"well, i hope it's not jumbo shrimp because i'm allergic to oxymorons"

First of all, happy 25th birthday to the most amazingly handsome loving understanding hard-working supportive and hilarious husband a girl could ask for. Ten years ago, I was just a girl in english class gazing at cute boy across the room and here we are today, sharing these monumental birthdays together. God's plan - myself moving to Virginia and switching english classes three times until I was plunked down in a chair facing him - worked out unbelievably well.

Steve's birthday dinner went off without a hitch - he loves his sushi. The waitresses even turned the lights off for his techno birthday song and brought him out some green tea and mango ice cream... Steve quickly learned that when they ask you what kind of ice cream you want, you can't say "chocolate" at a true blue Japanese restaurant. I baked and baked all day so when everyone came back to our house we had lots of snacks to go along with lots of beer. Unfortunately, we had spent the previous night drinking into the wee hours of the morning with old friends so neither of us were really in the mood to party. Plus, Steve is sick. On his birthday! His boss refused to stay home last week so his disease has now spread to others in the office. Thanks, Scott. Aside from the sickness, we had a great time with everyone and I'm so happy that everyone made it. What good is a birthday without great friends to celebrate it with?

The title was a tiny hint at something I am very excited about. That's right. We just purchased our tickets to the Michael Ian Black/Michael Showalter night of hilarious stand up comedy glory on February 1st. Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter of Wet Hot American Summer fame (only one of my top five favorite movies). Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter also of Reno 911!, I Love the 70's, 80's and 90's, The State and more... I cannot wait. It's in Richmond and since it doesn't start until 9pm, perhaps we will turn the evening into a River City sleepover if Taryn and Nate-o are willing. An evening spent in Richmond will inevitably start another discussion about getting the hell out of here... although a serious discussion about it will probably start in a few weeks. Steve will be spending a week in Richmond doing training for work and with every night that he sees our friends and eats at our great restaurants, he'll miss it even more.

Time to go take care of the sick hubby. I'll have to put some blueberry muffins and Tylenol on the coffee table while I drive to Reston to submit the time report that I forgot about on Friday. In this day and age and working for such a gigantic worldwide corporation, I find it hard to believe that I can't submit it remotely. Lame.

P.S. Lets hope the Skins win on Steve's big day!

polaroid post

Happy 25th birthday, smashface!

Ethan's 2nd Christmas!

Wonderful girls...

My favorite person ever.

Obviously, the coolest siblings ever.

post-merry christmas

My days off flew by. We spent the first few days relaxing and finishing up our Christmas shopping followed by a few days of trying to be too many places at once. The poor pups didn't even recognize us by the time we got home last night. Even though the long weekend went by waaaaay too fast, we were lucky enough to be able to see friends we hadn't seen in awhile (we miss you Taaaaaaaryn) and spend a lot of time with our families. Unfortunately, Steve got the Xbox he's been wanting and has already taken over the living room. I'll never be able to watch my season one of Weeds or play our awesome Amazing Race DVD game (props to Mom for both of those gifts). All in all, it was a great Christmas... we received some much-needed (and much-appreciated) gifts, including numerous gift cards to South Moon Under (my favorite!), cozy Columbia ski pants and lots of fun stuff for our place (p.s. we love Crate and Barrel).

This time of year is a bit crammed due to the holidays, Steve's birthday and New Year's Eve occurring within a week of one another... but I'm ready for my four-day weekend already. Steve's birthday is on Sunday so I'm thinking out for some early drinks while watching the Skins/Cowboys game then Steve's favorite - sushi - for dinner. There's a place we go to where they bring out a birthday cake and play an obnoxious techno version of a Japanese birthday song... it's perfect (perfectly cheesy) and Steve should be sufficiently embarrassed. Embarrassment is key when you're turning the landmark age of 25 - the point where we should seriously accept that we're adults but will remain in denial for yet another year.

Oh, and we'll absolutely be celebrating his new amazing job.

icky

I'm sick... my stomach feels really strange and I'm getting these waves of nausea over the past two days, my ears are hurting (?) and I'm hot as hell (no, not complimenting myself there). I'm tired... two nights in a row I've stayed up past my bedtime (damn you, Monday Night Football and Biggest Loser finale!) and my eyelids are heavy. I'm also sick and tired of going to work - I need my five day Christmas vacation asap.

On the bright side, at least I'm not a member of the Spears family. Yowza.

viva nyc in the winter!

New York City in the winter is one of my favorite favorite favorite things in the whole world. It's where we spent some of our best times during winter breaks in college, where we got engaged, where we spent New Year's Eve 2003, where I've had some of the greatest food on earth, where some of my favorite people live. Unfortunately, we've had a difficult time making it up there this year... plus, Ryan just up and moved to L.A. so our free place to stay is now an apartment on the West Coast (although I'm certainly not complaining). We know plenty of people in NYC but Ryan was the only one we felt comfortable enough imposing on (we love you, Ryan!)... and, unlike some finer hotels, he allows us to pay him with pizza and microbrews. So, we were pretty bummed at the possibility that we might not end up going this year. Until now.

Hello, Upper East Side! We realized that it has been awhile since we actually splurged on ourselves and decided to book a nice relaxing weekend trip. Across from the Waldorf Astoria, our temporary home away from home is a mere three blocks from Rockefeller Center and ten short blocks to our spot at the corner of Central Park where we got engaged. We're used to staying farther downtown or in Brooklyn but this will be a nice change of atmosphere. Besides, everything is a short cab ride away... and no matter where we stay we'll be visiting the usual suspects: Two Boots Pizza for a slice of Mr. Pink and a Larry Tate, Go Sushi for a teriyaki bento box, the Marc Jacobs store on West Broadway to drool and Balthazar on Sunday morning for a scrumptious brunch (and celebrity sightings, of course)... I. Simply. Cannot. Wait. To. Leave.

We had a great weekend because we got to visit Ashley in Charlottesville (love you!!) and see her wonderful face and her wonderful mom and wonderful Batman. The Blaze unfortunately lost their second game (I'm just happy they finally chose a more parent-friendly team name). We finished up our Christmas shopping and wrapped everything... and the Skins actually kept their playoff hopes alive yesterday (thanks a lot, Kansas City - WTF is 4-10???). It was nice. Now we have a (hopefully) snowy weekend full of shopping and eating to look forward to soon.

how disappointing...

Yesterday I grew a pair and told my boss I needed to transfer out of our department when I had my monthy progress meeting. I've been here awhile, I'm completely burnt out on the work I'm currently doing, there are open roles in other departments which would provide me with a much more challenging experience than I'm receiving right now... plus, they pay significantly more and I'm more than qualified for the position. I tell the boss, she says that's fine, I can't wait. Case closed.

Not so much. Today an HR manager on our project kindly notified me not to get too excited. Since we are in a rebid for our contract (which, they insist, they fully anticipate they will win), they're very sketchy about approving internal transfers. In some rare cases (for example, when there is an obvious need in another department), they will approved the switch. Perfect. The department I'd like to move to has an open role. I am now waiting to hear back from the higher-ups. My boss made an excellent point, though - one that has already crossed my mind - if they don't approve my move, there's no reason for me to stay here. My job stresses me out to the point where I think about it in my sleep. I don't get paid enough to carry that around with me all day. Time for a change.

fresh white powder

So, we didn't receive the blizzard of the century last week, but it did bring a quiet reminder that my favorite season is knocking at our door. While most people (understandably) covet the flowery springtime or their beach-trip-filled-summers... I get geeked out over snow. You would imagine that I would be completely over it after spending two frustrating hours skidding and sliding (and honking, naturellement) to work last Wednesday but it only made me anticipate the coming months even more.

We spent Friday night excitedly planning day trips to Ski Liberty (yes, I know it is merely a large hill with machine-made snow on it) and even grander mid-season trips to Breckenridge with Andy and Nicci. Sunday evening we started planning our annual voyage (yes, it's a voyage... we drive... in one van) to Québec to celebrate the goodness of Martin Luther King, Jr. Of course, this is a lie. MLK, Jr. was a fabulous man but the best part about the holiday in his honor is that Canadians don't feel the urge to celebrate his life. Much like Turkey Day trips to Canada, Tremblant will be swamped with Americans but those pesky Canadians will still be at work (I keed I keed! I love me some Canadians!)... leaving those beautiful slopes wide open for the Munson/Velasco clan to clamor down. Yes, some still clamor (cough, my wonderful husband - this time we'll spring for some good old snowplow lessons).

I even did a Christmas List revamp for my parents. My mom made the mistake of mentioning she hadn't gotten to Steve and I yet... so I took advantage and did some shopping at Ski Chalet's website. I have some super fly new skis and comfy boots - obviously I need new ski pants. And gloves. I'll take a new coat as well but I fear that may be asking too much, no? I am 25 after all... apparently that means I'm an adult and have to buy my own stuff.




P.S. My 8th grade girls SYA basketball team played their first game this weekend. Sadly, we start off the season 0-1. I would shamelessly plug our team name but we are still at a standoff on that one. Although they're all in agreement that Yo Momma would be like sooooo like totally awesome... some of the parents may consider it a tad inappropriate. They gave two big fat thumbs down to my choices: The Gladiators (come on, they could have each had individual gladiator names à la Nitro, Ice, Gemini...) and Sparkle Motion (holler, Donnie Darko fans)! Somehow, I'm the dork.

so stoked...

Although it took me two long excruciating hours of crawling traffic to get to work today, I still like the snow. I would like it even more if I was in my regular spot on the 9th floor with a nice view out the window... rather than training new hires on the lower level with absolutely no windows. I'm not looking forward to spending another couple hours driving home this evening though, so I would really appreciate it if they closed the building... right... about... now?? Now..... NOW.

No such luck. :(

shoot.

I miss Richmond. In a previous post I pointed out our tendency to relapse whenever we visited... and it happened again on Thursday night. As soon as we got off 95 (onto a nice new downtown Frankin Street exit, I might add... way to wait until after we leave to make that an easy exit), we were sad. Even when we passed trashy Velvet on our way to find parking, we were still sad. Lets review:

• Steve was giddy as he ordered fried okra with his sandwich
• We had a view of the Riverside on the James condos downtown... the floor to ceiling wall-to-wall windows makes our condo look lame (considering they're the same price and have city views!)
• Unlike northern Virginia, we didn't wait an hour to be seated at dinner

We'd made note of these things after only five minutes in the city... I also had a nice local draft for only four bucks, too. Steve wasn't halfway through his okra before he was ticking off all of the reasons we could/should/ought to/will move back to the river city. Even when we make a decision to move somewhere else (San Diego and Wilmington, most recently) we always come back to Richmond. Maybe it's a sign. Another sign? Steve's 75% of the way through the interview process with a company whose corporate headquarters are in Richmond. I would consider that slightly more than coincidence! We'll see what happens... I'm crossing my fingers.