Eat Dust BGJHSN!

Last night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for some beer and (of course) wings. We also competed in the trivia challenge and left with the first place win and full stomachs. We held the lead for the majority of the competition but a player known only as BGJHSN (real original huh?) started to close in on our projected victory. Luckily, we risked everything on the final question and successfully edged out our phallic obsessed competitor.

One Step Closer...

ETS orders* in hand - a wonderful feeling. While it may seem silly for two 20-somethings jumping with glee in their kitchen over a silly piece of paper, for us it means a new beginning. We’re exploring job options across the Southeast and hope to know our location-to-be within a month.

I do feel a bit lost. So much freedom; freedom of choice is on the horizon. We get to choose where we live, what type of house to buy and what kind of job to accept - it really is a bit overwhelming. I find myself obsessing over large salaries, granite tile and stainless steel appliances…hardly signs of a simple life. I am torn between wanting it all (perfect job, perfect house, perfect car, etc…) and wanting a minimalist existence that promotes nothing but clarity and piece of mind.

We admire the adventurous spirit of Jennifer and Andrew. I would love to sell most of our possessions and go travel for a year or two and return to the ‘real-world’ but I doubt we will. I fear becoming a suburban drone with a late model car and the newest shiny things but yet part of me wants that life…pearls and all. I turn 25 in a month. I am convinced that I am having a quarter-life crisis, Clay says I am overreacting (who…ME?). What do I want out of life? I am lucky that I have a portion of my pie of life figured out…I do know that I want to spend the rest of my life with the best husband and greatest guy (in case there is any confusion, I am talking about Clay).

Maybe one day I will wake up and everything will be clear and presented to me in an easy to read outline format with footnotes. Until then, we will continue to beam with excitement over our soon-to-be life change.

*estimated time of separation from military service

The Housecats!

In effort to make us perform better at the bowling alley, our team decided to name ourselves The Housecats and create t-shirts for team unity. We arrived at The Housecats because we may appear fun, innocent and pleasant but, after time we may become finicky, territorial of our lane and feisty. Housecats can scratch; sometimes the scratch can be so bad that one needs a topical antibiotic to fight the infection. In the direst of situations, cat scratch disease can overwhelm one’s body. Lesson: don’t mess with The Housecats.

I put my craft skills to use and made t-shirts. At first we attempted to dress Desi, our housecat, in armor for a picture intended for the back of the t-shirt. As one can see, that did not end well. For whatever reason he did not enjoy the tin-foil hat and sword (not pictured) Clay fancied for him.


The end product...front

Fabric scraps are fused to the front for the cat face and an older picture of Desi in a box graces the back of the t-shirt along with our namesake. Go Housecats!

Frigid Sunday

Coffee cup in hand, there is nothing like looking out your living room window and seeing the above view.  Yes, it is as cold as it looks.  The South is calling our name....loud.

Music a'la Uncle Jerry

I have an Uncle. Uncle Jerry is his name. Many of my fondest childhood memories are based around when Uncle Jerry, Aunt Donna and my cousins Matt and Nick would fly from Detroit to Phoenix to visit our brood or our summer cross-country trip to Michigan. A large family joke envelops the time Uncle Jerry had me convinced that Max Norminair invented the air conditioning unit for cars and sold his idea to Henry Ford. Young and naïve while sitting in my dad’s Ford Ranger, I listened with fascination as he pointed out the “Max Norm Air” lettering on the air conditioning panel and informed me that it was Henry Ford’s way of giving Max Norminair credit for the vehicle air conditioner.

I held on to this truth for quite some time until one day our family of six was piled into our full-size van and I decided that I would ‘wow’ my audience with my immense vehicle air conditioning knowledge. After repeating the story, Mom and Dad burst out laughing (thanks guys…) and asked me where I had heard such a tale. As soon as I said “Uncle Jerry,” I knew I had been had.

Anyways. The point of this post is to pass along some fantastic songs that Uncle Jerry recently e-mailed me in my quest to expand my music library.  Here are some of his picks:

• Banditos - The Refreshments
  
• Strangehold - Ted Nugent
  
• Biko - Peter Gabriel*

*We also recommend Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel about his spiritual experience on top of (you guessed it) Solsbury Hill.

Enjoy!

Writer's Strike and Chinese Food

It is a dire state of existence when you begin to look forward to Celebrity Apprentice on Thursday nights. Chalk full of has-beens, who are they's and he/she is still around?, the show caters to the viewer who enjoys watching people caged within the D,E and even F (who the hell is Nely Galan...seriously) lists of Hollywood hierarchy. They stumble with and into 'real-world' tasks in attempt to impress Donald Trump with the intention to eventually sell books, promote new straight-to-DVD movies and live the last 7 seconds of fame (yes, Stephen Baldwin I am talking about you). Sigh...yet, we watch the future rehab patients with fascination and humility.

We miss The Office. Rewatching the three seasons on DVD and reruns on TBS is not enough. If the writers continue to strike, I am afraid that I will begin to search bathroom stalls and dark streets for my fix. The Regional Director in Charge of Sales, Andy Bernard, is no longer visiting us in our living room with new stories as we eat Chinese food (sesame chicken...drool). Instead, he is showing up later than usual and telling stories we have alread heard. Not. Good. Enough. I end this post with a declaration to The Office in the words and style of Nicole Kidman as Ada in the (bad) movie Cold Mountain. "Come back to me. Come back to Cold Mountain my living room."

Karen

Bowling Over the Competition

We joined a bowling league. When friends propositioned an offer to good to refuse, we signed up and officially became league bowlers. We stink.

New Year - New Changes

Yes, we have become that boring couple we feared. In order to turn the volume up on our existence, we have added more oomph to our blog. We will now host a Song of the Week and Celebrity of the Week and function to aid in your internet surfing. Please feel free to make music suggestions (Uncle Jerry, that is directed towards you...) as we're always on the look-out for current and/or old music that doesn't hurt our ears. What do you think?

Scott as Spike

Mom and Dad sent us this picture of when they went to see Scott (Karen's brother) in action as Spike ( a UGA mascot) at a men's basketball game. We hope to see Scott performing his stunts (hopefully) soon!

Hitting the Slopes...

Some of our friends organized a last minute ski outing last night so we decided to suit up and join the fun. We had a blast whizzing down the local ski hill and enjoyed the fire inside the lodge. Perfect weather, good friends and a great way to spend a Friday night!

January 1, 2008 in Northern New York

View from our front door...burr!

Happy New Year!!!

Yesterday we said goodbye to 2007, which brought pain, happiness and lessons learned. We celebrated with friends (and strangers) by attending a luau complete with homemade Hawaiian punch, pineapple, coconut shrimp, fruit kabobs and (of course) champagne.


Clay delighting (?) ears through his singing on Rock Band.


Guests really embraced the tropical theme of the evening.


No, Karen is not disgusted by her husband but from a comment across the room.


no comment

The cold northern New York weather kept the party indoors but we did not let that stop us from having a terrific tropical time. There was a bit of a damper on the evening when we had the unpleasant experience of watching Clemson lose to Auburn during overtime in the Chick-Fila Bowl at the Georgia Dome. After the game, a group of us stayed glued to ESPN due to their ringing in the New Year with “New Year No Limits” by watching Robbie Maddison attempt on the world record for the longest motorcycle jump (he did). You see, we were all astonished that ESPN had the nerve to compare the motorcycle jumper to great American athletes and exclaim that he “is not a stunt man but an athletic achiever." We apologize in advance if we have offended any fans of motorcycle jumping but we were captivated by the ridiculousness of it all, especially the slow panned shots of his fiancée watching from the stands. Watch the (un)eventful jump below...




We're excited to see what 2008 may bring and we wish all of our family and friends a wonderful new year that brings happiness and success.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!