holiday tipping

I'm kind of a cheapskate, but the internetz (and Emily Post?) tell me that some people tip mailmen, garbage men, and other similar service people...

A woman on a message board I follow was nice enough to tip her mailman (I've never even met our mailperson, so sorry if you're out there, no tip for you) and this is the thanks she got.

I'll stick with tipping my hairdresser (and a special tip to daycare for the holidays).

Happy Halloween

I can't believe they're already over two months old!

our first mother's day

(card made by one of our collegiate players, not weird trans-utero communication)

home for the holidays

Well, home for my Princess Charming. We see my parents plenty :)

no tree this year, but I do love our mantel!

night photography

I stink. I really need to get the hang of aperture. And try out a tripod. And maybe be more patient.

live, the moon was huge at the time

but not streaking to earth meteroid style

mercury? venus? no, its pin moon!

shockingly, "Portrait of Christmas in the Suburbs" was also a failure

a little Christmas baking

We decided to give gifts of food (who doesn't love some cookies. And poop on a stick. And spicy pretzels.) to our coworkers and some family this year.  A bit of our baking extravaganza (icing fabulousness mostly courtesy my sister in law)

just getting started packing things up!

the poop on a stick is amazing. serious. 

hellooooo royal icing

and q-tip decorated mini-men/women

so that Thanksgiving 5k...

27:45.
Just under a 9 min pace.  My first mile was crowded and I just couldn't pick it up enough to make up the difference. My 3rd was an 8:40 despite a huge hill at the end (though Garmin says it was only a 16 foot net ascent, so I guess I picked up some pace on the gradual downhill). Note to self: next year, start inappropriately far up in the pack if racing.

Overall it was good though, and my whole family did it. My mom was sort of convinced the clock was wrong since she finished over 5 minutes ahead of her hour minute goal.  And my dad took about 4 minutes off his time from last year. I think a 13 and change mile is pretty darn good for someone who started exercising, literally for the first time ever, at 57 years old and following a triple bypass.  My brother came in at around 34 minutes, also not bad for not working out ever. He was a little sore Friday though (teehee).

fireworks

Thanksgiving fireworks in the backyard are normal, right?

ok, so my dad's a little bit of a pyro...

happy (belated) howl-o-ween

milkbones & candycorn, Bailey's favorites (really, he likes candy corn) in one concise skeleton costume!

Happy 4th of July!!

We were lucky to have awesome weather and a nice shore breeze! A beautiful day with family & an old friend!

A car-ride nap...a puppy necessity for a busy day!

Wind in the ears = happy dog. Until the fireworks anyway...

lunching on a little table!

Mom & our fearless captain

lots of sunblock for us!!

what we did for Christmas

Christmas in our house (or, well, a week before Christmas. Maybe post-shoveling?):

Christmas with my parents:

merry christmas

Or Happy Boxing Day. For whomever celebrates that. (Do I have any British or Canadian readers? Actually, do I have any readers...?)

In honor of the holiday, my stocking stuffer:

santa-poop-on-a-stick or chocolate dipped marshmellows? you decide.

It was tasty though.
I also got some gummi candies.

Not bad!

Princess Charming's stocking has a novel (from half.com) and a new pair of gloves (from BJ's) for work, not play. She hasn't seen the gloves yet so I hope she doesn't read this until we're back from vacation next weekend.

shopping (semi)fail

I am a terrible Christmas shopper. I like to shop. Really, I do. But, I kind of suck at giving gifts. My family always tended to buy things as we needed them, something that has continued into my adulthood and certainly the way Princess Charming and I handle things. We were hard pressed to get stocking stuffers. (OK, I am pretty easy to shop for. Get me wool running socks. Or earrings. Or clothes. But I don't NEED anything).

Anyway, tonight, on December 22, I went out to get my parents a present.
Started out OK. I got the last camera at the $79.99 sale price (not bad for a 10.2mp camera...no bells and whistles but it will do the job and be 10000% more effective than the "we didn't want to bring the good camera" situation they currently have). Then I waited in line for 13 minutes to get it from Customer Service.

Then I thought, "hey, I'm out, I'm 2 blocks from T.arget, let me run and get the memory card and case"

Let me remind you it is December 22.

I got to T.arget and got a spot within a reasonable range, though pretty far out for 9:43 pm.
Then I went inside.

Holy hell.
I have never seen the inside of a T.arget - much less this particular very suburban typically impeccable one - in this sort of condition. It looked like a W.almart, without the people.
I spent about 10 minutes trying to find a game for my cousins and the camera accessories, then decided I was nuts and left.

I got in the car and had a complete heart attack because the camera box was not under the seat where I left it.

Then I looked in the back seat.

Bailey - he was along for the ride...he loves a car ride and is perfectly happy to sleep in the driver's wheel well for 20 minutes in temperate weather - appearently thought it was his and chewed the ends off the box. The camera, CD and books are fine, but I sure hope my mom and dad like it...

love

Tired dog.


The only way to get this photo.

Happy Thanksgiving

a little late.

The usual Thanksgiving, more or less.

We drove up to NJ early Thursday morning - very early, to run a 5k with my dad! He ran it in 42 minutes, which is not shabby for a guy who hadn't exercised in 30 years until his triple bypass last spring!

Then a quick stop by the HS football game (to see the marching band...and alumni...I don't march but its fun to make the pit stop)
Followed by the usual Thanksgiving festivities.

Friday we shopping, went out to lunch, and hung out with my parents. They see Princess Charming all the time, but I'm only up there every couple of months, and they (especially mom) miss me :)

Saturday we went to the city for a bachelorette party - a show (with Zach Morris and the brother from Weeds) and then dinner (the blandest Mexican I have ever had...). And we walked around the city like tourists, even though we're all pretty local. Including three journeys through Times Square. Poor planning in my opinion. We did see the tree briefly though (unlit, clearly).
And then home Sunday....to decorate!

and off to the holiday season!

anticlimatic & strange

Two very different topics:

Anti-climatic:
Sort of. I'm not really into birthdays, but there is something a little weird about being in a hotel room in a strange city by yourself on your birthday. It was a pleasant enough day for being at a Boring (yes, capital) conference, and I did get about a million facebook happy bdays, a couple of texts, 2 emails, and, not to be forgotten, a phone call from my parents about an hour ago. Lets note that its almost 9 pm. And we're in the same time zone. But whatever...I obviously got my ambivalence about birthdays (and holidays in general) from somewhere :)

Strange:
This hotel. Its nice. Its kind of fancy-smancy, the kind of place where people who can't afford the Ritz (which is pretty much next door) have fancy-smancy downtown weddings. High ceilings and crystal chandeliers.
And the smallest hotel rooms I've ever seen. As a disclaimer, most of the hotels I stay in are conveniently located outside of a city, near the airport and a large park with uprights, so I'm not sure how big "city" rooms usually are. That said, the towels here are rougher than those at the ComfortInn. Ugh.

But check out my door. Weird box protruding off of it...its on both sides, on every door to a room. What do you think it is?

I initially thought perhaps it was a fire-door upgrade (since this building is quite old...you can tell in the molding, besides the architecture). But there's a little lock/knob thing...

I guess not every hotel guest feels the need to unlock it, because it took about 5 minutes of jiggling (plus moving the regular handle to the deadbolt-locked position) to open it.
So, what is it?




Answer: Its a Servidoor. Apparently this structure at one time was common enough in fancy-smancy hotels (see above) to have a brand name. The sign inside of it basically instructs you to leave your clothes in there for the Laundry or Valet. There's even a clamp on the right for your sleeve (also labeled, not a random guess), presumably so it doesn't get stuck in the door.

Wikipedia says a valet (besides the car driving kind) is a male servant that deals with your personal goods...but that doesn't really explain for me why I'd leave my clothes (well, if I was a male living 80 or 100 years ago) hanging in my door at the hotel for him...

mmmmwwaah

I was stuck in CVS for 20 minute last night waiting for my post-banging-on-my-mouth-with-masonry-tools experience with a numb cheek and mouth full of cotton. As such, I had to wander around instead of making small talk on the cell...and bought Princess Charming a couple of Valentines day gifts. For 99 cents each.

Tacky? Probably. More than I'd normally buy? Yes. I am a horrible gift giver. I hate picking out presents. We typically buy what we need or want anyway, and since we do 95% of our shopping together, that counts, right?

I hope Princess Charming appreciates her $2.98 worth of V-day gifts...they might even come with dinner, but not a card. That would double my Hallmark Holiday bill.