Wii Fit...the New Obsession

I never understood people’s obsession with the Wii. Yes, I like to play guitar hero, tennis and even bowling, but to be obsessed with it was another thing. I just didn’t get it until now. Andy got me the Wii Fit for my birthday and let me tell you it is an AWESOME thing and I absolutely love it. I am definitely obsessed with it. I think about doing it at work. It’s crazy. Now I understand people’s obsession with Wii, I guess I just didn’t have the right game to be obsessed with. On the Wii Fit you have Yoga, strength training, aerobics and balancing activities. I love hula-hooping, yoga poses, the soccer…ok, I just love the whole game. On the Wii Fit you have your own Mii which is a representation of your height, weight, BMI and your Wii age. You measure this everyday and see your progress as you go. I find myself engrossed in it after work and I just can’t stop myself. I know right now it’s a difficult game to purchase, but you can either bid on it on ebay or you can be a stalker and start stalking all the stores that carry it. I have been told the best times to get this product are Saturday nights or first thing on Sunday mornings when the stores open. I know Andy is not the stalker type so he bid on it on ebay and got it that way for my birthday. Isn’t he great??? Anyway, I love my Wii Fit and I look forward to 5pm today so I can go home and unlock the next Yoga, aerobics, strength training or balancing activity.

Bad things DO happen in three's

When bad things happen they happen in threes and I am a believer in that old saying because it always seems to happen that way. This time it didn’t happen to me, but instead happened to my friend while she was just here on vacation visiting me. Poor girl…she was attacked by the “Bad things happen in 3’s” myth. First, she arrived in Phoenix on Wednesday, July 23rd and she wasn’t feeling well. On the next day she had a fever and Andy took her to Urgent Care during the day because he was working from home. The doctor said she had strep throat. Yikes! Not fun while you are on vacation. So, she basically slept all day Thursday, Friday and into Saturday. When she did crawl her sick butt out of bed on Friday she found herself faced with strike two of bad luck. She decided to eat and she chipped her crown. Ouch! Talk about a fun vacation. It was a good thing that she did feel better for the Xmas in July party, but since she was on antibiotics she made the smart decision not to drink. She encountered the third strike on vacation last night when she was trying to leave Phoenix to head back to Madison. Her flight was scheduled at 6:25pm, so Andy dropped her off at the airport at 4:30pm and she called him soon after because she found out her flight was delayed until 10pm. As the night went on we were confused as to what time she was actually flying out because the website was saying 10am and the automated machine was saying midnight, so my friend decided to call Midwest to speak to someone to find out for sure before we drove back to the airport. She was on hold for 50 minutes and never spoke to anyone. Now that is what I call customer service. She decided to go to the airport anyway and we both assumed her flight would be at midnight. I dropped her off at 10pm and told her to call if it wasn’t at 10pm. I never heard from her so I am assuming her flight took off at midnight. Talk about bad things happening in three’s…first strep throat, then her chipped crown and finally her flight home.

Xmas in July has come and gone

Birthday week was a great time; however, Xmas in July was AWESOME. We had such a good time. It took a lot of work to put on a themed birthday party, but it did pay off as everyone seemed to have a good time. We had a Charlie Brown Xmas tree with large presents around it. Andy hung Xmas lights in the back and we hung paper lanterns in the shape of Xmas candies. I put holiday beach balls in the pool and we had Xmas food. The best part is that Andy’s mom, Laura, made Xmas cookies and sent them to us in a cooler from Wisconsin. That was awesome. People loved the cookies she sent us; however, I did have to admit to the guests that we did not make them and I don’t think people would have believed me anyways if I did claim to be a superstar cookie maker. Andy and I spent most of the day on Friday and all of Saturday morning decorating and cooking for the party. It was a good time and Andy was such a trooper since theme parties are just not his thing. Friends started arriving around 1:30 and stayed until 9:30pm, but we did have a couple stragglers who stuck around until midnight…I think that was to sober up. I thought clean up was going to be difficult the next day, but it definitely was not. I will admit I could not get out of bed so Andy cleaned up the backyard and the kitchen all by the time I did get my butt out of bed. He is such a great guy! Here is a link to Snapfish of the pictures I took. If you don't have a snapfish account you will have to create one to view the pictures. Enjoy!

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=553281217272292463/l=410127126/g=36312535/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Day Four of Birthday Week

Well, it’s day four of birthday week and let’s just say I am definitely old. You know you are old when you can’t handle drinking on a weeknight and getting up for work the next day. For day three of birthday week I was out with my boss, coordinator and another partner of the firm. We went out for sushi, drinks and then to the Cubs game last night. It was a lot of drinking and it took all that I had to roll my body out of bed this morning to get to work. Just getting dressed this morning was a daunting task. I remember the days when it was no big deal and I could go out all night and go to work the next day without it being an issue. Those days seem so long ago and now they are just memories and no where near to my life today. I never go out on the weeknights anymore because I just cannot handle it…let’s face it folks, I am getting old! To finish off day four of birthday week my awesome girlfriend, Jen, is arriving in town tonight. Andy and I will pick her up at the airport and then we are going straight to the Cubs game. Another night out; however, I will not be drinking as I don't want to use all my strength again tomorrow morning just to get my butt out of bed. I will be the driver and I am happy to do that...see I am getting old!

Day One of Birthday Week

Today is the official start of birthday week which I started years ago to celebrate my birthday and to make it a weeklong event. I feel everyone should have more than one special day in a calendar year to call it their own, so therefore birthday week was born. Andy goes along with birthday week; however, I feel it’s only because he loves me and not because he believes I should get a whole seven days to celebrate the birth of Jaimi. Andy did say “Happy Birthday Week” to me today, so I was happy to hear that. I spent day one relaxing and floating in our pool. I also enjoyed a good book called Left to Tell and then for dinner we went to our friend Tom and Karen’s house with Andy's dad, who is in town by the way. I would have to say it’s been a great Day One of birthday week. I know we have a busy week ahead of us as there are two Cubs games to attend to, then my awesome girlfriend, Jenn, gets to town and we finalize birthday week with a fabulous birthday party. I am pretty excited about the birthday party. It took some convincing with Andy, but I am getting my party and I am thrilled. Besides spending a week celebrating my birthday I also usually spend the week slightly depressed at getting another year older. This year is not much different; however, I think the planning of the party is masking the horror of turning 29 this year. Andy is aware of this and therefore he has realized having the party was a great idea because it is keeping me occupied and therefore he does not have to listen to me whine about turning another year older. I think he was fearful of this as I was starting to complain about the number 29 months ago. Many might say turning 29 is not a big deal and I shouldn’t be whining, but it is a big deal to me. It’s my last year in my 20’s and I vow to make it a fabulous year so I can exit my 20’s with a bang…or something like that. Anyway, I will keep you posted as to how birthday week goes.

Baking Xmas Cookies in July

It might sound odd to be baking Christmas cookies in July, but since that is the theme of my birthday party next weekend I figured we should have holiday shaped sugar cookies. Originally we thought, or I thought, this would be fun, but it turned out to be more of a nuisance than anything. We first went to the store to get all our supplies. Once we started to use our cookie cutters we realized our cheap plastic cookie cutters are just worthless and we need to get the super solid metal cookie cutters. The plastic ones were small and we were having a hard time cutting them from the dough. Since we didn't want to go back to the store (and figured the store probably does not sell Xmas cookie cutters in July) we decided the plastic ones would have to do this time. Needless to say we got all the cookies cut out with the plastic cutters, baked and decorated. Andy said this is a one time a year event, so I should not plan on baking cookies in December, or at least with his help. I am ok with that since I did not enjoy baking cookies last night. I am just not a baker. I also think that this baking event didn’t go well after work yesterday where I spent the afternoon at the bar with my boss and my coordinator. Coming home with a buzz and then starting to bake where all I wanted to do was sleep didn’t help the situation either. Anyway, the cookies are baked and there is only one week left until Xmas in July! Whoo-hoo!

So, who is Gladys Kravitz?

I have been informed that on my earlier post that not everyone knows who Gladys Kravitz is from the television show Bewitched. Well, I was quite shocked to find that out, but to help you people out (especially those from Yuma) here is a link to a clip on YouTube of Gladys being her nosey neighbor self. Maybe this video clip will help those out that can't remember.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVLJVydy8b8

If that still doesn't help, then here is a link to Wikipedia to help explain this nosey character on the famous television show Bewitched. These links might make sense to my previous post (unless you are from Yuma...and you know who you are). :) If they still don't...well, at least I tried.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_Kravitz

Bonding with Madison didn't turn out like I had hoped

So Andy spent the last few days in Chicago to spend time with his dad, brother and friends while I babysat his dog. I say babysat because that is literally what I did. Madison is sooooo high maintenance that I felt like I was babysitting a toddler. Many know that this is primarily Andy’s dog and many know how I have felt about this dog, but I decided to look at this past weekend as a time to bond with Madison. Boy was I wrong in trying to bond with the devil. She was into everything, mouthy and didn’t like when I told her No. Every time I left the room she would bark, which reminded me of a spoiled kid crying every time it’s parental left the room. It seemed as if every time I took my eyes off her for two minutes she was doing something she wasn’t suppose to be doing. The worst part is that she knew it because as soon as I would look at her she would hurry up and finish whatever she was demolishing before I could get to her. She also jumped into the pool and ruined her citronella collar. This collar was my savior for the weekend, so good thing it didn’t get ruined until the last day of babysitting duty. No matter how cute this puppy is she is also VERY NAUGHTY! Let’s just say these past four days were definitely not relaxing nor was it a bonding moment between Madison and me. I am thankful Andy returned to Phoenix so he can resume being the primary caregiver to his puppy Madison and I will just resume spoiling her with treats.

Gladys Kravitz from Bewitched…or something like that

Andy and I have been living in our house for almost a year now and I finally just met the guy who lives right next door to us. Andy had met him before from a few casual hellos, but I hadn’t even done that until last night. I was outside with Madison and he was fixing something on his roof when he said hello and I responded back, but as you know just a simple “hello” isn’t sufficient for my Chatty Cathy self, so I struck up a conversation with him. I learned so much in the 15 minute conversation. His name is Gene and he is from Romania and he is our age, which is nice for this neighborhood to have someone in our age group. Besides the basics, I also learned so much about the neighbors. Gene knew everything about everybody that I started to think about Gladys Kravitz from the television show Bewitched…you know the nosey neighbor that knew everything. It was very odd and I found myself in a conversation with a stranger finding out so much information about other strangers in the area. Was I in conversation with Gladys Kravitz, or was I turning into Gladys Kravitz? Needless to say he was a very nice guy and Andy and I like him so we invited him to Xmas in July…which is my birthday party in two weeks.

Humidity in Phoenix

I am sure this post will sound silly to our Wisconsin readers, but I still have to write about it. It is called humidity in Phoenix. I absolutely do not like humidity. This morning when I let Madison out to go to the bathroom I could not stay outside with her anymore because it was so humid…and to be honest I just didn’t want to ruin my hair from the humidity before I left for work. It felt so humid that I had to double check the weather report and I am sad to say the humidity was only at 31% and it was about 89 degrees outside. I am sure the Wisconsin people are laughing, but it’s true. I guess when you go months with no humidity and then hit monsoon season the humidity feels like torture and obviously a lot worse than it really is. To relate this mornings weather I had to double check Madison’s weather to compare and I found that the temperature hit 83 degrees today with a humidity level of 71%...so basically I guess I am just whining. Poor Madison, she had to go outside all by herself because I was being a big baby. I did tell Andy this and you can imagine the response I got from him. He of course laughed at me and told me I am being ridiculous.

Living in the woods is not for me

So, this last weekend Andy and I went camping with some friends of ours and the main thing we learned is that camping is not our thing. Granted we had a great time, but that was because of the great friends we were camping with. If it weren't for the friends I believe I would have packed up and drove back to civilization. I didn't mind being lazy, sleeping in a tent, or even not bathing for three days; however, what I didn't like was using the woods as my giant porta potty. I am a big fan of porcelein objects that flush...and this is not available when you are in the middle of no where. I basically did the old squat and pee. This was fine in my college days at a party when I was quite drunk and didn't mind the squat and pee option, but not when I am sober and more mature. Call me high maintenance, but if high maintenance requires a flushable toilet, then I am proud to say I am high maintenance. Our dog absolutely loved camping...maybe cuz camping is an event that is a giant toilet and dogs love to be able to go to the bathroom wherever they damm well please. When we got home our dog slept for 24 hours straight and that was the best thing about camping...to get an 11 month old boxer to sleep for a full day. It was bliss! I will have to say the smartest thing we did was pack our Aero bed to sleep on. I feel like that did save me. All-in-all we had a great time, but not because of the act of camping, but because of our friends that we love. I know we would do it again because despite the bathroom issues we did have a great time.