Easter 2009!

Here are a few of the Easter photos that Steven and I took from our celebration yesterday! In no particular order:

Colin enjoys his present from the Easter Bunny!I spent a few moments on my platter for the mini vanilla cupcakes making it extra special.
The little yellow chicks are cinnamon almond truffles- NOT peeps (yuck!):
My good friend Shelley G. told me that pink is the color du jour for spring, so here is my Easter outfit, pink-a-licious
What the Easter Bunny brought for Steven:
What the Easter Bunny left for me. I still haven't watched Marley and Me yet!
A special little bud vase with a cute bunny next to it. I pay attention to the details :)
One of the table-scapes:
Another table-scape:
My favorite new bunny platter (it has a matching dip bowl too!) and my new pink scarf that the Easter Bunny brought me!
Our dinner came out fantastic and the company was just as good. Looking forward to next year!

Things you need to be 10% smarter than...

Here is a snippet of an email conversation I had with the IT guy at work when I was in MT last week:

Dan,

Tried to connect to internet last night at hotel and my wireless card isn’t working. Thoughts?

Julie

Julie,

Is the wireless switch on the side of your laptop in the “on” position, or pulled towards you?

Dan

Dan,

I didn't even know that switch was there. So I guess it always helps to make sure it is “on”. Thanks for helping me out!

Julie

About 10 minutes after sending that last email my mind instantly went to this conversation from a few months ago....

J: "Hey Dan, I really hate how the icon pops up for the wireless connection on my laptop all the time, it is very irritating when I'm already hardwired into the network, is there anything I can do about that?"

D: "Oh yeah, you can just turn the switch off on your wireless card on the side of the computer."

J: "Really?"

D: "Yeah, just don't forget to turn it back on if you go anywhere."

J: "Oh totally, no problem, this is great!"

So I guess it either helps to be 10% smarter than most technological devices or to have a really great relationship with the IT guys at work.

Things you can do only in MT

I got up this morning and met the other two men who have flown in from my office. They are eating breakfast when I met up with them. Here is a snipet of a conversation with one of my coworkers:

J: Hey, do you need to run upstairs and grab your stuff to check out before we head in to the office?
C: Nah, I actually already put it in the car before I had breakfast. I'm all checked out and ready to go. We're just waiting on (another coworker).
J: Oh, well where's the car? I'll just run my stuff out too.
C: Its actually right here out front.
J: Oh, well do you have the keys? I'll run and put my stuff in the car if we're going to be waiting too long.
C: Actually, they're in the ignition and the car is running...
J: So, It's been going for about 15 minutes now???
C: Yeah, so it should be nice and warm.

Coworker (seeing the perplexed look on my face): Yeah, that's something you can only do in Montana.

See, you do learn something every day...

Confessions of a Frequent Flyer...

I have to admit...I don't usually get much notice before I'm going to be flying. So to make the trip a little more enjoyable I try to pick out funny things that are going on around me to make me laugh and lighten the mood, lets be honest, travelling these days can be quite stressful!

Here are some things that struck me as funny or odd from my flight out yesterday:

When I finally reached Seattle last night I was so wound up and just ready to be on the plane and landing at my destination that I found myself sitting in the waiting area talking to my Dad. This is a great way for me to kill time and destress, he always knows how to cheer me up. At some point during the conversation I reached back to touch my hair and I felt something weird and soft and oddly fuzzy. To be honest it felt like cat's hair. I turned around and realized that I had just touched this nasty old hippy dudes hair and it was soft and yucky! Immediatly, I used my hand sanitizer. Then decided that wasn't enough and got up to wash my hands properly. All I could do when I came back to sit down was laugh. The guy had no idea I'd even touched him.

Once I got on the plane, the crazy antics didn't stop. I was super excited when I got my seat reservations to see I was in 4D...this is great for two reasons, first, because it is an aisle seat and I HAVE to sit on the aisle or I'm not a nice person. Second, it was near the very front of the plane, which means I'll be the first one off the plane, which usually makes me really happy after a long flight. I sit down next to this kid who explains that he just lost his grandma and the family is going back to Montana for the services. I express my condolances and I'm tapped on the shoulder. The flight attendant tells me that I can scoot back one seat and have a whole row to myself! This is quickly shaping up to be the best flight EVAR! Before I know it, we've taken off and the ladies are serving free beverages. I look in front of me and the kid is furiously air banding in the seat in front of me. I mean he is SUPER DUPER going at the drums in the most awkward way. I look up and one of the stewardesses is making eyes at the other stewardess conveying a not so subtle message of "check out THAT guy!". At this point I can barely contain my laughter.

In my car...

My head is constantly filled with random musings when I'm driving home in my car. The morning commute is usually so quick and part sleepy that I don't think very much except to not hit the person in front of me and when I need to get over.

But the afternoon is much more...more. It's just more. More music, more people annoying me, more traffic, more things on my mind. Here is a sampling of the thoughts I've had this week that stuck with me:

"94.7 if you say you play more music then you actually have to play more music!"

"It is sick and disgusting that I like this song (Right Round by Flo Rida) but its so catchy....Z100 is kind of rotting my brain"

"Did I unplug my curling iron???"

"Lady Gaga, your fashion choices are shameful....it is also shameful that I like this song. And that I know the words."

"I should really tell some one about the women's room toilet at work being broken..."

Woman who called in on Z100s song of the hour gets Jonas Brother tickets from the "prize wheel"- "Unless you are 15, you just got screwed dude"

"Z100 is rotting my brain slowly and mercilessly, must remove from pre-programmed channels"

Commercial detailing how a person could get tickets to the britney concert in TACOMA by dressing up as Britney and going to the Paul Mitchell salon downtown comes on: "That'd be so cool... I could totally pull off dressing up as Britney...no pants- check, stringy disgusting hair-check, lack of personality/high on drugs....oh yeah...probably couldn't do that...wait, the concert is in TACOMA? Who the heck would go to all that trouble? Oh there's a limo as part of the deal...sweet!... Wait, was I just thinking about going to a BRITNEY concert?????? MUST-STOP-LISTENING-TO-Z100!!"

What we've been up to...

Steven and I have been busy playing our Wii and doing our Wii fit activities...he's getting very good at bowling too! He has Pro status. I'm not that good...but I'm working on it.I finally put my pictures from my camera on to the laptop. Here's the photo I took of Shelley and I right before 'Wicked'.
This weekend Iva came to visit us from Eastern Washington. Its fun to have a house guest, plus we took the opportunity to have a total girls weekend. Thankfully, March Madness was on, so Steven had a way to distract himself from all the Sex and the City we've been watching. We went out shopping yesterday and today. Yesterday we came home and I made soup and salad and we just relaxed and rested our tired feet from walking around downtown. Today we hit the outlets and it was fabulous. It was there that I found my new baby:
Steven and I have been planning our Easter dinner and we needed something for the meat we have selected. Viola!!!! I could not be more excited...I have been wanting one of these for a long time now.

Last weekend we had a little birthday party for Dad and Chris at a brewery in McMinnville. It was a lot of fun.This is my favorite picture from last weekend. Dad and Colin are precious.

Random Observations

Yeah, its been a while...so here are some of my random observations:

Went to see Wicked on Saturday and the show was phenomenal! I thought the book was very mature and was wondering how it might be distilled down into something age appropriate for all the kiddos I keep seeing on TV that say how much they loved the show...well I was suprised. It wasn't 100% true to the book, but for the most part very good and followed the story pretty well. I'm wondering though if Elphaba is, in fact, still alive as portreyed by the show and I have heard musings about. I guess I will have to keep reading Son of a Witch to find out the story there. Anyways, I'm at the show and I had wondered if I shouldn't wear my little black dress and an adorable green scarf (to be in style with the main character) but I thought it was too much. I got there and there were a million little girls running around in various black and green ensambles. I should have went with it.

I may need an intervention for how obessed I have become with Flight of the Conchords. I blame Darren for letting Steven borrow the CDs and DVDs. It is fabulous and has helped me get through some stressful days at work by keeping me nearly singing out loud with "most beautiful girl in the room" and "bowie's in space" goodness. I can't get over it. It is constantly funny and dry humor. Loving it, loving it, loving it. I have also turned a few people here at work on it to it as well, which is just awesome. I'm just doing my job to help promote New Zealand's 4th most popular song/folk duo.

I had never set foot into Sur La Table before I went shopping with a friend right before Valentine's Day. I'm now on their email list and every time I open an email I feel a pang of lust for new cooking supplies. I swear. Today they sent me an "Easter goodies" email and now I'm convinced that I must have this Bunny Rabbit platter and dip bowl for my Easter celebration. Seriously- the marketing folks there have GOT-MY-NUMBER.

We have some birthday celebrations coming up which we are looking forward to, Grandma is doing well, which is always good. I visited last week on my Friday off and made cookies with brownies in them. (Yes, it sounds amazing, but the recipe wasn't so good. The brownie recipe was worth it though). I was proud of myself for trying something new. Then Mom and Dad helped me wash my car and we had a good lunch together. It was a perfect Friday- 60 degrees and sunny with no wind. I was out working on my car in jeans and t-shirt. You don't get many days like that in March around here. Saturday we had snow. I don't know what kind of weather we have going on here, but I'm ready for some serious spring!