"Sipping Starbucks"

So for the lack of stuff to do, I have decided to start a weekly "column" on my blog so I have something to look forward to every week. The idea of this column is to feature my sisters, Rayla and Brittany. They are to come up with something for me to write about every week and I have to do it, no matter what. It can be to give my opinion on a picture, or research some urban word I do not know, or do a truth or dare, or anything else they might come up with.

I have decided to call this session "Sipping Starbucks: An Exploratory Session featuring Rayla and Brittany," which is a combo of the title that Rayla and Brittany came up with. Even though I have set this column to appear on Wednesdays, I am posting a pilot session today (again, because I had nothing to do). I hope you enjoy my explanations of the sister's topics!

Second Cousin Coming!

So shout out to my cousin Emily, who is expecting her first baby with her husband! I know she doesn't read this, but that's ok. Her baby is due on my dad's birthday! I probably won't be seeing the new baby anytime soon, but I look forward to being a second cousin in spirit!

All Things Glee

As many of you know, I have now jumped on the Glee bandwagon. I refrained from doing so because I just knew I would get addicted to it and I did not need that extra distraction in school (plus, I already keep up with The Office, Bones, and CSI: Vegas). But I finally gave in and, like predicted, I'm hooked. I haven't seen all the episodes from Season 1 yet, I have only a few episodes left, but Netflix only delivers DVDs so fast. However, I have seen all of Season 2, so I feel confident in discussing my opinions of the show and cast. Here is my 2 cents worth of all things Glee:

1. Rachel: She's annoying and I can't stand her. Her arrogance drives me nuts.

2. Mr. Schuester is my absolute favorite character. Why? Because he is the most "normal" character in this show. Most of the other characters are either too extreme or way too stereotyped. That doesn't stop me from liking other characters, though. I love Kurt and Brittany is hilarious, albeit rather hard to relate to. And you gotta love Sue. And Emma Pillsbury, of course!

3. Brittany's one liners often make the best quotes.

4. Terry Schuester is just about the most evil person out there. I don't care how much Mr. Schu and her wanted a baby, you don't keep faking your pregnancy and then "steal" a baby from your husband's student. Only the truth is the best option in that situation and I am SO glad that they went their separate ways.

5. My favorite couple is Mr. Schu and Miss Pillsbury (anyone surprised, I mean really). At first, I had no idea why they didn't get together after Mr. Schu's divorce, but now having watched that episode, I don't blame Miss Pillsbury for yelling at him. (He kind of was a man whore there for a little bit, even though nothing "bad" happened). And now, Dr. Carl is in the way and I hate him. But whenever Mr. Schu isn't looking, Emma is looking at him like she used to, so there's hope! I look forward to the day that they get together!

6. Ok. So does anyone else not understand Finn? I don't get how he can be so into sports and so into Glee Club and still not be comfortable with being in Glee Club, even though he obviously loves it and is really good at it. He's kind of wishy washy. Most choir guys I know that actually loved choir didn't care about what their peers said.

7. The slushy thing is a little ridiculous and was only funny the first few times. Besides, how many schools would allow that to continue?

8. I don't like Quinn. The only reason behind this is because half the time, I like her and the other time I hate her. I don't like feeling that about a person! So I don't like her character.

9. Can Laura Bell Bundy please star on the show? Thank you.

10. So they showcased Justin Bieber songs. Gross. Taylor Swift actually has fans over 12, so how about you showcase her, too? Besides, the show is catered towards people her age, anyway. And when are they going to sing a Celine Dion song? PLEASE? She has how many hits? Lots.

10. Less pop songs, more classic rock and Broadway tunes, and they have completely left out country songs. Sing a few country songs!

11. Kind of glad Finn and Rachel broke up, not going to lie.

Well, I'm sure I'll think of more, but now I have to go make dinner for my husband when he gets home from class. New episode of Glee tomorrow!

Birds + Earrings = Yummy

So, today at work, the conure ate my earring. For those of you who don't know, a conure is a small parrot, brightly colored, a little bit bigger than a cockatiel. Our conure is really friendly and loves people. I love to interact with her. We recently shipped her cage mate off to another store, so she was being rather loud and annoying, squawking constantly. I went in to give her attention, since that's usually what's bothering her and she is seeing all these people outside her cage who are not playing with her (shame on them). When I play with her, I like to keep her only on my hands so she doesn't get up on my shoulders where it becomes impossible to take her down nicely. She also likes to nibble and I am afraid that she will do this on my ear - and if you have ever had a parrot bite you, you will know their beak is freakin' STRONG. But she's a fast little bugger, and shimmied up my arm before I could prevent her. I should also mention that she is attracted to nice, shiny expensive things, like my wedding ring, and my earrings (although my earrings were those cheap plastic earrings that look like diamonds). Well, before I know it, she was crunching away on my earring. I have no idea if she swallowed it, or spit it out, but I'm pretty sure she swallowed it. I really hope nothing bad happens to her, since she also happens to be $600. It would be just my luck if a $600 bird died because she ate my earring. And it was just a stud, so nothing that would have been too distracting.

Aren't animals the best? :)

Long Time Coming

Looks like I need to improve my blog updating. I probably haven't been updating as much as I should because our life is pretty routine and not very exciting, for college students. I work, and if I'm not working, I'm at home either reading or watching TV, since I don't really enjoy driving around in this town by myself. I do enjoy the cooking, but that does get rather stressful sometimes in such a small kitchen and no dishwasher. Matt has a lot of studying and school work to do, with his senior project - a flying wing - taking up most of his time. With his time taken up with studying and not a huge income to peruse, we don't get out much, but we're enjoying the slow pace for now. While Mississippi is not the first place I'd like to live, I'm looking forward to that adventure to start. Matt received his EAD, so he is expected to report to Columbus AFB on July 18th (which happens to be his sister Brittany's birthday). However, they scheduled him to begin IFS in Colorado July 11th. The problem? IFS is about six weeks. One of these dates will be changing. We are hoping his EAD gets moved up so we can move down to Mississippi earlier. We have learned that UP might make us move out of our apartment soon after graduation instead being able to stay here for a few months in the summer. If that's the case, we might have to move in with the parents for a few weeks, since there is usually a strict rule on how early you can arrive to your base and have then refund your move. We're hoping that we find out soon and that everything works itself out.

Our last ski trip was outstanding! I am getting better and better, which includes snow plowing less :) I am still hesitant to go fast, so I still just crisscross all the way down the run, but I'm getting there. I should progress to blue runs in the next few times we go. I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to try black runs, but I have a blast just doing green runs so I can still enjoy the day even if everyone we go with does black runs. Besides, they always meet me half way down the green run coming from the black run, anyway.

Lenny grows every week, it seems. He is an odd animal. He HATES being picked up, but once he's out and running around and chilling with you, he HATES being put back. He should learn to make up his mind. One thing he has made up his mind about is his love for crickets. He gets SO excited when the bag comes out that he has now started to jump up and attack the bag before I have had a chance to dump the crickets in. This has let to several jumps on my part, along with spilled calcium dust into his terrarium. I would like to add that Jerry and Smeagol are as entertaining, but since they are a betta and a goldfish, respectively, they aren't the most exciting of creatures.

Matt and I are looking forward to getting a puppy (and additionally, a kitten for me). We can't get one until we are out of this apartment, so that's another reason we want to move Mississippi sooner rather than later. We can't decide if we want a golden retriever or a Bernese mountain dog. We both want a Siberian husky, but we really don't want the husky to suffer through the hot, humid weather of the south, so we decided we should get the retriever or the mountain dog first. Now we just have to figure out which breed we want! And the name, of course. Matt fancies any name from the show 24. I'm not as easily convinced Jack is a good name for our puppy, but I'm sure we'll settle on a name once we get him/her. I have already picked out a name for my kitten. I am going to get a male gray tabby and name him Huey after the Air Force helicopter. Plus, I just think that's an adorable name. Matt could really care less about the cat, but I love them and want one because I just know the dog will like Matt better, so I need the cat to like me better. Plus, you don't really have to train a cat.

I hope everyone is having a great new year!

Skiing!

Saturday, December 4th, 2010 was bound to be an epic day. Matt's favorite hobby, after flying, of course, is skiing and he has been trying to get me up to the slopes for awhile. Since I had the weekend off because I couldn't travel to Moscow, this was the perfect opportunity. So after a quick trip to Next Adventure on Friday night to get me some used ski/snow pants and some goggles, we were on our way to the slopes for some night skiing on Saturday, along with our friend Kyle (whom he like to call Yak).

First off, I must add that if you have never had to walk around in ski boots, it is an interesting experience, since the way they are designed makes you bend your knees. This immediately made me nervous because I have a knee condition that can be aggravated by added stress. I hoped beyond hope that my knees wouldn't give out on me. Then I got my skis. I mentioned to the employee that it was my first time, so he gave short skis (135) and made the screws on bindings really really loose (so if I crashed, my boots would detach from my skis easily, how smart of him!). I would also like to mention that the ski brand was Atomic, so I just told myself that I had nuclear powered skis, thus making them powerful and nearly indestructible (however, if something goes wrong, it really, really goes wrong). I was finally all ready for the bunny slope!

This is were I almost had a crying breakdown. Pointing my skis downhill absolutely terrified me and it didn't help that 1. I was the only person older than 6 who was learning, and 2. There was a snowboarding instructor that kept whizzing in and out of people. Matt skied backwards as he verbally led me down the hill, and guess what! I didn't fall at all! Granted, I was pretty much going perpendicular down the hill and snow plowed the entire way, but hey! I made it! I again freaked out, but this time at the rope pull, I didn't want to fall off in front of everybody or get run over by other people coming up the pull. But I got the hang of it, and got all the way back to the top without incident.

I mastered the bunny slope after a few more rounds (without falling, ever!) and my only nervousness become running over children or getting run over by snowboards. I attribute my fast learning skills to my childhood unicycling. I know that sounds weird, but unicycling is all about balance and I think because I already knew how to lean correctly in turns (yes, you have to do that on the unicycle)and keep a center of balance really helped me. I didn't need to learn how to balance, I just needed to learn that going down the hill really isn't all that scary and which foot to put weight on when turning.

Matt then decided that I could graduate to the easiest green slope. I then had to get over one of my other fears- the chair lift. I am afraid of heights, especially when I am not secured in the seat, it's windy, and I'm thirty feet above my death. Anyways, with an arm around the center pole and a death grip on my arm rest, I mastered the chairlift and it got less scary as we went up. However, my non-falling streak would come to an end, as I didn't stand up soon enough as we unloaded and I fell coming off the chairlift. But according to Matt, everyone does that, and not bad for that being my first fall.

Ok, so the top of the green slope is a lot higher up than it looks. Really. And again, I'm afraid of heights, but I started down the hill, zigzagging perpendicular as to control my speed. My first actual fall skiing happened about 50 feet later, I think I got going to fast and didn't know how to respond, but fortunately, I knew it was coming, so I purposely fell so I would come to rest next to the tree instead of running straight into the tree. The term "tree hugger" has a whole new meaning to me now. I got back up and continued down and made it most of the way down again until I fell again, I think this time because it was way steeper than I wanted to deal with, and the wind was blowing furiously, thus exposing the ice underneath the nice powder that was present at the top. But I made to to the bottom! My two crashes weren't big enough that I was hurt or cause my skis to come off!

My second run was nearly perfect, I didn't fall at all, even off the chairlift, and went down most of the way without stopping. Granted, I was still snow plowing the entire way, but considering it was really icy and only my second time, I think that's good! I also got a little more adventuresome this round and pointed my skis more downhill than perpendicular.

My third run I got going even faster, still snowplowing, though. I nearly made it down the slope without crashing, I fell about three quarters of the way down because I got going too fast over an icy section that scared me. But I also fall before I actually fall (if that makes sense, that way I'm the one controlling the fall instead of the fall controlling me). I wasn't hurt at all, but it took me about 15 minutes to recover because the way and place I fell, I had to take my skis off, and I couldn't get my second ski back on! I had Yak and Matt nervous, waiting at the bottom of the hill for me, but I managed to get down. We then took a break, but then decided we should head out since we were hungry, I was getting pretty tired, and the slope was getting icier and icier as the wind kept blowing.

The only part I still don't like is when I'm on the chair lift, the extra weight of the skis hanging off my feet puts a lot of stress on my knees and my knees hurt the entire way up. My right knee seems to be strong enough to handle it, now I know I need to do some stretching and strength exercises on my left knee before I go up again! And I want to go up again! I had a lot of fun! I don't know if I'll ever be brave enough to try black diamond runs (man, they look steep!), but it's amazing how even the second time you run a slope, it doesn't look nearly as steep! I look forward to the rest of the skiing season and hopefully we can get my dad, and even my mom, to come down to ski with us! My dad LOVES skiing, and apparently, that gene was passed on to me! Now that I've gotten a taste for, realize I'm actually kind of a natural at it, and I didn't run over any small children, I am kind of addicted to it!

Lenny

Well, looks like I have some updating to so with regards to the new addition to our family! In October, Matt and I obtained a terrarium and supplies from our good friends Danielle and Jerrik. Having been introduced to bearded dragons from some housemates at Idaho, I really really wanted one, since they are very personable reptiles and we can't have a kitten or a puppy. Cue Lenny's entrance!

He has adjusted well to his new home over a month later! He enjoys being held and watching us whenever we are in the room, although like any juvenile, has a short attention span and begins to run around the house after a few minutes and thus begins a wild dragon chase. It is hilarious to watch him try and run across the linoleum or the wood furniture, with claws he is unable to get much of a grip! As he gets bigger, hopefully he will calm down and stop trying to run away!

I have classically trained him a la Pavlov, unintentionally, however. He has learned that when the plastic baggie that I use to dust crickets comes out, he is about to get fed. Lenny gets very excited and starts running up and down the length of his terrarium and then the hunt is on! This goes to so you how intelligent these creatures can be! I am also trying to introduce him to veggies, so far he enjoys dandelion flowers and greens, peas, and the occasional treat of broccoli (you can't feed them too much broccoli or they get vitamin A toxicity). He doesn't seem to enjoy carrots all that much, though. Which is fine, actually, since the greens are healthier for him anyway.

We actually can't tell if Lenny is a male yet, since it's hard to sex them as juveniles, but fortunately we have picked a name that can morph into "Leni" if Lenny turns out to be a female.

We enjoy Lenny immensely and can't wait until a puppy and a kitten can join him in Mississippi!