Snow shoeing

On Friday, we headed up Millcreek Canyon with some friends to do a little snow shoeing. It was a winter wonderland up there! Spectacularly beautiful...

Christmas...the Low Down

Christmas was great. Good times with family and friends. Delicious food. Thanks Mom, for Christmas breakfast of sausage, egg, & potato casserole and the stuffed french toast. Yum!

We also celebrated Christmas night with some french food to honor Lauren's impending semester in France. Lauren requested ratatouille and we also had quiche, a cheese tray, and mushroom pate. Bon appetit!

Awesome gifts!

And finally, some holiday silliness. We sent this to our friends who spent Christmas in Cancun. Earlier in the day they'd sent a photo of their pool side fruity drinks, complete with paper umbrellas, wishing us a merry Christmas.


Overall, a terrific day despite all my pre-holiday crankiness! :)

The Cleavers End of Season Montage

This is a video montage that I put together for my awesome Leave It to Cleaver team mates to memorialize forever our victorious 2008 season (league champs, baby!). If you aren't a roller derby fan or maybe even a Cleaver's fan this will likely be super boring. But otherwise, I hope you enjoy watching these five minutes as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Nutcracker & Theater Etiquette

Lauren and I went to Capital Theater this afternoon to see The Nutcracker. Although she does not remember suggesting this as a possible activity that she'd be interested in doing while she is in town for the holidays, I am glad that we did it! She has not seen The Nutcracker since she was 8 years old. I really enjoyed having some time for just the two us together. We went to lunch at Trio beforehand and it was delicious!

While we enjoyed the show, I can't help myself from commenting on some very annoying behaviors that were on display in the theater today. Firstly, please wear something decent. I don't think it is necessary to bust out the evening wear (especially for a matinee) but for the love of God, you can do better than jeans and hoodie, right? Secondly, while I know it is the holiday season and parents do their best to impart wonderful holiday memories in their little ones, please leave little kids at home. Give some thought to whether your child has the ability to sit still and be quiet for two hours. While you may think it is adorable that your child is commenting all through out the production, believe me, the patrons sitting around you who dropped bank for their tickets aren't amused. Finally, if you buy snacks, the merch that is being peddled, or merely cough drops, if they are wrapped in cellophane, quickly, quietly unwrap them and then leave them be until intermission. Nothing is more distracting than the sound of cellophane being crumbled throughout the duration of the show.

Otherwise, the show was wonderful. The dancers amazed with their lithe physiques and gravity-defying moves and the costumes and music were beautiful.

Bah Humbug

I am the grinchiest ever this year. I cannot for the life of me get into the holiday spirit. I've struggled with it for the last few years but this year is the worst of all. Everyone I talk to is fearful of losing their job or has already lost it but I whenever I drive past a shopping center the place is packed. I can't quite figure out how the recession is affecting people. Are folks adjusting their spending habits to match the economy?

Spyware Guard 2008....Blech!

This miserable virus has sucked the life out of my laptop. The IT department has called it dead. So, in the meantime I will be sharing a laptop at home with my sweets (yikes, I know!). Bear with me during this difficult time.

UPDATE: Shoppingnotes.com

So far, shoppingnotes.com has been a bust (see previous post for details). I did received an email notification from them on Friday morning saying that the camera that I was interested in buying from Amazon had gone up $40. While swearing and pounding my hand on my forehead for my own stupidity in waiting to see if the blasted camera went down in price, I visited Amazon to see the damage for myself. Well, the camera was still the same price that it had been the day before so I threw in the towel and ordered it.