the adventures of tina's kids

so this past weekend i took a little trek up 64 and then further west to good ol' bath county, va to see my brother and sister. (you may have noticed my recent profile photo change, that's me and zech, mi hermano.)

thought i would share with you the adventure.

i drove up friday afternoon, sans husband, as he is working his bootie off and couldn't get away from work. the drive is about 3 hours +, and once i hit staunton, about half way, it started snowing and freezing rain. excellent. i don't do inclement weather driving so well. i called victoria, mi hermana, to see what the weather was like where they live, and it was just raining, so i forged on. got to their house incident free and we loaded back in the car to head to my hotel--strike that, MOtel--so i could check in.

bath county (the towns are called warm springs and hot springs) has lots of nice b&bs, and also the fabulous homestead, but i decided it was smarter to just pay $75 and stay in the lone motel (there are no holiday inns, comfort inns, hampton inns, etc. in this county). it sufficed.

after i got checked in, we decided to head to "town." this is covington, home of (stinky) westvaco paper factory, and about 30-40 min from warm springs (which is 20 min from mountain grove, where vic and zech live). we went to applebee's and walmart, a true mountain living outing.

on the way back, my sister discovered my camera and decided to take some self-portraits. isn't she lovely?



now, in the course of my trip up, i had seen an ant crawling on my passenger seat. i thought it was odd, but just squashed him and kept on truckin'. when zech got in the back seat, he commented that there were "ants crawling all over the seat." he killed 'em, and we kept on truckin', and i kind of forgot about it. so we get back to the motel to hang out before the sibs went home for the night, and i reach into my bag to give victoria a dvd of our wedding pics. holy jesus, people, there were like 50 ants crawling all over it!

i totally freaked, and took my bag over to the bathroom counter to de-ant. gross. really. my camera happy sister was amused by this and caught the action on film:



ugh, makes me itch just thinking about it. (where they came from is a long story but i think the problem is solved and am pretty confident my car is no longer infested with ants.)

once the bag and all contents were ant-free, victoria decided we needed to snap some photos. could we look any different? (although we do continue to find things we have both inherited from our mom!)


finally, i took the sibs back over the mountain and then came back to the motel to update my ncaa bracket and get some rest.

i chose this weekend to go because the county next door was having it's famous annual event--the highland county maple festival! when i told vic and zech i wanted to go to it, victoria informed me that going to the maple festival meant we had to go have pancake breakfast, and because the lines get super long (there ain't shit else to do up there), we had to leave "before 7." i was less than thrilled at the time of departure, but i don't see them too often and i never have the chance to have real and true maple syrup, so i hauled my ass out of bed at 6am on saturday, got ready and headed BACK over the mountain to pick them up. i called when i was leaving, and of course they weren't up yet. so i got there at 7:10, and of course they weren't ready yet.

but no worries. we left their house about 10 min later and began the 30 mile trek to the maple festival (no, i did not realize it was going to be this freaking far, but, honestly, everything is that far there).

after sitting down to breakfast, it became obvious that zech didn't think the early start was such a great idea, in spite of the excellent atmosphere of the elementary school cafetorium.



i don't usually do pancakes (don't care for the consistency), but that morning, i was digging in... the maple syrup is yummy!



and victoria certainly liked hers!



after breakfast, my sister met up wth her new beau and we all walked around the gyms at highland high school/elementary school (all one building, no other schools in the county) and checked out the crafts and such, then we headed up to "downtown monterey" and walked around. the weather was not conducive to outdoor activities, but we toughed it out.



zech bought some pork rinds. such a disgusting food if you think about it too much, but damn they're good.



on the way back to the car, i decided to take advantage of the snow/little brother combination. i was in my mid teens when they were born, so i am missing the "haha, i got you" gene and when i pegged my brother just above the neck of his sweatshirt with a snowball, i felt really guilty. he refused to let me brush off the snow though, tough little bastard.



we decided we had had enough of the maple festival after buying our pork rinds, kettle corn, maple syrup and maple fudge, and headed to staunton, the next closest city, to go to the movies. on the way there, we came around a giant curve to a little pull off that made the perfect stop for some "family photos."





my brother took this next picture of us (of course). i think the lighting is awesome!



of course, victoria had to pose for some supermodel pics...



and of course zech had to pose for some "i'm tougher than you and can deal with snow in my sneakers" pics...



after the movie i took them home and headed home myself... it was an excellent adventure, and i loved spending time with these two crazy teenagers!

i, too, am experiencing the madness.

so in years past, i have occasionally filled out an NCAA tournament bracket just for the heck of it. typically when i do this, i get 'em all wrong because i tend to have a soft spot for the underdog and pick all kinds of upsets that, of course, do not happen.

well, this year, a friend of mine told me about a pool he was entering, just a friendly contest among friends, of course (wink, wink). so i decided to fill out a bracket, see if i could win the top prize of bragging rights (wink, wink).

and guess what.

after day one, i am 15 for 16! holy crap! i guessed almost every single game RIGHT! unbelievable! i am so excited and now fully entrenched in this march madness stuff. yesterday i logged onto the extensive coverage at cbs.com and refreshed the page every 5 minutes to see if the teams i chose were winning. ha! it was ridiculous.

now, i am not dumb. i realize that there are still (let me count) 47 more selections to go and anything can happen. but if you don't get the teams right in the first round, you have no one to get right in the second, third and fourth rounds, right? :) plus more points are doled out the closer we get to the championship.

and vcu's win last night over duke! holy wow! that was so much fun. after my cooking class i joined bryan and some of his co-workers, who are vcu alums, at a sports bar in town and got to watch the last four--very intense--minutes. it was so fun!

alright, a few hours until my wahoos take on albany.... pleeeeease don't let me down, boys! at least, not until the next round, when i predicted you will! :-O

a quick thought...

normally i'd have posted this on my news-y blog but i don't have time for that lately, so you get it instead... :)

• is anyone else a tiny bit skeptical of this khalid sheikh mohammed guy confessing to virtually every terrorist act in the last 25 years? i mean, really, has anyone stopped to think that a) delusions of grandeur and b) torture could have caused this guy to fabricate this lenghty confession? or perhaps i'm just a cynic and find it hard to believe that AHA! we've solved the terrorist problem!

warm weather makes me HAPPY!

well, spring has arrived for a brief stay, and i am lovin' it. too bad it's supposed to get back down in the low fifties this weekend... :-/

so last week i went to the first of my three-part cooking class, and lemme tell ya, i think a monster has been created. it was SO MUCH FUN! the class was called "soups and stocks," so we learned how to make various stocks (for those not into the cooking-speak, broths) and then we broke off into groups and each made a soup. i met some fun people that i'm looking forward to seeing again on thursday, and made some great food, and learned some fun things! this week is "poultry and fish." sur la table, the store where i'm taking the class, offers many, many different types of classes, and i am afraid i've caught the bug. i can't wait to sign up for another class, but they run about $65-$75 each, so i'm going to have to limit myself...

on saturday bryan and i hopped on the motorcycle to do some more furniture shopping, and, after sitting on two different sets for about an hour, decided on one! it was a set bryan had pointed out to me on our first trip to this store, and i really liked it then, but wasn't sure i was willing to take the "risk." see, it's a little trendy, a little edgy--not the usual solid color stuff that i lean towards. but finally, i decided that i really like it a lot and if nothing else, i can always have it reupholstered in a few years if i really grow out of it! so, that will arrive on march 31! just in time for the birthday/easter festivities! i'll post pictures when we get some! now i need to go out and find curtains and artwork and such.... :) fun!!!

this weekend i'm heading up to bath county to visit with my brother and sister and hopefully attend the highland county maple festival. now, you talk about a party! ha! okay, maybe not a party. but it will be fun to see them and do something fun. unfortunately bryan's on outage schedule and won't be able to come with me... freaking power station! :)

well, almost time to head out for the day into the 80 degree weather! woohoo! i love it. on saturday after the furniture shopping we went over to see todd and sarah's new place and cooked out on the grill, so good! you tend to forget how fabulous warm weather is after it's been too cold to do anything for 3 or 4 months...

movin' on up...

so my move up to the 12th floor and my new office is complete. it is a bittersweet transition for these reasons:

-sweet: bigger office. MUCH bigger. like 3 times the size. very good. i no longer feel like i am in a closet.
-sweet: carpet! yes! i have carpet instead of yucky institutional tile!
-sweet: bright lights! my boss insisted if they were moving her (and subsequently me) that they were going to do it right, so she ordered the best lights and best ceiling tiles. which may seem trivial to some, but i dig nice, bright white light. especially considering...
-bitter: no windows. ugh. as if i didn't already have a dearth of vitamin d in my life. my old office didn't have a window either, but it had an office behind it which had a window, so i could peek through the doorway or walk in there to catch a little sunshine or a glimpse of the outside world. here, i am in the middle of the building and have no idea where i can find a window (at least, i don't know the people with the offices with windows).
-bitter: i left my girls downstairs! on the seventh floor, i had my pals brie and krystyna to gab with on occasion. i can still go down there when i want, but it's just not the same as walking around the corner.
-bitter: i don't know anyone on this floor. there are two ladies down the hall who i know sort of, but they're older than me, whereas brie and krystyna are much closer to my own age. i'm friendly, though... i'm sure i'll meet plenty of folks in due time. :)
-sweet: i have a nice full-size leather couch in my office. perfect for friends who visit, emergency naps, or reading boring ass grants, or heck, even reading for pleasure during lunch or something. also, i have taken to watching 24 on myspace most tuesdays, so now i can sit back on the couch and turn my monitor that way!

so, i guess tallying it all up, there are more sweet than bitter things about the move. then again, it's only day 2 in the new digs, we'll see how it goes as time goes on!

in other news, bryan and i are on the hunt for furniture for our front living room. this is proving to be more difficult than i expected. i realized i am a picky lady. i have a vague idea of what i want (modern but not overly so, nice but not stuffy, comfy but not overly so since it is the "formal" living room), but nothing we looked at really jumped out at me. we went to 7 furniture stores on saturday and there was nothing that i felt like we absolutely MUST buy. now that i've seen pretty much everything that's out there that's not super expensive, i am hoping we can revisit the couple of stores that seemed the most promising and i'll rediscover something i've already seen as the set that we actually will buy. we shall see.

of course, starting this week bryan will be working longer hours and more weekends, as it is outage season and he'll have to be at work making sure things are running smoothly. (well, i think that's what he does, generally. :) ) so who knows when the actual furniture buying will happen. i'm really hoping to have it in the house in time for the grammer/klinger birthday extravaganza on april 7... keep your fingers crossed!

becoming julia child

so i may have already told you this, but a while back, i realized the problem with me cooking is that i never could decide what to cook. i used to arrive home after work and stare into the freezer trying to decide if defrosting meat would be worth it, and what would i do with it anyway once it was ready to cook. for a couple of months, i've been picking out several recipes before each grocery trip and buying the ingredients so that i know exactly what i'll be cooking over the next week or so. this has worked out rather nicely. i have subscriptions to both cooking light magazine and real simple, and own several cookbooks, along with the box full of recipes i got at my bridal showers.

i have always liked to cook, but i feel like i'm on my way to becoming the next julia child. i really got into this past season of top chef on bravo, and even asked bryan to get me a gift certificate to sur la table for christmas, where you can go do various cooking classes. and now, i get excited about cooking the recipes i've selected.

for example, on sunday night i made sirloin steak with tarragon-garlic sour cream, over pan fried potatoes. it was pretty good, if i do say so myself. then monday, i drooled the whole bus ride home over my planned menu: homemade chicken pot pie. and honies, it did not disappoint! in fact, i ate so much felt sick. :)

of course, my excellent cooking skills are periodically interrupted during the week, as bryan and i are both addicted to chipotle, and we must have it at least once a week. plus we do tend to eat out a fair bit on the weekends in particular. but i went to the grocery store on wednesday and have big plans for french onion soup, pork chops with tomato-sage pan sauce, mahi mahi with a citrus ponzu sauce and chicken enchiladas with salsa verde. (the enchiladas give me a chance to make my guacamole, which i must say is pretty good!)

also, i used my gift certificate to sur la table and signed up for a 3-part cooking essentials series. i figure it will be nice to have a professional cook show me how i'm supposed to be cooking this stuff, and then i can move on to culinary divinity from there. :) those classes start march 8 and run three thursdays in a row. i am very excited!!

you'd think from this blog that i'm hungry right now, but the opposite is true. in the past two days i've eaten way too much (my coworkers and i went to a great italian restaurant for lunch yesterday to get out of the office). but with all those recipes waiting to be cooked, i think a lot about what sort of masterpiece i can create in the kitchen next! :)

ok, i'm done with winter.

well, i was really pulling for a good old fashioned snow day here in the RIC, but it appears that is not happening. and so, i've given up on winter and am urging spring to come a little sooner. the government appears to be with me since they've decided to move up daylight savings time, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

winter and me don't mix. i am loathe to do anything but lay on the couch and watch tv when it's cold outside. which is why you haven't heard from me in a while--i've either been working or under a blanket on my couch or in the bed! i guess that's not entirely true, though. a few things that have been going on since we last met...

• one week ago i managed to get a new VCU id card with my real name on it! i'll spare you the other 20 steps that took, just know that it never did get easy. but it happened. next is tackling IT. i am not excited at this prospect, and have therefore been putting it off. soon, though...
• one sunday a few weeks ago, after realizing that i virtually never exercise, i told bryan we should go to the park and go for a walk. so we did, and it was a lot of fun! we went to pocohantas state park, which is just a few short miles from our house, and did a 2.5 mile loop. at one point we passed two men running, and this inspired bryan to suggest that we run as well. i must inform you that i do not run. nor have i ever. but i decided to humor him and see if i could actually move faster than molasses, and i ran! i believe in total about 1/4 mile. that was over 4 or 5 different instances. (one of those stretches i swear i ran constantly for about .05 mile!) it was... kind of exhilirating, actually! (although i have not done it since then. but it's cold.) anyway, very slim chance i'm going to become a runner. my hips hurt for a couple days after that, proving to me that i am just not made to be a runner. that, or i'm in really bad shape as i suspected.

• our first valentine's day as a couple was not exactly what i had in mind. i had an attack of the swelling condition i have, an autoimmune disease called hereditary angio edema. i'll spare you the science, but suffice it to say that i get an enormous excess of fluid in my abdominal cavity, it presses on all my guts and hurts like a sonofabitch and makes me nauseated on top of it. so i woke up wednesday morning 110% miserable, i even had to have bryan call my work because talking made me feel like i was going to hurl. so i rifled through the medicine cabinet and found some pain meds i had leftover from an august 05 foot surgery and anti-nausea meds i had leftover from my october 03 chin surgery (don't worry, the box says it doesn't expire until august of this year!), took those and stayed in the bed ALL DAY. i did manage to get up and take a shower around 4p that day because i thought it highly inappropriate for a newlywed not to have showered on valentine's day, even if i wasn't going to be much of a date for my dear hubby. bryan brought me roses and a card home, and then proceeded to work his culinary magic in the kitchen, making us lasagna for dinner. unfortunately i was only able to eat about 4 bites of it--all i ate the whole day--but it was good, and has provided excellent leftovers! :) after that, i went and got back in bed and he brought up my next valentine's surprise. one of his co-workers had videotaped our wedding ceremony, but we haven't been able to watch it because we haven't converted it from the camera-sized tape it's on. so bryan had asked the guy to bring the camera to work, and he plugged it in and put in our wedding ceremony tape and we laid in bed and relived the day. it was very romantic and a nice way to spend valentine's day! he was bummed to learn on thursday that the flowers he had sent me at work had not yet arrived. they actually didn't arrive until friday afternoon, and they were not what he ordered!! this actually happened to a friend of mine in tennessee as well, and we discovered that both our sweethearts used ftd.com for the flowers. so, a word to the wise, don't order flowers from ftd.com.
• this past weekend i took advantage of an occasional perk here at work--free tickets to a vcu basketball game! we had a couples date with our friends todd and sarah and went to dinner at a restaurant called popkins on east broad street in richmond. they've renovated the old popkin's furniture store and turned it into a restaurant, it was pretty good! it was fun to go to that area of richmond, where they're working really hard to revitalize. the basketball game was fun, but it was kind of funny to see that arena compared to the fabulous john paul jones arena in charlottesville! vcu lost unfortunately, but thankfully none of us are vcu alum so we didn't mind too much. it was just a fun thing to do on a saturday!

• yesterday was my friend jodie's daughter's (and my flower girl) jordan's birthday, she turned 8. as her gift, i thought it would be fun to take her to the circus, so jodie and i took her two kids to see the greatest show on earth. it was fun, but obviously doesn't have the magic it held for me as a child anymore. now i look at the performers and wonder if they are happy in this lifestyle and look at the animals and wonder if they are treated well... freaking conscience! i'll still probably take my own children if i am blessed with them, but bryan and i will have to save up for a few months beforehand. it cost us $120 for 4 tickets, then another $46 for 2 sno-cones in souvenir cups, popcorn and cotton candy, then another $36 for a stuffed lion for jordan and a light up sword for dylan. good lord! i felt kind of bad because the family in front of us had gone the frugal route and brought snacks from home, and the little girl, about 5, kept turning around staring longingly at my sno-cone. even though i knew i couldn't offer her some, her little puppy dog eyes were really doing a number on me! my favorite part of the circus was the dogs doing tricks and flips and stuff. while some of the animals look completely pissed to be forced to do little circus tricks, those dogs looked happier than pigs in... well, you know. they were panting and jumping up and down and practically peeing themselves from joy! it was cute and fun to watch.

so, another week begins! next week we move offices, so this week i am trying to get everything in order for the move. fun!

"i'm not trying to be funny with you," or, the saga of the VCU id badge name change

i believe that the process of getting your name changed on your vcu id card is equivalent to becoming a member of the witness protection program and acquiring an entirely new identity. at least, that's what it feels like. let me map out this process for you.

1. get married sept. 30. spend most of october catching up, worry about getting social security card and driver's license changed to new name.
2. early november, decide to go ahead and get name changed at vcu. call hr rep.
3. hr rep sends me email, copies hr generalist, tells me to send copy of new drivers license.
4. hr generalist sends scathing response to me, copying hr rep, telling me i must fill out personal data form and send copy of social security card and marriage license.
5. i respond saying, i had to have marriage license to get social security card, are you sure i need that too?
6. determine that form + copy of new ss card will do. i send those in.
7. by the beginning of december, my paychecks and such reflect new name.
8. mid-december, decide i should get vcu purchasing credit card updated wtih new name. email holder of credit cards in purchasing and tell her this needs to be done.
9. she emails me back that she has cancelled the card i am holding. which sucks since i'm in the middle of interview season and holiday party season and am forced to use personal credit card and be reimbursed for about $1200 in expenses. (luckily, i accrue valuable world points with these purchases, so this isn't so terrible).
10. in the meantime, vcu card office moves to my building and thus i decide it's time to get my vcu id card updated with new name as well.

here's where it gets REAL fun. this takes place over a couple of weeks because i do need a break in between all the frustration, plus time for voice mails to be responded to.

11. go to vcu card office. they tell me my name has not been updated in their system. i say, "but when i look in the system, it's changed." they say, "no it's not."
12. go back to office. call hr generalist. she tells me it's an IT issue.
13. call IT. they tell me it's an HR operations issue.
14. call HR operations. they tell me they've taken care of it.
15. go back to vcu card office. they tell me my name has not been updated in their system. i say, "but HR told me they fixed it." they say, "no, they didn't."
16. get HR operations lady on the phone, who tells me the vcu card people don't know what they're talking about. i say, will you be there for 5 minutes, can i go to the card office and have that lady call you and you guys can figure this out. she says she will be there.
17. go downstairs to card office. lady at counter is on the phone yapping. she yaps for 5 min, finally gets off phone. i spend another 5 min explaining that the HR operations lady says it's fixed and can she call her so they can sort it out. she calls HR operations lady. HR operations lady has left the building. super.
18. vcu card lady says there is nothing she can do for me, try again with HR and then come back when they fix it.
19. out of desperation, i search vcu website until i locate name of executive director of human resources for entire university. i email her explaining the problem and begging her for help.
20. going straight to the top pays off! ED of HR tells me that the problem is that because i take classes and have a hospital email account (which is separate from the university, but i need it to access my boss' calendar), i need to also update my information with the registrar and the hospital HR, because those records are overriding the vcu HR name change in the vcu card office system (say wha?!). gives me phone numbers for these people.
21. call registrar's office, am guided to form online. print, fill out, take downstairs with my driver's license and am told name change from student side will take about a week. cool.
22. call hospital HR. ask for form. am told someone will call me back.
23. someone calls me back. says i need to take ID with proof of name change to hospital HR express near cafeteria and there i can fill out the form and they'll make a copy of my id. cool.
24. take driver's license to hospital HR express. stand in line for a few minutes before finding myself face to face with a man who looks like he is a retired marines officer.

25. mr. marine asks me to explain what i want. i do. we have this exchange:

mr. marine: you must have your social security card. i'm not trying to be funny with you.
me: but they told me on the phone to bring my id.
mr. marine: well, i don't make the rules, and i'm not trying to be funny with you. but you have to have your social security card.
me: but i had to have a new social security card to get a new driver's license.
mr. marine: i'm telling you, i'm not trying to be funny with you, but that is the rule. and then you fill out this form and bring it here and that will get it changed in our system.
me: well can i just fax this form and and a copy of my social security card?
mr. marine: well, that will be fine, here's the form. i'm not trying to be funny with you, this is just what they require us to do.

so i walked back to my office, form in hand, and thankfully i still have a copy of my social security card here from the FIRST name change i did, because i don't make a practice of carrying that around. as i was walking back i found myself laughing out loud and trying to control it because i didn't want people to think i had escaped from the psych floor. this has just become the most asinine sequence of steps and if you could have just heard him saying that over and over again, "i'm not trying to be funny with you." no joke, dude. you're trying to be a PAIN IN MY ASS!

now i'll send in that form and see what happens. the really fun and exciting part is that all of this is just to get my ID changed. next i get to deal with various IT people to try to get my email address changed. that is, if i don't lose my mind first.

and i am not trying to be funny with you.

the single life

so this week, bryan has been in roanoke on business and i've been living the life of a single girl. it has been very weird. i can't remember the last time we were apart for this long, probably about 2 years.

i managed to do alright, but i am so glad he's coming home today! tuesday i took my friend leslie out to dinner at a great restaurant i discovered thanks to the newspaper. it's called andre's. it's french-style food (kinda) but the chef is asian. it was EXCELLENT. which reminds me, i was going to bring the leftovers for lunch today... darn. i had a 4 oz. filet mignon and crabcake. yum. it was fun to hang out with leslie, too. she has good stories about her dating life and such. while i'm more than happy i don't have to date anymore, it's still fun to hear those stories. :)

wednesday i had another date with my friend jodie, to watch american idol. i don't know if the judges are more harsh or if i'm more sensitive, but every year i squirm a little more when they insult the bad singers, and even more so for the pretty good but not great ones... the ones that arent' delusional, they just really believe that they're good enough. and then the judges tell them they aren't. i hate that. i can't stand to see peoples' dreams shattered on television. so i'll be glad when it gets past the auditions. jodie and i met in 1995, and she and i have always had so much fun together. when we were younger we were totally crazy, and although we've tamed down tremendously, we still find ourselves doing the goofiest stuff sometimes. this week it involved me, jodie and her daughter jordan acting out our own version of american idol. none of us can sing too well. jordan probably has the best voice of all of us, but that might just be because she's cute. :)

last night it was time for me to get back down to business and get the house all cleaned up for bryan to come home. it's amazing the amount of worn clothes that can accumulate on a bedroom floor in a few short days... :)

now, it's lunchtime, and i am counting the hours down until i see my honey again....

grandma's gonna have my hide if i don't post.

well, i truly have no good excuse for not posting for a month. except i got spoiled and L A Z Y over the holiday break, then once i was back at work i was busy and by the time i got home from work i had no desire to get back in front of a computer and blog. so, i apologize for the lack of updates. i will try to catch you up to speed without writing a book.

our first christmas as husband and wife was very nice. my mom and her fiance came for christmas eve dinner, which i cooked all by myself. :) (still proud of this feat!)
i made, let's see... turkey, mashed potatoes (from scratch!), stuffing of course, green beans, corn, broccoli casserole, gravy, rolls, chocolate chiffon pie and pecan pie. and the day before i baked about 10 dozen more cookies. holy crap i was a cooking MACHINE! i must say that cooking a turkey has got to be the most disgusting thing i've ever experienced in the kitchen (save a few things left in the fridge a little too long in my college days, maybe). i was squealing like someone was attacking me when i was taking out the sh*t inside it (which was in plastic bags). bryan was still upstairs at the time and thought i was in pain. i wasn't--just extremely grossed out! ew! it is a freaking DEAD BODY! and yes, people, i am fully aware that i am eating dead animals when i eat meat. but i do not need to see it's freaking RIB CAGE and STICK MY HAND INSIDE ITS DEAD BODY! gross. now i know why people only cook turkeys on special occasions. i may do this again one day, but no time soon if i can avoid it. gross.

anyway, dinner was great if i do say so myself. we took some pictures by the christmas tree, opened gifts and went to see papa and sandra afterward, and it was a fun time for all.

christmas day was spent at aunt elaine's with all the grammer clan. dinner was great as always and it's always good to see the crew. we then went over to dad and neener's to exchange gifts, then on to grandma's. it was a long day but a great first christmas as a klinger.

which brings me to christmas with the rest of the klingers. we had decided to do this over new year's weekend, as bryan's mom's family was going to be down and since we switch holidays back and forth and had been in PA for thanksgiving. unfortunately, bryan went to work the wednesday after christmas and discovered that one of the units at the power station had caught on fire and the whole station was shut down! so he had to work overnights for a few days and christmas with the klingers was postponed until the following weekend. in spite of it being two weeks after christmas almost, we still had a great time in pennsylvania with the other half of our fam.

new year's eve this year was lots of fun. we had dinner with our friends todd and sarah at an EXCELLENT italian restaurant in shockoe bottom called la grotta. i ate all of my soup (red pepper and crab), all of my entree (lobster and artichoke ravioli) and pretty much all of our dessert (creme caramel with vanilla sauce). yummmmmmmmmmmmmm. i use this restaurant for work functions a lot, so the owner invited us to have limoncellos on her before we left. if you follow celebrity gossip, this is the drink that danny devito claimed he had been pounding the night before he showed up wasted on the view.


then we went to carytown, where a new tradition began for ringing in the new year in richmond. there was a "ball rise" a la times square (it rose instead of dropping so that more people could see it at its pinnacle). i was sort of expecting to go there and wander around and in and out of a few bars. not possible. there were so many people there that it was standing room only! it was really cool to be part of a new richmond tradition, though. hope we'll be back next year (and we'll remember to bring our own champagne!)

since new year's and the next weekend's trip to pennsylvania, we've been doing a lot of relaxing, then last week several of my favorite shows started up again for the new season. 24 and american idol have certainly not disappointed me! bryan even hung out with me to watch a few of the, oh, 8 hours i spent watching fox last week! oh, we were also able to take advantage of the unseasonable weather last weekend and took a nice motorcycle ride that ended at grandma's house and DINNER! :)

this past weekend was the arthritis foundation's crystal ball, their black tie fundraiser. i went as a volunteer and it was great to see such RICH people out supporting my favorite cause! my favorite moment of the night was at the end. i was chatting with a couple i have known through the arthritis foundation for several years. they are the nicest people, and the husband just happens to be the CEO of the company that owns the richmond times-dispatch. so of course whenever i talk to them i'm thinking "holy crap these people are RICH and they're talking to ME!" this time i was just joking around with the husband and said, "you know, i was having an awful time getting my newspaper delivered!" and gave him the short version of my newspaper subscription fiasco which is this: i stopped getting the paper in august. in november i got a charge on my credit card for about $50. i called to see why and they said for your 7-day subscription. i said, i haven't gotten a single newspaper since august! well, mr. CEO says to me, "next time you have a problem, you know who to call!" HA!!!! isn't that hillarious? like i'm just going to call up the freaking CEO of a company that owns many, many newspapers and other media outlets, and say, "hey, marshall, i didn't get my newspaper today, can you do something about it?" i love it! (and won't do it! :) )

yesterday we went to a UVA basketball with my dad and neener. we had the crappiest weather driving up there that we've seen all winter, and there were 8 wrecked cars between richmond and charlottesville. luckily we made it to the game just fine (only about 25 min late), and UVA won! yay! the new arena is absolutely awesome, and it was lots of fun.

unfortunately, when we left charlottesville, bryan went west and the other 3 of us headed back east. :( bryan is in roanoke until friday on business, and i am lost! i can't remember the last time we were apart for 5 whole nights. to make myself feel better, i headed to kroger when we got home yesterday and bought myself the junkiest of junk food to eat while he's gone. they don't call it comfort food for nothin'! :)

alright, it's almost time for prime time tv. there must be something good about to come on to distract me for another hour until jack bauer and the nuclear bomb come on to entertain me.....

toodloo!