The Baby Story

It's hard to believe that two weeks have passed since Luke entered our lives. On Monday, November 23rd I was finishing up dinner for Justin, my mom (who was visiting for a couple of days before Thanksgiving), and our good friend Nancy (who was trying to squeeze in one more baby-free evening with us). As I was making the salad (well opening the bag of lettuce), my water broke. I had read that only 1 in 10 women actually have a semi-dramatic water breaking experience and doubted that I would be that person. Surprise! I went out in the living room to tell the waiting guests that dinner may have to be cut short due to my HAVING A BABY! We all kicked into overdrive, calling the hospital, taking a quick shower, grabbing final items for the suitcases, eating the proverbial last supper, etc. We got to Modesto Kaiser around 8pm when I had barely started feeling light contractions. By the time I got into the birthing suite they had gotten a bit stronger, but I still wasn't convinced I wanted an epidural. So we watched Elf and I rolled around on a giant exercise ball. I didn't want to get the drugs too soon and prolong my labor, but as the contractions started getting harder it became clear that modern medicine was the way to go for maximum comfort. It took about 45 minutes for an IV of saline to get into my system and then another 30ish for the anesthesiologist to get everything going. I tried not to look at the contraction monitor after the drugs kicked in, but my mom said they looked pretty crazy. By time the drugs kicked in I was almost fully dialated. Around 2:20am on Tuesday, November 24th, the midwife and nurses came in and I pushed for about 30 minutes before Luke arrived. There was a tense moment when they lost his heartbeat and gave me oxygen, but overall it went pretty smoothly. I know I had a pretty easy labor compared to some people, but in the immediate hours that followed I kept wondering how and why I would ever be persuaded to do it again! It's true what they say though, you do start to forget. And I've found that the early days of parenthood are longer, harder, and more tiring than the labor itself. Breastfeeding is hard, the early post partum emotional days were hard, not getting more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep at a time is hard. Last night I got nearly 5 hours and I was amazed at how refreshed I felt! It's crazy how quickly you can love someone though. It's hard for me to follow the "sleep when he sleeps rule" because I just want to stare at him and hold him all the time. My favorites are nap times together on the couch - him completely safe from being smothered or rolled on of course. This parenthood thing is harder than I ever could have imagined, but it's pretty amazing and I'm trying to savor every single moment of these early days. I'm not looking forward to 10-ish weeks from now when I have to become a "working mom." In the meantime, I'm trying to stay off the Internet, not let the household chores or the undecorated Christmas tree in the corner bother me, and just enjoy every moment with my Luke.

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street

Dear Sesame Street,

You have brought me many years of education and enjoyment. I remember the days when everyone thought Snufflepagus was a figment of Big Bird's imagination and being gravely disappointed when I missed the episode where he was revealed to be more than just an imaginary friend. I remember the sadness when Mr. Hooper died. I remember finally being old enough to understand the adult references in many of the sketches and the deep appreciation I felt when I realized what a high quality educational program the Children's Television Workshop had created. I remember the money spent on t-shirts, watches, keychains, and other paraphanelia from the now defunct "Sesame Street Store" and how nerdy I probably was for wearing said clothing in high school. (Don't judge me.) I remember the long philosophical conversations about my dislike of Elmo and the disdain I felt for his meteoric rise to fame in the Sesame universe. I remember getting my first checkbook before going to college and choosing the Sesame Street checks. (Again, don't judge.) I remember getting excited about communication journal articles and books that used Sesame Street as an example of the media's effect on children.

My love for you Sesame Street has not wavered over the years and, as you usher in your 4th decade of quality children's programming, I am excited to introduce your world to my children. Although, I'm not sure how successfully I can do that without cable...but that's beside that point. (That's what classic Sesame Street dvds are for.) So, happy birthday Sesame Street. Thank you for bringing me many years of laughs, teaching me that "cerrado" means closed in Spanish, that counting to 12 can be lyrical, and that sharing is caring. I am forever grateful.

Love, Becky

Don't Touch Me...I'm Pregnant

I've always been a bit of a germa-phobe. I never shared drinks with friends in high school and there was no way I would let anyone borrow my chapstick. (If I was too embarrassed to turn down a request, the tube immediately went in the trash can later.) Today, I have a strict edict in the office that no one stick their hand into a communal box, bowl or bag of treats. (My boss still refuses to comply with this request, so it's a good thing my diet keeps me from sharing most office snacks.)

Now with the heightened concerns about the H1N1 virus, I have become even more steadfast in my pursuit against germs. I carry my Purell around and use it liberally after touching menus at restaurants, opening doors (if I can't use the sleeve of my sweater to do so), pumping gas, visiting the grocery store, touching my computer, and even shaking hands at church. Yesterday I could actually feel my hand burning with germs after shaking hands with someone during the "friendship break." My senses are more aware of the coughs and sneezes around me and I actually get a little irritated when people come to work with the sniffles. Justin even knows to expect a dollop of hand sanitizer whenever we are out together and I occasionally quiz him on how often he washes his hands at the bank. It's getting a little ridiculous.

I think the main reason I'm being so anal about it is an attempt to quell the "mom guilt" that is starting to rise up when I read the news stories about the importance of pregnant women getting the H1N1 vaccine. See, I politely refuse to get it. I'm decidedly anti-flu shot in general, but this one raises red flags for me. Not that I begrudge anyone for getting vaccinated and doing what they think is right for themselves and their unborn child, I'm just not convinced that a small test group of pregnant women (under 120 people) is big enough to get me on the swine flu vaccination bandwagon. The media says "no side effects" have been reported, but how do they know when all the babies are still in utero? It's just too risky for me. It does worry me though and I hope I'm not being stupid.

In the meantime, I'm covering this little one (and myself) in prayer for God's protection and supernatural immunity. (I'll also keep on coating myself with a liberal application of hand sanitizer.) And don't be surprised if after Luke arrives I make you apply some to yourself before you come near him. I'll try to draw the line at masks and gloves...but you never know. :)

I've never been a tidy person. That's not something to be proud of, but it's a true statement about how I've spent much of my life. I'm "clutter blind" when it comes to messes. I can definitely go to bed at night with dishes in the sink. I can let the laundry pile up for weeks at a time. I'm definitely NOT Type A in the home management department. Well at least I wasn't...until now.

My family likes to tease me with a little term called "nesting," and I've resisted the label for as long as I possibly could. I finally had to accept that it is actually happening to me. You see, for the past few weeks I haven't been able to fight my own desires to organize drawers and closets. I make sure I can see the bottom of the laundry hamper at the end of every weekend. And those dishes? They haunt me at 4 o'clock in the morning. It's weird, spooky, and kind of off-putting. Who is this person? Don't get me wrong, it is definitely a much-needed change of behavior - especially since I will soon have a newborn who needs to live in a squalor-free environment. Justin is beside himself with joy and says if he'd known the "perfect wife" would emerge from pregnancy, we would have made it happen a lot sooner. :) Now...if only a compulsion for nightly home-cooked meals would just kick in. We're still waiting on that one.

Pregnant and Growing on a College Campus

I'm sure it's all in my head, but I kind of worry that people are going to judge me when they see me walking across campus. Pregnant bellies are not something one sees much among the undergrads here at Pacific. Not to say that I'd be confused with an undergrad, but it has happened before...

Mmmmm...donuts

Even with a master's degree in communication and a keen eye for marketing gimmicks and media agenda-setting, I find that I am easily influenced by imagery. Particularly, images involving food. A few weeks ago I saw a story on Time.com about how exercise alone can't make you thin. The accompanying photo (above) immediately compelled me to go to the campus grocery store for a donut that looked exactly the same. I convinced myself that I wouldn't get one if they didn't have that exact kind (their selection is usually limited, so I figured the odds were against me). They had one. I bought it. I enjoyed it. The end. Today, weeks later, I saw a link to the same article on Time.com, and even though I knew what I would find, I still clicked on it just to torture myself. I found that my will power is sufficiently built up now after being forced to watch Justin eat a creme-filled chocolate donut on Saturday morning, so I am now impervious to the donut picture's charms. In Justin's defense, he made up for the donut affront by giving me several massages during our "preparing for childbirth" class the same day. Of course, I then took him to watch Pro Bull Riding that night as an anniversary gift, so the equity of the situation slipped through my fingers pretty fast.

Remember that time...

In honor of last night's fall premiere, I decided to relive the best day ever. Back in April we were on the set of The Office. No big deal. :)


I'm in the hallway! No big deal.


Is that the guy who use to be a JCrew Model?




Parkor!

Pumpkin Update

Justin's pumpkin hasn't gotten much love lately. The sprinkler system quit working and he hasn't taken the time to fix it, so the garden is suffering a little bit. Hopefully the pumpkin will make it until October so I can carve a face into it!

And here's me embracing the 29 week bump/pumpkin-to-be

The Family that Pricks Together Sticks Together

Nine years ago Justin was diagnosed with Type 1/juvenile diabetes. 8 days ago I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (after suffering through 3 mind numbing hours at the Kaiser lab - saved only by the fact that they played High School Musical in the waiting room). We now have matching glucose meters and test strips. I decorated mine with pink puffy paint so we wouldn't get them mixed up. There is one major difference between our conditions - mine will go away in 11 weeks (and doesn't require medication), his unfortunately, will not (and does). In the meantime, I get to live in his world for little while and experience the joys of 4 finger pricks a day.

The gestational diabetes diagnosis came as somewhat of a surprise. I mean, I have done everything right during pregnancy. I lost 10 pounds in the beginning (which I'm proud to say I still haven't completely gained back) by eating healthier and exercising more regularly, I drink at least 12 glasses of water a day, I avoid most sweets (in fact my only "craving" has been turkey sandwiches with swiss cheese, which I satisfy daily at lunch), I spend at least 40 minutes a day walking to and from work, I go on longer walks or swim in the evenings, the list goes on. They say GD happens because of normal pregnancy hormones and was not caused by any fault of my own, but it's still slightly embarrassing.

At any rate, I am now paying even stricter attention to my diet, having weekly phone appointments with a dietician, being even more conscientious of my exercise schedule, and bonding with Justin over our shared condition. (And annoying the crud out of him because I'm being so anal about it.) So far my blood sugar levels are staying in the normal range. Take that gestational diabetes!

I really love when fruit and vegetables have faces. It just makes me really happy. I think it all started years ago with the singing vegetable stand on Sesame Street. My enjoyment actually extends to most inanimate objects that are made to look human, but produce really does it for me. It's not something I go around thinking about everyday or anything, but occasionally it pops into my head. For example, today I had to go to the dietician at Kaiser (more on that later), and she had a cornucopia of little stuffed vegetable magnets with faces. A cute little carrot was smiling at me alongside an eggplant and a giant ear of corn. I shared my joy with her (in a non-creepy way of course). She responded that most people find vegetables with faces off-putting. Then she asked me if I worked with small children...

People of Walmart

I'm jumping on the bandwagon with this post. I first learned about this website from my friend Kate's blog. I didn't actually pay it a visit until I read a story on cnn.com about it. Peopleofwalmart.com is a website where users post pictures of the crazy people/things they have seen at their local Walmart. According to the CNN article, the creators of the site are not trying to be mean-spirited. In fact, they only post pictures of people that deserve it. For example, large people wearing really tiny clothes, those who choose to sport mullet haircuts, or other oddities. All of this wouldn't have prompted me to blog until I went to the website and discovered the above photo, which was taken in Yuba City, CA. My hometown. Nice.

Watch Our Pumpkin Grow

Justin loves his garden. He has experimented with several different "crops" over the years, but decided to keep it simple this year with some corn, sunflowers, and one "giant" pumpkin. When I told Justin several weeks ago that we needed to take weekly photos of my growing stomach (because that's just what people do nowadays) he responded with, "are we really going to be those people?" I'm not really sure who "those" people are, but I am pretty sure that yes, I am one of them. He won the battle for awhile because, frankly there wasn't much of a need for documentation until recently. Then the day came that he requested we start taking pictures to document the growth of HIS giant pumpkin. I, of course, balked at the inconsistency of his thinking that photos of one pumpkin are more acceptable than photos our other, CLEARLY more important "pumpkin," and won the war. We are, however, compromising.

Justin's Pumpkin


Our "Pumpkin"

Maru in the Box

According to Entertainment Weekly, cats like Maru and Nora the piano playing cat are more popular on the Internet than certain Hollywood starlets. What can I say? People love cats. This is my favorite Maru video. Even Justin giggles like a school girl when he watches it.

Zippy gets in on the action

Justin and I live in a relatively small house that was built in 1927. I LOVE it, but we are severely lacking in space - both room and closet space. Our second bedroom has served as our office/my closet/catch all area for the past 4 years and now has to be reassigned to baby detail. I spent the better part of a weekend weeding out half of my closet (kind of traumatic) so it can be shared with an infant in a few months. Zippy definitely knows something is up, but she's not letting it affect her routine. We may have moved the guest bed out of the room, but she's still managed to find a suitable napping place...the yet to be unpacked crib. Good to know she's not losing sleep over the impending changes.

Justin's Best Week Ever

I had to go to Kansas City, MO for a work-related conference in July. (This year I got to present a session about email marketing strategies, which was a lot more interesting than it sounds.) :) Justin had his vacation scheduled for that week, so I forced him to tag along so we could make it our quasi-summer vacation. He was reluctant about the trip until he realized that KC is home to some of the greatest BBQ in the world! We were only able to hit two renowned BBQ establishments, but they were both amazing. We had to document our experience at Oklahoma Joe's, which is famous for not only having great BBQ but also for its location inside a gas station. We opted to dine at the restaurant's second non-gas station location and it did not disappoint.

This was the line to order food on a random Wednesday night.


The amazingness up close


Best day of Justin's life


After dinner I made Justin stop at the Cracker Barrel because I've heard so much about them and wanted to experience one for myself. The highlight for Justin was buying Luke a John Deere onesie from the gift shop. And he gives me a bad time for being from "the country!" Here I am contemplating my next move on the Cracker Barrel front porch.


On our way home from Kansas City we stopped to visit our friends Todd and Shawna in Phoenix. We had a great time hanging out with them and learning all the tricks on parenting little boys (they have a 2.5 year old son). No photos from this leg of the trip because Phoenix is like the seventh circle of hell in July and we were pretty much confined to the house for 3 days. We did, however, get to experience the joys of the Wii, a couple of meals out "on the town," a short early morning visit to the driving range for Todd and Justin, and a trip to 24 hour fitness for Shawna and I. Lesson learned: Subsequent trips to AZ will be made during the winter months only.

Goodbye Andrea...Oh hellllloooo Edward

We have to say goodbye to one of our co-workers (and a member of the Twilight quandrangle) this week. She's leaving to start a new life in Japan, so we threw her a farewell party on campus. One of her parting gifts...an Edward Cullen action figure.



We'll miss you Andrea!!! :(


That's supposed to be a pucker...Fail.

A few of my favorites...

Just a few of my favorite baby items so far...



Hammerhead shark from Auntie Som and Uncle Mike.
Adidas jogsuit from my Aunt Pat (we won't call her a "great aunt" just yet, although she is Great!)
Shark tennis shoes (I couldn't help myself, but I think Grandma Linda paid for them :). Thanks mom!

No Doubt!

As part of my good friend Nancy's birthday present, I took her to the No Doubt/Paramore concert a couple of weeks ago. A few friends from work went along (because we love Paramore on the Twilight soundtrack), as well as my brother-in-law Jeff. To see Gwen Stefani rocking her killer abs at almost-40 and after 2 babies was strangely motivating. Confession: I have been intrigued by Gwen's abs since high school when I read an article in Seventeen about how she maintained her figure by jumping off of amps during her stage shows.


My friend Randi told me she expects my figure to look exactly like this post-baby. Ha!


Randi, Andrea and I making sad faces becauses our 4th Twilight friend Claire couldn't make it. :(


The birthday girl


Me doing an impression of Jeff and his bangs.

Totally Punk Rock in Stockton

A couple of weeks ago, Justin and I went to a Sunday afternoon movie matinee (Transformers II, if you're interested). A couple dressed similarly to those in the above picture were in front of us in line. We had to wait several minutes before we could get into the theater, so I had ample opportunity to assess their attire. A thorough search of flickr and google images couldn't turn up anyone that could even compare to the kids I saw. The girl had bright pink hair that was done up in a pony tail. The guy had purple hair that was less mohawky and more emo, bangs over the eyes kind of thing. They both had impressive make up jobs that matched said hair colors and included upper cheek bone star art and other shading. And the piercings! Don't even get me started on the number of accessories each one of them sported! (Including, but not limited to, 4 necklaces on the girl - including a pink studded dog collar choker and a belt buckle that said F**K in silver lettering. )

Now, don't misunderstand me. I am TOTALLY not judging these individuals and their choice of fashion, but I did have several thoughts:

1. It is an IMPRESSIVE level of commitment to go to that level of accessorizing, making up, and layering. It's a rare day that I even put makeup on to go to the movies, so their commitment to their look was impressive. But honestly, can you do the pink/purple hair goth/punk look without REALLY committing to it? I don't think it's something you can just do halfway.

2. It cannot be cheap to dress like that. Most of my clothes are from Target or Old Navy (if I really go all out), so the leather mini skirt over leggings over fishnets, PLUS knee high boots and three shirts from Hot Topic looks like an expensive endeavor to me.

3. Do people who dress to these extremes find each other already looking like that and decide they are a good match? Or, does the relationship start off with one person as the more agressive goth/punk dresser and persuade the other to step up their efforts? Or, do they decide to pursue the look together. Chicken or egg people? What comes first, the "look" or the relationship?

4. Props to pink and purple hair for being brave enough to go to the movies in STOCKTON dressed like that. I mean, we're not exactly known for our edgy punk rock culture here.

I know, I know

Yes. We are planning to name our son Luke. Luke Perry. Let the 90210 jokes commence!

A bit of background:
Justin and I have been talking about this name for our future child since we were in college. Over the years I've thrown out several names during our conversations and none of them have stuck except Luke. We like this name for several reasons: 1) Luke is biblical, wrote my favorite of the gospels, and was a doctor! 2) Luke means "light" which I think is cool. 3) Neither one of us had any negative associations with the name Luke.

In our discussions on the name Luke, and given our last name, we always assumed there would be comparisons to the actor Luke Perry, who played hottie bad boy Dylan on Beverly Hills 90210. Fortunately, unless actor Luke decides to be in some big summer popcorn flick, I think it's safe to say that our Luke will grow up free from any comparisons by his peers. And I'm hoping his teachers will remember their crushes on actor Luke Perry fondly and love our Luke even more. :)

And besides, actor Luke Perry was hot, so why wouldn't we want to draw comparisons.

Seems like a bad idea...

The other evening I was driving up to Elk Grove from Stockton on Highway 99. Along the way there is a skydiving center just off the road. As the parachuters descend, for a few seconds it appears that they are going to drop down right in the middle of the road, then they use their parachuting magic and drop into a field adjacent to the busy highway. I'm sure they know what they're doing and have done thousands of drops over the years, but as a driver it is very disconcerting to see 5 or 6 people hovering over the road in front of you. I can't imagine what it would be like from the other angle - descending from the sky on your first skydive attempt and seeing a bunch of fast moving cars directly below you. Moral of the story: In my opinion, putting a skydiving center next to a freeway = bad idea. Of course, if you're brave enough to jump out of a plane with a small piece of nylon (or whatever parachutes are made of) separating you from a painful death, you may not be that worried about freeway traffic. I've always had an unusually high sense of self-preservation, so I may not be the best judge of skydiving safety. It just seems like a really bad idea.

Random Updates

What's been going on the past few weeks:

--I finished my comps (final exams) for grad school on June 12th and passed with flying colors! Woo hoo! Masters degree...check. Consider that topic closed.

--After 9 1/2 months without a car, I am finally mobile again! God blessed us with the exact car I wanted for the exact price I wanted to pay (which was pretty low) just like I knew he would. Now Baby Perry won't have to ride in the jumpseat of Justin's truck - which I'm pretty sure is against the law anyway...more details and photos to come on the new ride.

--I am currently on my 9th consecutive day and approximately 85th hour of work without a break (which I know isn't a big deal for most people, but I live for my downtime). Love the big alumni fun we have, but can't wait until the holiday weekend and day off on Friday! Gotta catch up on laundry and clean my filthy house! (Or lay on the couch and take a nap...we'll have to see how things go.) :)

--We are scheduled for our next sonogram on July 9th. Hopefully Baby Perry won't be shy and we'll finally know who's in there and can start shopping! :)

Ummmm...

So...I really did have more important milestones in my 20's, but I've been so busy enjoying my 30's that I haven't caught up on them. And by "enjoying" I mean taking naps after work, eating dinner, and/or going to bed by 8:30 or 9. I have my oral defense for my master's tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed that it goes well and I can finally put grad school behind me!

Top Moments of my 20's - #5 (The Marathon)

I intended to do a "Top 10" countdown of my favorite memories in my 20's in the days leading up to my 30th b-day. Since I seem to have gotten off to a late start, a top 5 list will have to do.

Here goes...in no particular order...

#5 The Marathon




I started running in 2006, when I was 26/27. All in the same year I did some 5K's, a couple of half-marathons, and then some crazy friend of mine in Las Vegas talked me into doing a full-marathon with her. So, in December of 2006 I went to Vegas and put my body through 26 miles of pure torture. Lesson learned - running a marathon while not training for anything longer than 13 miles = stupidity. I'm proud to say I finished it, though I won't tell you how long it took me. (Let's just say slower than Oprah, but way faster than that guy on the last season of the Biggest Loser.) Someday I may do it again, but in the meantime I'm going to try and channel the memory of enduring massive amounts of pain for approximately 3 hours (and the final 10 miles) and use it to help me during labor in a few months. Seriously, I hear you only push for like 30 minutes, how bad can it be? :)

Countdown to 30!

I kicked off my birthday celebrations last weekend with a fun party in Monterey! I decided I wanted to celebrate the end of my 20's in my favorite place, so we took the party to the coast! I was worried that no one would want to make the drive, but ended up being completely overwhelmed by all the friends and family that jumped at the chance to come and celebrate with me! My parents had never been to Monterey, so we had a great time showing them all the touristy spots, eating at our favorite places, and enjoying a night at a beachfront hotel. We decided to host the actual party on Sunday at El Torito on the water. Kind of random, but the view is beautiful! Justin surprised me with an embarrassing speech that gave me WAY more praise than I deserve, the waiters sang to me in Spanish, we had amazing cakes from Gayle's bakery in Watsonville. It was a fabulous day and a great way to send me into my next decade. I still have 5 days left though, so let's not rush things!


Taking advantage of the photo opportunity


My sad face at the balloon my dad bought for me. Not only does it have a frog on it (I have frog fear), but it says "you are toad-ally old." Major sad face!


Family and friends who blessed my socks off!

LOL - Surprise Wedding Reception

This is one of the latest missions from the group Improv Everywhere, the same folks who brought you the Food Court Musical and Frozen Grand Central Station. This time they decided to throw a surprise wedding reception for a random newly married couple coming out of city hall. The result is really cute and the couple looks super happy the entire time. If you don't feel like watching the video, click on the second link for a recap of the event and some still photos.



http://improveverywhere.com/2009/06/02/surprise-wedding-reception/

Announcement

As a reward to my few and loyal blog followers, I’m giving you the scoop first!

I’ve been keeping a little secret from you. We’re having a baby! I’ve been keeping the news under wraps for about 6 weeks, but since we had our first ultrasound today and saw Baby Perry kicking and squirming with a strong heartbeat, I’m ready to tell the world! I am almost 11 weeks along and we are due on December 4th.

So far pregnancy hasn’t been too rough on me, so that’s been a huge blessing. A week of light nausea, insane levels of fatigue, and aversions to cooked vegetables and seafood have been my major issues. The really rough part has been trying to finish my last 9 units of grad school while being tired and slightly preoccupied. It’s amazing how much time a person can waste looking at baby stuff online or asking Google about every cramp or dietary concern.

I am pleased to announce that all my projects for grad school are complete (just finished today!) and I just have that pesky week of exams to deal with at the end of May. I am excited to finally give pregnancy my full concentration. It’s a new adventure for us and I’m pretty excited!

(Oh, and just a side note on the lame grainy photos in the video. In the early days of our relationship, and at the time of our wedding in 2002, digital photography was not as prolific as it is today. Fact: that makes me feel really old!)

Celebrating the Seniors

Part of my job is working with students and young alumni to develop programs and events. The other part is marketing and technology - among other things. Yesterday we held our annual Senior Celebration, a huge party the alumni association throws for the students every year. It is my responsibility to plan and execute this event and I am always extremely nervous that no one will come to my party. I was also a bit panicked about the weather (there was a threat of rain and some looming dark clouds most of the day). As it turns out, my fears were completely unfounded and we had the most successful year yet! This year we opened it up to the entire campus, gave away free shirts to the seniors (co-sponsored by ASUOP), had Rubio's there giving out free burritos (Cinco de Mayo), and gave out free sno cones. We had a great dj, some great raffle prizes donated by local businesses and had several campus partners there giving out information. I think we had over well over 500 people in attendance and I am so incredibly relieved that it's over for another year and appears to have been a big success! YAY! Now I just have to finish that 15 page paper and complete another final project so I can relax for a day or two!


Checking in seniors and giving out shirts


Powercat representing Go Girl energy drink


The shirts!


The TigerPAC (minus Lauren), the student group I advise on student/alumni

Our Visit to "The Office"

A few weeks ago, the Perry family (and the Nunan addition) embarked on our annual Perry Adventure. We headed to southern California without much of a plan except Disneyland one day and an attempt to find the place where they shoot the exterior scenes of The Office, our FAVORITE show. My new brother in law, Mike, found the address online and google mapped it, so we knew exactly where we were going. We pulled onto the street and were SO EXCITED just to see the office building and the parking lot. OMG! We also saw covered up set pieces at the end of the street with writing like "Jim & Pam's house." We all got out of the car and were geeking out about taking pictures outside the gated fence. As we walked down the street we passed another big building with a gate and a guard shack. The gate was open, so my mother-in-law (who, lets face it, she can make things happen people) stopped to talk to talk to a person walking across the parking lot while the rest of us continued walking down to "the" building.

Mother in Law asks the guy "can my son take a picture in your parking lot?" (Meanwhile, I was sarcastically saying to Mike, "watch Lynn meet someone and get us a tour of the set." I'm not joking when I say she is eerily capable of making things happen. She maintains that it is God's favor, and I would have to agree with her.) :)

Guy replies, "No. But I have a few minutes and I can give you a private tour of the set." A. PRIVATE. TOUR. OF. THE. SET! OMG!

M-I-L yells after us and we come running back down the street. By this time Mike and I were FREAKING OUT about what was about to happen.

The Guy, who happens to be a producer for the show, reminded us multiple times that they NEVER do this for people and not to tell our friends to come down and expect to get a tour because it NEVER happens.

So, we walk in. The first part we see is mostly a big warehouse and there is a set built inside of it. When you walk into the actual "office" part it looks exactly like an office. Pretty much exactly like what you see on the show. There aren't any high ceilings, no boom mics or cranes or anything.



Again, we are TOTALLY FREAKING OUT at this point. Producer Guy tells us we can take pictures, sit in the chairs, etc. The first place we go is Michael Scott's office. My hands were shaking the entire time I was trying to take pictures. I finally had to give up and rely on someone else's camera because my shots were all blurry. We got to see everything on the desks, pick stuff up. It was amazing! It turns out that all the pictures and things on the desks are actually the actor's personal photos and belongings. You see pics of Dwight's family, Jim's family, etc. After the main office we checked out the kitchen, bathrooms (that have a movable wall depending on which room they are shooting, the breakroom. I think we were all completely overwhelmed. We also got to see the "corporate office" which was kind of in disarry because they weren't shooting any scenes there. We saw the dismantled pieces of the Michael Scott Paper Company office (which hadn't happened yet on the show and we were sworn to secrecy).









Then, THEN, we got to walk to the lot next door and take pictures in the parking lot and see the actual warehouse, which really is a warehouse. We also saw Michael Scott's Sebring and PT Cruiser parked along the side. The square of concrete where Michael Scott stuck his face is there, except it was re-set after the face-sticking incident. We saw the bench where the occasional pow wow takes place and the ping pong table in the warehouse.






We were on Cloud 9 for the rest of the day. Michael and I kept saying "WE WERE ON THE SET OF THE OFFICE TODAY!" all day long. For the rest of the week actually. Our only regret for the day was not thinking through more posed photo ops in the actual office. That, and I would have taken a picture with one of Angela's cats.



Best. Day. Ever.