busygirl

fashion fix.

As a follow-up to my curling post the other day, I am left with a burning question...

How can I secure a pair of these pants for myself? 

 I am in dire need of some Norwegian curling fashion.

give a dog a bone.

As every pet owner does, I laid down some ground rules when we got Ricki - he can't sleep in the bed, can't go on the furniture, can't eat people food...and as expected, not one of those stuck.  Except the people food rule, unless of course my brother, Adam's dad or anyone unable to withstand his puppy-dog eyes is within three feet of him.

Some of my friends will feed their pets anything, seriously.  And just as an FYI, if you're a dog owner - BIG no-nos include grapes, blueberries and chocolate.  We're really careful about what we give him...mostly cheese, carrots (did you say carrots!?!?!?  ::enter beggin' strips commercial here and replace with carrot sticks::) or every once in a while a piece of meat.

But Adam made soup last weekend and I couldn't resist.  Ricki has never had a real bone - he doesn't even chew on rawhide (he's not the SMARTEST dog, he'd probably choke on it).  So we dug one out of the pot and placed it in a bowl to see what he'd do.

He looked at it for about a minute.

Tried to pick it up (enter in loud chorus of 'NO!' as my dreams of a clean carpet went whizzling through my head)

 
And then finally figured out that the good stuff is in the middle :)

 

hard! die! curl!

I love the olympics.  It's the only time when regular, everyday people become experts on sports that no one even knew existed.  You know what I'm talking about.  You're sitting at the bar watching Lindsey Vonn complete in the Giant Slalom and the guy next to you is downing a Bud Select while critiquing her form on the third turn.

'Ohhh, did you see that?  She should know better than to tilt her knee over so far.  She could've made up some time if she had raised her arm about two inches.  She really should've worn light blue, everyone knows you can ski down the hill faster if you're wearing light blue.'

Ahh yes, we are all experts.  Especially when watching in HD.  You're practically in the action.  Which can only mean one thing - you're actually smarter than the coach.

This year, I decided to be an expert in curling.  A sport which by definition should involve a hot iron and enough hairspray to deplete the ozone layer completely. 

But according to the dictionary, it's a legit sport played on ice in which two teams of four players each compete in sliding large stones toward a mark in the center of a circle.

So basically, the ice age came and the cavemen could no longer play baseball.   Or it was invented by these fine lads in Wanlockhead (Scotland).

Regardless, I felt the need to spend copious amounts of time studying this fascinating game in which a heavy stone is hurled down the ice at a couple of painted circles.  There are people with brooms, people without brooms and people yelling.  I'm not quite sure which position has the most effect on the outcome of the game, but I did manage to make a few observations while watching the matches:

1. Contrary to popular belief, the bumpy surface is not made by pouring water on top of bubble wrap and letting it freeze.

2. If you pre-clean the ice with a broom, the stone leaves less dirt as it passes over.

3. Yelling does, in fact, make the stone go further.

4. The competing stones will move out of the way if the thrower stares hard enough at them as he delivers his stone down the ice.

5. Bowling shoes are an acceptable alternative to curling shoes.

6. There are three kinds of shots in curling: the draw, the guard and the takeout.  All three look exactly the same.

7. Scoring is irrelevant because regardless of whether you win or loss, one of your teammates is bound to be a bartender so you're getting drunk any way.

8. You get to wear jerseys that rival any little league team.  There is protective headgear available should a shot just go wild.

Obviously I have taken much time to study this sport, mainly through my droopy eyelids as Adam screams at the tv.  I don't get it, but curling apparently is a very popular sport that is regularly played throughout the country even though we only recognize the fact that it exists every four years.

In conclusion, I digg it (roll it, throw it, deliver it, etc)...do you?

you capture: shapes

Day in and day out I stare at this thing.

It's familiar.  The 'squares' fit my fingers perfectly.  I love the soothing typitty sound the 'squares' make when I touch them.  Rarely do I miss a 'square' and usually it's because I had become utterly distracted by the lovely 'circle' on my desk (my ever-coveted coffee mug).  The 'squares' don't stick, don't correct me, don't miss a beat.

And so, I spend hours upon hours with this 'rectangle', full of its tiny, perfect, little 'squares'.

What did you capture?  Head over to Beth's to see more!

sixty years and counting.

My grandparents have been married for sixty years as of today.  Sixty years.  That. is. amazing.  And inspiring.  And comforting to know that you can put up with the same person for that long.  Maybe Adam and I have a chance :)

 

Happy 60th anniversary Gramma & Grandpa, we love you!

(you're still as good looking as you were on the day you said 'I do')

wordless wednesday: grandpa's silly kitty.

tweets be gone.

Ah twitter world...you may have noticed that my tweets are missing from my sidebar...there's a reason why that will be revealed in the coming months.  I have replaced my tweets with a button to follow me on twitter where I will accept all and any friends.  Unless you are a prince in Africa trying to get me to give you my bank account number.  Believe me, you'd be disappointed in the balance.  It's not worth the effort.

Never fear, the tweets will return eventually.

try this: chocolate drunken berry sundae

I made this once and have been dying for strawberries to come back in season so I can make it again!  There's something about fruit, chocolate, ice cream and alcohol all in one bowl that just equals HEAVEN.  You won't be disappointed!

Ingredients

1 pint strawberries or raspberries, stems removed

A few splashes of orange liquor (I usually use Triple Sec or Grand Marnier)

1 cup dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate

1/4 cup cream

Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Soak berries in liquor for 15-20 minutes.  Melt chocolate and cream either on the stove or in the microwave.

Scoop vanilla ice cream into serving bowls.  Top with berries (use a slotted spoon to drain alcohol) and then with melted chocolate.

Enjoy!

friend or foe?

As I was perusing through my google reader this morning, I stumbled across this post from Chow's Chatter and it kind of hit upon something I've been struggling with lately.

I'm well aware that friendships can change as drastically as Ohio's weather.  Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst.

People grow apart.  Their interests change.  They move onto other friends.  Or you do.

Life changes things.

This has been on my mind a lot as I've been working on the final guest lists for the wedding and bridal shower.  And struggling with which friends or 'friends' to include.

In particular, I'm struggling with deciding about these two girls that I work with.  We used to be good friends, but like I said, life changes things.  One of them is having a baby and although I have something huge going on in my life, all of the focus is on her.  I understand that growing a human being is beyond amazing as compared to getting married (ugh, I sound selfish) but I expected my 'friends' to express some form of excitement for me or at the very least acknowledge that I'm spending every breathing moment outside of work trying to plan a wedding.  Maybe I'm expecting too much of a friend, but it seems weird to me that they aren't excited at all.

So I'm struggling with whether I should even invite them.  Would they really be coming to celebrate with me?  Would they even show up?  I wasn't even invited to my friend's baby shower (I have a great baby blanket I made for a girl if anyone needs one!) so does it even make sense to invite them to my wedding?

Sigh...

Friendships change.  I'm so thankful for the close, consistent, wonderful friends that I have.  And sad that every once in a while, friendships drift away just like this one did.

snowbunnies.

Another fun day of snowboarding, but man does my tailbone hurt!

Adam and I both spend a decent amount of time on the beginners hill trying to learn some new moves.  And although successful, I spent a good amount of time laying on my back, covered in snow spray while the six-year-olds whipped around me.

Sighh...I'll never be as good as those six-year-olds.  Future olympians.  I expect to be in their gold medal thank you speeches for being an obstacle in the middle of the mountain while they were training as kids.  You see that snow-covered lump?  That was me.