Even though we are not together today, (Right now, Chris is up in sky, flying to Indianapolis to see his friends and famliy) and I am home sick, I want to celebrate my anniversary by saying that I love my husband more today then I did 6 years ago or even 10 1/2 years ago. I am the luckiest person on the planet and I could not ask for a better man to be my husband.

Anniversary gifts

And since today is our anniversary, I will share the gifts that we got:

from Mom & Dad - a crock pot and a recipe book

from Mandy & Eric - Xbox game - Museum games w/PacMan

from my in-laws - this bath mat in natural and a set of towels in natural w/ our initials monogrammed

Thank you for the nice gifts.

Christmas & presents

Hope Christmas was very merry for everyone.
I have put together a list of my gifts.

from Chris -
Shiatsu Back Massager and these things direct from Japan:
Hello Kitty candy


and Hello Kitty toliet paper!



from Santa (AKA my parents) -
a few coloring books:1, 2, 3, 4, the FRIENDS book, Where The Red Fern Grows dvd, Mary Poppins dvd, a flat iron, philosophy body wash, a limited edition Precious Moment, some clothes: a nightshirt, black hooded zip cardigan, Quacker Factory Embroidered Daisies Twin Set in lime, Bath & Body Works antibactrial soap in different scents, scrapbooking scissor set (like this one, only it's a 24 piece set!),

from Mandy & Eric -
Maroon 5 cd, soundtrack to Annie, a coloring book, this book,
and a Hello Kitty calendar

for both Chris and I from Santa -
a new George Foreman grill, some fancy new hangers, and an iron trivet (to match the smaller one I already have)

from my in-laws -
this blouse (which I plan on returning. color does not look good on me), this shirt, in medium aqua, this cardigan, in Aquaria, another blouse that I can't find a link for, some socks, this cake stand, and some Bath & Body works shower cream, lotion, bubble bath in Warm Vanilla Sugar. There were a couple of other little things, but I can't think of them now.

from Sarah - post-its, stickers and scrapbooking accents
from Linda - a photo album and scrapbooking accents

If I am forgetting anything, please don't be mad. It's taken me a long time to compile this list and I tried to list everything. Doing this list is sorta like the updated version of what we used to do when we (being me and Mandy) were young. We used to display all our Christmas gifts out on our beds so that when people came over, we could show what we got. It's sorta the same thing.

Thank you everyone.

Cold in the Nati

This is the forecast for the next few days in Cincinnati - where I used to live.
OH MY GOD! It is gonna be -10 for the low! That's insane. It's like 48 degrees here and I need a sweater. That's crazy.

Thanks family.

I need to say thank you to my family for all the support during my interview process. I can't tell you all how much it means to me when you all tell me I will be great and to "Knock 'em dead." You all have been so nice to me while I have stressed about this and I hope you know how much it means to me.

Note to self: enough with the niceness...

new Birks!

Bought 'em! Sweet.


Plus, I used my Christmas money and bought these too.

sorry. forgot to post about it.

My second interview was today. It went ok. I am not a good judge of these things. Half way through some of my answers, I lost my train of thought and forgot what the question was. That's probably not a good thing, but whatever. I am just glad it's over. Maybe now the dull headache that I've had for two days will go away. Or maybe not... Mandy is coming to town today. Mandy Claus is coming to town. Mandy Claus is coming to town. Neat. That's funny. I crack myself up. I don't like dressing up at work. I feel like a freak in these shoes. I am so used to wearing Birks that any other shoes feel weird. I think with some of my bonus money, I am gonna buy myself one other pair. I am lacking a pair to wear with khaki pants. I am planning on wearing khaki pants tomorrow and I have nothing to go with them. It depends on what I'm wearing on top as to which shoes I will wear. Such a decision. (Damn, that's a Joan thing!) My father called me Joan yesterday and the funny thing was, I was actually on the phone with Joan when he referred to me as Joan. Whatever. Y'all can bite me. I'm glad today is over. I couldn't even eat my lunch today because my stomach was all knotted up. TMI.

edited to add: I was this close to changing all the Mandy's to Moaned!

scary santa

Chris found this. It's hilarious!

second interview tomorrow @ 1pm

strange that I am not nearly as nervous. or maybe I am internalizing it much better this time. I think that I was more nervous about destroying my bosses impression of me in the first interview, than any thing else. for this interview, I am not nearly as concerned about that.
wish me luck...

12 Days of Christmas

I keep forgetting to post this...
the origin of the The Twelve Days of Christmas
It's very interesting.

some party pics from Saturday

I guess it wasn't a bad thing that I didn't bring my camera to the party. One of Chris's co-workers did and here is the link to see them. In the picture #10, Chris and I were highly intoxicated. But that's a really cute picture!

I'll post more tomorrow! Just wanted to share these now.
This was on Santa Monica Pier today.

shoes for the Christmas party

these are the shoes (in black) that I had shipped overnight so that I would have something to wear to the Christmas party in California. Neat.

toilet seats

I think it's grosser (I know that's not a word, but whatever!) when someone leaves a toilet seat cover on the toilet, then when someone doesn't use a cover at all. Now, I don't use toilet seat covers (We're talking about public toilets here.) because I personally don't understand why my butt can't get dirty. I read somewhere that there are more germs on your computer keyboard then on a toilet seat. So, when I walk into a stall and there is a toilet seat cover already on the seat - that's just wrong. What I think is so wrong about it is that I know have to move said cover to sit down. I tried to use my foot, but I ended up having to use my hand to push it in the bowl. Then I had to flush the used cover before I sat down. Maybe it's weird, but I can't stand when that happens!

edited to add: when I ran spell check on this entry, I had spelled toilet wrong every time! Damn.

my boy's Grammy nominations!!!

Song Of The Year - for Daughters
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance - for Daughters

I am sooooo proud. Song of the year? That's freakin awesome.

I survived

it wasn't as bad as I thought...
isn't that always the way?

Step one is over. Now we wait a few days. My boss
said that the next step is the second interview
that will be with the big boss. They will let me
know if I'm moving on (sounds like a game show)
in the next couple days. Joyful.

I have a huge knot in my neck from stress. I'm dying here.

please get me through this...

I am 15 minutes away from my interview. I need to throw up.
I did not sleep but maybe 3 hours last night. My stomach was
killing me too. I am so stressed I can hardly contain myself.
I just want the next two hours to be over.
Dear God, please get me through this...

The OC

I love how bad this show is. It was so bad tonight that it was good.
I just wish they didn't rip off 90210 so much. They now have a club where popular real music groups come and play. Like not tv music groups. Real groups. Like they did at the Peach Pit on 90210. I just love to hate The OC.

movie trailers

The trailer for the new Dave Matthews movie is out: Because of Winn Dixie
This is his 2nd movie. Where the Red Fern Grows is going straight to DVD, but this one is getting a theatrical release. Hooray! So, I found the trailer, but also realized that the page hosting the trailer has tons of other trailers too.
I have been watching movie trailers from this website for over an hour.

Thanksgiving present

Chris wanted me to share the lovely ceramic dish that his mother gave us
as a Thanksgiving present. Isn't it lovely?

Edited to add: WHAT? NO COMMENTS!

Actual reality - Act Up - Fight AIDS


to Sarah Ellersick!