SURPRISE!

Oh man, did I have a fun weekend! My grandma turned 80 years old yesterday, and I'd been telling myself all winter that if I could find a way out to La Crosse for cheap, I was going to show up and celebrate with her and the rest of the Thiels. I managed to get tickets into Chicago for $99, and figured renting a car for a few days and driving would be cheaper than flying directly into La Crosse. And then Dad said he would go, and he'd rent the car, so that definitely saved me a little pocket change (and allowed me to nap for part of the 4 hour drive, ha!)

Grandma knew that her sonny boy was coming, but I wanted to be a surprise. And despite the fact that we told everyone else in the city of La Crosse, including my grandpa, no one spilled the beans and when I walked into the house shortly after my dad arrived, she was SURPRISED. She got a little misty and asked me how I'd gotten there (my Aunt Barb said that I'd been walking for weeks.) Then she was concerned that she didn't have a place for me to stay, and I explained that Dad and I had planned for him to go to Uncle John's and for me to stay with her. Sneaky!

I had a really nice couple of days with everyone. We had big crowds at almost every meal, and had a great time just sitting around visiting. Hailee-bob, the first great-grandchild, is like a little ray of sunshine wherever she goes. She's so funny and sweet and well behaved and just a joy to be around. The best part is the way grandma and grandpa light up when she's around.

Dad and Uncle John got to clean out the garage, those lucky ducks (dad conveniently had to go help Grandpa with his computer during this time) while I took grandma out for her very first pedicure. It's nice to know that you can still teach an old dog the occasional new trick. And even though she only ever wears sneakers, Grandma DID in fact get her toenails painted.

Happy Birthday Grandma-pama, I love you dearly!

Quick Update.

I have been negligent in the blog, and for that, I apologize. There's not a huge amount of news though. We continue to do our house hunting - we've been out every one of the past three weekends with our realtor, checking out various properties. We found one that we really liked and could see ourselves calling home, but it already has an offer and will probably not come our way. There'll be something else I'm sure. That'll teach me to fall in love with a house at first sight! Those things are even more fickle than men.

Tim and I recently celebrated six years of coupledom. Obviously our wedding day was the happiest day of my life, but the day we met was the luckiest and most life changing, in many ways. I'm glad he's still my boyfriend, and that we're looking to build a home and have a family. It still blows my mind that I was only 21 when we met. We've definitely had a lot of adventures over the past few years.

We had a really nice Mothers Day with all of our mommies, even if it did take the daddies forever to find parking. It's probably my last Mothers Day where I can freely guzzle champagne, so I definitely took advantage of the cham-pan-yah brunch.

My work continues to be slightly nutty. Our vacation over the Fourth can't come fast enough! My boss and coworkers are great though - it's nice to be able to take a quick coffee break and blow off some steam and make each other laugh. I put on some good goofy dance performances when things get tense. No one can stay frustrated when they see my sweet moves.

Umm.... kitties are good. I would also like to share this video, because it shows some of what we do to our cats for fun. Though, the other week I was being mean to Lulu and she scratched me as she jumped out of my arms - it looked like I got in a fight with Wolverine.

Cat Yodeling/Corporal Cuddling

Now I am off to sort laundry and make dinner. An exciting evening in the big city (PS - we never found out exactly what was on fire across the street. I hope it was the gross ol' Panda Express.)

Fancy pants!

FASHION BRAG TIME AGAIN.

So, today we had a fundraising event involving fashion and accessories and ladies buying stuff to benefit us, right? AWESOME. The auction featured donated accessories and bags. Yesterday my boss and I went to the event company to go through some of the loot, especially checking out the rejected stuff. She was like, "if there's anything you love, you can take it, as long as you then donate the opening bid to the agency." So, I scored a pin, two bags (one sparkly and fun, one velour and fun) and some notecards. How do people get rid of such amazing stuff?

WELL, THEN THERE'S TODAY. I was in charge of selling things donated from a vintage store. Stuff like... vintage YSL and Christian LeCrouix (sp?) and Escada suits and shirts and skirts. It was so the perfect job for me. And my boss was like, "if anything doesn't sell, you can have it, because it's 100% donated." There was one YSL suit that I was eying and eying and eying and before the event, my other coworker said, "you are going to be pissed if someone buys it. Put it away now, and buy it later, so that you can be sure you have it." Oh, and did I mention that things were all priced UNDER A HUNDRED DOLLARS? I mean, some of the pieces were totally freaky weird (see muppet vest below) but the red YSL suit is awesome and classic.

I mean, I admit I'm a label whore, but the important thing is that I am a discount label whore. I would never buy anything so fancy at retail price, but to be able to have it - even if I just sell it on ebay in thirty years, is awesome. I was so glad I hid the suit away, because all of the good stuff got snapped up really quickly, and I would have been sad. Plus I wrote a check and supported a wonderful cause!

So here is some of the fun stuff I tried on, and what I actually purchased:
This Escada vest is made of fox fur, and makes me look like a muppet. It was actually purchased though, by a sort of quiet middle aged lady. I think part of it is my superb salesmanship - I was like, "this is a bargain! Even if you just wear it out once for fun, you are totally getting your money's worth!"

My second favorite jacket. Unfortunately, it was just a little too small to be comfortable.

Sparkly Escada shirt - it's really amazing. And yes, I bought it ($20!) I don't know how that got left on the racks. People are silly!

This is the top to my Yves Saint Laurent suit. It's such a pretty color and fabric, and the buttons are funky. The only downside is that I absolutely cannot get the skirt to zip. Even with Spanx on. It is not even close - and far from cute. But whatever! The jacket is awesome and worth it, and I am so excited!

Oh, I so love clothes and accessories. I only hope that someday we make it rich, and I can be a lady who lunches and goes and buys fabulous clothes at charity auctions.

Afterwards, we retired to the Polo Lounge (the event was at the Beverly Hills Hotel) and we saw Heidi Klum sitting and having lunch, so that was pretty thrilling. It's been a pretty rough week for development, in terms of trying to do all of our event planning (because in addition to the one today, we have another one tomorrow!) and government grant submission (see: my head exploding on Monday afternoon) so it's nice to be able to have a drink and relax a little afterwards. The best part is that I work with amazing people, so even when it's back to back to back craziness, we help keep each other's spirits up.

Speaking of craziness, the Ralphs across the street from us is apparently on fire! News at 10.

San Francisco!

Mom and I had an amazing time in San Francisco. We managed to see most of the big sites, took all kinds of public transportation, and spent a lot of time looking and exclaiming over beautiful things - lots of fancy jewelry and lots of beautiful flowers. I joked that our trip consisted mostly of going, "wow, this is pretty... look at this, this is beautiful... oh I love this..." as we walked.

We stayed at the Westin St. Francis, which was very nice, and more importantly, was located right down the street from World of Charms, DSW (I blew a shoe) and Sephora (we love lipsticks.) Friday was mostly walking and shopping, Saturday was Golden Gate park, and Sunday was the Golden Gate Bridge (we walked to Marin and back) and then Lombard Street. We'd gotten on the wrong bus leaving the bridge (but thankfully headed back to the city!) so we hopped off on Lombard and decided to walk up to the crookedest street. It was straight up, and then pretty much straight down, and thankfully we found lunch shortly thereafter, because I was flagging.

We also had Irish coffees at the Buena Vista, a fabulous dinner at Boulevard courtesy of Dad, and some delicious dim sum. I'm so glad mom was able to be my date - I absolutely love San Francisco, and spending time with her, so it was a perfect weekend. Well, until our flight to Orange County got canceled at the last minute. The ladies at the Admirals Club were able to get us on an evening flight to LAX, and Tim drove us home so I could pick up my car. I had one of my more stressful days at work, but our grant went in with three minutes to spare (no joke... I nearly had a heart attack.) I came home and Tim had gotten me flowers, and we went and had sushi and frogurt. Now we're pumping the AC and relaxing. It'll be an early bedtime tonight!

Pictures!
Dogcatrat!

Crabby crab!

Mom's a good sport

Towards the end of Day One, at the Buena Vista cafe. We are drinking to kill the pain in our feet. Thank goodness that we picked flip flops for the next two days - I don't care what podiatrists say!

Mom being awesome on the cable car. We rode from one end to the other and got our entire $5 worth.

My BFF at the Golden Gate Park!

Mom and I with some lilacs. They smelled loverly.

The Conservatory of Flowers. I tried not to pout too much at boring olde plants!

Us dressed up for fancy Saturday dinner at Boulevard.

Day Three at the Golden Gate Bridge

Sweaty and exhausted - but having seen the crookedest street!

THE WORLD'S MOST AWESOME CHARM! IT'S A SQUIRREL IN AN ACORN HOLDING AN ACORN!

We'll be sure to wear some flowers in our hair

Sorry for the lack of updates! Things have been busy and boring all at the same time. We've spent a lot of time with the fam-damilies recently - putting a lot of miles on the car going to and from Orange County. It's been nice to see everyone.

Work has been crazy stressful for me. We're applying for a government grant, and the bureaucrats love to have you fill out forms and use obscure online submission systems. Grants.gov brought me to tears earlier in the week. The grant is due on Monday, but I am out for the weekend and trying not to stress (per my boss's orders) because I am taking mom to SAN FRANCISCO this weekend. We fly out early tomorrow (Friday) morning. I am so excited! The trip is my birthday present to her. She's never been to San Francisco, and I love the city so very much. I have my new fancy dress, and a couple of scarves, and I'm ready to go.

I'm really excited about taking mom on vacation. Even though she always says that she is not interested in being my friend, she is totally my bestie. We are going to have a great time, and eat so much dim sum.

Then next week I have my big grant due on Monday (by 5pm.) Friday is a work event, and Saturday is our bowling event. Thanks to everyone who has donated to Team Sequins - our team of five has raised more than $1,000! I keep joking with my fellow development team members that the first of May should be a departmental "team building" event at the spa. Just an idea.

And YES, Tim and I are still looking for houses. We have an appointment with the realtor the weekend after next, and are going to tour like crazy people. Don't fret.

Real House Hunting, Day 1.

Today after a quick sushi lunch, Tim and I headed out to view some properties on the west side. Nothing really jumped out at us, other than pure sticker shock. We were looking in a nicer neighborhood, but still, $749,000 for a three bedroom, one bath sort of blows my mind. One of the realtors was asking us about the property, and I said one of our "musts" was at least a bath and a half. She was like, "you could always build on another bathroom." Lady, for three quarters of a million dollars, I expect my house to have two toilets (the two toilet houses in the neighborhood were $900,000.) The one property that was sort of interesting to us would have required some renovations (it had two kitchens?) and it was close to the freeway. But all of the searching helps crystalize what we're looking for. Like... a home that has doorways big enough to fit a dresser through (the last house we looked at had such tiny doorways that we realized we wouldn't be able to get a dresser into the master bedroom unless we put it through the window.) We have also learned that we are probably not going to find anything in our price range in Mar Vista.

We also went to TJ McMarshalls and Tim got some new sneakers for his poor flat old feet. Between watching all of the March Madness, and seeing a show on the Science channel last night about people who are eight feet tall, I am feeling like my 6'6" husband is on the shrimpy side. Maybe he will put lifts in his new shoes. I got silver sandals, which I am already in love with.

The other thing we've been doing this weekend is torturing the cats. Thor really loves anything stick-like. He is like a puppy in that way. He steals pens, he steals chopsticks, and once he took a paring knife out of the dish rack and batted it into the bathroom. Thankfully, he didn't cut his paws, but he did give Tim a bit of a shock - he thought the cat was going to stab him. The other thing he really loves is straws. If you leave a straw-adorned beverage around the apartment, he will pull the straw out and then carry it around in his teeth. And I present, the Tale of Thory and the Starbucks Straw.

First, he stalks it, and looks at it with love.

Then, he tries to yank it out (and gets yelled at.) When I finished my beverage, I gave him the straw.

Then he bats at it and carries it around the apartment. Lulu is mostly uninterested.

She prefers to perform kittie karate kicks on the lamb puppet.

Here's Tim and his reluctant kitty machine gun.

And then he takes aim and fires! Lulu doesn't play kitty machine gun, because she doesn't like to be held. When you do pick her up, she makes noises like you're choking her. She's more of a grenade and less of a rifle.

Thrift Store Love.

Today was very exciting, because I went to the House of Return Thrift Store and bought myself a fabulous new outfit that I am totally wearing to fancy dinner with mom, when we go up to San Francisco next month. Oh yes. I love thrift store dresses. They are so fabulous and weird and most importantly, they are a bargain.

Here is my new outfit. It features both a dress AND a coat. That's three outfits for the price of one. I will definitely wear the coat on its own, I will certainly wear the dress by itself (I am planning on wearing it to an event for work next month!) and I will wear them both together for double sparkly. Please observe:




The dress is a little big on top, but nothing that some tailoring can't fix.

In other fun "old stuff" news, my mom and I made a pincushion for me to display my pins the other week when I was home. She used to have all of her flower pins above her dresser, and is passing along the frame to me. Sara generously sacrificed an old velor dress from high school as the backing. The pin is above my CD rack and I can look at it lovingly. Tim told me that I was an idolater.


What else? We are very disappointed in the Bruins, but had a fun time watching the Badgers last night. Now that my boys have broken Coach Wooden's heart, I will switch to my second allegiance and root for Wisconsin. We had to take Tim's car in to the dealership this morning - the fan crapped out before Christmas, but we had just never gotten around to fixing it. Now that the weather is getting warmer, we are missing the AC. Thankfully, it's covered under warrenty, and once they get the part (Tuesday) it should be a quick fix. Out of the four Hondas we have owned, this is the first time we've had to take a car in for any sort of malfunction before the car was 10 years old or over 100,000 miles. I love me some Hondas.

We booked our trip to Door County for the 4th. I am over the moon with excitement. I can't wait for Tim to get a little piece of my childhood lore. Time to wash our hair in Lake Michigan!

Tomorrow we are going to go and scope out some open houses. Still in no particular rush, but we want to start getting a better idea of what exactly we're looking for. And it's nice to know that if we find something amazing, we can move forward with the whole process. We also have to go to the laundromat. Today was cleaning and cooking day - so domestic. If you can stop being dazzled by my outfit, check out my wonderful crockpot. It is filled with delicious garlic artichoke chicken. Which I made using the new apron that my grandma made me. She is the best (this is from yesterday, when I made pizza.) Grandma is such a nice.