Chooch and Molls had fun expelling some energy at the park today- Molly mostly eating sticks, Chooch mostly humping this dog seen below. Proud moments, as always.
Think I might need to take a closer look on that. As Cute Overload would say… CHOOCH-HANCE:
PS… Shout out to BFF Luna who came to visit this weekend! Wah!
And now, back to the real world (BARF)
One of my BFFs Kim sent me this tonight and totally made my day. She is a TA at an educational institution which is probably best left un-named in this context. As her story goes, she accidentally picked up what appears to be someone’s Christmas shopping list as she retrieved a paper from a communal printer.
I sympathize with this anonymous author. Coming up with gift ideas is hard. Just when you think you’ve thought of the best ever gift for someone, all the sudden 12 freaking months have passed and again you’re feeling the pressure to find something that outperforms the last year’s. A harrowing cycle. This person is obviously in the depths of that despair, but instead of stepping up to the challenge, has apparently thrown in the towel and said OH EFF IT YOU’RE ALL GETTING SOCKS AND DOLLAR STORE STUFF. PASS THE EGGNOG.
But OK it is kind of sweet the extent to which she has put thought into her sock purchase plans. Anja: mismatched sole socks. Karin: Indian Fiddler socks. Not sure what those are. Google isn’t sure what those are so I’ll assume it’s some sort of ethnic-musical-sock-inside-joke we’re not in on. And cat socks for Brenda. Not gonna lie, the simple hilarity of the “socks (cat)” note made me chortle out loud as I was reading this at the bus stop.
And Brenda. Honey child. What exactly did YOU do wrong this year that you are getting Tissues!? Tissues! I’m not even sure under what conditions it becomes necessary to make tissues an actual gift for someone. Honestly the act of typing t-i-s-s-u-e-s on a Christmas list for someone is more committment and exertion than actually procuring them.
Anyhoo. Kim, please accept the biggest hat tip ever for this most excellent holiday find. 
OK guys… I’ll be back Sunday with the Pay it Forward Giveaway winner! (You still have Friday to enter, keep them coming!) Until then I am on epic Yoga lockdown mode as I teach my first class (HOLY CRAP I KNOW) on Saturday. And mind you this is a class class. With the public. Not the paying public, thankfully, but still the real public that expects things like, you know, coherence. (Not my strong suit.) Send me happy vibes please?
Becker OUT…
So today it was freezing and I didn’t feel like walking anywhere good for lunch. We have this crap salad bar place on the first floor of our building that I’m convinced is in business exactly for that reason, that people from the building begrudgingly go there when it’s cold or raining.
One of the things this venue lacks is a logical system of salad ordering. They have those little slips where you check off what you want on it, but once you’ve filled it out, it’s kind of a cluster as to the next step. Like, at Au Bon Pain you stick them facedown on a designated tray, so it’s very evident to the salad-manufacturer what order they should get made. At this place, it’s like the freaking Lost island or something. CHAOS. And once, out of confusion and lack of system, I made the mistake of handing mine to the salad-maker-dude, and some grouchy, miserable broad honest to God YELLED at me for butting in the sacred salad line. I swear, mean people ruin my day sometimes!
So anyway. There I was today. Confusedly standing with another chick, clutching our salad order forms. Ours ended up getting made by two gentlemen simultaneously, so she started chatting with me. She explained that over the weekend she had a bad turnout at her Halloween party due to the terrible weather, so ended up eating all the food herself, and now had to make up for it with salads this week. I explained that I too was at a Halloween party* and had raped a bowl of guacamole, so was in a similar predicament. Our rapport went on for a while and I was trying to figure out what was happening. Are we, like, building friends now? Do people make friends this way? Am I supposed to ask her for her email or something so we can meet up again for crappy salads when it’s cold and/or raining?
So, then, the nice gentlemen handed our salads back to us. Let me explain what was in mine. Lettuce, green peas, green beans, and green peppers. It was one of the most awful, boring things I’ve ever ingested. And would you believe it, this chick says to me “Oh… I guess you don’t know the thing about vegetables. You’re supposed to eat them in many colors.”
SRSLY lady? You’re going to give me a complex over my vegetable selection? You’re telling me there is something unhealthy about this craptastic mound of green things? And she wasn’t kidding either. It was a very serious tone.
I tried to defend myself. “Buh……But…..the…..I didn’t think…. the carrots…. italian dressing…. did not compute….?”
But the damage was done. My newfound friend… over as quickly as it began. Apparently because she likes beets and gets some sick superiority complex from it. (Freak).
*Halloween party! I did the funnest thing this weekend. So, I thought for the longest time I had yoga class this weekend, so many many weeks ago had declined with regret the invitation to the Halloween bash being put on by my homeslice Luna (in NYC). She is my beloved little, for those familiar with greek operations. Then, at the same time I found out I did NOT have yoga class this weekend, our friend Jordana (Luna’s little, for those following at home) , also found out that SHE was free of a conflict she thought she had. So, having both told Luna we would not be there, we instead went to New York and surprised her! So, so fun… Love those two
Check it!
Jordana (L) was… get this… one of those hip hop hamsters from the Kia commercials (hard to tell because you can’t see her Hammer pants in this shot) and Luna (R) was a self-described sea captain, although the consensus was that her costume was more reminiscent of an official in the airline industry. Potato, potato.
Bonus reading material day! My sweet yoga school classmate Cheri is a fledgling blogess, and is doing a series of interviews on all of us for her blog. Go check out my deep thoughts on my yoga journey!
26 years ago, at an undisclosed location, baby Kristine was born. (8-5-85 for those doing the math). Kristine and I met on the 3rd floor of our freshman dorm when we were barely 18. SCARY. I was looking through early pictures of us today and a lot are so old they are SCANNED. Nothing makes you feel aged like looking at SCANNED pictures of yourself! You know what else is dating us? Kindergarten Cop is on TV as we speak. According to Direct TV, Kindergarten Cop was made in NINETEEN NINETY. Holy CRAP.
Circa 2003-2004…
And tonight…
We’ve gotten better with age, I think!? Happy birthday, my sweet macadamia nut…. Love you!
I want to cry that it’s the last day of July. With four more weeks to go in the depressing march towards Labor Day, today I vowed to take time to appreciate each succulent summer day in August.
Yesterday we celebrated the joint 30th birthday of our dear friends Dan and Katie, who are possibly two of the most awesome people ever. The chosen venue for this momentous event: Nats Park on Jayson Werth bobblehead night! YEA!
First, Jeff and I had a horrendous, soul-crushing, hour+ voyage on the bus and metro. Apparently there was some huge soccer game going on here last night, so we were crammed on a car with nine jillion Olé-ing idiots with no concept of metro decorum. Like: if a door attempting to close is repeatedly closing ON your limbs/bag/anywhere else on your person, that is an indication your mass exceeds the available volume on the car. Give up the dream and wait 90 seconds for the next one. You’ll make it to your precious “match.” Or: if you’re part of a large herd of people slowly moving together, don’t STOP, bend over, and adjust the velcro on your foot-boot-cast thing. I am sorry for your orthopedic troubles, but PLEASE, sufferin’ succotash, just excuse yourself out of the flow of people to tend to your metatarsals. Idiots!
We self entertained…
Spoiler alert… one escalator was functional!
We started off the night in Das Bullpen (the German themed neighbor of The Bullpen… Hee, the name cracks me up). Uhh, this next sight was DEFINITELY a highlight of the night… omigod, dude! Leave your baby at home OR make the baseball game a little more family friendly by skipping pre-gaming and corn hole!
Game time!
Afterwards we went back to the Bullpen… My husband is a riot…
SUCH a fun night. Happy birthday Dan and Katie!
And because it’s been 72 hours since I showered the internet with Chooch pictures, here you go And even if you are sick of him, you cannot deny these are REALLY CUTE:
OK… off to clean, grill, and watch the Bachelorette Men Tell All special tonight!! I mean… uhh… something cultured…
