just another indication that teaching ain't for me...

So bummed that this one got by me...from one of my fave sites, Texts From Last Night:

(541): my math teacher staples burger king applications to failed tests

Totally wrong? Sure is. Completely hysterical? Yup.

our little pad

After 84 sleeps, two rent checks, and the majority of ya'll having visited it already, I proudly introduce the inside of the Ring!

from the front door toward the 'bedroom'

from the 'bedroom' toward the living room our massive bathroom

the tiniest kitchen ever

from the bathroom toward the front door/living room

Kali Lou doesn't love it here (and who could blame her, when by comparison, there is nothing for her to do or see in/from the Ring), but we take her out on her ghetto-rigged leash. You know, as a treat for the neighbors. We're definitely the minority in Sunnyvale, and I'm quite certain that we're probably referred to as 'those crazy whities'. Whatever.

Pumpkin Day - a sneak peek!

A few weeks back, Summer had a surprise for me, which always makes me simultaneously intrigued and nervous. When it comes to Sum's surprises, things range from a ridiculously difficult workout to a hilarious card.

I must digress momentarily, and explain my annual Pumpkin Day: October is, by far, the best month of the year for many reasons: Oktoberfest and its accompanying delicious beers, football starts up, hockey's getting into full swing, the weather is still warm but not unbearably hot, work is generally in a lull, I can layer all sorts of cute clothes without suffocating, its not quite the hectic holiday season, and best of all, I can start buying pumpkins.

You see, I adore pumpkins. A few years back, we ended up with no fewer than 22 of them. Ooops. And with the way that holidays pop up in stores earlier and earlier each year, I was under threat of certain doom of ending up a Pumpkin Lady, alone in my home surrounded by pumpkins. So, I made a rule for myself that I was not allowed to purchase the adorable little fruits (yeah, they have seeds..hmphf) before October 1st. That gives me 30 full days of carvable goodness, followed by a few months of uncarved cuties. Additionally, I have a soft spot for any pumpkin food product: seeds, breads, scones, etc. I share this adoration with a few friends, who have joined me in celebration of Pumpkin Day. There will be greeting cards, feasts, gifts, pumpkin carols, the whole nine. This thing's going global, folks...so hop on now! October 1st = Pumpkin Day. Get ready...

Back to the surprise story: This particular surprise came after a realllllly hard workout. I arrived at Summer's little casa to find a PUMPKIN CUPCAKE from Sprinkles annnnnnd PUMPKIN BEER! Win and win. And since I didn't buy any of the pumpkin products, and there were certainly no actual pumpkins in sight, it doesn't count as cheating on Pumpkin Day...its just a preview of pumpkin goodness to come!

After gorging ourselves on pumpkin-y goodness while watching "The 'Bu" on YouTube, we dipped into the second, pumpkinless part of surprise night: coconut M&Ms. Heaven, I say.

caffeine fiend

My damn coffee grinder died this morning. I was just at Target yesterday. Really?!?! In efforts to save my pennies (and therefore deflate Target's stock a bit), I've been trying super hard not to go to Target four times a week. I'm seeing this as a set-back in the making.

Naturally, I was running late for work and didn't have time to stop at a Peet's (not Starbucks, folks. Peets. Starbucks is icky). The coffee here at the office comes from a frozen can, and is pretty much transparent before adding anything. Add to this the fact that we maintain no actual half-and-half and that the only sugar in this building is white and refined, and you've got a decaffeinated, unpleased girl.

Deeply contemplating leaving work right now to go find a Peet's...this is ridiculous.

PS: Rob's in Costa Rica. The coffee capital of el mundo, verdad?! Can't find a decent cuppa joe. Clearly the coffee gods are against us this morning. Bring it, I say...bring it.

PPS: A gentle reminder brought to my attention that I'll be in Bean country in just 36 hours folks...Caramel Iced Blendeds - here I come!

finally it exists!

Rob 'broke down' and started a blog today, folks!

Here she is:

http://www.robfoxsblog.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

the shenanigans continue...

Since we're always game for a good ol' "my friends love me more than yours love you" competition, the weekend of August 14th marked the second bachelorette party for Elissa. This time, Santa Barbara was the victim of our wrath...

To say we'd be planning for weeks would be a horrific understatement. "Planning" doesn't quite cover it. Obsession, hilarity and covert coordination are much better words. Lis keeps mentioning that she felt a bit left out of the hundreds of emails that flew back and forth conspiring against her, and this was the big show. Talks of who/what/when/where started in early June, and the pace was breakneck. I counted no fewer than 416 emails and 7 spreadsheets related to this very weekend, and it paid off big time. Our bride-to-be was in the dark as to our weekend plans...all she knew was that we were going to SB, who would be there, and a few things to ensure she packed (per a spreadsheet from me...I know, I'm a total nerd).

(sidenote: there were many "hey dumbass, you should be an event coordinator as a career" moments during this extravaganza, so we COULD call it career-path-research, right?!)

Now you know that. Here's what actually went down: The NorCal crew made way for Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon, road-trip style. Cool Ranch Doritos, NutterButters, Goldfish, and a spilled Starbucks made the journey along with us as we hauled ass down to SB. We arrived and met up with the SoCal crew around 6p and all hell broke loose pretty much immediately. Mind you, I'm not typically a girly-girl, but this was damn FUN! No pillow fights, fellas, and we didn't give each other makeovers, but some quality time in the estrogen ocean can be pretty awesome. It's a new-found practice I hope to keep up (b-party #3, anyone?!).

Lindsay and I had been quite thorough in thinking through the beverage aspect of our weekend, knowing that we'd need enough cups to accommodate seven thirsty girls. The four teeny glasses in our hotel rooms weren't going to cut it (glass plus booze equals danger - eeek!), so we made these bad boys, personalized of course:


Friday was dubbed our out-to-dinner-and-mellow-hotel-room-slumber-party night, but we were so starving that we didn't make it out of the hotel (which we would learn was a BIG mistake, thanks to the worst service I've ever experienced in any dining establishment):


On Saturday, we'd hooked up a rad seven-hour wine tour of four wineries. Win. Because I love any excuse to be crafty and make things for people I love, I made customized wine glass tags so we could keep our glasses straight as the day wore on. Along our tour, we passed the house where the Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing recipe was founded, the far border of Neverland Ranch (I saw buildings, people!), a miniature horse ranch and the little Dutch town of Solvang.

our best buds for the day...they egged us on, made sure that pics were posed to perfection, and made some recommendations for embarassment of our bride-to-be

Jen, Molly, Louise, Elissa, Lindsay, me, Morgan
and some very delicious wine and sausage

Saturday evening consisted of lounging by the pool, a Trader Joe's beer run, take-out pizza, drinking games, and finally, a jaunt over to State Street. A few of my favorite moments from the evening:

• The BEST $8 cab ride ever from Brenda, complete with the Matrix on DVD and playlists galore
• Swearing up and down that we'd only have one beer while out, which was immediately foiled by Joe and his amazing Cafe, where they may make the strongest drinks I've ever tasted (seriously, they rival Rob's...)
• The guy with lightning bolts expertly shaved into his hair
  
• Meeting and harassing Batman and a cowboy, who were in the club to spy on Batman's fiance's bachelorette party
  
• Linds and Molly toppling into the street outside of Tonic immediately after the club closed for the night
• Louise BOOKING it and diving into a cab after realizing that a tie she'd pilfered belonged to a guy on the street, and that he wanted it back

Morgan's RAD party trick...if only I could impress future employers with such talent

Tonic, stop number two of the evening, and stop of no fewer than THREE other bachelorette parties! I still maintain that we were having the most fun!

if only I'd caught the fall on film...dammit

Sunday morning was only slightly less rough than that of the previous b-party...we headed back to "the crime of the scene" (per Louise) and had a late breakfast/early lunch at Joe's Cafe with Andrew Firestone. Yeah, we're breakfast buddies. HAH!

SHOUT OUTS:

• All - thank you for being a huge part of such an amazing weekend...*sigh*
• Diane Lane, Diane Lane, and Steven Segal, Steven Segal - hah!
  
• Elissa - I love you, friend. I love celebrating you. Could you maybe get married on an annual basis, please (to Lee each time, of course)?
• Molly - you effing rock. Thank you SO much for hooking up the sick-ass hotel and the rental car. Our warp speed email exchanges make me smile...Molls, you got the key, babe?!
  

the amount of happiness that this pic brings me is completely and totally indescribable

Rob's in Costa Rica!

I know that its been ages since my last post, and I do have a lot to post about, but I'm choosing to use this as a posting board to let everyone know that Rob has arrived safe and sound in Costa Rica!

He said that although the campus of INCAE is only 15 minutes from the airport, he didn't pass a single business establishment along the way to campus this morning....eeek! He's chosen to refer to this time at INCAE as "summer camp", since they'll have meal tickets for the cafeteria, there's rumored to be gigantic cockroaches, and thunderstorms are more common than not. Sounds FUN to me!!! So far, he's got a room to himself (fingers crossed that no other roomie slithers in) and internet is a little spotty in the house (yet they'll have internet in the rooms soon if all goes well!).

Classes begin tomorrow morning, so his lazy days are effectively over...

Eight weeks at INCAE will be followed by an eight-week consulting project elsewhere in Latin America. I can't WAIT to head down in a month...this time's going to FLY by!