Bye, Eric!

Today is my co-worker, Eric's last day in our office.  He's leaving us for greener pastures and I wish him all the best but I will miss him so!

Eric is like a brother to me.  He makes us all laugh.  Sticks up for us.  All that business.  Some days he feels more like an older brother, some days more like a younger brother.

I will miss all of our funny conversations about topics I choose to keep private.  I will just share a gem of wisdom with you that he shared with us yesterday... 

Eric explained to us that he is further evolved than the rest of mankind.  (stay with me here)

You see, he doesn't have much (any) hair on his head.  Men have lost a lot of hair since the ape/cave man days when they used to get around on all fours.

Eric says the human race has been moving closer and closer to being hairless (because of global warming), so the fact that he is bald(er) means that he is further along in the evolutionary process.

Just a little genius gem for you on this special day.  There are other celebrations around here, too.  Indian food.  Cupcakes.  Waffles.  Hopefully there will be more celebrations to come because I know this isn't goodbye, it's just see you later, jealous of your schedule and I still owe you wings for helping me move (before you have to do it again in 6 months)!

Eric, so long!  I wish you all the best in the world, enjoy your new life!!

I feel like a gallon of milk

February is always the fattest. month. EVER.

I have had way too much crap to eat this week.  I think I've been to Starbucks, or had it brought to me 3 times, at least...

I've had fast food twice.  And just this morning, I've had Indian food, a cupcake and now I'm chugging down a hazelnut latte.

I feel like a giant gallon of white milk. (whole milk at that)

Big. 

Fat.

White.

Iiiiiiccccckkkkkkk.

Every year, I say I'm not going tanning.  It's bad for your skin, etc... 

I'm thinking about going now anyway because of my "gallon of milk" complex.  Plus, the evil wedding world is making me feel even more like a big, fat, white gallon of milk.

Or a marshmallow.  I don't know.  I'm continuing the wedding dress search this weekend.  I called a couple of places yesterday to set appointments up and one place pretty much laughed me off the phone because I asked if they had anything in a "street size 12" to try on.  You see, in bridal land, if you are average, you are obese.  I felt like the fattest fatty in the whole world... like the girl pretty much said to me "Pshaw! We don't carry sample sizes THAT BIG!  They don't even make wedding dresses THAT BIG because girls that big don't even get married!"  All she really said was "no, we don't."  The rest was in my head.  But still.

Gallon of milk.  Eeeewww.

I LOVE this stuff!

So last night was President Obama's pseudo State of the Union address.  Can I just tell you how much I love this stuff??  Seriously.  You can have the Oscars.  I don't see movies, and if/when I do watch the Oscars, I don't even know what/who should win because I don't know the movies or the people!  I kind of like the dresses, but that's what people.com is for the day after!

Now... State of the Union... that's like the Oscars for me.  Or the Super Bowl.  Or I don't know, whatever you get really excited about watching on TV.  I love it!  I love naming the Congressmen and Senators and Supreme Court members and members of the Cabinet when they're arriving and when the camera is panning the crowd during the speech.  My favorite moment of all is at the very beginning, when the Sergeant at Arms introduces the President... "Madam Speaker... the President of the United States" APPLAUSE.... Oh, that moment!  It's so electric!  So cool.

I can't wait to get off today and go home and watch it again!  I really miss seeing these things LIVE.  Don't get me wrong, I love my DVR, and I'd be lost and seriously professionally challenged if I didn't have it, but State of the Union (or adress to a Joint Session of Congress in this case) is better LIVE.

By the way, did you guys catch Morning Joe live from the White House yesterday?  Have I made you all into Morning Joe watchers yet?  If not, why not?  Check out clips from their show yesterday, it was fabulous, I love that show!!

Nephews!

I don't think there's any better measure of time going by than a young life.  Case in point: my nephews!

MY OLDEST NEPHEW, JORDEN IS ***20*** YEARS OLD TODAY!!! What in the freaking world???

All of those things they say are true - where does the time go?  Time flies?  Etc.  All true.  If I weren't just a kid when JT was born, I'd feel really old (I kind of do anyway, but that's okay!)

 

JT is the man.  He's A MAN and that's taken some getting used to.  But he's in college, he has a job, a truck, and apparently does his own laundry, which is further than a lot of "men" make it in life!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDEN!  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

(side note: bear with me on these photo sizes, I can't deal with the drama of re-sizing and all)

 

And would you look at Colby???

He's growing up so fast, too!

This weekend he went to RING DANCE!

And he has a truck too!

Laundry... well I don't think he knows what that means yet, but I am confident he will get that one day with my sister as his mom!

Isn't the Colbster a handsome young man??

 

And my precious Baby Brayden is growing some monster big boy teeth, check 'em out!

I'm not sure what the story is with the blue ribbon and the car, but I have a feeling it's how my sister coaxed him into being photographed.

He is a beautiful child, yes? Those eyelashes!!

 

And, even though I'm not actually getting married for another 6 and 1/2 months, I'm already claiming this handsome fellow as a member of the Dana's nephew club.

Brody!!  He can rock a faux-hawk with the best of 'em!  Brody is such a big boy and he's about to be a big brother soon!! (Congrats to Crystal & Jarred)

To another...........LITTLE BOY!!

Seriously!!  The nephew club is out of control.  I love them all... from my 20 year old manphew to my tiny, growing in-uterophew!  XOXOXOXO.

Home Sweet Home

Aaaahhh.  That was an exhale.  Over the weekend, I finally completed my move.  Everything is unpacked.  Everything has a place and everything is where it belongs!  This is how I like life to be.  All perfect and in its place.  Oh, how I wish it could all stay like that!

I feel like, in so many ways, I'm in this "preparation" stage.  One of the things I'm going to have to get a grip of is that not everything is perfectly placed all the time.  Sometimes the unexpected happens.  Sometimes there's just a lot going on and you have to know where to draw the line - that it's okay if there are clothes in the hamper or trash in the trash can because you have to sleep or put something else before having this perfect perfection.

I realize more and more every day that I am my mother's daughter.  I remember as a kid not understanding why my mom worried ALL THE TIME, telling her to CHILL, RELAX "we'll figure it out,"  etc...  Wow, staring 30 in the face, now I get it.

So, yeah... I'm working on that.  Like I need another project, RIGHT?

Meanwhile... have a look at my 800 square feet of perfection (for now):

I really like this apartment :)

 

 

 

 

Thank you, Blog

Shout out to my boss, for reading the blog and bringing me THIS yesterday:

 

Thanks, Wendy!

Have y'all had these chocolate cupcakes from Starbucks?  Hands down, the best thing I've ever had out of the STBX bake case.

Oh my goodness.  This, plus a glass of milk, shoooooot.

The icing is fudgy! (*my mouth is watering as I type this*)

Yesterday I made some serious progress in organizing/unpacking.  I'm such an organization nerd and I really enjoy that kind of thing!  I can't wait until this weekend when I can spend all day Saturday just playing in the new place!

Next I need to clean my car out.  I've practically been living it and it is such a mess!  And my purse.  Oh, goodness.  I don't know about you, but you can tell the state of my mind by looking in my purse:

 

Yeah... I'm a mess.

Let's talk about what's in there:

-2 ipods

-Excederin & Ibuprofen

-3 kinds of chapstick like products

-2 full notepads

-multiple to do lists

-2 pairs of sunglasses

-And I had 3 packs of gum... now I'm suddently down to none at all.

See all of the doubling/tripling up?  And there's free change and receipts at the bottom.  Don't even get me started!  This drives me NUTS, too.  I can tell by all of the doubling/tripling that I'm afraid I'm forgetting something.  That's where disorganization will land you, people!  It's all about having good systems.  Can't wait to clean this sucker out!

One more thing for today.  Look at this picture I have on my desk:

 

Awwww, right?  I miss so much about this picture.

My brother.  My sister.

A summer dress and a tan.

Daydreaming....

It's going to be a good day!  I just realized there is a Diet Coke in the fridge that is mine.  I didn't drink it yesterday, so I'll gulp it down right now.  Bonus!  And, in a matter of hours... I'll be finding out if I'm having a new NIECE or a new NEPHEW!!  Baby news alert!

Can't stop thinking about 2 things...

Today I am super sleepy.  My eyelids feel like they're lifting weights.  I can't stop thinking about my bed.  Oh, how I love it so.  Warm.  Cozy.  Soft.  My warm puppy behind my knees, all snuggled up.  Can't wait to get back there!

I'm also seriously craving chocolate and if I see any or if I know anyone has any, they better watch out!!  I promise you I could throw back like 3-4 packs of Swiss Cake Rolls right now.  By the way, my friend Michelle recently did a fun little survey/competition pitting HoHo's against Swiss Cake Rolls, check it out.  I wonder if HoHo's are more of a Northern thing while Swiss Cake Rolls are more of a Southern thing.  I grew up with Little Debbie!  She was always at Granny's house! :)

So, yeah.  Chocolate and my bed - the two things I simply cannot get out of my mind right now.

We have a Winter Storm Warning today.  Ugh!!  Make it stop.

Starting the week on Tuesday is a good thing.

It's kind of Monday, but it's Tuesday.  Thank God for President's Day!  And thank you to all of the Presidents.  I needed that day of rest!

Anytime the week wants to start on a Tuesday, that's fine with me.

I woke up not feeling well, boo!  I have to remember to set up my humidifier tonight.  I want to drill a hole in my head there is so much pressure, argh!

I'm still adjusting to my new life out in the burbs.  My 9 minute commute to work has turned into almost half an hour.  I know I shouldn't complain because a half hour commute in DC is like blinking.  But let's remember, that's one of the nice things about coming to work at 1:00am!  I have been listening to the radio a lot more (obviously) and I've decided my two favorite songs right now are P!nk's "Sober" - I love the part where she says " don't wanna be the girl who has to fill the silence... " then there is actual silence, brilliant!  And I also love the song "Chicken Fried" by the Zac Brown band.  It's so redneck but I do identify with it :)  Randomness... I know, P!nk and country music but I'm ever on scan, and I really do like a little bit of everything, so there you go!

Thoughts from this weekend:

1.  I love my fiance.  He managed to still make my Valentine's Day special, from 1200 miles away because he's awesome like that.

2.  Friends are fun and I'm thankful for them.  I saw Becky Barber on Saturday night and it was great, as always.  Love her!

3.  My apartment is darling, yet a disaster area.  I'm expecting the official declaration from the White House soon - hey, perhaps I can get some federal assistance?  I wish!!

4.  I love my church.  This "Greater Things" series is kicking my butt but in a good way, I need it!

5.  Wegmans is the best grocery store on the planet.  I was expecting it to be super expensive, but it wasn't!  And there are 29 lanes and when I was there (Sunday afternoon) they were **all open**.  Impressive! 

Okay, I think that's all for now.  No pictures from my weekend, sorry!  As soon as my apartment is up to an acceptable condition (probably next weekend because I'm crazy busy right now) I will post pictures.

NYC with my girls

This past weekend, we (meaning Gretchen and I) road-tripped it up to New Jersey.  Then we (meaning, Gretchen, Courtney and I) took the train to New York to see Shrek the Musical.  Shout out to Gretchen for an awesome Christmas present!*

*I realize that I am likely the only person in America who still uses "shout out" (other than Sarah Palin) and I'm okay with that.  Really, I am.  So, there.

NJ/NYC with the three of us is hard to top, I must say.  When we get together, it's a serious ab workout.  All the laughter...  We should make a DVD and an infomercial and a million or so dollars.  It would be an even bigger hit than the Snuggie!  I mean, remember what happened the last time the 3 of us converged on the Big Apple?

 

G$$ gangsta stylin' in the car.

We were busting a move to old school Sir-Mix-Alot... we did not even know at the time how prophetic those "Baby Got Back" lyrics were!

 

First order of business - hanging out with Baby Ro.

He's 5 MONTHS OLD NOW!! And it had been like 4 months and 3 weeks since we had seen eachother, so we had some bonding time.

He is so cute and easygoing!  I love his little outfit here, he looks like a teenager... I was looking for his skateboard.

Those tiny little cargos, oh my goodness!  Adorable!

 

Would you look at this lady?  Doesn't she look AMAZING!?!?

Courtney, you impress me.  And I continue to be jealous  of your hair.  I think I've had hair envy for about, oh, I don't know... the last 15 years or so!

Baby Ro eats food now!

And he likes applesauce.  Yet another thing we share...

I don't even know where to begin with this.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (*doubles over in laughter*)

First of all, it's not what you think... Gretchen is not with child... she is with pillow...

Second, how about THAT FACE?

That is HOTT, right?

Third, look at Baby Ro in the background, he's like "What in the world???"

MONEY.

The gestation period of a glowworm is remarkably short.

I'd say... about 5 minutes.

She has her mama's eyes...

 

Apparently big blue eyes are in right now...

 

We got in Courtney's car to head to the train station... I thought it was the perfect time to catch up on some light reading...

You know, "Nursing Mother, Working Mother."

WHAT????

Obviously, I didn't actually read it since I am not a mother, nor a nurser.  (if that's even a word) The whole concept freaks me out and I don't even like to watch puppies nurse and you know how much I like puppies!

AAACK.

 

Oh, I almost forgot this picture... Courtney's husband, Ro.  You can't really see it, but on that hat, there are little bear ears or something.

Ro put it on to be funny, but kept it on like all afternoon.. it was pretty hard to take him seriously when he was talking with that hat on!

I like this quote from Gretchen - "Hey Courtney, who's weirder? Me or Ro?" Tough one.

 

Finally in New York!  This is how we roll:

Starbucks.  Chinese.  Cupcakes.

Back to back to back.

Look at my beautiful friends!!!

(I always forget how tall Courtney is!)

We spotted this sign while we were waiting for a table... good to know, yes?

Apparently they're in high demand?  Or perhaps not, because I saw the actual "CPR Kit" and it kind of looked like something that should be in a museum...

 

Courtney.. why don't you order us some drinks???

Um.....

I think we'll just have water....

 

 

We cabbed over to the Buttercup Bake Shop.

Um... YUMMMMMMMMMO!!!!

The cab driver was so on to us!  We didn't say WHERE we were going, yet he pulled right up to the cupcake place.

Hmmmmm.....

 

They were SOOOOOO good.

These new, fancy, high end cupcakes have changed the way I view cupcakes.

I can no longer support regular, old sugary icing grocery store cupcakes.

Ick on those.

 

Courtney is all sexy looking with her cupcake... and Gretchen.. well.... she's looking rather glow-wormy...

Haha!!

 

Secret discussions were going on during this photo op...

Hopefully he didn't hear WHAT we were talking about, but thankfully our adorableness forced one of the cupcake shop workers to come over and GIVE US A FREE RED VELVET CUPCAKE to take a picture with...

 

Proof.

Then we ate the cupcake.

No pictures of that, just trust me :)

I don't think I've ever posed with a cupcake before, but hey, why not, right?

 

On our way to the show, we ran into an old friend...

Hello Kitty!!!!

Shocker: we took some more ridiculous pictures :)

Then, it was SHOWTIME!!

My first Broadway show!! 

It was fantastic!!  The singing, the dancing, the stage stuff (super technical term, yes), it was very well written (HILARIOUS)... it was all together impressive and I loved every minute of it, especially...

 

Lord Farquaad!!!! I don't know what it was about the actor walking around for the entire show on his knees with fake little legs that was SO FUNNY but something was, and every time he was on stage, I immediately started laughing.

The best was a scene when he was in the bath and he had his little feet stickup up through the bubbles.... oh, my goodness!! It was so funny!!

I totally admire that dude for walking around on his knees for 2 hours, too! Wow! Impressive, I tell ya.

 

It was fantabulous!  Mmmuuuah Shrek the Musical!

Thanks to two of my bestest friends in the world for an excellent adventure!

NYC, we'll be baaaaack!!!

Yay Steelers!

I was just reviewing and realizezd I never gave a public blog shout out to my Steelers!

Way to go, guys!

 

Too bad I slept through half of the game... the exciting half.

For what it's worth... I was wearing my jersey as I slept.

Gotta Brag on my Church

I don't like to get all religious up in here either.  But I've got to have faith.  And you do too. (really) And I have to brag on my church for a minute. May I?  Okay, thanks.

I have the honor of going to National Community Church.  We are one church, 5 LOCATIONS.  Mostly at movie theaters in the DC/Northern VA area.  I am so honored to be a part of a church that just loves God and loves people.  That's it.  Plain and simple.  Good stuff.  It doesn't hurt that the staff is amazingly creative, the Bible is preached in a way that is relevant and intriguing enough to make me want to dive back in and the fact that it is full of excited people who are chasing after the dreams God has given them.

Last weekend, I went on the annual leadership retreat in West Virginia.  It was my first time.  And it was so great!!  The pastors just loved on us leaders.  Served us. Inspired us.  Challenged us.

 

The theme - "Greater Things."

We are expecting greater things this year!  It is so exciting to pray with such joyful anticipation about what God is doing in us, through us and among us.

These are just some of the greater things we are hoping and praying for at NCC this year.

What an awesome time of reflection - where we've been - and inspiration - what awaits us.

Pastors Mark, Heather and Joel were right on the money.

I enjoyed the time away, meeting new friends and kicking off this year of ministry.

This past Sunday was SUPER EXCITING because NCC launched it's 5th location - KINGSTOWNE!

I had to miss it, but from what I hear, it was amazing.  I'm so excited to be a part of it and to see what GREATER THINGS are to come!

Shout out to Pastor Chris!

Thursday Morning Post

This is random, yes, I know.  First of all, you know I don't like to get all political up in here but I really wish everyone would stop crying about this digital television transition.  It is NOT that hard, people!  And, I'm sorry.  The last time I checked, television was not a right.  If you want to watch TV, get with the program.

Now, for something happier - from the blog that brought us all that fun with coffee stains - LEGOS!

I'm sitting in my living room, surrounded by boxes.  Some are full.  Some are empty.  Tomorrow is my last day to pack and I'd say I'm about half way done.  I still have to pack up the kitchen, which is a big job.  And do a real, good, final deep cleaning.  By the way - Oxyclean is AMAZING!  I've been using it to clean EVERYTHING, and while there is barely any skin left on my hands, I feel like this apartment is really clean!  Haha.

I tried to be RADICAL in cleaning things out.  Tried not to think too hard about what to get rid of.  If it doesn't fit, hasn't been used or worn in a year, I don't love it or have super sentimental attachment to it - It's probably in the back of my SUV waiting to go to Goodwill. (I use "goodwill" for all thrift stores, excellent branding, I guess)

The SUV is full.  I'm not hoarding it to give to my family for a yard sale.  It's not worth the trip.  I'm not listing it all on Craigslist or Ebay.  It's not worth the work.  What is most valuable is the space getting rid of that stuff will free up.  I want to live more simply.  This is a step toward that goal.

I better get to work.  I'm having another bad hair day.  I wish I could wear a ball cap to work!