Odds and Ends

I haven't blogged for weeks. The holidays were a little crazy, and my internet was down. I know lame excuses, but they are my lame excuses and I'm sticking to them. I've decided to catch up so here are a few details on my latest adventures.

RED ROCK

My friend Anna was visiting from Oregon a couple of weeks ago. Our little High School group got together for lunch. It was great to catch up with Anna, Allie, and Amy. Seriously I have thought about changing my name to Angie, Ashley, or Anastasia so that I could fit in a little more. I guess I could go by Anne but that is a little to close to Anna. For now I will stick with Suzanne, but I am open to suggestions.

MAPLE SYRUP DAY

Emily and I celebrated Maple Syrup Day a couple of weeks ago. We decided to do maple syrup shots. Emily did not love it as much as I did. We personally believe that Buddy the Elf started maple syrup day.

BAY LEAF CAFÉ

I met Amy and Dallin downtown for lunch a couple days before Christmas. We ate at the Bay Leaf Café, which is a fairly new addition to Main Street. I loved the atmosphere and the menu. Best of all, the drinks came in Mason jars.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas Eve traditions were in full force at the Richards’ household this year. We went to the neighborhood sing-a-long, which is less of a sing-a-long these days and more of a bell concert. Don’t get me wrong, I love bells but 1-2 bell songs is enough. JB made homemade pizza for us following the program.

Then my nieces and nephews unwrapped their pajamas. Here they all are together. They are now ages 4, 3, 2, and 1.

Mary has been very crafty this year. She made me the beanie that I am modeling. I LOVE IT!

SNOWSHOEING

I went snowshoeing for the second time ever the day after Christmas. The first time I went snowshoeing was several years ago. I went on a first date, which was also a blind date and also a double date. The other girl was a wimp so we only made it the length of one football field before we turned around. This time my snowshoeing companions were not wimps so we made it a lot further. It was majestic.

FESTIVUS

We celebrated Festivus a week late. We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. Over dinner we aired our grievances with each other. Anne had actually aired hers a few days earlier. Here is the list she provided for me.

Things you do that annoy me:

Use that voice

Don’t ask for help

Read over my shoulder

Correct my grammar

Choose TV over me

Pick your nose

Brag about yourself

Wake up early

Count calories

Leave clothes in the washer

Count my carbs

Read the tabloids

Talk like a baby

Drive like a grandma

Sing off-key

Interrupt

Slurp your soup

Sweat

Snap your gum

Say “like” excessively

State the obvious

Degrade the waiitstaff

Take the last piece

Buy the wrong brand

Screen my calls

Blast your music

Eavesdrop

Forget to use a coaster

Talk with your mouth full

Call me “dude”

Pretend I’m not here

Look at me like that

Act like your parents

Party too much

Refuse to relax

Hog the covers

Eat off my plate

Work out

Snoop around

Use “was like” as a verb

Take on too much

Slam the door

Burp at the table

Talk Trash

Back-seat drive

Talk in your sleep

Wear too much makeup

Forget to flush

In response to this list I told Anne that there is nothing I don’t like about her. I’m happy to have flatmates that have a good sense of humor. (FYI: I am only guilty of 2-3 of these things).

For dessert we had tapioca with beans in it. It really looked like fish eggs and mouse poop, Emily and Anne finished theirs, I couldn’t get past the texture.

We also had the feats of strength when we returned home. I wrestled Anne down to the couch , she didn’t put up much of a fight mostly because she was confused. She got me back later that night by having a little too much fun with the camera I left out. Let's just say that she took 20-30 pictures all containing special messages for me. I should have saved the pictures for a post but I wasn't thinking.

NEW YEAR'S

My breakfast on New Year's Day consisted of a 2-3 peanut butter bars and 1 chocolate cherry cookie. I followed it up with an 11 mile run and car wash all before 11 AM.

I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be a good year. That actually reminds me of the song "I have a feeling that tonight's going to be a good night." A couple of months ago I was hanging out with Max and Ben and out of nowhere Max started singing that song. Off the topic sort of but a fun little anecdote.

Well that is the end of my rambling and odds and ends. Until next time...

CELEBRATING

I haven't blogged in almost a month. December has been crazy but it has also been very memorable. My flatmates and I decided to celebrate every random national holiday. On December 2nd Emily took an early morning trip to Banbury Cross to pick fritters up for National Fritters Day. Apple fritters are good but cherry fritters are amazing.

Anne and Emily slept on the roof on National Roof Over Your Head Day. It was a cold night, below 20 for sure, Emily has just recently recovered feeling in her fingers and toes. I was a realist and slept under our roof. Emily and Anne woke me up at 4 am for a trip to the downtown Denny's where we ate breakfast with all of the people that truly don't have a roof over their head. Needless to say we are grateful for the roof over our heads.

December 5th was Bathtub Party Day. We had a party in the bathtub. There is video but we have decided that it is not safe for public viewing. I will share a few pictures. We decided to set the self timer and then run into bathroom. In the first picture, Emily looks like she is being punched, and she may have been :) In the second picture we had a shower rod malfunction.



December 7th was our Ward Ugly Sweater Christmas Party and National Cotton Candy Day. I borrowed a few jackets from my mom. These beauties were made in the early nineties and they were a hit at parties my Mom attended then, and they were a hit this year for an entirely different reason. Thanks for being a good sport Mom!



After the Christmas Party we hit up the local Dollar Tree for cotton candy. I seriously don't know how I used to eat this stuff. I had one bite and that was plenty.

To be continued...

Fashionista

Sarah is my younger sister, she finds great things before I know about them. She works in the fashion industry (aka Gap) so she knows about trends before they have hit the general market. Since High School I have been about 6 months after Sarah in the fashion world. We were joking the other day about how she finds the trends, I copy them. I also get hand-me-ups occasionally from Sarah. When she is tired of her cloths she typically retires them to me. Hand-me-ups are my favorite...Sarah I haven't gotten any since Joe entered the picture. What is the deal?

Sarah recently told me about hobo international wallets. She has two, I borrowed one and fell in love. I recently ordered this wine colored one for myself. I can't say enough good things about it. This wallet is perfect in a purse and perfect outside a purse as a stand alone clutch. My sister had designer jeans a long time before I did. Her favorite brand is Seven for All Mankind which means that my favorite brand is Seven for All Mankind. A couple of months ago she recommended a new brand. It took me a few months, but I finally gave them a try, and of course I love them. She recommended Gap jeans. Gap recently changed their denim. It is a higher quality denim comparable to the denim used for Sevens. These jeans are awesome. I have the sexy boot cut and the always skinny. They fit like a glove and they hold their shape. Best of all they are the perfect length for ballet flats.


I can't wait to hear about the next best thing from Sarah...

Gingerbread

I can't wait for the holidays. I thought I would get in the holiday spirit, so I put together a gingerbread house this week. I think it is the best gingerbread house that I have ever decorated. The kit just cost $10 at Costco and it came with the grooved tray to build it on. It was pretty much fool proof.

Tim Tam Slam

Tim Tams are a chocolate biscuit made by Arnott's Biscuits, Australia. A Tim Tam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate. According to Arnott's, around 35 million packs are sold each year – nearly 400 million biscuits, an average of approximately 1.7 packs per Australian.


So now that you know what a Tim Tam is, you are probably wondering how one "slams" a Tim Tam. Well you get a cup of hot chocolate, bite off both ends of the cookie, place it in the hot chocolate and suck the hot chocolate until the Tim Tam goes soft and you have to slurp it up into your mouth before it falls into the hot chocolate.

I attended my first Tim Tam Slam last week. My flatmate Emily was the reigning Tim Tam Slam champ. She ate over 26 cookies a the slam last year. Jon was the runner up. Here they are with their game faces on. Sure Emily doesn't look like she can eat a lot but this girl can pack it away when she needs to. She is a pie eating champ in addition to being a Tim Tam champ. I think we may start training for Coney Island's Hot Dog contest.


The rules of the slam changed this year. Everyone had 30 minutes after they put their first dipped their first Tim Tam in the hot chocolate to eat as many Tim Tams as they could. Emily was crowned the Tim Tam champ for the second year in the row. She ate 22 cookies in total. Jon tied for 2nd with Camille, who literally lost her cookies. I calculated the calories that were consumed. There are 190 calories in 2 cookies. That means that Emily pounded 2090 calories in one sitting. I believe that at least 2 packages are produced for Emily each year. Way to go Emily. Better luck next year Jon!

Wishing I were Lorelai

My favorite show in the entire world is Gilmore Girls. I have seen every single episode, some multiple times. I love the characters, I love the banter, and I love the coats. I blame my coat addiction on Lorelai. Here is a little sampling of my coat closet.

The coat below belonged to my Mom in the 70s. I love the feel and smell of this coat. The first time I wore it I found some tootsie rolls in it. I believe the were older than me.

My mom made me this coat for me. I love the red lining that she put in it. I wore it during my first trip to Italy.


I wore this camel colored coat on my visit to Maryland a couple of years ago. This coat is the perfect length and the hood has kept me dry several times.


I coveted this coat when my sister bought it. She works at Gap and used one of her employee discounts to buy it for herself. A few months after she bought one, someone returned one and she snapped it up for me. I love the empire waist.


My mom made the brown coat below for me a couple of years ago. She lost the buttons she had bought for it in our basement so it sat button less for almost a year. She came across the buttons last year and was able to finish it up. It is the nicest, warmest coat that I own. Thanks Mom!


The yellow number below was my first J CREW coat. It may be my favorite. It also started my love for all J CREW outerwear. It looks vintage but it is not.

I found this red J CREW coat at Down East Outfitters. It was a great deal. A button top was missing but my amazing Mom was able to fix it.


I found this coat at the Gap Outlet last Winter. I love the collar on it. I wore it last week to the Utah game. I also wore it on a blind date to the Cheesecake factory. Let's just say the cheesecake was fabulous, the date was not. At least I looked cute in my coat.


Amy got married last January. I was a bridesmaid and wanted to get a coat to match my outfit. I found this creme colored J CREW coat at the outlet in Park City for less than $60.


I bought this leather coat in Florence this past summer. It is light and perfect for the Fall. Leather may be my favorite scent.
I added these last two coats to my collection this past weekend. The J CREW Outlet was having an amazing sale on outerwear. I also had a 20% off coupon and I get 15% off for being a teacher. I got both for less than the price of one online.


I know this is a lot of coats. Again, I blame it on Lorelai. I hope I don't come across a pink or baby blue coat anytime soon. I obviously am not strong enough to resist.