1.25.2009

Sunday at our house

Dave & Piper looking entirely too adorable

Ivy in the window of my study

Dave playing with Piper on the kitchen floor

library thing

During the holidays I discovered a website called librarything.com from my sister-in-law Eleanor. I thought is was neat idea to have an on-line catalog of all my books, be introduced to new ones, write reviews, have a book wishlist, etc... It wasn't until I my iPhone though that I was really all about it.

Do you know how many times I have been at the bookstore and couldn't remember if I already owned the book I was about to buy? Too many. I like books, I like having them, I even like having lots of bookshelves to put said books on. Basically the point I am trying to make is that now I can pull out my iPhone, check my on-line catalog and see if I have the book already. This may not seem very exciting to you, but I cannot wait to go back to the bookstore now!

Read on!

1.22.2009

Addicted!!

So this past summer I was fortunate enough to attend a beautiful wedding in CT that was conveniently only about 1 hour away from my cousin Sandy's house. I got to have have lunch with her and her daughter Sydney. During that lunch, Syd talked non-stop about these books by this author Stephenie Meyer. I'll get around to them eventually I thought. Now I am wishing that she would have shaken me and made me read them right then and there. What took me so long???

Stephenie Meyer has written the books Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. If you haven't heard of them then I must believe that you have been living on some remote island off the coast of East Timor for the last 3 years. It's the only possible explanation. Anyway, I don't know why I am ever surprised at the addictive quality of books. I have been a voracious reader since I first learned my ABC's when I was like 4. These books have sucked me in to this other world and I am having the hardest time living my normal life right now. The books are approximately 450, 550, 650 and 750 pages respectively and I am just past the middle of the 3rd book. Did I mention that I started the series on Monday?

If you have been contemplating reading these and have a week to spare than I highly recommend that you run to your local library or bookstore and snatch them up. On a side note, this week at Barnes & Noble is Educator week and if you have an educator card you get 25% off all your purchases, not just educational materials.

So last week the reason my blog was so quiet was because of my new iPhone. This week I will be gone from the cyber world until I finish these books. Then I will be back and gushing some more.

Enjoy the silence!

1.18.2009

We got iPhones!

You haven't heard from me in awhile because I have had my nose in my iPhone so to speak. On Friday Dave & I both got iPhones and we LOVE them! I got a nice red case for mine and Dave got a black silicone case for his so we could differentiate between the two. Here is what I have been doing.

I added the following apps-
Google - takes me directly to all my Google stuff
Facebook - takes me to my facebook page
Shake Spell - Like Scramble/Boggle (tons of fun)
Word Freak - I get the first letter of a word and have to try to figure out the word in so many guesses
Shazam - It tells me what song is playing (if I am listening to the radio and want to know what song it is, I just hold the phone near the speakers and it tells me!)
reMovem - Remove the same color sequences
Pandora - I can listen to on-line radio (It can find almost anything!)
Snap Tell - All I have to do is take a picture of a book, DVD, CD or video game cover and it will pull up where I can buy it, for how much and you can read reviews.
Solitaire - Your pretty standard solitaire
Labyrinth - the game where you have to move the board around to keep a marble from falling through the holes.
Urbanspoon - Lets you see all the restaurants near you, gives you reviews and directions.
Amazon.com - links to my Amazon account
Red Wings - Has the complete schedule at the touch of a button
What's On? - my own personalized tv guide
Phone Flix - links to my Netflix account so I can add movies to my queue even away from home!

...and those are just the applications that I have added! There is a GPS navigator, a weather button that I can program multiple cities on, e-mail access button, the Internet is the actual complete Internet, I can e-mail, text and call from my Address Book, and there is so much more that I cannot even think of it right now. Oh, did I mention that is has 8 GB and can hold music, movies, and tv shows? I already have about 1.5 GB of music on it already! It is just about the coolest thing ever!

I tend to arrive early for everything and with the iPhone I don't even care. I can sit and play games, check my e-mail, update my facebook status, and even blog from wherever I happen to be. So much fun!

1.14.2009

Dog food drama and American Idol

As many of you know, our dogs got canine flu over the holidays. Piper seems to have been more affected than the Dew-ster though. Even after 2 weeks she was still not really wanting to eat her food. We would add cottage cheese, wet dog food and even peanut butter but she still didn't want to eat. Dave did some reading up, because that is what my reliable and responsible husband does! He started to think that something might be wrong with the food so he bought a small bag and Piper gobbled it up. Hmm.

Side note. We buy expensive food for our yuppie dogs. One 28 lb. bag of food costs $42.99.

Anyway, Dave called the company that makes our dog food and they were unsympathetic towards our plight. So we threw away about $30.00 worth of food and bought another bag. Piper did not want to eat this bag either. Well this time Dave called the company, got a coupon for a free bag and then called the place we bought the food from and they are going to refund our money for the 2nd bag. We then went to a different store, bought a bag with a different expiration date on it and we'll see if Piper eats this one. It could have been that batch or the way that the pet store keeps their food. All I am saying is that if Piper refuses to eat this new bag, we are going to have to change their food which is a pain in the butt. Keep your fingers crossed!

Now onto my favorite subject b/w the months of January and May. I got addicted to American Idol last season and I am thrilled that it has started up! I love hearing about it on the radio, reading about it on-line and seeing clips on the television. My absolute favorite thing about American Idol, except for the actual show itself, is reading Jim Cantiello's blog on mtv.com. This guy is a riot! He says the obvious in ways that nobody else can. I love American Idol!!!!

You will be hearing more from me about my favorite show in the upcoming months. C'est la vie!

1.11.2009

I make stuff

So as many of you know I like to be crafty. I don't make those super fancy scrapbook pages or ultra decorative cards. To me that just seems tedious. I do make okay looking scrapbook pages and simple, but pretty cards though. The last 3 days I have been waiting for my new scrapbooks to arrive to I can start our wedding book. In the meantime, I have been making cards. I looked on-line to get some ideas and then got started. I cannot say how much fun it is picking out the perfect coordinating papers and embossing sentiments and attaching ribbon...I just love it all!

Yesterday I was at Costco and they have 300 2-sided scrapbook paper for only 19.99! This paper is high quality and in all the colors I love. Normally this much paper can run upwards of $225.00 (at .75 cents per sheet) no joke! There was no way I could justifiable pass it up. So I didn't! Anyway, I made some of my favorite cards to date yesterday using that paper.

Today I took out camera to the basement and tried taking pictures of my cards. Do you know how hard it is to focus on a card? I got the camera manual and learned about the neat manual focus button. Now I have pictures of some of my favorite cards to show you! Aren't you excited?






































1.03.2009

Holidays aplenty

I am officially back from vacation and ready to blog again. This year Dave & I went to MI to spend the holidays with the Stocks. We flew in on a Saturday and went straight to our first party with my extended family. I love my cousins, Aunts and Uncles and we always have a great time when we get together. Plus, Dave got a Lego set from our sister-in-law so he would pretty much call the evening a success.



For the most part our vacation consisted of a whole lot of hanging out and doing nothing. It was nice! We spent the 23rd and 24th at my brother and sister-in-law's house. Dave got to play with our niece and nephew and I got to make food for Christmas dinner. One of the recipes was for a pumpkin and goat cheese lasagna from the Nigella Lawson holiday cookbook. All the measurements were in the metric system, which made it even more fun. The end product was amazing, but I never want to spend 2 days making anything edible again...at least until next year!

We got to see a lot of our friends while back in MI and for that I am thankful! We hung out with Tonya, Justin, Lizz and Scott one night at ABC in Ann Arbor. We got to see Becky and Ben and hang out with my sisters and brothers. Dave left on the 28th b/c he wanted to come back and ski. However, both of our dogs had gotten sick and he had to spend the week taking care of them. At least the mountains aren't going anywhere anytime soon.



I met the other bridesmaids in Becky's wedding when we tried on dresses. Afterwards we went out for lunch and ended up talking for about 3 hours. They are all great women and I am thrilled that Becky has such a great, supportive circle of friends. Another day, JK and I went out for coffe at the Plymouth Coffee Bean. I miss hanging out in coffee shops and talking for hours with my friends. I also had a slumber party with my neice and nephew. We watched movies, ate popcorn, ordered pizza, jumped on beds and did all the things that make a slumber party fun!



I had a great time, but I also missed my husband and our family of animals! It is nice to be home with them. I wish that we lived closer to friends and family, but as long as we have each other life isn't too bad!

I skipped a lot of holiday stories here, but I really am not in a writing mood this morning. Maybe I'll be more inspired tomorrow.