For Meredith's Sake (aka Where the Magic Happens)

Here is my office.  It used to be Meredith's and she had it configured in a completely different way.  I've been lax in getting this to her so I thought I would upload it to the blog and show everyone where I work...literally.

It's been while, I know.  More posts are coming.  Our storage room is basically done and painted.  We only need carpet.  Pics to follow...

The lost wedding pics

Always the procrastinator (thanks, Dad), I *finally* got around to developing the table cameras from our wedding. There's something to be said for the expiration dates on those puppies because the quality on all 7 rolls came out quite mediocre, and some are downright indiscernible. In any event, I've included some of my favorites herein (p.s. yes, we all love our tongues):


#1: The classiest dad alive...

#2: ...followed by the classiest mom alive...

#3. ...with the classiest cousin alive rounding out the top three...

#4. Two out of three cousins agree...
#5. And at last, some people with ACTUAL decorum - notice it's my NEW family.

SHS - 12 yr Reunion

A couple of weeks ago I discovered that a good friend from high school, Kai, moved out to the DC area. We became friends in 6th grade when her family moved from the city to the suburbs. She introduced me to Pearl Jam and eventually was the one that convinced me to run Cross Country our senior year in high school.

Our schedules finally matched and we went out for drinks and dinner last Friday. It was like we picked up right where we left off. We hadn't seen each other in 12 years and yet it was like nothing had changed (save the fact that we're now 12 years older, married and homeowners!). Here are some pics from her Blackberry from that night:

(this one was taken by Kai herself...pretty good for not being able to see what she was taking a picture of!)


(a nice man offered to take this one for us)

We had great fun; I'm so happy we reconnected.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

The day finally arrived yesterday when I had to come to terms with the fact that I am now *30*. Ugh. I had been sweating it all year, never enjoying my last days as a twenty-something-er. It was not shaping up to be an extraordinary day, either. Work has been so hectic the last couple of weeks, and I was scheduled to be on teleconferences all...day...long. The only thing getting me thru the day was the knowledge that Chris would be taking me out to dinner and I would be getting presents. Then everything started falling into place and the day couldn't have gone better:

1. My telecons got cancelled at the last minute! Woohoo! I was free to 'coast' thru my special day at work.

2. Meredith and Sarah (coworkers) made me a de-lish upside-down apple cake/pie thing that was phenomenally tasty. They also got me all the gear to make my favorite drink, Tequila Sunrises, from scratch. They gave me an electric juicer, oranges, tequila and grenadine. They rock the house, most def. :)

3. Yay! Quittin' time!

4. Got home to open my first present from Chris before dinner: an Aeron Chair!! I've wanted one for SO long and while it's more of a practical gift, Chris really outdid himself on the non-practical stuff to even the score.

5. Dinner. This is where the day became THE BEST BIRTHDAY. EVER. We went to our ordinary, favorite local place for dinner. But what wasn't ordinary about *this* day was my surprise, shock and sheer excitement to find MY PARENTS sitting at the table when I walked in!!! My Dad masterminded the entire thing and they all flew in from Illinois ON A WEDNESDAY to wish me a happy birthday! It was so great to see my mom, my step-mom and my dad that I instantly turned on the waterworks out of pure amazement that everyone kept such a great secret from me. But man am I glad they did, because it was the best gift I got that night. It meant so much to me that they came out.

6. More presents! The best things come in small packages for sure. My dad and step-mom got me a gift certificate to the local nursery. For a budding (no pun intended!) gardener such as myself this is awesome because plants can get expensive! My mom got me a gift certificate to Red Door Spa which I'm really looking forward to. I sure do love a good pampering and don't do it enough for myself. And then, the piece de resistance. Chris pulled out a little blue bag from Tiffany's. Oh...Mah...Gah! First one in my life I've ever gotten. I am SO keeping it. :) Inside was a beautiful necklace that has two diamonds and an aquamarine spaced out over a platinum chain. It's GORGEOUS and since Chris picked it out all on his own, I couldn't be happier with it.

See? How could anyone say my birthday wasn't awesome?? And it's still going on, too. Meredith and Sarah are taking me out for drinks tonight and my friend, Steph, is taking me out to dinner on Friday! But wait, there's more. On Saturday, Chris and I leave for vacation for a whole week of sun and fireworks at Spirit Lake, IA. It may not be a tropical paradise, but it's still loads of fun.

I think 30 is going to be OK after all...

Happy Father's Day, Dad

My dad is my biggest blog fan. He'll call me to tell me I haven't updated in a while and what gives? So to honor him this year, I thought I would regail my audience, and him especially, with my favorite memories of growing up with him (in no particular order):

1) Our bike rides. Every so often we would hop on our bikes and just tour the neighborhood. I really enjoyed these rides because it gave us time to just talk about everything and nothing. We never had a planned route or decided end game on these rides. It was for pure enjoyment alone. Good times, good times.

2) Dad/Daughter dances. My high school held these dances every year and we went to two of them - my junior and senior years. Dad would 'suit up' and I would dress to the nines. It wasn't often I got to dress up AND go out for a night on the town with my dad so these were always extra special events.

3) My eighth grade graduation. There we were, sitting in a hot gymnasium in Canton Middle School, my dad with a borrowed video camera that used those oh-so-small and technologically advanced VHS tapes that required a full-sized adapter for playback. The ceremony seemed endless and I just wanted to start my summer vacation already. Finally, it was all wrapped up and we went home only to watch it all over again. We throw the tape into the VCR and what do we see? After the processional and a couple of speeches we see about 5-7 minutes of my dad's lap because he forgot to put it on pause. Classic.

4) Bowling night. To this day my dad is on a bowling league. It's our heritage (and really the only thing to do for fun in the midwest). When I was a mere 3 or 4, Dad would take me to the alley with him on league night. Debbie, my preschool teacher, moonlighted there and was the jolliest woman I knew. These were great times, because while my dad was bowling and being an adult, he would fork over money whenever I asked for it so I could go have fun. Mind you, a dollar went a long way in those days so I was a cheap date. To this day, I get all nostalgic when I walk into a bowling alley because this is THE memory that makes me think of my dad. The sounds of bowling balls being rolled down lanes, hitting pins with that distinctive crash and yes, even the standard alley smell of stale cigarette smoke and rental shoe spray all take me back to my happy place.

So there you have it, Dad. I hope you've enjoyed walking down memory lane with me. I love you.

Progress!

That's right, folks, we're actually getting off of our butts and closing in on the finish lines on our two biggest on-going projects! The garden isn't quite complete yet, but we got off to a great start yesterday...PLANTS! I know, I know, it's not the ideal time to plant and we'll have to water like it's going out of style, but we're just happy we aren't looking at dirt all the time. We'll probably plant the far side in the next couple of weeks or wait until the fall. I haven't decided yet.

Here is the side garden in between the driveway and staircase. In the back row, we have two Hosta 'Salute' on each end with three Speedwell in the middle. The Speedwell don't look like much now, but if we did it correct, they will grow to 2-3 feet tall with purple spires jutting out the top. The border in the front is all Coral Bells 'Creme Brulee'.


This next photo is in the front as you walk up to the house. In the back row, we have two Foxgloves flanking the sides with two Pandora's Box Daylilies in the middle. Before we went to New York I never knew Foxgloves existed, but they were in the Conservatory Garden in Central Park and I just had to have them. Again, they don't look like much at the moment, but they will be about 2-3 feet tall when mature. In front is a row of Coral Bells 'Dolce Licorice'.
We really hope this works, because we're not gardeners by any stretch of the word so it would be great if my research and planning paid off.

Now on to the storage room. We have drywall and we're actually at the mudding/sanding phase, but I didn't take the most up-to-date photos. This first one is looking at the storage room from the rec room (i.e. outside looking in).


This one is from the inside looking out:


And this is Chris' pride and joy. A Ridgid air filtration system he bought to hopfully help us with dust control from sanding. The above pic doesn't show it, but we've put up a plastic wall just outside of the wall to contain the dust even more. And then, of course, there are plastic bags all over our furniture, TV, etc. for added control.


Yay us!

Catching up

Hey all, it's been a while for whatever reason. I'm not going to apologize. It is what it is, so just be happy I'm posting at all, ya ingrates.

Anyway, in the last month quite a bit has happened. We took a quick trip up to NYC (see obligatory Rockefeller Center pic below). We had a great time. The point was to see an off-off broadway play written by the wife of a cartoonist. I read his comic and blog everyday (see "Sheldon" link to the left) and since I find him entertaining, I figured his wife is more of the same. Besides, we won't be doing any major traveling this year (read: no major vacation planned like last year's Napa Valley trip) so little weekend sojourns are the next best thing. I have to say I appreciate NYC more now that I've taken the time to walk around it. I used to think it wasn't all that, but I got to see new neighborhoods and quite enjoyed this trip. Oh, but this was the crowning glory of our time there. One cupcake from that place kept you fed from breadfast until dinner! Hearty doesn't even begin to describe these puppies. On the two separate occasions we went I had the Oreo cupcake and the Red Velvet cupcake, respectively. They were way yummy. Chris had an "Artie Lange" and a coconut cupcake.



On to Memorial Day weekend, or as we like to now refer to it: "the other 'labor' day weekend". To tell you why, I have to tell you a story first. We had our house built back in 2004. As is customary with most new developments these days, especially to profit-mongering developers such as ours (why should they be any different right?), the standard MO is to gut the site of natural resources, blast thru whatever hill they are building into and then backfill your yard with said debris. Then, so as not to show their hand, they plant a couple of measly bushes, mulch the hell out of the site and call it 'landscaping'. Well, in the 3 years we've been here, all but 2 of the original 5 bushes died. This prompted a wild hare to find its way into my nether regions and plant (no pun intended) the idea of ripping out all of the plants, digging up the garden bed and replacing the debris with honest-to-God topsoil/compost perfect for an honest-to-God garden. Now, dear readers, we come to the crux of the story. I point you to Exhibits A-C:

[Exhibit A]This is but 1/3 of what we ripped out of the ground...


[Exhibit B]...to produce this ditch...


[Exhibit C]...and this, too...over two days. When all was said and done we moved in excess of *3 TONS* of earth. 3 TONS, people. And during the hottest weekend to date this year no less. It was about 90 degrees with about 60% humidity or more. Niiiice. Putrid would probably best describe our odor at the end of the day.


Be sure to note where the red clay stains on the stairway facade are...yeah, we dug that deep (it's about a foot if you can't tell). "What's the big deal" you may ask? Did you happen to notice that one of the tools we had to use in Exhibit C was a sledgehammer?!? It's not pictured, but our best friend throughout this whole ordeal was a freakin' pick axe! Shovels were useless. You couldn't go a 1/2 inch without hitting a rock. So yeah, we appreciate 'day laborers' (read: undocumented workers). We labored for a day and didn't get too far. Were we to do this for our livelihood, we would starve to death, no lie. So why did we do it? Because of the aforementioned wild hare, and because of this:


Ain't that a thing of beauty? We were so proud we almost handed out cigars. Now it's ready for some proper plants and flowers, but that's for another day, another blog.

And still no keychain...

Since I never had the forethought to bookmark it, I went searching for my myspace page (it only directs you here so don't even bother trying to find it) by typing my first name into the search field. Do you know my page wasn't the first to pop up, but instead it was a DIFFERENT Jeneane's page?!? That led me to Google my name and this is what was #1. Did you also know I have a career in song?

Now, I'm not so self-centered or self-deluding to think I am the only Jeneane. I have come across other women that share my name. But they have been Janines or Jeaninnes or some other derivative. The closest I have ever seen the spelling is with comedianne Janeane Garofalo - there's only a one-letter difference there. However, this is the first time in HISTORY that I have found a woman that spells it EXACTLY like mine. And it's actually not just one, there are TONS. Well, that's hyperbole. I stopped counting after 6 because I was already on page 10 of the Google search and hadn't even come across a link for me yet (and I'm out there, because I have Googled my entire name and came up with something...don't look at me like that, everyone Googles themselves these days, don't deny it). Needless to say, I was both elated and a bit deflated at the same time. I love finding quirky things like that out, but having lived almost 30 years thinking I was the only J-E-N-E-A-N-E was really cool. Sure it sucked never being able to find my name on anything in a tourist trap gift shop, but I had come to terms with that long ago and actually became proud of my uniqueness.

The worst part about this whole thing is that first link leads to a woman who is pretty damned prolific. Makes me look like some lump on a log, which I'm not, but man!

Getting More Exercise - Day 7 (oh fine, Day 1)

Once again, I've gotten the "I need to be more active and healthy" bug. Yes, this is the millionth time since 2004, but you don't understand. This time I MEAN it. No, really. THIS time I don't really have an excuse NOT to start an exercise regimen. Last year the excuse was...um...well I didn't really have one, but that's not the point...

I told Chris a couple of months ago that I wanted 2007 to be a very active year. I want to go hiking, camping, bicycling, etc, etc, etc. I hate exercising in a gym. If I'm going to get healthy, I have to do it in a setting that is pleasing to the eye. Watching myself get flushed and winded in a mirror directly in front of a treadmill is NOT pleasing. Who thought THAT was a good idea? "Hey, let's force people to watch how their bodies jiggle when they walk!" I get the whole tough love thing, but that's not motivating to me. That makes me want to stop the workout and throw myself a pity-party catered by Haagen-Dazs.

So, J, what are you doing to accomplish your goal of being more active, you ask? Well, for starters, I'm thinking *really* hard about how I can be more active. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Actually, I'm doing little things everyday that don't amount to much right now, but the wheels are in motion. Speaking of which, we just got our bikes back from getting tune-ups so we'll being biking more. I want to try for at least 4 days/wk - like after dinner - with one of those days being a nice, long ride on the weekend. Also, I'm parking WAY farther away from stores and work so I have to walk more. Oh yeah, and I'm walking Prince more (we both need the exercise!).

So there you have it. Now that I've publically announced that I'll be getting more exercise in my life, I'm hoping that gives me the much-needed push to really do it. Wish me luck...or don't. Whatever. I'm not doing this for you anyway. :-P

Stupid Internet

Um, right. 2am...wide awake. WTF? It all started innocently: I needed to schedule an Electrical Rough-In inspection for that damned wall we're building before midnight so the guy would know to come on Friday (today).

Then I'm watching a movie and want to know more about the lead guy so I "imdb" him - turns out he's the lead guy in "October Road" which I don't watch and I'm betting no one else does either. That leads to trying to track down old high school peeps, which leads to myspace.com where a couple of my cousins have sites (who doesn't right?). That leads to me creating a stupid myspace page so I can actually view my fam's sites. Anyway, the sole purpose of my own myspace site is to direct people here. Like I'm going to update more than one page. I do a crap job of updating this one as it is!

And voila! Instant time waster.

So, yeah. If you're interested in newbie music, my cuz has a pretty decent band, Winter is Broken. He's 18 and writes all the songs, yadda, yadda, yadda. Check it out: http://www.myspace.com/winterisbroken

neaner out.

Welcome little one!! - part deux

Yay! New pics of Rach and Kevin's newborn son, Colin Patrick. He's 1 month old now and still so precious!

iLove...

...my new computer. We just purchased a brand-new iMac and man is it total sweetness! Now you might be asking yourself, "why would you buy an Apple, J? Don't you use PCs to do all of your work and doesn't the world run on Microsoft anyway?" Well, concerned citizen, that may be the case, but every now and again I like to buck the system even if there's no affect to said system (i.e. "the Man"). I bought the Apple because I've always secretly wanted to and when my company offered to give me an interest-free loan to buy it there's really no plausible reason to wait any longer.

Besides, the last time I bought a 'puter was in 2000, so you know THAT'S obsolete. Sure I upgraded the operating system and beefed up the memory, but after years of neglect in the new age of spam and spyware the poor thing was just so choked up it could barely load up the Google website.

So now we've got more power than we can shake a stick at and cooler capabilities than ever. I was talking with my husband about it over lunch the other day and getting utterly excited about being able to create movies, launch whole websites and all sorts of things. Whether I actually produce anything is besides the point. :) He thought I had lost it, but what I haven't already mentioned is why we bought it in the first place: to replace a TV. That's right folks - not only did we buy this shiny, all-in-one beauty to replace a dying computer, but we also did it to consolidate things in the guest room. Oooo, I just realized I could do a before/after shot showing you the space we've opened up...ok, nerding out here.

Have an enjoyable weekend!

Welcome little one!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO RACHAEL & KEVIN!!!

Little Colin Patrick was born at 4am yesterday morning. He was 8 lbs 2 oz and 22 inches long. Rachael was a trouper, withstanding 17 hours of labor! She and family are doing well.

Bless this Mess

Here are some pics of the house as we undergo construction:




#1 is where the wall will go
#2 is the room immediately adjacent to the new storage room (our Media Room - love the paint swatches?)
#3 is what you see from the kitchen...the front door is directly left of the mess

The hubby likes to call this "Warehouse Chic". I'm going with that.

Tales from the Cripp(le)

So there I was...walking across the street to meet my husband for the evening commute home when WHAM!, I sprain my ankle. Just like that, with no warning, I'm turned into a hobbling mess. All because I was wearing my Danskos. These are great shoes, but they are certainly NOT for those of weak ankle (think of it as wearing narrow mini-platforms that tend to topple at the very hint of an uneven surface).

And I should know, because I have been spraining my ankle like it was an Olympic sport since I was a wee lass. I kid you not - we're talking too many to count and I don't know how many trips to the emergency room. You should see my closet; it's a veritable wasteland of ankle-healing paraphernalia: crutches, air casts, Ace bandages, cold compresses, pain meds, you name it I've got it.

For those who know me, this latest injury should come at really NO surprise. Ah, but therein lies the rub. You see, I've always sprained my right ankle and last night the unthinkable happened. I sprained my LEFT ankle - the one ankle I've been able to count on all these years to bear the weight so Righty McSprainerton could get better. I guess ol' Lefty had finally had enough and decided to teach me a lesson. Well played, Lefty, well played...

Decided to Give it a go after all...

...wow, almost a whole year without a new post. That's gotta be a record.

Well, here goes nothing:

- I've been happily married for over a year now (aw yeah baby)
- A good friend, Jessica, is finally getting herself hitched this September (yay!)
- Another good friend, Rachael, is having her first child this year (double yay!)
- My best friend, Tammy, celebrates 6 years of wedded bliss this March (woo hoo!)

In other goings on, my house is a shambles at the moment. We are converting an open space in the basement to a storage room so we have exposed studs and ripped up carpet. All the stuff that we HAVE been storing in that space is now all over the house...and I mean ALL OVER the HOUSE. Not only do we have stuff we've 'pack-ratted' (yay, I just coined a verb!) over the years, but we inherited all sorts of holiday decor, power tools, etc from my in-laws. Oh yeah, and the stuff we were storing over at my mom's is all finally back at our place, too, because she just sold her place and the movers are packing her life up so we had no choice but to take ours back. We donated an entire Jeep Liberty full of stuff to the Salvation Army and still managed to walk away keeping 1.5 Jeep Liberty's worth of crap.

I call my husband a 'squirrel' for a reason, but even I will be amazed to see him put it all back in that tiny space we'll be calling our storage room. Oh, and did I mention it will also serve as my craft room? Riiiight. Good luck with that, Nean.

So there you have it: my current status in a nutshell.