Off to California

In about 6 hours, I'll be heading to the airport to fly out to California. I look forward to working with my friends in the SoCal office and attending the Holiday Awards banquet. And I really look forward to eating in SoCal again as well as cross off some OC to-do's--hopefully with some friends! I'm pretty sure I'll be start by stuffing my face and drinking a gallon of watermelon fresca at Native Foods.

I was hoping to miraculously get in shape before returning to SoCal but alas my dear fit Cali friends will be seeing me in my biggest jeans and clothes that have the words "comfort" or "stretch" in the label. Shoot, I should have gotten a face-slimming haircut. Oh well, it would have just gotten in the way of me stuffing my face.

Before I leave SoCar, I made preparations like a butler leaving two bachelor rock stars behind. Laundry, vacuuming, and groceries done, I've also carved up the rest of the turkey leftovers for Paul and the girl. I also left a stock of healthy soups plus a half a dozen frozen pizzas where I've taped the heating instructions on the fridge door and explained them to the girl. When I went to New York last month, I came home to a load of Sonic wrappers in the garbage and a pot on the stove that pretty much indicated 3 rounds of macaroni and cheese cooked in it, with the orange cheese powder all over the counter like some processed food version of cocaine. I'm hoping they'll eat some vegetables this time while I'm gone. And use the dishwasher! Keeping my fingers crossed...

By Request: Before and After

By request, here are some before and after shots of the living room I finished painting and where we finally got "real" furniture over the Thanksgiving weekend. It's still a work in progress--there are still boxes to unpack, the walls are still blank, and I'm still unsure of the layout. Here are the befores (you can see the sofabed with the missing cover where we're using a sheet--blech):

So many boxes...

Here is where I ran out of paint on Saturday night. You can also see the twin mattress we received free with the purchase of our full-size ones. We kind of used it as a sofa-ish thing which worked out well for a few of the girl's sleepovers. We gave it away on Craigslist the day before the furniture was being delivered.

We wanted a simple couch but we definitely were favoring comfort over style, considering how much we enjoy watching games and movies. The girl and I were really craving a chaise lounge and we all wanted high back/neck support. We saw this model in the furniture store but it was so ginormous and frankly just screamed Man Cave:

We opted for a smaller version and both Paul and the girl were gunning for the cupholders but I (and reasonable decorum) won out and we forewent them. I must add that the seat on the opposite end of the chaise is a recliner. Ta-da!

I moved out the bookshelf that we were temporarily using as a tv stand and got an official one with doors to hide a lot of the cables (ugh--I'll spare you a picture of the major cable management issues behind that door on the left). We upgraded to a big flat screen tv and we still have yet to remove the plastic off the frame. I think the TV needs a little bit of height--like a higher base or something.

A cleaned up After:

For now, I moved the bookshelf behind the sofa and put these lamps here. Ugh...I gotta do something with that lamp.

We picked up this accent chair which I love not only for the leopard print but it's actually quite comfortable in a firm and supportive way. And dare I say, pretty darn stylish.

And since we were in Charlotte to take Nana to the airport, we swung by Ikea and got a replacement cover for the sofabed. They no longer carried the original red cover but we liked this multicolored one as well. It works, right? Sure beats a sheet...

Finally, here is that hall that is kind of begging for color. Velina suggested red or orange. Frankly, I'm not opposed to it--I'm thinking a nice pop of color would work here.

And that is the living room so far. I am definitely open to layout suggestions though as you can see there are still boxes to unpack. Maybe an area rug between the tv and the big sofa? I'm kind of at a loss where to put that Ikea sofabed so it's in the corner for now. Also I'm struggling with lighting. Maybe when the boxes are out of the way, more options will materialize.

Still a work in progress...

A good Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a nice relaxing Thanksgiving holiday with Nana, which went by so quickly. We even got productive and finally got real living room furniture and a entertainment stand. And I got more boxes unpacked! And I finished painting! Well at least the planned part. I'm looking at this one hall and thinking it needs some color...

The slight disappointment? It looks like Wisconsin will go to the Rose Bowl representing the top Big Ten team, despite having the same one-loss record as Ohio State and our dear Michigan State Spartans. It's been an amaaaaazing year to watch the Spartans go nearly undefeated this season and though most of the games have been second-half or fourth-quarter stressful wins, it's been thrilling to see nonetheless. Tip of the cap to Wisconsin--winning ANOTHER insanely high scoring game--70 over Northwestern yesterday! Curious to see which bowl game MSU plays in...

The only true minus of the holiday weekend? So sick of Thanksgiving food. I don't know how I did it, I totally made too much food and I have had 6 meals straight of stuffing, potatoes, squash, and green beans. Plus I feel like I could just apply this topically to my chins and gut.

For Christmas, I'm thinking Thai food.

Waiting on another

Last June, Paul's sister and her husband had our first nephew (and the girl's first cousin) and I finally got to meet (and take some pix of) sweet Madhu at Opa's wedding:

Say Hello to cuteness!


Adorable when he giggles:


Doesn't it look like he's trying to tell me something?

"Your NFL picks are too sentimental"

Gasp. How did he know? Oh my...cute and smart.

Anyhoo we're anxiously awaiting another nephew or niece as my sister and her husband are due any day now (they are one of the rare couples who opted out of learning their baby's gender before birth). We thought it'd be cool if the baby was born today, on our dad's birthday (who shares the same birthday as Bruce Lee, BTW), but looks like this baby has other plans. Can't wait to meet this individual!

Happy Thanksgiving

I should be shoving a turkey in the oven right now but instead I'm fretting over my football picks for the games today.

Will Brady's foot injury have any effect on the game today? Will Lions WR Calvin Johnson experience win out over the young Patriots' CBs? Will I ever stop (foolishly?) believing that "this game" might be "The Game" for the Lions?

Will Dallas' renewed vigor carry them against the defending Super Bowl winners? Especially if Reggie Bush comes back today?

Can the Jets beat the unpredictable Bengals? Okay yes, but by 10?

Perhaps I need to take a breather like Oskar and appreciate the simpler things for a moment:

Hope everyone else has a relaxing Thanksgiving!

I cannot have both WWF and NFL

My paranoid fear/reasoning has come to fruition: I cannot play well in both Words With Friends and my football picks at the same time. Fate simply does not allow me enough luck for both. I started getting nervous when decent tiles and positioning were opening up on my WWF boards. I actually thought, uh-oh, this can't be good for my football picks. At 11:55am on Sunday, I panicked and opened up my picks and stared.

Velina, what do I do?

I don't know. What do these numbers mean?

Argh. I quickly explained the concept of winning by the point spread with the yes/no option.

She pointed to the orange helmet marked CLE and said, Well, I hear Clemson isn't doing so well.

Sigh. Has this girl learned nothing from living in this house? Velina, Clemson is college. This is pro. This is Cleveland. Gaaaaaahhhhh.

Was this what I was reduced to? Consulting an 11-year-old who only likes football for the chips, pizza, root beer floats, and nachos involved? There had to be a better way.

Mom! What are you doing?

I'm reversing all my picks sweetie...[sfx: mouse clicking]

That's crazy Mom. Stop.

I stopped midway. And realized my pizza-eating 11-year-old was right. I felt like that character in a lame movie where the crazed overeater can no longer stand her strict diet and ends up gnawing at a billboard cheeseburger. Or the idiot in the slasher movie who decides to call out the serial killer- You want a piece of me?! Come and get me! -right before a sickle comes flying out from nowhere and decapitates his dumb stupid head. Reason had left to use the bathroom and panic settled into its warm place on the couch.

In that brief moment as I was maniacally clicking and reversing my initial picks, that's what I saw in the proverbial mirror in my mind: Me hypnotized by the Crazy. And it was not pretty. It was only the shrill voice of 11-year-old reason that woke me from that ugly seduction.

As it turns out, reversing half of my picks had mostly an even-Steven effect and didn't really affect my score. Which was: HALF WRONG.

I should just do the most reasonable thing: wish my luck in WWF falls back down again.

Hope the olive race was worth it

I guess this fraternity had more exciting things to do than pick up the donations I set out yesterday per their instructions. Found them this morning covered in dew:

Fortunately, I remember there a food collection box on campus. Hope they're okay with wet cans of food.