Seattle!

Because I am so late at posting a blog about our fantastic trip to Seattle, I decided it would be best to just show some of the awesome pictures we took while there.  We had an incredible time!  We spent some much needed friend time with my good friend from high school, Alisa and her husband Ryan and their son Owen!

We soaked up every second of the mountain air and beautiful nature that surrounds their neighborhood.

We got up one morning and walked on this path, it was gorgeous!  And then we went out to breakfast just the two of us.  Very fun, and notice the baby bump starting to form.... :)

Gift card date night, what!

It's been a while since a good post, huh?  Well maybe I have had really important things to worry about recently and I don't have time to sit around all day writing to you, ever think of that?!  Woah, let's take it back a bit.  I apologize, that is no way to start a new post.  The truth is I have not been all that busy and that I have thought of writing about great things many times... I just didn't do it.  Sometimes I do things, and then other times I just don't.  I don't think there should be any guilt or shame attached to that, ok?  As if I feel any of those things coming from you anyways, I don't.  You are the one who takes time out of your day to read from me, and I appreciate it.  Let's just jump right into this as I fear another rant coming on.....
So last night my husband and I stumbled upon 5 to 7 (I didn't feel like counting an exact number) gift cards that we have yet to use.  I suggested we go out and use every single one but that felt like a little much.  Matt did agree to using two of them and so our date night began.  We first went to Border's and looked at books, games, and magazines for quite a while.  Matt got lost in a comic book which he ended up reading the whole thing so we did not have to buy it, that's legal right?  And I found myself engaged in the Buddhist section skimming through several books that I could relate to, you know, I'm down with that whole inner peace, outer peace, enlightenment thing.  I then got lost in the kid's section as I gathered a few ideas for a gift that I will be getting soon for a good friend of mine who is due in May.  I loved reminiscing through some of my favorite childhood books and then I stopped to look at a few I had never seen before too.
Next we went to Whole Foods for dinner.  They have so many delicious, fresh, and healthy choices for dinner that I was very pleased with everything we purchased.  Matt got a bbq chicken sandwich and pasta and I delighted in a warm roll with my spinach veggie lasagna.  So good!
And on our way home we could not just drive past the Sheridan's, I mean who does that?  Plus we had a gift card that was dying to be spent.  I got my favorite... mint chocolate chip ice cream with chunks of oreo, otherwise known as the grasshopper.  Is there anything better than mint chocolate chips with CHUNKS of oreo?  Matt had a hard time choosing what to order as he does at most places because the man likes everything!  I mean, I don't think I have EVER heard him say he didn't like some piece of food (within reason of course) and I mention at least three things a day that I don't like.  I wonder if that gets annoying...
Moving on, he chose butter pecan ice cream with caramel.  I am sure this sounds good to some of you, but to me, I just don't think pecans belong with ice cream.  There I said it.  I also have no desire to ever eat caramel again. Ever.
We got home after driving around through some cold foggy weather and watched some shows together.  A very successful and fun date night.  No pictures to prove it, but I assure you, it was nice.

Spit. it. out.

So I have had trouble recently connecting my thoughts to the exact words that I want to speak.  Even trying to explain a very simple ab exercise to the girts that I coach.... I  had to find a girl that I knew, she knew what I was trying to say and I had to ask her to just do it visually for everyone else to get it.  I am telling you this because I can almost guarantee that if I am having trouble speaking the words, I am sure I am having issues typing them as well.
I was watching a cooking show over the weekend and saw a meal that I wanted to cook, and then we bought the right ingredients AND I actually cooked it!  So if you want a delicious sandwich here goes: get some yummy bread (sour dough, italian, whatevs) get some big ol' mushrooms (especially if you are cutting back on meat, it is a good meat substitute) grill the bread and mushrooms on the skillet, add veganaise mayo and honey mustard, cheese (if you want of course) fresh basil leaves chopped up, and a fresh avocado on the side and add your favorite chips on the other side.  Oh I promise you, sooooooo good!  And for dessert, reese's peanut butter cups!
I was going to take a picture and show you, but I swear it was not on the plate long enough, so fresh and delicious!

Thank goodness

I spent the last three days working from home due to a blizzard.  Although I think this insane weather is a clear sign of global warming and mother nature has been forced into a crazy burst of record breaking highs and lows.... I did appreciate the break.  I worked from home the past three days and did not even turn my car on (hope it starts fine tomorrow).  This does mean next week I will be playing catch up a bit as you can never get everything done working from home, but I really did enjoy the lighter schedule.  I will keep this short and simple as I try to do after a post like the last one.  Not only was the break nice to stay warm and cozy in the house, but I happened to get sick this week and it was the perfect time to really go at my own pace and rest and re-energize.  My husband picked up the slack this week as I let the laundry lay on the floor and the dishes pile up in the sink, and I am very thankful for him (for many reasons). 

Hope you are staying warm and I hope we all see some sunshine soon....

Levels of funny

I went to a clinic recently where I found myself in a banquet hall with about 400 other people that coach softball.  Most of the speakers were good and the information was helpful.  But after several hours of sitting in the same place and listening to very similar information I found myself getting very easily distracted.  There was this older man sitting next to me and he would try to make funny comments from time to time to his co-worker next to him and to me on the other side, and I appreciated his effort.  After a few minutes I noticed that he kept reaching down to the side of him somewhere beyond my line of sight and he came back with some sort of treat and popped it in his mouth.  He did this two or three times and then I leaned over to him and said "Have you ever seen Napoleon Dynamite?"  Thankfully he said yes, and the rest of of my joke landed.  Then I said "You remind me of that part when he keeps reaching down to his side pocket on his pants and he is eating his tator tots during class..."  The guy laughed and said he had some sort of jelly bean like candy and assured me he did not have a pocket full of warm tator tots.  THIS was the highlight of the day as far as humor goes.

Now it was funny at the time, yes.  But then I realized that one of the speakers was getting all the laughs and she did have some funny, not so politically correct comments to say and she kept everyone's interest for sure. Instead of saying she had some fast players on her team and some not so fast, she would call the slow ones "butt slow" and that got a laugh.  And someone next to me said "See, I told you she was hilarious."  Now this is when I said no no no, in my head.  Yes, this woman has every right to call the speaker hilarious but I just wasn't sure she had heard of anything truly funnier than what we were currently listening to.  I have been called a 'comedy snob' and I think I am okay with it.   

This scene reminded me of when I worked in an office every day and how we all (or at least some of us) start to go a little crazy after a while.  Eight hours straight of working in a basement, no natural sunlight and those florescent lights and off white walls just over taking you...  I remember there was "office humor" and it was far different than anything I found funny outside of work.  Someone would make a comment and I would catch myself half-heartedly laughing like Toby from The Office and then once I was in my car driving home I would snap back into my full self and realize 'that wasn't funny at all'. 

I've decided there are levels of funny and somewhere in there is The Office Level (cubicle or not), The Banquet Hall Level, Classroom funny, and then the levels just start getting better and better beyond that and eventually you reach 30 Rock Level (quick, witty, and down right hilarious -my favorite level).  I know that humor is helpful especially on those long days and I guess I would rather have the Office level than no level at all.... at least I think I would.

I will leave you with my list.  It may be oozing with my comedic snobness, and oh yea sometimes I make up words, but I think I have reached the level of comedy where I am qualified to judge the un-funny shows.

The top 5 Worst (non-reality) Shows Ever:
5. Outsourced.  It made the list because I can't believe it is in the current line up of Thursday night awesomeness.  I have seen a total of 60 seconds and that was enough to realize it will never be funny.
4. King of Queens.  Let's me honest though According to Jim could be interchangeable here, anything with a fat husband, skinny wife, husband acts like an idiot and wife freaks out, blah blah blah, I am just sick of the plots being so similar but then failing at actually being funny.
3. My name is Earl.  The previews alone on this show are so irritatingly not funny to me.
2. The Big Bang Theory.  I am sorry, I know a lot of people watch it, and we have tried but I just don't get it.  The humor is not there and that skinny guy's voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
1.  Two and a Half Men. The. Worst. Ever.

Now on a brighter note, the top 5 Best and Funniest Shows Ever
5. Scrubs
4. Summer Heights High
3. Strangers with Candy
2. Arrested Development
1. 30 Rock

There, I said it.  Lemon out.

A few great things...

I have had three snow days in the past two weeks and that means a few less appointments for me and a few less busy days.  I have appreciated the break SO much.  I love being at home more, not having to drive in bad weather, and getting to hang out with our dogs more.  I also really like eating at home, that may sound weird, or not, who cares, I just like it.  I have noticed that our dog Jaxon follows me around to each room that I go to (even the bathroom) which has been pretty funny to observe.  We got a new bed last weekend and upgraded to a king sized bed!  And we are still very happy with our purchase of netflix.  Almost every movie or show I have found has either been very interesting and I learned something new or it was just down right entertaining.  Although I watched one movie two days ago that was just bad.  The main character was just a jerk and he had no redeeming qualities at all.  And at the end of the movie I was just bummed out that I chose that one to watch.  Last week Matt and I watched 'Frozen' which we could tell by the description it was going to be horrible but we still chose it, and watched the entire thing.  This guy and his girlfriend and best friend all get stuck on a ski lift over night.  Which, if you have ever been on a ski lift you can imagine that getting stuck 30 feet up in the air in the freezing cold over night would be horrible.  But the dialogue was horrible, the effects were even worse and just one bad thing after another kept happening.  What were we supposed to do, stop watching?  Now that would have been crazy.  We had to see which of the three dum dum's actually survived if any (don't worry the girlfriend survives and also I didn't ruin the ending because I am positive you would have never watched it yourself).

Snow day!

This morning I woke up and found out my first meeting was canceled and one meeting was changed to tomorrow and then this afternoon I was going to lead softball conditioning for the team I am coaching but because they didn't have school due to the snow, conditioning was canceled too!  It was a nice surprise to have a busy day go to a very relaxing, catching up on things sort of day where I could stay home in my pj's all day long.

Every time I looked outside and saw the big flakes coming down, I smiled.  It was a much needed break and each passing flake felt like a breather and a chance to get some things done that I have been meaning to.

We had a very nice weekend kicking it off on Friday night with a dinner out with Matt's side of the family.  Saturday my mom and sister joined me to my good friend Megan's baby shower for her first kiddo and little boy who is due in just a few short weeks.

Great food, cute cupcakes and a very lovely shower with good people.

Me, Ashleigh (holding Ashton) and Megan.  Doesn't Megan look sooo cute?!

My mom helped me make my second baby blanket and I was pretty pleased with how this one turned out. Megan loved it too (thankfully) because she said she needed a blanket for her baby's crib and it matched the colors she already chose for the nursery!

And this little guy, Ashton partied it up with us at the baby shower too.  He did great!  He was so chilled and had fun just checking everything out.  He is such a cutie pie!