Preachin' to the Choir

"So the next song we're going to sing is Silent Night...Okay, Sally? Sally? OMG, I hate it when this happens. She's such a drama queen."




***In reality, this little choir has been perched atop the piano at my grandma's every Christmas for my entire life. I love them, but apparently they are starting to age, as all good things do.

White Christmas

I know.

I'm sorry.

It's been way too long without a post. My tens of readers, I apologize.

I left for Michigan on Saturday and as I write this I am sitting, enjoying the morning sun, and looking at everything all snow-covered outside. So pretty. Especially for a girl who lives in PHX and there isn't a snowball's chance in hell for snow when she returns...

I really don't have much to post at the moment. I can tell you that I made toffee with chocolate, crackers, and nuts...but did I take pictures? No.

And after a good five minutes, I figured out how to turn on the Blue Ray thing and listen to Christmas music on Pandora on the T.V. Go me.

So all is good here. I'm going to have some breakfast and maybe do a little crafty or a little bakey.

Hope you all are doing well. Any fun holiday plans?

Today's Fortune & Health Advice

So this means I can eat Chinese food all the time? I was just waiting for permission. Good to know that it will keep me healthy.

Roam If You Want To. Roam If You Will.

There are few things that can get me heading east (read: to Scottsdale). One of those things is Lush and the other is Harry & David. I love these stores with all my heart and so we make the trek a couple of times a year. You might remember last time we went I shared some pictures of the city. So it was time. To brave the east side AND holiday traffic AND holiday shoppers. I thought you might like to see some more pictures. If not, stop reading. That's okay. I won't be upset.

The first shot is of Ghetto 1. Ghetto 1 protects this fine city from hoodlums and their shananigans. Not so intimidating during daylight, but much more frightening at night when they have the wrong apartment window and instead of shining it in the meth lab upstairs from you they shine it in your window. I mean, not that I experienced that for real. Just guessing.

Ghetto 1 was a familiar sight my first few weeks in the city when I lived with a friend. Bless her heart for taking me in. Bless us both for surviving.

Below are some neat buildings. I just liked them. And the blue sky, that's pretty nice, too.

This is one of my favorite buildings. I decided I'm going to live there. I dig all the glass.

Just looked ritzy and perfect with the palms lining the street and the mountain centered.

Jeremiah's dirty window.

That's about it, peeps. Just a more downtown-ish view of PHX.

Anyone else have a Ghetto 1 that keeps an eye on the ground below?

p.s. I am not sure why two of the pictures are HUGE. I don't really care. They're two of my favorites, so maybe I'm unintentionally highlighting them.

Cookies

A co-worker brought me a cute little bowl of cookies today. She gave them to me in the parking lot. I got them special because by the time my grade level goes to lunch, the ones that she sets out in the lounge are gone, gone, gone. No cookies for me. For five years. So this year she gave me a little bowl of my own. She's also the one that walked me back to my room in Vegas when I was riding the escalavator, just so you know (I like to make connections so you feel as though you are here with me.). I call her Mother Hen.

She brings me the cookies. I tell myself, "Wait until lunch. Wait until lunch." But you see, I didn't have breakfast this morning and TWO of the cookies had fruit stuff. So I ate one. Nom. And then while reaching for the second half of the cookie, I bumped into a thumbprint cookie with homemade butter cream frosting. I touched it, so I needed to eat. Kind of like, you break it, you buy it. So I ate it. It was delicious. Nom again. In fact, I am pretty sure that I could survive on a diet of just those cookies. But then I wouldn't fit through doors, so probably best if I didn't.

Well, then I ate the second thumbprint because I have NO self-control. And then I saw that one of the other cookies had a little filling and I couldn't tell if it was frosting or fruit or what. So I ate it to find out. Nom again again. It was like an almond paste, by the way. Delciousness.

Sigh.

So all I had was one last cookie and at that point I was like, might as well. Yum.

That is my story about how I ate five (small) fancy cookies for breakfast.

Anyone else have a food story that is slightly embarrassing but totally worth it?

p.s. I am listening to novelty rap from the late eighties/early nineties. Does anyone else want to bust a move?

Wahoo, Tattoo!

Remember like, forever ago when I promised tattoo pictures? Well, I may take awhile, but I almost always keep my promises.

Okay. We started out by waiting around awhile. The tattoo guy (tattooer? tattooist?) was drawing Jeremiah's tat from scratcheroni and while I already had mine drawn out (by the art teacher at school) there was some slight altering that needed to be done. So we waited.

Then it was my turn. Let me preface this story by sharing that when I was in the second grade my mom took me to the mall to get my ears pierced. I was SO EXCITED. And nervous. Because, you know. Someone was going to PUNCH HOLES in my body. So that anticipation builds up. Got my ears pierced and we're walking through the department store and on the stairs when I turn to my mom and throw up. On the stairs. And her hand and my hand, too. I am pretty sure that all that build up made my stomach wobbly and then, you know. Puke.

Flash forward about 20 years and a little more west of Michigan. Same thing. I was SO excited/nervous/anticipating the tattoo that once he started and I realized that the pain wasn't going to kill me, all that crud went to my belly and I got wobbly. In fact, I turned white and my lips turned blue. Things started to look far away and like they were through a tunnel. Seriously, closest I've ever been to fainting. I was sweating more than Nixon on his television debate against Kennedy. Or more than Lindsey Lohan in court. There was a lot of panic and a lot of me wanting to lie down (wasn't allowed) or lean forward (wasn't allowed). Jeremiah was trying to be supportive but my superhero sense of smell was working overtime and I could smell EVERY smell and the deodorant that he was wearing was not helping me to keep the barf down.

But are you ready for this? I pulled through. No fainting. No yakking. Here I am drinking my second glass of water.  I'm all, "See? Fine. Ignore the sweat-soaked clothes and let's get this show on the road! We're burnin' daylight!"

After all that, the tattoo took about five minutes. Seriously. And THEN the guy told me that I got the tattoo in one of the most painful places but hadn't wanted me to know ahead of time and change my mind. Nice.

He also said that the LEAST painful place was the arm, where most men get tattoos...which brings us to Jeremiah. Getting tattooed. On the arm. Sissy. First you get shaved. If you are hairy. I did not get shaved. That's the guy that tattooed me. He was very sanitary. And he used more swear words than I could use, even on a good day. He put sailors to shame.

The last picture is blurry, because I didn't want to use the flash and blind tattoo guy. He works with a needle, you know. But you get the idea behind Jeremiah's tat. It is Japanese style waves with a band of music along the bottom with a drum clef.

It looks much better finished, but do I have pictures of that? No. I do not.

P.S. Jamming to the Christmas music right now.
P.P.S. If you are wondering about the pain, let me tell you. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst pain imaginable, I would rate this a seven. Maybe six point five. Totally do-able.
P.P.P.S. Girls, when you are getting ready to puke and you are surrounded by men it is up to you to pull your hair back. They will NOT do it for you. Just FYI.

B.E. & A.E.

Jeremiah is SUCH a lucky guy.

I decided the other night (while he was trying to fall asleep) that we should play "Name That Movie". I tend to have problems falling asleep so I like to keep myself entertained instead.

So I said "Where are all the good men dead? In the heart or in the head?"

And he named the movie. Which is probably why we are together. And I was all shocked and surprised that he got it because it wasn't a super obvious quote, like, "Our pets' heads are fallin' off!"

If you can name the second quote, we are probably destined to be friends. Maybe we already are. Maybe you need to leave a comment and tell me how you are super awesome and know the movie. If, however, you know where the first quote originated, we are most likely destined to be not just friends, but besties. I heart you already.
 
Following his righteous win, we had the conversation below:
Please keep in mind he was trying to sleep the whole time.

E: I can't believe you got that!
J: Of course I did. I used to own that movie.
E: You did? Really?
J: Yes.
E:When?
J: I don't know.
E: Well, was it before we met?
J:Yeah, I guess.
E: So you might say that you had it B.E....Before Emily?
J: I guess so.
E: Like, how many years B.E. did you get rid of it?
J: Actually thinks about it - Um, It was probably 1B.E.
E: Sheesh. You should have kept it until A.E. and then I wouldn't have had to take my dad's copy of the dvd.
J:Yeah, too bad.

Conversation over.

And we now count time based on B.E. and A.E. Just saying. So for example, we moved into the house 4 A.E., four years after he met me.

So fun. No? Just me?

Anyone have any great suggestions for sleeping? I CAN'T sleep.