December 13, 2008

Fifteen years later and Bella Ciao is still out of our league. :)

Last night we braved the semi-icy road conditions and ventured to Ann Arbor. We celebrated the 16th anniversary of our first date as well as the 15th anniversary of our previous visit to Bella Ciao.

Dinner was delicious and we had a wonderful evening.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie.

December 13, 1992

Saturday, December 13, 2008 will be the 16th anniversary of my first date with Tony. Sixteen years, omg! That’s rapidly approaching 20! Okay, we’re not going to go there. I’m still just shy of my 20th class reunion, so let’s deal with one sobering milestone at a time.

We don’t celebrate our December 13th anniversary every year, although we do acknowledge it in some way. Even if we just exchange a “Happy Anniversary!” it never goes overlooked.

This year circumstances have aligned in just the right fashion to make this one special and worthy of celebration. First of all, the date falls on a Saturday which just screams Date Night. Secondly, I recently heard a radio advertisement for Bella Ciao in Ann Arbor, which is where we celebrated our one year anniversary back in 1993 (omg! 199-frackin-3?!). Our love for Italian cuisine is prompting us to seek out new dining options, so Bella Ciao sounds perfect.

I mentioned the radio ad to Tony, we checked the calendar and discovered the 13th falls on a Saturday, Tony made dinner reservations, bada bing bada boom, we’ve got ourselves a celebration!

I’m excited to go back to Bella Ciao, not having been since we celebrated there 15 years ago. At the time it was WAY out of our league and a little intimidating. Of course that was back when I considered Red Lobster an upscale dining experience.

It’ll be interesting to see if our memories of the restaurant stand up to the test of time. But I think it’ll have to go pretty far to disappoint us. As we go out to eat a lot, and regularly enjoy “nice” Italian places, it’s surprising that I’m so looking forward to it. But I can’t wait for Saturday!!

'Stache Time

Creepy 'stache

Awesome 'stache

Doesn't get better than this 'stache

What type of sale?

I drove by the local mall this morning and saw the following event proudly being promoted on one of their large outdoor signs:

Macy's One Day Sale

12/5 - 12/6

Maybe they're having two back-to-back One Day Sales. ;)

I shouldn't pick, as I'm already getting excited about the thought of a two day Macy's One Day Sale.

Page 56

I have been tagged by my friend Random Thinker to make a post on my blog. I admit, I've been lax in making new posts and am long overdue. Thanks for the prompt.

The requirements of this particular post are as follows: Open the book nearest your computer. No fair hunting for something that sounds intellectual and impressive, to page 56. Post the 5th sentence,plus one or two thereafter for context.

Alright, Random Thinker, here's my homework:

"I looked around. Most of the remaining women were now having fights with men said to be their husbands. Even Jordan's party, the quartet from East Egg, were rent asunder by dissension. One of the men was talking with curious intensity to a young actress, and his wife after attempting to laugh at the situation in a dignified and indifferent way broke down entirely and resorted to flank attacks -- at intervals she appeared suddenly at his side like an angry diamond and hissed "You promised!" into his ear."

--The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I admit I debated for a minute on which book to grab for this post. Looking around my desk I saw Peachtree Accounting 2005 (snooze), Slaughterhouse Five ( racked with guilt over borrowing it from my brother a year ago --at least I hope it’s just a year-- and still not done reading it), God Delusion (didn’t want to open that can of worms) or Festivus: A Holiday for the Rest of Us (don’t know why I didn’t go for this one).

The Great Gatsby (along with many many other books both fiction and non) had been sitting on my “I’ll read it one day” shelf for, oh let’s face it, years! Finally on Monday I decided that good old Gatsby’s day had arrived. He was selected from the masses for a variety of reasons. I really really want to finish reading another book before the end of the year and its non-overwhelming size appealed to me. It’s an American classic. No offense to Sue Grafton, but I needed a break from Kinsey for a while or it would have been S is for Silence.

Just started reading it this week (okay, I've picked it up once) and have yet to make it to page 56, so now I have something to look forward to.

Hey, isn't that that one guy?

Is it my imagination or is the "Do you have a Beaumont doctor?" radio spokesman now moonlighting in the Jimmy John's radio ads?

Stupid Half Deaf Moment

I'm wearing new earrings today. They are dangly hoops inset within each other. When I move, the loops tinkle against each other.

I periodically wonder why I'm only hearing the left one.

Old habits ("I can hear 360 degrees") die hard, I guess. ;-)

Random Thoughts

If I were a man, I'd be wearing a Tag Heuer watch. They're just so cool (the ladies models are lame in comparison).

One of my biggest fears is walking out of a restroom with a streamer of toilet paper stuck to my shoe.

I love Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry.

I'm such a geek -- I'm so so so looking forward to both the cartography and the Darwin exhibits at the Field Museum when Tony and I visit in December.

"GBox"

I wonder how many people will be misdirected to my blog while searching for music online...

http://www.gbox.com/

More Cool Stuff!

My brother's been keeping busy....

http://www.cafepress.com/WageSlaveGifts

Posh and Becks

I'm an internet tabloid junky, I love reading the celebrity gossip sites. Not every day and only a couple of sites, but still I love it. Therefore, I have a relative understanding of who David and Victoria Beckham are -- a celebrated soccer player and a professional paparazzi fave, repectively, together turned "international celebrities and fashion icons". Now that David Beckham has signed with the LA Galaxy franchise and the family has moved to Los Angeles, their names and images are getting splashed across US media, and not just the celebrity pages.

Driving home from work yesterday I heard a "weekend celebrity news" recap on the radio. Of course there was news about the lavish welcoming extravaganza thrown for "Posh and Becks" by TomKat (Cruise) and Will and Jada (Smith) with detail of all the accompanying hoopla (Who's Who, etc).

The dj then wrapped-up the segment by speculating "One day people will realize that they're nothing more than a washed-up soccer player and a former Spice Girl.... (whispers) It's not that big of a deal."

I loved that. :-)

Does Koosh make bike seats?

Tony and I went for a bike ride last night (yay, us!). Only the second ride so far for the year which is sad until you realize those two bike rides are more than we've done in probably the last six years combined. I know! We're lazy, that's just the way it is.

I'm in the market for a new bike seat (Tony, too). By the end of an hour-long bike ride, the seat (and by extension my shorts) had just too severely violated my personal space. Not good at all. Maybe this is why we don't ride that often. This and the whole lazy thing I mentioned earlier.

We've got some La-Z-Boy furniture at home that's extremely comfortable. Do you think they make bike seats? What about Koosh? If they could make a bike seat out of that stuff, that would be heaven!

Is this what we're doing now?

Driving by a Wendy's today at lunch I noticed several professionally printed signs in their yard indicating there was some sort of fund-raising effort being undertaken inside.

In large bold letters the signs proclaimed "Help Support Kidney Disease".

Sure, there was smaller text on the signs indicating exactly how you could go about helping to "support kidney disease" while patronizing Wendy's. But by then, my literal, unforgiving mind was too focused on exactly why they were asking us to help support kidney disease instead of supporting the research and treatment of kidney disease.

Hey, that's my cardiologist!

I was driving west on I-94 yesterday, heading to Ann Arbor. Just past exit 183, I saw a Saint Joseph Mercy Health System billboard. They're all over in southeast Michigan, sporting the distinctive maroon banner declaring "Remarkable Medicine, Remarkable Care". I've seen several different versions, each with a larger-than-life likeness of a medical professional or a patient.

I always wondered if they are real doctors and patients or just models. My hunch was real doctors and patients. Yesterday my hunch was confirmed as I approached the sign and delightfully realized the doctor's likeness on this particular billboard is Dr Wilks - my cardiologist!!

Don't ask me why I was so excited, considering the first time I met him he made me cry -- "Nice to meet you Mrs Gartrell, let's get that heart valve replacement surgery scheduled decades sooner than you'd ever dreamed" (and we all know how that went!). But it was very cool nonetheless seeing Dr Wilks ("MY" cardiologist) on the St Joseph's billboard.

Puppy. Had. To. Go.

Ripley (aka "Puppy") didn't have time for polite chit-chat when I came home from work today. She's generally pretty excited to see me return after a long day and she'll take a moment to greet me with a kiss and accept a pet or two before following me to the door to be let outside. Not today.

Today I walked into the family room where she was sitting in her kennel; as soon as she saw me, she stood up (sort of) and started scratching a front paw against the metal bars. I opened the door, she squirmed her way around the door and me and bolted straight for the sliding glass door and started scratching (pawing) FRANTICALLY at the glass.

I opened the door thinking "Oh, she must have seen some wildlife (stray cat, squirrel, what have you) scamper across our deck earlier and was in hot pursuit". No. She made for the deck steps as quickly as her little legs could carry her, ran out into the lawn in a circuitous path, finally slowing down and settling into a squat in her usual "area".

I know a full day in a kennel can be a long time and small puppy bladders can be really put to the test. Poor little Puppy, you just know her only thought once I got home and opened her kennel door was "Grass! I need grass NOW!!!!"

Note to Waitstaff Everywhere

If we'd earlier discussed (twice) my desire for a refill on my iced tea, and during your second trip through the dining room SINCE removing my glass to "bring me a refill", I catch your attention and tap my empty drink napkin, please do not stop to ask me innocently what I need.

I understand you're "new here", but you're dancing dangerously close to incompetence.

Blonde Joke

There's this blonde out for a walk. She comes to a river and sees another blonde on the opposite bank.

"Yoo hoo!" she shouts. "How can I get to the other side?"

The second blonde looks up the river then down the river and shouts back "You ARE on the other side!"

(Thank you for the joke, Aunt Max)

Frack Me!

I blame it on the dramatically sudden and remarkably unexpected road closure.

Today while driving my parents to lunch, I let the F-bomb slip. In the FCC-approved language of Battlestar Galactica, I believe the expletive I used was a bitter "Frack me!".

Obviously, the ease with which it escaped my lips indicates that it wasn't the first time the F-bomb has been uttered by me. But I do believe this was the first time my parents were forced to bear witness. They took it graciously, though. I almost immediately issued an embarrassed apology. My mom responded, ever so sweetly, from the backseat with "Oh, honey, that's all right".

I guess no harm was done, but still.... Oops!

Pantry secrets

Tony cleaned out and organized our pantry cupboard this week. Quite an undertaking - the thing was packed with God knows what. Strange because we never seem to cook at home, so why do we have (and keep buying!) all this food? I'm glad I missed the adventure of the task, but I did come home to the carnage of all the discarded/expired items.

The oldest (known) item he found and disposed of? A box of crackers that expired in 1998. Most troubling considering we didn't move into the house until 1999.

Apparently the one-year expired crackers were of such import to us at the time we deemed it necessary to move them from our apartment, stash them discreetly in the back of the pantry cupboard and hang onto them for another seven years.

Not our proudest moment by any means.

Vacation pics

The trip to the UP with Tony and my parents Labor Day weekend was really nice. It was good to spend time together; we did some gambling, some sight-seeing, and lots of dining! Tony, Dad and I finished the bridge walk in about an hour and forty minutes (Mom was under the weather and unfortunately missed it). Several freighters were passing through the straits as we walked, but crossed under the bridge long before we were anywhere close to them.

We walked the bridge,


saw Tahquamenon Falls,


and toured a lighthouse...


where my vertigo kicked in while climbing down the tower stairs.

(sure, this image is taken looking up at the stairs, but you can imagine the view looking down is even less friendly)

All in all, a very good vacation. In spite of the vertigo.