merry merry. happy happy.

Dollar Store Secret Santa has been going on since college and now the group is larger and each year stockings more and more ridiculous.



The rules are simple:

- When picking names you can't get yourself or your significant other
- Items in the stocking have to be under a dollar

This year, I got Matt D and he got me. And it's fair to say, he got me good.



In my stocking was:

• 6 crafty paper hats (one pictured)
• a grow-an-ostrich in a plastic egg
• a weird foot shaped foot scrubber
• 2 small plastic skulls
• a wooden exclamation point
• a monkey covering his eyes
• a ramones-esque skull sticker
• 2 koosh-ball looking animals
• 2 stick on mustaches
• HOME in sequins (Matt D read this as a creative spelling of "homey" apparently)
• a pair of pom pom keychains (one has since been given to Matt D as a symbol of our friendship)
• a tiny box of angry bunny stickers
• a dog that kind of looks like a lion
• a child size Miami Dolphins shot glass
• a matchbook of small candles
• a wooden letter K with markers to color it
• glittery monkey stickers
• a nail file (because Matt D enjoys torturing me with flashbacks to Black Swan)
• a modded Jake The Cowboy sticker book with Jake Gyllenhaal's face and added commentary
• AND... the complete 98° discography. Three in my stocking and the last two wrapped as a present and marked "OPEN THIS LAST". That last one took a lot of dedication and apparently a lot of scouring through the bargain bins at Record Archive. Now, whenever we carpool with MAMA's house—I'll bring the tunes.

And poor Bill had to wait through stockings and presentes before he was allowed to open the 3+ foot tall present Anna carried in for him.

By the time we were done with Christmas, it was barely over an hour until the New Year—which we rang in with Christmas Crackers, paper hats and champagne.

Kind of wished someone had asked me to talk about Jefferson at this point—for my own version of Drunken History.

Oh, and PS: Still finding confetti EVERYWHERE.

happy happy 2010.

2010. Sometimes it felt like it was flying by and others where it was positively dragging itself as though it's legs were broken. But when I look back at pictures, it's only the flying bits—which I am incredibly grateful for. I'm fortunate, in many ways. But what I remember most about 2010 is how fortunate I am for the amazing people I have in my life.

There were a few firsts this year. First high school reunion, first trip to Denver (and first professional-type convention). I had my first try-out for roller derby and thusly my first knee injury (meniscus tear). Still, I got my first derby name (Frankie Dee Bruisevelt)—and my first time out as a non-skating official. With the obvious exceptions, firsts are fun.





Then there are the things that happen every year. Holidays, birthdays, sunny days in San Diego in the middle of July. For the third year, Comic Con week was the thing I looked forward to the most and was not disappointed—a week in my favorite city with my favorite people surrounded by our favorite things. There are few things better than that.



We had True Blood Sundays and a game night here and there. Shenanigans abound. These are the people I know I can count on.




It was also the summer (or year) of Scott Pilgrim. I don't think a movie has quite dominated my life in such a way. Jason Schwartzman signed my phone and I got to meet Edgar Wright outside a classy old theatre before the sneak preview.

And as far as the furry friends? It was a year of first there too for the smaller one. Clark had his first therapy visit, his first agility trial and a bunch of first place ribbons. And Maggie's had her best year yet. Coming from a neglectful home, learning to be a dog and relax and play has been a process. But this year she's come out of her shell. It's nice to be able to take her more places. I think she enjoys it too.

Happy, happy, near year and here's to a lovely 2011.

i said hey! what's going on?

One of my favorite pre-holiday events?



The annual Val visit and the dinner that we celebrated it with.

Where else can you sample shepherd's pie, mac and cheese and/or taco boats, find out that Anna's bed only holds five adults and get a 4 Non Blondes song stuck in your head forever?

another reason why my friends > your friends.

Matt was all about going to this year's Oktoberfest and when he floated the idea out to everyone at MAMA's house, they were game. I wasn't quite sure what to expect (aside from German food and plenty of beer). Needless to say, we had a blast. It wasn't just German food, but amazing German food—and plenty of beer under this giant tent at Camp Eastman. The music just kept going. Austrian singers, bands with those giant alp horns and this old man who yodeled. That has to be a dying art, right?

Then there was this guy who played accordion. He'd do traditional pieces, but then he'd also play to karaoke tracks of party songs? At least, I think that's what was happening. The thing was that he didn't know the words. So he'd kind of come in at the chorus and then fade out for the rest of the song. It was hilarious.

But not as hilarious as the chicken dance—at least at our table.



Matt D's interpretation of the Chicken Dance = pure awesome.

"Matt learned the chicken dance from the Bluth family." - Matt A

where did june go?

As I sit here watching neighborhood fireworks through the front window, I can't believe we're already three days into July.

So what happened in the fleeting month of June? A heck of a lot, actually.

HOW DESIGN CONFERENCE

So, back in January (at least I think it was January) I found out that I was going to be one of three designers from work sent to the annual HOW Design Conference. While that was exciting on its own—the fact that his year's conference was in Denver added to the thrill. It was my first time visiting the city and I do love me some urban exploring.

Denver is an amazing city. It's incredibly easy to get around sans-automobile and outside of conference time—there was a lot to see and do. Taking a cue from my foodie husband, I looked up some places to check out meal-wise before we left. My favorite (which we visited twice during those 4 days) was Steuben's. I almost felt bad eating there without Matt because it's the kind of place he dreams about opening.

A Rockies game, a free pedicab ride, a near-empty Coyote Ugly franchise on a Monday night and an accidental stumbling into a dueling piano bar—Denver nightlife served us well.

The conference? A blast. Like Comic-Con for graphic designers. It was a creative gut-check and kick in the pants to get busy making things. In fact, most of the lessons/inspiration I took home with me related to things to do outside of work to be a happier creative sort overall. I was a bookshop fiend and used my SDCC skills to load up on awesome swag in the resource room.

DOGS

Maggie, Clark and I spent a Saturday morning walking for a good cause—the Rochester Animal Services shelter. It was a fun day in the park near Verona Street followed by an interesting walk around the area about Frontier Field. Maggie, who is still a work in progress when it comes to socializing with strange dogs, did incredibly well.

Clark is an agility superstar. The day after the walk, we went to Amherst for his second agility trial and he placed 1st in all three events and earned his Novice title, moving up to Open in Standard and JWW. His therapy work has been wonderful as well. Because of some scheduling conflicts, we had to skip one of our regular visits and got to go to a new place. He loves it and people respond well to him. Like any good athlete, he has his charity work. Hah.

TRICERABRATION

MAMA's house continued it's excellent party throwing streak, celebrating not just Halloween this year, but the 17th anniversary of Jurassic Park with their Tricerabration picnic.

My favorite dino-themed dishes were Anna's mom's dino egg (a hollowed out melon with lemon and vanilla pudding) and the idea of Eric's dino-nugget and tater tot diorama (only existing as an idea, as putting it together would have involved touching everyone's food).

We brought over the firepit and as the sun went down, MAMA's house broke that out. I love campfires, the building of them and the socializing around them. Especially on those perfect summer nights where it's just chilly enough for the fire to be comfortable.

iPHONE

I usually don't like to facebrag (or since this is a blog and not facebook... I guess it's blogbrag?)... but I've been looking forward to this since the first speculation of a new phone.

My iPhone 4, I loves it.

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

Ten years? Already. GTFO. But apparently it has been. I originally was dead set against going, mainly because there was apparently some folks butthurt about not having prom on a boat, so they were making up for that by booking the reunion on some river-faring vessel. But Ali and Jen tempted me with the promises of much laughter... and I went.

Since the river booze cruise wasn't everyone's cup of tea, we put together a picnic the afternoon of at my dad's house. What a great time! Saw people I hadn't seen in ages, got to meet significant others and offspring and catch up with old friends.

The boat... surprisingly fun! Former nay-sayers changed their mind at the picnic and our group took over the top deck. Got to see more folks I'd all but lost touch with and drank my $50 in liquor at least. We followed up the boatride with a few drinks at The Steel House and Mariners (oh, camp memories) and then Ali, Tom, Claire, Matt & I retired to Michael's Diner until we called our DD.

TELEVISION

Summer TV, endings and beginnings.

June brought the end of the new season of Doctor Who and it was so bloody brilliant. Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor, hands down. There's a Tennant episode of WXXI right now and while it's a great one (Silence in the Library), he's just not as fun as Smith. Look at him dance!

I can't wait for the Christmas episode. However, there is something to fill the gap. True Blood is back and so are the odd theme nights that go along with them at the Austin house. Matt found a cake weck at Tops that we passed off as an AIDSburger cake. True Blood is fantastic and over the top, never taking itself too seriously. Though, I could have done without the end scene of the third episode. Some things you just can't unsee, I suppose.

And July? It's going to be the best month yet. I don't have a full week of work until August due to things like 4th of July, my birthday shenanigans and, of course, Comic Con. This year Matt & I and the boys are all flying out together. Matt took me to see Tron at the Dryden tonight to properly prepare me for the awesomeness all over San Diego that is Tron Legacy and Anna and I have agreed to celebrate our birthdays proper in the Gaslamp Quarter (saving our birthday wishes for Comic-Con week).

family dinner time.

I love big get togethers—here or at MAMA's house, doesn't matter. Tonight we celebrated a late St. Patty's day by gathering around the ol' library table at MAMA's house for a bounty of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, shepherd's pie and more. Conversation worked it's way around in circles, somehow always arriving at Matt D with a turkey baster.

I have the best friends in the world.

werewolf bar mitzvah. spooky scary.

I love Halloween. I was especially excited for a True Blood themed Halloween this year (at least for me and the jack-o-lanterns that graced our front porch).
Sookie.

Bill didn't come out so good. The pattern was a mess after the transfer.

And Eric.. oh, Eric. I think he actually turned out the best. Still, I'm not afraid of Eric.

While the Sookie costume kind of came together quietly over a few weeks, I was bouncing up and down as I got ready for trick-or-treaters and the party. The most startling part of the outfit was the wig. I've never thought about going blonde before and I'll never consider it in the future. It was just odd and the wig was huge. I had to tame it's madness into a side ponytail deal.
It's hard to see in the photo, but I even had a silver chain looped around, circa season one. Oh, the nerdiness.

Matt's moon costume was awesome when he had the sky-board on and eerie when he was just covered in white face paint. I think he scared some kids at the door. :D He made it all by himself too and had a blast doing it.

We hung out at home until about nine, because I love the fact that we get trick-or-treaters. To help with our ongoing efforts to eat right, I ended up buying candy that neither of us would touch: mini tootsie roll pops, lemon heads and the ultimate leper of the candy world, Twilight candy hearts. I unleashed that sparkly awfulness on about 40 or so kids who came to the door and left with necco wafers emblazoned with Twilighty sayings.

After that, we killed the porch lights and headed to the MAMA's house bash.

MAMA's house rocks and throws the BEST Halloween party. I love getting the chance to see the City Newspaper peeps. Among them was a Sam Merlotte. :D


Anna's Dalek costume kicked ass. So did the Doctor Who themed shots that fateful Monday night was filled with. I think I filled my Merlotte's glass twice with Time Rotors and I did a few of the TARDIS shots in the neato test tubes she got.

The boys were Calvin and Hobbes. I think this is them acting out a panel from the comic strip. I'm not sure, I'm kinda stealing the party pics from Matt's flickr.

Sunday, we rejoined MAMA's house for brunch and then headed to Target to sweep up some Halloween clearance deals. It's a great time of year for people who love things with skulls on them. :D I think my favorite is the glittery, black skull that's now on the table near the door.

Then the post-Halloween let down set in Monday morning. Next year seems so far away.

nobody knows halloween like MAMA

Thank god for an easy Halloween costume, otherwise I don't know how I'd pull it together this week. The plan started as just going as a generic Merlotte's waitress. Then I saw a blonde wig on sale at JoAnne's... and now I'm going for the full Sookie Stackhouse treatment. The hardest piece of the costume puzzle to track down was black shorts/skirt. The season has passed for that kind of stuff and Merlotte's girls aren't known for wearing sensible slacks. Thank you, Target clearance rack! I bought an official Merlotte's apron from HBO and the boys are letting me borrow an empty bottle of TruBlood for the evening. It's easier to carry that around on a tray as opposed to a pitcher of Mountain Dew (got to love the South).



Things left to do? I have to add the Merlotte's logo to the shirt I bought, track down a waitress tray and put together a little restaurant check/order pad. Oh, and shoes. I have to figure out shoes.



I tried to convince Matt to go as Terry, but he wasn't into it. Haha. The plan now is for him to go as The Moon from The Mighty Boosh. I take back what I said about having it easy on costume making this week —we need to figure out how The Moon is going to work. I mean, the smudgy white make up is easy. We just need to build a giantic circle around his face and have it be seamless.

However it gets put together, I'm sure it's going to be awesome.

I'm so excited for the MAMA's House Halloween extravaganza!