Winter Storm '09

Today I was snowed in because the city declared a level 3 snow emergency. This means that the roads are slicker than snot and only emergency personnel are allowed to drive on them. So that leaves me at home taking pictures, watching local news cover the Winter storm of '09 in the middle of closed interstates and shoveling the drive.

Even with events of last winter I still have not had the foresight to buy boots, proper winter outerwear, or a sled! As you can imagine, this makes me even more irritated with this form of precipitation because I can't even enjoy it. Shoveling the drive wasn't that bad, I had my old yard work tennis shoes on, Adidas skeets from 8th grade, gloves, hat, and my trusty shovel.

These are some pictures I took during the snow and after. I think the neighbors were laughing at me with my shovel while they revved up their 950 horsepower snow blowers. I think our total accumulation at the end was around 8 inches with 1/2 inch ice in between.

Hail, Hail to Eisenhower...

Ben and I went home last weekend to help my parents demo part of their basement to get it ready for sump pump installation. The actual work took us about thirty minutes and the other hour was Brian and me modeling our letterman jackets from high school. Good news: they still fit! Also, notice that my grade school jacket still buttons, meaning I've unfortunately only sprouted up and not out in one important place! I'm also still trying to recall what I did in elementary school to deserve a letterman jacket.

10 years in the making...

It wasn't until I read Debbie's blog about her and Andy's 10 year anniversary that I realized Ben and I would be celebrating ours Jan 18th. This date marks the day that I finally said yes when he asked me out on a date. He didn't own a TV, do you blame me for hesitating?

Jan 18th 1999 will be a date that lives in infamy....

In 10 years here's what we have experienced:
(with a few pictures so you can see how cool we were from 1999 to 2009!)
Enjoy!

1999 Ben's Senior Prom (could we be any smaller?)

Ben graduates from High School and heads to SIUC

1999 My Senior Homecoming (with my scandalously short dress)

2000 My Senior Prom
(we introduced Brandon & Kelly for a blind prom date)

2000 - I graduate from High School and followed Ben to SIUC

2000 - Kelly, Ben, and I make a trip out to SC to visit Brandon
(Kelly fell MADLY in love with Brandon and his manly goatee)

2001- Ben & I vacation in Key West with Brandon & Kelly

2002 - Ben has honors internship in WV

2002 - Ben & I become RA's in college together

2003 - Ben gets Lasik so I would stop calling him 4-eyes

2003 - Ben graduates with his undergrad in Accounting

2003 - Ben & I go to Cancun after his graduation

2003 - I move to Columbus for summer internship

2003 - Ben proposes!

2003 - Grandpa Ball passes away

2003 - Ben and I accept jobs in Atlanta

2004 - Ben breaks his ring finger (left hand) 3 months before our wedding!

2004 - I graduate with my undergrad in Fashion Merchandising

2004 - We witness Brandon & Kelly getting married!
(it's all our fault...sorry Kel!)

2004 - Ben graduates with his MBA from SIUC

2004 - We get married!!!

2004 - We take a cruise for our honeymoon!

2004 - Our first apartment together in Atlanta

2005 - Our first home together!

2005 - We adopt Hobbes from the Humane Society

2006 - We witness Debbie & Andy tying the knot!

2004 - 2007 Loving every minute of living in the South

2006 - Ben gets an offer for his new job

2007 - We put our first house on the market

2007 - Ben graduates from training after 5 long months!

2007 - We move to a new city for Ben's job, much closer to home!

2009 - Our current suburban home and are still trying to adjust to the cold winters!

It's hard to see into the future, but I'm sure that the next 10 years will be as adventurous and awesome as the last!

Tales from the Men's Locker Room

WARNING: This post WILL change your outlook on life.

At what age does a man feel that it is acceptable to use a public hair dryer to dry his balls after he's showered at the gym? Apparently 70.

I am not kidding. Ben unfortunately saw this with his own eyes (more than once), but what I will save you from are the visuals, or not...

So here's what happened: Ben innocently entered the men's locker room looking to shower and head back to the office. Just a normal day, great workout, hot shower, and a short drive back to work...not looking to encounter anything disgustingly life altering. It wasn't until he rounded the corner and a shot of hot, damp air hit him in the face that he knew what had just happened. There hunched the back of a pasty, wrinkled, near 70's man standing next to his rascal, spread eagle, with the clubs public hair dryer propped precisely at a 45 degree angle under his balls. He turns to Ben and nods as if to say "Nice weather today, huh?" and continues about his business.

IS THIS NORMAL?

It's then that I ask myself, what could a woman do that would be so revolting and make an "I don't give a damn what you think" statement as this? Will there be a day that I walk into the women's locker room to discover the Silver Fox Tennis Club captain applying Gold Bond medicated powder under her large, gangly, aged, silicone filled boobs so the friction between them and her knees doesn't cause chaffing all while gossiping about her latest sexual encounters with the twenties-something tennis pro? Or maybe that's a Maxine Hallmark birthday card I'm recalling.

Intro to Asian

Wednesday night was my Christmas present from Ben. To make sure it's on the record, this is probably one of his best gifts he's given me (with the exception of anything that has come in a little blue box). I've always wanted to take cooking classes, so Ben got me an Intro to Asian demonstration class. The menu included: hot & sour soup, grilled beef satay with spicy peanut sauce, stir fry mixed veggies, thai curry shrimp, and coconut bananas. I must say when I first saw the menu I was a little nervous. Everyone knows I'm a plain jane and ketchup is living on the edge for me, but I told myself I would at least try everything!

We arrived, took a seat, and were immediately handed a glass of wine to try. Wines had been chosen for each course that blend with all the flavors in the dishes. This was our "welcoming wine." Well, that's all the welcome I needed!

Our first dish was hot & sour soup. I was, again, a little worried because I usually opt for egg drop soup when eating Asian out. Chef Hellmich gave us some tips on cutting veggies, what knives to use, how to choose your wok's, etc... . After taking us through the process we finally got to eat! I want to say it was almost too flavorful for me, if that's possible. So good...but almost overwhelming. The wine chosen was perfect, it cut some of the brashness of the spices and calmed the taste buds. (I also became a food critic after the 2nd glass of wine) It was great!

Dish two & three were combined into a grilled beef satay with spicy peanut sauce served on a bed of stir fried veggies. One tip that the Chef shared was how to cut your beef tenderloin into strips. Once your meat has thawed, place in freezer for 1 - 2 hours then it's firm enough (that's what she said) to cut neatly into thin strips going against the grain. Beautiful! Why hadn't I thought of that when I was making beef tenderloins satay? The class decided they wanted the peanut sauce to be extra spicy, so I'm instantly worried. Fortunately for me they served the sauce on the side. The meat was so flavorful and easy to pull off the skewers. The peanut sauce had a definite kick but I just dipped the smallest, tiniest, slightest of a fraction, of a corner, to get some flavor. I tried it, and it was delish! The wine also continues to be good and I continue to be doing GREAT as the class went on!

Thai curry shrimp. My favorite! I honestly can't really remember how this dish was made, at this point I'm starting to get a little chatty and began to people watch and wonder about some of those in our class. Four ladies in front of us are having a great time and encouraging the chef with laughter, whoops, and questions about dishes they have made. Clearly they entertain quite often without expense. Then we have the "know it all" who I think secretly wanted to teach the class. I even saw her twitch a few times when chef was adding/pouring "the perfect amount" of ingredients into each dish. It never fails, there is always one in the class. Then there's the repeat offender, Dennis. He's a regular and the chef knows him very well. I wonder what his story is if he's here all the time? Could a person actually pick up the culinary skills by sitting in this 2 hour class once a week for years to become a renowned chef? Hmm...but back to the dish....and of course, the wine. The dish was excellent and what Ben and I agreed was the perfect temperature. It had just enough kick to make your taste buds flex but not so hot you gasp for water/wine!

In preparation for the desert dish the assistant asked who wanted coffee. Well of course I do, by this time I'm going to have a hang over on a school night! Just to put it out there - I hate coconut! And this dish had no mention of chocolate, so I'm already wondering how coconut banana's can be classified as a dessert. Well they were FRIED....and ANYTHING fried is AWESOME! It was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and the chef's signature chocolate candy on the side. So good!

Ben and I left fat and happy (me a little tipsy) with a whole packet of recipe's that I'll only be able to make on a disposable income. My recommendation at the end of the class was to schedule courses for active lifestyles or 30 minute meals. I know this doesn't sound as glamourous as Intro to French cuisine, or roll your own sushi rolls but its something I'll probably be able to reproduce more easily. However, Chef Hellmich is teaching Intro to Mexican next month and this might be a class I don't want to miss! I'm wondering if they will serve a different margarita with each course?

Communicating...through our pets?

Someone once told me that communication is the key to a successful marriage, this was probably wise advice, but were we also supposed to include our pets?

Jodi: "Hobbes, tell Ben that it's absolutely freezing in here and to turn the heat up!"
Ben: "Hobbes, tell Jodi to man up, and get her Snuggie if she's cold!"

OR

Jodi: "Hobbes, ask Ben if he's really going to wear those shoes with that?"
Ben: "Hobbes, ask Jodi if she's really going to leave the house with her face looking like that?"

So I'm guessing that when we have kids our conversations will go something like this:

Jodi: "Ben Jr, tell Hobbes to tell daddy to change your diaper"
Ben: "Ben Jr, tell Hobbes to tell mommy that it's her job!"

I know, sometimes it's too much for him to even handle.

Discovering the Library as an Adult

It's interesting really... it starts with lazy Sunday afternoons at our local Barnes & Noble, reading magazines for free. After perusing all the periodicals they have to offer, I head over to the non-fiction section to check out new authors. I return the next Sunday, go back to my favorite authors and begin to read one of the books while sipping on a tall, non-fat, sugar-free, carmel macchiato. I'm finally hooked, and now our visits begin to increase in frequency to multiple times a week. I finished the book and now I'm looking forward to the next...and all for free! Is this wrong of me, perhaps morally??

But now what do I do when it's time for vacation or a business trip? You better bet your bippy that I'm not going to pay retail for the books at Barnes & Noble, that's just crazy talk! So Ben suggests I check out Ebay. Can you believe I discover someone is selling the ENTIRE series of my author for the price of ONE book at the book store?!?! Sweet!! What a deal!! SOLD!

Then I begin to realize our bookshelves are gradually getting fuller and really, am I going to read these books again? And of course Ben wouldn't be caught dead reading them. So then it hits me. I remember those trips with mom that I HATED so much and it all began to come together.

I head to our local public library get a library card, which is probably a first since 1986. It's then that I discover that the opportunities are truly endless. You can check out 50 books at one time, for FREE! Keep them for a month, then return for new! Not that I would ever what to check 50 out at one time, but the fact that it's an option is awesome!

And my most recent discovery...DVD's! The library has recent movies and past episodes of your favorite TV shows...how sweet is this?!?! I have now discovered a place with free books, free movies, free entertainment magazines, and pretty much free everything!! What more could a girl want? So now, we've dropped our Blockbuster subscription and have my name on the waiting list for WALL-E, I may be 173rd on the list, but hey.....it's FREE!!

The big question now is...what am I going to do with all this money saved??

¿Donde esta el gato?

Some things never change...

January 2008

January 2009

2008 in Review

To get you all caught up, here are some Events from 2008:

The great Snow Storm of 2008! Rachel and Lauren braved the weather and drove up from Atlanta for a much needed girls weekend in March. Rachel (a south Florida native) and Lauren (Atlanta native) had fun playing in the snow for about .5 seconds!

The Indianapolis 500 Mini Marathon. Heather, myself, and Kerry ran the half marathon in May after training for months. We all finished beating our goal times and signed up again for 2009!

Ben and I were lucky enough to get to spend an entire week vacationing in Daytona Beach, FL with my folks. Lots of laughing, eating, and of course Putt Putt.Ben fueled the economy by buying his first road bike with OUR stimulus check. He competed in three triathalons and hopes to "dominate" more in 2009!

EstroFest '08 took place in Dallas, TX this year! Debbie was the best hostess. We toured Frito Lay, shopped, ate amazing food, and more importantly went to a real rodeo and two stepped at Billy Bob's!

Ben and I spent our 4 year anniversary and his birthday with his family in Vegas. Planet Hollywood's slot tournaments, Hawaiian Tropic, and Fat Tuesdays made up our daily routine.

Ben and I had a great time visiting friends and family over Christmas. Sherry and I got these fabulous glow rings for our next trip to Vegas!

Welcome Everyone!

Wow, well I have finally succumb to the internet addiction of blogging. I love to read my friends blogs and sometimes feel like I'm living life right there along side of them even though I'm hundreds and thousands of miles away. The sad thing is I probably have not spoken with a few of my "favorite bloggers" in over a year, but I could tell you how they were and what they were up to on any given day. It's sad, I know. So to my friends I talk to everyday and to those who I will probably never know, but will know me through "What Not to Write," enjoy and happy 2009!