Pom Pom Power

Upon discovering the number of my friends, family, and co-workers who are expecting babies in 2010, I decided to start learning how to crochet small projects I can use for gifts. My mom taught me how to do some basic stiches when I was younger, but now with youtube, internet patterns, and easy to follow books at my finger tips I feel like I am finally catching on! I just completed my first baby beanie. I made some mistakes, but overall, I feel like it was a success. I gave it to a friend a work with a 4 month old. I hope it fits!! I also hope I can finish a few more projects before all of the 2010 babies arrive!

2nd Jannual International Pub Crawl

This past Saturday was awesome for two reasons: 1) We participated in the 2nd Jannual International Pub Crawl; and 2) I finally got to wear my Karate Kid bandana. Both were a hit.

For the 1st Jannual we had a total of 6 participants. This year, for the 2nd Jannual, we had 15! We also included some new features and stops. This year, the crawl was kicked-off with a bang--or pop, if you will. Josh sabered a bottle of champagne in our front yard and it was a success. If you don't know what sabering is, refer to my post "The Art of Saberage." We utilized public transportation and took the bus down to a new bar in our neighborhood called Ernie's. Their happy hour was awesome. We were able to get $1 beers or $6 pitchers. And best of all, Ernie's has skee ball. We were able to kick some kids off of the skee ball machine for a little while to get some good throws in. After Ernie's we went to the Berkeley Inn--not my favorite place. The smoking ban does not seem to apply here and the regulars were not very welcoming. One 40-something lady wearing acid washed holey jeans and a wife beater with some kind of weird stain on the boob named Viper did try to solicite us for juke box money claiming, "This shit isn't free, we need to cock block the machine." I gave her a dollar, but mostly so she would stop trying to shake my hand. After the Berkeley, the ladies headed to Patrick Carroll's while the men made a quick stop at Big Hoss for beers, scotch, and corn hole. At Patrick Carroll's we were able to hit up some shuffle board, darts, and Big Buck Hunter. This might have been my favorite stop. We barely made it over to Swing Thai before they closed. Everyone got one drink, but we definitely put the bartender to work by ordering a variety of selections: mai tai, tea, beer, sake bombs, mango mojitos, sake and more. After we wrapped up at Swing Thai we headed to our final destination: Billy's Inn. Thankfully Billy's was still serving food. Everyone was in need of a snack. We got nachos, deviled eggs, veggie fries, and hot wings to eat with our last few rounds of drinks. Be sure to check out the pictures from the evening. Go to the "Our Gallery" link on the left to check them out!

Another One Bites the Dust

I know it's hard to believe, but my car got broken into again. Yes, that would be 2 break-ins in 9 days. However, one could also say it is the first time something like this has happened to me since last year. I know--bad joke.

Luckily, this time it didn't happen in front of our house. Josh took my car over to Patrick Carroll's on Tennyson (a main street in our neighborhood) for happy hour. He was only in the bar for 40 minutes. When he came out he found the back driver's side window broken out. Again, nothing was taken, but you could see that someone rummaged around in the back. . . so creepy! While Josh was driving home he came across about 10 police officers arresting someone inbetween our house and the bar. He stopped and asked one of the officers what was going on. She told him they caught the guy trying to break into cars near 44th & Lowell. We live on 45th Ave. just west of Lowell, so there is a good chance they caught the guy who broke into our car (once if not twice). This weekend we also heard the guy tried to car jack two ladies while he was being chased by the cops. Creep!!

By the time Josh actually got home from the bar our anger subsided and we started to see how ridiculous and funny the situation actually was. That is about the same time Josh did the online police report. Below is a sample of his report. Enjoy.

1. Parked car around 5:35 PM;

2. Went into Patrick Carroll's Pub (Patty C's) for a pint of refreshing beer;

3. Left Patty C's at 6:15 PM;

4. Noticed glass on ground and thought that sucks;

5. Rear driver's side window was broken out;

6. Checked car for stolen property...nothing of value stolen;

7. Started to drive home and noticed many police officers apprehending someone;

8. Stopped to chat, person was breaking into other vehicles at 44th and Lowell;

9. Not sure if related

10. Came home to write report and lament about second car break-in in as many weeks.

Some Things Don't Change

While looking for my senior picture for my last post I came across the photos we used for our wedding slideshow. Even by looking at the small sampling of photos in the file, I realized that some things never change. See if you agree:

This is me in 4th grade as Cinderella, Age 10

This is me getting ready for my junior prom, Age 17

Me at my wedding, Age 24 (the 2nd pic is very cinderella-ish)

And finally, me at halloween this year, Age 27. I guess I still go for tourquoise, sparkles, and poofy hair accessories.

Welcome to the Future

Happy New Year!! Hopefully you are all getting settled in to 2010. I wrote the date for the first time yesterday and completely screwed it up. Sometimes I still write '96 on things, I don't know why, it must have been a good year for me or something?? Nevermind--I don't really believe that since it was the year I started high school and had mono for 3 months. Things didn't start to get too interesting in high school until at least the end of my sophomore year. . . And yes, if you started doing the math, you will have realized this year is my 10 year high school reunion. wow. Here is a quick comparison my me then and now.

I don't have any new year's resolutions for 2010. I'm much better at generalities and things I would like to try. So, in general, I would like to try and accomplish the following this year:

1. Mix up my work-out routine. I want to try out yoga, shadow boxing, and the body pump class at my gym. This might not happen for a week or two since the gym is packed with people trying to stick to their weight loss resolutions. That crowd won't last long.

2. Re-learn how to crochet. I already have 5 friends and family members who are expecting babies in 2010. I need to make a few projects for gifts.

3. Try to learn how to play the key board or at least screw around on it. The latter half of that statement is the most probable.

4. Attempt passing the Professional Engineer exam in April. Seeing as how my application is still under board review, I don't even know if I will be taking the exam yet. But, if I do get approved, I am only giving that test one try.

5. Plan a trip to somewhere in Europe. I hope this place is Greece and I hope it happens in 2010. I don't really know if it is fair to make vacation one of your resolutions, but I don't care.

6. Try to put more thought into how I dress for work. Sometimes I look nice, but most of the time I'm just happy I dragged myself out of bed. Today, for example, I wore a pair of pants with two holes in the butt. I didn't notice until I went to the bathroom and was able to see the floor through the holes in my pants.

Well, good luck to you if you made some resolutions of your own! I have a feeling this year is going to be pretty darn sweet.