Friday was graduation for the university where I work. I was "Rocky's Handler" - Rocky is our mascot and I had to walk around with him, give him water and breaks and take his picture with graduates. It was all in all a fun day!

Pictures from the day:


Rocky, me, Jim (who received his MA in Linguistics)


My family - there to see Jim!


My little Aiko and I.


Eilleen and I! (Awesome stoll!!)

Friday evening, I went to Dave's, and this his friend Randy and his girlfriend picked us up and we went out to a local sushi place. I'm not a sushi person, so I had shrimp tempura but it was a lot of fun.

Saturday morning I spent a lot of time outside with my parents working on the pool. We went to the pool store and bought a new skimmer net, pole, scrubber brush and vacuum head and set to work on really getting the pool clean. As of yesterday, the water was clear, but there was some green crap in the bottom that needed to be sucked out. I think it looks much better today, but we will probably do another round to really get it all out. We also got a new um...what's the word? A whole new filtering system - so this year, it should stay even cleaner than it was last year - and last year, it was pretty good!

After pool time (I also went in while cleaning - the water is still a bit cold (73ish) but the air was hot and it felt good), I did some quick food shopping to buy supplies for a flan. I made the flan, got ready, and then Dave came and picked me up to take me to Lisa's graduation party. Dave's mom says my flan is the best she's ever had, lol.

Here are some pictures:


Dave and his cousin's son. Dave was teaching him how to bat.


Dave and his mother


Dave and I

After the party, Dave came back here and we hung out and watched "Slumdog Millionaire." I liked it, but didn't love it or anything. Oh well.


Today is Sunday - not sure what the plans are for the day. The weather is looking pretty grey - boo.

Edit:

I have spent the morning going through shoes (got rid of 5 pairs - that's pretty good!) and organizing my room and doing a lot of laundry and ironing. Woohoo!

I have stopped watching Grey's Anatomy, but I thought this was interesting: The Knot.com wedding bio of Derek and Meredith

Really really cute link about using Peeps marshamallow candy to make scenes

Be sure to click through the gallery from the link on the bottom.

My mom and I went shopping the other day for dollhouse supplies. Today, I worked my first room re-do. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Here is the room before without any furniture; the walls had duck wallpaper with umbrellas and stripes, and the rug was light pink. However, both were so dusty and dirty.


Before, empty.


I added new wallpaper that is scrapbooking paper with yellow rubber duckies. I also purchased dollhouse wood flooring the other day, and decided it would look great in this room. (The room is also small, allowing me to use the rest of the flooring for a future room. This is key cause a sheet of it was $28. I had a 50% coupon, but still. I rather use it in two rooms than one larger room!)



I then decided to add my two babies into the two beds (you can only see the one) and put a mom/nanny in there too. I added 3 wall decorations, and the room has a changing table, a box of diapers, panda toy, a curtain, throw rug, etc. I love the mini decorations - they are so adorable. The stacking ring toy is actually from "My Little Pony," I believe!


And here is the room with the attached "deck" that is outside of that room. I need to put new flooring on this piece since it is faded and dirty, but I just wanted to attach it for now to get an idea of how it would look.



So, I think I did nice work for today. I'm not sure what room to work on next - I have some things from ebay arriving and another level to add to the dollhouse as well. I need to plan a bit more, see what comes in and make decisions about rooms. Also, one of pieces that Charley ate I found on ebay and it arrived today (Lundby easel for my children's room)

I used spray glue to adhere the wallpaper to the walls. Worked well!!

Sahra and her beastie baby came over last week after work for a Boston play date.


Charley, Mason, Rory


Mason, Sahra, Charley, me, Rory

Charley absolutely loved Mason. They became BFF super quickly. Can't wait for more!!

On Public View for the First Time, June 17-September 26, 2009


The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) will display the ensemble designed by Isabel Toledo and worn by First Lady Michelle Obama on Inauguration Day in its upcoming mid-career retrospective of the designer's work. This will be the first time that the sheath dress and matching coat are on public view. Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out opens on June 17 and runs through September 26, 2009. The exhibition also will include approximately 70 iconic looks by Isabel Toledo from the mid-1980s to the present, along with mannequins and drawings by her husband, artist Ruben Toledo, with whom she closely collaborates.

First Lady Michelle Obama said, ''I absolutely adored my Inauguration Day ensemble designed by Isabel Toledo, and I am happy it will be part of the exhibit so that others can appreciate the creativity and craftsmanship of one of America’s great female designers."

"Isabel Toledo has long been admired by fashion insiders but unknown to the public at large," said Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT. "When Michelle Obama wore Isabel Toledo's beautiful golden ensemble for the Inauguration, suddenly everyone in the world saw what this great designer can do. We are absolutely delighted that Mrs. Obama has agreed to lend this now-historic ensemble to the museum’s forthcoming exhibition, Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out."

To read the full article from the Fashion Institute of Technology, go here

That's pretty cool, FIT. Yey for my alma mater!!

Fun site:



Most commonly used words on my lj.
Wordle.net. Make one of your site!

My FIT advisor just emailed me saying my paper is on the schedule to be reviewed at the next graduate studies faculty meeting. If it passes there, I just need to do any final corrections and send in my final copies. Wowee!

Then I will officially be finished with graduate school, for real!

Happy Birthday David!



21 years ago you were 8.


You look a lot different now! Happy 29th Birthday!!

Just joined twitter for my design business - or I should say just setting it up, now.

Anyone here on twitter? What's your name there?

I'm tristardesign.

Add me!

I feel like this girl really gets my sense of humor. She has visited wedding boards and lurked and read posts - making fun of the idiotic things that are posted. They are hysterical. This video is great too:



I can't believe people like the characters she portrayed even exist. Oh my.





Also, this is not from FML but it is a really funny story that someone posted on a message board:

"I made [my son] mini waffles for a snack. Then I ran downstairs to throw some laundry in. Came upstairs and his diaper was off (we're working on potty training and he's been taking his diaper off if he has to go to the bathroom.) I sat him on the potty and he wasn't interested, so I put the diaper and pants back on him. Sat down with him and played w/ his trains. The waffles smelled really good. I asked if he liked them and he said 'they're good! try it!' So I took a bite....the waffle was soaked (at first I thought it was syrup) and tasted really bad. :::silence::: "did you pee on this?" "yeah."

He'd climbed on his train table and was playing- he couldn't hold it til I came upstairs so he peed...on the table, on his plate, on the waffles.

Uggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. "

I gave in and did the Album Cover graphic meme



CREATE YOUR BAND NAME & ALBUM COVER:

To Do This

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations" or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

It's Tuesday!

Tomorrow is one of my interviews for one of the PhD programs. I'm fairly nervous just because I'm not very sure what they are "looking" for and interviews in general are "scary." I think I should be fine, but I also need to plan my route. Wish me luck!

Last night I had rehearsal for the murder mystery dinner show. The first time we ran it, I was a little iffy on one of my lines and as soon as I realized which it was, I was totally fine. The second time I knew all my lines/when to come in and it ran smoothly for me. I hope it is that good for the actual performances!

Update on Tuffy:

At the vet on Saturday, we were told that the cyst in his tummy was not looking good. Well, we decided to run a blood test to check for common problems in older dogs. His liver levels were a bit high but nothing super abnormal, there was blood in his urine which could be an infection or early signs of kidney disease (and that would just require medication), he had parasites in his poop (that actually disturbed me - I'm not sure how he got that. Some of the other dogs have had that in the past, but not recently - when was he exposed to this?!?), and his sodium is low (means he might need special food).

So yeh - here I was super worried about cancer and I thought that it would have affected all of his other organs, but apparently this is not the case at all. The issues listed about apparently have NOTHING to do with his cyst, and they believe the cyst is an "exterior" thing rather than "interior."

And the vet believes he still has another 2 -3 years to live! He is 13 1/2 and that is great news!!

In the meantime, he has various antibiotics ($87.10 worth) that will hopefully clear up the above problems. I'm just glad to hear the diagnosis isn't as bad as I thought!


"No Nest for the Wicket" is really cute so far. I will probably be able to finish it this evening and have enjoyed it!

I love that man.



My doorbell rang and it was flowers from proflowers.com. They are the ones pictured above - tulips!

His attached note was adorable - "beautiful Dutch tulips for my beautiful Dutch girl"

It's our anniversary (4 years!) and Valentine's Day! How sweet!

*smiles*

I had to share...


see more puppies


see more puppies


see more puppies


see more puppies

Look who I caught red-pawed:

My ballroom dancing showcase on Friday went really well. It ended up being a lot of fun - the dinner food was wonderful. They had an open dance floor for portions of the evening too, and it was a lot of fun dancing with my teachers practicing social dance and all that good stuff. My partner especially is a whole lot of fun on the dance floor!

Here are some pictures from the night:


Dave and I


My family who came to see me dance








Yesterday during the day I felt very blah - I injured my back practicing before I performed (injury I have done before) and although it didn't bother me when I did perform, I was in a lot of pain yesterday. Today it is much better.

In the evening, Dave and I made a shopping trip to Ikea to buy a cheap magazine rack for his bathroom and I bought Swedish food for my father since he is Swedish and likes Swedish foods. We also went to another store to buy wrapping paper for his mom. After that, we watched Mr. Woodcock. I've seen it before and Dave hadn't, so it was a pleasant, funny evening.

Today I have a sorority reunion and I *may* make it to one of the two Superbowl parties to which I've been invited. It depends on how long the reunion goes for and how I am feeling at the time. Dave is going to a concert tonight, so who knows what I'm going to do.

I caved. I bought this:



To my credit:

- I have been searching for a pink one in a large since before Christmas
- It was a super great price ($118, down from $165)
- The site offered free shipping
- I finished a client's site recently that paid for this - and I knew this and planned in accordance

I kept searching and finding colors I didn't like (purple, green, brown, black) for $130 - $165 with no free shipping. The site I purchased it from also is giving me a free gift - an aluminum water bottle since I purchased a certain amount. It is o2gearshop.com. So far, I am super happy with them - great availability, great price, free shipping, free gift...I just hope it isn't out of stock or anything, cause then I will be upset! I was going to buy a different pink (brownie brown/pink) in a medium, but I know from trying them on in the past that I like the fit of the large better (longer sleeves, a bit more roomy). I find that North Face runs small in general, anyway.

So yes. I'm excited!

Here is the direct link:
North Face Denali

Well, the weekend is going by way too quickly as usual!

Friday night, I came home from work and made a recipe from Rachael Ray's 365 cookbook - lemony chicken with spinach salad. It was super tasty! Dave came over and enjoyed some as well, and then he and I just hung around watching tv and whatnot.

On Saturday morning, I ran some errands, including sending a book off that someone requested from bookmooch.com. I also played Webkinz a bit and did a lot of design work for clients. In the evening, I went to Dave's since he made pork chops (even though I had already eaten some of my leftover chicken) and had a mini-portion of his cooking. He and I then went to go see "Bride Wars." It was cute, but not like "best movie ever" or anything.

This morning I woke up and my mom and I decided to not go to church. Instead, I did some accounting and read some emails for web clients. Dave then called me saying he was making breakfast, so I went there. It was so adorable - when I walked in, he had finished cooking everything. There were two place settings with French toast, yogurt, orange juice, and a hot cocoa for me and coffee for him. We ate together and chatted and it was sooooo sweet of him. Made me totally happy.

I now have plans to go clean the house since I have some free time to be able to get that accomplished. Back to work tomorrow! I am also cooking dinner tonight - but not for tonight's dinner - for tomorrow, since the upcoming week is super busy!!!

Edit: I found this on IMDB about Anne Hathaway:

"In 1998, was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the Paper Mill Playhouse "Rising Star Awards", an award given to high schools across New Jersey. Ironically, she was nominated for playing the Princess in "Once Upon A Mattress". To further the irony, she lost to a girl who was played the exact same role. The nomination billet listed her as Annie Hathaway."

I was at the Paper Mill that night - and ended up actually becoming short-lived friends with the "girl who won who played the same role" because I did the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star conservatory a year later.

Oddly - I remember seeing her perform her song at the nominations ceremony, but not enough to "really" remember it. Who would have thunk what would have happened within the next 10 years??