Don't Trash the 'Nati

2007-08-06T22:27:00.000-04:00

I've never been as happy to set foot in Cincinnati as I was on Saturday.

I was scheduled to fly into CVG from LAX on the red eye on Friday night. Instead, the flight was booked and I was left waiting with my standby ticket. It was the saddest moment ever as I watched the airplane pull away from the gate without me on it. I was so excited to see Todd and being unsure about how I was going to get to Cincinnati made it all the more stressful. The Delta employees suggested I take a shuttle to the Orange County airport since it would be the only chance I would get to actually be able to leave that weekend. I was nervous, but I decided to test my luck and go to Orange County. I tried to catch some z's on the floor of LAX before taking a cab to Orange County. I can assure you that sleeping on the floor of an airport is no fun.

At 3:00am I saw a bunch of people getting off a plane and followed them out. By complete chance I met a woman who was ALSO trying to get to Orange County airport so we split a cab. Once I arrived, I tried to sleep on the floor of the Orange County airport and it was no easier. Getting my ticket changed was easy, but stressful, and I was waiting at the gate with plenty of time to spare. I was calling Todd every few minutes, giving him my updates, and crying, contemplating spending $750 to guarantee getting me to Cincinnati. (yeesh! expensive ticket!)

Due to a security emergency, and the entire airport being shut down for about 40 minutes I got the LAST seat on the plane (because there were some people who did not make it through security in time). Unfortunately that plane was only taking me to Atlanta, not Cincinnati, but still, at least I was in the same time zone.

On the plane I dozed in and out of sleep. I was so exhausted but uncomfortable that I was having lucid-like dreaming, I kept imagining that I was on the school bus that I rode to my school in Watts this summer where I taught. Everytime somebody spoke on the plane I thought it was Stephanie or Marlene or Amanda or Neil or Tom or Jessica or somebody else that I rode the school bus with everyday. When I heard children's voices I thought I heard Vanessa or Ariel or Raymond or Alfredo or Jose or Sasha, my students this summer.

When I arrived to Atlanta I was feeling confident with my luck for the day and expected to hop right on the next plane to Cincinnati. I kept the mindset that karma would help me out so I was exceptionally kind to the Delta employees who were varying levels of helpful. I met a man who was travelling standby with a sick 6 year old and was friendly with the child and the father. He helped me to hop from gate to gate when I did not get on the planes to Cincinnati. I was so stressed out and feeling very defeated when I was unable to get on the 4th flight to Cincinnati. I was crying and ready to just pay the $750 to assure myself a ticket. I called the delta ticket people and the man on the other line refused to sell me a ticket. He said that the next flight to Cincinnati had 50 open seats and there was no way that I would not get on that flight. He was right. I was on a flight to Cincinnati a mere 20 hours after I first arrived at LAX.

When I arrived in Cincinnati I had never been happier. I hopped in my car and planned to drive strraight through to Todd in St. Louis. But, alas, I realized soon that after a night in an airport I was in no condition to be driving for 5 hours at night. So I stopped at my uncle's house and asked to take a nap. I expected to just take a cat nap, maybe 5 hours, tops. Todd woke me up 12 hours later by calling my cell phone. I was exhausted.

My drive to St. Louis was uneventful. I arrived much later than I wanted but I'm here and I'm safe. I am so happy to be here, despite the 100 degree weather (plus humidity). Our new place is awesome and I am so happy to be living in such a great location. It's hard to get used to such a big place. Our kitchen is so far from our living room. It's strange when we cooked dinner today. Todd and his parents did a great job moving all our stuff. I am so grateful to them for all their hard work.

I began my orientation for my school today. I'll be teaching 3rd grade in two weeks and it scares the bejezus out of me. If I could just have a few days off to relax I think I would feel so much better about beginning the school year. I'm going to begin my masters degree in two weeks as well, so there will be no rest for me for a while.

I'll post some picks of St Louis when I get the chance. In the meantime, you can stay posted in my life (which will be nothing but teaching) at my new blog: www.showmeteachmeblogme.wordpress.com

2007-07-25T23:50:00.000-04:00

Drew Carey is taking over the Price is Right. That's it, I'm boycotting.

I'm so sad. I love Bob Barker, even though is kind of creepy and probably mysogynistic.

Back to lesson planning.

2007-06-22T12:40:00.000-04:00

I've been apartment hunting online for St. Louis and I have a few tips for people.
1) If an apartment lists "clean" as one of it's characteristics...or god forbid, the ONLY descriptive word used...run like the wind. That is probably the only nice thing people can say about the apartment.
2) Words like cozy or charming generally mean that this apartment is under 600 square feet.
3) Character usually means that the apartment has an awkward layout, or is pretty old and creaky.

I hope this saves you a lot of time.

2007-06-11T20:07:00.000-04:00

2007-06-11T20:03:00.000-04:00

2007-06-11T20:00:00.000-04:00

2007-06-11T19:57:00.000-04:00

2007-06-11T19:53:00.000-04:00

2007-06-11T19:49:00.000-04:00

2007-06-10T11:09:00.000-04:00

Ever heard the term "once in a blue moon?" I just learned that it means a second full moon in a calendar month. It occurs about 41 times every century and there is one coming up in the Western hemisphere on June 30.

So, learning this made me want to see when other blue moons occurred and I looked up the US Naval Academy's phases of the moon calendar.

Turns out that there was a blue moon on the night that Todd and I met, 11/30/2001!

Todd doesn't really seem to care - but I think that's pretty radical!

2007-06-07T17:32:00.000-04:00

I took the week before the wedding off from work and went to Detroit, spending my time between my sister’s (MOH) house and my mom & dad’s house. My biggest stressors before the wedding were: the weather forecast and my dress alterations not being completed.

Our wedding was set to be outdoors with no real back-up plan. I mean, we considered a tent, but if it was really storming, what were we going to do? And with the weather reports consistently predicting thunderstorms for our wedding day I couldn’t live in denial anymore. On Wednesday I hunkered down and rented a tent from the company we were renting the chairs from. They called after a few hours and said, “But YOU KNOW that tent won’t fit all the people!” No, I didn’t, because when I rented it you said it would fit them all, no problem. Can I get the next size up? “Well, no because we don’t have any of those left, but you can rent two of the current size you have.” Umm, at $500 a pop, I don’t think so. So I said that people would just have to bring umbrellas and get there early and left it up to fate.

My mom offered to do alterations to save me the $350 the seamstress I went to was going to charge me. It was simple, really, just a hem and a bustle, taking in the straps a bit so they didn’t fall off my shoulders. Honestly, I have limited sewing ability and if I had a machine I could have done it myself. I had reservations about having my mom work on the dress, not because I doubted her ability, but because I know she is the world’s worst procrastinator and I didn’t need another reason to be annoyed with her. But I let my better judgment get in the way and had her do it. It turned out exactly as I had expected. It was 7 days before the wedding, my dress not done and my mom, bless her heart, was holding a garage sale. Yes, indeed, one week before my wedding and there’s my mom, hauling crap from the basement to sell at bargain prices. I was more than annoyed.

Our caterer’s invoice ended up being $1600 more than our previously discussed budget but thankfully my dad covered it. I asked to borrow the money until we could pay him back a few months after the wedding and he told me to consider it a wedding gift. I thought it was very nice, but predictable, as my dad always shows his affection through money and gifts. Our caterer is actually going to send us a refund of $1000 because it turns out that we overpaid for the alcohol and some services so I plan to offer it to my dad but I doubt he will take it. This is a nice surprise from the caterer, but I’m still really annoyed and not happy about working with them. The refund only takes the edge off.

And then the other thing is that my 19 year old pregnant sister comes over to my mom’s house while I am there to show off her new dress to wear to the wedding. I am greeted with an icy “what are you doing here?” She goes in the bathroom to put on the dress and steps out. It is white. Pretty, but WHITE. Normally I am not a big jerk about these kinds of things but the culmination of her history of being a total attention hog, the fake engagement ring she’s been wearing since I got engaged, the fact that she showed up at my shower visibly pregnant and didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me in advance so I’m wasn’t surprised and/or know how to respond to EVERYBODY who was asking questions about it… Yeah, I just stammered, “It’s white. You can’t wear white to a wedding.” Of course she gets defensive arguing that it’s ivory, and that it’s final sale and that there isn’t any other dress in the world that will look good on her. I just excuse myself from the room before I say anything else that will make me look like the bad guy. I bring it up later to my mom who says that she called the maternity store where she bought the dress and yelled at the manager who told her it was okay to wear white to a wedding. Sigh. Then my mom proceeds to go out to every store that sells maternity clothes and buys every dress they have so Nicole will be able to find something she likes. My dress is still not completed. Nicole, your attention hogging powers have reached new heights. I am in awe of you.

Which brings us to…
Thursday, May 24 – Flower day! Our wholesale flowers from www.growersbox.com have arrived. But wait – there’s only one box. Wait – only the gerber daisies have arrived, where are the roses? Called the hotline, they were very helpful but said something vague like “They didn’t make the shipment” and they will be arriving tomorrow morning. This is fine, puts us in a bit of a time crunch but it will be okay. Flexibility is the key, right?

Friday, May 25 – Roses arrive first thing in the morning and they are hot pink. I asked for orange. Blech. Flexibility, remember? Nobody is going to know. Just keep the orange gerber daisies separated from the pink roses and it will look fine. We modify the bouquets a bit – all roses for me and all gerber daisies for the bridesmaids. They look stunning and of course nobody notices or cares…including me.

My mom also calls in the morning to say that she was trying on her dress and the zipper split on it. She can’t fix it so she is at the mall buying a new dress. Fan-tastic. Can I remind you that MY DRESS isn’t completed at this point? I’m moved past annoyed at this point and I’m really angry. Then my mom starts bitching about her sisters, my aunts, who have been really emotionally supportive of me through the wedding planning (much more than my mom…eons more than my mom) and telling me to “watch what I say around them” because “they are two faced and will stab you in the back any chance they get.” Then she starts listing the things I’m not allowed to talk to them about including my 19 year old sister’s pregnancy. I laugh and say that since she is 6 ½ months along…they already know about her pregnancy. She starts yelling, I start yelling, It’s wonderful. I wouldn’t expect anything less from my mom, truly.

Saturday, May 26 – We coordinate how we are going to get everything from my sister’s house and my mom’s house to Detroit for the wedding. I’ve broken everything up, labeled every box, typed out instructions for the caterers and anybody else helping out. Todd makes a trip to the museum to drop things off (flowers, centerpieces, etc) while I swing by my mom’s house to pick up my dress, supposedly done, and pack up a few more things to deliver to the museum. When I get there, my mom is still working on my dress and I’m about to have a nervous breakdown. After Todd made his delivery he calls me to tell me mission accomplished and I ask him to drive back to my mom’s house because I’m really sad and I want to see him. Of course, he is such a sweetie, he obliges. We load up the cars and head off, no time to try on the dress.

In the car I start crying because I realize that this is it. The wedding weekend is about to begin. When I arrive at the Inn James and Melissa from San Diego are checking in and it’s so surreal, they are really here and this is really happening.

We keep getting updates from his groomsmen, flying in from all over the place – Josh missed his flight in NYC, Mike flying in from San Diego missed their connection. They all make it in by late that evening.

I wish I had more time because I feel frantic running around greeting people and doing what I need to do, i.e., make myself pretty for the rehearsal. No time for a shower (water, not bridal). When we are all meeting outside I start bawling. I see friends from Wisconsin, Massachusetts, California, New York, family from Texas and it hits me that all these people are here to celebrate with us. I also realize when everybody is gathering around for the rehearsal that I have no idea how to run a rehearsal, as I have never done it before, so I fake it. I put on my teacher voice and start explaining how we expect the ceremony to go. People offer input, changes are made, it was very communal. We then decide to create a back-up plan which consists of everybody cramming into a very large parlor inside one of the Inn’s houses and we then rehearse that as well.

The rehearsal dinner at Union Street Saloon was fantastic. Nobody but Dana had ever gone to the restaurant before but we heard the food was good and not too pricey. It was so delicious that I worried it would upstage the wedding food. The atmosphere was great, a 1920’s art deco saloon, and the company was so much fun. The night went on much longer than I expected. I drove all the bridesmaids back to the Inn and Dana and Laura went to my room to watch the food network and make boutonnieres, and complain about my mom.

I tried on my dress and had a 15 second freak out. It was just…not…good. The straps were falling down, they seemed bigger than they were before. My mom let the dress out way too much that it seemed baggy, wrinkly and shapeless. The bustle looked really nice, but the hem was uneven. My sisters reassured me that it looked great, I was being crazy and they would get me some double sided tape for the straps. I realized there was nothing I could do – I took the dress off and went to bed.

Wedding Day – Sunday, May 27

When I woke up the first thing I noticed were the birds chirping and the sun shining in through the windows. Could it be? Sunshine on my wedding day?

After breakfast, I got a call from my mom. I greeted her cheerfully but wouldn’t you know she wanted to pick a fight. She was concerned about having enough time for the 4 people who wanted to get their hair done. A family friend was coming to the Inn to do our hair and I was expecting her at 2:00. My mom was insistent that she should arrive at 1:30. I would be getting my make-up done at 12:30 and might not arrive back to the Inn by 1:30, I would be back slightly before 2:00 which is why I scheduled it that way. I offer solutions to perceived problems, (i.e. they can get started in another room if I haven’t arrived, or we can just push back the time frame and take fewer pictures if it’s taking too long) but she shuts them down. After going around in circles for 5 minutes having the same conversation, I start get snippy, so my mom gets all stern with me, yelling about how she is sick of me talking down to her and I’ve been doing it all week.

So I hang up on her because
a) I really don’t need to hear that from her,
b) I don’t want to get into it with her about how mad I am at her, and
c) it’s my wedding day, I decided to be bridezilla for a moment and not deal with people I don’t like.

That was the last time my mom talked to me until the reception.

We go to get my make-up done and it starts to pour. I’m still not worried but I do wonder how much it would cost to buy a bunch of umbrellas for our guests.

When we arrive back at the Inn the photographers have just arrived and the hairdresser is waiting there. We get set up in my room, I put hot curlers in my hair, put some finishing touches on the flowers, get my hair done. It seems like time if passing so quickly. Before I know it an hour and a half has passed and it’s ready for formal pictures. We go outside, greet the men and start taking some pictures. We walk down the street to get pictures at the Detroit Institute of Art, cars are honking, people are staring. The DIA is packed with people, so we go across to the equally as beautiful Detroit Public Library and our photographers are having fun being creative with the new location. The photographer tells us that between the Inn and this and the reception he feels like a kid in a candy store. I think that’s the kind of attitude you want to hear from a photographer. I knew the pictures would be great.

We walk back to the Inn at 5:00 and out of nowhere, the gray skies part, the sky turns bright blue, sun shines down. My grandpa died on the morning of my sister’s wedding day and there was a rainbow after the ceremony. My other grandpa died a year later. My cousin turned to me and said “I think you have your grandpas pulling some strings for you.”

I start to see my aunts and uncles and little cousins as we turn the corner and I start crying. We do all the posed photos before the ceremony so we can have fun afterward and I am so happy we chose it this way. Once the photos are out of the way the photographers take a break and upload 8 of their already full memory cards. Yay!

We start the processional and I’m crying and laughing. Todd and I walk in together and I am glad we decided to do it this way. The musicians are not playing the song we requested, but it doesn’t matter. The ceremony goes off without a hitch. Our friend set up a sound system that works perfectly. Our officiant is our friend, Tanya and she looks beautiful in her sari. When Todd broke the glass everybody yelled mazel tov and I started giggling.

Afterward people mingle about and our photographers run ahead to the reception to take photos before people begin to arrive. We are able to talk to just about everybody in a very casual receiving line fashion. We get tons of compliments on the reading “I Like You” by Sandol Stoddard Warburg. My Catholic family members keep commenting on how “international” the wedding was. (What with an Indian officiant in a sari and the Jewish tradition of breaking the glass.) But I think it is nice that they are staying positive about something obviously different than what they are used to.

Apparently I hear word from others that my parents really liked it and were surprised at how nice it was. I think my mom expected an animal sacrifice or something since we are both atheists. My mom doesn’t say anything nice to me about it. I also heard that my dad was crying and told people he didn’t realize he would get so emotional. I didn’t see it. Maybe it’s best that way. My dad keeps calling Todd “son” which is cute, but a bit awkward.

At 7:00 we make an announcement that guests are welcome to follow us and walk down to the reception or take the shuttle provided by the Inn or drive their own cars. Most guests walk and we all cross Woodward together in a big throng and once again we are getting honked at and people are staring. It was really fun and I’m glad we did it this way.

We get to the reception and things look good. The bartender is serving drinks, the appetizers are being set up, the dinner music is playing, a bit patchy but it sounds good. I notice a few things aren’t how I planned, such as the dessert table not being set up at all. After a while I start asking the caterers if they can set up dessert and they don’t know where the desserts are located. After about an hour and much confusion and putting about 4 people on the task, my mom and MIL are setting up the dessert table. Grumble grumble caterers. But I’m not going to get mad or stressed out because everything else is lovely. I’m visiting tables and laughing and having fun. I consciously tell myself that I can be annoyed about things tomorrow but tonight I am going to have fun, and I do. The food gets an A- which is a nice surprise from the caterer. We have our champagne toast, given by Todd's best man, James and my sister Laura. They are both funny and making everybody laugh. Then we greet and thank our guests and invite them to watch our first dance, happening in just a minute.

We dance to Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, one of my favorite songs from when I was a kid. We did a bit of practice with a “Learn to Ballroom Dance DVD” so we had some fancy footwork, including some spins, which pleases the crowd. After that the dance floor fills up, and we walk around the museum to take some photos. (One nice surprise was that the museum people said our guests could walk around the museum all night, though we had only paid for the basement area. While taking photos we ran into a lot of guests enjoying the museum. They all seemed to love everything!)

The dance floor was filled all night with friends and family, we were glad we did the iPod route. We used Apple HiFi speakers and they were plenty loud enough. Highlights of the dance floor – when Todd's cousin’s 3 year old son began break dancing to Beastie Boys Intergalactic, when one of his groomsmen pulled out a chair and began riding it like a horse around the dance floor, and the final song of the evening, Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen which caused 4 groomsmen to jump on a table and belt out the chorus.

So to leave it on a positive note:
I loved that we were able to find wedding pictures of our parents, grandparents and even some great grandparents and frame them and include them at the wedding reception. I am happy with the areas we cut costs, DIY flowers, DIY music, officiant and kept the important things, like the museum, good food, drinks and photographers.

We've heard from our guests that they had a great time, the best wedding they ever went to, and most unexpected and unusual and personalized...which is exactly what we were hoping for!

2007-06-05T22:42:00.000-04:00

Professional Wedding Photos Slideshow!

More later.

2007-05-28T19:31:00.000-04:00

We're Mc-Married!

Here are some pictures taken by friends. If you have any more photos we would love to see them! No, there will not be any name change, but I'm sure you all knew that.

Professional photos should be online in a couple days, but we'll be in Mexico so you'll have to wait.

2007-05-22T11:35:00.000-04:00

The weather forcast is looking grim. I just had to rent a tent, folks.

Let's just hope there's no hail or tornados. I don't think a tent would work for that.

I am a saaad panda.

2007-05-17T10:06:00.000-04:00

AWESOME! After yesterday, which was one of the worst days of my life (don't ask, but everything seemed to go wrong) I have been having a great day today! I love it when this happens.

I got a call from TFA saying that they had a contract ready to go for me! This makes me officially the first 2007 corps member with a placement. WOOHOO! No word yet on the grade level or the salary (grumble grumble) but the contract will be in the mail today and will likely include that stuff. The not-so-good news is that I will be teaching at a charter school, which I am iffy about, however it is cool because this school separates students by gender. They will have a third grade classroom of all girls and one of all boys. Isn't that perfect for me? Of course I would like to teach the girls but I don't think I would care if I were assigned to teach the males. It will be so interesting to be able to teach without worrying about the gender dynamics between students. I don't think I would even mind teaching the older kids if they were split by gender.

The school will be brand new construction and a brand new school so we might have some nicer classrooms but we will also be creating the school as we go along, which will be its own challenge.

Yay! Ms. D has a nice ring to it. I'm so excited (and flattered)!

2007-05-15T10:10:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Todd just purchased some apple hi-fi speakers for us (and boy were they pricey). We are able to justify the expense by using these speakers at the wedding reception. They are so lovely and the sound is so crisp and perfect that the only thing we are left to wonder is why we didn't buy them sooner?

Hurrah for speakers! Now I am sad that he gets to enjoy them all summer while I am in stuuupid Los Angeles.

2007-05-13T16:20:00.000-04:00

It seems like karma is on my side today after last night's dress situation. I went bathing suit shopping in preparation for our honeymoon to Mexico and after scouring the mall I decided that it is impossible to find a one-piece bathing suit that is not
a) black/dark brown/navy blue
b) black and ugly-doesn't-begin-to-describe floral print
c) over $150

(And don't tell me to go for the tank-ini...I hate them. The way my body is shaped, the tank part always rides up and I spend most of my time tugging it down.)

Jcrew has a decent selection of colors and variety of one-piece suits, they are having a fantastic sale (50% off!) and I have a gift card, so I placed the order for 2 suits. It was a christmas miracle my friends, when my two gift cards, which should have been valued at $50 total ended up completely covering the cost of the two bathing suits plus shipping, approximately $97. Woohoo! I don't know if it was a mistake on the part of JCrew or what but I think I hit the lucky jackpot today.

2007-05-12T22:51:00.000-04:00

My wedding dress needed a few minor alterations and a seamstress in Cincinnati was going to charge me $350 for them. My mom offered to do them for free.

I went into town April 14 so that she could look at the dress, pin it and get started on it with plenty of time before the wedding.

It is now a month later, May 12 and my mom has not begun working on the dress. In fact, even though the wedding is exactly 2 weeks away, my mom has a garage sale planned for next weekend. When I gently suggested that might not be the best idea since I would really like my dress to be done earlier than the night before the wedding, she snapped at me and said that she HAD to do a garage sale because she didn't do any last year and things are beginning to pile up.

Indeed. Clearing the junk out of your house via garage sale one week before your daughters wedding is probably more important than hemming her wedding dress.

I told her that it sounds like she'll probably be working on the dress the night before my wedding and she said, "yes, probably."

I want to cry.

So much for getting it cleaned and pressed before I wear it. I'll be lucky if it is even intact.

Time for a back-up plan? Maybe a new dress?

2007-05-09T16:32:00.000-04:00

To say that I was dreading today would be an understatement. I had to do 6 presentations in a row at a local high school. It was going to be a long, challenging day.

When each classroom walked in, and individual students saw my name and agency on the board, they rolled their eyes at me, or made some kind of a verbal disapproval of me being in the classroom today.

However, within minutes of me beginning my presentation the students were all listening closely, eagerly raising their hands to participate. When the first activity ended a student in every classroom, male and female, said "That was so much fun! Can we do that tomorrow?" In the middle of the presentation I looked out at the students and every one of them was paying close attention, looking me directly in the eye, and really digesting what I was saying. I even got to do a little address to the males which I rarely get a chance to do. I told them that we needed more males to help end domestic violence - to speak up when their peers are being controlling and perpetuating violence, and in each classroom I saw a few boys perk their ears up, nodding, looking genuinely interested. I could see the lightbulbs going off over their heads.

I even had students(both male and female) come up to me afterward and thank me for coming or share a story about a friend. In one classroom I even had a female student disclose to the whole class about an abusive relationship she is currently in. I've had private disclosures in the past, but never a disclosure in front of the whole class. It was so powerful.

It was such a positive day. I'm sorry to be leaving this work, but I know that I am going in the right field for me. Every day next year won't be as
positive as today but I know that I will be an effective teacher.

2007-05-04T10:58:00.000-04:00

If they made a lifetime movie about my life:

The Kim D Story: Love's Dark Purging

The Lesion That Love Made: Kim's Story

The Brutal Wheelchair of Kim D

Danielle Steel's Shameful Tumor

Overcoming My Stalking: A Promise to My Husband

Not Without My Expecting Sister: The Story of Kim

Want to make your own?
Go here: http://www.bredcrumbs.com/lifetime-movie-title-generator/

2007-05-02T20:59:00.000-04:00

These pictures are from the St. Patrick's Day Parade in March (obviously). The parade lasted about 3 hours and it was quite boring. I did take highlights of the day parade, which included bagpipers in kilts, a giant float of the Hamilton County Sheriff - Sheriff Leis....or should I say Sheriff LIES? Of course, who could possibly begin to understand WHY Hamilton County Ohio owns a freaking TANK? Anybody want to guess? Is that standard for a county to own? It seems strange to me. Then, the highlight of the parade, the huge fleet of DeLorean cars. Oh, so very 1984.

2007-05-02T20:54:00.000-04:00

Here are some old photos from this spring's Bock Fest. Cincinnati loves a parade and loves beer so what's better than a parade in honor of beer?

2007-05-02T15:05:00.000-04:00

With only 25 days to go before W-day my mom reminded me of her plans to make me a white satin bag for me to carry at the wedding. The purpose of the bag, you ask? So that I can collect the cards filled with money or checks that people will be bringing to me. (!!!)

Todd suggested that she bedazzle a dollar sign on the bag, a la those cartoon bank robbers.

My mom told me about these plans months ago, and I put up a bit of a fight and hoped that she would forget about it.

The only thing tackier would be if I opened the cards, took out the cash and stuffed it down my dress into my bra. Yes, I think that Kate Williams would find that very amusing.

Anybody want to stage a robbery in order to get me out of carrying around that tacky tacky bag? You could even wear a Hamburgler mask and yell "robble robble."

2007-04-28T23:04:00.000-04:00

I was called to the hospital at 2:20am last night. I have to say that was perhaps the worst time to get a phone call. I went to bed at midnight so by the time I received the phone call I was in the middle of my REM sleep mode and completely disoriented. I ended up being at the hospital until about 5:15 and it took me an hour to fall back asleep when I got home. I slept for a good part of the day today until the lack of groceries beckoned me to Meijer. Even though I wasted most of today, I feel remarkably relaxed for a lady who had her sleep pattern severly disrupted.

4 weeks from tomorrow, folks. 4 freaking weeks. God I hope my passport arrives in time so we can go on our honeymoon to Mexico. I am going to be so dissapointed if the passport doesn't arrive.

2007-04-25T22:36:00.000-04:00

I'm surprised about how anxious I am feeling about our first dance at the wedding (coming up in less than 5 weeks, folks). It is more difficult that I expected to choose a song. When Todd and I try to practice dancing around our apartment it ends up being an awkward few minutes. I usually end up leading (by accident) and we only shuffle around in a circle, making me feel like I'm barefoot in the Power Middle School gym for a school dance.

In a perfect world, Todd and I planned to take some dance lessons. But now it's too late so shuffling around awkwardly will have to do.

Now if only Todd could find a sense of rhythm...

2007-04-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

I would like to unveil my new blog for all of you who are interested in continuing to read about my journey to St. Louis and my experiences teaching. As I am sure that you know, I am going to need to maintain confidentiality so I will not be discussing as many personal stories in my teacher blog. I am not planning to leave any trail from my teacher blog to my Cincinnati blog, so do not make any reference to it in any comments you may leave. Also, any comment left that includes my name will have to be deleted.

Here it is:
www.showmeteachmeblogme.wordpress.com
(Get it? Missouri is the SHOW ME state! Thanks Todd!)

I'll continue on the Cincinnati blog until I move but come mid-summer I plan to transition to the new blog completely and retire "Don't Trash the Nati."

2007-04-21T15:04:00.000-04:00

Wow! I just had a really super exciting weekend in St. Louis.

I left to go to St. Louis on Thursday and had two fairly uneventful flights. There was a very exciting moment when I was walking through the terminal in Chicago O'Hare airport and I saw Alec freaking Baldwin walking toward me. I contemplated saying saying something to him but I had about 4 really not cool things pop into my head such as "Hey, you're Alec Baldwin" or "I see you on TV" and none of them seemed appropriate so I just did a double take and kept on walking. It was pretty awesome anyway. Then, the next day we all hear the Alec Baldwin story in the news about the awful voice mail message he left for his 11 year old daughter. I think that makes my sighting even cooler, since Alec is a timely hollywood villian.

I arrived in St. Louis, checked into my hotel room (Hilton in downtown St. Louis...awesome!!!) and started to meet the other Teach For America people. At first it was a bit awkward but it ended up that everybody was excited to be there, eager to meet people and really really friendly. I honestly like everybody. These are my kinds of people! Everybody is smart, funny, nice, and generally not annoying. That might not seem like a compliment, but it is!

On Friday morning I woke up extra super early (5:40am!) because we had to go to local schools for interviews and observations. I saw three schools, the first one was nice, and we observed some TFA teachers (who were fantastic and inspiring). TFA is no longer placing there because of some (huge) problems with the administration there and I am quite relieved. The second school was my favorite. It was a public school with a really supportive principal who seemed to have the same ideology that I have about being a teacher. He is hoping to somehow figure out a way to get rid of his current staff and fill his school with TFA teachers. I would like to work with him regardless but he may not have any openings...or he might have a whole school. It's all up in the air. The final interview was for a charter school, well, three to be exact, and they are all brand spankin new so they will be needing a ton of teachers. I felt my interview went well, and I thought the principal was good, however, I am still not entirely sold on the idea of charter schools.

Later on friday we went on a tour of different St. Louis neighborhoods (for housing purposes) and then went to dinner at a TFA corps members house for a big meet 'n greet shin dig. While we were meeting in the lobby of our hotel for our rides to the events we saw none other than Evander Holyfield walk in and sit down on the couch right next to us. (!!!) By the way, his ear looks fantastic. A couple corps members went and said hello but I decided to hang back since I don't particularly care about meeting Mr. Holyfield or not.

Later that evening a group of us all met in the lobby and went out to a "dueling piano bar" aka "my own personal hell." It was only about 8 blocks from the hotel so we decided to walk. We got a block away from the hotel and we heard three loud popping noises. Somebody said, "Do you think that was fireworks or a gun?" Being young, naieve and optimistic somebody joked that it was probably an explosion of safety. We get to the end of the block, our group is being led by three guys, who look down the street and start screaming, "those were gunshots, everybody get back!" We all start running and have no idea what to do. I don't know why, but people were very adamant about going to the dueling piano bar and so we hopped in the cabs, which drove us past the scene of the incident where we see about 20 police cars and tons of police, all with thier guns drawn, some with assault rifles. It's really scary and strange. I mean, we all heard that St. Louis was ranked the most dangerous city in America but we all took that with a grain of salt. In case you are as curious as I was - here is a link to the news story about the incident...which occurred only 2 blocks from where we were walking. Eeek! I manage to live in OTR for 2 years and never see anything scary only to come to St. Louis for a weekend and encounter THIS!?

2007-04-12T14:27:00.000-04:00

Help me! I need you to help me come up with one word to describe me. It's work related so no smart mouth responses.

2007-04-06T14:22:00.000-04:00

Hello friends,

I'm not sure who is reading this but I wanted to post a friendly reminder to reserve your hotel room for the wedding if you have not already done so. Our room block is up today so anybody who is interested in in making sure they have a lovely hotel room - conveniently located within walking distance of the reception - should call the Inn on Ferry Street (313-871-6000) like now. (Because I know how much you all like to drink!) If you are getting this message late, there might still be rooms available but I cannot guarantee them anymore.

In order to reserve your room they will NOT charge your credit card, but they will ask for a credit card number.

2007-04-03T12:15:00.000-04:00

For the second time in a few months I have been approached with the question: "Have you lost weight?" No, I have not. In fact, in the last 6 months I have actually gained weight. Then when I tell them no they insist that I look like i have. What the HELL does that mean? You were a total lard-ass before but you're looking not-so-fat.

This is just a sore point with me. Please, don't ever mention weight around me. It annoys me.

2007-03-27T20:30:00.000-04:00

I received a mysterious notice that I had missed a UPS package today. All the exciting possibilities ran through my head...could it be the crock pot that I've been eyeing on my registry? I rushed out to the UPS warehouse to pick it up and had to wait for 30 minutes until the truck dropped it off. I couldn't even wait to get to my car to open it. I was a bit disappointed when I learned that it was from teach for america. It was a big box of reading...7 pounds to be exact. I was relieved to notice the enclosed booklet entitled "Pre-Institute Assignment" was by far the thinnest of all the booklets. However, my relief turned to fear when I realized that the whole box was my pre-institute assignment. I have approximately 1000 pages of reading to do in the next three months. On top of my full time job. Oh, and that little wedding thing I've been planning. And that week long honeymoon to Mexico. And packing for 7 weeks away from home. So that should be easy, right. Well, I have to find two days to observe classrooms as well. Oh, and I have to write 8 papers.

Soooo....I'm not really sure how this is all going to work. I suppose I should try and crank out as much as I can before the wedding, but this is not going to be a picnic.

2007-03-24T21:09:00.000-04:00

Today was a great day! Todd and I slept in until 10:45 and woke up to a nice sunny day. We got some great mail - Todd got a late birthday gift from my parents (a piece of luggage off our registry and a DVD) and I got a bunch of CDs that I ordered (Anita O'Day, Judy Garland, Brenda Lee, June Christy, and Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner duets). However, the best thing in the mail today were 4 of our RSVP cards - all YESES! Hurray! We actually have people coming to our wedding! I've been checking our mailbox everyday since we sent out the invites, hoping for an RSVP card to arrive so I can make sure that the invitations actually arrived.

2007-03-23T23:14:00.001-04:00

If you do not know Knut the polar bear then you can't be my friend anymore.

See Knut In Action!

2007-03-13T00:10:00.000-04:00

I need to come up with a new blog name for my St. Louis teaching blog. Obviously this name will no longer be appropriate. I am really at a loss for a catchy name. I think I could play off of Missouri's bizarre state motto - The Show-Me State. (Whatever THAT means?) Will anything ever be able to capture the essence of Don't Trash the Nati? I don't think so.

So this past weekend was my big wedding shower. It was, erm, full of surprises. Most importantly - I am going to be an aunt! But before you get too excited, the sister who is pregnant is my 19 year old, um, troubled sister. So imagine my surprise when my sister walks into my shower visibly pregnant and pretending like nothing is going on. In later conversations with her I learned that she is planning to keep the baby and raise it with her Kevin Federline Look alike boyfriend...I mean baby-daddy. In conversations with my mom her biggest relief is that Nicole did the right thing and "didn't kill it." Um, yeah mom. It's so much better that she is about to bring a potentially drug addicted baby into this world. Soooo much better. My mom hasn't given up pressing the adoption option with Nicole but I am not sure that Nicole is even going to give adoption much consideration.

So yay, hurray, right?

I'm just glad I'm not preggers.

Anyway, my shower was lovely and sweet. It was very classic - complete with a yellow rose corsage for me, the lady of honor. Todd and I made out like bandits! We were blown away with the generosity of our family and friends. Thanks to my Grandma we now have a complete set of beautiful flatware than actually matches. Todd is afraid to use it because it looks like a piece of art. Todd got his top of the line George Foreman grill complete with interchangeable plates. We have a bright red kitchen aid blender from my aunt which is fabulous! We've already begun to use our new bedding, 600 thread count sheets and a down comforter. I feel so grown up and fancy. I'm almost done with the thank you notes and they should go out later this week with my invitations!!!

This is really real people.

2007-03-08T11:10:00.000-05:00

One of the best things about moving to St. Louis is that the housing options are unbelievable cool and so so so reasonable.

I doubt this place will still be available by the time I move but damnit I want to live there! Waaaaaaa! I mean, my current apartment rocks but this one is twice as big and has a cooler kitchen and is almost the same price. I want it!

I'm sure there are more where that came from. Such as this one. Awesome! 1800 square feet is nearly the size of my parents house!

2007-03-02T11:59:00.000-05:00

I think my cat has a problem and it's tme for me to address it. She will NOT leave me alone in the bathroom. Our bathroom door will close, but the jam isn't very strong so all Stella has to do is fling her body against the door and it will open. I cannot go to the bathroom anymore without her popping the door open and coming in to see what I am doing. I've tried putting things behind the door but she's usually able to knock down whatever is in the way. She will put her little paws on the toilet seat and pull her body up to see what's in the toilet and is fascinated when I flush. I even caught her once with her head in the toilet bowl like she was a dog drinking from the toilet. If I am at the sink washing my face, brushing my teeth, or putting on makeup she will climb in the sink and just stare at me.

She always needs to be in the bathroom when I am showering, so I've started just letting her in and closing the door behind us. That way she doesn't pop the door open while I am showering, letting all the cold air into the bathroom. She will sit on the little ledge overlooking the shower - in between the cloth shower curtain and the clear plastic shower curtain. She just sits there and watches me shower. She never comes in the shower but she will watch me.

It's really creeping me out.

I think she is lonely being alone all day that when I am home she just wants to cling to me (and Todd) and not let us out of her sight. Todd says we can't get another cat. :( When I leave the apartment to go to work I can hear Stella flinging her body against the door like she is trying to get the door to open so she can come with me. If this breaks my heart then I have no hope for when I have kids.

2007-03-01T16:32:00.001-05:00

Today is Todd's 25th birthday. He is a quarter century. It kind of creeps me out.

Happy Birthday to my creepy old fiance!

I received a package today from Teach For America. I was expecting some paperwork but not a big package. I opened it up to find a build-a-bear with the CUTEST "Teach for America St. Louis" outfit. The hat had "Teach For America" printed on it, it was carrying a "Teach For America" messenger bag and the back of the T-shirt even had an 07 printed on it. Is it wrong that it was the most exciting part of the whole Teach For America acceptance process?

I'm listening to our wedding music playlist right now and it is awesome. Seriously, if it doesn't get people to dance nothing will!

2007-02-27T13:36:00.000-05:00

Guess what!

I got accepted! I was placed in an Elementary School in St. Louis (my second choice city). I always thought of myself as a middle school teacher but I am welcoming the challenge.

I'll be in Los Angeles for training from July 1-August 4.

Hurray Hurray Hurray!

My head is spinning right now. I don't even know what to do next!

2007-02-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

This weekend I finally got around to seeing season 2 of Project Runway and it was great! I rented it from the sucky blockbuster down the street, but they didn't have the final disc so I have yet to see the finale. I think I heard thay Chole wins, so it's already ruined for me. I've heard great things about season 2 and it lived up to all expectations. I think they needed more Tim Gunn - I remembered Season 1 seemed to have more Tim Gunn. I am also convinced that the producers kept Santino around just for ratings. He really really sucked - and HOW did he not get voted out on the last challenge with the gold pirate costume?!!?

I wonder if season 3 is out of DVD yet?

So...Oscars, yay! I thought Abigail Breslin was so adorable but Todd and I were betting on how many years before she is a drug addict. I think she'll be in rehab before she's 17.

I'm happy that Jennifer Hudson won - I'm such a sucker for those rags to riches stories. (Perhaps that is why I like the Olympics so much.) I worry that she'll be too typecast and won't ever be able to break out of the role she played in Dreamgirls. Alan Arkin's win was a pleasant surprise, Todd was pulling for Little Miss Sunshine in any category it was nominated for.

I'm annoyed that The Departed won for best picture, but to be fair, I don't really think any of the nominees should have won. They were all kind of unmemorable. (But I didn't even see them all, I just saw The Queen, Little Miss Sunshine and Letters From Iwo Jima.) I did enjoy Little Miss Sunshine, but we all know it had no chance. I guess I'm just sick of these gorey macho action/suspence movies. Seriously. Hollywood. STOP IT!

Let's see some women nominated for Best Director next year.

2007-02-22T13:40:00.000-05:00

Red starburst candies are far superior to any other starburst flavor. For that reason, I propose that they begin selling packs of only red starbursts. I would buy it! The only thing that ruins my starbusrt eating experience is the yellow, pink and orange starbursts.

2007-02-21T08:48:00.000-05:00

Wow! I have the BEST news.

Apolo Anto Ohno is going to be on the next season of Dancing With The Stars! Now I don't have to wait until the 2010 Olympics to get my Apolo Ohno fix. I might just be motivated to actually vote this season. (I am a closeted Dancing with the Stars fan.)

2007-02-16T21:07:00.000-05:00

I had another wedding nightmare last night. In this one, my mom had secretly hired a DJ. I didn't find out until it was too late. In my dream the DJ was playing "The Safety Dance." You know the one, "you can dance if you want to....but if you don't dance then you're no friend of mine." I'm SURE you know the song.

It was horrific.

2007-02-15T10:47:00.000-05:00

I have a new favorite website - and I just know you are going to love it. Perhaps this is all old news, but it's called Cute Overload and, well, it's just that. I'll still be loyal to Stuff on my Cat, but this website opens the doors for all other species!

For instance:

Baby Polar Bears! OMG! How cute are they? You don't find that on Stuff on my cat. In other baby polar bear news, the Cincinnati zoo just introduced a new male polar bear into the exhibit in the hopes of mating him with one of the females. They seem to be hitting it off so we may be welcoming new baby polar bears at the Cincinnati zoo next year!

And, my favorite section of the website has to be the Interspecies Snorgling pictures, such as:

Kitty and skunky! OMG!

Monkey and Kitty! OMG!

Doggy and Chick! OMG!

I do have some tragic yet adorable news. The ice storm in the Cincinnati area has caused at least one death - a 9 year old girl. She was taking her little Bichon Frise doggy sleding in a homemade box sled when a tree branch covered in ice fell on her and she died. It is so sad, and the news showed a cure picture of her and the doggy in happier times. She sounds like she was a very sweet little girl who loved her dog very much.

2007-02-13T12:03:00.000-05:00

By this time today my TFA interview should be nearly over. Instead, I am still in my pyjamas. Why, you ask? Because the ice/snow storm last night closed the University where the interview was scheduled. (They called to tell me the interview was cancelled) I'm partially relieved because I didn't have to drive on the icy roads, but now I have this whole unknown factor. I am going to have to take another day off work, hopefully I can take the time off work for whenever they reschedule the interview.

Work was cancelled today but I had plans to take the day off anyway. I worked all day Saturday so I could have today off without using my time off. I told my boss I needed this day off weeks ago. And now I've gotten 3 phone calls from my boss and boss' boss asking for things they need before Thursday that I do not have access to. I asked them to send me e-mails and I would respond when I am back technically working.

They are working on a grant, and, call my crazy, shouldn't they have asked me more than 2 days before they need something from me. Forget my schedule! Now I have to rearrange everything around so I go through huge filing cabinets to collect the info that they need. And, of course, my boss' boss said "I didn't want to ask you last minute." I looked at her funny and said, but this is the last minute. I think that giving me 2 days is last minute when they have known about this report for an entire year.

AAAH! I am looking forward to getting out of this place!

2007-02-09T21:39:00.000-05:00

Through the magic of the internet I was able to look up my wedding registry and imagine my surprise to learn that many items have already been purchased for me!!! We're getting a toaster! Whoohoo! I never thought I would be this excited about a toaster.

I've fallen ill for the second time in a month. The one bad thing about being sick is that walking to work in the below zero wind chills is not very much fun. I usually like the biting cold weather, but it hasn't been much fun this week. I am beginning to feel better, though.

I got a haircut tonight in preparation for my interview next week. I just want it to be over, I'm spending so much time fretting over it. I have to give a 5 minute lesson. After spending hours and hours I decided on a 7th grade lesson plan about the checks and balances of the American government. I think I have a good interactive activity. Now I just need to practice so I make sure I don't go over the 5 minutes!

Todd and I have been trying to determine where we should go on our honeymoon. We were really sold on Belize, but the resort we liked is a bit out of our price range. Now we are looking at the Mayan Riviera in Mexico or maybe even some kind of trip to Quebec. (Quebec City or Montreal or both.) I'm sure we will have a lovely time no matter where we go. It just feels like a big decision.

2007-02-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

It was requested that I update because SOMEBODY is sick of looking at my kitty pictures. I don't know WHO could possibly not like the pictures, probably a big JERK.

Does anybody have a remedy for chapped lips? I have the driest skin, and I feel like it's getting worse and worse on my lips. I know I should use chapstick, and I do, but I always forget to put it on. I think I might be dehydrated, too. So perhaps drinking more water will help.

When Todd and I were in Michigan this weekend I got to meet my baby cousin, Caroline and she is a cutey! She is so pretty and tiny and she just loved being held. It's sad that I'm so old and I live far away and I won't be able to see her, like, ever. My aunt had her wearing the little sweater I made for her, which I thought was a sweet touch.

Todd and I have decided that Denver is going to be my top choice for a Teach for America placement. Yay! I'm getting really excited and Todd is looking into grad programs there. I told my boss about the interviews and asked her to write me a letter of reccommendation. She did, and didn't act too wierd about it. I had a dream about the next interview. I can't remember if it went well or not.

2007-01-26T00:24:00.000-05:00

How could anybody resist that sleepy kitty?

Stella had a ball with the wrapping paper. I had a very difficult time wrapping gifts this year.

Stella gets in the Christmas spirit.

This box used to be a fun place to hide, but now she's outgrown it!

Todd captured this picture of Stella, I think it's lovely.

Stella passes time watching the cars drive past.

Hanging out by the computer

2007-01-25T10:50:00.001-05:00

Guess who got a second interview for TFA? That's right, me!
Yay!

2007-01-23T16:41:00.000-05:00

It's the state of the union address day! Woohoo! Are you all ready to play my favorite game? State of the Union Bingo!!! (This can also work as a drinking game IF you don't have to work the next day.)

Last year I believe I came awfully close to a black-out on the bingo board. You can play along, too, by downloading a bingo sheet (you can find them online, just google "state of the union bingo") or have even MORE fun creating your own. In each box you can put a work that W is fond of saying. Like: "liberty" or "retreat" or "terror" or "nucUler" or "freedom."

In other news, Ani DiFranco gave birth to a baby girl this weekend. Yay for Ani!

2007-01-22T14:44:00.000-05:00

I just need to brag for a minute about how adorable Stella is. She's got a lot of dog-like qualities. She greets us at the door when we come home from work, she licks our faces when she is happy. She will play fetch with toys (like my hair rubber band) and when she wants you to play with one of her toys, (like her feather on a string or her teddy bear) she will carry it in her mouth across the apartment and drop the toy in front of you. Last night we were going to bed and Stella jumped into bed with her feather toy like she wanted us to play with her. Such a cutie! I am so happy to have her; we really won the kitten lottery with her.

For some reason, my office smells like burps. It's really gross and I'm getting sick to my stomach. I had a nasty turkey burger for lunch today and I think it is making me ill.

Weather report: Yesterday we got 2 inches of snow - the "storm" had passed before I even woke up. Last night the news was already reporting school closings and delays for today. It seemed like every school district was delayed 1-2 hours or closed entirely! What?! By this morning, all the snow had already melted.

2007-01-21T10:47:00.000-05:00

The newscasters in Cincinnati have been going on and on about the "winter storm" expected this morning. By winter storm, I mean our first snow-fall of the year, 1-3 inches. ONE to THREE inches. They've been warning to people to stay off the roads, and skip church this morning. So, when in Rome, do as the crazy Cincinnatians do. We decided to do our grocery shopping on Saturday evening instead of the usual Sunday afternoon. Wow. I think that was my first Saturday evening shopping trip. Everybody in the store was a mutant. They were all wearing sweatpants with holes in them and filthy t-shirts. Every person looked like they had just been beaten in the face with an ugly stick. It was really different than the Sunday afternoon crowd. I would actually recommend that you go grocery shopping on a Saturday evening sometime, just to see what it's like. If Saturday evening is your usual shopping time...then...I'm sorry.

2007-01-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

All right, I'm averaging one wedding related nightmare a week. Lately I've been having your typical "actor's nightmare" storyline. It's the wedding day, and all the guests are seated ready for the ceremony to begin. But Tanya, Todd and I are all in jeans still trying to write the ceremony! Eeek! Then, last night's dream, in addition to no ceremony, we had also forgotten to send out invitations. Only a few people were at the wedding. I was frantically trying to call Amy Elliott and Kate Williams to see if they could still make it.

So far Todd has not had any wedding related nightmares. Lucky me.

2007-01-18T11:12:00.000-05:00

I had my phone interview yesterday. It's so hard to get a feeling for how it went. Certainly not the worst interview, but I didn't feel like it was the best, either. I think it went fine, simply fine. I would be surprised if I did not get an in-person interview.

I think I have the strangest cat. She doesn't like kitty treats. She sniffs them, and might even lick them, but she won't eat them. Even when we put them in her food bowl, she will just eat around it. Wierdo! (We tried two kinds of treats.) I tried giving her some wet food and she ate a few bites, then ignored it and went to her dry food. Have you ever met a cat that doesn't like wet food?

2007-01-14T19:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a great day for music. My emusic subscription reset yesterday, so I was able to get my monthly 65 downloads. Then, in the mail, my BMG music club order arrived, along with 5 lala CDs. Here's all my new music:
Loretta Lynn - The Definitive Collection
Dolly Parton - The Essential Dolly Parton (Uggh, mostly it's her 80's stuff...Not essential)
Michael Jackson - Number Ones
Elton John - Greatest Hits Volume 2 (Todd informed me that I got hosed on this one, all his really great hits are on volume one. I concur.)
Liz Phair - Whip Smart
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
Al Bowlly - Love is the Sweetest Thing
M. Ward - Post War
Holly Golightly - Down The Line
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit (I've boycotted Belle & Sebastian for a long time, but I thought I would give them another try)
Yo La Tengo - I am not Afraid of you and I will beat your ass
Sarah Harmer - You Were Here
Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha
The Concretes - Layyourbattleaxdown

That should keep me busy for another few weeks. I'm kind of in an old country kick right now. I really want to get some Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner. The Loretta Lynn is FANTASTIC. Of my god, she is awesome!

This weekend Todd and I registered for gifts for the wedding at Macy's and Bed Bath and Beyond. It was a strange experience; I was really looking forward to it, but when it came down to it, I was kind of disappointed. The "consultants" were really annoying; they really pushed the whole "special day" aspect. They just droned on and on about the use for different knives (which are like $70 a piece!) or the difference between fine china, casual china and everyday plates. As if we have a need or space for three full sets of dishes. If you do take a look at the registries, please do not laugh at the Macy's one. We put a few fancy candle holders and serving platters on there just so we had some things that were "special" and non-useful. I know they are hella expensive and we really don't expect to get them. Please don't judge us. I just wanted some nice sheets and a kitchen aid mixer...

2007-01-12T23:10:00.000-05:00

I want to bring your attention to a new TV show, in case you haven't already seen it. It is on CBS and it is called "Armed and Famous." It is probably the greatest show on TV right now.

For those of you unfamiliar with the premise, they got five "celebrities" to actually go through police acadamy training in Muncie, Indiana. They become actual real, live police officers. For those of you who haven't seen the show you are probably thinking, yeah, right, what kind of police officers? Meter maids. Oh no. They are really responding to domestic violence calls, burglaries, shoplifting, even a SWAT team capture of a murder suspect. It is AWESOME. Oh, and of course, the "celebrities" are: Latoya Jackson, Erik Estrada, Wee-man from Jack-ass, Jack Osborne and some wrestler chick. Can you believe that somebody came up with this premise and they actually found a police force willing to take them?!?!

Todd and I love this show so much we skipped the Office last night in order to watch it.

2007-01-12T11:42:00.003-05:00

Guess who got a phone interview for TFA? That's right, me!

Hurray!

2007-01-11T08:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning Todd brought Stella to the shelter to get spayed. I felt so guilty, just giving her to strangers for 30 hours. Keeping her locked up in a metal cage with no way of knowing if we would ever come back to get her. I'm going to pick her up after work today and I can't wait. While last night was very peaceful, I still missed her. She wasn't waiting for me by the door when I got home, she didn't attack my legs as I walked past her hiding spot under the coffee table.

I can't wait to get her home again. I threatened Todd that I was going to look at other kitties while I was at the shelter picking up Stella. He does not think it is funny to even think about another cat. But I know he loves Stella and misses her, too. It's not too hard to have two cats and I think that Stella needs a friend. She gets so lonely during the day.

My mom is working on a campaign to get us to hire a DJ for the wedding. Barf. She sent me a link to the website of quite possibly the cheesiest DJ in the metro Detroit area. I mean, they give you a free lightshow with every package. My mother doesn't know me at all if she thinks that a free lightshow is going to impress me. I mean smoke machine, maybe, but light shows, what a yawn. It's not just that I don't want to spend money on a DJ, I just DON'T WANT A DJ. Todd doesn't want one either, perhaps more so than me. Even if they were free, we wouldn't want one. Even if they were paying us for the privilege of working at our wedding...we wouldn't want one.

2007-01-07T19:18:00.000-05:00

I just submitted my Teach For America application. Then I recieved an e-mail telling me that last year there was only a 13% acceptance rate. Eeek!

Thanks for keeping me from getting too cocky.

Keep me in your thoughts while I am going through the application process. I am certainly going to need all the positive vibes I can get.

Todd arrived home just in time to help me put the finishing touches on my essays. I am so happy to have him back. I missed him.

I think that I have narrowed down my top choices for placements: Charlotte, St. Louis and Memphis. Those cities have a much cheaper certification process and it is likely that I will be able to get a masters in education if I go to those areas. Combined with lower cost of living, I think those will be the best choices for Todd and I. I wish that the climates were colder, but we can always move to the north after we are done. The north will wait for us.

2007-01-04T22:07:00.000-05:00

Who knew that envelope talk would get people all riled up?

So, I've been trying to make the most of Todd's absence by eating all sorts of junky food I would be too embarassed to consume if Todd were here. I've gone to bed with a tummy ache every night. I've also been watching the Gilmore Girls with an uncontrollable pace. I mean, I believe that I have watched 20 hours of Gilmore Girls in the last 4 days. That is not healthy. I need to be writing my teach for american essays. I am a damn fool.

Todd goes away for a couple days and I turn into an impulsive fool.

2007-01-02T18:54:00.000-05:00

I'm officially a sado-masochist.

I don't know why I bother to call my mom when I am happy about something. I mean, she's just going to make me not happy. Case and point, my wedding invitations.

I'm all excited because I found these wedding invites that are gorgeous and unique and will probably meet my mother's approval of looking like actual wedding invitations (well, without having embossed silver hearts and scripty font that you can barely read). I e-mail the woman who owns the company and within 2 hours she has sent me a mock-up of the invites exactly how I wanted them. So, yay! Right?

WRONG!

I, of course, make the horrible mistake of calling my mom because I am just...that...excited. I mean, I've known the woman for 23+ years. What the hell was I thinking? If there is one person who is going to suck the fun out of anything (wedding invitations, college graduation, Disneyworld...) It's my mom.

Here is what is wrong with the invitations.
1) They are too expensive. (But then again, anything that is more than $17 is too expensive to her.)
2) They don't have an outer and inner envelopes. (Gasp! Horror of horrors! How are people going to know who is invited? I offered two solutions, but neither was deemed appropriate.)
2b) If they don't come with inner and outer envelopes then they can't possibly be REAL wedding invitations. Because REAL wedding invitations would have two sets of envelopes.
3) We will have to include maps. But mom...that's why I created the wedding website. But Noooo, many people don't use the internet. Well then those people are idiots. How do they find their way to places? According to my mom, they use maps that are provided to them. Really? Really? You mean to tell me that every time somebody needs to go somewhere new and they don't use the internet that somebody provides them with a map? I highly doubt that. But then again, knowing my family, I guess I could believe it.

So kids. It looks like you will all be getting e-vites to the wedding. And for those of you who don't use the internet, well, it'll be loose leaf paper for you. I just can't freaking TAKE IT ANYMORE. Gah!

Seriously, I am so angry. Why should wedding invitations, which made me super happy just hours ago be causing me so much ANGER.

I honestly cannot stand my mother. How I managed to live in that house with her for 17 years I will NEVER know. She just SUCKS the life out of you. I mean, how flipping hard would it be for her to just smile and shut her freaking trap once in a while and let me be excited about something? Oh, probably impossible. Because it's my mom. And she is evil.

2007-01-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! This was a very different new years for me. I usually get all nostolgic and write up a big year in review for my personal journal. I know it sounds cliched, but this year it just snuck up on me. I just wasn't ready to reflect on the year. Maybe it's because I feel like it's my first official year as an adult and I don't really have those milestones to look forward to and gage time.

I mean, I've been ready for 2006 to be over since early last January. I've spent so much time this past year thinking about 2007 (the wedding) that I've been accidently writing 2007 on my checks since March. I just feel like 2006 had to happen, it had to exist, but only as filler space between getting me to 2007, the year I really want to be in. So it's here. And that means it's wedding crunch time. I've already had my first wedding related nightmare of 2007. Fun times!
(It's especially frusterating because I don't even CARE about wedding details. So why am I having nightmares that it's my wedding day and I don't have the proper underware, flowers or my hair done? I don't even really care about those things!)

I also have to light a fire under my butt to get in my teach for america application. It's due on Jan 7 and I still have to write my letter of intent and my essay. It's been, what, 18 months since I've written an essay? I can't even remember how I used to do it!

Let's hope that by this time next year I will be a married woman living in Philadelphia and teaching. Fingers crossed everybody! I'm quite ready to get out of Cinci. If I don't get accepted in TFA our plan is to move away from Cinci by our first wedding anniversary. So either way, I'll be moved or planning a move by next year. Then I guess I'll have to change the name of the blog. Any suggestions?

Todd is going to Orlando for a work conference tomorrow until Sunday afternoon. I wish I could go too. I'm not ready to go back to work. It is annoying that I had to spend my holiday (today) in bed/on the couch with a horrible cold. Phooey. I feel like I am always sick on work holidays.

In case you care, here are my top albums of 2006:
1. Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
2. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country
3. Hello Saferide - Introducing...Hello Saferide
4. I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends
5. Heikki - Heikki2
6. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
7. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - #3
8. The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
9. The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
10. Nouvelle Vague - Band a Part

2006-12-19T16:40:00.000-05:00

I have installed spyware into my blog and I just though it would be nice to let you know. I'm tracking how many hits my blog gets, and how people are getting here, and how long they are staying...it's fascinating. Did you know that I get about 40 hits a day? I had no idea!

Interestingly, here are some of the keyword searches that people have done to find my blog:
The Nati
Catholic Wedding Living in Sin
eye goop
nondenominational tree toppers
Grandma Bench Cincinnati Ohio
What wrong with spanx
humidity in restraunts
car alarm keeps going off

All I can say is whaaaa? I don't know why somebody would search about eye goop and choose my blog..of all websites....to look at. Perhaps it just looked amusing or something.

Because there is only 15 minutes left of work, I am going to give you my random iPod playlist:
1) Justify my love - Madonna
2) Wishbone - Architecture in Helsinki
3) Swing Interpretation of the first movement of the concerto in D Minor - Django Reinhardt
4) Helter Skelter - The Beatles
5) Pop Life - Prince
6) But You're So Beautiful - Future Bible Heroes
7) Know Your Onion! - The Shins
8) Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel
9) Never There - Cake
10) Miss Liberty - Dayna Kurtz

2006-12-17T22:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday! My aunt Patty and Uncle Jim had their baby tonight, about an hour ago. The baby wasn't due until January, so this is a nice surprise just in time for me to meet the baby on Christmas. It was a girl (even though I swore it was going to be a boy) and while it isn't official yet, she will probably be named Caroline (middle name Olivia or Frances last time I checked in). This is the very first December birthday for the entire family and the first baby in nearly 12 years!

2006-12-12T12:46:00.000-05:00

Last month I had a nightmares that I did not purchase the proper undergarments for my wedding attire. So I began researching the underware that will make me look great in my clothes, even if they look awful under my clothes. I came up with this:

Properly named, Spanx, are supposedly a miracle undergarment. People everywhere sing the praises of Spanx. And they should be a wonder fat smoosher because at $68 a pair they will be the most expensive undergarment I will ever buy. So at my wedding you can all be assured that I will be wearing a very tight pair of underware that extends from my bra to mid-thigh. Wonderful!

I checked out ebay to see if I could get a lower price, and I found woman who seemed to sell nothing but Spanx for less than half the price. So I ordered from her. Note to self: don't order underware from the internet ever again. I mean, they arrived quickly, with the tag still attached but I was most put off by the fact that they were quite damp. Not just, "hey, these feel a bit damp" rather, I could have probably squeezed quite a bit of water out of them if I tried.

So I contacted the seller, who has no idea why they were wet. They were enclosed in a plastic bag in the shipping bag, so they didn't get wet in the mail. I wish she had told me that she washed them out before mailing them. They don't smell funny but I don't know what to do? Do I keep the mysterious damp spanx from ebay? Do I try and sell them again on ebay? Do I just go to the damn store and buy a pair for $68?

2006-12-11T11:10:00.000-05:00

I frequent a small branch of a local bank in my neighborhood. When I first opened my account I spent a lot of time with a woman who seemed to be the bank manager. I talked to her about my job market frustrations and she encouraged me to apply for a job with the bank. She was a very kind lady. She is always there when I go into the bank and she recognizes me and greets me by a name that is never my own. I've been called Kristin, Ashley, and Liz. I usually correct her but she never seems to retain my real name. I don't think she's ever gotten it right.

Today she greeted me, "Hello Ashley!" I responded by saying, "Oh...HI!" I paused after Oh, debating about whether or not to correct my name and decided not to. I went to the counter, made my deposit, and as I was leaving she stopped me. "Why didn't you tell me I called you by the wrong name?" She really wanted an answer...she wasn't being rhetorical. "Umm," I stammered, "I thought it would be rude to correct you." (AGAIN, I was thinking...AGAIN!)

It was an awkward interaction and I think I'm going to be avoiding my bank branch for a little while.

2006-12-10T13:46:00.000-05:00

So....Gwen Stefani is now doing a remix/cover or whatever of The Lonely Goatheard from The Sound of Music. She even does a little yadel. Her backup dancers are Asian women with blonde wigs and plaid schoolgirl outfits. I thought it might have been a drean (nightmare?) last night on SNL, but check out youtube. It's no dream.

I'm disturbed.

2006-12-08T22:39:00.000-05:00

Stella Pictures!

2006-12-05T12:14:00.000-05:00

Today, in honor of Todd's dead iPod I give you an iPod shuffle mix.
1) Alfie - Dionne Warwick (A horrible song, but I'm not ashamed.)
2) Memories of Love - Future Bible Heroes
3) Heart of Glass - Blondie
4) All the King's Horses - Dusty Springfield
5) In The Union of Wine - Hidden Cameras
6) A Case of You - Joni Mitchell
7) Over and Over Again - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
8) Down - Ben Kweller
9) Pin - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
10) Whatever Happened to Christmas - Aimee Mann

RIP 4th generation 40 GB iPod, RIP.

2006-12-04T09:42:00.000-05:00

Todd and I have decided that we watch too much TV about murders and rape. I always end up getting frustrated because these shows usually perpetuate rape myths. We've decided to not watch any TV shows about rape and/or murder until the end of the year. I think we need more comedy in our life. So we need to rent some movies/TV shows to keep us occupied. Any suggestions?

2006-12-02T20:51:00.001-05:00

I'm taking a poll. Which dress do you like better?

Dress #1

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/kdrotar/Dress007.jpg

Dress #2

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/kdrotar/Ring009.jpg

2006-12-01T16:03:00.000-05:00

I've been struggling with myself a lot lately over a certain issue, and you are all going to think I am a giant cheeseball for saying this.

I hate my wedding dress. It is just about the most unflattering thing I own. I've disliked it since I first tried it on, but I was so ready to be done with the "bridal shops" that I just sucked it up and told myself that I would grow to love it. Well, I don't. I've grown to hate it.

So I'm going out shopping again. Wish me luck.

2006-11-29T16:18:00.000-05:00

Holy Moly! There was a bomb found under a bridge in Cincinnati this morning. The bomb squad was called in and they detinated it...but it was a real bomb...in CINCINNATI.

2006-11-20T17:26:00.000-05:00

As you may know, I am a member of www.last.fm, my latest addiction. You can participate in the many message boards there. On one particularly mature thread you are supposed to rate the musical tastes of the person who posts before you on a scale from 1-10. I usually don't take it very seriously because I know that my musical taste rocks and anybody who disagrees obviously has sucky taste in music. However, I was rated 2/10 by one user which is actually kinder than most people are. I looked at this guys musical charts to see what he listens to and I was surprised at the hilarity of the names of the bands he listens to. I mean, he is like a goth caricature of himself. Here are some of the band names:
Morbid Angel
Black Witchery
My Dying Bride
Draconian
Shape of Despair
Death
Decapitated
Destroyer 666 (with an umlaut over the "o" in Destroyer)
Anorexia Nervosa
Gorguts
In Flames
Bloodbath
Suffocation
Hate Eternal

I mean, really! How can you be THAT much of a caricature of an angry goth kid. I actually find it funny that there are that many bands with such a wide range of gory names. Do you suppose that the lead singer of Bloodbath is going home for Thanksgiving this year to a proud grandma?

While I was looking at these bands I found another band of note called "Anal Cunt." Their industrial music is way too heavy for my taste but I am particularly fond of their song titles like:
I Lit Your Baby On Fire
I noticed that you're gay
You look divorced
Recycling is Gay
Jack Kevorkian is Cool
311 Sucks
I ate your horse
Big pants, bigger loser

Classy, Anal Cunt, classy. I bet your dad is so proud of you.

2006-11-19T22:00:00.000-05:00

Todd and Stella: Best Friends Forever!

This is my www.stuffonmycat.com submission. I hope it makes it!

An action shot of Stella in the middle of her favorite game.

Oh Hello! What's this?

Why yes, this plastic bag is very comfortable.

2006-11-19T17:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to the gym and I noticed a guy on a treadmill in front of me. He was wearing a long shirt and pants that were glistening and shiny. At first I thought that he was wearing a sweatsuit that was drenched in sweat, but upon closer inspection I realized that it couldn't be a simple cotton sweatsuit because that wouldn't be shiny. Perhaps it was a track-suit made out of that vinyl material that was so popular circa 1992. Later, when I walked past him and got a better look I realized that he was wearing a plastic outfit. It was made out of plastic, I am not kidding. He was sweating profusely and the sweat was sprinkling all over his treadmill as well as the two (unoccupied) treadmills next to him. Yeesh! It was pretty gross and I don't know why he thought a plastic outfit would be a good idea.

Tanya has proposed a question, what would be my top 5 proposals for postage stamp themes. I accept her challenge and while I think that I will have to think about it a while I can tell you that my top idea is "faces of ventriloquism." Can you imagine? It would be glorious.

2006-11-17T17:16:00.000-05:00

Being the giant dork that I am, each year I eagerly await the unveiling of the new stamps for the following year. Well USPS you really disappointed me this year. 2007's stamps look like they were designed using only a focus group of people age 70+. And I tend to like things geared toward the elderly!

Let's go through next years stamps, shall we?
1. Hershey's Kiss stamps - Okay, these are mildly fun. I will most likely buy these, but only one design? Come on, would it kill you to maybe do a Hershey's Hug stamp also?
2. Oklahoma Statehood - Great. A boring stamp to commemorate a boring state.
3. Ella Fitzgerald - In theory, this could be a great stamp but come on, who designed it? Really, it looks like they used crayons. My 13 year old sister could design a better stamp then this one...it's kind of insulting.
4. Longfellow - Continuing the Literary Arts Series. Is there possibly a more boring poet than Longfellow?
5. Settlement of Jamestown - This stamp is interesting looking, it's triangular! However, I am hesitant to buy a stamp commemorating a settlement that had such poor relations with the indigenous people.
6. Wedding Hearts - Okay, just GAG me. These are just BARF-TASTIC. Are there really people who are getting married and use these horrid hideous hear stamps? Don't think you will see them on our wedding invitations. BARF!
7. Pollination - Usually the post office will do a spring flower stamp but I don't really like these. I suppose they are mildly interesting.
8. Pacific Lighthouses - Is there possibly a more boring and stereotypically old person subject than a lighthouse? Gag.
9. Actor James Stewart - Boring.
10. Marvel Super Heroes - This would be interesting except they did DC Comics this year. NEXT!
11. Tiffany Stained Glass - this has the potential to be cool but they picked a horribly boring image. Way to fuck it up USPS.
12. Vintage Mahogany Speedboats - It seems like they always do some kind of vintage transportation (cars, motorcycles, now boats) but I find those painfully dull.
13. Disney magic - They do a Disney stamp collection every year, I'm sick of it.
14. Okay now, prepare yourself for the motherload of all boring stamps.....a stamp commemorating....JURY DUTY. Yeah, jury duty. Wow, USPS, it takes mad skillz to be that boring.
15. Polar Lights - Pretty, but only two images? Why?
16. Holiday Knits - This is pretty cool, but very Senior Citizen. Each year they do a Holiday themed stamp, it was cookies, this year it is snow flakes and in 2007 it will be knitted things.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my 2007 stamp recap. I'm really mad because I was hoping for a cool stamp to put on the wedding invitations but I don't think there is one. I promise it won't be those barfy hearts though.

See the stamps here.

2006-11-14T15:58:00.000-05:00

Today I got a phone call from a woman trying to sell me a subscription to a club that sells DVDs for like 1 penny...then you have to buy 4 at regular club prices (which is like $45 plus shipping). She was so nice and I couldn't find it in myself to be mean...but I'm on the do not call list for a reason damnit! I told her that I didn't have a TV. I don't know why, it just slipped out. The best part about it was that she paused and said "You don't have a TV?" And then SHE KEPT GOING ANYWAY. It made me laugh, so I apologized kindly and told her that I was not interested.

Gah! Her job must suck. I hope my little lie made her day as one of the strangest comments ever.

2006-11-13T12:17:00.000-05:00

If you are a perceptive blog reader then you will notice the new addition to my page. Look to the right and check out my last fm chart, it's hard to miss, he is large and hot pink. It makes me smile and I hope you like it too. That will be a somewhat accurate listing of the musicians that I listened to the most in the last week. It should be automatically updated weekly.

I need to think of something to put on my cat so I can get on www.stuffonmycat.com. Any ideas? I was thinking international postcards, but Todd thinks that isn't funny enough.

2006-11-09T14:28:00.000-05:00

So this was the best election day I've ever had. I went to bed safe in the knowledge that the Democrats would be taking control of the House.

Even better than election day was the day after election day. When I learned that RUMSFELD RESIGNED. Of course the greatest thing about that was that I was the person who broke the news to 4 people. I should have gone into journalism because it was so much fun to watch their faces shift from shock to pure happiness.

Today is a pretty great day too what with the close Senate races in Montana and Virginia coming out on the side of the Democrats. (Did you know that there were only 400,000 votes cast in the state of Montana? That's like the size of the city of Cincinnati!)

2006-11-07T13:31:00.000-05:00

Ahhhh! Election day! My favorite day of the year! Really, you think I am kidding, but I am so not kidding.

I'm already reading about many problems with electronic voting machines, mainly that the old fogies who run the elections can't figure out how to get the dang contraptions to work! I'll tell you what, I'm more concerned about the people who KNOW how they work than the people who can't get them to work.

2006-11-06T10:32:00.000-05:00

Last week I got a letter from the City of Lansing. I eagerly ripped open the letter, expecting my refund check...instead I got a very official looking letter insisting that I call them to confim my address from 2005. Grrr. I had to sit down and attempt to remember my address from 2005. I called this morning to confirm my address only to learn that I had not lived in Lansing, I lived in Delhi Township. News to me! I should be expecting a $42 refund check next week from Lansing. So thank you City of Lansing for that plesant surprise. You RAWK! Now, what do I spend my $42 on?

This weekend Todd and I went to see the Borat movie. We've been frothing at the mouth in anticipation for this movie, which is always a set up for dissapointment. The reviews were glowing, but entirely undeserved. The charm of the Borat character is watching the well meaning, polite Americans stifle their discomfort. You can't do that in a movie. I spent much of the movie trying to figure out if the people we "in" in the joke or not. But I still love Borat!

Also this weekend, the female members of our wedding party have purchased their dresses, so there is no turning back now! We've got other people who are spending money now, I guess we have to really get married. My mom tried to convince me that I have to select matching shoes for all the bridesmaids. Errr, no. Or at least a matching color... Please tell my mother that this is entirely not necessary. Now my aunt is in on it, too. MATCHING SHOES ARE NOT A REQUIREMENT (especially when the dresses don't even match).

2006-11-04T11:31:00.000-05:00

Wow, day three into NaBloPoMo and I've already failed.

2006-11-02T14:58:00.000-05:00

Today was an unexpectedly great day, and it's not even over yet! I presented to a group of 13-16 year olds today and it was so much fun! They were doing a great job of expressing their opinions and it was fun to watch the process of their ideas evolving. I am always so energized after a presentation like that. We had a staff meeting today which outlined the new performance reviews. You know that you are old when performance reviews get you all excited. The exciting thing is that everybody is allowed to review everybody else. So watch out evil co-worker! Muwahahaha!

2006-11-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

I am planning on participating in NaBloPoMo this month. For those of you who are not internet savvy, that means National Blog Posting Month. That means that you can bookmark my blog and expect a juicy tidbit from my life each and every day.

I have become increasingly annoyed with my co-workers lately. But really, what else is new? It's been easier to let things roll off my back because I have realized that there are no consequences for any actions and therefore nothing I do, good or bad, is really going to have any impact on my job. I've begun the process of applying for Teach for America and I hope to be living in Philadelphia next year at this time teaching Middle School History and stuffing my face on cheesesteaks. Mmmm, cheesesteaks....

My "employee," the woman who I supposedly supervise, is driving me nutso. She conveniently has doctors appointments every single time I ever need her to do an evening presentation. Apparently now she needs knee surgery. Do I not sound sympathetic? Yeah, well, I'm not feeling so sympathetic. So even though she booked a presentation 6 weeks ago for this evening, she told me on Monday that she had scheduled a doctors appointment this afternoon...which meant that I would have to work late...as usual. I was completely dreading this and since karma owes me one, I got a phone call 30 minutes before I was going to leave telling me that the teacher was going home ill and I didn't have to go. Hurray!

Todd also introduced me to a band this week called Nouvelle Vague which is quickly becoming a favorite. They do this great Bossa Nova cover of Dancing With Myself. It's addictive; I can't get enough of it.

Well, I'm off like a dirty shirt. Catch me tomorrow!

2006-10-30T11:18:00.000-05:00

Here is why I love Stephin Merrit:

Ukulele, Me-kulele, how happy we could be-kulele!
One-kulele, Two-kulele, Three-kulele
Ukulele-Me!

When I hear the sound
of that little brown thing humming
I don't know if I'm going or coming
Down and down and down down keep strumming
Ukulele-Me!

Ukulele, Me-kulele, how happy we could be-kulele!
A-kulele, B-kulele, C-kulele
Ukulele-Me!

Play a little tune,
sing about the moon who cares
Something that won't give me nightmares.
Sing it sweetly or say your prayers,
Ukulele-Me!

Ukulele, me-kulele how happy we could be-kulele!
X-kulele, Y-kulele, Z-kulele
Ukulele-Me!
X-kulele, W-kulele, V-kulele,
Ukulele-Me!

2006-10-29T15:14:00.000-05:00

Cincinnatians are wild about Halloween. Since September I have been seeing Orange and Black decorations everywhere! Perhaps it is just because the Bengals (football team) colors are Orange and Black. I prefer to think that it is enthusiasm for Halloween.

This weekend Todd and I went to see The Prestige which I would suggest only seeing if you are an idiot and like it when movies treat you like an idiot. I guess in theory it's a fine movie but I found the "twist" quite obvious within about 30 minutes. And the movie was about 2 1/2 hours long. So that's a long time to know the twist...and wait for it...wait for it...wait for it....

David Bowie played the part of Tesla, the crazy scientist. That was probably the best part of the movie.

Oh, and the death scene at the end. The FUCKING DEATH SCENE. I think I groaned out loud. it lasted like 15 mintues. Believe me, if I was shot in the gut I wouldn't spend the last 15 minutes of my life explaining the most obvious shit in the universe. Don't worry, they explain every last bit in the end. Everything. They explain everything.

AHHHHH! I was so annoyed by the end of the movie.

Tonight we are going to a haunted house. I'll probably pee my pants again. I hate being startled.

2006-10-22T21:55:00.000-04:00

I've been bad about updating lately. Mostly because I feel really boring. I am adoring life with a kitten and feel like if I updated with kitten stories people would roll their eyes at me. Really, though, she's awesome. I love learning about her cute little quirks. (Like how she will hide behind the piles of junk on the floor of our apartment. It's her little way of reminding us to clean or else we get a leg full of cat claws.)

I've been discovering new swedish pop music through last fm and my subscription to emusic. It's great, but I feel like I am getting more music that I have time to really digest. I feel like I'm getting greedy with my mp3's. I totally making Todd look bad by exploring all sorts of bands he has never heard about. He says that he likes it, but I think he feels a bit embarassed. I mean, music is supposed to be HIS THING.

We spent this weekend don't a bit of wedding brainstorming for the first time in months. We went shopping for a wedding band for Todd and we have a good idea about what he wants. Somebody needs to convince me that I do not need to spend $600-900 on wedding invitations no matter how nice they are.

(but they are so pretty!)

2006-10-16T16:33:00.000-04:00

I arrived at work to find a card on my chair. I was confused and didn't know who it was from. I was so suprised to open it and find a Boss' day card! How very sweet! Then my eyes welled with tears because I am a big cry baby like that. (I don't feel like anybody's Boss)

2006-10-15T22:54:00.000-04:00

My uncle works for an airline and occasionally stumbles across some things that people leave on the planes. He turns them into lost and found but if they are not claimed then he gets to keep them. He found an iPod this way. He also found a book filled with CD's this way. He knew that my car was broken into and so he gave me the CD's. Considering my obscure music taste there was quite a bit of good music in the case. Of course, plenty of it sucked (James Blunt and Mighty Mighty Bosstones) as well so I am finding good homes for those CD's on www.lala.com and trading them for CD's that I actually want.

If you are not familiar with the lala website, you should be. It's a great way to get rid of music you don't like anymore and get some new music you want to try out. Each trade is only $1.75.

So if you want to join, please leave me a message with your e-mail address so I can refer you and get a free t-shirt!

2006-10-13T18:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, 15 minutes before I was to leave for the day my Boss, my boss' boss, the accountant and the development director called me into their office to "talk." I knew this would be bad when they didn't tell me what it was about.

We didn't get the Ohio Department of Health grant for the next two years. So.....there is not enough money for my job. However, they assured me that they would do everything that they could to find alternate funding sources before...oh...the end of October. Combined with my job not being funded by the United Way this year I'm contemplating looking for work elsewhere. (By elsewhere I mean out of Cincinnati) I love it, but I can't feel strung along like this for too much longer. I'm going to apply for Teach for America and the Peace Corps for next year. I've considered both for a while and I think it's time.

When I got home from work yesterday I found a very sick little kitten. She was stilly lovey and cuddly and playful but she had lost control of her bowels and there was bits of poop in all of her favorite sitting spots. Poor little thing tried to make it to the litter box but she just missed. I made a vet appointment for today and kept my finger crossed that she'd be okay until then.

Stella has two problems according to the vet, she isn't adjusting well to the food and she has an upper respiratory virus (a cold). So I got some eye drops for her and instructions to feed her turkey baby food. (The human kind) Stella was so very cute at the vet, at first she was all lovey with the vet and rubbing against her but once the vet brough out the eyedrops and the anal thermometer all bets were off, they are no longer friends.

Now she is feeling much much better and I can tell because she is going freaking ape-shit. She is acting possessed, flinging her body across the room to claw into my legs. She is attacking a scarf that Todd's mom sent to me and a string of mardi gras beads. It's kind of strange, I thought she was playful before but this is nothing!

She's been great about sleeping through the night, curled up between us but I have a feeling that tonight she'll be attacking my eyes in my sleep. I think I like a sick kitten better.

2006-10-09T14:51:00.000-04:00

I've been a cat mama for about 24 hours now and I have a few things to share.
1. I didn't know that I would actually lose sleep over a kitten. They like to sleep in your lap in the middle of the day but they want to play at night. Not fun.
2. She is fascinated with McDonalds french fries.
3. She loves to put her head up to my chin and just leave it there like she is waiting for me to do something. What? What do you want me to do?
4. Feather on a string toy? Boring. String for the blinds? Hours of fun!
5. Her favorite chair is my favorite chair, too! The computer chair!
6. She just loves to walk across whatever I am doing, the computer, the book I am reading, the food I am eating, the notecards I am reviewing.
7. We named her Stella.
8. She is a "dilute calico" because she is grey and buff and white, not black and orange and white. This is somewhat unusual.

2006-10-08T18:11:00.000-04:00

Welcome home new kitten! Todd and I adopted a kitten today from the local shelter. Isn't she the cutest? She's curled up sleeping in my lap right as I type. She is very adventurous and cuddly and friendly. I think she'll be a good addition to our family. Now we need to decide on a name. Our suggestions are: Edna, Stella, Gladys and Astrid. Anybody care to weigh in with their advice?

2006-10-05T17:37:00.000-04:00

Todd and I were selected to be a Neilson family this week. So we have to record all of our TV watching this week and this time....it counts.

They sent us 5 crisp 1 dollar bill to thank us for our effort. You wanna know what I am using my $2.50 for? A steamed apple cider! It's October and that's primo cider drinkin time, suckas!

2006-10-03T23:11:00.000-04:00

2006-10-03T23:00:00.000-04:00

2006-10-03T22:52:00.000-04:00

2006-09-25T22:39:00.000-04:00

Okay, I lied about that being my last post for the week. Todd and I went out to eat to celebrate his promotion (!!!!) this evening. Okay, okay, we were actually just too lazy to cook and we're running out of food.

On the drive northbound on I-71 we noticed countless police cars with their lights flashing that were parked over every bridge and near every exit. Was it a manhunt? Was it an amber alert? Was it a lion escaped from the zoo and roaming the streets?

It didn't take long to realize that there was no traffic on southbound I-71. We remembered that the President was in town for a factory tour and a fundraising dinner. And everything started to make sense.

After driving a few miles we saw oodles of police cars with their lights flashing going down I-71 southbound. Then about 4 limousines with mini-American flags then about 8 white unmarked vans then an ambulance then about 25-30 police cars. We saw the President's entourage going in the opposite direction on the express way! Pretty cool, huh?

This is where I would normally say something snide about him being in town and wasting community resources but I will hold my tongue because I don't want to get flagged the FBI. You never can be too cautious these days.

2006-09-25T13:26:00.000-04:00

Herman Dune 'I Wish That I Could See You Soon'

How do the Swedes do it over and over? Here is another adorable video and catchy song to tide you all over until I come back from California. It's a pretty appropriate song, isn't it?

2006-09-23T21:09:00.000-04:00

There have been many news reports today that Osama bin Laden may or may not be dead. I believe that CNN's headline was "Bin Laden: Dead or Alive?" I find it annoying that these 24 hour news stations are in such a frenzy to break a story that they spend all day repeating the same non-story over and over. I mean, there's no news if there is no confirmation. Are they going to begin a daily who's-still-alive report now? "Our top story today is that Condoleeza Rice is still alive today. She had a bowl of oatmeal and a banana for breakfast. In other news, Dick Cheney may or may not be dead. Haven't heard from him in a while..."

So IF Osama is dead I think it's pretty good timing...for the Republicans. I'm curious to see how the Republicans are going to spin his death as a victory for them. How will they link his (possible) death from typhoid to our military operation enduring freedom?

In completely unrelated news I am terribly excited about going to Disneyland on Wednesday. I feel like a cross between an 8 year old gleefully anticipating Disneyland and a drill sergeant plotting out our attack plan. First we hit Space Mountain and the Matterhorn then we need to get on Splash Mountain before a brief lunch in New Orleans Square. After lunch it's the Mad Hatters Tea Party and the Flying Dumbos. Wait...the Mad Hatters Tea Party isn't a good idea after lunch, is it?

2006-09-21T12:32:00.000-04:00

Just 1 1/2 days left for work. That's it. Then it's vacation time!

Here is my top 10 today.
1. Life - Sly & The Family Stone
2. Julie - Jens Lekman
3. Smash the Beauty Machine - Future Bible Heroes
4. What How When Where - Ani DiFranco
5. Wear Your Love Like Heaven - Donovan
6. The Consort - Rufus Wainright
7. Invisible Ink - Aimee Mann
8. Because - The Beatles
9. Twenty-One - The Cranberries
10. Stage Persona - The Embassy