Not the most remarkable day ever...but a necessary one.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking. I was in Dallas last weekend visiting my brother and his family, and from there, I went straight to Salem for business. I returned home on Friday and have been relaxing and recharging my battery ever since.

This picture represents our weekend: fleece blankets and sleeping.

Hope your weekend has been as cozy and lovely!

Snow day!!

Now it's the Midwest's turn! We're in the middle of a snow emergency, but due to the media's Northeastern (read: NYC, WDC, and Boston) bias, probably no one knows that we're getting as much snow as our NE friends. It's ok, though - I'm not bitter! :)


Here's the view from my back door. It's hard to tell how hard and fast it's coming down, but it's blustery!











Here's my driveway, along with Anne's car.

We're supposed to be in a "white-out" situation by this afternoon because the snow is coming down at a rate of 2" per hour.










I'll be staying home today - my s.o. is at work (boo!) - so I may be posting pictures of my snowman in a little while! :)

...scout's lady

Where's the birthday cake?

Phoebe: Where's the birthday cake?
Monica: Ok, we're not having birthday cake, we're having birthday flan.
Chandler: Excuse me?
Monica: It's a traditional Mexican custard dessert.
Joey: Oh that's nice. Happy birthday, Rachel, here's some goo.

Because I'm not a humongous fan of birthday cake (except the Uncle Ken special - Pollyanna Cake), I asked my s.o. if I could have birthday pudding instead of birthday cake.

It's a bit non-traditional, but it's yummy!

Thanks, everyone, for a wonderful birthday!!

It's not the greatest picture of me...I'm a little tired today. :)

What's goin' on?

Good morning! It's Sunday Feb 5 at 11:00 am. I was sitting on the couch drinking yummy coffee (in my favorite new Starbucks mug) and eating a delicious scone from Barriques, a local coffee shop. I decided to write a little update on what's going on to my adoring fans (note the sarcasm :)).

1. Work is busy but satisfying.

• I think I'm finally starting to get it! I've found my niche. I'm now the manager of our internal library of helpful documents, so I get to badger everyone to submit their favorite helpful document. Badgering equals nagging, I've realized - is it wrong that it comes so naturally?

2. My new car up and died last week.

• In August, I purchased a 2002 Eddie Bauer Explorer that was fully loaded (4WD, V8 engine, leather, etc). Except that now I know why it was such a good deal!!! The 4WD never felt quite right (although I'm not a master at driving in the snow, so I guess I didn't have much to compare it to). But when it snowed last, and I slipped and slid more than I did in my old Explorer, my eyebrows raised in suspicion. Then, all of a sudden, it stopped shifting from 2nd gear to 3rd. Just stopped. So, $2000 later, I have a new transmission and a new 4WD transfer case. We're in ship-shape now!! Except that I'm a tad grumpy.

3. As previously posted, I'm going to London in April!

• There were a few questions about this post. Apparently, I was too mysterious. :)
• I'm joining Mom and David in London on April 9, and we'll be there for a week. They had planned this lovely trip to London, and I got wind of it and invited myself. They've had enough romantic get-aways for one year, thank you! :)
• I'm super excited because it's one of my top 3 places I'd LOVELOVELOVE to go, and I'm going! (For future reference, my other 2 are Italy (cities, countryside, and beach) andJapan.)

4. I joined a gym.

• This gym is like no other. There are no fitness machines, no free weights, no blaring TVs, no scary musclemen.
• Instead, it has classes - fitness and yoga/pilates. There's one major area that's like a high school gymnasium where the fitness classes take places - classes like "recess" and "push 'n pull." Fun! Then there's a yoga studio where the yoga, pilates, and yogilates (ha! The OC!) classes take place. There are little rooms for personal training where you can work on strength and conditioning.
  
• This gym was made for those who get squeamish at the thought of a normal, meat-market gym.
  

5. I'm going to Dallas in 2 weeks.

• I haven't seen my brother and his family since JULY. JULY, people! Insane. So, I'm crashing my nephew's 13th birthday party (along with Mom and David).
• I haven't been to Texas since December 2004, and it's way overdue.
  
• For any of you VWs that may read this, I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!! :)
  

6. I turn another year older next week.

• I'm not saying this to draw in the Happy Birthday emails (hee), but to say that with another birthday comes the requisite "where is my life going" question. It is a fun time of year, as my s.o.'s birthday is 3 weeks before mine, so we go through this at the same time each year. Hey, at least the sun is shining!
  
• Last week was a bit rough, but I *think* I've got it all figured out. Haha. I'm sure God is laughing.
  

I just had to go chase Scout back inside after I'd let him outside to enjoy this Sunday morning sunshine, and he ran to chase the birds in our neighbor's bush. When I approached him, he started purring and meowing and rubbing his cheek on the side of their house. He was totally unfazed and probably happy to show me all the birds that he'd been pursuing. I couldn't be mad at him! It's like when you're trying to punish a child and they just smile up at you.

Back to my coffee and book (I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe - anyone read it??).

Have a great day!

...scout's lady

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Anne to answer the following questions:

Four Jobs I've Had in My Life:
1. Nanny
2. Research/teaching assistant
3. Starbucks barista
4. Project manager

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again:
1. The Bourne Identity
2. Sliding Doors
3. Kill Bill (vol 1 and 2)
4. Emma

Four Places I have Lived:
1. Houston
2. Memphis
3. Raleigh (briefly)
4. Madison

TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Friends
2. Sex and the City
3. Alias
4. Lost
5. Felicity
6. Chappelle Show

Four Places I've Been on Vacation:
1. Paris - March 2004, to visit Jennifer
2. The Outer Banks, NC (Ocracoke, Nags Head) - so many times!
3. San Francisco, CA - several times especially when my brother lived there
4. Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia - June 1998, with my high school choir

Four Websites I Visit Weekly:
1. www.google.com (who hasn't googled recently?!)
2. www.nwa.com/mall (each time I buy something, I get FF miles!)
3. www.amazon.com (looking for my next great read)
4. www.people.com (my daily dose of celeb gossip)

Four of my Favorite Foods:
1. hummus
2. black-eyed peas
3. macaroni and cheese
4. sushi

Four Bands/Singers I Can't Live Without:
1. Coldplay
2. Mark Knopfler
3. John Legend is really growing on me.
4. Sarah McLachlan

Four Places I'd Rather Be:
1. at Granny's house in Austin
2. riding a horse
3. sitting on a beach with a great book, my iPod, and a great friend
4. at a Longhorn football game in Austin (yes, I'm a die-hard)

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging:
1. sopheathene
2. ANYONE ELSE?!?