IKEA

I visited the Atlanta IKEA this past weekend with my lovely friend Barbara. It was so overwhelming. I had no idea IKEA made so much stuff. They even had a cafe where you could order Swedish meatballs (how appropriate considering the founder is Swedish) and other Swedish delicacies. The baked goods smelled wonderful but I resisted.

I did buy a few small items and so did hundreds of other people. We could barely find a parking space when we got there. I assumed everything was very Jestons-esque and cheaply made but they have wonderful things to suit everyone's taste. After working up an appetite walking around the huge showrooms (two-floors) we went for lunch at Cafe Intermezzo. It was so very yummy. We had croque monsieurs and fried potatoes and two desserts. I was in heaven. I didn't really do much else except shop and eat this weekend. Again, I was in heaven.

Still A Virgo

I'm not sure if I fully understand (or believe) the latest developments about the zodiac.

Whatever the case, I'm still a Virgo.

Snow Days!

Such excitement! Classes were cancelled yesterday and today due to massive amounts (for Georgia) of snow, sleet, and ice. It's been lovely not having to go to work but I can't really go anywhere else either. I've ventured out a little and Jeff and I drove around the neighborhood some yesterday.

Getting up at my usual time gives me a chance to workout and get some reading done but I get a little antsy after 2 hours or so. Sandi seems to love the snow but Remy is mostly undecided.


The snow is starting to melt some but it's still below 40 degrees. I've got big plans for this weekend so I hope the weather improves soon. I think we are expected to report back to work tomorrow anyway. It was nice while it lasted!

Ready for Christmas

This post is full of dog pictures (yes, again) and a little bit of Christmas decorations. This is Cody and Remy taking a nap. They stayed like this for at least two hours.

Me and Remy enjoying the fire. I'm not sure how to explain the face I'm making but it's funny. The fire has been especially nice this year.
Remy on the recliner. He looks like he's been using the spice in Dune. When you see his eyes in person they're black. The camera flash must make them blue.
Sandi and her new coat. She loves this thing. Remy has one too (it's a kind of purple/blue color) but he doesn't like it.
Sandi and Remy watching Jeff outside. We try to keep this window open as often as possible.
Remy at his favorite spot in the house.
Sandi enjoying a rare Remy-free-fireplace moment.
On the couch, kind of together.
Our Christmas tree and presents. The tree is a tiny one that we keep on top of the kitchen table. Remy will just chew the snot out of a tree and ornaments on the floor so we're playing it safe.
This is the first wreath I've ever had. I love it. I've also never had a fireplace to decorate for Christmas and I love it. I ordered stockings for me and Jeff and Sandi and Remy. I have a few stocking stuffers ready but not many.

I'm pretty much done Christmas shopping and I'm so excited to give everyone their gifts. I'm also super excited about Christmas breakfast and dinner. I've done a lot of baking the past several days. I've made heavenly bits, rice crispy treats, peanut butter balls, orange cranberry bread, sugar cookies and 4 loaves of zucchini bread. Yummy!

Elbow to Elbow

Well, the Savannah Bridge Race was this past Saturday. I left work early to head to Savannah before dark. My sister and her friend (Maya) and I went to dinner at the Driftaway Cafe. I had a wonderful parmesan and crab encrusted grouper, very tasty. For dessert we stopped by Lovin' Spoonfull. A frozen yogurt place similar to Yogli Mogli. Trix and Cake Batter, yummy! Then we headed back to my sister's house to work on our race costumes. We decided to call ourselves the Merry Misfits. We had Santa, Rudolph and 3 elves. My costume didn't take much work so most of the night was spent sewing and gluing items for the elf outfits. We woke at 5:30am and left at 6:30am (we had last minute costume things to do) and picked up another friend (Dawn) and headed to park the car. Santa (Yvette) met us and we got in line to for the trolley that would take us to the start of the race.

That's right people, we had to wait in line to get to the start line. This took a rather long time and the race was supposed to start at 8:15. By the time we loaded off the trolley we all had to use the facilities. A row of about 10 porta potties awaited us. It was a long line and let me just tell you, the horror stories surrounding porta potties are based on fact! I'm still scarred by what I saw. Anyway, we all walked to the end of the line and waited for the race to start. There were so many people there. I was completely shocked and overwhelmed. There were at least 3 thousand people ready to race.

I decided not to run for a few reasons: 1) running elbow to elbow with strangers is not something I'm used to, 2) my excitement about running stopped about 10 minutes into waiting in line for the trolley, 3) we were staying for the after party and I don't like to stand around in my sweaty clothes for hours, this is for the benefit of others as well as myself (yuck!). There were lots of people in costumes. I was under the impression that it was group costumes only but there were several individual costumes.

Yvette (Santa), Michanne (Elf), Me (Rudolph), Maya (Elf), and Dawn (Elf)

We saw eight cute/slutty reindeer, a few Santas, two sets of tortoise and hare, beaker from the Muppets, Mrs. Pacman, a Christmas tree, a girl dressed up as an Avatar (from the movie Avatar), bacon and eggs, and a political group that included Bush, Palin, Obama and 3 secret service agents, to name a few. We did not win. The political group won. $400. They were indeed hilarious but they didn't put much effort into their costumes. No late night sewing for them. It was fun and all the Merry Misfits finished in under an hour. The after party was a nice idea for people to mix and mingle and a lot of people took our pictures. The band was pretty terrible but everyone seemed to enjoy the free beer.

This is me and Maya listening to the The Trainwrecks (and boy were they ever) and me scratching my forehead. I think my skin was allergic to those antlers and I rubbed my forehead raw. I have a very thin scab now. I enjoyed a greasy and delicious chili cheese hot dog and french fries after the race. I headed home around 2:30pm and was dead tired before I even got to the house. Would I do this again? Ask me again in a year. That might be enough time for me to adjust to the difference between a Milledgeville 5K and a Savannah 5K.

Christmas is Coming!

I'm super excited about Christmas this year. I just ordered my very first Christmas wreath and I can't wait to hang it above the fireplace. I also have my three weeks off from work to look forward to. I'm already trying to get my books to read list in order. I would really like to read as much as possible over the break and not just watch TV. Oh, speaking of TV...

I was thinking about this clip the other day and I just had to share. So funny! Speaking of (sorry, I'm out of phrases today) funny, I was browsing MSN.com today under the food tab. They usually have great holiday recipes and I love the idea of homemade and edible gifts. I was about to look at the recipe suggestions when I saw this...
What are lamp chops?

Part 1

I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 last week. I loved it. It didn't feel as long as it was and I can't wait for the next one. They changed a few things but nothing significant like in the Half-Blood Prince.
I think the trio has greatly improved on their acting. Even Emma Watson did better and she usually stinks. I'm not sure if this book was the one out of the seven that needed to be two films but I'm not going to complain about an extra Potter film.

Remy

A while back I said I would post some pictures of Remy. I have some from the first couple days that we had him and a few here and there since then.
Jeff took this one on his first full day with us.
This was later that night after I bought him a collar. Doesn't he look dashing?
Remy and Sandi. Sandi is working really hard to ignore him.

This is as close as she would let him in the beginning, and only for a minute or two.
My family came for a short visit a while back. We went to dinner and I wanted them to get a chance to visit with Remy. Remy and my Grandpa really liked each other. Every time I turned around Remy was back in his lap.



The pictures on the bed were taken last week. They've become pretty good friends now.
This doesn't look very comfortable but he slept like that for a long time.
Taking a break while playing.
They're waiting for Jeff to get out of his truck.
Resting on top of the couch.

Remy stays pretty active during the day but when he sleeps he sleeps hard. I can pick him up and put him in my lap or on the couch and he won't make a peep. He's extremely sweet and funny and I'm really glad we have him.

To The Finish Line

I ran my first 5K of the year this past Saturday. It was the annual Will Robinson Memorial run. This is my third year participating. I was originally going to be out of town on the race weekend but I moved some things around so I could run. It was my best 5K time ever! I was so happy when I crossed the "finish line" and saw my time on the clock.

These are the results (of those that submitted them, I did not). I did better than the average of both male and female. I beat my best time by 63 seconds! I'm running another 5K with my sister in Savannah on December 4th. It's the Savannah Bridge run.

I'm excited but I don't know the route and there will be tons of people there. I know it's on the bridge but I don't know if it's a long incline type thing. I'm eager to see if I can shave off even more time.

The Twilight Saga

I have at last finished all four books in the Twilight Saga. I found the first two books to be ultra boring, the third very frustrating, and I thoroughly enjoyed the fourth.

I read Twilight about 3 years ago and couldn't stomach the idea of reading another one. But, I enjoy the movies (for the most part) and the students continue to be obsessed with the books. Not to mention my BFF Frances and my sister have a fondness for the series. I thought I should give it another try but this time I went the audio book route. The reader was so-so. I didn't really warm-up to Jacob until the last book. The movies may be partly to blame for this because I think Taylor Launter is horrible in looks and acting skills. So, I'm definitely a team Edward person, especially after finishing Eclipse. I think he's an admirable character with more patience than humanly possible (oh, wait, that's right, he's not human). I think Bella is a little cruel with the men in her life and she's not really worth fighting over (as a human anyway). Stephenie Meyer's writing seemed to improve as she went along. Breaking Dawn was very long in comparison with the other three and I can understand why two movies might be best. I really enjoyed (and still do when it comes on the movie channels) Twilight the movie but they kind of made stuff up. New Moon and Eclipse were more faithful to the story line. Alas, I fully understand the appeal of the series and will only focus on the things I enjoyed about the books in the future. Next, I would like to read the Graphic Novel of Twilight and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.
I started listening to The Hunger Games today by Suzanne Collins.
I've heard good things about this trilogy from several sources. I'm also reading We Two by Gillian Gill. It's about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. I liked the movie Young Victoria and I wanted to learn more about their relationship and her reign. It's been a fascinating read thus far. Oh, and I'm going to see Harry Potter tomorrow night!!

There was so much going on this weekend (more on that later) and I didn't want to fight the crowds so I decided to wait until tomorrow night to see the movie. I'm so excited!