Anne with an "E"

Conversations + Singing

2009-04-07T15:00:00.002-05:00

My co-worker Sharon: What's up for Easter this weekend?

Me: Jesus.

The two of us singing in unison: Up from the grave he arose....

My study made the news!!

2008-12-03T14:52:00.004-05:00

And by "My" I mean me and seven other people. :) Here's the link to an article about it in USA Today. I won't bore you with the actual paper because even I haven't read the whole thing. I tried, really I did.

Pink

2008-10-24T10:56:00.016-05:00

I am obsessed with the color pink right now. That’s not to say that I haven’t always liked and appreciated the color, but I’ve never been one to go out of my way to buy something pink. I don’t want to appear too girlie, ya know?

Now all of that has changed and I don’t know why. I decided recently that I needed a new Nalgene so I went to REI just to pick out some blue-tinted Nalgene bottle but was so blown away by the beauty of this Camelback bottle (in pink of course) that I had to buy it.

I also recenlty changed our Intranets site at work to "Black Cherry." Now instead of a blue and grey scheme, we have sort of a redish-pink, grey/black thing going on. Whenever you scroll over a link it turns pink and this makes me happy. This is what happens when my boss gives me administrative rights to some site or database. I like to change the settings. :) He did get a couple of calls from some peeps at the Fed wondering what had happened, and although I told him I was the culprit, he just told the concerned parties that Intranets must automatically update their settings from time to time. They should just be happy that I did not choose the "Cotten Candy" color scheme.

And then there’s the camera. My camera has been acting up lately so I decided I needed to get a new one. I took one look at a pink Canon camera online and knew I had to have it. But, I went to Target last weekend and they were having a sale on this pink Sony camera, so I bought that one instead. I loved my Canon and it took some lovely pics, but since it did basically die, I decided maybe I should switch things up a bit. So far I’ve taken only a few pics with the Sony and this is what I have to show for it:

Do you think I like these shoes? Don’t worry – I also have them in brown which means I really have 4 pairs. I wear down the heals of shoes so badly that when I find some shoes that I like, I buy multiple pairs of them. Yes I’m crazy, but my shoe trouble is another post for another time. So back to pink.

I had a random camera flashback (haha) last night and remembered that my first camera was pink. I guess my parents started something when they bought me this pink camera back in the day. I found a picture of if online. Check out the “Le Clic” - the hottest camera of 1988.

Oh my gosh, I loved this camera!! I remember I took a lot of pictures of my Legos with this camera. I always knew how to entertain myself. Good times.

Now back to the 21st century. There is one pink item that has been in my life for many, many years and has traveled the world with me and has never let me down. I found it on a sale rack at the Gap on Wilson Blvd (now closed, sadness) for only $9.99. For those of you who see me on a regular basis, you probably know that I am talking about my wonderful pink hooded sweatshirt (dib, dib, dib). I wear it allllll the time! If I ever lose it or spill bleach on it or do something to harm it beyond repair, I will cry and cry and cry and then cry some more. My wardrobe would not be the same without it. So I’d like to give a little shout out on the blog to my favorite item that hangs in my closet (except not so much because I wear it all the time):

You’ve climbed the ceiling with me at our hotel in France:
You’ve participated in wedding rehearsals with me:
You look lovely when paired with a white bow in the hair:
You like to visit state capitals with Liz and I: (who knows what capitol building this is??)
You helped me say goodbye to my little red car:
You still fit when I was looking a little bit chubby on a visit to Switzerland in 2004:
You walked on the moon with me (Craters of the Moon in Idaho, that is):
You served as my pink for the Apple Blossom festival a couple of years ago:
And you like me better with long hair. I do too. Don’t know why I always cut it.
To continue in my quest to fill my life with all things pink, I think my next move will be to buy some booty shorts that say “PINK” on the bum, and pair them with my white sequined tube top and swing by the Drafthouse to watch House Bunny. Anyone want to come with?? :)

Dawn says it is time to update the blog.

2008-10-10T12:37:00.003-05:00

And she is right. I've had lots of posts running through my head but I'm too busy/lazy to update the blog. I almost wrote a post about all the old people on Facebook because it makes me happy and at the same time freaks me out. I've been chatting lately with my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Laster, who is just about the coolest person ever, and at 73, may be the oldest person on Facebook. My uncles (two in their 60's and one is his 50's) have been on Facebook for at least a year and just a few days ago I saw that PK has joined. That was just about too much for me to handle, but I guess he wants to keep an eye on his flock. :)

Let's see, I've also been trying to figure out how I can join the Redskins Marching Band. Right now I think that would be the greatest thing ever.

I saw a promo on TV the other day that said that Ellen would be calling Gladys again. I wasn't home to watch it, but I did go back and watch the funniest TV moment ever on Youtube. Please watch this clip. You will not be sorry. "Listen, I'll be honest with you. I love Jesus but I drink a little. "

Besides working until all hours of the night on bank stuff every few weeks, Liz and I decided to take up soap wrapping again. Our house has been a mess and the soap smell is sometimes too much for me to handle, but the check that Jean Ann wrote me on Sunday will go toward my new camera that I hope to buy in the next couple of weeks. I totally want to get the pink one. Going to Michigan with Kandi in a few weeks so hopefully I'll post some pics from my new pink camera!

Tomorrow I'm going to the Baltimore aquarium and hoping that the boyfriend does not break up with me there. Thinking about the aquarium always brings back memories of a trip I took there in the 8th grade where my boyfriend at the time broke up with me in the rain forest. Not cool. I had to watch him talking to other girls throughout the entire ride back to Winchester. I was even looking super cute that day. I remember I was wearing my favorite green-ish plaid shirt from Gap Kids, because I totally wore clothes from Gap Kids and Limited Too well into high school.

And one final bit of randomness: I like this article about Obama's stinky plane. :)

Check the rhyme

2008-09-08T12:52:00.001-05:00

This is why I love Beth Moore:

Deeper Still - Joyful 2 from on Vimeo.

If you're in the mood for some fun

2008-08-26T13:41:00.002-05:00

Chair Bair's press conference is on in 15 minutes!

It's because we don't want your autograph, Mr. Spitz.

2008-08-11T14:41:00.003-05:00

Just saw this headline on the front page of yahoo.com and I had to laugh. I went to a conference one time where Mark Spitz was the keynote speaker and he basically talked about himself and his opinion on the Iraq war the entire time and I sat at my table and gave him the evil eye because he was annoying me. Later in the evening, Mr. Spitz was signing autographs and the friend I was with wanted to get one. So he got in line and I stood off to the side and continued to give Mark Spitz the evil eye. A minute or two goes by and Mr. Spitz looks over at me and says "Don't be shy. Come up here and get an autograph" and I said very bluntly "I don't want your autograph" and then he said "Wait! You're that girl from table 23 who kept giving me the evil eye during my speech!" and I said "Yes, that was me."

Ok - so that last line about the evil eye didn't happen and I may or may not have been sitting at table 23, but if it had gone down that way, that would have been funny. Mark Spitz actually just looked at me like he must not have heard what I said, and I just stayed planted in my spot until my friend got the autograph.

On another note, I've spent the entire day whining to my boss Alan that I'm way too busy and how am I going to get everything done this week and stop sending me emails and bleh, bleh, bleh. Then on my way up to the cafeteria, I run into one of the women quoted in this article on Drudge. I thought it was pretty funny because I'd just read the article earlier that day. We exchange some small talk and then I go on my merry way. Three hours later, the big boss (Alan's boss) comes into my office saying he got a call from said women who this very day was quoted in an article linked on Drudge, and she would like some of my time. Ahh!!! Thankfully big boss was smart enough to say "not this week" but gosh!! Will the busyness ever end???

And yes, I would like some cheese with my whine.

Nostalgia

2008-08-05T14:29:00.003-05:00

Before I had this blog, I had another blog over at livejournal.com. A couple of weeks ago I found the old blog and had quite a laugh reading my old posts. I thought I'd share a few (or maybe just one) with you all since most of my current readers did not read the old blog.

This post was written on September 29th, 2005. I was a wee lass of just 26. I think Paige tagged me to do this one. I've added some commentary in red to see how the responses have changed.

Title: Fun things to do while on a conference call:

Three Names You Go By
1. Anne (yep)
2. Annie Beepers (yep)
3. beeps (sometimes)

Three Parts of Your Heritage
1. English (yep)
2. English (yep)
3. More English (yep)

Three Things That Scare You
1. Sushi (eh - kinda)
2. Relationships (Not so much. But marriage? That's another story)
3. Elephants (Of course. Just try to get me to come outside when the elephants go by at Apple Blossom - not gonna happen.)

Three of Your Everyday Essentials
1. Cornflakes (http://members.aol.com/EllenRigbe/flake.html) (oh yes!)
2. Chap stick (now it's Burt's. And I can survive a whole day without it!)
3. Brownie mix (everyday?? well, on average only every 5th day)

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Red shirt (green shirt)
2. Dark Grey pants (black pants)
3. watch (no watch, but now earrings)

Three of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists (at the moment)
1. Liza Minnelli (now and forever my favorite) (eh - I'm in an off-Liza season right now.)
2. Dave Crowder (hmm...how about Mutemath?)
3. Elton John (digging JET at the moment.)

Three Things You Want in a Relationship (other than Real Love)
1. Humor (one half smart/clever, one half silly) (yep)
2. Bi-weekly watching of musicals (DVDs or live on stage) (I'm doing ok without this actually)
3. Inside jokes (yep)

Two Truths and a Lie (I'm confused because all three of these were true back in 2005. Oh well!)
1. I’m related to George Bush (and about 20 other presidents)
2. I have never eaten at Taco Bell (had my first Taco Bell experience about 6 months ago and I rather enjoyed it!)
3. I have a mad crush on Snoop Dogg (it's probably still there somewhere deep inside.)

Things about the Opposite Sex that Appeal to You (in order)
1. Smile (yep, along with a love for Arrested Development)
2. Jesus like-ness (yep, especially when you add to that a love for Arrested Development)
3. Hottness (always nice, but a person becomes much hotter in my eyes when they love Arrested Development)

Three of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. Tap dancing/fantasizing about tap dancing on Broadway (Pilates - tap teacher moved away)
2. Watching old movies (watching any movies)
3. Going to the Library (taking walks)

Three Things You want to do really badly right now
1. Make out (should the right guy come along.) (I will forever want to do this.)
2. Buy a BMW (Over it.)
3. Go to Ann Taylor loft (I do have a coupon...)

Three Places You Want to Go
1. Greece (yep)
2. Africa (yep)
3. Florida (been there -now maybe the Great Wall of China?)

Three Things You Want to Do Before You Die
1. Have a husband and kids (yep)
2. Visit all 50 states and all 7 continents (I'll do the 50 but not so sure about the continents)
3. tell tons of people how great Jesus is (yep)

Three Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick/Guy
1. I want to have babies (not as sure about the babies but I told my SG a couple of weeks ago that I felt ready to look cool pushing around a stroller.)
2. I like to buy clothes (yep)
3. I say too much before I get to the point (most definitely still true.)

Three people I would like to see take this quiz
1. Paige (except she already did) (Rachel)
2. Dawn (Michael)
3. Alan (Christine)

Well there you have it. It seems like not a lot has changed, but then again, so much has changed!! I'll have to re-post this in 2011 and see what's going on in my life when I'm 32!

This is what happens when you take the map off your wall.*

2008-08-05T11:51:00.003-05:00

I tried to look up where a bank was located and when the results came up, I stared at the letters "NE" for a good 60 seconds trying to figure out what they meant. My brain kept telling me "New England is not a state!" I was seriously about to report an issue in our issues database explaining that the "State" field should only return results for real, live states (because "New England is not a state!") but then the words "Cornhusker" and "Osborne" popped into my head and it was all better.

*I took the map off the wall in my office so I could teach Emma to do a headstand after she made the following statement about what she wanted out of life: "Not a husband, just a headstand."

The Best Feeling

2008-08-05T10:59:00.003-05:00

Driving away from the reception site as fast as you want because your car is filled with empty cake boxes. Congrats Seth and Lyndsay!!

I'm a bad blogger

2008-07-18T17:18:00.002-05:00

Like you haven't noticed. I've been meaning to blog about the awesomeness that was Martin and Jesse's wedding a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh. Wedding at the Phipps Conservatory, reception at the PPG aquarium (now I understand why my friends Laura and Eben are obsessed with the octopus), caricature artist on hand at the reception (don't ask to look at his drawing of Mike and I - we look about 50!), and some of the best wedding reception dance music I've experienced.

I've been meaning to blog about all the fun that is going on at work. The conference I went to with Bernanke, Paulson and Chair Bair, the great line that came out of that conference "your home is not an ATM," the fun we've been having with IndyMac and the fun that is to come in the future, the lunch today with my coworkers where Sharon and Ed spent the entire car ride to Ben's Chili Bowl shouting expletives at the other drivers on the road, and then when it's time to eat, they both are staring at me and Ed says "Aren't you going to ask the Lord to bless our food??" Crazies.

I've been meaning to blog about my 349 note streak on Guitar Hero the other night. And this was not on the easy level - this was on medium!

I've been meaning to blog about the great stuff I've been reading lately. This article on John McCain was super interesting. He wrote it after he returned from his captivity in North Vietnam. And this article from today's Washington Post. Read it if you're wondering who Obama's greatest admirer is. Made me chuckle.

And finally, I've been meaning to blog about these ladies from America's Got Talent. I've watched them soo many times I can't even tell you!

Have I mentioned that I love my coworkers?

2008-07-02T09:58:00.003-05:00

Well if I haven't, I do. Only Mark could pull off the great thing that happened today in the PDD meeting. Agenda item 3 looked like this:

3. Quarterly Financial Data

Call Reportz – all bankz – This is the schnizzle.
Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Past Due loanz.
UBPR all bankz.
UBPR single bank, fo sho.

Call Reports are the schnizzle, by the way.

Girl breaks nose while watching Full House

2008-06-24T11:26:00.004-05:00

Most of you readers know exactly what the title of this post is referring to, but for those of you who don't, it's time that I fill you in on my unfortunate nose breaking incident of 1995. This moment in my life has come up many times in the last several months, so it may as well be out there for the world to read about on the interweb.

Obviously you all know I love to dance. And a lot of you know that I spent a great deal of my childhood and teen years watching musicals and memorizing the dances. Then I would perform them for my sister and her boyfriends. One boyfriend at a time, of course. Don't go getting the wrong idea about my sister.

Anyway, I loved the show Full House and there happens to be an episode all about Stephanie and her dreams of becoming a dancer. The final scene is Stephanie's dance recital where she dances to the song "Motown Philly" (loved this song, btw). One afternoon (I'm pretty sure it was a Wednesday - why do I remember that?) I'm at home watching TV and this episode of Full House comes on. Of course I jump up off the couch and start dancing along with Stephanie and her "advanced modern" class. :) At some point (probably during the line "kickin' it just for you...") I kick my leg up while simultaneously flinging my head down. And this is when my knee slams into the bottom of my nose and Ahhhh!!! I can still hear the crack. So much pain!!! Ever since that day I've had a deviated septum which I affectionately refer to as my blood clot, because that's what it looks like to me. Don't ask.

Flash forward to today and me sitting at my desk eating lunch and trying to think of something on the Internet that might entertain me. Then it hit me - "I wonder if Stephanie Tanner's dance recital is on Youtube?" And guess what?? It is!!

There are actually quite a few people who are obsessed with the dance stylings of Stephanie Tanner which was a pleasant surprise! Unfortunately, I was only able to find one video that shows the entire "Motown Philly" dance routine and it's not the greatest (the sound is off from the picture) but it will have to do. So here you have it. My life and my nose will never be the same because of this moment in television history.

One more thing - Rachel and I just signed up for an intro to modern dance class! Watch out Stephanie!

Home again home again jiggity jig

2008-06-02T13:25:00.003-05:00

Just got back from Idaho and Oregon. The trip was fun but it totally wore me out! I told Liz I was giving up the whole 50 by 30 thing and not going to Hawaii. Seriously. Long plane rides are no fun and 49 states is plenty!!

Whenever I get back from a trip I put a pin in each of the states I’ve visited on the map on the wall in my office. I started to put the ID and OR pins in today, but then I realized I’m moving to a new office next week. I’ve messed up many an FDIC wall over the years with my pin holes, so I decided I’d wait and leave my old office wall with two fewer holes in it.

I was informed by an 11 year old that I need to be more organized so hopefully this move will help. One of the girls I sit for must have come to work with her mom sometime last week because when I got into the office this morning, my computer looked like this:

There were about 10 more post-it notes on my desk (on top of all the piles which I'm not posting a picture of) and one note that said: "I hope you move into your new office soon and love it. Don't forget to organize!!!! :) Love, Maddy."

I will try my best. :)

MTM and Comp Time

2008-05-20T15:19:00.002-05:00

How much do I love Kandi right now? You’ll find out when I tell you about my day yesterday.

7:45-3:00: BORING!!

3:01: Kandi sends text: “Oprah today is the cast of Mary Tyler Moore.”

3:16: Something in me tells me to check my cell for messages. See text from Kandi. Sad because I am not home to see MTM.

3:18: Realize I have comp time left over from my training course. Visit wmata.com to check bus schedule. Bus leaves Rosslyn at 3:45. Perfect!

3:20: Tell Alan I am rollin out. Submit leave request and pack up junk.

3:23: Walking out of FDIC.

3:30: On platform at Farragut West. Train arriving in two minutes.

3:38: Climbing the fourth longest escalator in the world (I made that up) at Rosslyn.

3:39: Out of breath and riding the rest of the way up.

3:40: Bus waiting outside of station.

3:45: Bus leaves Rosslyn with me on it.

3:57: Sitting in front of TV waiting for Oprah and MTM.

4:00: Oh Happy Day!!

4:59: Off to grocery store to buy brownie mix. What better way to wrap up an hour with the cast of the MTM show!

I think I’ll never blog again.

2008-05-16T10:02:00.004-05:00

Well not really – I just haven’t been in the typing mood lately. I’ve had lots of fun things going on and I’ve written some funny posts in my head, but up until now, I haven’t been able to find the time to sit down and update this darn blog.

So let’s see – what’s happened in the last month?

1. A couple of weekends ago I kid-sat for my coworkers 3 girls. We’ve had many a crazy weekend together over the years, and this one was by far the best. I think age is a great thing! They don’t whine nearly as much. We made it to every event basically on time - soccer practice (Jilly), soccer game (Maddy was the MVP!), crew practice (Becca), crew regatta (Becca), girl scouts (Maddy), slumber party (Becca) choir practice (Jilly), church (M&J) and softball game (M&J). And somewhere in the middle of all that I was able to take a shower and walk the dog. We had a little downtime on Saturday afternoon so I put two of the girls to work washing my car. That’s what any good sitter would do, right?

My car has made its blog debut! Maddy was very excited about the new car. When she saw it she yelled out “no more cranky windows!” (they were fascinated by the manual windows on my old car because they had never seen them before).

2. My friends Eboni and Anthony celebrated their one year anniversary last week, and they reported back that their wedding cake was mighty tasty after spending a year in the freezer. Actually, Eboni told me that Anthony was not at all happy when he found out they were having old wedding cake for dessert, but after they’d each had a piece and Eboni was about to throw the rest away, Anthony said “What you doin, woman? I want to eat more of that cake!”

3. I think my coworker JJ might actually be human and not a robot. In our staff meeting this week he ate some M&M’s. Trust me, this is a big deal!

4. I’ve had many funny interactions with my coworkers lately. The first is with Ed:

Ed: Have you updated the database with the latest failure?

Me: No. I’ll get it done by Friday.

Ed: Well, I don’t really care. Who uses this data anyway?

Me: Your Mom.

Ed: Oh right - she was really mad that you didn’t have the database updated for Mother’s Day.

And this one with my boss Alan:

Me: You rejected me!

Alan: Hahaha…you should’ve seen it coming!

Me: I like to hope…

Alan: It’s hopeless.

And conversations with Emma always make for a good time (English is her second language). We love to keep track of Emma-isms around here.

Me: I think I look fat in that picture.

Emma (completely serious): No, I think your computer has fat resolution.

Me (cracking up): Uh…what??

Emma: It’s true!! Some computers have fat resolution and some have long skinny resolution! Fat resolution is common one!

5. I’ve listened to Weezer’s new song The Greatest Man That Ever Lived about 19 times this morning. If I wrote a song, I’d want it to be just like this – a little mix of hymn, rap, rock, alternative, and spoken word. And then I'd want the Liza of 1974 (when her voice was awesome) to sing it.

6. I’ve had a really good time with my banks this quarter, but I’ve obviously made it very clear to all of the section chiefs in our division that I do not want to do any extra work related to banks and their call reports. This email went out from another Ed (the call report chief) this morning and it made me happy, even though it probably makes me look like a slacker:

“I would expect that there will be sufficient downtime during the conference for you to be able to check messages and respond to urgent matters during the week so that nothing falls through the cracks. If you REALLY need someone to call a banker back and handle something for you, you can call Anne and ask her to follow-up for you. Please do NOT leave Anne’s name or number on your voicemail message.”

Yeah – that’s about it for now. Check ya later!

I kid you not.

2008-04-14T22:47:00.002-05:00

Tambourine girl (Neko Case) for the New Pornographer's was sick tonight and did not perform at the concert! I think I've mentioned before that one of my life goals is to be tambourine girl for the NP's. It was like a sign from God that I should go up on the stage and fill in for her. Unfortunately, I'm all talk and I just stood in the crowd fake playing my fake tambourine.

Since Neko wasn't there, they didn't sing a lot of my fav songs ("Go Places", "Myriad Harbor", "Mutiny, I Promise You") but they did sing "Challengers" which just about killed me. I love that song, and lately I haven't been able to move past that song on my NP's CD. Best line: "Whatever the mess you are, you're mine, okay." (Thanks Rachel for pointing that one out to me!)

Here it is:

The Dawn and Dave Wedding

2008-04-08T21:09:00.005-05:00

I've promised some of you that I'd post pics from Dawn and Dave's wedding and here they are. The wedding was great, btw. Best part - D and D's first dance. They danced to "For Me and My Gal" sung by the one and only Mary Lou (Dawn's Mom) with many of the guests singing along. You know I was singing because hello - Judy Garland!! Love this song! Unfortunately, I was in the process of changing my camera setting from pic to video and missed the first 20 seconds of the dance, so hopefully Dawn has video of the whole thing somewhere.

Here's D and D with the flower girls (super cute, except for the fact that Helen, the older one, told me "TO DIE!")

And here's the Edison Girls v1.2: Liz, Kate, Dawn, Courtney and Anne. Man did we have some good times. The Edison House was (and still is) famous. I'll blog about it some day when I'm feeling nostalgic. Anybody up for some red fabric on the ceiling?

Music Makes Me Happy :)

2008-04-08T16:51:00.011-05:00

Ok - I couldn't pass up Rachel's soundtrack meme so I decided to do it for myself.

Here’s how it works:

1. open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that’s playing
5. new question — press the next button
6. don’t lie

Unfortunately, I have to admit to having one song in my shuffle that I really did not want to include in this list. But I've got to follow the rules, so here goes. I also decided to add my favorite line from each song because it's often one line that pulls me in!

Opening Credits: "Sweetest Thing" - U2. This song makes me happy (it's in my top 5 love songs list). I know Rachel will be happy to see this as part of the soundtrack. Best line - "I wanted to run but she made me crawl."

Waking up: "Oh God Where Are You now? (In Pickerel Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?)" - David Crowder. Appropriate. Calling on God first thing in the morning. Good idea. :) Don't really have a fav line from this song - it's more of a song I'd listen to for the instrumentation.

First Day of School: "Tell Him" - Lauryn Hill. I could try for a random first day of school connection but I don't really want to. Best lines - "Let me be patient, let me be kind. Make me unselfish without being blind. Though I may suffer I'll envy it not and endure what comes cause he's all that I got and tell him..."

Falling in Love: "Open Up" - Dispatch. First of all - you all need to download some Dispatch songs because they rock. It just so happens that a song by Dispatch is #1 on my top love songs list (it's called "Out Loud"), but I can't imagine anything about the song "Open Up" relating to falling in love since the song's about someone on death row who's about to die. Oh well. Fav line: "I said relax man get off my back. I said relax man get off my back." Yeah - I love that they say it twice.

Breaking up: "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." - Sufjan Stevens. Ok - you all are going to start to wonder about my music choices. This song happens to be about a serial killer. I guess I'd break up with him too if I knew his true nature. Actually - I have a thing for guys who I briefly suspect (but then later confirm are not) serial killers. Best line - "in my best behavior I am really just like him."

Prom: "Entering Bootytown" - from the Music and Lyrics soundtrack. I kid you not I had no idea this song was in my library. I admit that I did download the entire soundtrack so I should have known, but I have never listened to this song. I'm happy it found its way into the "Prom" category though!

Life’s okay: "Dreamworld" - Rilo Kiley. I tend to do a lot of dreaming when life's just ok, so this is pretty appropriate. Best line - "You exist, when you're living in a dreamworld."

Breakdown: "I Will Glory In My Redeemer" - Sovereign Grace Worship. Oh yes I will. Fav line - "I'm satisfied in Him alone."

Driving: "Good Things" - BoDeans. I drove to this song this weekend. Takes me back to high school days. Best line - "And I say no, no, no, don't pass me over, no, no, no, don't pass me by. See I can see good things for you and I. "

Flashback: "When Your Mind's Made Up" - Once soundtrack. Flashback to last summer when I was obsessed with this movie and flash forward to next month when I'll hear this song live in concert. Best line - "So, if you ever want something then you call, call, then I'll come running."

Getting back together: "Please" - U2. Please take me back!! The title could work for this scenario, but the lyrics - not so much. I think Bono is completely done with whoever he's singing to here. Best line - "So you never knew love until you crossed the line of grace."

Wedding: "Out Loud" - Dispatch. Made the list without even trying! Will definitely play this song at my wedding (reception that is). Fav lines - "and if you were walking and heard the cold night coming would you call my name 'cause you know I'd come running... if you'd call my name out loud."

Birth of child: "My Minnesota Home" - from A Prairie Home Companion soundtrack. Maybe if the kid was born in Minnesota? Don't really have a favorite line, but I love that Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin are singing!

Final Battle: "The Way You Do The Things You Do" -The Temptations. Looks like I will be winning the final battle. Downloaded this one for Dawn and Dave's wedding soundtrack. Had to look up the lyrics but I think my fav line is "The way you swept me off my feet, you know, you could've been a broom." That's deep.

Death Scene: "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings" - Barenaked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan. Best Christmas carol arrangement out there. I put it on repeat for most of the Christmas season. Love every minute of the entire song! I'd be ok with dying while listening to this although I'd always envisioned dying with Bolero playing in the background.

End Credits: "Material Girl" - Madonna. Guess that sums it up. I like stuff! (yeah - not really, but it's a fun song.) I might not be too much into stuff but I do know that "the boy with the cold hard cash is always Mr. Right."

Awesomeness on the Internet

2008-04-01T21:24:00.002-05:00

Can be found at Stuff Christians Like.

My favorites are:

#34 - Subtly finding out if you drink beer too.

#47 - Rooting for secret Christians on American Idol.

#95 - Fearing God will send you to Guam.

#105 - Wishing your testimony was more exciting.

#106 - The side hug

Another Edison Girl walks the aisle

2008-03-27T06:10:00.001-05:00

Dawn is getting married this weekend! Huzzah! Here's the rockstar bride with her Diva bridesmaids.

We're off to NY for the wedding. Oh - and I am alive. Just forgot about the blog a little bit. As my brother would say "I blog your pardon." :)

The fun has already begun.

2008-03-06T09:46:00.004-05:00

My birthday is tomorrow, but most of my coworkers seem to think it is today. Fine by me. Two days of fun. :)

When I came into my office this morning, I saw a card on my desk that said “Ann.” Crap. It had to be from someone who knows me well enough to know it’s my birthday, but who doesn’t know me well enough to have heard me complain about receiving emails cards, diplomas… that say “Ann.” Turns out the card was from Sharon who I love to death so I didn’t mention the name spelling thing, because I have already offended her too many times in our years of working together (but she still loves me) so I decided to just forgive her and be happy and thankful for the card.

Emma (aka “Emma-lu”, “Lulu”, “E-Lu” “E” “E.R.” and probably some other names I’ve called her that I can’t think of right now) got me a two month Netflix trial subscription. Holla! The first movie on my list will be The Sterile Cuckoo with the one and only Miss Liza Minnelli. No library or video store in the area carries this movie and I have been desperate to see it for years!

Mike (aka "McPhurse" – all of my coworkers are given nicknames) stopped by to wish me happy birthday and when he came around the corner he kind of popped into my doorway and clicked his heals together and struck a little pose because that’s what I always do when I show up in his doorway to ask a question. Then he said “So… Happy Birthday!” because according to him I start every question with “So.” And I probably do.

Tonight I’ll be enjoying some fried chicken at Flavors Soul Food, tomorrow the coworkers are taking me to lunch at Bangkok 54, then it’s off to the Continental Modern Pool Lounge for a few rounds of rotation if I can convince the friends to play the best billiards game evah! Good times.

Complete and utter randomness

2008-02-28T12:52:00.003-05:00

In an effort to post something other than youtube videos, here are a few random moments of fun from my week:

I got into the training program I’d applied for which will eventually allow me to travel for work. I will be rollin into a city near you to shut yo bank down. Yeah, yeah! Read about it in this article on CNN.com.

Spending half of my Pilates class discussing the Alvin Ailey performance with my super cool Aerobix Inc teacher. She is obsessed too. I think the rest of the class was wishing we’d shut it.

Dreaming about guitar hero and seriously thinking of buying some type of game console to play it on. But then discovering that those things are freakin expensive!

Finding out from Rachel that Glen and Marketa (of Once fame) will be doing a show in Baltimore in May. If she emails me next week to tell me Band of Horses is coming to town I might just flip out.

Wishing my sister a happy birthday on the blog, although I did remember to call her this morning. Happy Birthday, sister freak!

Falling Slowly

2008-02-25T20:47:00.002-05:00

My song won as Oscar last night! Thank goodness I turned the TV on when I did, because I had completely forgotten how obsessed I was with the Once soundtrack (and espcially the song "Falling Slowly") last summer. Go rent this movie if you haven't seen it. The music is awesome!

Last night's Oscar performance:

"When Your Mind's Made Up" (another great song)

Alvin Ailey - You rocka my soul!

2008-02-22T12:35:00.006-05:00

Oh my goodness! Rachel, Gina and I went to see Alvin Ailey last night at the Kennedy Center. The show just kills me everytime (well, I've only seen it twice!) but it is soo good!! I told Gina last night that the Alvin Ailey performance is by far my favorite show/musical/theater/dance type of performance I've ever seen. Liza who??? I know! When Rachel and I went last year to see it I literally wanted to stay at the KC for the rest of my life and watch the whole thing over and over again. Here is a clip from "Revelations." It's random highlights of the performance and the quality is not so great, but it includes one of my favorites (Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham... how many times did that phrase go through my head last night while I was trying to fall asleep!) and one of Rachel's favorites (Fix Me Jesus).

A tribute to the men in my life

2008-02-14T22:47:00.005-05:00

My dad is a man of few words. Now, he’ll bust out a scene from an old Three Stooges skit at the drop of a hat (and you wonder where I get it from?) but as far as actual conversation, he just doesn’t say much. But I have to give him cred for staying on top of the latest slang. This can be evidenced in the Valentine’s day card he sent me.

It’s kind of blurry, but notice the bottom left corner. He just says “word.” He cracks me up. I started saying “word” sometime back who the heck knows when, and my Dad has stuck with it all these years. And I must admit that I still say it a lot too – especially when I talk to him. Sometimes when he’s feeling especially talkative he’ll pull out the “word to Big bird.” Classic!

My uncle on the other hand loves to talk and write and just communicate any and all the time. He gets upset because I don’t call him or email him enough. The following was written at the bottom of the letter I received from my uncle yesterday:

In case you can’t read it, it says “By the way, I am your Uncle. Older brother of your mother. We hiked on the A.T. (Appalachian Trail). Oh yes, I used to write you every week when you were in college.

Yes, it true – he sent me a letter every week while I was in college. And at the end of my four years, he compiled them all in a book called “Letters to Anne.” Pretty great. Yet I still hardly ever email. But I know I can count on the uncle to write and the Dad to make me bust out laughing super hard with just one "word." I hoping this year to get him to start saying "fo shizzle."

Today I called my boss a loser.

2008-02-12T19:08:00.000-05:00

Actually I called Alan a loser because he was blocking the printer and I needed to get my very important docs for a meeting so I said “step aside, loser.” But then he reminded me that about 3 weeks ago, he became the chief of the data strategy section and is now my boss and he will be in charge of my next performance review. He followed that up by saying “Who’s the big fat loser now, huh?”

Me, me, me :)

We are super mature here in my office.

Come on Baby Light My Fire...

2008-02-11T21:41:00.000-05:00

was the song my dentist serenaded me with today. Last time it was "You are so beautiful, to me..." Freaks me out, but makes me laugh at the same time. He plays this oldies/easy listening station in his office and he sings along with the songs the whole time while he is working on your teeth. I appreciated it at my first few visits because I am a song singer alonger type of person and I always like when people feel comfortable just being themselves. I would totally sing along too, but he's poking at my gums until they bleed and that doesn't make for the best singing circumstances. So I just sit there and try not to choke when I force myself to hold back the laughter. Anyway, it's gotten wierd the last two times because the songs have been all love-ish and I kind of expect him to stop singing because Wierd! But he doesn't. And it doesn't seem to bother him one bit. At least when he's not singing he talks a lot about his wife and kids so I'm pretty sure he's a solid guy. So I think I'm ok with it. Just hoping "Unchained Melody" doesn't start playing during my next visit.

This Exhibit is Free!

2008-01-23T17:27:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I went with a friend to the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Corcoran. Kinda liked it. He really has some great photos, but of course my thought through most of the exhibit was “how many not so great pics did he have to take to get this one good one?” cause you know I always stay on the happy side of life. Anyway, looking at Ansel’s photos got me thinking about how I like to take pictures and I seem to remember a few decent pics coming out of my very professional/high tech/the envy of any good photographer, Canon Powershot. So I thought I’d post a few of my favorites for you all to enjoy. Let me know which ones you like the best!

I named this one “Typical Thanh.” This is a pic of Thanh at the Gorges du Verdon on our European road trip in 2005. I have never abruptly pulled over so many times during a road trip in my life! I only kicked the back of Thanh's seat about 18 times, but in the end, we sure did get some great pics!

I call this one "YS Falls, Jamaica." No clever name here. It's just super pretty, ands lush and I love JA!

Let's call this one “Cow Lick.” This is a beautiful cow that became Liz’s friend when we went out cow feeding on our trip to Montana. The sad thing is that this cow is quite possibly no longer with us since the ranch we visited ships their cows off to the slaughter house so we can all enjoy burgers at Five Guys. Thanks cow!

I call this "Foreshadow." Two escorts that look eerily like mine and Liz's side by side in a used car lot in Florida. It's like God was telling us "It's time to sell your cars. And I love you." And we both did. And He does.

Horses always make for a great pic. Just ask the Pioneer Woman! I can't think of a good name for this one and I don't feel like waiting any longer to publish this post.

This one is called "What every young Christian girl needs to know." Rachel knows what's up! Look pretty (a white bow in the hair is a nice touch) and keep your man fed and you'll be set for life.

We'll call this "Farm Family” This is the Dad, bro, and sis working on the farm. My favorite part of this pic is how the fam is framed by the tree and the shed and I love the tractor wheel peakin out from behind. Good pics are easy to come by when you’re out on the farm.

I call this one “David’s Arse.” I’ve been spending too much time with Britney lately so I’ve picked up the British accent. I’ve determined that some amount of nakedness is required in every artist’s/photographer’s portfolio so here is my stab at it. Not sure what I was thinking when I took this pic, but I’m proud to say that I think I have an eye for a good rear end when I see one. I hope my mom never reads this blog.

"Me on Tractor." Bet you didn't know this was me sitting behind the wheel of the tractor. Haha. The title is the key to this photo. Deep stuff.

"Are you my Mother?" This is the Geico Gecko in front of Balanced Rock at Arches National Park in Utah. The resemblance between the man-made bobblehead and God-made bobblehead is uncanny!

I call this "Save the Outhouse (phase II)." Like the use of the Roman numeral? Another farm pic. This is definitely one of my favorites. I love the corn in the background, the sky, the work that’s taking place. This is from our family work on the farm weekend that may or may not have had something to do with an outhouse, hence the title.

“Where’s Lance?” He was in the pack somewhere. I like this pic because the viewer has no idea how fast the bikers are really going. I almost lost a couple of toes when the zoomed by! This is from the Tour de France in 2005. Notice the angle I got on those biker dudes. Yeah, my favorite side. I need to stop talking.

Let's call this “Switzerland, God loves you!” because he made you look like this. Another moment where Thanh pulled us over on some windy road and we came away with this.

And finally, I call this “What’s Up, George?” because George is up there and I’m down here. This is George’s face on Mt Rushmore taken from underneath a rock on the trail that goes around the monument.

That's it! Hope you had fun!

Best of 2007 (Finally!)

2008-01-18T15:19:00.000-05:00

And in no particular order.

Sufjan Stevens. Rachel introduced me to Sufjan in the summer of 2006, but Suf has made the 2007 list because I’ve listened to him and loved him (he’s currently my musician crush – sorry Chris Tomlin!) for the entire year. Rachel, Kandi and I even loved him enough to stand out in the early morning February cold at 5am at the Kennedy Center to try to get free tickets to his concert. There were about 20 people in front of us when they handed out the last ticket. Boo! Maybe 2008 will be the year I see Suf in concert? My fav songs are Casimir Pulaski Day, Come On! Feel The Illinoise! (I’ve choreographed a great marching band field show to this song) and To Be Alone with You.

Here’s a little Suf (singing Casimir Pulaski Day) for you all to enjoy:

The NP’s. I can’t write out their name because I just can’t, but I love their music! One of my goals is to be tambourine girl for the NP’s. Fav songs right now are Myriad Harbor, Go Places and All the Old Showstoppers.

Here they are singing All the Old Showstoppers:

John Piper and his stinkin Future Grace! I lost my salvation at least two times while reading this book! But we’re back on track. And as much as Piper drove me crazy with repeating the phrase “faith in future grace” at least 37,000 times, I did take a lot away from the book. His chapters on future grace verses “whatever sin” were all very practical and helpful with reminders that God give us the grace each day to trust Him and His promises rather than give in to the promise of sin.

Dawn’s suggestion for bridesmaid dresses. Dawn is awesome. Just look at the dress and you’ll see why. Don’t worry – we went with something else.

The Pioneer Woman. By far my favorite blog this year. I am addicted to her “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels” story of how she and her husband met.

AAA guys – sometimes nice, sometimes creepy, but always helpful. It was such a relief to see the AAA guy show up in Hyannis this summer that I told him I loved him. And when Rachel locked her keys in her car in Williamsburg she called AAA and within 23 seconds we saw a AAA car coming down the street. We all flipped out (talk about service!) but it turns out that he was off to help someone else around the corner. Still got to us in about 20 minutes and then tried to pick up Lyndsay (there’s the creepy), the one gal in the group who actually has a boyfriend!

Liza. Duh. Did you think she wouldn’t make the list? 2007 was definitely the year o’ Liza! I saw her in concert for gosh sakes! Best concert ever and she didn’t even fall off the stage. Here’s a favorite Liza number for your viewing pleasure:

Beth Moore – My small group finished the Tabernacle study (aka “A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling place) in 2007 and it was a blast. Of course my brain retains only about 1.2% of what I read, so I don’t remember a whole lot about it, but I can draw a mean rendition of the tabernacle down to the cubit. Seeing Beth Moore at the Women of Faith conference was a highlight of my year and my obsession with her blog is another reason why she made the list. And I love that Jill and I talk about Beth, Amanda and Melissa like they’re our bff’s.

The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup shirt. It was most def the shirt of the year for me and only cost like $7 at Walmart. I wore it all the time this summer! It looks especially nice paired with a white sequined tube top worn as a mini skirt but no one except Rachel, Lyndsay and Kandi will ever see that.

Burt’s Bees. I (with the Lord’s help of course) kicked my Chap Stick addiction this year. I was then introduced to Burt’s Bees (I think by Rachel, which would make since because she’s introduced me to just about everything else that has been wonderful in my life this year!) and it has been great. When I apply it to my lips (maybe once a day) it doesn’t cause them to feel even more dry 7 minutes later. Unfortunately, I did not inform Jimmy that this chain in my life was broken, and he bought me a 20 pack of Chap Stick for Christmas. I haven’t decided what to do with it yet, but I kind of want to burn it because I certainly don’t want to give it to someone else and perhaps cause them to fall into the pit of Chap Stick addiction that I was in for so many years!

Travel. This year was chock full of trips! There was WV girls weekend with Lynds, Rachel and Kandi, the SC/GA/FL trip with my mom, the New England road trip with Liz, the CO/WY/MT/ND/SD trip with Liz, Traci (and a visit to see Danica), the Jamaica trip with Liz, Katy and Paige, and the ladies trip to NY with Dawn and all her lady peeps. Here’s a pic from the NY trip since I don’t think I’ve posted any of those before:

Quiznos (the restaurant) and Quizno (the boyfriend). I’ve been to Quiznos a lot this year. It all started when Eboni introduced me to the Roasted Chicken Salad. I love it. Then one day I smiled at the guy behind the counter (who I’ve nicknamed “Quizno – the lunchtime boyfriend”) and he gave me a discount. Since then, whenever he is working the register he gives me a discount. And sometimes when he’s not working the register and he sees me coming, he’ll slide down the line and whisper in the register girl’s ear and then give me a wink to let me know I’ll get my discount. So I keep coming back :)

Youtube. Obviously. Look how many clips I’ve included in this post. I love it! I’ve been able to watch so many great clips from TV shows or concerts that took place before my time that I never thought I would see. And look what God did. He brought me Youtube. This is a favorite example of something I never would have seen had Youtube not come to be.

Turkey Lurkey Time from the 1968 Tony Awards:

That's it! Can't wait to see what happens in 2008!

Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!

2007-12-17T09:29:00.000-05:00

And take a tour of my home! Many thanks to Boomama for hosting this Christmas tour! Welcome!

Stop 1: The front door of our apartment. This is Liz's super cute Christmas welcome door hanger thingy. Someday when we find us some husbands and are no longer roommates, I will have to find something like this for my door because I love it!

Next stop: The Christmas tree! Boy Scout Troop "some number I don't remember that sells trees on Wilson Blvd" came through for us again and supplied this great tree!

And up next: People!!

And food (recipes below)!

Yes - this is my favorite way to decorate at Christmas! Fill your house with your favorite friends and your favorite food, and play you favorite Christmas tunes in the background and you've got yourself a celebration. And don't forget to use the word favorite as many times as you can! These pics were taken this weekend at Anne and Liz's annual Very Merry Christmas Party! And it was Very, Very, Merry! Here we are in front of the tree!

I cut off all my hair! Whoa! Afterwards, some of us went outside to take a picture in front of the house:

Oh wait! I mean George and Laura's house! Oops! I think our tree competes well with theirs!

And now for a couple of recipes. Liz and I make basically the same things every year at our party and the food is always a hit. I've posted two yummy recipes (one really easy and Christmas-y (Jello squares) and one that requires a little more work but it worth every minute).

Christmas Jello Squares:

3 (3oz) boxes of Jello (I make one batch with cherry Jello and one with lime)
1 pack of gelatin
3 cups boiling water
1 cup whipping cream

Dissolve Jello and gelatin in boiling water. Add 1 cup of whipping cream and stir.
Pour into 9x13 pan and chill over night. When the jello chills, the cream rises to the top and creates a lovely layered effect (you can see them in the food pic above).

Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

1lb ground beef
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
2 tbsp minced onion
2 tbsp milk
1 clove garlic
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper

Mix above ingredients and form into meatballs. Place in 9x13 baking dish and bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes. Drain excess fat.

In sauce pan combine 2/3 cup of Heinz Chili Sauce and 2/3 cup of grape jelly. Cook over med-low heat until well mixed. Add meatballs. Serve in crock pot to keep warm.

Well, there you have it!! I hope you all have a merry Christmas!! Enjoy the bloggy Christmas tour!

What time are you starting the prayer vigil?

2007-12-14T09:09:00.000-05:00

...was the question posed to me by my coworker Andrew after reading this article:

Liza Minnelli collapses during Swedish concert

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, December 13th 2007, 9:47 AM

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Liza Minnelli collapsed after finishing a song during a performance in Sweden, and she was seen by a doctor at her hotel and then flew Thursday to the United States for medical treatment, a concert organizers said.

Minnelli, 61, was performing in a Christmas show Wednesday in Goteborg, Sweden’s second-biggest city, when she collapsed while walking offstage, said Zlakto Nedanovski, a spokesman for the concert organizers said.

"As she walked down the steps, she passed out," Nedanovski told The Associated Press, adding that she did not return for the rest of the show.

"She was taken immediately to her hotel, where a doctor was waiting," he said.
He said Minnelli was flown to the United States on Thursday on the advice of doctors there.

"They decided together with her management that it’s best for Liza to go to the U.S. right away," Nedanovski said, adding that he did not know the medical diagnosis.

"She had felt a bit dizzy before she got up onstage," but decided to proceed with the show anyway, he said.

Minnelli’s spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, confirmed the entertainer "had complained of dizziness" before the show and "became very ill after the show began."

"As a result, she was unable to finish her performance and was rushed back to her hotel by her manager," Rosenberg said.

She said a doctor examined Minnelli, and in consultation with her New York physician, determined that she needed "to immediately return to New York City to receive further medical evaluation."

In a separate statement, released by concert organizer Svensk Nojesutveckling, Minnelli’s manager, Gary Labriola, said: "We don’t yet know what happened, we are all very worried."
Minnelli was performing with several Swedish entertainers in a show called "A Classic Christmas Night." It was the fourth and final show in a series of four concerts in Sweden, Rosenberg said.

Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 1972 film "Cabaret." She won an Emmy for the 1972 TV special "Liza with a Z," and Tony Awards in 1974 and 1978.

The $50 Carrot

2007-12-10T22:13:00.000-05:00

I went to my 10 year high school reunion a few weeks ago. I'd been going back and forth about whether or not to go since I didn't have much fun at the five year. But eventually I decided to just go for it and hope that I'd see a few people who would be interesting to talk to and not just there to get drunk. And I found a few! It was fun to catch up with people but I left there so thankful for the friends I have now. I love being blown away by the way God takes care of me and He has certainly done that with the friends and family He has provided. Shout out for God!

I almost forgot - the reason the title of this post is "The $50 Carrot" is because I spent $50 to attend the reunion and left it realizing I'd only eaten one baby carrot. I had been sick most of the week before, and didn't want to dive back in to the world of real food by eating wings and meatballs. So I grabbed a carrot and that was enough to satisfy!

Aren't we a lovely bunch? I love how Paul (standing behind me) and Brian appear to be gazing lovingly into each others eyes. Makes me laugh :)

I'm Drowning in Soap

2007-12-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

Which is why I haven't been blogging lately. And I just haven't been inspired. All my energy is going to wrapping soap and selling it at the farmer's markets each weekend. This is what our dining room table has looked like for this last month.

And I've got another soap wrapping station set up in my room. And we've got soap bins scattered around the living area with soap drying. At least the apartment smells good!

Really, though, I've enjoyed just about every minute of my life as a "soap sister", except for those early hours at the farmer's market the last two weekends when the temperature has been hovering around freezing. But other than that, I've totally been turned on to fun and fancy (and all natural) soap! And scents. Which is kind of an amazing thing, because in the past I have specifically purchased soap without a scent because they give me headaches. And now my whole world is filled with lavenders, melons, mints, lemons, gingers and plenty of fragrances I didn't know existed. And to all my friends and fam who read this blog: bet you'll never guess what you'll be getting for Christmas this year?? :)

Goodbye little red car!! Have fun building homes!

2007-11-21T11:49:00.000-05:00

Last week the Habitat for Humanity peeps came and picked up my car. I donated it to their Cars for Homes program. I wasn’t as sad as I thought I would be to see it go. Actually, I was kind of relieved after all the fun and good times I’d had at the DMV the week before trying to get the title changed over into my name. But most of you have already heard that story. Or maybe the sadness wasn’t there because I’d been driving my new car for over a month and all things red and Ford had completely been erased from my mind and been replaced with blue and Honda. Who knows?

What I do know is that I loved that car! It took me and my friends all over the country and it never let me down. It came close to rear ending other cars about 237 times, but not once did it not stop just in time. It had a few scratches from its encounters with many a pole in the FDIC garage, but never complained. And it even laughed along with me when I locked my keys in it again and again. A car doesn’t get any better than that!

I had a great time cleaning it out last week and reminiscing about all the people who had been in and out of it throughout the years. The friends, the boyfriends, the family members, the girls I baby sit for who got such a kick out of the manual windows. I found a comb that belonged to cute Jeff who is a member of the “God uses cute guys to draw Anne closer to Himself” club. And lots of great mixed tapes that my friends made for me back in the middle and high school days. And my favorite find was a note from a French family at our church who saw my France sticker on the back of my car and wrote “Vous etes Francais aussi!” They thought I was French and that makes me very happy! Thankfully, I went back to Europe in 2005 and bought the same sticker at the exact same shop in Monaco (because I just didn’t want to by it in France), anticipating the fact that I’d soon have a new car and would need another France sticker. Now I have to find it so I can stick it on the Honda.

Anyway, the last 7.5 years and 83,808 miles were quite a fun ride! Can't wait to see where I'll be when I've got that many miles on the new car. Probably pushing forty, which is a crazy thought!

Let Go and Let God

2007-11-16T15:21:00.000-05:00

Say your 10 year high school reunion is coming up in November and you'd really like to lose 5 pounds. Six months out, you tell yourself you'll work out 3-4 times a week and stop eating all the brownie mix. A few months go by and you realize you've gone through spurts of working out and eating well, followed by spurts of sitting on the couch and eating brownie mix. But you think to yourself "That's ok! I still have 3 months. And fall is here! Perfect for long jogs and bike rides outside." Then all of the sudden November rolls around and you discover that you weigh the exact same thing you have weighed for what feels like forever down to the .6 that always seems to follow the 1xx. So you say "whatever" about the whole losing weight idea and decide you'll wow your former high school peeps with your super personality and Liza Minnelli moves. Well, let me just tell you (because I am living proof) this is the exact moment that God steps in and makes you violently ill the week before your reunion. You spend the early part of the week returning (in a not so fun way) all the food you enjoyed over the weekend. And for the next three days you live off of Gatorade and saltines. You try to eat a banana one day because you really really want a banana, but this is not a good idea. So it's back to the saltines. When you finally get the energy to stand up without feeling dizzy, you get on the scale et voila! A number lower than you've seen in quite some time. So you laugh a little about how funny God can be. Then you say a little prayer that you'll actually make it to your reunion without passing out from all the fever.

Anne with an "E"

2007-11-02T11:43:00.000-05:00

Some of you have left comments lately about the name of my blog so I think I need to set the record straight on where the name originated from. While I do love and appreciate Anne of Green Gables, my being Anne with and “E” came to be long before I knew who Anne Shirley was. Actually (and I think any Anne will attest to this) before I was even old enough to write my own name, I knew I was Anne with an “E” because I’d heard my Mom say it at to the receptionist at the dentist or pediatrician’s office or I received random birthday cards from little old ladies at my church who’d forgotten the “E” and I was smart enough to know that “Ann” was not my name. All that being said, I have proudly been an Anne with an “E” for as long as I can remember.

During my elementary years, I read several of the Anne of Green Gables books (can’t say that I’ve read them all) and certainly felt like Anne Shirley and I were kindred spirits. And of course now I own the first two movies. But then something amazing happened in my life sometime during the middle school years. I discovered Liza! I’ve talked about my Liza obsession before, so I won’t bore you with it now, but I will say that when Liza came into my life (sounds a bit like a conversion story, doesn’t it? haha) so did the song Liza with a “Z” (which was written for the made for TV concert of the same name). And you bet I could relate to Liza always having to tell everyone her name was Liza with a “Z” not Lisa with an “S” and although Ann without an “E” is not pronounced differently, it’s still annoying to always have to tell people.

Well, being the wannabe performer that I am, I decided that I would one day have a show (and theme song) called Anne with an “E” that would open on Broadway. To date, the show has only opened in my head, but I still have high hopes.

So here we are today with the Anne with an “E” blog. I’ve been thinking that the quote at the top doesn’t really give any information as to who I am, other than the fact that I love Jesus. So I’ve been toying around with what we’ll call a mission statement for my blog. My church’s mission statement is “Spreading a passion to love God and people above all else.” This of course comes from Matthew 2:36-40:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Somehow, the discussion that followed between Jesus and the Pharisees about the importance of finding some type of super star in the entertainment industry to obsess over (preferably one of the Broadway ilk) was left out of the Bible. I’m really not sure how this was overlooked, but who am I to question the Lord?

So I’m working on some kind of mission statement/blog theme sentence which you’ll hopefully see in the near future. It will be something along the lines of loving God, people and Liza above all else, but I need to make it catchier than that. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment! And go out and download some Liza tunes today!

Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway

2007-10-28T20:28:00.000-05:00

**** Updated****
OK – the comments are closed! 350+ comments! That is some kind of craziness!

Now, how I picked the winner: I exported your comments to an Excel spreadsheet so I’d have a number beside each name (I removed a couple of duplicate comments). Then I used the handy dandy random number generator to generate a handy dandy number. And here are the results:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 249
Timestamp: 2007-11-02 19:00:26 UTC

And the winner is….

Vicky @ Homeschool Mandate.

For those of you who did not win, I'll be back again if Shannon does another giveaway at Christmas (or some other future date). And feel free to check out the Mount Harmony website where you can order soaps online. They're not cheap, but these soaps are just lovely, are great for your skin and smell great too! Thanks for all your comments! This has been a blast! Hope you all enjoyed it too!

Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a fall bloggy giveaway and I am joining in on the fun!

I am giving away handmade soap made in Middleburg, VA at Mount Harmony farm. These soaps are amazing! Each of our soaps is made with over 50% olive oil (which is great for your skin - especially dry skin in the winter) and other essential oils and fragrances. All ingredients are natural. Here's a look at the soaps we sold at the farmer's market this weekend:

They look almost good enough to eat! (but I wouldn't recommend it!)

I'll be giving away two bars (to one winner) that you can choose from the following list:

“Ann Yonkers Meets The Red Mandarin”…essential oils of mandarin red, sweet orange and bergamot with jojoba and apricot kernel oil, color and safflower petals.

“Ginger Lemon Poppyseed”… soft scrub of poppyseeds, oil of apricot kernel, essential oils of ginger and lemon, plus color.

“Oatmeal Lavender”…combines the best of both worlds…oatmeal for earthly texture, and lavender essential oil for heavenly scent.

“McCreamy McSoap”….Grey’s Anatomy fans now have their own creamy soap from Mount Harmony’s McCreator. Avocado and castor oil, pigment, safflower petals, and fragrance give McSoap its McCreamy softness and allure.

“Citrus Moonbeam”…essential oils of sweet orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, grapefruit and cedarwood are bathed in the light of moons of juniper berry and grapefruit balls, paprika and tiny meteorites of heather buds.

“Gladiator Exfoliator”…for the man in your life…ground oats, spices of cinnamon , allspice, nutmeg give strength and honor to essential oils of rosemary, sage and clove bud with the bravery of wheatgerm oil, aloe vera gel and vegetable glycerin.

“Grouchy Tiger, Smitten Dragon”…just can’t get enough flying fantasy action, this is close and will have you flying through bamboo forests: essential oil of mentha arvensis, pigment, vegetable glycerin, and apricot kernel oil.

“Shea Chic”…shea butter, vegetable glycerin, lavender essential oil, calendula petals –tres chic!

"Clary Sage and Mandarin”… like a rare piece of Oriental porcelain, a design of oils of avocado, aloe vera, vegetable glycerin, chlorophyll, calendula petals, mandarin soap pieces, and essential oils of lemon, mandarin, sweet orange, tangerine and clary sage.

“French Lavender”…white as angel wings, essential oils of French lavender, bergamot, cedarwood.

That's it! The soap will come wrapped in a beautiful tissue paper should you choose to give them away as gifts. The wrapped soap looks something like this:

Just leave a comment (include your email if you don't have a blogger account)and you'll be entered into the drawing! I'll pick a winner using a random number generator on Friday, November 2 at 3pm EST. I'll post the winner's name to the site on Friday and also send an email.

Happy bloggy giveaway-ing!!

Jesus can take me home now.

2007-10-28T19:44:00.000-05:00

Because I've seen Liza. In person. We were in the same room. And it was amazing! I have not been so overwhelmed by something in a long time! They just don't make entertainers like her anymore. She is so powerful. Her ability to connect with the audience is so like no other and you can't help but love her (she cried while singing "Maybe this Time.") She doesn't have the range she used to have, and she's had both her hips replaced so the dancing is mostly limited to her busting out the jazz hands and striking poses like this:

But when she strikes a pose she totally strikes it. And she holds it for several seconds until a few people shout out "we love you Liza!" and then she gives a little giggle and goes on with her singing. She was just so Liza. Liza with a "Z" that is. And after the concert last night I was thanking the Lord like nobody's business for giving me this opportunity, and then I said a little prayer for Liza because I have no idea where her heart is, but I do know that I hope she's with me in heaven because I don't think I could spend an eternity without being able to listen to Liza.

Tomorrow my life is going to change forever.

2007-10-26T16:30:00.000-05:00

That is, if I don't have a heart attack first. The moment I've been waiting for since the beginning of time (or maybe since I was 12) is about to happen. I'm going to see Liza!! Liza with a "Z"!!! In concert. In Baltimore. Tomorrow!! The only thing that could make this moment better would be meeting Liza and/or getting called on to fill in for one of her back up dancers who just came down with the bird flu. Not that I'm wishing that on anyone. I just have dreams about dancing with Liza. Because that is my goal. And I dance much better than I sing. Hopefully one day I'll be doing this:

Some things I've been enjoying lately.

2007-10-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

A great column on Jesus and the iPhone.

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/columnists/franklinharris/070913.shtml

Every Breath Bernanke Takes. I'm a Bernanke fan, but I just love this video!

Listening to my Coldplay cd (thanks Rachel!) in my car. Y'all know what that’s means :)

Wrapping soap and working at the Farmer’s market.

Doing this quiet time everyday. Except I like to refer to it as 90 days with the one of many because if I’m honest with myself, Jesus is just one of the many things that has my heart right now. But that's why I'm spending more time with him :)

Dancing.

Last night my pilates teacher told me I looked like a dancer so you may just find me auditioning for the next season of SYTYCD. If I'm not too old.

Jamaica me happy :)

2007-10-10T16:23:00.000-05:00

If you are wondering where I have been lately, I've been on vacation. Imagine that! I just got back from a super fun trip to Jamaica with Paige, Liz and Katy. We took this trip to celebrate Paige's 30th birthday and I of course enjoyed seeing all mi bredren (as they say in Patois) in JA.

But each year that I go back, it's always sad to see how much the kids have grown up! Sweet little Barrington is still completly sweet but he is no longer little! He just turned 12 last Wed. but he's already a good 8 inches taller than me. I can hardly stand to watch him grow up! Thankfully he is still a little boy on the inside. He is one of the nicest and most polite kids I have ever met! When I told him I didn't bring him a gift this year he said "Yes, you did! You came to see me on my birthday and I appreciate that very much!"

We took he and his friend out to dinner and they had a blast! When Paige offered Romain a taste of her pasta, he took a bite, and then proceeded to eat from her bowl for the rest of the evening. He and Barrington hardly ate their pizza, but they certainly enjoyed all of our meals. Too funny!

Other than hanging out with the kids, we spent lots of time relaxing on the beach, went horseback riding and went to YS Falls. Here are some pics of all the fun!

At the falls

At Barry's

With Barrington at his birthday dinner

Romain, Barrington and Paige at dinner

Katy, Barrington, Romain and Liz

Me and Paige with Peter (aka Cash Money) on our way to the caves

Cash Money in a cave. I love this pic :)

The ladies at Rick's Cafe

Paige on horseback with our guide Patrick

Oshane and Patrick

And the pic you've all been waiting for... Shabba with his new teeth! I made him run home and put on the same shirt I'd taken the toothless pic in. It's a little faded but he still has it!

Quote of the week:

2007-09-18T20:53:00.000-05:00

"Liza is singing in my mouth."

-Kandi's way of telling me she enjoyed the ham and cheese omelet.

Smile pretty for the camera if you were robbed this weekend!!

2007-09-10T10:48:00.001-05:00

Someone took my iPod!

Someone took my Perfume!

Someone took my Cracker Barrel!

Oh do we have a story to tell! And I cannot stop cracking up about it! We were totally robbed this weekend! Well actually, the correct term is burglarized, but either way, it was crazy and surreal and for some reason just really, really funny and even fun! Definitely one of the most exciting nights I’ve had in a long time!

So here we go:

This weekend we went to beautiful, quaint Colonial Williamsburg for Jen and Albert’s wedding (yes – it happened!) But this post is not about the wedding. It is about the wonderful post-wedding excitement that Liz, Janelle and I experienced.

L, J and I returned to our hotel suite at the Four Points Sheraton after a long day of wedding festivities. We changed out of our dresses and all our fanciness, put on something comfy and decided to head over to the hotel restaurant for some food and drinks. In those few minutes we were back in our room, we all noticed that it was freezing!! The maid had turned the AC down to about 55. I turned it back up, but didn’t know if that would warm things up enough before we got back from dinner. So as we were leaving the room I said “Do y’all care if I open the window to let some warm air in?” and Liz (our favorite prophetess) said “You don’t think we’ll get robbed do you??” and I was like “Noooo…” thinking the parking lot was well lit and there were plenty of people around, so it would be pretty obvious if someone tried to crawl through our window. So I opened the window and off we went.

Now to give you a little background on the room situation - the suites were all located in separate buildings next to the main hotel. You needed a key card to get in the front door, and when you entered, there were two suites on the first floor (where we were) and two upstairs.

So we go off to dinner and we aren’t gone for more than an hour. As we’re walking out of the restaurant on our way back, we see a cop car up ahead but don’t think much about it. All weekend long we had seen cop cars everywhere, and Rachel even made a comment earlier about the Williamsburg cops not having much else to do but troll around the streets.

But I digress. So we saw cop car number 1. Then we turn the corner toward our room and see another cop car parked across from our building, but still we’re thinking no big deal. We go into our building through the main door and there’s a cop coming down the stairs and he says “Ladies – the room upstairs was robbed. Check your room to see if anything is missing.” Whoa! We go in our room and at first glance everything looks in place. My purse is sitting on the kitchen table and I look in and see my credit card still there and I’m thinking everything is ok because wouldn’t the burglar swipe the credit card?? And Liz’s purse is also in the same place and our clothes are hanging in the closet so for a brief moment we’re thinking “Whew, they didn’t come into our room!” Then one of the kids from upstairs yells down “Do any of you have a silver camera?” And I’m like “I have a silver Canon camera!!” (and yes – I know saying “I’m like…” is not correct grammar but that’s the way I talk and think so that’s the way I’m going to write :) ) And then she says “Do you have an iPod?” and I say “Yes! Black iPod Nano!” and she says “We have your stuff!” So I run upstairs and on the way up I hear Janelle yell out what may be considered the best line ever! You’ve already read it earlier in the post but here it is again… “Someone took my Cracker Barrel!!!” Yes, we had eaten at Cracker Barrel the night before and Janelle had leftovers in the fridge and they were stolen!! So we all make our way upstairs and as we come into the room we see the following things:

My iPod, camera, my favorite Williamsburg deck of cards that I got in like 1986, my green pilates t-shirt, my wear under your dress slimming thing, a pack of gum with one piece left, Liz’s slip, Liz’s perfume, Janelle’s Cracker Barrel leftovers, Janelle’s mascara (a.k.a. the #1 mascara and mascara to the stars) and the bottle of wine we brought back from Jen and Albert’s wedding.

So this is what happened. Sometime after we left our room, a maid or someone with an access card came into our room (it wasn’t the window after all!) and loaded the items listed above into a bag. I totally understand her taking the iPod, camera, wine and perfume but what really cracked me up the most was that of all nice BR, AT, and NW clothes hanging there in an open closet she chose to take a green pilates t-shirt. I must admit that when my pilates teacher surprised us with t-shirts last year, I wasn’t too fond of all the greenness (which is why I sleep in it), but I will now have to commend teacher on her choice because it is the very item that attracted the eye of Miss Burglar. So there you go.

So she loaded our stuff up and then went to the room next door (most likely) and took some very random things from their room then she proceeded upstairs to the room above us where the nice family from PA was staying. Well, when the family came home from their day at Busch Gardens, Miss Burglar was still in their room. She had dead bolted the door so when they tried to open it they couldn’t get in. So she says “I’m the maid, I’ll be out in a minute” and she drops the stuff and opens the door and gets away. The cops still had not found her by the time we left that night.

*** This may be the longest post ever but keep reading, it is worth it.***

So now begins the fun and good times in the PA family suite. First of all, the family was so nice and they offered us and the cops something to drink and it was almost like we were getting together with old friends to reminisce about fun times in Williamsburg. The cops were a riot too! Sergeant Female was organizing all of our things and asking what belonged to whom, and when she got to my iPod she asked what kind of music was on it, and I told her it was mostly contemporary Christian Jesus music mixed in with a little Liza Minnelli. You know I was happy to give the shout out to Jesus and to Liza! And really, I’ve always thought that if my iPod was stolen it would be a great thing because the thief would inevitably here the gospel after listening to a couple of songs, and after presenting someone with the gospel, the next best thing I can think of to offer is a medley of show tunes by the one and only Liza Minnelli.

We had some laughs over the stick of gum and the cracker barrel and the slip, and the kids were laughing about the random things she had chosen from their rooms and it turned into a really fun night of laughing a carrying on. And the cops didn’t mind at all. They totally played along with our silliness (but in a completely professional way, of course). We filled out our crime reports and Sergeant Female called in Detective 1699 to dust for prints. They decided to dust the wine and the perfume because dusting the electronics would ruin them. This is when I asked if it was ok to take pictures at the crime scene. The Sergeant said “sure” and that’s how we captured the loveliness pictured above.

Unfortunately, the thief/burglar/maid woman did make off with the PA Dad’s wedding ring and some prescription pills, but despite that, he remained in good spirits. And needless to say, we did not spend Sat. night in our suite. The hotel staff was very apologetic and kind and gave us two free rooms in the main hotel and free breakfast the next morning. I didn’t sleep as well as I had hoped that night. Not because I was nervous or freaked out, but because I kept busting out into laughter every time I would tried to relax and fall asleep. It just really was too funny that we were robbed! Of all things! And Liz totally called it when we left the room. Too funny! I think God knows that I like to maintain a certain level of excitement in my life and he has always been faithful to provide it! And even the sermon the next morning at Sovereign Grace in Chesapeake struck a chord that made me laugh a little and give God some glory. The church is doing a series on the minor prophets and on Sunday Brett was teaching from Habakkuk and quoted verse 3:18:

“yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

As I was trying to fall asleep on Sat night I was thanking God that everyone was safe (especially the PA fam since they walked in on her) and praying for the thief woman and just praising God that everyone had such a joyful attitude about the whole situation. And it struck me that we all had so much fun and found so much joy in the situation because we know where our hope lies and we know it’s not in our circumstances or in material things, but it is in our Savior and we can totally rejoice in that!! He’s awesome!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Travis was the victim of an attempted robbery, although on a much smaller scale. I love this picture :) "Give me that tie, man!"

This is my first tag. Yay!!

2007-09-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

Rachel tagged me to write seven random facts about myself so here they are:

1. I have been to 25 states this summer. 6 of them I had never visited before. I have 4 states left to see in the next 1.5 years to achieve my “50 by 30” goal.

2. My hair has not been its natural color since I started using Sun-In the summer after 8th grade.

3. I have never eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (inspired by #1 in Ebony’s “7 random facts” list.

4. I often drive in circles around the neighborhood on my way home from somewhere because I love listening to my tunes in the car more than I care about wasting a little bit of gas.

5. I like to do forward rolls up the stairs. Danica reminded me of this last week. It really works the abs.

6. I often want to tell characters in t.v. shows or movies about Jesus. For example, when Lois tells Superman that she doesn't need a savior, I'm thinking "Yes, you do Lois! And Jesus loves you and wants to save you!!"

7. I’ve spent a good part of today watching the “Murder She Wrote” marathon on the Hallmark channel. Love it!

I tag Paige and Dawn and Christine!

Confessions of Me, a Wannabe Pioneer Woman.

2007-08-28T16:44:00.000-05:00

On our trip out west this week, Liz, Traci and I stayed at a ranch in Montana. No – we did not get to stay with the Pioneer Woman and join in the cow pregnancy testing fun, but we did stay with some very nice ranchers in Eastern Montana named Willy and Anne. That’s right! When I called and found out Mrs. Rancher’s first name was Anne with an “e” I knew we’d hit the jackpot.

We flew into Denver, picked up our lovely white rental car (laugh all you want, Brian) and headed north toward Montana. As is typical with the Anne/Liz road trip, we got caught in several torrential downpours and a couple of hail storms. But we forged our way through the road kill splattered, partially paved roads of Wyoming to cross into Montana and arrive at the ranch a little after 9pm.

I was relieved when Mrs. Rancher told us she would have breakfast ready at 7:30. That meant I could easily get 8 hours of sleep which we were all in desperate need of since we'd gotten up at 4:30 eastern time that morning to get to the airport. So it was off to bed for a great night's sleep under the big Montana sky.

Fast forward to 4:37 am the next morning. Cockadoodle-doo!! Actually it was more of a Ca-cock-a-doo! I remember thinking "Wow, it's still really dark outside! I thought the rooster crowed when the sun came up." Little did I know that the rooster comes with a snooze button. The Pioneer Woman never mentioned that one. He crowed every few minutes for the next hour and a half. What's up with that rooster???

I considered my options and thought about throwing shoes at him out the window, or looking for a baseball bat, but I decided my best option was to pray. I prayed that that rooster would be content with number of times he had already crowed to the Lord that morning, and I asked the Lord to reveal to him that we had come from a different time zone and his crows were confusing us more than helping us, and maybe he could find it in his little rooster heart to allow us to get another hour of sleep. And I kid you not – a few minutes after those prayers were lifted up to heaven I truly believed that rooster (it was later that we found out there were multiple roosters) had cockadoodle-doo’d his last. I was literally thanking Jesus like nobody's business every minute that went by without a crow. But it turns out he decided to take a 7 minute break instead of 3. And he was with us the rest of the morning until the sun finally came up.

There is one positive thing that came out of my morning hours with the rooster. This scene (which is one of my favorites from Arrested Development) kept running through my head:

Lindsay's chicken is the best!

Other than the rooster, the time at the ranch was great! Here are some of my favorite pics:

The tractor pic (taken for my Dad):

The cabin (right next to the hen house, of course):

Our cow friends:

My favorite cow pic (she doesn't come close to the Pioneer Woman's Ursula, but I still love her):

The Report from Jamaica.

2007-08-20T16:25:00.000-05:00

"Limb fell off the ackee tree and ran out of beer." I guess that means everyone is ok. Oh and Shabba got his tooth fixed. Here's the before pic. After my trip with the girls in October, I'll post the after pic with new tooth.

Double the Reunion, Double the Fun!

2007-08-13T14:10:00.000-05:00

This weekend I went down to NN for the Wiatt family reunion. This year was interesting because my uncle found some link 8 generations back to the Wyatt's with a "Y" and so they were invited for the first time! I kept seeing all these "Wyatt" name tags and was wondering what the heck was going on until Uncle Alex gave his 10 minute speech on the wonders of DNA and everybody's related to everybody and now we're inviting Wyatt's and blah blah blah. He likes to talk:)

The younger generation:

I did enjoy this picture very much. It's my uncle Tom as a young lad in 1971 next to a picture of Sir Thomas Wyatt as a young lad in 15??. Quite the resemblance. Actually, Sir Thomas ended up with his head hanging from the Tower of London soon after this portrait was made. Tom the uncle is still with us. And of course, I must highlight the moment that I wait for all year. The sing-a-long with Roberta on the concertina. This is when most of the cousins like to leave which is terribly unfortunate because what's a family reunion without a couple of rounds of Oh! Susanna and Home on the Range?

Anyway, that's enough of the crazy Wiatt clan. The surprise of the weekend was the mini reunion we had on my Dad's side. Turns out my cousin Jason and his lovely wife Melanie were taking a little road trip through VA to see my grandmother and visit the farm. And on Sunday they ventured down to NN. This was quite an exciting moment for me because I had not seen my cousin since 1991! 16 years! I didn't think I'd been alive for 16 years, but I can't argue with my parents or my birth certificate on that one so here we are.

This was such a fun weekend!! It was one of those rare (but becoming more frequent) moments when I actually wished I could spend more time with my family! I guess when you pray about something God is bound to change your heart eventually :)

Eyes, eyes, nostrils, silent scream.

2007-08-06T17:46:00.000-05:00

If anyone is curious to know what I’ll be doing tonight, I’ll be at home (actually at Cecily’s – I’m dog sitting this week) watching this clip over and over until I learn the moves:

Who would have thought that one day of cake making with Rachel and Gina would change my life forever?

God Bless you both.

I'm melting.

2007-08-03T12:11:00.000-05:00

God's greatest gift to man: J.C.

God's second greatest gift: AC.

My spiritual gift is jazz hands.

2007-07-30T16:41:00.000-05:00

I believe that’s what the Lord revealed to me last night. And I’m being completely serious. Actually, I was in perfomer mode at CPT last night and was dancing around trying to get all the attention and it was totally fun and great, but then by the time I came home I was feeling kind of bummed out because I always try to get attention and praise for myself and not for God, and when I do that too much it just makes me feel yucky. So I was praying and journaling last night and asking God to forgive me for being so selfish and for showing myself off and not Him and I asked him (and this is a direct quote from my journal) "to knock me off my 'me' stage and put be back on God's stage with jazz hands for you Lord." I even pray Fosse style. This is why I love the freedom we have in Christ because I can pray like that and I know He totally gets what I'm trying to say. And all that jazz.

Now I need to find me a new dance class. I miss my old tap teacher Billy, the 65 year old drag queen.

The Ratios, They are a Changin’

2007-07-29T14:39:00.000-05:00

Bob Dylan would be proud. Yesterday’s CPDC Busch Gardens trip was attended by the following:

Guys: Steve, Greg, John, Ravi, Ernest, Joel and Mike

Gals: Anne, Liz, Amber, and Aesook

I do believe this is the first event (other than a basketball tournament or Super Bowl party) that was attended by more men than women. The Lord has heard our prayers!!

A great moment in work life.

2007-07-25T21:06:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting in Mike's office today discussing a data issue related to one of my bank's reports. The bankers name is Cher. We were going back and forth on the issue when all of the sudden it hit me that this was a bank another co-worker had spoken with when I was on vacation. So we brought the other co-worker in but she couldn't remember all of the details of the issue. At this realization, Mike starts singing "If I could turn back time..."

Oh how I love the cleverness!

My Favorite Dessert

2007-07-23T16:39:00.000-05:00

Is fruit pizza! I know some of you are thinking "Wait a minute?? I thought your favorite dessert was brownie mix?" and you're close. Actually, my favorite snack is brownie mix :)

Isn't it lovely?? And it tastes soo good and is semi-healthy with all that fruit everywhere. Just forget the fact that the fruit is sitting on top of a sugar cookie and cream cheese mixed with sugar and cool whip :)

I've posted the recipe at Sweet Anne's.

My Favorite Armenian

2007-07-21T10:53:00.000-05:00

One of the highlights of our New England road trip (besides locking my keys in the car) was seeing my very favorite Armenian friend Steve. Steve started working at the FDIC a year after me and our cubes were next to each other. We quickly became friends because I needed advice about guys and he needed me to write thank you notes for him. For three years he was my favorite FDIC buddy. He created the “Anne’s To Eat List” because there were so many foods I had never tried before (like the cheeseburger) and I bugged him about not loving Jesus enough and told him that God didn’t give a hoot that the Armenians were the first Christian church (according to Steve). We had so much fun, and being his friend left a special place in my heart for Armenians.

A couple of years ago he decided to ditch us and go back to Boston for grad school. So for a brief while I was living a life sans Armenians. But as the reverend mother always says “when God takes away one Armenian, He’ll bring along another.” And He did. Last summer Julie started working at the FDIC and as soon as I met her and saw the dark hair and found out she was from Boston her last name ended in “ian” I knew we would hit it off right away. And we did! She wasn’t scared off when I said “I love Armenians!!” and jumped up and down a few times. Then Jbeed (an Armenian) started coming to our church and I think I did freak her out just a bit when I began my “Why I love Armenains” speech. And then one night at dinner last fall, we were talking about our family history and Travis blurts out that he is one quarter Armenian. I took one look at him with this new information and thought "Of course!" I could totally see 1/4 Amenian features in Travis. Don't you all see it??

I decided right then and there that we were getting married. I've never expected to meet a 28 year old single 100% Armenian who is was 100% into Jesus. And here was Travis who had the 100% Jesus and 100% single criteria covered and was coming in strong with 25% Armenian. Pretty good ratios if you ask me. (BTW - for all you readers who think you've been let in on a big secret that I was running around last year with a major crush on Travis this is not the case. I just decided we'd be getting married.)

Now I'm back to a point in my life where the Armenian friends are few and far between. Travis has gone off to law school, Steve lives in Boston, I rarely see Jbeed, and next Friday is Julie's last day at work. She is moving back to Boston too! I may have to work my match making magic with her and Steve :) So here's hoping God brings along another Armenian (maybe the 100% into Jesus single guy one??) We'll wait and see!!

You fill up my senses

2007-07-12T19:19:00.000-05:00

Travis sang my song at the Beth Moore conference today! Hello!?!? Is God awesome or what?? Seriously, God comes through in amazing ways. Just hearing that song was like "yep, there you are God. Right here with me." I have been on vacation for the better part of the last month, so I haven't been to my church, and haven't been to small group and other than the occasional prayers here and there, I haven't really been spending time with God. When I got back from the road trip on Wednesday, I wanted to pick up the study I've been doing but I just couldn't do it. So I told God he would have to do something big in my heart because I couldn't seem to jump back into spending time with him.

Then we get to 4:30 pm at work on Thursday. It was my first day back and I had been running around all day to meetings and answering phone calls from all my favorite bankers and just havin a grand ole time. Finally, by a little after 4 things had settled down enough for me to actually sit for a minute at my desk. So in come some of the co-workers to hear about my trip. Then we got to talking about our weekend plans and Kristin mentioned that she was going to this speaker thing tomorrow - someone named Beth Moore and had I ever heard of her?

Can't say as I have.

Umm, Hello!?!?!!!

Little did poor Kristin know that she had just called out the name of one of the few things that will bring out the performer/crazy person in me. After jumping out of my chair and flailing my hands around in classic Beth Moore fashion, and repeating the phrase "Oh my goodness, I love Beth Moore" at least seven times, I calmed down for a second. Then I pulled Get Out of That Pit right out of my purse (it's my current read on the bus book), and proceeded to tell my very dazed and confused co-workers about the 3 ways we might end up in the pit: being thrown in, slipping in, and Kris Kross'll make ya "jump, jump" in. But God is there to deliver us and then we will be singing a new song and Psalm 40 "I waited patiently for the Lord, he inclined and heard my cry, he brought me up out of the pit..." U2 anyone?? Are you people following me? All I got were blank stares from Kristin, Ed, Julie and Ken. I actually sang the U2 version for them.

So then I took them to the blog and showed them a picture of Beth and talked about Texas and how all my favorite Christian artists seem to be from there and oh I can get side tracked when I'm excited. So I got back on topic and began quoting my favorite Beth poim about the Subway in NY and oh, just so you know, Beth is flat crazy but you will love her! and dude, I want to go with you! So it was off to the web-site to get a ticket and can I take another day off of work??? ahh! Of course I can! I've been out so much lately, what is one more Friday out of the office going to do?

And oops - it's after 4:45 and I missed my bus but who cares! Beth Moore!!

By this time I had freaked Kristin out just enough to bring her back around to really excited about going. And now I was going too! Praise the Lord Jesus! Hallelujah!

And so, wow! Here I am, back from the conference and it was amazing! My favorite word of the day was Beth quoting Jeremiah 45:5: "Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them." And then she added: "Seek a great God." This hit me hard because I constantly struggle with seeking after things that I think will be great for me, and will make me happier and comfortable. But if I seek God, all the things he as planned for me will be so much greater than anything I could ever imagine. God is awesome! That's all I have to say.

Well, the car didn't break down...

2007-07-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

But I did lock the keys in it! That was definitely a highlight of the trip :) I basically lock my keys in the car every time I'm in a valet/leave your keys in the car garage situation. Since I don't have automatic locks, I'm so used to pushing down the lock as I close the door. And the funny thing is that I'm telling myself in my head "don't lock the door, don't lock the door." Oops. Of course, I did have my other set of keys but they were in my backpack in the trunk.

Anyway, we spent the day on Cape Cod, and took the ferry over to Martha's Vineyard. MV is great! Just being there made me happy. I kept thinking about how fun it would be to come to a place like this sometime in the future with some friends and our families and rent a couple of houses and just hang out and eat at fun restaurants and stroll around the island.

Liz and I decided to take a sightseeing tour around the island which was scheduled to start at 2 and last for 2.5 hours. And it ended right at the dock so we figured we'd hop on the 5 pm ferry and head back to the mainland and then drive to Hyannis for dinner. Well, the 2pm tour did not leave until 2:30 and it lasted 3.5 hours, and left us jumping off the bus in the rain to catch (just barely) the 6pm ferry back. And the tour guide was crazy! But that's another story for another time. And we ran into Josh and Naomi King (Pastor's King's son and DIL) on MV which will drive my sister crazy because I run into people everywhere I go. And she never sees anyone she knows anywhere.

So we made it back to the ferry, which arrived back on Cape Cod around 7. We drove off to Hyannis, and called the restaurant on the way and made an 8:30 reservation. We planned to eat at the Rhodeside Cafe recommended by Rachael Ray in her $40 a day book. I planned to pull into the parking lot and brush my hair and fix myself up a bit since we'd been running around an island all day long and we'd gotten caught in some pretty heavy rain. But when we pulled in the parking lot, the valet boys ran over to the car and start opening the doors for us to hop out. I think I first annoyed them by asking if I could park myself. Of course, they said no, so then I told them I needed to brush my hair so they would have to hold on just a sec. Sorry boys, the hair is important and you may as well learn that lesson now if you are ever married someday. They sort of rolled their eyes, but I just smiled. This is when my brain reminded me not to lock my keys in the car. But 10 seconds later I just threw my brush into the back seat and hopped out and shut the door, then followed that up with an "oh, crap" when I realized Liz had just shut (and locked) her door as well.

Hehe. I thought it was pretty funny, because it's such a me thing. The valet boys were not that amused. The car was sitting almost in the middle of the parking lot, but not in such a way that they couldn't get other cars out around it. So in a small way I did them a favor. But we called AAA and the guy came within 30 minutes. He shimmied this string thing through my door and popped the lock. Then I told him I loved him which I think freaked him out just a bit so he was like "sorry lady, I'm married." But I was just happy that he'd saved the day! And the valet boys were happy to have us out of their way!

By 9pm we were in the restaurant and had a wonderful meal. And when we came out, we didn't have to remind valet boy which car belonged to us. Thankfully, the slightly nicer (and cuter) valet boy was the one that pulled our car around and we gave him a nice fat tip. Hopefully he will remember this night fondly like I will.

The Car Saga

2007-06-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

So the new car desire came back in full force this weekend. The background goes something like this: I work in a city where people drive really nice cars. About two years ago, I started seeing these pretty blue BMW’s everywhere I went and really really started wanting one. At the time my car was only about 6 years old (it’s a 99). By early summer last year, I pretty much had made a plan to buy a BMW. I knew I didn’t really need it, but I justified it by thinking I would keep the car for at least the next ten years and I can afford it and I deserve it because I work hard! (the “I deserve it” thought should have stopped me in my tracks, but it didn’t). On top of that, my Dad up and bought a Mercedes, so he could no longer hold me to the “you better drive an American car if you want to be a part of this family” principle. So everything was falling into place. And did I mention that I really wanted a BMW??

So last summer Liz and I planned our road trip and I was secretly hoping that my car would conk out somewhere along the way (just not somewhere scary) and if God wanted to be especially gracious, maybe it would conk out within walking distance of a BMW dealership. Because then circumstances would have thrown the BMW into my lap and what could I have possibly done??

But that didn’t happen, and the car was such a trooper on the road trip that I couldn’t stand to part with it once we got home. So I decided to keep it until it hit 100,000 miles (which would be about 3 more years).

Many months went by and everything was great. Then I went to Alan’s house to drop off a cake. And I saw Dat’s new car. A Toyota Highlander. Oh the cuteness it exudes. A couple of weeks later I hopped into Chris Kim’s (a.k.a. Chris TomKim - the Asian Chris Tomlin) car. Also a Highlander. I was hooked. And what did I begin to see all around me?? Toyota Highlanders. It doesn’t help that I live within 2 inches of a Toyota dealership. So for the past several months visions of Highlander have been dancing through my head. And I made another plan. New England road trip. Not as intense as last summer but enough to give the car a couple thousand miles. And in the back of my head the thought that maybe it will die near a Toyota dealership.

Of course, I’d been praying about this all along, and deep down I could tell God was saying don’t buy a car yet. I didn’t take Crown for nuthin! And I talked to my sister who is ms. sensible about all things financial and she set me straight. Actually she said “getting a new car is dumb.” That was really all I needed to hear. Good – I was back to the 100,000 miles thought. But then, oh you will not believe the wonderful thing that happened…. My car failed inspection!! Just a couple of minor things, but this certainly put me one step closer to the prize.

That brings me to the weekend (if anyone is still reading). Liz and I went to Charlotte (BTW - go to the Billy Graham Library if you are ever there. It is AWESOME!) to visit one of my friends from high school and Liz's God parents. So we pull up in front of Alexa’s house and what is that I see sitting in her driveway?? A brand new dark blue Highlander. I freaked out. I walked into her house, and said “you have a Highlander!” then I said “hi” and all that other not so important stuff that you say to someone you haven't seen in two years!

Alexa let me drive her car all around Charlotte that night and I loved it!! I’m so getting a new car after the road trip. Then (oh there’s more, people) Liz calls from her God parent’s house to talk about plans for meeting up the next day and guess what?? They have a Highlander too! Have you ever read the word Highlander so many times in one post? I bet not :)

That's my story. I think Toyota should give me some kind of deal after all the shout outs I've just given them :)

My new favorite number is 54.

2007-06-25T21:18:00.000-05:00

Guess what?? Today I had lunch at Bangkok 54! And guess what else?? Tonight I had dinner at Bangkok 54. I love that place. I already had plans to meet the girls there for dinner, and when Alan suggested it at work today for lunch I was like, heck yes I wanna eat there, Pedro. It was a glorious day! Along with the great food, the Steering Committee meeting has been canceled for this week which means no taking of the minutes for me! Yay! Many of the big wigs are out on vacation this week, and one of our project leaders seems to have gotten himself in a bit of trouble (and I have to say I'm not surprised. This guy has always freaked me out).

From the Washington Post:

Button-Down FDIC?

People who work at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. -- the folks who oversee the nation's financial institutions -- are often, and apparently most unfairly, stereotyped as boring pencil pushers.

They are, it turns out, a fun-loving crowd. And there's an internal investigation now into whether someone was having a bit too much fun at the division of information technology's annual golf outing May 22 at Penderbrook Golf Club in Fairfax County.

The FDIC is looking into reports that a senior official in the 274-employee division asked or offered to pay two women at the outing -- one of whom didn't work in that division -- to take off their blouses, which they did. The incident allegedly was seen by many of the people who attended, though it was unclear whether it occurred in the clubhouse or on one of the greens.
The FDIC's public affairs director, Andrew Gray, in response to our inquiry, issued an official statement.

"The individuals that participated in this off-site event used their own resources and took official leave to attend," Gray's statement said. "However, since the event was publicized internally by staff within the Division of Technology, the FDIC has taken strong action to thoroughly investigate and determine the facts behind the allegations. This investigation may be completed as early as this week, and full disciplinary action will be taken against individuals who are found to have behaved unprofessionally and inappropriately. We expect all FDIC employees to adhere to the highest standards of professionalism."

And, at a minimum, to keep their clothes on.

About Savannah and Miss Paula

2007-06-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

So most of you know while I was in Savannah I ate at Paula Deen's restaurant. Of course, I did not see the Lady or the Sons, but it was still a fun experience. I had pretty low expectations since 87% of the reviews I read said the food was awful, the staff was unfriendly and you may as well go to the Golden Corral buffet and get all you can eat for $7.99. Needless to say, I figured fried chicken, potatoes and butter beans can’t be all that bad, and I was willing to pay the $15 for the experience.

So the internet reviews were all bad, but the other thing that struck me was that every employee in the Savannah tourism industry really dislikes Paula Deen. We’re checking into our hotel the night before and the guy behind the desk says “What are y'all planning to do?” I say “Eat at Paula Deen’s!” and he freaked out in all his southern accentedness. “Oh my gracious, do not eat there! That is not southern cookin. She’s got a bunch o’ college kids from up north runnin that place.” And then at the visitor’s center the next morning – the nice middle aged woman behind the counter gives me an “oh dearie, I’m soo sorry for you” look when I tell her we’re going to Paula’s. Then on our trolley tour we drive by Paula’s and the driver points out the restaurant and tells us it’s no good and we should not go there.

So with all the support and encouragement of the people of Savannah behind us, Mom and I got in line outside of Miss Paula’s around 8:45 on Wed. morning. There were about 15 people in front of us in the line. Not nearly as many as I expected, but it was a weekday. The hostess started taking names promptly at 9:30 and we were told to come back at 1 for a 1:15 reservation. So we went off and took our trolley tour, stopped in a few shops, and then headed back to the restaurant. They seated us within 5 minutes of checking in and we were immediately given hoe cakes and cheesey biscuits. The mom wasn’t a fan of the hoe cake but I liked it.

So I thought the buffet was pretty good. The fried chicken was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, and I really liked the meatloaf. The mashed potatoes tasted like mashed potatoes and all the green things had a nice bacon-y flavor which makes all vegetables better. All in all, I thought the food was pretty good. I think maybe these internet reviewer peeps out there are expecting something more gourmet? Watch the show people! The woman makes fried chicken. Anyway, I feel sad for Paula that she’s getting such bad press from Savannah’s own. I’m not sure if it is affecting business, but I was surprised that by about 1:30 the restaurant looked like this:
We were out of there a little before 2 and they hadn’t seated anyone else. Maybe they take a break before the dinner shift?? Anywho, I'm still a fan and I'd even go again if I get the chance.

For all you men out there who read this blog.

2007-06-19T21:31:00.000-05:00

“I want to breed with you” is not a good pick up line. Just thought I’d point that out in case you were wondering.

The story goes a little something like this:

Mom and I decide to visit the pool at our hotel in Florida. As soon as we get in, Weird Scary Pool Man jumps in and wades over to us.

WSPM (to me): Are you in high school?

Me: No

WSPM: College?

Me: No

WSPM: Well how old are you??

Me: 28.

WSPM: No way!! I want to breed with your family. Get me some of that youth!

Ahhh!!!!!!!

Trip through the summer.

2007-06-19T16:29:00.000-05:00

The summer of trips is in full swing. It all started on Memorial Day weekend when I went with the girls to the Stonewall Resort in West VA. The resort (more like a lodge) was great, but the real fun took place on the road to WVA. Our first stop was in Harper’s Ferry where we opted for the 2 mile hike into town in our sandals and flip flops. The park ranger took one look at our outfits and suggested we take the shuttle, but we had none of that.

We walked around, had lunch, checked out some shops, got some rock candy, and a stamp on my passport and headed off to Antietam where I got another stamp. Yay! Post-Antietam is where the fun really began, and by fun I mean Wal-Mart. We went to Wal-Mart twice!!! And look what we got!

Kandi found 4 white sequined tube tops that cost only $1 each!! We couldn’t pass these up so we bought them without hesitation. Within minutes of arriving at the hotel, we were all sporting the tube tops and looking mighty sassy, I must say. And yes, there are pictures but I will not be posting them. All those sequins might burn your eyes. Then Rachel had the brilliant idea that the tube tops could double as mini skirts. We quickly did a switch-a-roo and came out (she in her Barbie and the Rockers t-shirt and me in my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups t-shirt) with the white sequined mini skirts. Again, no posting of the pictures, but man were they great!

I forgot to mention the glorious deliciousness we stumbled upon before we arrived at the hotel. It’s called the Dairy Crème Corner, but I like to refer to it as the Dream Crème Corner because if I could pick something to dream about, it might very well be funnel cakes. We got off the exit to stop at a Wendy’s or some such fast food joint and saw this:

Whoa! Stop the car, do a U-turn and let’s get us some funnel cakes!! But it gets so much better. They had a whole assortment of fried things. The fried Cauliflower was amazing!! We didn't even get any dairy products at the Dairy Crème Corner. Just loaded up on fried greasiness and went on our merry way.

We got even more adventurous the next day and went kayaking. And it was great. Definitely something I would do again and again. I dubbed us the kayak-tresses. I think Lyndsay put it best when she said this pictures resembles what Broadway might look like if they ever did a show in kayaks. Liza with a kayak, anyone??

Well, that about sums up the Memorial Weekend trip. Last week I went to Charleston, Savannah, St. Augustine and Fort Myers. Another good trip which I will post more about later. This weekend Liz and I are headed down to Charlotte and then we're off on the big road trip 07: New England! 3 more states will be crossed off the list. Woohoo!

This is the day that the Lord has made.

2007-06-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

I'm rethinking the Pilates for Jesus thing. I don't want to look back twenty years from now and see something like this.

Help! I'm a Deacon's Wife!

2007-06-05T20:49:00.000-05:00

This was one of the many great books my small group stumbled upon last night during an outing to the Christian bookstore. Unfortunately, I could not find a picture of the cover of this marvelous book but I will do my best to descibe it. Picture your typical Southern Baptist deacon's wife: shoulder length brown hair, bangs, red shirt with shoulder pads, (or you could picture any of the lovely ladies from the old school videos for the Beth Moore, A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place study) but then slap on some bright pink blush, fuscia lipstick, throw your hands up in the air and put a look of shock on your face and there you have it - the look of a woman who has found herself in a state of despair and confusion because she has no idea how to be a deacon's wife. I dread that I too may one day face this awful situation should I marry a man who God calls to be a deacon in the church. I can only pray that an updated version is published: Help! I'm a 21st Century Deacon's Wife!

On another Christian bookstore note, for those of you who have men in your lives, you may want to pick up one of these:

I have a new favorite movie.

2007-05-29T16:23:00.000-05:00

Well let’s be honest. If you know me, you know I use the word “favorite” pretty loosely, and I have about 37 favorite movies, but this movie has certainly made it close to the top of the list. And the movie is…. Drop Dead Gorgeous! Loved it. Why?? Well, it had four of my favorite things: Liza, Jesus, quotes from other random movies, and former SNL cast members.

The Liza references were so great and so unexpected! The best line comes when Brittany Murphy decides to drop of out the pageant and says “Let’s be honest. A family only needs one Liza.” This is so true. I am my family’s Liza.

The random movie quote is “Soylent Green is people.” My Dad loves the movie Soylent Green. Whenever you are eating something and you’re not sure what’s in it, just say, “Soylent Green is people.” :)

The former SNL cast member is Nora Dunn who plays one of the state pageant officials in the movie. She starred in my very favorite series of SNL skits as Liz Sweeney of the Sweeney Sisters. I love the Sweeney Sisters. I wanted to be a Sweeney Sister. I dreamed that Lorne Michaels would call me and ask me to fill in or play the long lost sister. Well, it turns out there was a long lost sister, Audrey, who showed up in one skit and was played by the one and only Mary Tyler Moore. I have that entire Sweeney Sisters’ show memorized and am willing to perform it for anyone who asks.

Jesus is all over this movie, because the people of Mount Rose are good Christian people. When asked, "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" Becky Ann Leeman replies, “I'd have good strong roots in a town like Mount Rose, a solid Christian trunk, and long, leafy branches to provide shade for handicapped kids on a hot day.” Ok - that's pretty funny, but you just can't beat her performance during the talent portion of the pageant.

And there you have it. I love this movie!!

Lost in a Dream

2007-05-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

Last weekend me and the mom and the bro went to Jamestown for the 400th anniversary celebration. It was a fun trip. We saw James Earl Jones, Ricky Scaggs, Bruce Hornsby, Chaka Khan, and Governor Kaine (although I’m more a fan of his wife Anne - partly because of her name and partly because she has a great dad who I have been singing about since I could sing). Anyway, the day at Jamestown was great! We lucked out and got VIP passes to the Hornsby concert which totally rocked.

But the greatest moment came later on that night. We’re cruising back to the 757 in the Hoopty Van (that’s the name I bestowed on my mom’s minivan when I was in high school. She has a new van now, but the name has carried forward). So we’re rolling along and it’s pretty quiet in the van when all of the sudden I hear from the back seat… "Straight up now tell me do you really wanna love me forever, oh oh ohhh. or am I caught in a hit and run?"

I just about died. It was my 26 year old brother bustin' out the Paul Abdul. For no reason. Except that he's awesome.

We sang Paula all the way home.

Accounting conferences are boring.

2007-05-23T16:04:00.000-05:00

This was the big conclusion of the day. It was halfway through a discussion on FAS 157 that I decided it was time to get out of the financial world and open Sweet Anne's or the PFJ Studio. That would be Pilates for Jesus. I'll teach pilates and we'll play worship music in the background. Wouldn't that be a great combination?

Also, since I almost fell out of my chair due to extreme boredom and exhaustion during the conference yesterday afternoon, I decided I would take some preventative measures and drink some caffeine today to keep me awake. So for the first time in my life I drank a diet coke. And I almost drank the whole thing!! Boomama and Sarah would be proud, I'm sure. I usually stick to water since caffeine after 3pm tends to keep me up til all hours of the night. I love the taste of coke, but since I'm trying to lose a pound or seven I decided to go for the diet. And it tasted pretty good! Now we just have to wait and see if I can sleep tonight (I stopped drinking it around 1:45 so hopefully I'll be ok).

Random Stats about my life.

2007-05-15T20:39:00.000-05:00

Yes, I’m a freak and I like to keep all kinds of random data on my life (actually it’s mostly all financial data, but by tracking how much I spend in different areas, I can also track the number of times I frequent certain places). So here goes:

Grocery Stores:

Last year I purchased groceries 121 times, which means I visited the grocery store (on average) once every 2.3 days. This makes me very happy because the grocery store is number 3 on my list of favorite buildings to walk into (church is 1, the library 2, mall 4, fdic 5). Giant came in first place with 48 visits and Safeway was a close second with 44. Harris Teeter took the bronze with 23.

Gas Stations:

Exxon came in first with 35 visits. Shell and Sheetz came in second and third with 13 and 10 visits respectively. If anyone is curious, I spent $1130.38 on gas last year. To be honest, this really doesn’t seem all that high considering how expensive gas was (and now is again) and that I went on an almost 6,000 mile road trip.

Shopping:

I made purchases at the AT and ATL a total of 17 times. I won’t tell you how much I spent :)

I only went to Wal-Mart twice which kind of makes me sad. I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a fan.

I made 11 purchases at Amazon.com.

Dining Out:

I ate out at least 139 times. This is difficult to track because sometimes I’m forced to use cash when eating out with a large group. My restaurant of choice for 2006 was Subway. I went there 29 times. So far this year I have only eaten there once. I’m over the sweet onion chicken teriyaki and have moved on to Quizno’s roasted chicken honey mustard flat bread salad. Yum.

Travel:

I purchased three plane tickets in 2006 (Jamaica, Seattle/Alaska, and Italy)
I purchased four train tickets (Seattle to Vancouver, and tickets between Rome/Assisi/Florence)
I stayed in 15 different hotels.

Entertainment:

I purchased music from iTunes 27 times.

I saw 14 movies in the theater last year. I think I can name them all. They are: Rocky Balboa, the Queen, the Departed (ahhh, why did I sit through that movie???), Thank You for Smoking, Little Miss Sunshine, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction (you know I love me some Will Ferrell), A Prairie Home Companion, A Good Woman, Curious George, Failure to Launch, The Benchwarmers, Akeelah and the Bee, and The Devil Wears Prada. I did not see Snakes on a Plane.

So there you have it. I'm a freak. But as Boy George says "if you knew what I knew, you'd be a freak too."

100 Hours*

2007-05-10T11:15:00.000-05:00

That's how long it has been since I last applied chapstick to my lips. And for those of you who know me, you know that this is a miracle that has only occurred by the grace of God. I am a major chapstick addict. I apply it approximately 3 times an hour, and I've been known to hyperventilate when I don't have any within arms length.

According to my friend Janelle, it will take 3 weeks for my lips to heal themselves. Right now they are dry and red and cracked and downright funky, but I'm still alive and that's what matters. The first two days were pretty painful, but since yesterday, I haven't been thinking about it much. I keep listening to the Lincoln Brewster song "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord." Call me crazy, but just singing that chorus in my head instead of thinking about chapstick has really helped. Yay God!

I wonder if the Salvation Army takes unused tubes of chapstick? If I really break free of this addiction, I've got about 10 unopened tubes that will need a new home.

*I had too many titles to choose from for this post. I almost called it "Revive our Lips"; a play on Nancy Leigh DeMoss' Revive our Hearts ministry but didn't know if anyone would get it :)

Funchester

2007-05-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

This weekend me and some friends headed to Winchester for the Apple Blossom festival. Wayne Newton was the grand marshal and Cissie Graham (Billy's grandaughter) was the queen, but the star of the show was my dad and his tractor (IMO). Here are some pictures.

And here's a little video of dad in the parade. Ignore the last few seconds when some women runs into me :)

Jesus called again.

2007-05-04T05:58:00.000-05:00

Or someone who wants me to love Him.

Yes, this is the call log on my phone at work. You will imagine my surprise when I came back from lunch and saw "Love Christ" at the top of my phone. I told my secretary about it and she was just beside herself with how amazing it was. It was a great afternoon of remembering how awesome Christ is and of showing everyone else in the office that Jesus really does exist because he just called me. So there, you non-believing co-worker peeps (no I didn’t really say that).

At first I saw it as a reminder that Jesus loves me, like he had just left me a message and signed it "Love, Christ," but it was also a reminder for me to love Christ above all the other crap I tend to focus my heart and mind on. God is always working to turn my heart back to Him - even through random phone calls.

Well, a couple of days ago the secretary came running down the hall saying "Guess who called?, guess who called?" I'd forgotten about the whole "Love Christ" thing until she yelled out "Jesus!!" Man was she excited that he'd finally called her! I've been praying that God would do some work in my office and it looks like this is a start! So I'd like to thank Him for putting Mr. Love in this job, and I would like to thank this guy's mother for naming him Christopher Love, and finally I'd like to thank my place of employment for truncating names in the call log after 10 characters.

With a Gentle and Quiet Spirit

2007-04-29T15:03:00.000-05:00

Last night I went out to dinner with a few friends and had a great meal at an Italian restaurant in Clarendon. Afterwards, we went back to the church to listen to some tunes and I let out the faintest burp - at least, I barely heard it. Now, I'll admit that I'm a burper. Growing up, my mom would always get upset with me because I loved to burp at the dinner table. And the more it upset her, the more fun it was for me to burp even more (I was such a pleasant child).

Anyway, back to last night: so I burp. Then my friend turns to me and says, "Wow Anne, did you just burp??" and I say, "I guess so." Then he says "That was a very nice burp. You really burp with a gentle and quiet spirit."

Now, I don't think Peter was referring to a woman's burping skills when he said that her beauty should come from a gentle and quiet spirit, but I say, if a gal's got to burp, that's the way she should do it :)

Ann has been letting me down.

2007-04-25T20:10:00.000-05:00

Maybe it’s because she doesn’t spell her name with an “e”?? For the past several years I have shopped almost exclusively at the AT and the ATL (as I like to affectionately call them). Lately I have not been able to find much of anything that flatters me. I always leave there thinking I would give you people all my money if you would just supply me with something that fits but alas, no luck.

So this Monday I went shopping and stopped first in both of the AT's. Nothing. Then I went to Macy's and discovered Michael Kors. Thank the Lord! I found a shirt that is way more stylish than anything I normally wear and it fit me. So I bought two. I also tried on a MK jean skirt. Didn’t get it, but it reminded me of how great it would be to have a cute jean skirt for the summer so finding one became my new mission. I stopped in the Gap and AE and realized that jean skirts these days are about 10 inches long from the waist. I can totally relate to Christine’s post about feeling too old for some of these stores. So I continued on to BR and was headed to Guess when I noticed the Tommy Hilfiger store. I’d never been in a Tommy store (other than the outlet) and thought it might be a little pricey, but after the MK purchase I figured I’d moved up a bit in the fashion world, so Tommy would be perfect. And he didn’t let me down. I found the perfect jean skirt (simple and at the knee) and it was 83% off. Yeah I know. The original price was $168 and it was marked down to $39.99 but then rang up for $29.99. Craziness! Best shopping day evah!!!

See you later Trav-ass-ah!

2007-04-23T16:14:00.000-05:00

This weekend we had a going away dinner for Travis. He will be leaving us to go home to NJ for the summer and then he'll be off to law school in the fall. To show him just how much we've appreciated his friendship over the last year, the ladies decided to enhance our looks in a special way: we all wore white bows in our hair!!

At dinner a couple of months ago, the conversation turned to a small christian college where supposedly there is a group of young ladies who wear white bows in their hair as a symbol of their purity and their desire to marry a pastor-to-be. While all of us ladies were gagging during this conversation, Travis seemed to really like the idea. So we sported the white bows for him on Friday night.

Even Albert joined in on the fun, but Travis didn't quite know what to think about all that!

We'll miss you Travis and we hope that one day you will find a nice wife who likes to wear white bows in her hair.

What good is sitting alone in your room because sometimes you can't make it on your own.

2007-04-22T11:13:00.000-05:00

The gift card I got last night at my church's creative arts team appreciation dinner. I'm flattered to know that Liza and Bono appreciate my service to the church and the tech team.

My Hair is Back!!

2007-04-21T15:12:00.000-05:00

Praise the Lord Jesus!! I have been having hair drama for the last month and a half. It all started the last time I got my hair colored. I decided I'd ask my hairdresser Fabi to give me some bangs. It seemed like bangs were in lately and I have to do everything I can to keep my cool factor up. So I described to her how I didn't want them too short and how I wanted them to sweep across my forehead and she seemed to totally understand. Then she started cutting. From the looks of it, I thought she had everything under control. My fear had been her cutting them too short, but that didn't seem to be a probem. Well, when all the blow drying and poofing was said and done, I had this big ol' mess of bangs that went more than half way back into my head. Ahh!! It was freakish!! My hair is pretty long, so it looked like mega bangs on top and then long straight hair below. Just a mess. So I've warn my hair back everyday since then and I don't look hideous with the hair back but I'm just not a fan. I could no longer take it anymore so this week I visited a salon recommended to me by one of my small group girls. I just have to say that Daniel at Subairi Salon in Dupont Circle is a genius. He was able to blend that bang mess into the rest of my hair, and pull off some shorter layers without me looking like Carol Brady (one of my biggest hair fears). I am happy and I'm wearing my hair down. Thank you Daniel.

I'm busy making tuna fish sandwiches as fast as I can.

2007-04-14T22:11:00.000-05:00

Fun weekend. Last night I met Justice Alito at the John Carroll Society dinner. What a kind and unassumng man. I think I was the only non-Catholic who attended, yet I was mistaken for a high schooler who won an award for her essay "Why I'm a Catholic." Supposedly, at 28, I was the youngest looking person in the room and so the presenter of the award assumed I must be the recipient. I told her I would gladly accept the award if high school chick never showed up :) but alas, she did, and she got to go home with $1000.

I attended the dinner as the blind date of a friend of one of my coworkers. Very nice guy, but all I could think of the whole time was how much he looked like Jimmy Olsen of Superman fame and I'm definitely the kind of girl who's attracted to the Superman himself. Oh well.

BTW - the title of the post was a line spoken by one of my friends tonight. It's kind of an inside joke, but I cracked up so much when I heard that I had to include it in the post somewhere so as not to forget.

One of my Fav TV shows.

2007-04-13T14:56:00.000-05:00

I really want a "That Girl" t-shirt. Can't seem to find one online. Maybe I'll make my own.

Mary on the Hill

2006-09-22T12:17:00.000-05:00

Whenever Mary's in the news I just have to write about it! She was on the Hill this week endorsing a new magazine from the NIH. The mag “provides unbiased information about the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research of common diseases to a wide audience.” Sounds good to me!

It’s too bad I heard about this after the fact, because if I had known she was in town, I would have metro’d on over to the Hill to catch a glimpse of Mary.

‘Cause I’m a Mary Tyler Moore stalker (just in case you couldn’t tell from my Minneapolis pics).

Growing up, my family watched a lot of Nick at Nite and around the age of 10, I fell in love with the DVD and MTM shows. I used to flip through the new TV Guide each week to make sure I caught every show/movie/infomercial that she might be on. And then in the 90’s Mary came to my hometown which just added to the obsession (and I got her autograph – woohoo!). When her autobiography came out, just about every family member and friend bought me a copy. Each person was so proud that they had found me the perfect gift that I didn’t have the heart to tell them I already had 8 copies at home!

Several years ago, my grandmother was a guest on the Rosie O’Donnell Show, and I prayed and prayed that Mary would be the star guest that day. I had these dreams of being backstage with G-ma and Mary sitting right next to us getting their makeup done. Unfortunately, I got stuck with Jason Priestly and Chita Rivera, but they both rock too and Chita is way up there on my list of fav stars! So it was all good!

Since being you know, an adult, I decided my obsession/stalking should calm down a bit. And it has for the most part. Not to worry though, I have friends who do the stalking for me. :)

This is Andrew last spring on a visit to New York. He saw a sign for a Broadway Barks auction hosted by MTM, so he headed over and took this lovely picture. Mary is on stage with Bernadette Peters. I have great friends!!

DC Life

2006-09-20T12:17:00.000-05:00

As Alan and I stood outside of the office today trying to decide what to eat for lunch, our conversation went something like this:

“Which way are you going?” Alan asks.

“I’m going to the right.” I say.

“I’m going to the left.” says Alan.

“Okay, see you back at the office!”

As Alan headed for the Breadline and I headed toward Potbelly’s, we both looked back at each other and laughed. Even in choosing where to eat lunch, we just can’t seem to get past our political affiliations.

"Would you please serve us by serving somewhere else!"

2006-09-20T11:45:00.000-05:00

I have a feeling this phrase will catch on better than Donald Trump’s “You’re Fired!”

Oh how I love Sovereign Grace Ministries! These guys just crack me up (and man can they bring the truth!) CJ Mahaney rocks! My friends and I joke (although maybe we shouldn’t joke about these things) that first we asked Jesus into our hearts and then we asked CJ in. The man can preach it like no one else, and he always points the listener/reader back to the gospel. If you’ve never read The Cross Centered Life I highly recommend it.

So back to the funniness: According to Tim Challies’ website, it looks like CJ is looking for a new successor.

Here’s an excerpt from Challies’ blog:

Gaithersburg, MD - From Sovereign Grace Ministries, based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, comes news of an exciting new competition. Throughout the Fall, Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) will travel the length and width of America, visiting malls and megachurches across the nation seeking The Successor®.

Find the rest of this hysterical post here:

http://www.challies.com/archives/002092.php

I could write about road trips forever.

2006-09-19T21:48:00.000-05:00

Some more road trip thoughts:

1. It's fun to have a theme. The theme of this summer's trip was America A-Z. We didn't get all crazy and go through the alphabet in order, but we made sure we visited a site beginning with each letter. We had to make up an "X" ourselves, but the other 25 letters worked out great!

2. Take along a mascot. The gnome is way to0 over done. Sock puppets are fun and you can make them yourself! Baked goods work too! The soda bread is durable and easy to travel with. Your pastor's first born child is also fun for photo ops, but he needs to be returned to the parents eventually! For this recent trip, we took my co-worker's Geico gecko bobblehead because the little guy really wanted to see the states. Unfortunately, we only let him out of the car once!

3. Get the National Park Passport. No, I'm not talking about the Park pass (which is necessary in its own way). I'm talking about the passport which you can fill with stamps for each national park or national historic site that you visit. These are so much fun and years down the road you'll have a record of the exact date you visited the park. I highly recommend these for kids (I know my future chillins will have them). I've seen many a kid running for the stamp pad at the visitor's center, and the passports are also very educational with info. on each of the parks specifically and info. on what each region of the U.S has to offer.

4. Go on a road trip as soon as you can! Go with your friends, go with your family, go with anyone who seems normal and will help you pay for gas! The U.S. has so much to offer and is very accessible. And if you haven't seen much of it, you'd be amazed at how different it is from coast to coast. So get out there and have a look for yourself :)

For BooMama's road tripping pleasure:

2006-09-19T12:50:00.000-05:00

Thanks to BooMama’s question, and the fact that my roommate and I just got back from a road trip, I decided to post some road tripping tips that worked for me and Liz. This post relates specifically to in-the-car entertainment. Later in the week, I may post some more advice about must see places, churches to visit, road trip themes (A-Z?) picking the perfect road trip mascot, etc.

But for now, here's the entertainment adivce. Super important tip #1: Plan Ahead!!! Don’t just hop in the car with your CDs or iPod and think the music you brought will last you for the whole trip. Trust me – even your favorite artists will begin to bore you. We drove close to 6000 miles, and at an average of 60 mph (drove faster than that but I like the simple math thing) that’s 100 hours in the car! That’s a heck of a lot of music. That being said, along with our typical musical favs (mostly contemporary Christian stuff) Liz and I decided to listen to music specific to the areas we visited. And let me just say – it made the trip so much more fun!!

Once we came up with our list of songs, we decided we should establish some road trip music playing policies and procedures. First, we needed to elect a Road Trip DJ. I nominated Liz and she seconded the motion. She was voted into the position 2-0. Yay for Liz! We then came up with the follow P&P’s:

The Road Trip DJ position requires agility and skill. Study playlist prior to trip. Songs about TN (for example) can be played in another state, but DJ must be prepared to switch to the state specific song as state line is crossed.

Play site specific song as you approach destination. This increases anticipation and creates potential for silliness. Play site specific song with windows open while cruising by/through said site. Sing along loudly. Passing cars may honk. This causes more silliness.

Do not attempt to play the role of both DJ and driver.

These P&P’s worked perfectly for us, even though we missed the teeny weeny “Welcome to Colorado” sign on Interstate 25. Oops! My apologies to John Denver.

So here’s our song list (in no particular order):

Graceland – Paul Simon
Walkin in Memphis – Mark Cohn
Nashville – Indigo Girls
Rocky Top – Every country star ever to exist sings this song, but I love the Dolly version.
Rocky Mountain High – John Denver
Toledo – John Denver (this song’s hysterical!)
Viva Las Vegas – Elvis
Leavin Las Vegas - Sheryl Crow
Everyday is a Winding Road – Sheryl Crow
These Thousand Hills – Third Day (Cause we figured we’d see a thousand hills, ya know?)
Wide Open Spaces – Dixie Chicks (For driving across TX, OK, UT, AZ)
Lubbock or Leave It – Dixie Chicks (Texas)
Yellow Rose of Texas – we chose the Elvis Presley version
Climb Every Mountain – The Sound of Music (great for crossing the Rocky’s)
There is no Arizona – Jamie O’Neal (we were able to find it)
Midnight Train to Georgia – Indigo Girls (can be played even though not traveling by train)
Philadelphia Freedom – Elton John
Chicago - Sufjan Stevens (you must listen to this guy if you never have before!)
Gary Indiana (from the Music Man)
Oklahoma (from the musical)
Take me home country roads – John Denver (for the drive home)
Jackson – June and Johnny (seems to be a Jackson in just about every state!)
Dust in the Wind - Kansas (play when you see the “Beware of Dust Storm” signs in Utah. Don’t play it in Kansas)
Proud to be an American (God Bless the USA) – Lee Greenwood (play anywhere, but good for those states for which you have no other song)
Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac (to be played everywhere)

Oh - and it's ok to make up your own songs along the way, especially for states where fun songs don't exist. I wrote a little diddy about Wiscon sin(ning) (to the tune of "What did Dela-ware?"). In case you're wondering how it turns out, Wiscon's sins are forgiven.

FYI - These songs will become stale while on a two week road trip. Bring lots of Chris Tomlin, Dave Crowder, Third Day, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, Watermark and Passion type music. Oh - and it never hurts to pop in the Backstreet Boys to mix things up.

One more tip – download lots of sermons. Many churches now have them on their websites. You can have a mini worship service right in your car! Play a few songs, listen to a sermon, then play a few more. But don't attempt to raise hands or pray (with eyes closed) while driving.

And one final tip – books on tape are great too. We listened to several, but we both really loved John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. It’s about Steinbeck’s trip across America with his dog Charley in the 60’s. The perfect road trip book!

That's it for today's road trip fun. I bummed that I missed yesterday's Oprah episode. Guess that's what reruns are for :)

For the love of Spinach

2006-09-15T15:01:00.000-05:00

Today’s news has brought a tear to my eye but also created a flutter of praise in my heart to the Lord. Let me explain. First of all, I love spinach and I generally buy the kind in a bag since it’s more fun that way and between Giant and Safeway, one of them has it on sale. Second, I have a favorite sandwich from the cafeteria at work that I tend to eat everyday (by the way – our cafeteria was named the best cafeteria among DC government agencies although I can’t seem to find the article). Anywho, the sandwich is a wrap with ranch dressing, spinach, chicken, provolone cheese, and bacon (although lately I’ve been ordering it without the bacon because I’m going through a “God doesn’t like pigs so I don’t either” phase. I have to come up with a good biblical reason for the decisions that I make).
All that to say that last week I was struck with this bright idea: Why not buy some wraps, spinach, chicken and cheese (I’ve got the ranch dressing), and make my own wraps at home to take to work. I’ve been convicted lately about eating out and spending too much money on food, so this seemed like a step in the right direction. This weekend I headed to the grocery store to buy my ingredients to prepare my lunches for the upcoming week. Well, I got to the Giant and bagged spinach was not on sale. I almost bought a bag anyway, but then I remembered the times I found myself at home on a Friday night eating handfuls of spinach (which I really don’t mind) just so I wouldn’t waste half of the bag I’d bought earlier that week.

As all this was going through my head, I realized I could just get a few tongfuls of spinach off the salad bar. Brilliant idea! That way, I probably wouldn’t waste any, and since spinach weighs next to nothing, the salad bar spinach costs next to nothing as well.

The plan worked out perfectly. Mon-Thurs (today I went to Subway for some sweet onion chicken teriyaki yumminess) I had my chicken/spinach/ranch wrap and it turned out pretty good. I do miss my walks with Alan to the cafeteria though. Then the news came on this morning. Don’t eat bagged spinach! Throw it out, burn it, bury it in the back yard! When I heard the news I recalled my visit to the grocery store this past weekend. Was the Lord ever looking after me! He gave me the brilliant salad bar spinach idea so I wouldn’t be sitting here today thinking I have e.coli. Just a reminder that he cares about even the simplest aspects of our life right down to the kind of spinach we buy. Now I just have to pray that the bacteria didn’t make its way into the pre-packaged sugar snap peas. Ever since I convinced myself that sugar snap peas really = brownie mix, I consume about 2 Ready Pac’s a week.

Back to spinach - When the country’s spinach is back in full operating order, here is a great recipe for spinach artichoke dip, brought to you by the etiquette girls:

1 can artichoke hearts (not the marinated kind, the ones packed in water), drainedMayonnaise (regular Hellmann's, not the low-fat/ low-cal kind)1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese (or a parmesan/ mozzarella/ provolone blend, which you can buy premixed at the grocer's!)1/2 package chopped spinach (optional)Crusty bread and/ or Carr's crackers

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Chop artichoke hearts in the Cuisinart, or mash them up with the back of a fork. Don't chop them too finely--it's better if the dip has some Fairly Sizable Artichoke Chunks in it.

Place artichokes in bowl; mix in 2 or 3 Good Dollops of mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, cheese, and spinach (if using). Is the dip creamy? If not, add more mayo.

Turn into a small casserole dish. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until dip is bubbly, and golden-brown around the edges.

Serve with crackers and/ or bread.

From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee, across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea (almost).

2006-09-15T12:11:00.000-05:00

I wonder if Lee Greenwood has actually seen all the places he sings about? Well now I have!

My roommate Liz and I have just returned from our “road trip/survey of the states/A-Z tour of America/visiting all those friends out there” vacation. And what a vacation it was! The whole thing went off without a hitch! Well, before we left I did have to take the long route to the gas station, and then drive up and down Stafford St. a couple of times before pulling back into the driveway, but you know what the outcome was? An odometer smack on 65,000 miles! Woohoo! How’s that for a great way to kick off a road trip! Makes adding up the mileage pretty durn easy. When we left I casually said to Liz, "Oh look, we're starting off right on 65,000." It wasn't until the next day that she caught on and asked me how many times I'd driven around the block:)

Now let me just tell you… the Ford Escort was a trooper. I’ll admit, I’ve been contemplating a new car for a while, so one reason for the trip was to let the Escort go out with a bang. And if that were to happen literally, we did have a backup plan: Car breaks down. Leave on side of road in middle of Utah. Hitchhike to nearest BMW dealership. Buy the dark blue 325i with grey interior and integrated Ipod hookup. Drive on.

Alas, the plan was never put into action and I’m now more in love with my little Escort than I was before the trip started.

So back to the trip. In two weeks we visited 19 states: Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee. It’s funny to me that we saw so much of the U.S. and still only visited 19 of the 50 states. Some of the highlights: seeing Brian in Madison, WI, the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis, visiting Danica in SD, Emeril’s restaurant in Vegas, the Grand Canyon, four corners, Arches National Park. But the all time superstar highlight of the trip: The Grand Ole Opry! Hands down best three hours I’ve spent in a long time! I’m a fan of country music, but the thing that got me was how many of the artists pulled out some good old gospel tunes. That’s all I grew up with! Until I discovered Paula Abdul in the fifth grade, I didn’t really know any artists existed other than the Gaithers, the Kingsmen, and the Cathedrals. So, if you haven’t visited the Opry, I highly recommend it.

Oh – I’d also like to add that our trip was sponsored by Priceline and Hotwire. Let me just say that we were able to stay in some fancy pants hotels for some Days Inn prices. The Millennium in Minneapolis, The Pines Lodge in Beaver Creek, CO and The Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville to name a few. If you’re planning to stay somewhere for just a night, definitely check out these sites. If you pick something 3-star and above, it’s unlikely you’ll be too upset with the outcome. And how fun it was to wait the 5 seconds for the confirmation to come back with our hotel name!! It provided that extra bit of joy one needs after driving 600 miles!

On Monday night we pulled back into the driveway with the odemeter at 70,876 miles! We drove an entire 5,876 miles! (see - if we'd started out at something like 64, 397, there's no way I would have been able to figure out how far we'd gone)! My wackiness paid off.

I've decided I'm ok with putting my face out there for all to see, so here's a link to some road trip pics: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbtWLdy4aOXMA