fun things that happened in 2006, as shown in pictures:

christie came to visit twice!

i discovered that i like beer

it snowed in nashville a little

david bazan came to town

went curling for the first time

went roller skating for the first time in a long time

tried my first tamale - it was delicious

got to meet up with kara!!

went to jacksonville to visit the baines

became an official member at the saucer and have tried 87 beers to date (thanks again, john!)

kelly and tim got married. this was an especially great experience since i introduced them to each other!

a picture is worth a thousand words…

started running - i can run about 14x further now than i could at this time last year and have run in 3 5ks so far.

david bazan..again!

the baines visit nashville

jack daniels rib cook off

corn maze

pumpkin carving party at michael and tiffany’s where i carved the last pumpkin on earth

my second converse purchase of the year to commemorate my second new job of the year

bills v. titans on christmas eve

and, to end on a high note…

spending my birthday with some great friends

I got lost in the sounds
I hear in my mind all these voices
I hear in my mind all these words
I hear in my mind all this music
And it breaks my heart
-regina spektor

i have a habit of associating music that i’m listening to with the corresponding events taking place in my life. i can tell you what i was listening to when i left town after my best friend’s wedding, when i found out a friend of mine had cancer, when i drove myself home from my last day of college and when i left the job interview that resulted in my first job. not necessarily a bad thing, i suppose, but 2006 was a year of changes, and sometimes its a bit depressing to listen to music that reminds me of all those changes. 2006 ruined a few albums for me, albums that i used to love, to the point where when i put them in my cd player, i think “ugh…i don’t want to hear this”

so i’ve decided that i’m just going to have to reprogram that music; associate it with something else, something good. i’m doing a 5k on new year’s day. i’m going to listen to some specific songs that 2006 has ruined. i’m hoping to run this 5k faster than i’ve run in the past. then, hopefully, these songs will remind me of that accomplishment instead of all the crap that happened this year. will it work? we’ll see.

when informed of my new hobby of running, many people jokingly have asked me “what are you running from?” i usually just laugh. but come january 1st i have an answer for once. i’m running from 2006, and i’m not looking back.

i am not sure i’ve ever blogged about a movie before, mostly because i hardly ever watch them and when i do, i seldomly like them enough to ever talk about them again. BUT - i watched one last night and LOVED it - a rare occurrence.

what is the newest movie that i’ll add to my list of 10-15 movies that i actually like? little miss sunshine. i laughed (its a dark-ish type of comedy), i almost cried (when dwayne freaks out and his sister olive tries to go “talk” him into getting into the van again) and i would definitely watch it again. in fact, i may watch it again before we leave pa.

something about this movie had me hooked within the first minute or so. it was a combination of the music and the seemingly disconnected scenes they showed - i knew it was going to make the list. plus, i’ve always thought that olive was a great name for a kid, and olive happens to be the name of one of the main characters. i like how these people think.

i think this will be my first dvd purchase of the year (yes, first dvd movie purchase of 2006) i definitely recommend it. and i’ll definitely come if you invite me over when you watch it. =)

i’m headed to a buffalo bills game tomorrow afternoon, in buffalo. i just came across a very interesting article that informed me that buffalo has the sixth best group of fans in the nfl. i certainly don’t doubt it after the game i went to last year.

however, this poses an interesting situation given the fact that we’ll be parking at the stadium among some pretty rabid buffalo fans in a car with a tennessee license plate. no kidding, i’m afraid to leave my car there with that plate. so, we’ve decided to steal the licence plate frame that says buffalo bills from my brother for the day. safety first. and i don’t want egg shells on my car.

i figured out my running routes for christmas break. it will be fun to run somewhere so familiar, yet where i’ve never run before. around nashville, in my neighborhood, i run past familiar streets and i sometimes see some familiar faces. not people i really know, but other runners that i see out on occasion. but in looking at my routes for next week, i realized that i will run by a lot of things really familiar to me on my two planned running outings:

• my fifth grade teacher’s house
• my seventh grade teacher’s house
• a house where my aunt and uncle used to live
• a house where my other aunt and uncle live now
• my cousin’s house
• one of my best friends from high school’s house
• the house where my great-aunt and uncle used to live
• the ice cream shop where i had my first job
• the factory where my dad has worked for over 40 years
• the creek i used to play in when i was a kid
• the house where my grandparents lived, which is also where my mom grew up
• the house of the woman who ran me over with her truck when i was 8 (i usually glare when i drive by…is that wrong?…hehe)

and, the last mile of the route is grape vineyards on both sides of the road. if you open the map and look at the usgs satellite view and you can see for yourself. =) should be a nice change of scenery.

merry christmas from our favorite elf!

and a big thank you to john, who sent me this elfish link at work and made me laugh really hard while being forced to conceal the laughter.

it has happened again this year. the great gift mix up. you may recall the de-gifting of john that happened around this time last year. this year’s incident wasn’t so much a de-gifting as it was a mis-gifting. john was indirectly involved again this year as was amazon.com. new players on the scene this year include the baines family. here’s what happened:

john told me about a gift he got for brian. he told me today that said present would arrive before we left for PA on friday. upon my arrival at home tonight, i see an amazon box of appropriate size on my doorstep and assume john had the present shipped directly to us. so i bring the box inside and leave it on the table as i await brian’s arrival. i can barely contain myself, as i know what the gift is and how much brian will like it.

brian gets home. i present the gift to him. he opens it to find the following t-shirt:

my first thought was: why would john buy brian a pink tshirt?

then it occured to me that another gift mix up had happened. a misgifting.

this gift was actually for me from the baines family and i must say, it looks a hell of a lot better on me than it does on brian. no offense, brian, but pink’s not your color…

so there you have it. another gift successfully mis-gifted/de-gifted for the 2006 holiday season.

i have about 200 pages of a 250 page book left to read for work, that i need to be able to discuss with my department before i leave on thursday. so, you know what that means! instead of reading yesterday, i went for a run, piddled around, and set up my own store at etsy.com.

buy some cookies at my store here

please note that if you’re a friend, don’t order anything, or else i’m going to make you cookies and send them to you with a check. however, if you know someone who might like some cookies, feel free to share the link. i’m ok with selling things to strangers, but not to my friends. more stuff will be added soon.

idiotic things to do:

• plan to go for a run outside just outside erie, pennsylvania around christmastime
• plan to go for a run twice just outside erie, pennsylvania around christmastime
• plan to go to a buffalo bills game on christmas eve. in buffalo. (they don’t do domes there. these people are insane. bring your own shovel and bust out the liquid long johns)
• and these sweet moves

i’m guilty of 3 out of the 4. (figure it out.)

these plans remind me of a scene from seinfeld:

Jerry: I’m an idiot. You may think you’re an idiot, but with all due respect I’m a much bigger idiot than you are.

George: Don’t insult me, my friend. No one is a bigger idiot than me.

i didn’t take my lunch to work we me today, which is unusual. so, i had to go find somewhere to eat. i definitely do NOT know my way around the side of town i work on, and things are rather spread out. so, my plan was to drive in one direction until i saw something that sounded good. i picked the wrong direction and my choices were waffle house, hardee’s, and jack in the box. i’ve never been to hardee’s or jack in the box and reluctantly decided to give hardee’s a try. little did i know their menu consists of a very specific formula:

weight of meat + type of meat + artery-clogging topping (optional)

there are such things as 1/3 lb. cheeseburger cheddar bacon melts and 2/3 lb. thickburger swiss and bacon. i was completely disgusted with myself. anyway, that’s not the point.

i get back to my office and am carrying:

1. my purse
2. my keys
3. my drink
4. a bag of food
5. umbrella (its raining)

as i clumsily descend the stairs that lead to the bottom floor entrance outside my building, i am clearly struggling to manage all of this stuff. as i approach the entrance, i pass a middle aged man wearing an ugly suit who is just finishing his cigarette. he looks directly at me, puts out his cigarette and rushes to the door as i think to myself “thank goodness, i had no idea how i was going to open that door” only to see him quickly scurry to get himself through the door, about 5 feet ahead of me, just in time for the door to close right on me…TWICE. that’s right, both doors.

how i managed to ride the elevator with this man without kneeing him in the nuts, is beyond me. but i do know he got off on the fifth floor, and i’m considering mugging him next week.