Phillies Phriday

Forget Halloween, around the office it was all about the Phillies!!

After the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series in a suspended game five Wednesday night, our boss Tony declared it Phillies Day on Friday and brought in all of his garb to help get us decked-out for the occasion. Go team!!

I just couldn't resist

Dilemma

Here’s the scoop. I got a voicemail Saturday morning from a ward member telling me that she is throwing a candle party the following Thursday, and wanted to invite me. She said she had an invitation to give me, but hadn’t seen me in church the previous Sunday to give it to me personally. Also, because she’s in Primary, she never ‘sees’ anyone. Note: This is The Assumer from this post. We aren't super chummy.

On Sunday I anticipated the exchange where she gave me the invite and I feigned excitement while trying to come up with a conflict of why I couldn’t go. Well Sunday came and went, and besides seated during sacrament meeting I only saw her at a distance down the hall between classes.

So here is my dilemma:
I know that I will not be buying any candles at this party (there’s not really any spot in the budget for party purchases, especially ones that cannot be eaten or used to cover the body).
Do I go ahead and attend, giving the appearance of being interested, but the disappointment of not buying? What if the peer pressure is too much and I give in and buy one? Then I have to come home and tell my husband I was too weak to say no. Or do I just go as an attempt to branch out and make more friends, just to learn that there is a reason why I am not friends with the party hosting/attending type?
OR
Do I just not go? The hubby and I can always use the QT (quality time), right? When I see the hostess next I can just small talk it like always and ignore the fact that I didn’t go to her party. It's not like we ever discussed it together. It is very easy to not get voicemails, right? And with not actual invitation (paper or e-vite), I don't even know what time it starts! These women’s husbands will eventually graduate Med school and move away, right? And if not, then hey, we’ll only be here for19 more months, right?

I guess it really comes down to what is ruder:
A: Go, eat the food, and hang out, full well knowing that you will not be making any purchases.
B: Being a no show.


Please, sound off.

Happy Early B-day to Me!!

I've been doing some research on healthy eating, and really wanted to get a blender so that I could start making Green Smoothies.

Well, Stas wasn't too thrilled with that, because I had sort of {cough, cough}, given away {cough, cough} a blender that we had gotten for a wedding shower gift. No-I didn't re-gift it!! We hadn't used it in the first ten months of our marriage, so in an effort to get rid of all the things we hadn't used before we moved across the country, I had sort of given it to Stas's best friend Eric. Okay, so I am totally guilty.

Well, while we were at Costco, earlier this month, I spotted a red blender!!!! Oh beautiful day, I hadn't seen a red blender anywhere (especially not one under $100, much less at this reasonable price!). I convinced Stas that it would be an excellent option for my birthday and he agreed. Wow. I really never thought the day would come when I would want a home appliance for my birthday. Well, here we are, not to mention the bread machine I want for Christmas.

Armed with my red blender and a fridge full of veggies I embarked on my first adventure in the world of "raw" eating. Here I am with my very first green smoothie! I have had 1-2 green smoothies every day since then. I can absolutely tell a difference in my energy and my body. I can now go much further for my morning runs and I don't come home wiped-out, I haven't once had a sore muscle, and I find it much, much easier to get up in the morning. Which says a lot coming from me!!

Yesterday Stas even joined in on the smoothie loving. He also said it tasted pretty good, which is HUGE coming from someone with such a refined pallet, seriously!

While I am not 100% converted to the raw diet, I am definitely learning a lot.

Here are a few of my favorite food links (consider it 'food for thought,' ha!):

• Green Smoothie Girl (Robyn's infertility struggles did a complete 180, when she started eating raw. Oh yeah, and she stopped having to wear glasses!)
  
• Anne (not actually a food site, but has a ton of good recipes and tips)
• Running Raw (a professional athlete who eats a completely raw vegan diet!)
• Raw Food Art (how she overcame cancer is a miracle!)

Apartment Up-date

When Stas got back from his internship this summer we made a few changes. We flipped the living room around and added a new cozy chair and ottoman.Note the beautiful impatients. We started these babies from three tiny seeds. They are gorgeous!!

We also got some new seating (I love the double X's on the backs of the chairs!), tablecloth, place mats, and napkin rings! Check out our snazzy monogrammed napkins (thanks Mom!!!).

Random cell phone photos

Back in July I saw these beautiful hydrangeas at Wal-Mart. They were so gorgeous I wanted them for our balcony (as if there is any space left, it's our own little Garden of Eden). Knowing that I was about to go out of town for two weeks, I decided against purchasing their beauty, but they will always be remembered!

What you can't read on this sign is "Gentle Family Dental." I, for one, am very impressed at someone's ability to rhyme gentle and dental.

One day leaving work a bunny rabbit was just hanging out, waiting for me by a tree. Well I was too slow getting my phone out, and this is the only shot I got of my furry friend as he (or she) scurried away.

I had never seen these stubby shopping carts until we moved to PA. They are really quite genius. They are so easy to maneuver around a crowded store, and they are just the perfect size for my quick trips to the market.
This photo of Dirt is from the 4th of July. Seriously, these shades are "all the rage!" Everyone I know wants to try them on. They say it is just because they are curious, but I know it's because they only wish they had enough confidence to wear them on a daily basis, right?
When we were all together for Bean's wedding we even took turns passing them around the table and taking everyone's photo wearing the stylish eyewear. This time Plip couldn't pull the "I'm embarrassed to be seen with someone wearing those sunglasses, so please find a different pair to wear or I refuse to get out of the car" card on me, like she did when she came to visit this summer!

FOG

The fog was incredible this morning!! All the moisture from the river sure makes a difference. I was very, very glad that I am so familiar with my route to work, because in certain areas the visibility was only 20 yards or so. You couldn't even see the stop lights, until it was too late to slow down! Here's a shot from my parking lot at work. There was not the worst of it, but you get the idea. Behind those trees is a huge seven-story office building completely hidden by fog.

Congratulations!!

Congratulations go out to my friend Kristi, her husband Christopher, and all of their family!


Abigail Katherine Malcolm, born at 2:29 on Wednesday October 8, 2008. She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 20 ¼ inches long. She is a beautiful little girl with a head of beautiful dark hair.

Kristi and I met our Freshman year at BYU and enjoyed a lot of crazy-good times during the following few years. Then she moved back to North Carolina to marry the love of her life, Christopher. Kristi, I'm so happy for you and your baby girl!!!

I never thought this day would come

Hallelujah!!!!I am SO glad that gas is back under $3/gallon!

Happy Lief Erikson Day!!!

As a shout out to my Icelandic heritage, I would like to wish you all a very merry Lief Erikson Day!!

As a recent visitor to Columbus, OH and knowing that our local public schools get Columbus Day off, I'd say that my homeboy Lief's getting the short end of the celebratory stick! Amerigo Vespucci too, for that matter!

Leif Erikson Day is an American observance occurring on October 9. It honors Leif Ericson, who brought the first Europeans known to have set foot on North American soil. In 1964, Congress authorized and requested the President to create the observance through an annual proclamation. Lyndon B. Johnson and each President since have done so. Presidents have used the proclamation to praise the contributions of Americans of Nordic descent generally and the spirit of discovery.

In addition to the federal observance, some states officially commemorate Leif Erikson Day, particularly in the Upper Midwest, where large numbers of people from the Nordic countries settled. In 1930, Wisconsin became the first state to officially adopt this holiday, thanks to efforts by the Norwegian-American initiator, Rasmus B. Anderson. A year later Minnesota followed suit. In 1963, the U.S. Representative from Duluth, John Blatnik, introduced a bill to observe it nationwide. The following year Congress adopted this unanimously.

October 9 is not associated with any particular event in Leif Erikson's life. The date was chosen because the ship Restauration coming from Stavanger, Norway, arrived in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825 at the start of the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States.

Source

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