Another Valentine's Day, come and gone. The day where red is in and hearts are not too girly. The day where florists, greeting card companies and chocolatiers make their killing and can kind of take it easy for the rest of the year.
I personally think Valentine's Day is overrated. This could be due to the simple fact that I haven't celebrated Valentine's Day in about 11 years. Why? Probably because my husband and I had our first date on February 13th (he had to work on the 14th) so we celebrate our dating anniversary on 2/13. Besides, we don't want to deal with making reservations, overpriced menus and mediocre, mass-produced food. I especially feel sorry for those people that have birthdays that fall on the big V-Day. We had a friend like that in college and when a group of us wanted to take him out to a family-friendly restaurant - oooh boy, was that insane....a table for eight people that were clearly not out to celebrate Valentine's Day, yet they still made us order from their special Valentine's Day menu because that's all the chefs were cooking up. Since then, we have not stepped out for a special Valentine's Day dinner.
I still get flowers - I think they're mainly for our anniversary rather than for Valentine's Day itself. My husband tells me ALL THE TIME (sometimes I wonder if he tells me too much) that he loves me. He knows that I love him too and we don't need one special day to remind eachother of that fact. My gift to him is going to the Cubs Spring Training in Arizona. I've been promising him for years now and finally, after not taking one vacation with him last year, I decided we had to do it. And thankfully, with the nice bonus I got yesterday, it will cover for the nice resort we're staying at, as well as spa pampering for me (that is my gift to me cause I love me too).
So how did we spend our Valentine's Day? Well - we were originally going to go to the gym and I was going to make a Chicken Chipotle Chowder that my friend always made and I finally got the recipe for. What we ended up doing was sitting in an H&R Block office for two hours getting our taxes done....I had started the chowder when I got home and got through the halfway point, but after reading the second part and thinking that we wouldn't be back until late, I figured we would have to grab something on the way home if we wanted to eat before 10pm. After our taxes were done and we got the blow that we owed the government more money (darn you government!), we decided to head over to Outback Steakhouse for a quick bite to eat. By this time it was 9pm and we had totally forgotten it was Valentine's Day. When we asked how long the wait was going to be, she said 25 minutes. The place wasn't even crowded - there were a ton of people just smoking and milling around the bar area. Had it not been for the smoke, I would've gladly just hung out in the bar. But there was no way we were going to wait 25 minutes to get seated.
So, Taco Bell it was - when my husband started pulling into a parking space, I was like, 'Um - no, we're getting this to go.' (We were a mile from our house and I didn't want to be the couple that hung out at Taco Bell on Valentine's Day.) When we got home, he turned on the TV, I tore open our quesadillas to make it all nice looking and punctured two Capri Sun juice bags for our drinking pleasure. Romantic? No way.
We ended the night watching re-runs of 'Ace of Cakes' and I fell asleep in his arms, in the warmth of our bedroom.
Just to be fair, we did have a very nice dinner on Wednesday night at Legal Sea Foods to celebrate our anniversary. I didn't want y'all to think that our Valentine's Day stunk - it didn't.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Kindness of Strangers
For the past few weeks, I have had business in Little Rock, Arkansas. I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised by Little Rock. I've never considered myself to be a big city snob or anything (heck, I'm originally from the Detroit 'burbs - how snobby can you be?), but I never know what to expect when I see a new city. Don't get me wrong, Little Rock is not small. It is the capital, after all. But it's hardly D.C. I was pleasantly surprised. Really cute downtown, really nice hotels (The Peabody, which is awesome - they have real live ducks that hang out in the fountain in the lobby) and plenty of Starbucks (one on every corner, it seems).
The problem with Little Rock - the major problem - is getting there. Last week, I had meetings in Little Rock on Monday morning at 9 a.m. What did this mean for me? It meant flying out to Little Rock on Sunday night. This would not normally be a big deal, but it meant giving up Super Bowl Sunday. Just saying, oh well . . . .
Well, because there are no direct flights to Little Rock (as you might imagine), I flew into Charlotte to connect there. I had plenty of time in Charlotte to eat dinner and watch a little of the big game. I even made a new friend at the bar. We were chatting for some time. Then, when it was 7:35 (35 minutes until my scheduled departure), I decided maybe I should head to the gate. On the way there, I passed a flight attendant who was talking about the Little Rock flight being delayed - by an hour. I confirmed with her that this was in fact my flight, and I then headed back to the bar to watch a little more of the game with my new friend. An hour later, I started making my way to the gate again, only this time, well before I got there, I heard an announcement: "All people on the cancelled flight to Little Rock need to go to the customer service desk." Well, I knew that was my flight, and I simply did an about-face and found the customer service counter. I'm lucky I did. I was fourth in line out of at least 50 people, and service was SLOW. I overheard the people in front of me. Something about not having any flights on US Air to Little Rock until TOMORROW NIGHT at 8:10 - a full 24 hours after the scheduled flight. I wasn't too concerned at first, thinking, oh well - I'll just get there when I get there. But then I started really panicking about missing my meeting.
I did overhear a couple from Arkansas talking about flying to Memphis and then renting a car to drive to Little Rock (2 hours away - which I knew, but certainly wasn't willing to tackle myself - not at 1:00 a.m. anyway, which was probably when the flight was scheduled to land in Memphis). So when I finally got up to the counter, I asked, "So what's the deal with Memphis?" Well, the Arkansas couple overheard me and approached. They asked if I wanted to go in on a car with them. My immediate response: "Sure. Sounds great." This meant being a passenger and not a driver. I would make it to Little Rock after all. They pulled in the guy in front of me as well.
There I am, on a Sunday night - Monday morning, depending on the kindness of strangers to get me to Little Rock so that I could make my meeting. At first I thought it sounded ridiculous that they wanted more passengers. But the cost of the rental car was $270. That's a lot for a young couple. That's a lot for anyone. They just wanted to get home and made a judgment call. I looked safe enough.
I arrived at my hotel at 3:30 a.m. and made it to my meetings. Thank you to Jeremy and Cheri, wherever you are.
The problem with Little Rock - the major problem - is getting there. Last week, I had meetings in Little Rock on Monday morning at 9 a.m. What did this mean for me? It meant flying out to Little Rock on Sunday night. This would not normally be a big deal, but it meant giving up Super Bowl Sunday. Just saying, oh well . . . .
Well, because there are no direct flights to Little Rock (as you might imagine), I flew into Charlotte to connect there. I had plenty of time in Charlotte to eat dinner and watch a little of the big game. I even made a new friend at the bar. We were chatting for some time. Then, when it was 7:35 (35 minutes until my scheduled departure), I decided maybe I should head to the gate. On the way there, I passed a flight attendant who was talking about the Little Rock flight being delayed - by an hour. I confirmed with her that this was in fact my flight, and I then headed back to the bar to watch a little more of the game with my new friend. An hour later, I started making my way to the gate again, only this time, well before I got there, I heard an announcement: "All people on the cancelled flight to Little Rock need to go to the customer service desk." Well, I knew that was my flight, and I simply did an about-face and found the customer service counter. I'm lucky I did. I was fourth in line out of at least 50 people, and service was SLOW. I overheard the people in front of me. Something about not having any flights on US Air to Little Rock until TOMORROW NIGHT at 8:10 - a full 24 hours after the scheduled flight. I wasn't too concerned at first, thinking, oh well - I'll just get there when I get there. But then I started really panicking about missing my meeting.
I did overhear a couple from Arkansas talking about flying to Memphis and then renting a car to drive to Little Rock (2 hours away - which I knew, but certainly wasn't willing to tackle myself - not at 1:00 a.m. anyway, which was probably when the flight was scheduled to land in Memphis). So when I finally got up to the counter, I asked, "So what's the deal with Memphis?" Well, the Arkansas couple overheard me and approached. They asked if I wanted to go in on a car with them. My immediate response: "Sure. Sounds great." This meant being a passenger and not a driver. I would make it to Little Rock after all. They pulled in the guy in front of me as well.
There I am, on a Sunday night - Monday morning, depending on the kindness of strangers to get me to Little Rock so that I could make my meeting. At first I thought it sounded ridiculous that they wanted more passengers. But the cost of the rental car was $270. That's a lot for a young couple. That's a lot for anyone. They just wanted to get home and made a judgment call. I looked safe enough.
I arrived at my hotel at 3:30 a.m. and made it to my meetings. Thank you to Jeremy and Cheri, wherever you are.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Dog Show a Big Deal....Really?
Every year, USA network proudly televises the Westminster Dog Show that takes place at Madison Square Garden. I could have sworn that in years past, it was like a one week televised event, but apparently, they cut it down to two nights and due to lack of original programming, I caught the last night of the Dog Show.
Unfortunately I only got to see the Toy Group, Working Dogs and Best in Show...the Best in Show is where the winner from each of the seven categories of dogs compete for the top prize - to be the Grand Banana of the Westminster Dog Show.
So many things running through my head as I was watching....first of all, the photographers. They were all lined up with their wide angle, zoom lenses ready to shoot each dog as they were examined by the judge. I had to wonder if these photographers really enjoyed being there? I would imagine those shooting for trade magazines and other Dog-related media were very excited (maybe not) but how about those from local newspapers? I can just hear the news chief now...'Carter, you're covering the dog show.' Carter's reaction? "Crap!" Seriously, with all the photographers piled on top of each other in their "holding pen," it looked like paparazzi for your pet.
Why would anyone shave a poodle the way they shaved the regular and toy poodles for the show? As my husband said, they look like 'rats with cotton balls glued to their butt.' Nice. Poor poodles with their afro fur and snowball legwarmers.
The toy group was fun to watch because the dogs were so small and 'toy'-like. For those dogs with the long, silky hair, their handlers kept a brush handy to brush out their hair before they
had to walk and prance for the judge and the crowd...but there must've been something in the air because more than once, I saw several dogs immediately shake out the brush-down, possibly in an act of defiance. Almost like 'Get this damn bow out of my hair...my name is Chandler Bing!' (no joke!) But the best was how the handlers were so careful with each dog until the winner was named and then the handlers all rushed to the winning dog/handler to congratulate them and carelessly picked up their toy-dog to bring them back stage....I guess at that point, who cares, they didn't win.
I was trying to figure out, through the course of the whole show, what the handlers were doing when they would have their fingers to their mouths and immediately put it to the dog's mouth? My initial thought was that they were feeding the dogs treats to keep them calm and use as reinforcements should the dog get 'out of hand.' Then I thought, 'Gross - are these handlers nibbling on Kibbles and feeding them to their dogs?!' Nasty. These dogs are so pampered as it is, do they really need the handlers to process their food too....like a baby without teeth?
Anyways, I missed the first night of the show and along with that, my favorite group - the
herding group - because my most favorite dog is in that group - the Old English Sheepdog. I remember growing up, one of my Mom's best friends had an Old English Sheepdog named Muffin. He was big and cute. Unfortunately, Muffin met with an untimely death with a car. One of my school friends also had an Old English Sheepdog, Chadwick. I remember being over her house for a sleepover and we were playing in the basement with the lights out and I fell over Chadwick - so cute. But a few years ago, the Old English Sheepdog won his breed and his name was Yoshii. I thought this was the coolest name for this dog - so now every time I see an Old English Sheepdog, I call it 'Yoshii.' If they didn't shed so much, I would consider getting a Yoshii of my own - but between me and the dog, our hardwood floors would be carpeted in dog and human hair! Maybe...one day...when I'm bald.
Unfortunately I only got to see the Toy Group, Working Dogs and Best in Show...the Best in Show is where the winner from each of the seven categories of dogs compete for the top prize - to be the Grand Banana of the Westminster Dog Show.
So many things running through my head as I was watching....first of all, the photographers. They were all lined up with their wide angle, zoom lenses ready to shoot each dog as they were examined by the judge. I had to wonder if these photographers really enjoyed being there? I would imagine those shooting for trade magazines and other Dog-related media were very excited (maybe not) but how about those from local newspapers? I can just hear the news chief now...'Carter, you're covering the dog show.' Carter's reaction? "Crap!" Seriously, with all the photographers piled on top of each other in their "holding pen," it looked like paparazzi for your pet.
Why would anyone shave a poodle the way they shaved the regular and toy poodles for the show? As my husband said, they look like 'rats with cotton balls glued to their butt.' Nice. Poor poodles with their afro fur and snowball legwarmers.The toy group was fun to watch because the dogs were so small and 'toy'-like. For those dogs with the long, silky hair, their handlers kept a brush handy to brush out their hair before they
had to walk and prance for the judge and the crowd...but there must've been something in the air because more than once, I saw several dogs immediately shake out the brush-down, possibly in an act of defiance. Almost like 'Get this damn bow out of my hair...my name is Chandler Bing!' (no joke!) But the best was how the handlers were so careful with each dog until the winner was named and then the handlers all rushed to the winning dog/handler to congratulate them and carelessly picked up their toy-dog to bring them back stage....I guess at that point, who cares, they didn't win.
I was trying to figure out, through the course of the whole show, what the handlers were doing when they would have their fingers to their mouths and immediately put it to the dog's mouth? My initial thought was that they were feeding the dogs treats to keep them calm and use as reinforcements should the dog get 'out of hand.' Then I thought, 'Gross - are these handlers nibbling on Kibbles and feeding them to their dogs?!' Nasty. These dogs are so pampered as it is, do they really need the handlers to process their food too....like a baby without teeth?Anyways, I missed the first night of the show and along with that, my favorite group - the
herding group - because my most favorite dog is in that group - the Old English Sheepdog. I remember growing up, one of my Mom's best friends had an Old English Sheepdog named Muffin. He was big and cute. Unfortunately, Muffin met with an untimely death with a car. One of my school friends also had an Old English Sheepdog, Chadwick. I remember being over her house for a sleepover and we were playing in the basement with the lights out and I fell over Chadwick - so cute. But a few years ago, the Old English Sheepdog won his breed and his name was Yoshii. I thought this was the coolest name for this dog - so now every time I see an Old English Sheepdog, I call it 'Yoshii.' If they didn't shed so much, I would consider getting a Yoshii of my own - but between me and the dog, our hardwood floors would be carpeted in dog and human hair! Maybe...one day...when I'm bald.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Interior Decorating
After a weekend of looking at paint samples and fabric swatches at the Fabric store, I give BIG props to interior designers.
We have been in our house for six months and although I love everything about it, I'm getting tired of the off-white, eggshell wall colors...the neutrals. I'm ready to make it our own and put some personality into it. That is what led me to the local supermarket for some home decorating magazines, the Home Depot for some paint samples, and G-Street Fabrics for some fabric swatches.
The supermarket and Home Depot were easy - I just grabbed these pamphlets with different paint colors and two magazines of home decorating ideas and jetted off. The hard part was G-Street Fabrics. I have two chairs from the 70s that I snatched from my parents' house. The chairs are comfortable - but they're a tad unsightly - not that they're in bad shape - they're covered in orange, crushed velvet - very 70s. I want to get them reupholstered into something that will carry through the years and give it a more classic look. I had ideas of how I wanted it reupholstered but when up against book after book of fabric samples, it starts to get a little intimidating. I think I had settled on stripes of a burgundy/natural kind - I got some sample swatches from the G-Street ladies and brought them home to let my husband have a say. I also brought home a sample of a nice, subtle floral print on a pale yellow, off-white background - I figured if the room was painted into a burgundy, then the off white and the floral would give the room some feminine touch.... I think I've settled on a fabric - but the problem is now finding someone to reupholster that isn't going to try and swindle me. I was hoping to try and reupholster myself - but I'm not a great sewer and I don't want to spend all the money on fabric if I'm just going to mess up.
I have ideas of how I want my place to look - but finding a picture of it is harder....sometimes I think I should just draw it out - but who has time for that? I've thought about bringing in an interior designer but I don't want to get swindled doing that either....I'm not a hopeless decorator - I just don't know how to put everything together.
However, after talking to some friends yesterday, I think my plan is to first - pick out paint colors, then hire someone to come in and paint the rooms that need painting (or do it ourselves) - and then work on the fabrics and furniture. It sounds like a plan and hopefully the end result won't be a complete and utter mess.
We have been in our house for six months and although I love everything about it, I'm getting tired of the off-white, eggshell wall colors...the neutrals. I'm ready to make it our own and put some personality into it. That is what led me to the local supermarket for some home decorating magazines, the Home Depot for some paint samples, and G-Street Fabrics for some fabric swatches.
The supermarket and Home Depot were easy - I just grabbed these pamphlets with different paint colors and two magazines of home decorating ideas and jetted off. The hard part was G-Street Fabrics. I have two chairs from the 70s that I snatched from my parents' house. The chairs are comfortable - but they're a tad unsightly - not that they're in bad shape - they're covered in orange, crushed velvet - very 70s. I want to get them reupholstered into something that will carry through the years and give it a more classic look. I had ideas of how I wanted it reupholstered but when up against book after book of fabric samples, it starts to get a little intimidating. I think I had settled on stripes of a burgundy/natural kind - I got some sample swatches from the G-Street ladies and brought them home to let my husband have a say. I also brought home a sample of a nice, subtle floral print on a pale yellow, off-white background - I figured if the room was painted into a burgundy, then the off white and the floral would give the room some feminine touch.... I think I've settled on a fabric - but the problem is now finding someone to reupholster that isn't going to try and swindle me. I was hoping to try and reupholster myself - but I'm not a great sewer and I don't want to spend all the money on fabric if I'm just going to mess up.
I have ideas of how I want my place to look - but finding a picture of it is harder....sometimes I think I should just draw it out - but who has time for that? I've thought about bringing in an interior designer but I don't want to get swindled doing that either....I'm not a hopeless decorator - I just don't know how to put everything together.
However, after talking to some friends yesterday, I think my plan is to first - pick out paint colors, then hire someone to come in and paint the rooms that need painting (or do it ourselves) - and then work on the fabrics and furniture. It sounds like a plan and hopefully the end result won't be a complete and utter mess.
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