A Party and a Pig

My friend Rebecca threw a wild Jersey Shore Party last night. I knew nothing about the show, other than what I've seen in a few photos and what I saw on The View this past week when the cast of the show was on. I don't really understand the show... other than it's a reality show about some not very bright people who live and work on the Jersey Shore.... I think. I was very impressed at all the party-goers ability to look and dress just like the cast of Jersey Shore. Esp. Rebecca... as "Snookie". She was awesome. (Oh, and we didn't dress up.... I know... we're lame...)

Here she is in her Birthday hat and "Snookie" outfit. (It was her birthday....)

I have no idea who these people were. but their outfits were great! (The girls are co-workers of Rebecca's.)

I really have no idea why I'm pointing at the camera. But I'm pretty sure this was well after the point that I'd had way too much to drink.

Party goers at the bar. I love Rebecca's house and I love that bar!

Making shots.

Bottom's up!

This is Ryan (Rebecca's brother-in-law) and her friend LuAnne, from Boston.

Scenes from the bar.

Kim the Yoga Instructor was striking a pose.

Chatting with LuAnne.

I have no idea.

LuAnne made this fantastic cake.

And this is the view of our freezer.... yesterday we drove up to Fulton to pick up our 1/3 (of 1/2) of a freshly slaughtered pig. We split the 1/2 with Paula and Sheila. We had pork chops tonight and they were fantastic! Looking forward to ribs and pork steaks in the very near future!!

Winter Wonderland

We've broken the century mark for our snow total. 100.3" so far this season. (Well, that was as of midnight last night, it's probably a few inches higher now.) But that's still nothing for Syracuse! I remember my first introduction to Central New York during the winter of 2000-2001, we had 191" of snow. Crazy!

It sure is pretty though...

The Mini was buried this morning. (This was taken after it was mostly cleared off.) 

I think it'll be awhile before we need to worry about mowing the lawn. (Our lawn guy is also our plow guy... maybe he piled it on to the lawn on purpose!) 

This was taken during my ride to work at 8am this morning. The roads were perfectly fine. They sure know how to clear snow in Syracuse! 

23 Days 'til Spring!! 

Snow Day in Syracuse

The kids were happy to finally have a snow day this year. This is the first snow day of the year. The winter really hasn't been "that" bad, in CNY standards anyway. (We've still had over 85" of snow so far...) But while the kids get to stay home in their warm homes... some parents (like me) still have to go to work... but as I pulled into the parking lot I saw this poor Engineer clearing off the Satellite dishes. Suddenly, my life didn't seem so bad! At least I'm warm... and dry... and inside! Apparently they have to do this every hour during heavy snows... Ugh! 

And then they did part of the morning show outside in the snow. Again, I happy I was inside where it was warm and dry...The camera guy is my friend "Beebs"... and the producer next to him is Maggie. Chris and Tanja are the hosts.  (These photos are courtesy of  NewsChannel 9's  Facebook Fan page...  feel free to become a fan as well!) 

Pearly Whites

And now the moment you've all been waiting for.... Drum roll please!.....

Here is the "before" photo of my teeth. Ew!!!

And this is the "after". Do you notice a difference? I promise I didn't alter the photos in any way. (I very easily could have, but I did not. I wanted to see the real difference!) I'm very pleased with the results. And boy, I must say I'm pretty embarrassed at how yellow my teeth were! I think I might do another treatment in 6 months. (They recommend that.) So that my teeth will never be that yellow again!! Oh and in case anybody wants to know what I used, it was the Crest White Strips 14 day treatment.

Tonight I made my favorite dinner. Beef Stroganoff. This is the way my mom used to make it when I was growing up. Hamburger mixed with Cream of Mushroom soup and sour cream. Poured over Egg noodles. I love it! I didn't have any Lima Beans (my favorite veggie), so we substituted with green beans.

I just have to sing the praises of these items from Aldi. Alex and I LOVE them! We could each sit down and eat a box of them in one sitting. The Cream Cheese Wontons are a bit better than the Crab Rangoon, but they're both excellent! They're only $1.99 a box. Yum!

Weekend Fun

Saturday morning, Alex got to try out his new track shoes at an indoor track meet at Manley Fieldhouse at S.U. Hopefully the first of many meets there.

It was an interesting meet. It was an "All-Comers" meet with the Syracuse Chargers Track Club. Meaning all ages. From 3 to 93. It was fun to watch all the different groups compete. (Maybe some day I'll even get the nerve to participate!)

That blur in the middle is Alex doing the Long Jump. He also did the 55meter. He wished he had also done the 400 meter, but maybe next time. He hasn't been in full "training", so I think he wanted to take it easy.

After the meet, we went up to Gary & Paula's house for a be-lated birthday celebration for Paula. Jenny got to go too... here she's stealing treats from the dining room table... (Bad dog!)

Paula made a fabulous pork dinner.

And we sang happy birthday to her. Kelly helped blow out the candles on her "birthday pie".

Laura and I posed for a photo together. She's looking so grown up!

And Paula and I polished off a bottle (or two) of wine... while we had fun on Facebook.

I should have taken a photo of Paula's trash can that she got for Christmas. It has a sensor that opens the top when you wave your hand over it. Or if you walk by it closely... we discovered that my rear-end could open the trash can when I walked past it. And we got quite a good laugh over that! We had a terrific time. Thanks for the great dinner and Happy Birthday, Paula!

Green & Red

I'm doing my part to help the environment. I got this fun lunch bag and water bottle at Old Navy last week. I keep the water bottle on my desk at work (I fill it about 3-4 times a day.) And the lunch bag goes back and forth with my lunch/snacks in it. Previously I was using a work-provided Styrofoam cup every day for my water and plastic Wegmans bags for my lunches. I guess you can say I've gone "green".

And tonight Alex and I went to Barnes and Noble for "dessert". We each got a Red Velvet cupcake... Yum!

The "Big Az" Sandwich

I saw this in our vending machine at work today. No, I wasn't even tempted to eat it. But I thought the name of it was hysterical, so I had to go get my camera and take a picture of it.

Did I tell you all I got a haircut over the weekend? Chopped off about 3" all around. I really like it! I might even snip a little extra off next time too. Perfect style for spring/summer. Oh and do my teeth look whiter yet?! I've done 8 nights of the Crest Whitestrips so far. 6 to go. I think I see a difference, but I can't wait to see the side-by-side photos of the before and after when I'm done.

Oh, and if you think of it, send Eric a "Get Well Soon" email. He's up in bed, sick. Possibly the flu of some sort. I'm glad I got a flu shot! Hopefully it's not the swine version though... Hope he's better soon!! In the meantime, Alex and I are off to go running at the Field House... trying to get/stay healthy.

Olympic-Bachelor Monday

The month of February is more than half over! It's going to be Spring before we know it. I hope everybody had a nice Valentine's Day yesterday! We spent a mostly quiet day together. We had Chinese food for dinner and I then made a big batch of Chocolate Chip cookies.

On Saturday evening, Eric and I had a great dinner at Smokey Bones. We got there at the perfect time, right before the big crowds arrived. We sat at the bar while we waited for our table and had a drink. I ordered a "draft" of Coors Light. And wouldn't you know it, the 22 oz. was the same price as the smaller size. So naturally, I got the 22 oz. draft. Then with dinner, I got another one, since the first one was so good. By the time dinner was over, I had consumed 44 oz. of beer. That's a lot of beer! Eric had to carry me out to the car... Just kidding!! We really had a fun evening and it was nice to get out and spend some time together, just the 2 of us.

Look what I saw on my drive home tonight. The sun! It was completely light out the entire drive home. And even when I got home, I noticed it was still light out for a little bit while I was getting dinner together.

Tonight I'm flipping between the Olympics and the Bachelor. Is anybody else watching the Olympics?? I just love the Olympics. But I'm sure you all knew that already! I love the stories behind the athletes, the competition, the celebration, the pageantry. It's pure, honest sport at its best. It's just wonderful to witness and be part of the history of the Olympics.

On the other hand... the Bachelor is just pure garbage. Nobody is honest and there is nothing historic about it. But that's why I like it!

Valentine Weekend

Valentine's Day is usually a fun day for me. Last year, I went all out with heart-shaped breakfasts and heart-shaped cookies. We also bought a (non heart-shaped) TV for ourselves. I think this year it's going to be pretty low-key. Eric and I plan on going out to dinner Saturday evening, more just to go out to dinner than to celebrate Valentine's Day. I'm thinking for dinner on Sunday, we'll have Chinese food. (It's the beginning of the Chinese New Year. What better excuse to have Chinese food?!)  We're not getting another big TV this year. (Although we really ought to fix the one we got last year... the sensor no longer works, so you can't change the channel with the remote anymore... ) Mostly I think we'll just hang out and relax and stay warm this weekend. After all, every day should be a day you tell your loved ones how much you love and appreciate them. You shouldn't only do it on one day, right?? 

Speaking of loving and appreciating, I need to send a shout-out to my dad. He was in a bit of an accident with a plow yesterday. Yep, he was physically hit by a plow. He was standing next to his van in a parking lot and was taken out by a plow. He's doing ok. Bruised and cut and very sore. And he even got a staple in his head. He went back to the hospital this morning to get checked over again. But as my mom said "He's one tough cookie." That he is! Feel better soon!! 

In some fun news, we're getting ready to book our summer vacation spot! Drum-roll please...... we're going back to the Cape!! Yeah!!!! We're going to go back to our original "private" beach in Sandwich and get a house right on the beach. It's next to the place we stayed 3 summers ago. We really enjoyed that location and now we can't wait for summer!! (Like I couldn't wait before.) The only down-fall? No *gasp* wifi! So there will probably not be daily updates and daily photos of our trip. But... you know me, I'll probably take my laptop to the nearest McDonalds with wifi and try to upload a little something!

Well... here it is... my "moment in the spotlight"... the Singing Valentine package that aired on Bridge Street this morning. After seeing the video they shot of me, I decided I need to take acting lessons... or something. The entire time I have the look of "OMG, what are you people doing to me, I hate you all!!" I sport a lovely fake smile, with no pearly whites showing. So sadly, I'm thinking I won't be up for an Academy Award this year...

Is anybody besides me going to be watching the Winter Olympics that start tonight? I just love the Olympics. I can't wait to watch the Ice Skating. And the Luge. And the Bobsled. And the Skiing. And all the other fun that goes along with it!

For those of you who requested calendars, they are going out in the mail today! I just realized the longer I wait, the less useful they will be for you. So I'm heading to the post office during my break today. Enjoy!

A Singing Valentine

This is a local Barber Shop Quartet. They're going to be featured on our show on Friday. And today, they were in the office spreading Valentine cheer. Our producer Maggie decided it would be fun to have them sing to me... so I was one of the "victims". Only I didn't really know what was going on. She called me out into the hall and I was surprised when they started singing to me. I was also surprised to see the 2 camera guys videotaping the entire thing! It was a very awkward moment! Well, not really a "moment"... more like an awkward 5 or 6 minutes. The song they sang to me seemed to go on forever... and ever... and ever...

I'll try to remember to post a link to the video after it airs on Friday. They sang to at least half a dozen people by the time they were done. I hope I don't look too ridiculous!

Bachelor Monday

As I sit here watching the Bachelor, I'm updating the blog. I know, it's sad. But at least I admit it. I watch the Bachelor. It's my weekly waste of time. It makes me laugh. The women are catty and mean, and the guy takes himself way too seriously. It's amusing and foolish and ridiculous all at the same time. Oh, and it's amazing. That's the Bachelor's favorite word. All of the women are amazing...

Also, while I'm sitting here, I'm whitening my teeth! How about that. I'm finally doing something on my Bucket List. I took a before photo. In 14 days, I'll take another photo and do a before/after blog post. I'm curious if it will make a difference. I'm 6 minutes into my first 30 minute treatment and I already don't like it. It's uncomfortable and icky. And I feel like I'm drooling. I can't wait to be done.

Eric is out of town tonight. He's in Plattsburg. For those of you who aren't familiar with where that is, it's about as far away as NYC. But in the other direction. In the middle of nowhere. He had to go for a shoot, for work. And since it's such a long drive, he went up today and is spending the night. The shoot is in the morning. And he'll be back tomorrow evening.

Tonight Alex and I had a nice evening out for dinner. We went to the Olive Garden. It was kind of a "congrats" on the great report card kind of thing. (He got a 96.5 overall GPA!) And it was just a nice way to spend some time together. We talked about the classes he's going to be taking next year. In High School. High School! How can I be old enough to have a child getting ready to go into High School?? Eek.

It's time to go make cinnamon rolls! Alex likes our new Monday evening tradition. It's a nice treat that everybody enjoys. Hopefully by the time they're done it will be time for my teeth whitening strips to come off!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I think Laura and Kelly enjoyed their weekend "in the city". We kept very, very busy.

Playing with the super ball, among other things.

And posing for pictures.

And being silly.

I taught Laura how to do the "shy girl" pose. I think she got it down on the first try!

We made Valentine Cookies. Laura was a HUGE help, as always. (Kelly was busy trying to get all the chocolate from the bottom of her cup of chocolate milk.)

Here's the finished product of the cookies. Didn't Laura and Kelly do an excellent job decorating them?! They were deee-licious!

Laura is very proud of her work, as she should be. I think her fingers may still be sticky from all the frosting.

Laura also helped Uncle Eric make pizzas for dinner. (Don't worry, we didn't eat too many cookies before dinner...)

Laura even helped clean the house before she left! I'm thinking I might need to borrow her again soon... she's very helpful!! I think her parents have trained her well!

Somebody was pooped. (And looking a wee bit on the pudgy side too...)