My new favorite place!

To celebrate the rebirth of my blog, I give you "Kickapoo Joy Juice" from my new favorite store, The Soda Gallery, in my new favorite area, The Bishop Arts District.

Courtney and Phil's pastor took them there for lunch a couple of weeks ago, and they liked it so much that they called me to have dinner there with them that night. We ate at a little Italian restaurant called Vitto. While we were there, a group of carolers came in! It was so Christmasy and cute! All the shops were taking part in a Christmas Jingle Bell celebration, so they all had different types of drinks and snacks out for munching and browsing!

I fell in love with the Soda Gallery the second I stepped in the door. It's such a cool store! They have Dublin Dr. Pepper, all different types of Coke, a plethora of Root Beer, and Sioux City Sasparilla, among countless others! Everything is in glass bottles, too. Call me old fashioned, but I love that.

Courtney and Phil knew that I'd love this area as soon as they saw it, and when they saw how excited I was about the Soda Gallery, they got a great idea for my birthday present. My friend Peter came into Dallas for the weekend, and we met up with another friend, Dan, and Courtney and Phil in...you guessed it...the Bishop Arts District! After lunch was over, they took me across the street to pick out a six pack of the sodas of my choice! It took quite some time, but I ended up with a great selection of crazy flavors.

Kickapoo Joy Juice has been my first to try so far. I have no idea why, but it's called "The Original Dogpatch Recipe." It's super sweet and citrusy- kind of like a hint of Mountain Dew in a bottle of Sprite. Some may say too sweet, but I thought it was deeeeelicious!

More to come on flavors as I taste-test them!

The waking up of a pug

Who likes to sleep on large tupperware...

Waking up with a boy in my bed...

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, and I realized how much you all need an update on the adventures of Sheldon the wonder-pug! As soon as I got home on Saturday night from the land of cheese and the Packers, Courtney and I drove down to Kaufman to pick up little Sheldon.

Mike and his wife Lisa live on a ranch in Athens, TX, and they have two pugs -- Boteefah and Crotch Focker. This was their first and last litter of pug puppies because Boteefah gave birth to a huge litter of 7, and she's a pretty tiny pug, so it was hard on her. Anyway, I've certainly been blessed by their puppies, so I'm grateful for little Boteefah!
Ruby and Dora didn't really know what to do with him at first, and he was pretty timid, but they're starting to rough house a little now!

We hung out all day on Sunday, and we'd play hard, and then he's crash, and I would read New Dawn (yes, Twilight is a great series!). Unfortunately I had to go back to work on Monday, but Courtney has the month of December off while she's waiting to start her new job, so she's being a great pug aunt and taking care of Sheldon during the day. He's been really good and not having many accidents at all. We keep a little log of all Sheldon's activities (and I mean all), so we can all be in the know, and Courtney kept me updated on his day through her blog.

He's had a couple fleas, so on Monday night, Sheldon got the spa treatment. For puppies who can't have flea powder yet, dawn dishwashing soap is supposed to help get rid of fleas. Afterward, I clipped his nails and cleaned his ears.

"Let me out, mom!! I'm wet!"

"This is better...maybe I'll go to sleep..."

Sheldon has also gotten to have a lot of company! On Sunday night, Courtney's sister-in-law, Kelsey and her husband Lance brought Ann and Debbie over to meet him. Ann and Debbie are best friends and really loved meeting Sheldon.

He also got to play with Megan, the daughter of one of Courtney's friends from church. She LOVES pugs and American Girls. Luckily, Courtney did too as a kid, so she has some Megan got to play with.

You may be thinking, he's such a laid-back puppy! Wow, so good! But.....watch out he goes CRAZY after work and has a strange obsession with my forearmpits, which he likes to lick and bite. We're working on dominance issues. I'm the alpha, not little Sheldon. Yes, he truly is one of God's little weirdos!

And the title? Well, last night, I made a little blockade so Sheldon wouldn't have to be in his crate because he hates it and cries to get out and be on my bed, but I'm trying to make sure his flea problem doesn't get worse, so I don't want him to sleep with me. So, I put him down beside me, and he cried for a while but I pet him, and he finally fell asleep (thanks Trey). But I woke up at 4:30 this morning because he was sleeping on my neck (his favorite spot), and for the life of me, I cannot remember picking him up during the night! Maybe he is wonder pug...

In love and obsessed...

I think I've visited my blog more than anyone else this weekend. Quite possibly more than everyone combined. How can you possibly love something this much when you just meet them?! I just can't wait for Sheldon to come home! I spent Saturday morning at Target and Petco getting all the essentials for puppy-upbringing, including a cute (yet still masculine) leash, the tiniest little harness, food bowls, food, treats, toys, etc! Needless to say, Sheldon is going to be well loved!

Ruby and Dora are enjoying lots of quality Aunt Bea time since Courtney and Phil left for Darcey's wedding yesterday morning, and we went for a long walk tonight, but at the end, I said, "Who wants TURKEY TURKEY TURKEY?" and they sure sprinted home for that!!

I'm realizing that maybe living by myself is slightly over-rated. I totally freaked out last night because when I got home, the carbon monoxide detector was beeping, and even though it was just the battery warning, it made me really worried, so I grabbed Ruby and Dora, turned off the heat upstairs, closed my door and opened my window wide! It was kind of chilly, but I made sure to cover the pugs up with a big quilt, and every once in a while they'd get under the covers with me. Man, I just get scared so easily and always imagine the worst. Apartment living is going to be a bigger step for me than I thought!

Sleepy time now...I have to go to work tomorrow.

I'm a Mommy!!

Introducing...

Sheldon! (aka Don Juan Triumphant)

The adoption went through tonight, and now I'm the proud mommy of a brand new baby pug! Since I'll be going out of town for Thanksgiving, I got to meet him tonight, but he went back to his house for the rest of the week. I get to bring him home when I fly in on Saturday evening.

He is the most precious pug ever!! It was really cold outside, so he was shivering, and I put him inside my vest, and he was just so snuggly and adorable. Mike said he was a real goofball and loved to make everybody laugh. Right now, his parents have been calling him CJ for Crotch Junior! Haha, his dad's name is Crotch Penny Berry Focker, named Crotch just because he's kind of a "crotch". They were really funny, and they obviously love their pugs! Who couldn't?!

Here are some more pictures to enjoy!! Oh, my vest still smells like baby pug, and I never want to wash it!!!!

St. Louis!!

So, I think a few updates are in line. A few weeks ago, Trey found out that he was going to have to work on the weekend that he originally planned to come visit me, and I really wanted to see him, so I booked a flight to St. Louis!

On Friday night, we met Rick and Debbie at Ted Drewes for the best concretes in the world. They had just gotten back from a Blues Hockey game, where they were supposed to have gotten a free blizzard for 3 goals, but it turns out they weren't supposed to run that promotion. Oops! Ted Drewes is better, anyway!

On Saturday, after some yummy pancakes from the Doerrs' bed and breakfast, Rick, Debbie, Trey and I headed out to play golf. Even though we were pretty slow, the group in front of us was painfully slow, so we ended up playing for close to 7 hours! But we had a really good time, and Rick found a wealth of golf balls!

Trey takes a good picture while driving a golf cart, huh?

Here's a better one. Notice the hat...oh such a stylish golfer!

A mother-son photo op on the course! It was a really fun day.

Isn't this little guy cute? Trey found him in the leaves while we were waiting for a group to pass us. I think he was a little scared at first, but he like us after a little bit.

Sunday we went up to Prin to visit Karen and Peter, so we had lunch at Jimmy Johns, where I was dared to eat a whole wad of alfalfa sprouts (not recommended, and aren't I such a lady?) if Peter would ask if they delivered to Prin. Then we went back to Karen's place (which is huge and really cool). We played with the cats for a while, which was pretty entertaining. They have these wands with toys on the end that are just as amusing for us humans as they are for the cats. Trey looks like a giant in this picture! I think Peter was trying to fish for a cat.

Here's Peter and I having fun on the tramp out back.

And this is me hula hooping one legged while spinning in circles. Beat that, Wii Fit!

It was a really great weekend, and before I left, Trey and I went to Stir Crazy, which I think is one of my favorite restaurants in St. Louis! Sorry it's been such a long time since I've updated! More to come soon, but for now I've got to study!

Attacked!

This afternoon, walking out of my building after work, I was attacked! Someone had a camera, so they might have gotten evidence of it, but I'm not sure. It all happened so fast, and it was really noisy. It may sound like science fiction, but I assure you, it's not. I could describer my attacker as a white dragon, and luckily he didn't stick around long enough to show me his firebreathing abilities. Ok, so the real story is that there is an Asian Art Gallery connected to the Trammel Crow Center, and today they had some show going on, and there were drummers and two dragons dancing and "greeting" people as they walked out of the building. I think most people were scared and went out the other side, but I thought it looked kind of cool, so I walked out, not really realizing how close they planned on getting! He kind of danced the dragon head by me for a while and then kept dancing for the onlookers. It was pretty random and definitely made me laugh!

Another week begins!

I can't believe that this week is October already! I am so ready for cooler weather! This week, it's supposed to dip down to 82 for a high, though! I think I'm going to wear my parka. Anyway, I am done with my "Lock-In" week at work, so that means my schedule gets a little more flexible, but no more free lunches, and my floor will be very empty! I will be the only person in a cube on my side of the floor...

This was a really fun weekend! Friday night was the debate (which I only watched part of), and then I got to talk to Trey for a little while as he was finishing up helping some friends pack their house. On Saturday, I went running on Katy Trail with my running girls, and it's a really nice place to run. It's busy, but much less intense than running and competing with the bikers at White Rock Lake. They have separate trails for runners with that rubber track and a paved trail for bikers and rollerbladers.

If you're looking for a funny movie, you should definitely go to Ghost Town. I went with a couple girls from work and a girl from church this weekend, and it was great! The premise sounds more like a scary movie because this man sees dead people, but there's nothing scary about it at all.

Sunday was a pretty normal day for me, and it was nice to enjoy the weekend. After church, I had lunch with a friend, then shopped around Target, came home, did some random things around the house and helped make dinner. It was delicious, if I do say so myself! I even touched raw chicken (ugly raw chicken face still happens, but it's getting better)! We made Elegant Chicken and Pasta, which is chicken and whipping cream and parmesan cheese all baked together to make a kind of chicken alfredo, and you serve it over pasta. Soooo good!

Anyway, time for me to head to bed! I guess I'll be dreaming of chicken. Oh, and Courtney asked me, "How long does the cooken chick?" lol...

Whoa!

My mom started a blog!! You can visit it here or click on the links to the right. Sorry for the recent lull in posts, folks. This weekend, I'll try to do some more in depth posting.

Courtney, Chelsea and I are running the Tour Des Fleurs 10K on Saturday morning benefiting the Dallas Arboretum, which is very close to the area that I'd like to live someday. We've been training since the beginning of August, and we're working towards the White Rock Half Marathon in December, so this race is perfectly timed in our schedule! They even gave us really nice dry weave shirts that are cute too-- pink and green for the girls, and I think the guys had navy and red. Haha, and I was just reading on the website that it's the "Best Post-Party in Town" with a complimentary massage and lots of food from tons of different vendors, Einstein Bros included!

It's time for me to study now-- my exam is 2 months away now! Who thought that after college, I'd still be taking exams and studying? Well, actually, I guess I did since I signed up for this before college ended...lol. I hope everyone has a great end of the week and weekend too! Happy Thursday!

Correction

For those of you keeping up with the blogging competition between Trey and I, I would like to add clarification to a comment he made in his most recent blog post, "Fall Begins". It may be misleading and you may be wondering how we are dating right now since I "denied [him], shot [him] down right where [he] stood" at that fateful point of our bikeride. Despite these allocations, I really really really liked him, but was leaving for Japan the next fall and thought he might be in New Zealand the following winter, so I thought the timing was rather unfortunate to start a relationship. However, just a few weeks later, while watching Ben Hur, he grabbed my hand, and I didn't want to let go and had resisted his charm for too long, so I held his hand for the rest of the movie, and thus the adventure began. So, don't feel too sorry for him, he won in the end (or beginning...)!

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Baker Sisters' Cafe

Tonight, I made the most wonderful batch of fried green tomatoes ever! They were tomatoes from the Farmers' Market, which is probably why they were so good, and even Dora ate a few (oops...we weren't paying attention). I don't really use a recipe-- just kind of eyeball it, but tonight, I did double batter, which was definitely the right choice.


Fried Green Tomatoes
Heat about 1/2 inch of veggie oil in a pan on med-high. In one bowl, mix cornmeal, Lowry's season salt, and pepper. I just mix up enough so that you can smell the seasoning, but so that it's not overpowering. In another bowl, combine 2 eggs and a little milk and mix up with a fork. Slice tomatoes a little thicker than 1/4 inch. Dip in eggs and then cover in cornmeal mixture. Do it again! Set in hot oil, and turn when that side turns golden brown. If it turns too dark too quickly, lower the heat-- they're no good burned, but you also don't want to cook them forever!
Take em out when both sides are golden. I like to drain them on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath. Serve 'em hot with ranch dressing or just plain. Yumm. Southern cookin'. Gotta love that fried goodness. Phil doesn't even like tomatoes, but he liked these!

Time Tested Beauty Tips

On my iGoogle homepage, I have beauty tips, which are usually pretty worthless, but this one, I really like. Apparently, Audrey Hepburn is usually given the credit for it, but it was actually written by a man by the name of Sam Levenson. It was just one of Audrey Hepburn's favorite poems.


"Time Tested Beauty Tips"

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; Never throw out anybody.

Remember, If you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Inspired by Samantha

I've been wanting to get a haircut, but I've also been a little nervous until I saw that Samantha had gotten one. She told me to go for it, so I did! This is for you, mom, since you wanted to see pictures. My hairdresser's name was Fouzia, and she was really nice! I went to a place called Ulta-- never heard of it before, but I'd go back.

The Best Labor Day Weekend Ever

Let's be honest, even though I have a great job and a great place to live, it's been a little harder than I thought it would be getting used to this whole "real world" thing. For one, and probably the biggest one, I miss my friends. It's weird not being able to run down the hall or across the lawn and then go to the pub and play games or watch a movie or some other random concoction of funness we might have.

So, when I first moved to Dallas, it was exciting. You know, having to rush around and get things done and feeling like you've got things to accomplish and zooming through the list of to-dos makes you feel good. I've been working for a month now, and half of that time was spent in D.C. for training, and even though it was really cool to go there and get to meet a lot of new people, I was really having a hard time being excited about what I am doing. I mostly keep thinking that I should be doing something more exciting, something that will give me this awesome life story, and I can tell people how I traveled all over the world after college and took pictures of beautiful places and people and met interesting people and all of that. And that would be cool, and I would love that and have an amazing time, I'm sure.

You're probably wondering about now how this was the Best Labor Day Weekend Ever if so far all I've talked about is what I miss and what I wish I could have. So, here I go. I was talking to Trey and saying how I get really unsure of myself when things change in my life, and his reply was that I should make a list of things I am grateful for whenever I feel like that. A lot of this is coming to me right now...here we go: I looked up the word "bless" in the Bible, and in the New International Version, it comes up 62 times. The Sermon on the Mount is full of "blessed's", and they all seem to be for people who are not on top of the world-- they're poor in spirit or mourning or hungering. And then there are the peacemakers and the merciful and the pure in heart. Who knows what they are doing. They could be out in the world doing something really amazing or maybe just working at home, but they are blessed because of how they are doing it.

When I look at the people who mean the most to me and have helped me the most, it's pretty clear to me that they'd be the same no matter what their job was. Story time: I was really shy when I was in elementary and middle school. Even if I knew the answer, it terrified me to speak up in class, and I had a teacher in the 5th grade who loved to call on people--not to embarrass them, but she was really fun and young and spunky and just wanted everybody to get their chance to talk. One day, I think we were diagramming sentences (not joking, I loved that!), and Ms. Pascal called on me. I must have given off some mental alarm that showed her how mortified I was and probably waited for a while to answer, and then she just said to me, "All you can be is wrong." I don't really remember what happened after that (probably blacked out...just kidding), but I've remembered her saying that to me a lot.

What I am getting out of all of this for tonight is that being grateful and blessings are not about being right and wrong, and they are certainly not about freaking out about the future. Worry is ingratitude in advance (thanks, Warren!). So, right now, I am grateful for:
1) seeing Trey these last two weekends
2) having the pugs to come home to every night
3) most days getting to see Courtney and Phil
4) tubing down the Comal River
5) my license that will coming back to me soon, hopefully!
6) having a good job right out of college
7) being able to afford a new car
8) my mom and dad getting to go to China

It's time for me to go to bed now. More to come later on!

Strange Occurrences in A106

Last night, the group went to Dave and Buster's, and when I left, everything was normal, but when I came back to my room...I thought everything was normal, but then I went in to the bathroom. The toilet seat was up! Don't get that one... I don't think they clean at night, and I certainly did not put the toilet seat anywhere new. I locked my door when I went to sleep last night-- latch and dead bolt.

Oh the adventures of being an actuary!

From the website beanactuary.com--

Top 10 Reasons to be an actuary:

10. You want a career that is dynamic and challenging. aka-- smart people are making codes confusing and nearly impossible to read
    
9. You don’t want to go to graduate school. aka-- only 13 exams that you can pass in 7 years if you are a genius
   
8. You want a career with superior job security through economic cycles. aka-- no one wants to learn how to do this no matter what the price!
   
7. You want a professional title, but don’t want to be a doctor, lawyer or accountant. aka-- because even though they have to go through more exams, actuaries are waaay cooler, especially than accountants.
   
6. You want a career with many opportunities that will provide you with skills that are transferrable across multiple industries. aka-- SCUBA diving, rock climbing, photographer, fudge maker, bread baker
   
5. You would like to "earn while you learn." why is that in quotes? is it supposed to be sarcastic?
   
4. You want a career that you control because advancement is merit-based. aka-- what's the rush?
   
3. You want to be able to choose among outstanding job offers. aka-- get a job straight out of college!
   
2. You want a highly competitive salary and excellent benefits. aka-- if you're in the business of pension plans, you better have one.
   

And the #1 reason to Be An Actuary is ...

1. You are self-motivated, goal oriented, and have superior math aptitude and communication skills. aka-- this is a job where telling math jokes is not only acceptable, but highly encouraged!
   

Haha! Whatever! My 10 List for being an actuary:

10. Free drinks (like cokes and chocolate milk and juice) whenever you want
9. Dessert twice a day during training. Plus snack time, twice a day also!
8. Walking to training and almost falling over because you’re still not so comfortable in heels and turning around cautiously just to find out that you were not in fact the only witness (anything to make someone’s walk to training more pleasurable, right?).
7. Being in retirement at 22.
6. Having clients casually say “I think those people are at summer camp” and be serious.
5. Mini golf, indoors with black lights. The greens were about 7 feet long by 3 feet wide with different “obstacles” like shoots and bumps.
4. Global locations.
3. 48 math nerds. Dave and Buster’s. Scavenger hunt. Running required. I’ll say no more…
2. Conversations that include, “If you touch my calculator, I’ll kill you!”

And the #1 reason to Be An Actuary is ...

1. Free flight to St. Louis to visit Trey for the middle weekend of training in D.C.!

Washington D.C.

I'm staying just outside of our nation's capital in Potomac, MD for training for my job! It's not very close to D.C., but we have a free night tomorrow, so I'm hoping that a few people will want to go into the city to check out some monuments and do some typical D.C. things. I've never been here before, so it would kill me not to check out the sites. Flying in, we flew right by the Washington Monument and White House, so that was awesome! So, I grabbed my first cab by myself, and he took me to the place where we're staying, and he was a really interesting guy. He was from Sierra Leon, but then he moved to London a long time ago and finally came to D.C. a few years ago. He and his family travel all over the US, and they drive everywhere because they can get out and see the sites in the different cities they go through. Then, it was time for training to start. Some of the sessions have been really interesting, and others have been really boring. I like being able to practice rather than just listen to people talk. Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun getting to know people and learning that actuaries are actually fun, social people!

Yum!

Breakfast:
6 biscuits
6 Turkey sausage links
6 tablespoons of syrup

Lunch:
5 sandswiches each with:
1 hoagie roll
3 slices of turkey
1 oz of cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon of mayo
5 nectarines
6 oz of chips

Snack:
1 oz of cheddar cheese

Dinner:
24 oz filet mignon
4 twice baked potatoes (2 whole potatoes)
41 spears of asparagus

Dessert:
6 pieces of fudge

Yes. That's a lot of food, I know. Surprising how I keep my figure, huh? Well, not quite the truth, but that's what I would have eaten yesterday if I were to get the number of calories that Michael Phelps has on a daily basis. Yes, 8-10,000 calories a day! So, if you love to eat and want to keep your figure, here's the diet for you: the Olympics.

Welcome to Watson Wyatt Worldwide where we want to work!

This this the view from my cubicle! My cube needs to be spruced up a little more to feel like home, but I can't complain because I have a window! If you look closely, the big open area on the very right is Love Field airport.


Yesterday was kind of a slow day at work. I don't remember what I was doing, but I dropped my purple pen (which is my favorite), and look at how it landed! Whoa dang!!


Now, sit back. I'm going to tell you two stories.

Story Number 1:
Courtney and Phil found out by chance that their pastor was going to Maine for the wedding of President Bush's nephew. They thought he was going to be one of a few officiants in the wedding. Cool, huh?

Story Number 2:
One of the girls at work was on PTO when I started on Monday. When she got back on Tuesday, I asked her where she went on vacation. "To Maine with my family," she said. She also happened to mention going to a wedding-- the wedding of George P. Bush and Amanda Williamson. The President of the United States was going to be there, and so someone told her not to bug him for pictures, but apparently he came up and took a picture with her and a group of her friends just because he felt like it. Cool, huh?

Wait! What?
Walking to lunch today, I was talking to Elizabeth and said, "Hey, I think that my sister's pastor was at the same wedding you were at this weekend."
Elizabeth: "Really?"
Me: "Yeah, I think he was an officiant or did some readings!"
Elizabeth: "Was he the Episcopal minister who did the ceremony?"
Me: "No, he's Methodist."
Elizabeth: "Oh. I can't think of anyone else who did the ceremony...Hmm...Wait, is his name Jim Bowden?"
Me: "Yes! I'm pretty sure that's him!"
Elizabeth: "Crazy! Yeah, he gave the blessing before dinner, and I sat next to him!"

So, out of the tons of people I'm sure were there, Courtney and Phil knew 1, and I knew 1. Little did we know that they would sit next to each other at dinner! Cool, huh?

Saturday...Monday...Wait! Where'd Sunday go?

Saturday night, Courtney, Phil, and I went to the Rangers' game! Some of their friends from church have season tickets, and when they can't go, they offer them to the Moser's. Unfortunately, the Rangers lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, but there were a few really cool plays. At one point, we were down (I don't know by how many), we had no outs, and the bases were loaded. I was soo hoping to see my first ever grand slam, so I got out my camera...

They didn't get it that time, but they got another chance! I took another picture, but then I looked up. The picture wasn't quite as pretty: 2 outs, 2 strikes, 2 fouls, bases loaded. It would take a miracle to have this batter hit a home run for a grand slam. So, I put my camera down. Then...smack! He hit it right past the third baseman, and they were running!!

After a while, we all got a little tired of the game, and so we began trying to find our hidden talents! Look at us!

And today was my first official day of work! I'm not sure where Sunday went... I was so grateful that traffic was not bad today. I left a little before 8 and was up from the parking garage by 8:35! Wow. Anyway, I got to re-meet a lot of people from last summer, and I got a new cube with a window view! Apparently, hawks come and sit on a ledge right outside my office, and sometimes they bring roadkill! Eww! I have my first meeting to talk about client work on Wednesday afternoon, and I leave for training in D.C. in less than two weeks now! Crazy!

An informative note about the poll on Trey's blog: I am really really really really really terrified of snakes! Please submit your vote accordingly.