It's looking better...

The party planning is looking good. John has some good ideas for entertainment, and I made these and passed them out to our family at a party tonight.

Oh my goodness.

We are hosting a New Year's Eve party.

The house is a disaster from Christmas.

I've gained about 5 pounds this Christmas season.

The party is Sunday.

I have to work Friday and Saturday!

I need help!

Merry Christmas!

Lots of Christmas celebrations this weekend! We started off leaving for Indiana Friday night after work for the Saturday afternoon celebration with grandparents, aunts uncles, and baby cousins.

We got home late Saturday night, and I did some last minute shopping. Sunday we spent shopping (yes, more!) and wrapping gifts. We had our usual Christmas Eve with the Murrays at Kelly's house. We bought a gift for Chris and Christine, and they bought for us...this is totally crazy, but we got each other the same thing. Bar signs, from the same company! Totally weird. We love our Murray's Irish Pub sign!



After Midnight Mass, we drove to Aunt Karen and Uncle Doug's to spend Christmas with them and my mom and cousins. We had a great Christmas morning! Our family is so generous! We finally got to open our computer, which I'm using right now to blog! My mom gave me Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 which I can't wait to use! She also got me a Photo CD organizing system, which I totally need! She also gave me a runner's training journal, so I guess I had better keep running! She gave John and I a fire pit for the backyard, something we have been wanting for a long time. My cousin Katie gave us way to much stuff, but it was all really cool stuff from her year in Italy. My Aunt Karen and Uncle Doug got us a 6 game package for the Tigers next year! It is such a great gift...the 6 teams are the best in the MLB (well, besides the Tigers, of course)! We have tickets for games against the Yankees, the Mets, the Cardinals, the White Sox, The Twins, and the Red Sox! We are very excited! We were told to toast them at each game...that won't be a problem at all!

John got this great picture of me and Jillian watching a Barbie movie during a break from gift opening. (Yes, we take a break. There are a LOT of gifts to open!)




Next challenge...we need plans for New Year's Eve!

It's always interesting....

Christmas at John's Grandma Anderson's house...never a dull moment!

 

 

 

 

 

In other news...
We are still running. We ran 2 miles in 21 minutes tonight. I think that's pretty good for almost 30 and out of shape.

The Tigers signed Bonderman for 4 more years. Is it baseball season yet?

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel...

On Saturday, John and I went to the Ferndale ice festival. It's not much, just little ice scuptures outside of each business down 9 Mile. It's a nice walk at least. It's fun to see what each place decides to have carved for them. The BEST one this year, or any year, was outside of Affirmations, the not yet built Gay and Lesbian Community Center. For those of you that aren't familiar with Ferndale, we have a very large gay community. Here is their sculpture. If you can't read it, refer to my title today.


I won't say much about last year, except that we were really lacking in the Christmas spirit as far as decorating goes...and we hadn't started yet this year. We string popcorn and cranberries for our tree garland, and that is quite a job, so we procrastinate. We decided to go ahead and get started.


I've been saying that we would never again get a real Christmas tree, and my mom gave us her fake tree...but it's HUGE. So, for some unknown crazy reason, we decided to get a real tree. A little one. I LOVE it. It's so perfect for our little house. When John reads this he will say "Our house is NOT little! Anyway, our little tree is perfect for our house! I am so happy with it! We decorated late into the night, until we were finished. We had a fire going, and Christmas music playing...well, kind of, it's a Jimmy Buffett Christmas CD, and I love Jimmy, but "Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rum?" Catchy little tune, but different, that's for sure.





On an unrelated note...I ran 2 miles tonight! I've become a lazy slug since I quit swimming after college...so I decided since I'm almost 30, and I know what happens when people don't exercise as they get older, I would start. My goal was 1 mile, and when I got to the .5 mile mark, I decided to go for 2 instead. I have never been a good runner, but when I was swimming, I could run whatever the coach told me to, whether it be 2 miles, or 6 miles, at the drop of a hat, so I went for 2 today. We will see if I keep this up. I figured blogging about it would give me some accountability!

We'll see.

Big Decisions

As a lot of you know, John and I have been trying to decide what to get ourselves for Christmas. We wanted to get something together, like a TV, stove, refrigerator, a computer, or a Caribbean cruise. We narrowed it down to a computer, or a cruise.

A lot of you also know that I am terrible with decisions. Basically I'm incapable of making them. It's hard enough for me to decide what I want for dinner, much less if we should get a computer or a cruise for Christmas!!

So, I asked everyone I know for their opinion. Ok, not everyone. But I tried. A few people choose the computer, and most everyone picked the cruise. Which, I liked, because I was leaning towards the cruise.

We bought our Christmas gift last night.



Don't even ask me how we came to this decision, I still don't know. But, it is going to be a super fabulous computer, and VERY fast. And, it has a 20 inch flat screen monitor. Maybe I can actually edit photos on this thing without is yelling at me that it can't handle this!

I am very sad about the cruise, but we haven't completely ruled it out yet...February is a ways off still...

And, now a word from our sponsors....

Ok, so this is a little commercial break for my blog. Now, if only Zicam would pay me for it!

I got a cold on Saturday. It's now Tuesday and my cold was very mild and it is now almost gone completely. My colds last 2 weeks and I cough for another week afterwards. I'm already in the coughing phase, and it's so mild.

All because of Zicam....a little swab in each nostril every 4 hours...this stuff rocks!

Now, back to the regular scheduled blogging.

We are Crazy.

That's all there is to it. After Thanksgiving dinner, my mom, my Aunt Karen, me and my cousin Katie decided we needed to go to Birch Run Outlets at midnight. We weren't too far from there, so we went. Keep in mind, I had to work the next morning.

We started driving out there, after getting some coffee for us all and the freeway was backed up for about 4 miles. My Aunt knew a back way from the north, so we passed the exit and headed for the next one. We ended up driving right up to it without any traffic problems. I have never seen this place so busy!! It was insane! You couldn't even go into some of the stores, Pottery Barn and Coach both had waits outside the store, just to get in!

My mom and Aunt Karen went to buy some Christmas gifts, and Katie and I decided we needed to shop for ourselves...after all, there is a BCBG outlet, and Banana Republic Outlet. And this stuff gets CHEAP! We did get some good deals, but nothing extra than usual, they just opened early. We left about 3 am, and it was even busier than when we got there!

We got home around 4:30 am, slept for a few hours, and then I was off to work. I looked terrible, and they worked me like a dog, since we had so many people off. I'm not sure the super cute pants and sparkly top were worth it! Now, I'm getting a cold, probably because of my lack of sleep.

It was fun, maybe we will do it again next year. Maybe I will take Friday off next year!!

159-379

A fire, some wine, and Scrabble. A lovely Friday night.

I am TERRIBLE at Scrabble!!

Really, really bad....that was our score, John 379, me 159. I really shouldn't have even gotten 159. I got some help with the word Qua, when I tried to use Quaf. Quaf is not a word, but apparantly, Qua is.

I had to watch the U of M/Ohio State game yesterday....and I'm not much of a football fan, so it was making me miss baseball games...so I did a page about baseball. Kind of. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! (You can click on the photo to see it larger if you'd like to read the journaling.)

Superfoods

Blueberries
Guava
Kale
Apples
Coconut Oil
Green Tea
Flaxseeds
Sardines

So, I read an article today, and these are superfoods. John and I are going to start eating much healthier, so we are going to be making these a large part of our diet. Well, except for the sardines.

We will need some help though.....I love apples, and I love guava, and green tea. So no problems there....but I've never been crazy about blueberries. I'm not familiar with kale, coconut oil and flaxseeds, so I need to know what to do with them.

Anyone??

My first time.....

 

being published!!! I got "The Joy of Scrapbooking" book in the mail today, with my layout in it! I'm the only one on the page! This is the first time I have been published and it's so exciting! It's a really nice idea book too! 300 pages!

  

Halloween 2006

 

Considering Halloween almost didn't happen for us, we did a darn good job!

What? No Halloween for us? Some of the biggest Halloween fans ever? Yep, the Tigers in the World Series nearly kept us from participating this year. But, we couldn't help ourselves, so the weekend after Halloween we threw a party at our house. It was great! In honor of the Tigers great season, we went as Jim Leyland and a pack of his Marlboros. (he smokes 3 packs a day!) Thanks to my boss Donna, for the help turning some cardboard boxes into a pack of cigarettes. John and I decorated the box to look like a Marlboro box. It turned out really great! My Jim Leyland wasn't the best costume ever, but it worked. People knew who I was.

We shopped the after Halloween sales, and borrowed decorations, and our basement looked good! We made our dining room into a murder scene. We carved faces onto 13 apples and dried them out for a Martha Stewart shrunken head bouquet.

We didn't have a huge party, mostly family, but we all had a good time.
 

Until April...

Baseball season is over...

We were sad Friday night that the Tigers lost the World Series, VERY sad. I was worried that the next day, people would bash my boys and their errors and bash the pitching staff that had a huge role in getting us to the World Series in the first place. I thought everyone would be disappointed in them.

So far, I was wrong. A few people have mentioned how badly they played, but not many.

Let's not forget that this was most incredible season by the Detroit Tigers. We lost 119 games 3 years ago. We WON 95 games this year. Beat the Yanks, swept the A's to win the American League pennant...and PLAYED in the World Series. Incredible!

This will be the most memorable season in my lifetime for the Tigers. Even if we win the World Series next year, it will not top this 2006 season. Coming from where we came from, to playing in the World Series, is stunning. This team was hoping to be a .500 team. That's it. We will never feel the excitement of this season. That is why I am sad today. That that season is over.

My heart is broken.

Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers for a magical season.

More later, when I can think more clearly.

Heidi Swapp and the Tigers

Heidi Swapp does not have anything to do with the Tigers, but for those not interested in my scrapping talk, I will talk about the Tigers too, so move along to the third paragraph!

I just registered for a year long online class taught by Heidi Swapp...those of you that have been reading my blog since it's inception might remember my first real post involved Heidi Swapp. I'm very excited about it, it should be so much fun!! It might mean I can't go to CKU this April when it will be 20 minutes away from me, but I think this will be a thousand times better!

On to the Tigers. In honor of Game 1 of the World Series featuring the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals, here is a quote from today's Free Press by the Archdiocese of Detroit about Cardinal (not the ST. Louis kind, the Catholic kind) Adam Maida.
"Although he wears a red hat and is an esteemed member of that other 'Cardinal team,' Detroit's archbishop says his World Series loyalties are here in southeast Michigan. And, Cardinal Maida predicts the Detroit Tigers will win the Fall Classic"

He also said that cheering for the Tigers is "good for the heart and soul."

GO TIGERS!

I forgot my birthday.

So, with the Tiger's exciting win, I forgot to blog about Friday the 13th. My 28th birthday...maybe I didn't forget, maybe I just don't care to be so close to 30. 28 sounds a lot older than 27...I've gotten more crazy looks when I say I'm 28 than I ever did at 27.

I did have a GREAT birthday though. I mean, I knew I would, it was Friday the 13th, and I was born on Friday the 13th, so I've always thought of it as a nice day for me. John got me a new lens for my camera (tamron 28-75mm 2.8). My mom got me a new phone and a bluetooth thingie that is just the coolest thing ever. We went out to dinner with John's family to Sangria, a Spanish restaurant for tapas, paella, and of course, sangria. And, the Tigers won. And then they won again! It doesn't really get any better! So, hopefully that means that 28 will be a good year!

 

And, today, I got my layout back from Simple Scrapbooks Magazine....I'm in an online article. You can see it here. 

Dan Dickerson's call

Here is video of the game winning home run hit by Magglio Ordonez, sending the Detroit Tigers to the World Series.

Bless You Boys!

 

I just cannot believe that we were at the game tonight. The Tigers won the American League pennant, and we were there to watch it!!

Happy birthday Magglio, what a great way to celebrate, hitting the winning home run!

The game was really awful to watch, we were losing for a while, then tied the rest of the game, til Maggs hit a 2 out walk off homer in the bottom of the 9th.

Incredible.

This photo is terrible, but it is of Magglio watching his walk off home run.
 

This is us, during the celebration, a few minutes before this photo was taken, I was in tears!

 

  

Did I forget to mention the TIGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES????

Did I also forget to mention that I totally called this sweep before this series started? I was told, "It is really hard to sweep, Emily." No one told the Tigers, I guess.

In honor of the sweep, here is a collage of some of the many brooms we saw tonight!
  

$200 Million

...doesn't go as far as it used to.

We went to a Tiger game today. Our regular season record was 0-6. We were feeling like we were bad luck for the Tigers. So, we decided that our playoff record was 0-0, and we were going to give it a shot. The day started off like this.
 
 

Yes, John caught a ball during batting practice! That has to be a good sign, right?

Here is our obligatory self portrait during the game.
 

And this is us during the CELEBRATION after the Tigers dominated the Yankees for three games straight. Hard to believe we were the underdogs, if you watched the whole series.
 

Um, and that is just me. I wasn't, but it sure looks like I was celebrating how right I was...I told EVERYONE I could that it was a good thing we lost the division and had to play the Yanks first. They had the so-called best lineup in baseball....EVER (bought for $200 million). To be the best, you have to beat the best. Well, we did. Bring it on.

  

The Boys of Summer....

are now playing in the fall...in DETROIT!

Ok, so I'm trying to be happy after a very disappointing loss today. We spent 145 (or something like that) days straight at 1st place....and then the last day of the season, Minnesota gets the title. Whatever.

There are positives to being the Wild Card:

I read this somewhere, and it's going to be my motto this October. To be the best, you have to beat the best. And right now, that is the Yankees.

The games will be in the evening, because we are playing the Yanks. We play better at night, and easier tv viewing.

We are soooo the underdog for this series. That makes winning so much sweeter.

I'd rather go to a Yankees game than an A's game.

Really, the worst part about us playing the Yankees is that now I may not be able to use ANY of my playoff tickets...because if we SWEEP the Yankees, game 4 will never happen. And, that wouldn't be all that bad.

Go Tigers!

Happy Birthday Jillian!

 

Jillian turns three today...we had her birthday party Sunday. It was cold, rainy, and we were in a park. Jillian didn't seem to notice it was cold and rainy. Must be nice being three!

In other good news...The Tigers made the playoffs! First time in 19 years! And we have tickets! YAY! 

WOO-HOO!

John got playoff tickets for 2 games this morning!!! Two tickets to the the 2nd home game the Tigers play, and four tickets for the 3rd home game the Tigers play. So, we are definitely going to the 2nd home game, and if needed the 3rd home game. Very exciting! I hope we get to go to both (although sweeping whoever we are playing in 4 wouldn't be so bad...) because we can't afford any other games. After the first round, prices double. We can't afford $100 tickets!

Now, one thing still has to happen before we can use these tickets.

The Tigers have to MAKE the playoffs! Yeah, I'm pretty sure they will, but nothing is official yet!

Dancing in the Dark

John's cousin Heather had her 28th birthday party Saturday night....the theme: 80s prom! We headed to the Salvation Army and found some 80s prom clothes, and we were all set! It was a great night, we had a lot of fun! Everyone looked great!! We spent all night dancing to 80s music! Not much else to say, so here are some photos!

Our prom photo!
 

John, his sister, his cousin (the birthday girl) and his brother
 

Me dancing with the girls
 

Our good friend Joe
  

Me and my sister in law
 

Some of the other 80s girls!
 

John and our brother in law doing the Robot
 

Me, the birthday girl, and my 2 sister in laws.