We Breed TV Junkies

Wow, it's been entirely too long since I've posted! I'd like to say it was because of something fun, but really, I was busy with an event for work, then I was sick, and then I was busy because of the event and being out sick. It's a vicious cycle. But, I'm back, less busy, and feeling much better. Thank you.

Right now it's incredibly gray and rainy in Minnesota. Yuck. D and I sat inside much of the weekend and watched TV. And rented a movie. And watched movies that were on TV. It was really exciting. I watched some pre-season Vikings and a bit of the Twins game with D on Friday night--that is love, people. We rented Vacancy--I couldn't watch it, it was a bit too scary for me, and also not very good. D gave me the CliffsNotes, and I'm glad I didn't stick around to see the whole movie--all of the eye-covering and ear-plugging would not have been worth it in the end.

A Time to Kill was on TV this weekend. I love that movie! I did get a little analytical during the trial though--like how did Mr. Brigance seemingly get to argue jury nullification? And how did he get to introduce evidence in his closing? (Well, maybe because he posed it as a hypothetical it wasn't actually introducing evidence...) Anyway, I still enjoyed (and will continue to enjoy) watching the movie for entertainment purposes. Also, I realize that I asked uneducated law questions; I'll try to refrain from that in the future. Now enough about my L&O degree and back to me being a TV Junkie.

Home Improvement shows. There are so many of them! And D and I have become avid watchers of so many of the HGTV, A&E and TLC series that it's ridiculous. When do we find the time to actually do the projects we learn about if we can't stop watching the dang TV?!? As some of you know, we recently finished putting in new flooring and painting the trim of our living room. It looks beautiful. Thank you very much. Well, we need to paint the trim on the rest of the main floor now--progress has not been great on that. And watching all of these DIY shows only makes me want to tackle more and more projects around the house--that 70's kitchen? we can totally transform that into a gorgeous modern kitchen with a new tile backsplash and countertop, not to mention painting (or replacing) the cupboards and buying all new stainless steel appliances! Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, not only would doing this hurt our budget, but I've learned that home improvement projects are bad for my marriage. So, I will continue to plant myself on the couch and leave the big projects to the professional house flippers.

Oh, and about the picture of Carter. Yes, even he watches TV. And if you come to visit us, you can say, "Carter, go watch TV!" and he will run to the bedroom and stare at the television. Seriously. This provides us much entertainment and we end up watching strange Animal Planet shows because we get a kick out of watching Carter watch TV. I'm glad we're not tracking anything for Nielsen ratings.

Get Over It Already

Once upon a time KM and D met, fell in love and decided to get married. And then KM became a raging lunatic, known today as a bridezilla [n: a bride-to-be who focuses so much on the event that she becomes difficult and obnoxious]. (Just in case you haven't heard that overused term.) Actually, I don't think I was a bridezilla at all. I knew what I wanted, and I had a few moments of panic and crabbiness, but I don't think I made outlandish demands of anyone or pouted ridiculously about anything. But, the point of this is, we were married three years ago (this will be important later) and did many of the traditional wedding things--even arguing over the guest list.


I found a lot of good advice and ways to save money on the knot when I was planning our wedding, but I also found out a lot about peer pressure and how vulnerable brides really are. All of the new bridal trends are chatted about constantly and advertisements litter the screen--it's hard not to get swept away in it all and start to believe that you absolutely must have Swarovski crystal favors to match your Swarovski crystal center pieces and cake topper that were necessary because of the Swarovski crystals in your tiara that was hand strung to coordinate with the gown and jewelry. Really. It's true. Of course there are the strong women that know exactly what they want and don't get sucked into the trend of the day; and there are the budget brides who 'really, really, really wish they could do that, but will have to settle for the favors they decided on before becoming a knottie.' (Yes, a knottie.)


So, without further ado, here is the latest trend of the day and the point of this post: Trash the Dress. Really, there is a new kind of post-wedding photography happening and a real demand for it. Check it out here. While I am not anywhere near being a new bride and beyond the reaches of the knot and it's magical powers of making me need an 18 layer cake with different flavors of cake and filling to appease every guest I've invited, I did do a Trash the Dress shoot. A few years after my wedding, but whatever. (And just so you all don't think I'm even crazier than you previously thought--I did not seek this out, it found me by luck. And it was free--she was building her portfolio. And it was FUN.)

Here are a few pictures taken by Sally Gruman, an up-and-coming photographer:

Weekend Ramblings

I had so many things I wanted to write about over the weekend, but did I bother to make a list? No! So I'm just going to shoot from the hip and we'll see what happens.

My weekend included watching old guys golf, seeing Matt Damon look less hot than usual, teaching my dogs "Back" and buying some of the cutest and some of the ugliest shoes. Sounds fun, huh?

D got golf tickets from a client for the 3M Championship at TPC this weekend. We went on Friday and Saturday, and then he went with friends on Sunday. We had a lot of fun walking the course and hanging out in the 3M tent. We ate entirely too much, and despite covering ourselves in sunscreen, we both got burned. We followed Thorpe, Irwin, Watson, Jenkins, etc. We also saw Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez. Oh, and I almost walked into Tom Watson in the 3M tent! I was highly embarrassed, but I don't think he knew that I was inches away from colliding with him as I headed to the ice cream cooler. I'm so awesome.

Oh, and I bought a new pair of Crocs at TPC. This is my third pair. Yes, I'm a bit obsessed. And no, these were not 'some of the cutest shoes'. I know they're ugly.

Saturday morning we had our first training lesson for the dogs. Q and Carter were quick to let her know just what they needed to work on as they were jumping so much she couldn't even get in the door. It was like Greeting Olympics! Who can jump the highest? Who can whine the loudest? Who can kiss her face first? I believe Q was the gold medalist in all of these competitions, but Carter really stepped it up from previous visitor greetings to show Maureen just how much obedience training he really needs. We made progress. D and I were trained (and you thought dog training was for the dogs--it's really for the owners!) and we think we can work on a few things before our next lesson. Do we have any volunteers to visit us as we're working on greeting? No? That's a surprise. We had our participants on Sunday. They had no idea what they were in for. Thank God we have 3 more lessons.

Oh, I also bought a pair of black leather, peep toe wedge slingbacks (that was a mouthful), so I think that redeems me for my Crocs purchase. And we saw Bourne Ultimatum. I liked it, but it wasn't as good as the first two. Parts of the movie seemed more like a comedy of errors than the Action/Adventure/Drama that it's being billed as--but I still found it enjoyable and if they make another Bourne, I'll definitely see it.

On a final note; we drove on University Ave this morning on the way to work. This was our first in-person look at 35W since the bridge collapsed last week. It was exactly the same and completely different from how I imagined it. While the news footage has captured all the angles and covered the tragedy non-stop, seeing it for myself impacted me in a whole new way.

No Kiss, No Leave

A few years ago I implemented a new rule: we will always kiss before we say goodbye or leave the house. (Don't worry--this rule is just for D and me! No kissing required from the rest of you!) I believe this all started once we bought our house and we lived together for the first time, so that was 2003. Before that we had carpooled on occasion and there was always a goodbye kiss, so I decided it should be a regular thing whenever one of us was leaving.

Does anyone else make up random rules? Seriously, this was a rule. We discussed it and agreed upon it. It was not something that just started happening, although D will probably remember this much differently and say that he always did it or something like that.

One day we were moving things into our new house with the help of BIL #1, and once we finished D and BIL were going golfing. They went to leave and I stood on the stairs and just stared and D. He looked at me for a moment and wondered what was going on--then it hit him. He ran up the stairs, gave me a quick kiss and ran out the door. BIL was a little weirded out (It was just a peck! No room-getting required!) but neither of them said anything. We have, without hesitation, kissed goodbye ever since.

A couple of weeks ago D and I were arguing about something stupid--I'm sure it had to do with a purchase he was about to make or maybe had just made--anyway, he needed to go back to the store and I was mad and he was angry that I was upset, and so on and so forth. It was one of the spiralling out of control fights where all we really needed was for someone to sit us down and ask "Is it even worth it to be angry about this?" So, D grabbed his keys and came over to kiss me good bye. (Not a scary or dramatic good bye--he was going to the store.) And I just looked at him like he was crazy. I might have even said, "I don't want to kiss you now." D bent down to kiss me and said, "It's the rule."

I LOVE it! Seriously, that was really cool. Not only does he kiss me goodbye whenever he leaves (even if we're mad at each other) but he remembers my crazy rules!

Thirty-five Double U

Last night D came running upstairs and turned on the TV. 35W collapsed. Into the river. During rush hour.

I still cannot completely wrap my head around what is going on. It's just so surreal. I cannot believe this happened. I cannot believe it happened so close to me--near where I work, on a bridge I travel on constantly.

I rushed to the phone to call my mom. She takes 35W home from work, and although I knew she tended to leave around 5pm, I wanted to be sure. My family is fine. I spoke with many of my friends and they are fine. Emails are flying this morning with people checking in--checking on everyone else. It seems that my loved ones are all safe. I hope it stays that way.

Our HR Director is checking who is and who is not at work right now. She's going to start calling those who are missing.

Read the full story here: Star Tribune