Things

My sister gave Danny and I a great gift for Christmas. It was a board game called 'Things'. Basically, the game provides topics and all players write a response to each topic. Then you try to guess who wrote which response. Here are some highlights from Christmas Eve.

Things you should not put on your front lawn:
- Chair (not a chair, just Chair)

How you can tell you've been abducted by aliens:
- No bones
- Everything is green

Things that make people jealous:
- Round eyes

Things that make you lose your appetite:
- Roach infested dishes
- Rotten garbage

Things that are wild:
- Rice

Things you should not say to your soldiers before they go into battle:
- Every man for himself
- Break a leg

So, invite us over to party and we will bring the fun.

Christmas Mustache

Despite my pleas to shave, Danny decided to grow a Christmas mustache*. This is how he channels Holiday cheer. *Mustache has been slightly altered using CoverGirl Perfect Blend Black-Brown Eyeliner.

Where we've been

Our city is magical during Christmas time - which is why we've been busy. Plus we like to party.

Words of Wisdom

New York City
Where the girls are pretty

And they all have jobs.

-Homeless man's opening line before he sang some Christmas Carols on the 1 train

Oh how I love my city.

Boy Bands

Truth: Danny only requests to play Hanson and *NSYNC Christmas music in our apartment.

While I enjoy a large variety of holiday CDs, I am usually quick to oblige.

Nothing like former American boy bands to get you in the Christmas spirit. Please don't stop the music.

Current favorites:
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Hanson
Kiss Me At Midnight - *NSYNC

Equal Opportunity Holiday Season

It's beginning to look a lot like... well to be honest, take your pick. The lobby adjacent to my office building is decked out with a giant Christmas tree for those that celebrate Christmas, a massive menorah for those that honor Hanukkah and random penguins and polar bears frolicking in the snow for those that prefer endangered species in cold climates.

It is truly an equal opportunity Holiday Season.

Save a stamp. Send an Email.

Today is a very special day because it is my 1 year anniversary. No not of marriage, (Please we've been married way longer than that - like a year and a half!) but of being a Cheetah. December 8, 2008 I began working at my job. For those that don't know what I do, I work in Email Marketing which basically means I live and breathe email. So, celebrate with me by reading some email in your free time.

Weekend Laughter

May this post bring a grin to your face as it does to mine each time I recall this moment.

Here's a little insight into my weekend. At church every Sunday, I spend about 2 hours in Nursery with kids ages 2 ½ to 3. While their parents are learning in Sunday School, I attempt to also teach these kiddos. Granted, my "lessons" usually last approximately 5 minutes and the rest of the time we play calm games, but this Sunday I was prepared and excited to teach about how Jesus created the Earth for each of them.

When I finally got them all to sit down, I showed them a picture of the Garden of Eden and we started to name all the animals we could see. Tigers, lions, birds...then one little cutie began to pump his arms and whisper "I like to move it move it. I like to move it move it." Next thing I knew, I had two kiddos rockin' to the beat, then three and then pretty soon all of them had joined in song and the volume had risen exponentially. It was practically a choreographed scene straight out of a movie. I could hardly contain my giggles these kids were so cute! Had I not had a purpose to these five minutes I might have joined them because I'm always game for a mini dance party.

But, the attention of my little ones was slipping away. I knew the movie culprit to this funky beat and with quick thinking I believed that I could easily relate Madagascar back to Jesus. Let's just say, we might need to review this lesson in the future.

Sometimes I wonder if their play dates consist of planning how they will sabotage the Nursery lesson. Either way, I treasure the happy moments these cuties share with me.

Click the image above to start your own dance party.

Label Functionality

Confession: I suffer from anxiety when my surroundings are disorderly and unclean. For this reason, I utilize the label function in Gmail. My labels are Amigos, Family, Self, Work, World, Danny and a few others. Therefore, when an email hits my inbox, I file it away once it's read, replied to (if necessary) and there are no further actions needed. I feel blissfully at ease when my personal inbox is completely empty as it currently is now (I also happen to love when my work inbox is empty but for a different reason).

First Impressions

Comments from the first people who read our blog.

Mom: "There aren't many pictures on it."
Dad: "You know, you would have considered this a chore a couple years ago."

Both true.

So, in order to appease my audience, here is our life these days in pictures. I'll be back to my usual minimal picture posts next time.

Football.

Tree.

Bow.

Wife.

Stiles - $

Some people imagine a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I believe that the end of a rainbow resembles the inside of Stiles. Stiles is a small, but permanent, farmers market near our apartment. There are no frills to this shopping experience because Stiles is essentially a large tent assembled on the edge of a parking lot. Every day, local suppliers bring in crates and crates of fruit, vegetables, breads, herbs and… joy. Then they stack the bounty high in wooden bins.

On a cold winter day, Stiles is bursting with rows of vibrant colored fruits and vegetables. Now, one reason people travel from all over town to shop there are the unbeatable prices. You can literally leave with bags and bags of fresh produce and still spend less than $5. Also, they have 75 cent packages of pitas that have more than once been transformed into pita pizzas for our family dinner

So, if I ever find myself at the end of a rainbow and there happens to be a pot of gold, I'm taking that gold and heading to Stiles to stock up on delicious produce.

Quarter of a Century

Thanksgiving was my 25th birthday! We spent the holiday in Missouri with lots of family. Everyone kept joking about how old I was and how they had to use multiple packages to get 25 candles on the cake. Of course no one really had any right to tease seeing as the only ones younger than me were Danny and the three dogs, but I'm not too worried. At the airport, the Continental employee had to double check my age to make sure I was old enough to sit in the exit row on the plane. Age requirement for the exit row is 15.

I still got it.

Happy Traveling!

Some people abhor airports. Toting heavy luggage, interacting with disgruntled airport employees, standing in lines with less than intelligent travelers, taking your ID in and out of your wallet, removing your shoes, coat and practically unpacking your bags at security, sitting in uncomfortable seats, losing luggage and enduring endless delays. Overall an airport is a place built for the purpose of waiting and some people do not have that kind of patience.

I can see the merit in all these complaints, but I love airports. Airports have a special place in my heart and I enjoy spending time there. One of these days I might join Tom Hanks and live in one. I have fond memories of camping out at the airport with my laptop and a good movie. I've never really understood why I love airports, but today I took time to ponder it.

• I am not a business traveler and therefore all my time clocked at the airport is to board a plane for vacation. Vacation usually means exotic places or the chance to see my family.
• Additionally, airports are usually crowded and I love being surrounded by lots of people. Pure joy fills my heart in a crowded subway standing shoulder to shoulder and not having to hold on because the belly of my neighbor will hold me up. I also want to hug Times Square and all the star struck tourists milling around aimlessly.
• Also, I've flown lots and so I am ultra comfortable in any airport.
• Lastly, airports are such a leisure place to relax and hide from the world. You can just turn off your phone and disappear (literally, people from your normal life can't come looking for you because only ticketed passengers can pass security).

May your holiday season be filled with time spent at the airport.

Pandora knows me

I've been listening to Christmas music on Pandora Radio since the beginning of October. I have vigilantly employed the thumbs up and thumbs down function (though hardly ever a thumbs down) and now "they" intimately know me and cater to what I enjoy.

Here's to a work day full of really good Christmas music!

Judge Pirro Serves Justice

More and more I notice that my old soul has a tender heart. Danny and I can be watching commercials and one will randomly make me tear up. Two off the top of my head are this Pilsbury one and this Lowes one. Which leads me to my story.

Last week I was deathly ill. I came home from work early on Monday. Didn't go to work on Tuesday. Didn't go to work on Wednesday. Sent home from work on Thursday. Didn't go to work on Friday.

No work made room for a lot of TV watching.
So, during my daytime TV watching, I stumbled into the classy courtroom of Judge Pirro. Don't ask. Here's the case - a son was suing his mother (the grandmother) because he's been faithfully paying child support for his two young boys and the grandma has been pocketing the money when she actually put her grand boys in foster care. At the end, Judge Pirro gave the smack down on the grandmother for taking the money and told her she should be put in jail for shuffling these boys in and out of foster care. Currently the two boys, LJ and Chris, are close to being adopted and Judge Pirro told the father she is going to put $25,000 in each of the boy's names so that when they reach age 21 they can have a head start in life. It's so sad that these two young boys have been treated this way and my heart melts knowing that there are strangers out there rooting for them to succeed.

Sisters take Manhattan

Laura and Tim came to our city and spent the week doing as tourists do. Danny and I had to work, so we really just spent Friday night and Saturday with them. But we made sure to make up for lack of quantity of time with quality of fun- Shrek the Musical, American Natural History Museum, a Central Park stroll and LOTS of grub!

One of the highlights was eating brunch at the Central Park Boathouse. We sat at a table overlooking the lake where you rent row boats during the summer. It was a dream. After ordering our entrees, the waitress brought a bread basket. Now don't get me wrong, I’m pro pre-dinner carbs when eating Italian or even dinner rolls for any meal past 5pm. But to be honest, when I saw the bread basket before what essentially was my breakfast, it did not make my heart flutter. Oh, that was until I peeked inside and saw what was tucked in the folds! Lemon poppy seed muffins, blueberry muffins, flaky croissants, pumpkin bread, apple cinnamon bread and the list goes on and on. It was the best part of the dining experience.

One reason I love my job

The kitchens are stocked with this gem.This is breakfast every day, except Wednesdays when my company provides bagels and donuts.

Cue Opening Credits

Perhaps this should have been the first order of blog business, but I chose to dive right into the action of our life rather than premiere with the mundane. It's like in Law & Order when the first scene shows a women being murdered and the silhouette of a man wiping the blood off a knife. Then the scene breaks, you have a chance to breathe, and the familiar L&O tune begins accompanied by the opening credits. After **dunt dunt, the episode resumes and you can settle back into the crook of your couch.

So, consider this is opening credits. I am letting you take a breather (because I know the last posts were extremely intense) and filling you in on the characters of this blog.

In order to properly narrate this story, I must back up to the May 23, 2005 when Danny and I met at an internship in NYC. We were carefree and having lots of fun together gallivanting through the streets of New York. Not only did we start falling deeply in love with each other, but we also started to fall deeply in love with our city.

When the seasons started to change, we returned to our respective universities, him-University at Albany, her-New York University. We continued weekend visits and our adventures until January 2006 when I left Danny to go out to California for a year and a half.

Throughout that year and a half there was lots of growth for the both of us- emotionally, spiritually, perhaps even physically. We communicated solely through snail mail and the occasional recorded cassette tape.

Finally, I returned in July 2007 and our relationship amazingly picked up right where it left off. November 2007 he proposed on the Brooklyn Bridge and I accepted. May 25, 2008, exactly three years after we met, we were married in the Manhattan LDS Temple.

Since then, we've been creating memories and loving life. Danny loves the Jets, video games and eating. Jennifer loves reading, sleeping and finding good deals. We both love free stuff, exploring Manhattan, meeting new people and trying new things.

**dunt dunt

DINKs

My Dad would say that Danny and I are DINKs (Double Income No Kids). According to Wikipedia, DINK is "a term used to describe a high-earning couple who chooses not to have children and is therefore able to afford a more expensive consumer lifestyle than those with families". While Wikipedia's definition definitely does not accurately describe us, we are in fact both officially employed.

After a nine month hiatus from the working world, Danny finally has a job! Congratulations Babe! Welcome back to the rat race down in the financial district.

Staying above the Yellow Line

Tuesday night in our home always involves a healthy dose of...
Along with The Office, this is a show we rarely miss. Occasionally, before the episode begins, I exercise with Bob on the Biggest Loser Boot Camp DVD. This way I too can participate in the journey.
As a side note: I already have a deep passion for marketing. Therefore, the product placements in the show - while awkwardly obvious- are icing on my low calorie cake.

Have it your way at BK

The other day, Danny and I went out for a romantic dinner at Burger King in Rockefeller Center. After ordering chicken nuggets and double cheeseburgers, I went to secure a cozy booth for two. As I sat there waiting for Danny to bring our food, I was listening to the music playing over BK speakers. To my dismay, the rap song they were blasting had a smattering of four letter words. I'm not talking one, I’m saying every other word was a curse word! I was shocked and really disappointed. I realize I am a little more sensitive than the average New Yorker, but I didn’t expect a family friendly restaurant to create an environment with such filth. Anyone that presents plastic toys to their youngest patrons should really stick with G-rated music.

When Danny finally brought our food, I communicated the offense explained that I was going to march over and demand they change the music. Danny was a little embarrassed at his wife's piousness and tried to persuade me to simply eat my food. He even suggested eating our food outside. But NO! I felt a need to protect the ears of my fellow BK goers and in general, the future of our country. Looking back I really took this a lot more seriously than I would have expected. One of the main thoughts that kept running through my mind was "I don't want to live in a world where I have to worried about the music my kids hear at Burger King."

I guess my maternal instinct and the thought of our future children gave me more than enough courage to waltz up to the pickup counter and inquired, "Would it be possible to change the music?" The 17 year old BK boy stared at me with a little shock. Inside his head he was probably rolling his eyes and thinking how dare this pushy New York request to some teen pop Miley Cyrus. But in a display of exemplary customer service, he replied, "What kind of music would you like?"

With as much sternness as I could muster, because of course I wanted him to realize this was no joke, I said, “Oh I’m not too picky, just something with a little less cursing." He was actually quite embarrassed for BK and was completely unaware that there was cursing on the music. He probably chose the CD and would have gotten in big trouble had his manager noticed the infraction before I did.

As I victory danced back to my booth, classic Michael Jackson started to rock my BK world. Good prevails again.

Now I truly believe it – you can have it your way at BK.

Adult Trick-or-Treating

Dress up Chipotle themed - get a free Boorito.
My kind of treat.

Dear NYPL,

I love you. You saved me oodles of money this past year and provided hours of entertainment on subway rides to and from work. I love that I do not need to buy books that will simply clutter my apartment and empty my wallet.

Thank you for all the fictional books, new release DVDs and workout videos that you let me borrow and enjoy. I will strive to maintain your trust by returning items by the date on my checkout receipt.

Thank you.

Love,

Reserve Shelf # Christ 4627

P.S. Now, if you could please acquire a drop off box for the Columbus Branch. I do not enjoy waiting in line to bring back the items you let me borrow.

Cause for Creation

I recently completed a purge that spawned from a quote - "Outer order brings inner peace". This purge began with physical objects that were cluttering my studio apartment (books, clothes, broken Swivel Sweepers), but then spread to a particular responsibility in my life that was longer providing peace. Without delving into too much detail, this was something that I had volunteered to do and now had started to become a unbearable burden. This responsibility had taken over and thrown life out of balance. Therefore, with the hope of more time and less stress I removed this responsibility from my weekly repertoire.

It is difficult to eliminate things from life, probably because change is a hard thing and you never know if the end result will create more happiness than status quo. When I finally let it go, I not only found myself with the desired additional time in my week, but excessive extra time.

At first it was liberating and I enjoyed doing things I hadn't done in a while- I took productive showers, painted my nails, cleaned my apartment with a sponge and soap rather than just a Clorox wipe. Then the weekend came and I found myself staring at the wall wondering what I was going to fill my time with. Danny and I tried to come up with activities to help me acclimate to a life of leisure.

1. Prepare for Christmas by going to Kmart and purchasing a 7ft tree. Check.
- End of List -

I never realized how much time I devoted every week to this responsibility and the void I would have to fill. And so, I decided I needed a new hobby, well a few new hobbies. I have already decided that I will start studying for the GMAT, but also, this blog is a new project. So Welcome.

...More to come on the additional activities I'm going to attempt. Call it reCluttering my life.

Some inspiration that kept me seeking order and balance during this difficult process of purging:
"He who does not get fun and enjoyment out of every day needs to reorganize his life."
"Organization, however, is no substitute for making the tough decision to purge items from your home."