Archive for December, 2009

winter wonderland.

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

so as anyone who has been following the news knows by now, we are in the middle of a blizzard back here in the east and it’s not as great as dairy queen would lead you to believe.

we had big plans today that involved finally buying elliott a winter coat and boots (a day late and a dollar short on that one…), going to see the temple lights with some friends, and then picking up my little sister from the airport. all of that turned into being snowed into our house. although we did venture out to the grocery store across the street (one of many times i’m very glad we live across the street from a grocery store) and got to see what the world would be like right after a nuclear holocaust. there were no cars on the street and it was so quiet and empty except for the others on foot who were also going foraging for supplies.

now that the snow finally seems to be winding down it looks like we’ve got about 2 feet of the white stuff on the ground. my sister’s new flight comes in tomorrow night and we really hope the world around here will come back to life or at the very least that the freeways will be opened back up and plowed tomorrow so we can go pick her up. we have all the time in the world tomorrow as church has been canceled!

in other news, we’re doing well. elliott has been so fun this week. he’s turning into such a little boy, it’s ridiculous. and he’s so stinking tall. he’s able to reach up and grab just about anything off our kitchen table and counters. as you can see here we can no longer leave anything on our table, especially not open boxes of cheerios.

oh, don’t worry, we totally let him sit there and eat them until he got bored and started walking around dropping cheerios all around downstairs like he was hansel and gretel trying to find his way back out of the forest. he’s this close to being able to open doors, at which point life’s going to get much more interesting.

pats on the back.

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

happy birthday to the justin and sarah bytheway family! congrats to us for making it 4 years! and double congrats to us for eating at outback steakhouse to celebrate!

(i’m starving)

fa la la la la.

Monday, December 14th, 2009

it’s that time of the year when the local oldies station turns into only christmas music, which is both good and bad. because there are some good christmas songs and then there are some good christmas songs with terrible renditions, and then there are just some terrible terrible christmas songs. in my humble opinion the three worst christmas songs of all time are as follows:

3. step into christmas – elton john

woof. i think my MAIN problem with this song is that christmas is a time for mellow music and for relaxation and mr. john’s energy is WAAAY more than i can handle in this song. it’s so jarring. luckily, though, it is rarely played during the season and so i can forget about it more than the next two.

2. christmastime – smashing pumpkins.

sorry billy corgan, you’ve sung one too many times about how pointless and terrible life is for me to believe you as you drone on about the wonders of christmas. and listen to those lyrics! “christmas time has come, toys for everyone.” killing me with your depth, william.

1. wonderful christmastime: paul mccartney.

UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH. seriously, this is wings-era mccartney at his worst, and that’s saying ALOT. so boring and droning and terrible. you can tell how middle-aged someone is by how much they like wings and start thinking that paul mccartney is the best beatle. i’m sure by the time i’m 35 i’ll have changed my mind about this song because none of us can resist aging, but for now this is definitely the worst.

now that i’ve tortured your ears a spell, let me give you a treat. it’s hard to pick a top 10 or a top 3 list when it comes to the best christmas song. however, it is not hard to pick a number 1:

good luck not having the christmas spirit when you listen to that jam, scrooge mcgrinch.

Japanese Christmas Redux

Monday, December 14th, 2009

We loved our Japanese Christmas card from 3 years ago so much that we decided to reuse it this year for our e-cards. So a little photoshop and…voila!

hey ladies.

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

whoa, 3 justin posts in a row?! it’s a christmas miracle!

so, i haven’t had a professional haircut since last august (yes, as in august of 2008) and i haven’t had any kind of haircut since i had justin trim my hair in march so obviously i’m waaaay overdue. mostly i’ve been putting it off and putting it off because i dread finding a salon and a hairstylist. this drives my husband crazy and even though i insist that he’ll miss this (and all my other) little idiosyncracy when i’m dead and gone someday he insists that he will not. anyway, the long and the short of it is that my husband is sick of talking about my hair, so i turn to you, friends. i had decided whole-heartedly 100% on copying the hair of my favorite t.v. lesbian, devin from friday night lights:

pros: not too long, not too short. can still pull my hair into a ponytail. seems fairly low maintenance.

cons: not too sure about the bangs. i have yet to be able to pull off straight bangs, but then again it’s probably because i’ve never had professionally cut straight bangs.

so like i said, i was all decided, but then in my internet window shopping i came across the etsy shop thrush and the owner of the shop or the model that she uses has some pretty cute hair:

it reminds me of my favorite haircut – my short, black 2002 hair.

pros: cute cut, a length that has worked well for me, would be fun to style, my husband likes shorter hair.

cons: higher maintenance – hair is cute for a couple of weeks and then it turns into weird, wonky grow-out hair. no ponytails.

so i turn to you, my faithful readers, for your input. which one do you like better?

Fantasy Christmas

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

I love playing fantasy sports. It’s the best way to pull off a combination of loving sports and being a geek. My favorite fantasy sports are football and baseball. That’s strange because my favorite sport is basketball. For some reason I can never get into fantasy basketball no matter how hard I try. I guess it’s because it takes away from my enjoyment of the game in some way.

But back to the purpose of this post.

Here is my fantasy Christmas wishlist. Don’t get me wrong, this is not an under-handed way of asking for things. I have absolutely no expectations of receiving any of these items (Although if you are super rich and bored, I’d be more than happy to help you spend your money!). This is mostly for my own amusement and I also suppose it’s a glimpse into the things I covet. I’ll repent someday, I promise.

I’ll start cheap and work my way up to the more expensive.

Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote

Cost: $19.99 retail
Why?: Better way to control Netflix streaming on the Xbox.

Disco Cufflinks


Cost: $49.20 per pair
Why?: I’ve just bought my first French-cuffed shirt and I hope to own a few more in the future. These cufflinks have just the right amount of personality to peek out from under my suit coat.

Nike Oregon Waffle Shoes

Cost: ~$50 on eBay.
Why?: I bought a pair of these reissued shoes while were in Japan and fell in love with them. I wore them out and I still wear them. I want to replace them. But Nike in their infinite wisdom discontinued them. I currently have a brown/orange pair that is the bee’s knees but I like a lot of the color schemes.

Ray Ban Wayfarer/New Wayfarer Eyeglasses


Cost: $100-$120
Why?: I’ve been wanting an eyewear upgrade for a while now and nothing tops the original Ray Bans in terms of awesomeness. I’d like a pair of the original Wayfarers and a pair of the New Wayfarers. Still not sure on the color, though. Maybe a pair of prescription sunglasses, too?

Void Gold V02 Retrograde

Cost: $199.00 retail
Why?: It’s an awesome, stylish, yet classy watch. There’s like a million watches I want to get from Watchismo but this one has really caught my eye.

Denon DP-300F Turntable

Cost: $329.00
Why?: I would really like an upgraded turntable for our music system. Denon is world-reknown for their high-end turntables and this mid-range model has all of the features I like, including an integrated phono amplifier.

Apple Mac Mini Server

Cost: $999.00
Why?: This is for connecting to the TV as a media server. Maybe install Boxee or something cool like that. I definitely don’t need this, but what on this list do I really need?

Apple MacBook Pro 13″

Cost: $1499.00
Why?: I’d like a computer upgrade. Simple. And Apple makes the computers I like.

Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman

Cost: just over $3000.00 for a new model retail, varying prices for older models
Why?: It’s an icon of mid-century modern design, but is also one of the most comfortable chairs you can sit in. I’ve wanted one of these for a long time and someday I will buy myself one.

1964 Porsche 356C

Cost: NADA average value $24,100-$37,500.
Why?: I also love 60s Porsche 911s, but these late 356s make my heart go pitter-patter. Sure, they don’t have much under the hood compared to modern sports cars, but it’s the combination of styling and vroom that makes me love this car so very very much. I doubt I’ll ever own one, but everyone can have a dream, right?

Well I guess that wraps it up. Please don’t think I’m being greedy, this is just a fantasy list! As usual, we’ll end up spending more money on others this Christmas season than on ourselves. And the things we will enjoy the most will be the time spent with friends and family rather than with stuff.

And please don’t think I only have expensive taste. I can slum it up with the best. Just ask my wife how many Hot Pockets I can eat.

scary scary snow

Monday, December 7th, 2009

On Saturday we got our first snowfall of the season here in Virginia. It didn’t ever get super cold, but throughout the day we ended up accumulating 3-4 inches of the white stuff.

We had spent the afternoon eating and hanging out with some friends from church and we joked that they might just cancel church the next day.

Well later that night the first email message came in: they were canceling regular church meetings. I lol’d. The Fredericksburg and White Oak Wards were meeting together for a joint sacrament meeting and Sunday School/RS-Priesthood were cancelled.

The funny thing is that the weather on Sunday was beautiful – warm, sunny, bone-dry roads. Just like the forecasters had been predicting all week.

So I guess we ended up with a short Sunday. I think the folks here might be scared of snow.