So, a few things (ok, many) have crossed my mind since I last wrote on here twoish weeks ago.
1.
Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks: Starbucks has a lot of excellent seasonal beverages that pass through its doors each year. I'm confident that pumpkin spice lattes are my favorite. "What's this?" you ask; "I thought you were an eggnog girl--surely the eggnog latte is for you--and I've always known you had a penchant for mint chocolate chip ice cream, yet you don't pick the peppermint mocha?" While both the eggnog latte and peppermint mocha are both tasty treats, the pumpkin spice latte tops them both. Perhaps it's the sweetness with the subtle hints of a more robust flavor. Perhaps it's the fabulous orange shade that a bit of pumpkin syrup does when added to the milk and espresso concoction. Perhaps it's that soy milk tastes better with pumpkin spice lattes than with the other seasonal offerings. At any rate, it's probably ok--I don't feel like I'm doing a disservice to eggnog or peppermint and chocolate: I know that Jim and Dad will both consume their share of eggnog lattes, and that Mat and J will pick up the peppermint slack.
2.
Bowling Leagues: As many of you know, and many do not, I am in a bowling league with my church. There are about 30 of us who get together every other week for 9 months or so and we bowl. 6 teams. 6 lanes. Lots of mayhem. On weekends when bowling conflicts with something else (i.e. the All-Church Retreat this weekend, for example), it is necessary to bowl off. That is, apart from the league, but with the purpose of fulfilling the league commitment, one must bowl their three games, the alley will keep the scores on-hand, and they can be included in the team's weekly total. After choir on Wednesday, Joe and I went to bowl off. It was just the two of us in
Lane 1 at the alley. Now, Lane 1 is typically the worst lane in the alley because the wall of the building protrudes ever-so-slightly onto the walkway. Joe and I both bowled three games and we were finished in an hour. Power bowling at its finest. By the end, both of us were so exhausted (who am I kidding-we were exhausted prior to our arrival!) that we just sort of tossed the ball with no rhyme or reason. Of course, this proved to be an effective bowling method for Joe, who scored about 20 pins higher than his average in all three games. It was less effective for me, who just can't bowl very well at all. But I guarantee you I will remember the bowling scores for years to come, and Joe won't have a clue. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, he sings the songs and I tell the jokes--we're a regular Donnie and Marie...except, you know, not related and not a bit freaky. (Though, perhaps it's interesting [or not] to note that Donnie Osmond
did play "Joseph" and ALW's
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and
I was
also in that show. And Joe's name is Joseph. Oh, the connections.)
3.
Wedding dresses: So, last night, I went to a surprise birthday party for my friend Amy, put on by her boyfriend, Adam. One of my favorite people ever, Mollie, asked to hear about my wedding dress, and then told me that I should
draw it. Now, I'm not especially talented at visual art (except in the ways of videography, and I certainly wasn't going to cut a video to describe my dress!), but agreed to try my hand at this. However, when she came back with a Sharpie and a napkin as my materials, I realized the feat would be much more difficult to accomplish. So, I gave it my best effort and ended up with what looked something like a mermaid with a teddy bear on her chest and polka dots on her tail. By the way, if you were curious, here's what wikipedia has to say on the subject of polka dots:
While polka dots are ancient, they first became common on clothing in the late nineteenth century in Britain. At the same time polka music was extremely popular and the name was also applied to the pattern, despite no real connection between the two.
There were many other "polka" items some of which included "Polka-hats" and "Polka-jackets." Most disappeared with the fad of actual Polka dance. However only the polka dot fabric pattern remained popular and the name has been left intact over the years.Anyway, I really wanted Mollie to understand how my dress looked, and that Joe wasn't at this gathering made it easier to talk openly about it. However, I fear she thinks that I'm going to be wearing something that Ariel (of
The Little Mermaid fame) wore before she got her "training shells." C'est la vie.
4.
SSX3: For my birthday, one of the gifts Joe got for me was this video game, which is the next in the series from the game Jennifer and Mat have, which I play
a lot whenever I go to Chicago. It is a snowboarding game that involves halfpipes, trail-blazing, rails, racing, earning money and medals, and lots of tricks. I love it. The best part is this: it has to stay at Joe's house because I don't have a PS2, so I can't just play it whenever I don't feel like doing work (not to fear Procrastinator's of the World, Inc.--I have other ways of successfully delaying productivity!) Plus, the novelty of the thing lasts much longer when I don't have perpetual access to it. And, lately, my time at Joe's has been so short (because, oddly enough, I am ridiculously busy--wait, that's not odd at all) and my taking to the slopes has been much less frequent. More infrequent, even.
5.
Babies: My dear friends Rachel and Nathan just gave birth to a precious son, Elijah. Now, to see Nathan and Rachel is to know that they will have cute children, but even still, I was so taken by how beautiful he is! Now, I've only seen pictures, which means I can't even begin to imagine the real deal, but wow...Of course, my niece Rachel still takes the cake for most beautiful baby
ever, but Elijah is right behind her. Plus, it is just so exciting that Raibird and Nathan have a baby!!! This may, of course, affect their ability to come to my wedding, though I hope it does not...and it's still worth it to have that little cutie pie...who I'm sure will learn how to fart at will as soon as Nathan has the chance to teach him. Joe and I have talked a lot about our kids--sometimes I think he has a worse case of Babyitis than I do, but that's not such a bad thing. I love it when he points out cute kids or when he talks about wanting to be a softball coach for our daughter and a baseball coach for our son (apparently, he envisions a very traditional family). We've also talked very seriously about adopting, which is something that we both would love to do. It's nice to be on the same page about those things. And, by the way, when he holds one of the kids at the church (like Ella, who is just over one year old, and is
so darling), it might be the cutest thing ever. Not surprisingly, he reminds me of Dad.
It may or may not interest you to know that I've written all of this while at work. It would certainly be of interest to my boss, but I'd rather he not find out...so, I think I'll get back to it. Have a good one! :0)
