Freebirds

Here's Blake and his freebirds burrito. Freebirds is Blake's favorite.

Here, finally. And happy birthday to my husband.

We've made it here... And it just so happens to be Blake's birthday. So, happy birthday to my sweet husband. You mean more to me than you know and I'm happy that we got to celebrate you today. I could say a lot more, but my thumbs are already tired from typing on my tiny iPhone keyboard. Hopefully tomorrow we will have real Internet. We still won't have furniture, but we have each other... And bo. Who needs furniture?
I love you Blake!

How I spent my summer vacation:

Last Monday I took a trip to New York. I took a few days off of work, and planned out every second of my visit. I would fly Virgin America ( it is a pretty cool plane with cool lights, free TV, and instead of attendants coming by once with a cart, you order what you want off of your screen and they bring it to you) into JFK, take a cab into Manhattan, see some friends, visit with some guys out in Queens, walk around the city to enjoy the locals, find some authentic New York cuisine, and then come back to San Francisco and see my lovely wife.

The only hitch was that I had to get all of my stuff out of my apartment in Manhattan, and storage in Queens in the process while selling all the stuff we aren't bringing back with us on Craigslist and then clean or trash what was left. I got in at close to 11PM, decided I wasn't tired, but it was too late to take stuff off the walls of the apartment and went by the Apple store on Fifth Avenue. I got there, talked with some friends ( who generally seemed happy for me and my opportunity with Watermark), listened to them go on about the general craziness and happenings of the night, and then headed home around 2AM.

Since I couldn't sleep, I figured I would watch some tv and fall asleep. No small task, as all I could think of was all that I had to do that next day, and the movers were coming at 8AM! I finally fell asleep around 5AM (thanks to whatever came on CNN headline after Glenn Beck,) only to wake up before my alarm around 7:15 to start finishing getting things ready for the movers.

The movers came just about on time (close to 9AM but the window was between 8 and 10), and were finished moving things out of the storage unit in Queens by 12:30. I sat around the apartment, cleaning and meeting with people to pick up furniture and such. ( A brief word of caution for all you in the Inter-Web-Land, if you post something for craigslist for free DO NOT PUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER.) In the midst of this, I tried to sleep in our circle chair, mostly unsuccessfully, and grabbed a slice from Arturo's Pizza up the street, literally up as there is a decent hill.

I met with our NY pastor that night at Starbucks, did some catching up and then went home to sleep in the circle chair. JR, our pastor in NY, called me a couple minutes later, asked if I needed a place to sleep, and suggested a friend nearby who had an extra bedroom. I had completely forgotten they had space for guests, or I would have called myself. Luckily, they were still awake and welcomed me in for the night. It was great to see them, and I was glad for that little accident.

Went to bed around 11PM (after getting 2 hours the night before and maybe 1 hour between Craigslisters), and woke up at 6:45 to meet someone to purchase the great circle chair I bought in college. I will miss the times we had together. That first car ride to Abilene. That first assembly under my bed that I set up on cinder blocks. That 1st disassembly at the end of the semester to move into the dorm as an RA. All those other moves. And the dirt, who can forget cleaning off the dirt. Man, could that black pillow show dirt.

Anyhow, after that I returned the cable box, oddly enough the the same girl I had received it from in May. I went to the store again for a final goodbye, and to talk to the daytime managers there about how great my summer experience was, and then met a friend for lunch before catching an earlier flight back to see Whitney. She met me at the airport and we went to In-and-Out Burger.

Overall it was a pretty decent trip, but I am glad I only have to move out of New York once. As fun and as hard as it is to live in New York, I am glad I had the opportunity.

Craig's list 2

Here's an update from the last post. We did end up selling our dresser. Awesome. It happened to be to a cute couple that just got married 3 weeks ago. She said that after moving into his apartment, she realized that he didn't have any drawers and it has been driving her crazy. (I can understand that.) Needless to say, she was really excited to get our drawers.
Next up for sale here in CA... our chairs, tv, tv stand, and microwave. I'll wait to list those till next week. I don't want to be in an empty apartment for another week with nowhere to sit, sleep (because we already sold our mattress), put my clothes, entertain myself, or cook. That doesn't sound like much fun at all.
We also have a few things to get rid of in NYC... our air conditioner, armoire, and tv stand (because it is too wide to fit in our new apartment). Blake will get those sold next week when he's in NYC. Speaking of... friends in NYC, Blake will be there late monday night through wednesday afternoon/evening. I'm sure he'd love to see you!

who does this remind you of?

Another Office clip that hits close to home. Who does Jim make you think of?

skwinkles

Blake and I went to Target tonight to get some dog food, and in the checkout lane I saw this for $.52:
Skwinkles SalsaGheti. I "you won'ted" (dared) Blake to eat them. He said "OK." Turns out it was the best 52 cents I've ever spent. Keep reading.
When we got home, I broke out the camera and told him to dig in. I was getting this dare on film. Here's the first taste.Just a little cringe after the first bite.Managing a smile... and describing the taste as "Cherry Twizzlers with Seasoned Salt". Now doesn't that make you want some of your own?
Also included in the package was this package of goo. He decided to be safe and taste the goo before dipping the spaghetti into it. His description of this was, "Rotten Taco Bell hot sauce." He proceeded to dip the spaghetti.
A nice pre eating smile.
... And the aftermath. Yes, it was that bad.
He did however say that this is only the second worst Mexican junk food he has eaten. The first being the Mexican Doritos that we got while on our honeymoon. We couldn't read what the flavor was supposed to be because it wasn't in English, but it could ONLY have said "vomit". There is nothing else we could come up with to describe the taste. BAD. I'm sure all the locals know to steer clear of the things and to just laugh at all the tourists that say... "Green package... must be lime or something like that." So, the Skwinkles... they were close, but will never equal the Mexican Doritos. Never.
Here's the dare... Anyone who is willing to eat your own Skwinkles, tell me. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to purchase a package for you. Rules are, you must have pictures taken to prove you actually ate them. Dare is on.

the office = real life episode 2

Blake and I have enjoyed watching the Olympics this week, and when I saw this clip, it really made me laugh. If you haven't read my philosophy (originating from my mom) on who I live with (Blake and Bo), now might be a good time to catch up on it before you continue reading this post. Click here to go back to it.
Alright, so we are all read up now, huh? Now you are ready to continue with this clip of Dwight. Several times, I've posted about the hotdog (and other toys) that Bo is obsessed with, and while Bo may not go "rabbit hunting" or "hampster hiding" like Dwight talks about, he does go "monkey and hotdog hunting" when we hide his toys in random places around the apartment. He doesn't give up for anything for any reason. You might even say it is the same intensity as Dwight in the clip.


Here's another clip that for some reason seems to hit home. It just so happens to be Olympic related also. When we saw this clip on TV, Blake was picking on Bo at that very moment. I laughed out loud at him.

BUSTED!

Today was laundry day here at home. Normally that wouldn't really be "blog worthy", and it still isn't except I just had to share what I found as I was cleaning out all of the jeans pockets before throwing them in the wash. Here's what I found... 2 wrinkled receipts and 3 starburst wrappers. Looks like someone had some sugar... (blake)... the 7-eleven receipt was for a chocolate donut and a cinnamon roll... mmm, the things you can find out about a person by digging in their pockets. Love you, Blake!And, I've written about this before, but I finally caught a picture. This is Bo digging for his beloved hotdog that I hid under the covers. Check out that tail... straight up in the air. He was moving so fast that most of the pictures I took of him, he was blurry. I finally had to resort to my flash... not something I like to do. Crazy... crazy for sure.

To Blake...

Happy Anniversary, my love! I can't believe it has already been 4 years. I feel so blessed to get to live life with you and I love you more and more as each day passes. Thanks for being an amazing and selfless husband and friend. You are a great example to me and to everyone who gets to know you.
I'm excited about what our future holds... because you and I both know that we never seem to do things the easy way... Why is that? Oh well, I guess we will never get bored.
In honor of you, and my past post about things I love... I'd like to share a few little everyday things that I love about you... with the world... Hope that's ok with you!

I love....

1. that you are sensitive (in a manly sort of way, of course.)
2. that you somehow eat everything I cook... without ever complaining!
3. that you make me laugh... every... single... day...
4. that you get Bo to eat when I can't.
5. that Bo likes you... like a lot.
6. when you give me back rubs.
7. that you put up with me when I'm stressed and do your best to help me realize that... it isn't the end of the world after all.
8. that you care about your friends and family.
9. your shoes... you always have the best ones.
10. you!

I could go on, but you are about to be home, and I am ready to go get some dinner with you.
I love you lots and am looking forward to this year with you!
Whitney