). When her two little sisters would visit, I would hang out with them and everyone thought we were all sisters. It's nice, as an only child, to suddenly have sisters. Beckie and I have called each other "sister" ever since.

Beckie's husband works for the airline we flew out on today. When we got to the airport and got our boarding passes, not only were we not sitting together, but I had a middle seat. I could have sworn we picked our seats when we bought our tickets months ago, but I guess they didn't take. When the plane started boarding, our names were called. I went over to the gate and there was Keenan. He got us seats in the exit row and gave us lunch. It turned out he flew to New York this morning and flew back on the plane that was taking us to Providence. So he hooked us up. So sweet! I told him I'm using his name from now on when I fly that airline. "Oh, don't you know? I know Keenan."

We got home to a hungry and love-starved kitty. I fed Tiny, but after he ate a few bites, he came looking for me with this mournful meow. I had to pick him up and cuddle him while he writhed around in purring ecstasy.
Yes, he is resting his head on my shoulder.
At this point he just flopped over my arm like a sack of potatoes, purring like a motorboat. Even now, it's hard to type because Tiny is wedged between me and my laptop, with his head nestled into the crook of my arm, purring contentedly.

It's nice to go away, but it's also nice to come home.

* Dear Alamo at O'Hare Airport. It would be super awesome if you could train your staff to provide some semblance of customer service. Telling me that the car I want isn't there, but I can wait for it, but you're not really sure if there's one anywhere in the vicinity of O'Hare for me to wait for isn't helpful at all. Neither is vaguely gesturing toward several cars ranging from economy to premium and telling me to take "one of those" instead. Neither is getting annoyed with me when I get annoyed with you for disappearing while I turn my head for 5 seconds to consult with my husband, forcing me to wait in line all over again.

** It is a mystery to me why Pizzeria Uno's, the most mediocre of the Chicago-style pizzas, is the one that got franchised.

*** Side note: I got this puffy down coat from LL Bean and they have a very liberal return policy and I was thinking about returning it because I have just spent several days feeling like the Michelin Man and wonder if it's too puffy even for a puffy coat. It is very warm, I will give it that. What does everyone else think?

Romantic Comedies

I thought this was an interesting article about how romantic comedies spoil our love lives by creating unrealistic expectations.

To which I say, true!

I have known many women (including me) who have brushed aside one perfectly nice guy after another in the hope that the perfect romantic hero would show up and whisk them off their feet. I know some women now who are still waiting for that perfect guy and turn up their noses at the imperfect men in their lives. Or judge the men in their friends' lives harshly. I just think that I am in no way perfect, how can I expect the guy I'm with to be the complete package the moment we meet?

Also, I think that expecting the perfect romantic hero package can make you blind to the ways the man in your life is showing you that he loves you. Again, I plead guilty to this one.

Not that we shouldn't have standards, and I am not advocating sticking around a guy who completely takes you for granted. I also acknowledge that some guys are naturally really good at being romantic in that standard way the romantic comedies show us. I think some of them do it on their own, and some of them have wised up to how a lot of women think and have started taking cues from the movies.

However, I think there are a lot of guys (like Jason) who don't see the value in the typical schmaltzy stuff. Jason shows his love (both of me and his family) by taking care of things, by doing research and helping us get the best deal on something, and sometimes by completely shocking me with something sweet he says or does. Or he takes me out for dinner without me even knowing he takes me out for dinner. We have a joint credit card and at the end of the month he tallies up what I owe on it and I pay him. Apparently, there have been several times when he hasn't charged me for some dinner out that I thought we were splitting and has just said to himself, "Oh, I'll pay for that." I had no idea until he told me the other night.

In addition to making us expect the perfect man, I think romantic comedies also give us unrealistic expectation for how it's all supposed to work out. Love and romance is not perfect. There are arguments and misunderstandings that don't tie up in a cute little bow two hours later. One thing I've learned this past year is that marriage does take work - which, you know, duh. Everyone always says that. Sometimes Jason drives me up the wall and other times I look at him and just think he's adorable and am so ecstatic we're together. (I also find myself worrying about something happened to him - but those are just my awesome neuroses coming into play).

I used to be the romantic comedy queen, but for the past few years I haven't been that into them. Occasionally I'll pop one in the DVD player and watch it, but not in the way I used to, wishing for that ideal. Because I'm happy where I am now with my logical scientist guy who can't seem to hit the hamper.

Christmas Cheer

My mom just sent me this Christmas message.

Yeah, that would be me, Jason, my mom and my dad. As elves. Dancing. Personally, I'm a fan of the splits Jason and I do toward the end. Who knew we were so bendy?

Credit

I want to make sure that I give credit where credit is due. Yesterday, Jason had a long day of singing up in Massachusetts. He sang with our friend Andrus's choir in the morning and then had his Lessons and Carols service at Christ Church. I went to our ward in the morning and then drove up with some friends for the evening service at Christ Church.* Jason loves all the singing, of course, but after two rehearsals and two services AND waking up at what Jason would consider the middle of the night to make it to morning rehearsal on time, he was pretty tired by the end of the day.

While he was gone, I did a couple of loads of laundry, finished up the turkey stock from our post-Thanksgiving turkey and made beef stew in the Crock Pot so we would have dinner when we got home. I folded a little bit of the laundry, but mostly just parceled it out into his and her piles on the top of the bed, figuring we could do it later. After dinner, I spent some time in the kitchen putting away leftovers and when I was done Jason came in and led me into the bedroom to see what he did.

He had folded the laundry.

I was kind of amazed. Granted, he didn't fold mine quite right, but I didn't say a word. He said he wasn't sure how to fold some of my stuff and I said it was perfect and thanked him profusely. It's nice to know that occasionally he will see something that needs to be done and do it. Hopefully my enthusiastic gratitude will inspire him to do that sort of thing more often.

*Which was lovely - once we got there. Hi, I-93, can you stop having accidents and burning cars and such on the days when I need to be somewhere ON TIME?

Things I Have Done

Stolen from Cicada who stole it from someone else. Who probably stole it from someone else. I've bolded everything I've done in this list.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (going in 2010! Jason's parents like to plan ahead)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (I'm not sure if this means watched a lighting storm while I was at sea, or stood on a beach and watched a lightning storm over the sea in the distance. I've done the latter.)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (Do crocheting and knitting count as "art"?)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (A few times. No fun at all.)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept overnight on a train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden a gondola in Switzerland
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (I'm going to count kicking a home run in kickball)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen Amish country
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Yes and yes)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (No, but I've sold a LOT of stuff for various choirs and other fundraisers over the years. I think that should count)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason (Does this mean someone gave me flowers for no reason, or that I bought myself flowers for no reason? Because I buy myself flowers periodically.)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I can't! My veins are too small even after drinking lots of water. Red Cross won't even try to stick me. And I have guilt about it because I'm O negative. Dumb undersized veins.)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (Lived in Arizona for 17 years and never made it there. Shameful. Although, to be fair, it's not like the Grand Canyon is a quick little jaunt from Tucson. Arizona is big.)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (I just can't make it through the whole Old Testament. I get through the first couple of books and then I start jumping around to the interesting stuff)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (And as an attorney in Rhode Island I never will be as long as we live here. It's a law.)
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (I think this is biased toward Mormons. How about Swam in the Red Sea? I would be more impressed by that.)
97. Been involved in a law suit (only as a lawyer)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. One cavity or less (I have one filling)

Ideas, Please!

So now that I'm a big attorney (oo la la), I have a secretary (well, my boss and I share her and she's kind of a jack of all trades receptionist/secretary/paralegal). I'm trying to think of something to get her for Christmas.

She got me and my boss a cool present already: someone is coming in on Tuesday to give us 30-minute chair massages. Nice, huh? I have been so tight lately and ever since she told me about it I've been telling my aching shoulders and back to just hold on, help is coming.

I got her a salon service of her choice at her favorite salon a couple of months ago for her birthday and now I'm stumped. She's totally salt-of-the-earth with a slight southern Mass/Rhode Island accent and lives in a log cabin in the woods just over the Massachusetts border. Also, she makes stained glass creations (I got a star for my birthday) and loooooooves* animals. Any ideas?

* Yes, the emphasis is totally necessary.

Minty Fresh

One of my favorite things in the winter is Starbucks Peppermint Hot Chocolate. But the hot chocolate, like everything else at Starbucks, is pretty expensive.

Well, today I was at CVS and spied these little beauties:That's right. Peppermint Peeps. I bought some and then tried a little science experiment wherein

+

=

Chocolate Peppermint Deliciousness!

I think I'm going to stock up on Peppermint Peeps while I can.

Quote of the Day

Jason got me a George W. Bushisms daily calendar last year, and this was yesterday's:

"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."

Christmas Spirit

Starting this past weekend we catapulted ourselves into the Christmas season. It actually began a bit on Saturday night, when we got our tree.

Sunday morning I stumbled out of the bedroom to feed Tiny and saw snow on the ground outside our house. I fed Tiny (because he would not have allowed otherwise) and then ran back into the bedroom exclaiming, "It snowed! It's the first snow!" as I bounced on the bed to wake Jason up. He was not as thrilled since he was also really sleepy and sleep trumps snow any day in his world, but I was happy. It was just a light dusting, and the flurries continued off and on all day.

At church we did the Primary Christmas play, which was a lot of fun. The little kids loved the halos I made, and even the big kids giggled when I put Joseph and the shepherds in their costumes (striped dish towels with a headband around the forehead to hold the towels on their heads. They looked like Linus in "A Charlie Brown Christmas".). I only made 2 crowns for the wise men because I only wrote parts for 2 wise men. Frankly, our attendance has been down, so I was trying to make sure there were enough parts for the big kids, without overwhelming the little kids. Well, we had a bumper crop of kids in Primary on Sunday. I had one big kid and one little kid be wise men, but then the little kid's friend decided he wanted a crown too. The big kid very nicely let the other little kid wear the crown (with some prodding from his teacher).

Anyway, I think it went well, and the kids were very cute. If I'm still in Primary next year, I really want to start in early November and do an actual play with the kids that we can put on for their parents.

Immediately after church we drove up to Cambridge so Jason could get to his Evensong rehearsal. Even though it was pretty cold, I decided to go for a walk rather than just sitting around waiting for the service to start. I walked down Mt. Auburn Street for awhile and then cut up to Brattle Street. Brattle Street and the surrounding side streets make up one of my favorite areas of Cambridge. Brattle is where a lot of the old colonial and Tory homes are, and I love walking along, pausing to read the historic markers.

One house has these bronze statues of people in the yard that I have noticed in the past. As I walked by on Sunday, I realized that as part of their Christmas decorations they had put holly wreaths around the heads of the statues, which I thought was great. I moseyed up through Harvard Square and made it back to Christ Church just in time for the service. All told, I walked for a little more than an hour. I think I may do that more in the future when we go up there for Jason's rehearsals.

After Evensong, we went to a friend's house for her Christmas caroling party. I had a blast, singing Christmas songs classic and cheesey, and catching up with friends, including one who I hadn't seen since she moved back to Boston several months ago. I don't think Jason had quite as good a time as I did because he didn't know as many people, but I really enjoyed seeing everyone, and even joking around with complete strangers. It made me realize that no matter how much the singles ward drove me crazy, I do miss the fun parties and socializing that went on. I made tentative plans with a couple of people to get together after the new year, so I'm looking forward to that.

We drove back to Providence and decorated the Christmas tree. Jason and my Christmas ornaments don't exactly coordinate. I have been collecting ornaments for years, buying a few every season, and receiving some as gifts. I like classy decorations, leaning toward Victorian style, in jewel tones and gold. Jason has a talking Darth Vader ornament and several Simpsons characters strewn about the tree. It's kind of funny to see it all blended together on one tree.

Last night we went to see A Christmas Carol at the Trinity Rep in Providence. They put on a good show, and in a twist had a black man playing Scrooge and a black woman who was a narrator/spirit, and tied the play together with a couple of Gospel songs. So I am already a total sap when it comes to A Christmas Carol and cry during the end of pretty much every version I ever see*, plus during the last pages of the book when I read it. I love the message of redemption and as I get older and realize how flawed I truly am, it really speaks to me of the redemptive message that is highlighted throughout the Christmas season. But then you tack on some heartfelt Gospel music, like they did last night, and I'm just a mess. I managed to hide the tears, though. It was really lovely.

Also, the Ghost of Christmas Present was kind of a Willy Wonka-type character with a red velvet cape and a red cruiser bicycle, and minions bouncing around singing "Sleigh Ride" and basically attacking Scrooge with Christmas cheer. Hilarious.

*That includes Scrooged, the sometimes foul-mouthed version of the story starring Bill Murray. Seriously, though, that ending? Tears rolling down my face.

The Chair

Saturday morning I went to Wal-Mart* to pick up some supplies for our Primary Christmas play on Sunday. I spent some time making some edits to the script and making halos, crowns, and signs labeling the locations (Stable, Inn, etc.) I also found some great coloring pictures of cows, sheep and chickens to use for atmosphere. I cut a couple of songs out of the play since our kids don't know very many Christmas songs, which is too bad.** Then late afternoon on Saturday we went and got our Christmas tree. We strapped it to the top of my car and hauled it up to our apartment. Jason put the lights on it while I finished up dinner and we spent the rest of the evening basking in the glow of Christmas lights.

While clearing a space for the tree we got rid of the awful armchair that has been sitting in the living room for 2 1/2 years. It's not horrific and is marginally comfortable, but the fabric is stained and picked all over by cat claws. Jason bought a slipcover at one point and tried to put it on the chair. However, the slipcover was obviously made for some giant Laz-Y-Boy chair, and completely drowned the little armchair. Rather than take the slipcover back to the store, Jason just left it on the chair, where it looked like a messy mound of green velour in the corner of the living room. Then the cat adopted the chair in the early Spring and dumped 20 pounds of fur on it as he shed his winter coat.

When Jason was out of town a couple of months ago I asked him if we could get rid of the chair and he said yes. Of course Saturday night he had no memory of that conversation and pouted. I tried to reason with him, pointing out that it was in bad shape and asking him why he wanted to keep it. Apparently a friend from his old lab gave it to him several years ago. It went from one boy college apartment to another boy college apartment. I have met this friend and without even seeing his and his wife's apartment, I guarantee to you that they have nothing like this chair in their current decorating scheme. Jason can attach sentimentality to just about anything and doesn't understand my need for a "grown up" apartment, versus the makeshift college/grad school place that he has created for himself.

In the course of arguing with him about it, I started feeling incredibly guilty for making him give away something he loved so dearly. Then it occurred to me that our living room is jam-packed with chairs (and LOTS of other stuff). Also, if he really loved it so much, why didn't he take care of it and get a slipcover that actually fit? Or even clean the one that was on it so people could sit on the chair without getting fur all over their clothes?

No, it had to go.

We lugged it down to the trash and as I turned away, I felt positively gleeful. So, for me at least, that was definitely the right thing to do. Honestly, I probably could have dumped it in the garbage while he was out of town and he wouldn't have noticed it was gone for at least a year. I probably should have done that and saved myself the guilt.

The good news is, I posted a notice on Craig's List that there was a free armchair downstairs. By yesterday evening, it was gone. Jason always feels better when something he loves is given to someone who can use it versus just being thrown away. So thank you, whoever picked up that striped chair on the East Side. I owe you.


* I would INFINITELY rather go to Target because Wal-Mart makes me feel oppressed by the capitalist machine and a little bit dirty, but Target is 20 minutes away and Wal-Mart is 5 minutes away. Please, Target, open a store in Providence. Save me from Wal-Mart and the screaming babies that are always, always there no matter what time of day or night I go.

** But we adults had fun singing "Joy to the World".

Evil Pie...Not Quite So Evil Anymore

I revised the Evil Sweet Potato Pie. My revisions are in red (like a good lawyer).

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar (1 cup sugar)
  
• 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes (so I baked a medium-large sweet potato and wound up with probably a cup and a half to 2 cups of mashed sweet potato and thought that was a perfect amount) (I wound up with about 2 1/2 cups of sweet potatoes this time)
  
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup (1/8 cup light corn syrup)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine (1/4 cup butter)
  
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk (I used evaporated skim milk, which I also used last time)
  
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Add potatoes, eggs, corn syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, butter and evaporated milk; beat well. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes.

Success! I took out almost half the sugar and half the corn syrup and butter, and upped the sweet potatoes (mmm, Vitamin A and beta-carotene) and it was still awesome. I highly recommend this pie, as do my dinner guests last night who said, "Nom nom nom."

Also, it's extra special if you put it in a cute pie pan. Like this one. Having people over for dinner is a good excuse to whip out all the cute stuff we received off our registry. I served chili in these bowls. Because they're adorable.

Broccoli Supreme Redux

My Nana passed away over 6 years ago and I still have pangs of missing her. Mostly when I realize I haven't heard the latest news about my dad's side of the family. I could always call her and know all about my cousins in Tucson and Texas and Missouri and Arkansas. In one phone call. She was also not shy about letting me know what she thought about whatever happened to be going on.

When I was in college I used to drive across town periodically to have dinner and play cards* with Nana and Papa**. It was great to spend time with them, listening to Big Bands music (which they used to dance to back in the day and which they were thrilled to learn I enjoyed too) and playing cards late into the night.

Nana always cooked tasty food and one of my favorite dishes of hers was "Broccoli Supreme", a broccoli cheese casserole. I got the recipe from my aunt a little while ago and decided Thanksgiving would be the perfect time to whip it out.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to the grocery store and I made a list of what I would need. The ingredients kind of reflect Nana's Depression-era childhood and 50's-era cookery. Canned mushrooms, cheese food product. You should have seen Jason's face when he asked me what I was looking for as I wandered around the dairy products and I told him I was looking for Kraft garlic cheese in a roll. He just does not understand growing up poor on a farm in Southeast Missouri. I mean, generally I wouldn't eat it either, but I wanted to make my Nana's recipe. Jason convinced me to try a nice sharp cheddar instead.

So I classed up the recipe a bit and it was a big hit.

Broccoli Supreme
2 packages frozen broccoli
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used the reduced fat, lower sodium kind)
1 8 oz package mushrooms, chopped small
1 small chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Cheese Sauce:
3 C. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 T. butter
1/8 C. flour
1 1/2 C. 1% milk

Saute onions and garlic in 1/4 cup butter, add broccoli and cook until thawed.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt 2 T. butter over medium-low heat. Add flour. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly (do not allow to brown).

Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until mixture thickens slightly, whisking occasionally, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add grated cheddar cheese. Whisk until cheese melts, about 2 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Add soup, cheese sauce, mushrooms and almonds to broccoli. When mixture is blended, place in 9x13 casserole in preheated oven (350) and bake 30 - 40 minutes until slightly browned.

Note: the cheese sauce also makes a pretty good cheese fondue, which I found out because I was starving and dipped a bit of baguette in the leftovers in the saucepan.

*We played Hands and Feet, a very fun game that they taught me when I was about 8 and that I need to teach some people around here so we can play. It's similar to Canasta, so I hear.
** And use their free washer and dryer!

Haul Out the Holly

It's sort of eerily quiet at work today. Not that I'm not busy. I've been working on contracts all morning. I have more contracts to work on this afternoon. In case you don't know, contracts are now my life. I'm getting appreciably better at them, though, so at least I'm learning. For instance, on Monday we met with a client to finally discuss a contract that I finished for them in, oh, March, and I was kind of cringing as we went through it because there were a lot of things there that I would do differently now. The good news is, we're going to revamp them and I get to redo them. The bad news is, we're going to revamp them and I get to redo them. It's kind of a bummer to have to go back to something I thought I was done with, but at least I can make them better.

Anyway, it's been crazy around here lately what with this huge deal happening with one of our clients. There was supposed to be a big deadline today, but yesterday all the attorneys (there are 6 or 7 firms involved) got on a conference call and decided to postpone. So now it's more quiet and the phone isn't ringing every 5 seconds.

We were supposed to buy a Christmas tree and decorate last weekend since Thanksgiving is the decorating weekend according to me, but were so busy that we didn't get around to it. So Jason and I (and this is just pitiful) looked at our jam-packed schedules and set aside this coming Saturday to buy a tree and decorate. I feel like there's not a lot of time this Christmas season to just sit back and enjoy, but I have a Christmas station from Pandora playing on my computer at work and I just made reservations for us to go to a Celtic Christmas music concert and see A Christmas Carol at the Trinity Rep. Because we need a little Christmas.

Evil Pie

Last night I discovered my new favorite thing and my new biggest nemesis all wrapped up in a single pie. I made Sweet Potato Pie from a recipe that guaranteed it was authentic Southern-style and they weren't kidding. It was so amazing - you know, if you like sweet potatoes and pie and Southern food, all of which I do (to the chagrin of my hips).

I'm going to share the evil with all of you!

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes (so I baked a medium-large sweet potato and wound up with probably a cup and a half to 2 cups of mashed sweet potato and thought that was a perfect amount)
  
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Add potatoes, eggs, corn syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, butter and evaporated milk; beat well. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes.

Yeah, I know. Sugar, corn syrup AND butter, all in relatively large quantities. I told you it was evil. And yet so, so good...

Thankful

I think it's a commentary on the amount of sarcasm used in our relationship that every time Jason told me he was thankful for me yesterday*, I kept waiting for the next clause in the sentence.

Such as:

"I'm thankful for you today...

...because you cook me food."
...because you wash my clothes."
...but not as thankful as I am for the cat."

But he seriously meant it every time. And I'm thankful for him too. No caveats.

*Which he did several times.**
** I know, so cheesy.***
***But I love it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a great holiday and eats lots of yummy food!

Second Wind

Now I'm planning a Christmas play for the ungrateful punks little darlings. Because I'm awesome.

Drama!

Yesterday was, how shall I put it, not so great in Primary. Actually, there were only about 15 minutes of bad, but it has stuck with me.

Now that I'm in the Primary presidency, I have to put together a Sharing Time one or two times a month to entertain and teach the kids for one of the hours of church*. I thought this would be no big deal, but the Church basically gives you three sentences about a very vague theme and some pictures and wants you to run with it. Since we have Junior Primary (where the ages range from 3-7) and Senior Primary (right now 10 and 11 year olds), that means I'm taking a pretty vague theme and trying to talk about it for a half hour or so in two completely different ways. The little kids are NO problem. I ask them simple questions and do little games with them and it's good.

However, the older kids are rough. These are the kids that were in Jason's and my class before. I have seen this deterioration in attitude with two of them as they get closer to turning 12 and leaving Primary. I know they feel way too old for Primary. I remember that feeling and I don't blame them. But they just sit there, staring at the floor, motionless and surly no matter how much we try to engage them. And they're dragging down the 10 year-old who used to be little mister volunteer and is really smart. I hate to see him taking on that attitude.

One of the 11 year-olds is extremely bright. He would probably be able to make some cogent points in Elders Quorum with the adult men. When he first showed up in our class he was eager to participate, always raised his hand, always had something to add. However, several months with the kids in our ward and he doesn't care and stares at the floor. I suppose it's cooler to not care.

The 11 year-olds who were there yesterday will be turning 12 in December and will be out of Primary. I think that's better for them because they're so over Primary, and I'm really hoping it improves the all-around mood in Senior Primary.

So yesterday I'm giving my little lesson and I'm asking them questions and trying to get them to participate. They gave me some perfunctory answers once they realized I did, in fact, expect them to speak. Then one of them raised his hand and I called on him. He said, "So don't be offended, but this is really boring."

I just stood there. Then I told him that was a very rude thing to say and turned the time over to the music leader.

I sat down in the back, but could feel the tears coming, so I hurried out of there and into the bathroom. Frankly, I felt like an idiot for getting so upset, but it hurt, especially considering that I had spent hours the day before trying to find things that they might be interested in talking about and looking through materials in every source I could think of.

The thing that just kills me is that the kid who said it is a complete little punk, but has always liked me, and has delighted me with these happy smiles when he gets an answer right, and who I have defended to the skies when other people have written him off. I feel like whatever ground we had gained with him has completely disappeared.

I knew he was right, of course. It is boring. A lot of what happens at church is boring and there are only so many ways to spice things up.

So I felt deflated, but then the Junior Primary came in and the adorable Sunbeams made me smile.

Several of the other ladies in Primary comforted me after church, and the music leader reminded me about the day when the Senior Primary refused to sing. Just refused. What are you supposed to do? She looked so despondent that day that I gave her a big hug afterwards.

One of the ladies talked with the kid and he "apologized" to me. Basically what he said was, I'm sorry I said it was boring, but I only said it because it was boring. Great.

I was telling Jason about it after church and one of our friends said that basically sounds like what having kids is like. Ungrateful punks.

*Hi, non-Mormons. We go to church for 3 hours. It can sometimes be excruciating.

Free Dr. Pepper!!!

Apparently Dr. Pepper promised everyone in America a free Dr. Pepper if Guns N' Roses released their newest album in 2008. Now they're making good. Click here for your own coupon.

I hate GNR, but I love Dr. Pepper.

The offer is good until 6 PM Eastern tonight.

(I'm trying to get mine and the site is moving reeeeally slowly. Just FYI.)

Again with the Crock Pot

Have I mentioned how the crockpot is my new best friend? Sorry, old best friends. You have been replaced.

Yesterday I made Applesauce Chicken from A Year of CrockPotting. It was outstanding! Jason wanted to finish the pot, but I made him take a breather so that I would have some leftovers for lunch today. I doubled the recipe and used my homemade applesauce. It may be a little sour for plain eating, but it was perfect on top of some chicken with spices.

Applesauce Chicken
--4 frozen chicken breast halves or thighs
--1 1/2 cups of applesauce
--1 small yellow onion, chopped finely
--1 T apple cider vinegar
--1/4 tsp cinnamon
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--2 cloves garlic, minced
--1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, although I highly recommend as they gave it a nice kick. I probably put in a whole teaspoon)

Put the frozen chicken pieces into your crockpot. Add the onion. In a bowl, mix the applesauce, vinegar, garlic, and spices together. Pour on top of the chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4.

The recipe recommends serving over rice or quinoa, and while I served quinoa, I didn't serve it so much on top of the quinoa. However, the sauce was pretty watery and next time I'll probably just serve it on top of the quinoa. What I did do was make Quinoa Pudding. I halved the recipe and there was plenty for me and Jason, plus some leftovers, I used apple cider rather than juice, and I used craisins instead of raisins.

Quinoa Pudding

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups apple juice
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
• salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Place quinoa in a sieve and rinse thoroughly. Allow to drain, then place quinoa in a medium saucepan with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover pan with lid, lower heat, and allow to simmer until all water is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Mix in apple juice, raisins, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt. Cover pan and allow to simmer for 15 minutes longer. Stir in vanilla extract. Serve warm.

Loser

I just had to admit to a client that the secretary has left for the day and I don't know how to put her into my boss's voice mail.

Sunday Night Dinner

Jason's mom came out for a conference at Yale this weekend, so we got to spend a few hours with her Thursday night and again this evening before she caught her plane back to Utah. I made Azorean Beef Stew in the crock pot. It was super tastey. The aroma coming off of it was pretty amazing after only an hour of simmering. The spices are an interesting combination of cumin, allspice, cinnamon, red pepper and bay leaves.

Note: it just barely fed all 5 of us. If it had been just Jason and me eating, we would have had leftovers, but the 5 of us licked the pot clean. If I was going to make it again for more than 2, I would double the recipe. As it was, I used an extra cup of beef broth, an extra cup of water and an additional potato to bulk it up a bit.

Another note: I put in the full 2 tablespoons of salt, and I would suggest cutting that in half.

I supplemented the stew with a loaf of Italian bread from Whole Foods. I really want to get a bread machine, however, first we have to come up with a place for Jason to put his radio that is currently sitting on the kitchen table, which would be a perfect permanent location for the crock pot and bread machine. However, Jason seems to think we need a radio in the kitchen, despite the fact that in the 2 years he's lived in this apartment, we've never used it. Plus, he never cooks. So who's in the kitchen more? Me. Who should have more claim to how space is used in the kitchen? Again, I would have to say me. I usually listen to music or podcasts on my iPod with my headphones so I know I don't need a radio in the kitchen. It's an ongoing struggle.

Anyway, the point is, I highly recommend the stew.

Cranberry Pork Deliciousness

SOME people might say that using onion soup mix in crock pot recipes is a cop-out. Maybe I thought that myself, but it is seriously a great all-around seasoning choice. Plus, it was on sale at the grocery store.

Yesterday I made:

Cranberry Pork Tenderloin
2 lb. tenderloin
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 C. water
1/2 C. apple cider
1 packet onion soup mix
Salt
Pepper
2 T. corn starch
2 T. water

Brown tenderloin on all sides in a skillet, seasoning with salt and pepper. Place tenderloin in crock pot.

Mix together cranberry sauce, water, cider and onion soup mix. Pour mixture over tenderloin. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove tenderloin from crock pot. Spoon about 2 or 3 cups of remaining sauce into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Mix together corn starch and water and pour into sauce, stirring. Continue simmering until sauce has thickened into a gravy. Serve gravy over sliced* tenderloin.

I served this with sweet potato fries and peas. It was a smashing success as dinners go.

Then this morning I made us blueberry pancakes from a recipe on All-Recipes. See, when I don't have to work like crazy, I can be little wifey extraordinaire.

On the other hand, we get bonuses based on our quarterly billable hours and based on the fact that I billed over 200 hours in the first 5 weeks of the quarter, and the work is really ramping up, I think I'll be getting a bonus.


* In reality it's super tender and sort of falls apart into not-so-neat slices. But it tastes so good that it doesn't really matter what it looks like.

Happy Birthday to Us

I've been behind on my picture posting because it's been busy at work. Last night we were just waiting to get some documents back from a client and even though I had a couple of contracts to write, I was tired, so I took the 6 PM bus home and posted pictures on my blog.

My birthday was 10/10
This is my ice cream cake that Sarah made for me. I wanted a cookies and cream ice cream cake, but to be honest I really don't care much about the cake part and, I don't know if you know, but ice cream cakes are expensive! So Sarah got some Oreos, ice cream, Cool Whip and chocolate sauce and voila.
It was fantastic!

Just hangin' at my birthday party with Angie, Jessica and Naomi.
Jason's birthday was 11/11
I threw him an awesome birthday party. First a bunch of us went bowling. The lighting in the bowling alley was weird, so we wound up with a bunch of blurry pictures.

Here's Jason in action.
Here's me telling him how my score isn't that far behind his.
Here we verify with the big score screen.
Then it was back home for many rounds of Rock Band.


Getting ready to blow out the candles.
I got him a raspberry coconut cake from Gregg's, which has become our go-to dessert place. I know, raspberry coconut sounds weird, right? It was awesome.

I don't know if you can see Jason's shirt, but it has a yellow Easter Peep on it and says "Where my peeps at?" It's kind of my favorite shirt ever.

Autumn

The lovely leaves have almost all fallen now. A couple of weeks ago I walked to work and snapped some pictures.

First, though, the Brown observatory next door had a Halloween party. Every Tuesday night the observatory opens to the public and you can go look through the old telescope. We're at the highest point in Providence and I'm sure when the observatory was built 100 years ago there was much less light around.

So we went over to the party where they had treats and pumpkin carving. Several of the employees dressed up and stood like mannequins in the corners, waiting for groups of kids to walk by, which is when they would jump out and scare the kids. It was hilarious. We also got to look through the telescope at Jupiter.

The next day all that remained of the party was this happy fellow hanging over the front door.
These bushes are in front of the park at the observatory. I meant to take pictures of them last year, but the leaves fell off pretty quickly after they turned bright red. I got pictures this year.

Looking up the hill from downtown. The white steeple sits on top of the oldest Baptist church in the country.
Rhode Island state courthouse.
I love the graduated colors on this tree.
About a mile from our apartment is this small park that looks over the state Capitol, which is a very impressive building for the smallest state. It's the 4th largest unsupported dome in the world. I took this on a foggy morning.

Crockpotters Unite!

This site has about 47 million crock pot recipes, and a lot of them sound really good. I might just start working my way through the list, making a couple recipes a week.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Everyone on Facebook go say happy birthday to my husband. He's the cat's meow*!


* I think the fact that I bought myself a cloche this weekend is affecting my vocabulary.

Cut my hair

I cannot even begin to express how much I love it and how unfrumpy I now feel because of my sassy 'do.

We went bowling for Jason's birthday. Behind me in lane 23 you can see the lovely split that my orange bowling ball just sailed through. Overall, I bowled pretty well (for me) and even beat Jason in a game. I didn't beat him overall, though, because that's a sign of the Apocalypse and the world did not end this weekend.

Clothes

First of all, everyone is dissing Michelle Obama's election night dress, which I do not get at all.
When she walked out on stage, I thought, "That is so pretty and bright and original and not your normal stuffy and staid First Lady-to-be dress!" Michelle Obama is awesome for a lot of reasons, and I include her election night fashion choice in those reasons.

Second, I'm happy to say that I single-handedly instituted Casual Fridays in my workplace. There are only 3 of us so one Thursday afternoon a few months ago I asked my boss if we could do Casual Fridays. He said sure and I've been wearing jeans on Fridays ever since. The Boston office, however, has to be business casual to business professional all the time. To which I say, "Ha, ha!"

Any Cat Whisperers Out There?

I don't know if you've heard, but we have a cat. His name is Tiny and he's the sweetest kitty with a lot of personality, but also kind of a pill sometimes.

I've been pretty good about reigning in some of his worst craziness, although he still eats any carbohydrate we happen to leave out on the counter while we're gone, and he can't be in the same room with us when we're eating sushi. Generally though he actually listens to me when I say things like "No" and "Get down". Sometimes he gives me lip in the form of a pitiful meow in protest, but he does what I say.

However, I can't figure out how to curb this one behavior of his that drives me up the wall. Specifically, as soon as there is any sort of movement from Jason and me in the morning indicating we might possibly be awake, Tiny starts meowing for us to feed him. This has gone through stages. He used to yell and yell, even going so far as to stand on our headboard and yell while looming over our heads. But that just got him thrown out of the bedroom.

I think he finally figured out that if he's sweet, he's treated more nicely. His latest thing has been to utter a few purry meows and then snuggle up right next to my face, purring as loud as possible in a "Look how cute and sweet I am. Don't you want to feed me?" kind of way.

However, he may have recently determined* that being sweet doesn't get him fed any faster because this morning he made several quiet meows, and then jumped on the bed and walked over the hill of Jason, into the valley, and then over the hill of Kelly in the quest of waking us up. This was all done quietly, but insistently. The second I got out of bed he started meowing hysterically. It's like he thinks if he doesn't yell, we will never feed him.

This happens when I come home from work too. Hysterical meowing. On weekends if I'm home during the day it starts about mid-afternoon because Tiny sees that it is getting dark and I'm home so it must be dinner time. I ignore him and have even gone so far as to locking him in the guest room so that I could get some peace for the couple of hours until dinner time. And since I'm the one who feeds him most of the time, I'm the one who gets pestered.

Jason doesn't mind it as much as I do, but the incessant meowing when I'm trying to get that last 10 or 15 minutes of precious sleep Drives. Me. Crazy.**

So what do I do? It's not like other behaviors where I can either say "No" or ignore the annoying thing he is doing rather than giving him his way. I can't starve the cat. So every morning and evening I'm reinforcing this bad behavior because all he knows is that he yells, he gets food.

Any ideas?

*And I fully acknowledge that I may be giving my cat a little too much credit here.
** However, we now have this little routine in the mornings. I get up and feed him and then go to the gym. When I get home from the gym, he follows me around until I pick him up, and then he purrs and purrs and lays his head on my shoulder. He really is a love.

Facebook

The more people I add to my Friends list on Facebook, the more freaked out I get. Seriously, I haven't talked to some of these people in 20 years.

I should not be old enough to say something like that.

I did just find out that a boy I had a crush on when I was 10 turned out to be a pretty cool man. A gold star to me for good taste.

President Obama!

To reiterate what I said on Twitter: amazing on so many levels!

Family Guy is Tacky

If you have never watched Family Guy, there is no way in good conscience that I can recommend it to you. It's crude.

HOWEVER, it has its moments. Brilliant pop culture reference moments. Like when the Hawkmen from Flash Gordon showed up to help Stewie take down the Luftwaffe when Stewie and Brian traveled back in time. I was the only one in my house who got that one.

Another classic moment was the complete reenactment of "Shipoopi" from The Music Man.

Family Guy - Shipoopi
Again, only one in my house who got it. Either Jason was very sheltered or we watched a LOT of movies when I was growing up.

The fact that the show is based in Quahoag (read: Providence), Rhode Island endears it to me in the weirdest way, especially since half the people I come across in a day sound just like Peter and Lois.

I think that one of the best moments I've ever seen on TV happened this past week when the family visited Ground Zero in New York and the following exchange took place:

Awesome.

Boys!

You know, people talk about how women are confusing. We're not confusing. Just do it our way and it's all good. Simple, right?

Last year after the wedding, I chopped off my hair. I had been growing it out for the wedding because I knew I wanted to wear it up. My hair was beautiful that day, but a few weeks after, the hair had driven me to the brink of insanity and I chopped it all and had a very cute, very professional hairdo.

Of course all those scrunchies in my top dresser drawer had become superfluous, but I felt free of the scraggly, frizzy hair. My hair has JUST enough wave in it to frizz out and kink when there is a touch of humidity in the air. Alternatively, it's flat and lifeless.

However, several months after the wedding Jason and I were looking through honeymoon pictures and he said, "Oh, your hair was so long and pretty there."

Oh.

Not that I am a slave to my husband's preferences, but I had been thinking about growing my hair out again (because I'm a glutton for punishment apparently) and besides, who doesn't want her husband to think she's pretty? And Jason so rarely expresses a preference for anything I do regarding my appearance that when he does*, I want to indulge him.

So a couple of days ago I had reached that point where my hair was driving me nuts and felt flat and blah and when I looked at the pictures of my short hair again I thought, That was super cute! I should do that again.

Last night I casually mentioned to Jason that I was thinking about cutting my hair short again like I did right after we got married.

He nodded enthusiastically and said, "Yeah, your hair looked really good like that."

...

Oooookay.

So I'll be making an appointment to get my hair cut because, as usual, Jason doesn't really have a preference. He just likes me no matter how I come I guess.

Anyone want a scrunchie?


* Don't get me wrong, I know he's attracted to me and he says I'm pretty and all that, but he never really points out specific things he likes.

Knitting

Question for crafty people out there. I'm knitting a baby blanket and it's coming along nicely except the sides are curling. Is there any way to make that stop? Am I doing my end of the row stitches too tight or something?

Items of Note

Item 1: The forecast is calling for mixed rain and snow tomorrow. Seriously? Can't we at least wait until November for those kind of shenanigans?

(So I'm kind of secretly excited because I do love the snow, despite my 8 hour commute in the December Debacle of '07. However, by March I will be wanting to punch my excited self in the face.)


Item 2: Although I kind of like having longer hair, I'm taking a poll as to whether I should chop my hair again. Because it was pretty cute.

Hello from Maine!

Yesterday Was Also My Anniversary

Thank you, everyone, for your congratulations! I'm so glad everyone else was so confident for me. As the results day got closer I felt more and more convinced that I didn't pass. I mean, I literally MADE UP the law on 2 1/2 essays. Apparently that's A-OK in Rhode Island.

Yesterday morning I couldn't find my keys and was frantic because I wanted to leave earlier so I could stop by the Courthouse and see if the results were posted yet. While I was searching for my keys, I heard both the 8:02 and the 8:03 buses* go by. Jason very sweetly pulled himself out of bed and drove me over to the Courthouse and then to work.

I went to the Clerk's office and one of the ladies there said the results would be posted outside at around 1. To which I thought, "Come ooooon! I know you have the list right there behind that counter with you."

I had lunch with a friend and went to the Courthouse afterward. When I saw my name on the list, I realized just how stressed I had been because I almost started crying right there. Then I called Jason and my parents and sent emails to a bunch of other people. Who also said that they had never doubted me.

Also of note: yesterday was Jason's and my first anniversary. I'm so glad I passed the Bar and didn't have any reason to rain on the anniversary parade. We're going out of town this weekend, so we focused more on the Bar yesterday and went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Brandon and Sarah. Then we bought Rock Band 2, which has more songs with women singers**, and went home and rocked out. I'm getting better on the drums. Rock Band 2 actually had a couple of songs that almost stumped Jason on Expert guitar***.

Jason and I confirmed with each other that we are still glad we got married. We still deal with issues that when boiled down turn out to be mainly roommate issues. We've both made concessions in that regard, although I'm still pretty insistent that the house needs to be sanitary and the litter box needs to be changed on a regular basis. Call me anal.

We've always known that in many ways we're very different from one another. He's not really that romantic hero I used to dream about when I watched way too many romantic comedies, but then, who is? I'm not so much the logical science-type girl. I think our differences help to balance each other in the areas where we as individuals tend to be extreme. And he surprises me all the time with how sweet and attentive he is in ways that I didn't even realize I needed. This whole marriage thing is turning out to be pretty nice.


* Yet there's not another one until 8:25. What's the logic behind that one, RIPTA?
** Though not my favorite rockin' out song, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", which apparently has already been snatched up by Guitar Hero. Lame. You can't even sing along with Guitar Hero. What's the point of having awesome singing along songs when there's no singing?
***Yes, he is a super overachiever in pretty much every way you can think of. Yes, it gets annoying.