The ABC's of Me

My crazy eye freckle (see below)

A To Z.
A is for age: 29
B is for burger of choice: Not a fan...okay...In-n-Out Cheeseburger
C is for the car I drive: N/A - I broke the Saturn
D is for your dog's name: N/A - Zippy the Cat!
E is for essential item you use every day: lipstick or lipgloss
F is for favorite TV show at the moment: The Office
G is for favorite game: Apples to Apples and Taboo
H is for home state: California
I is for instruments you play: Saxophone - but only in 4th grade
J is for favorite juice: Cran-grape
K is for whose bum you'd like to kick: No one at the moment
L is for last restaurant at which you ate: Casa Flores
M is for your favorite Muppet: Kermit and Grover
N is for number of piercings: 2 (ears)
O is for overnight hospital stays: None
P is for people you were with today: Justin before he went to work & Zippy!
Q is for what you do with your quiet time: Read & veg out
R is for biggest regret: See letter "C" - would have changed my timing belt at 90,000miles.
S is for status: Happily Married
T is for time you woke up today: 6:38am (and it's SATURDAY!)
U is for what you consider unique about yourself: Eye freckle, only child, non-drinker, weirdly intuitive and self-aware.
V is for vegetable you love: Green beans
W is for worst habit: Procrastinating
X is for x-rays you've had: Teeth, wrist
Y is for yummy food you ate today: Eggo waffle
Z is for zodiac: Gemini

Oh yeah...

See more Natalie Portman videos at Funny or Die

I was so excited about my Twilight post (below) that I forgot about the whole "future of the nation hanging in the balance" thing. It's election day! And yes, I did rock the vote. I won't say how I voted, but I will say that my ballot included a diverse mix of both conservative and liberal politics. I don't like to adhere to labels.

Get out there and VOTE!!!

Twilight is Coming!

Twilight Trailer in HD


The Twilight movie comes out in 16 days. I. Can't. Help. Myself. I know it's cheesy and ridiculous, but I'm still giddy over it. All the girls in my office are severely addicted to the books and we're all planning to be among the first in line for the midnight showing on November 20/21. We're making shirts. It's gonna be awe-some. :)
Now if only I could convince Sommer to read it! Sister: 2 pages in the line at Starbucks is not going to cut it! Get to reading!

Apples!

We made a trip to Apple Hill last weekend with the rest of the Perry's and our friends, the Haaland's and the Child's. It's sort of an annual tradition, that unfortunately doesn't actually happen every year. This year there were lots of new additions to our group: Babies! I started off the day with an apple donut and ended it with an amazing caramel apple. It was a great day!

Our whole gang at Apple Hill


Freida and I just LOVE our caramel apples!


Justin and I trying to take a good picture.


Hermanos


Ryan, Freida, and Bella

A-MAZE-ING

I took my student leadership group, the TigerPAC, to the corn maze in Lathrop on Sunday night as a bonding activity. I forgot how much I love "the country." Being there at night with the dust and the bright lights reminded me of Sutter High football games for some reason. Ah, childhood! We had a great time. I made the girls take a picture of me in the corn, then in a corn cutout...they pretty much humor my dorkyness all the time. When I made a reference to being a "grown up lady" who didn't NEED to take a picture in the corn cutout, Randi replied "yeah, a grown up lady who couldn't decide what to wear to watch High School Musical 3." Which is a completely different story that I'd rather not discuss in this forum. (Suffice it to say, I saw the movie, it was cheesy AND amazing, and we might have "dressed up.") :)

Here are some photos:

New Obsession

I haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately, but I wanted to share my latest obsession: Picnik.com

picnik.com is a site that let's you enhance photos, add text, framing, etc. It's AMAZING!!! I've already used it on a few projects for work and it makes me feel like a legit designer (even though all I really did was hit a few buttons). Here are a couple of practice runs I did on some personal photos.

The Overkill Threshold

You know how it goes. You like a song. It starts getting a lot of radio play and you continue you to like it. Then, it happens. You hear said song just one time too many and you reach what I like to call: the "song overkill threshold." I am at that place now with the song "Love Remains the Same." It's the one that plays over and over again in the previews for the new Nicholas Sparks flick Nights in Rodanthe, which I really wanted to see - UNTIL the aforementioned overkill threshold kicked in. Now I'm afraid if I hear that song one more time I might lose my mind! Not only do I hear it at the movies (previews), I also hear it at the gym, I hear it repeatedly on the adult contemporary station we listen to at the office, and if I had a car and I actually drove to work I would probably hear it there too. IT'S EVERYWHERE!!!

I actually had to look up the name of the song because I had no idea who sang it or what it was called, I just knew I heard it ALL THE TIME! Much to my surprise, the singer is Gavin Rossdale! As in the former frontman of 90's alterna/grunge/rock band Bush. Bush! I loved them! As a straight-laced high schooler I felt really hardcore when I listened to Bush and now Gavin Rossdale is singing a sappy overkilled song on adult contemporary radio like some teenage emo band!?! Man. Maybe for Gavin Rossdale's sake I'll temper my dislike for the song and celebrate his return to mainstream radio.(Disclaimer: I will admit that my estimation of Bush's "hardcoreness" may have something to do with the level of my "straightlacedness.")


What songs have you reaching for the dial?

Lars and the Real Girl

Based on the recommendation of another blogger I follow and my own curiosity, we rented the movie "Lars and the Real Girl" last night. The premise is a bit off-putting - a lonely, socially awkward man buys a "doll" on the Internet and parades her around town as his girlfriend. The real plot of the movie isn't about the guy and his doll (this film is sweet and wholesome, not raunchy at all - in fact the "church" itself is a character in the film), but it's about how a community comes together to support a person in crisis. It's definitely a quiet, independent film, but it's uplifting and happy in a "Little Miss Sunshine" kind of way. The script is innovative and tender and definitely a must-see! Check out the trailer on youtube and just see if you can stay away!

Life in a Fish Bowl

We recently got a new dining room set (thanks Mom and Aunt Pat!) which necessitated a habitat change for our little fish friend Winky. We decided to go with something a little more modern, the Biorb. Zippy is intrigued by this as Winky was always inaccessible to her in his former home. We keep repeating the phrase, "Fish are friends, not food."

Old Married Couple

On September 7th Justin and I celebrated 6 years of wedded bliss. (Let's be honest, the levels of blissfulness vary day by day.) :) To commemorate the occasion, we were able to get away for one night to our favorite place in the world, Monterey. We happened to be there the same weekend as the Cherries Jubilee car show, which made the "row" more crowded than usual. It was also unusually warm weather for Monterey, and I know I specifically ordered a forecast of overcast and 60. We had a nice time, except for our anniversary "dinner" which consisted of greasy appetizers and virgin pina coladas in the bar of a wannabe upscale restaurant that Justin was convinced was a front for a mafia ring. What??? After waiting over an hour for a table and filling up on the aforementioned "meal", we decided to call it a night. Then, being the exciting and energetic couple you all know we are, we promptly fell asleep after paying $17 to watch the documentary of the guy who tightrope walked between the World Trade Center towers on the hotel TV.


Close up of a random rock formation on the beach. There were a ton of them! I'm still not convinced it wasn't part of some weird cultish activity. (File this idea next to Justin's weird mafia intuition.)


Rocking a shorter, blonder 'do. Mom hasn't seen it yet, so this is for her. :)

Wishin' For Free Ice Cream?

Tonight is "the World's Largest Ice Cream Social" at Coldstone Creamery! Stop by any Coldstone tonight between 5:00-8:00pm for your free 3 oz. ice cream created by wish kids Jack and Emily. Feel free to buy a Make a Wish star or donate a few dollars while you're there!

The Make a Wish Foundationgrants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Justin and I have been involved with the organization since January 2005 and it is amazing! Every wish kid we've met has been awesome. Not all of the stories have happy endings, but Make a Wish provides a spark of hope and happiness in the midst of their dark world of sickness, doctor visits, and sadness. Issaac went on a shopping spree to Toys R Us. Trinity got the ultimate backyard playset. Eric got a sweet braille laptop and GPS system. Lauren went on a trip to NYC. Jayda, Grantley, Elizabeth and their families get to go to Walt Disney World. And next week me meet Henna - who knows what her wish will be? (She did mention something about Hawaii.) :)

It's the Little Things

Ping Pong Cat


I was inspired by my friend Kate to post a funny cat video. Justin and I about died of laughter watching this. Maybe you have to be a cat person to enjoy it. I don't know, but like I said in the title of this post, it's the little things.