My Pimp Name is...

So not even remotely close to right....ha!

Your Pimp Name Is...

Her Majesty Bling

What's Your Pimp Name?

My social calendar

So this was the week to see many of our friends!

Monday was my standard parrot rescue volunteer night with my sister, with a break for cake to celebrate the recent marriage of two of our volunteers. And that cake was deeeelish!

Tuesday we were off to celebrate Heather's 30th birthday at Benihana's. Yum! I visited the Benihana website where I discovered that Benihana's owns a fleet of nifty hot air balloons. There's even one shaped like a chef's head. I wonder if there are shrimp tails in the hat....
Anywhoo, for dinner much shrimp sauce was enjoyed. Its a good thing I only go to Benihana's every couple of months. Benihana's is living proof that everything tastes better with a big stick of butter in it. :)

Wednesday was sushi night. We took our friends Ryan and Denise out to Saji-Ya for their first ever sushi dining experience. We partook in sauteed mushrooms, edamame, a few different maki rolls and some nigiri. The mushrooms were fantastic. Edamame is always good, and Denise discovered she really likes caterpillar rolls. All in all Saji-Ya was decent, but nothing to write home about. They did have a knock-out Hawaiian white tuna nigiri I would recommend. I'm glad that enough of the fare was tasty to convince our friends that going out for sushi is faboo.

Thursday was the first inaugural girls' night. Dena, Deb, Amy, Rachel and I went to see Brokeback Mountain. Amazing movie - one of the best I've ever seen. Though I could have done without the Jake Gyllenhaal porno mustache. After the movie we toddled on over to Santorini's for a few drinks. A pretty decent live cover band was playing and cranked out some classic tunes. Such fun - you ladies are the best!

My Brokeback Moutain review: WOW! What an absolutely visually and emotionally stunning film. Heath Ledger is beyond amazing - there is a quiet desperation that really grabs hold of you. Jake Gyllenhaal is superb as Jack Twist. There is an explosive sex scene between the two that took my breath away. The entire story is simply haunting. This is a movie I could see over and over - something I never do.

Its Friday night and Tom and I are unwinding from our active week, catching up on Tivo and enjoying some yummy pizza. This is my sign I'm officially a grown-up: I'm happy to be a homebody on a Friday night!

Dumbest Moments

An award winning dumb moment. This is frickin' hilarious! I hope noone has stock in Overstock.com....

Winner, Dumbest Moment, Investor Relations

We find your lack of faith disturbing.

Over the course of 2005, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne issues increasingly shrill pronouncements about nefarious short-sellers driving the company's stock into the ground. After listening to an Overstock conference call with investors in August, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban posts to his blog a list of the topics Byrne covered: "Miscreants; an unnamed Sith Lord he hopes the feds will bury under a prison; gay bath houses; whether he is gay, does cocaine, both, or neither; phone taps; phone lines misdirected to Mexico; arrested reporters; payoffs; conspiracies; crooks; egomaniacs; fools; paranoia; which newspapers are shills and for who; money laundering; his Irish temper; false identities; threats; intimidation; and private investigators. All in 61 minutes." Cuban then short-sells 10,000 shares of Overstock.

More dumb moments

Brokeback Moutain

Meeting at Willow Creek theater at 6:45pm-ish tonight.

Total Girl Moment

Its so cuuuuute!












For the female blog readers, Deb and I are planning girl's night for Jan. 26th. I'll send out an email - the current plans are to see Brokeback Mountain at Willow Creek (7:05pm showing) followed by drinks if we're up for it!

Katharine Hepburn You scored 21% grit, 14% wit, 47% flair, and 28% class!

You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women. Find out what kind of classic leading man you'd make by taking the Classic Leading Man Test.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 45% on grit You scored higher than 12% on wit You scored higher than 78% on flair You scored higher than 61% on class

Link: The Classic Dames Test written by gidgetgoes on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Crash Boom Bang

Ah, Saturday afternoon. You know those relaxed afternoons where you get to take your time doing stuff? I was having one of those afternoons - we went to drop off some furniture at my sister's house and wanted to do a little shopping.

Toodling along on 94, we headed into the tunnel. Just after the bend we saw a stopped car in our lane. Tom slammed on the brakes and stopped in time, but the person behind us was not so fortunate. Chunks of car went whirling around....

I am usually a pretty calm cookie. But for some reason, I am a complete mess when it comes to car accidents. I'm lucky I married a very level headed guy! He got the car out of the tunnel while I called 911, and we were able to get out of the car and check to make sure everyone was OK. I felt bad for the person behind us, but the state trooper made it pretty clear that it was his fault and his insurance will be covering the repairs. He was a young kid and seemed a little shaken by the whole thing.

The Highlander suffered a pretty significant blow that ripped off one of the side panels, broke the tail lights and broke the bumper. The trooper empathized with us by telling us it really sucks to get your new car smashed up :( No kidding! Thankfully we're both feeling a little sore but are otherwise OK.

Our poor little hybrid.

Twisted Love

I have this funny little toy someone brought to my desk that can be twisted around to shape different things. I keep changing it, but someone keeps changing it back to this.
I guess this means my job loves me :)

Happy New Year!

Whew - 2006 is finally here!

In 2005 I:

• Married my best friend (corny but true!)
• Had a fabulous wedding and was overwhelmed by the love of family & friends
• Enjoyed another reception at the Inn at Maple Crossing thrown by my parents for Tom & me
• Saw Brandon Halstad for the first time in 13 years - I used to babysit him!
• Saw my family's foreign exchange student Takumi (and his family) for the first time in 12 years
• Learned some javascript and learned more about ASP
• Volunteered over 300 hours at MAARS and Habitat for Humanity
• Was head election judge for my precinct
• Met the mother-in-law of my high school creative writing teacher (also an election judge!)
• Celebrated 4 weddings: JP & Sheila, Amy & Andy, Deb & Terre and Adam & Heather
• Celebrated the pregnancy of our friends Mary Stainbrook-Tri & Ben Tri
• Celebrated birthdays and holidays with both of our families
• Enjoyed spending time with Deb, my sister and Sue preparing for the wedding (Thanks guys!)
• Spent 14 days in the hospital (all better now!)
• Went hiking on the North Shore with Tom
• Started a blog
• Lost 22 pounds
• Started a new decade - my 30's
• Enjoyed some awesome sushi meals with friends
• Installed a new vanity in the bathroom
• Scraped, painted and generally restored the backyard deck
• Traveled to Toronto, Canada 4 times
• Caved in and finally got an iPod
• Lived, laughed, and learned - life is good.

In 2006 I plan to:

• Love my husband even more :)
• Get more organized and procrastinate less
• Continue to lose weight
• Meet a happy, healthy Tri baby
• Continue to enjoy my work
• Travel to Tokyo
• Celebrate more weddings: Adam & Dena and Rhonda & Gary
• Cook for my hubby more often
• Replace the deck on the front of the house
• Be a better gardener
• Set up a photogallery for my blog
• See Susan start her senior year in high school
• Laugh even more, love even more, and learn even more

What are you hoping or planning for in 2006?