fluffy pirate shirts and guyliner

1. What are you wearing? Wedges (not wedgies, tho), gray pants, mosaic-y teal shirt, bracelet, earrings
2. What is wrong with you right now? A little sore from the elliptical machine yesterday. I burned 300 calories in 28 mins! So exciting!
3. Have you been to a baby shower? Yes
4. What do you like to do most? Laugh.
5. Are you currently mad at your best friend? No!
6. Do you snowboard or ski? Never tried either, but I think I’d go for skiing since you get 2 foot apparatuses instead of having to balance on just the one.
7. What was the last movie you went to? Terminator Salvation!
8. Do you like sparkles? I like sparklers!
9. Tell me something about what you’re currently reading? It’s “The Angel’s Game” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and it’s amazing. The author gives the perfect amount of detail to each character and setting so you can picture everything very clearly without him going on for days about the “rich sepia tones of the bell tower”. Zafon is very talented at weaving subtle mysteries. It’s hard to stop reading his books!
10. Who was last to cook for you? Jason
11. Name someone whose name starts with the letter R. Royston Langdon
12. Do you like Dane Cook? Yes, he cracks me up!
13. Has anyone ever thought you looked like someone else who didn’t really even look like you? Yes – Alanis Morissette.
14. Do you like wearing black and white the most? No – I like color!
15. Who was the last person you called? Mack.
16. What is your ring tone? Xylophone!
17. Last flight was to? Sarasota, Florida – I miss you, Longboat Key!!!!!!
18. Do you like the color yellow? Yes, lots
19. Do you like popcorn? Movie theatre popcorn is some of my favorite stuff ever!
20. What is one fact about the last person who called you? Rita – She is truly a doll and I love working with her.
21. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Depends on what type of doc’s appointment it is!
22. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee and Instant Breakfast
23. What color shirt are you wearing? Teal
24. What was the first thing you thought when you woke up? Oh my goodness I woke up on my own! Getting 8.5 hours was awesome!
25. When was the last time you laughed really hard? Watching Cribs with Jason over the weekend, the rapper/athlete (raplete?) hops into his Bentley and makes a huge deal of the car having mink carpets. Mink. An animal died to make this guy’s floor mats? So I said, “Do you wipe your ass with a bald eagle?!” and then couldn’t stop laughing about it.
26. Do you like to be reassured that you’re cared about? Nah, I hate that! Ha!
27. What were you doing at 7am? California dreamin’
28. Would you ever dye your hair blonde? Maybe when it starts going gray – could be fun times!
29. What’s on your mind right now? Ottawaaaaaaaa!, lunch, how happy I am that I got rid of so many clothes I don’t wear after cleaning out my closet last night! There’s so much space now I can actually SEE what I HAVE! V. thrilling!
30. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? Yes, even if at first I’m grudge-y about it.
31. Have you held hands with anyone in the past three days? Sho have!
32. What is the most bizarre thing you’ve ever seen? Jean Claude Van Damme dancing in Electric Bugaloo!
33. What is your favorite country that you’ve been to? The U.S.A.!
34. What is one country you must visit before you die? France! Je pense de Paris tout les temps!
35. What is one event/thing you would love to experience before you die? Driving Route 66! Before it disappears completely.
36. What song bests describes you? Something fun and boppy but with strong instrumental sounds from the 50’s or 60’s!
37. What tattoo would you like to get next? I don’t know if I could ever get one, even though I admire the beauty of some of the ones I’ve seen on LA Ink.
38. What is your favorite artistic activity? Photography, hands-down!
39. Is there a professional athlete who inspires you? Hockey players in general – it’s hard enough to play a sport like that but the addition of it being conducted ON ICE…? That’s insanity!
40. Do you consider yourself a romantic? Yes, but not a “new romantic” b/c I don’t like fluffy pirate shirts and guyliner.
41. What is your favorite fruit? Recently, cherries.
42. Do you like to go shopping for yourself? Absolutely!
43. Where is your favorite place to get clothes? Target, Macy’s, J. Crew, eBay, Plato’s Closet (jeans).
44. Why don’t you have a mohawk right now? I don’t think it’d be a very flattering look on me.
45. What is the coolest bar you’ve ever been to? Tamboo – Beside the Point, Rincon, Puerto Rico b/c (a) it’s on the beach and (b) it was in our hotel! Awesomeness.
46. Have you ever worn two pairs of socks on one foot? Heck yeah – it’s called 1989!
47. What brand of nail polish do you buy? Any. I bought some Wet N’ Wild clear topcoat which totaled a whopping $0.99 and it’s lasted longer than the $8 OPI clear coat! V. interesting.
48. Do all the houses look the same where you live? Nope!
49. Would you rather have pepsi or coke? Coke!
50. What do you do when you have a really bad pimple? Pop it and then put ProActiv Solution sulfer mask on it. It takes care of biznass!
51. Did you take school pictures this year? Ha! No, but that would be kind of fun if adults had to take annual photos at work!
52. Can you remember what you looked like in first grade? Sure can!
53. If so, what color was your hair? Same color as it is now.
54. Do you recycle? Yes.
55. Why or why not? Throwing things into landfills that can reused or repurposed is careless and lazy.
56. What is the desktop background on your computer? @ home it’s a collage of me and Jason; @ work (yes – don’t know HOW it happened but the “desktop” customization thing used to be LOCKED so you couldn’t change your background to whatever you wanted and you had to suffer the state seal every day! Now it’s no longer locked! Hell yeah!) Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower at night.
57. If you use windows XP/Vista, what is your user account picture of? Sparkly embers of some variety.
58. Would you rather paint your nails fuchsia or orange? Fuchsia.
59. Have you ever worn a beret? Nope. But I would consider it if it were of the raspberry persuation.
60. Would you ever consider getting your teeth whitened? Maybe when I quit smoking.
61. What is your favorite kind of granola bar? Anything that incorporate cranberries; also, those peanut things they have in the CC café. Those are good!
62. What is the longest you’ve gone without updating your ipod? Months! I like what’s on there.
63. Do you use white out often? I’m down with correction tape nowadays! No waiting for it to dry? Brillz!
64. Do you remember happy bunny? Yes, I have some of those smart @ss stickers!
65. Have you ever paid $1 for a sticker in one of those sticker machines? Yes – for a Ricky Martin sticker I vowed to shame s/o with but never did. I still have it!
66. When Is the last time you were in a photo booth? October 13, 2008 – first date with Jason in Helen, GA!
67. Would you ever consider buying a Mac? I would buy one tomorrow if I had the excess fundage! I love them.
68. Are you going to bed anytime soon? Nah, it’s only 2:25 p.m. That might be a little ridic.
69. Do you like the name Stephanie? Actually yes. I worked at a restaurant with an adorable Czech gal who went by Stephanie, which was the English version of her name, “Stepanka”. So cute. She was like 4 ft tall, too.
70. Have you gone through more than five different favourite colours in your life? Hmmm…no. Yellow, Red, Turquoise.
71. Would you rather have green or purple skin? Purple.
72. Are your eyebrows the same colour as your hair? Yes.
73. Would you rather have eyebrows that are too thick or almost no eyebrows at all? Too thick – there’s always waxing!
74. Do you have an overactive imagination? I think it’s just active enough!
75. Are you going to/did you watch High School Musical 3? No!
76. What’s the most random item around you right now? That would be a vintage My Little Pony figurine on my desk.
77. Are you allowed to wear flip-flops to work? No.
78. Does your cell phone have a camera? Yes.
79. Does it have a music player as well? Yes.
80. Do you still dress the same as you did 3 years ago? Pretty much!
81. Is your signature easy to copy? I think it is!
82. Could you write a song? I sure could!
83. What’s on the cover of the nearest CD? No CD’s in sight!
84. Have you ever gone for any kind of audition? Elementary school talent shows.
85. Do you listen to music everyday? Yes.
86. Has a boy ever given you a teddy bear? Yes – he came with the Boca Java gift basket Jason gave me for V-day!
87. Have you ever posted a video of yourself singing on Youtube? Oh goodness NO!
88. What is something new that you have discovered recently? The Amazon.com app for iPhone! It is sublime.
89. Do you tend to eat more on Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas?: Thanksgiving is the real throw-down!
90. Three more days until what?: FRIDAY!
91. What are crayons made out of?: Wax, pigment dye and dreams.
92. Who do you not like more: your dentists, your eye doctor, or your doctor?: My eye doctor, but not b/c of him personally, but b/c he has to do that test where the machine touches your eyeballs and I just can’t get comfy with that. What if it malfuctions? You could lose an eye. I hate the whole thing!
93. Do you like Crayola or Rose Art better?: Crayola
94. What is your favorite type of dog?: Golden lab and corgi.
95. What is your favorite type of nut?: Macadamia, brazil, pecan, almond
96. What would you do if it snowed right now?: Be concerned. It’s July in GA.
97. Would you rather be a bird or a fish?: Fish.
98. What is the last words you’ve said out loud?: “Do you have change for a twenty?”
99. What subject do you just not get at all?: Math.
100. When did you start wearing makeup, if you even do?: I think 7th grade was the dawning of some occasional light lavender eye shadow.
101. What’s the show that you can’t miss a week of?: SYTYCD, The Mentalist
102. On that note, what’s the worst show on television?: Daisy of Love and everything in that vein.
103. Who is the hottest news anchor?: Andy Coops!
104. Who do you like more: the Batman or the Joker?: Batman.
105. What’s the next book you want to read? “The Almost Moon”-Alice Sebold or “Revolutionary Road”-Richard Yates, both are on deck.
106. What do you wish you were named?: I’m happy with my nameplate!
107. Do you think coloring ruins a drawing?: That depends on who colored it and who drew it!
108. How would you go about making a peach color with paints?: Orange and white, duh!
109. Do you know how many languages there are in the world?: Surely thousands.
110. Why do some people like stuffed animals?: Probably b/c they are cute and cheerful.
111. When is labor day?: September 7th
112. When’s the last time you ran? Yesterday on the elliptical machine. I was a piston pumping goombah.
113. Do your jeans have rips, tears, and holes in them? One pair’s getting a little skanky ‘round the hem from wear.
114. What are you dreading right now? No “dread” but I’m not necessarily excited about going to the dentist Thursday.
115. When is the last time you saw the person you like? @ lunch!
116. Do you get the full 8 hours of sleep a night? I did last night and it really made a difference in how I felt when I woke up!
117. Do you own a pair of Converse? Yes, I’d like some Jack Purcells. They’re just really cute canvas shoes.
118. Did you copy and paste this survey? I sho did! It’s actually like 5 different surveys pasted together!
119. Do you eat raw cookie dough? I have before but I like warm, chewy cooked cookies better.
120. Have you ever kicked a vending machine? No.
121. Do you watch Trading Spaces? No, but I like lots of other home improvement and real estate shows!
122. Do you wear your shoes in the house? No, I kick ‘em off immediately.
123. At what age did you find out that Santa wasn’t real? 18. Ha! 5th grade.
124. How many phones–house phones and cell phones–are in your home? 1 cell phiz.
125. Last time you saw your best girl friend? Last Wednesday
126. What jewelry are you wearing? Super pretty white/turq beaded bracelet and matching earrings my mom made me!
127. What’s the first thing you do when you get online? Usually check email and then check blogs.
128. Do you watch Grey’s Anatomy? I stopped watching it after the episode where they discovered that chick lived in the hospital. ??? Plus I got sick of the whole Meredith/McDreamy storyline.
129. How do most people pronounce your name? Christian. WRONG!
130. Would you wear a boy/girlfriends clothes? Totes!
131. What are you doing tomorrow? Working out and then going to see “The Hangover” with Jason!
132. How many pairs of shoes do you own? 5 pairs of flip flops, 4 pairs of black heels/sandals, running shoes, bunny slippers, 1 pair of brown wedges.
133. What service is your cell phone? AT&T
134. What’s the last thing you purchased? Cherry Coke Zero
135. Where is your cell phone? In my purse.
136. Is your phone on vibrate or ring? Both
137. What brand are your pants right now? No idea; got them at Macy’s.
138. Ever been to Georgia? Have I!
139. What irritates you most on the internet? Spoilers!
140. Do you own expensive perfume/cologne, if so, what? CK One Summer and Stella.
141. Are you taking college classes right now? No.
142. Do you like sushi? Yes.
143. Do you get your hair cut every month? No; rarely get it cut more than once a year. I always think a fun haircut will look good and it just never does!
144. Do you go online every day? Yes.

For Maggie

I love you, little lady!

Pete Yorn at Centerstage Atlanta

Jason and I went to see Pete Yorn with Hilary and Chris and it was a blast! Hearing him play live was a definite reminder of how much I love his music! I saw him at the Tabernacle back in '02 and this smaller-scale show blew that one out of the water! I really loved it when he played "On Your Side" - such a beautiful song.
The fabulous pictures below of Pete and the band on stage were taken by Chris Gilbert and his amazing camera! Thanks to Hilary for sharing them!

Harmonica time!

Pete Yorn, rockin' the joint!

Jase Face & me

Great pic of Hilary & Chris!

Team Cosine in effect.

Me and Hils

Geo Party!

So earlier today as I was perusing the headlines at Yahoo!, I came across a story that sparked several hours of frenzied world geography discovery. The article discussed that remnants from a plane crash off the coast of Comoros had washed ashore in Tanzania. I am ashamed to admit that I had to go look at a map of the world IMMEDIATELY b/c my first thought was "Remnants from a plane crash off the coast of AFRICA wound up in TANZANIA?!?!?", confusing Tanzania with Tasmania. Ya know, that little dollup of an isle below Australia. So upon discovering this glaring lack of knowledge about African geography, I printed off 2 maps of Africa: 1 with the countries listed on it, the other, blank. I allowed myself exactly 5 minutes to study the map before I grabbed my mechanical pencil and unleashed the fury on the blank map, trying to identify as many countries as possible in 5 minutes. Let's just say...it was sad. 26 out of 61. I looked at the map with names a few times during slow periods of my afternoon. Tonight, I told Jason about it and then remembered this awesome site that has tons of different geography quizzes. I immediately went there and took the Africa quiz - I'm proud to report that my score was 150 out of a possible 162 points! If I could do math, I'd tell ya how many questions that means I got right! However, we're tackling geography right now, so let's let sleeping maths lie.

Some notes:

Burkina Faso is my favorite country name (aside from the obvious Djibouti), and now I can not only point it out on a map, I can tell you, all intelluctuel-like, that it's located above Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin.

They have a country called "The Gambia", which I really enjoy b/c it's as if this country said "We're so cool, we need a 'the' before our name'", like "The Fonz" or "The Incredible Mr. Limpet".

Before today, I had never even heard of Eritrea.

I knew the correct location of Gabon thanks to watching Survivor. Who said you can't learn anything from reality TV??

The name "Liberia" unsettles me. It just sounds hellish. Could be a beautiful place for all I know (which is clearly not much), but I get the same feelings when I read it's name as I do when I hear the word "Clowns".

I've always thought Zimbabwe was bigger than Zambia (it's not). And by "always", I mean "since reviewing a map this morning".

After completing the Africa quiz, I went buck wild and took all of the continent quizzes. I got perfect scores on Australia, USA and South America - which was weird b/c I do not know why I was able to easily locate Paraguay...?? It's not like I've ever been to S. America or even really looked at a map of it since 7th grade. I missed 1 on the Canada quiz. I then skewered my own kabob of geo high by taking..dun dun dun...The Europe Quiz. I extend the invitation to take this quiz and admit your score aloud to anyone reading this. If there was a million dollars riding on me pointing to "Montenegro" on a map of Europe...you can safely assume I would be "cloaked in failure", to quote 'Jerry Maguire', for the rest of my life.

If you're bored and looking to either feel elated or deflated, depending on your level of georgaphical savvy, you should go quiz crazy!

Sears Tower unveils 103rd floor glass balconies

Two words: Ummmm...NO. The pictures make me shiver with fear!





Sears Tower unveils 103rd floor glass balconies

By KAREN HAWKINS, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jul 1, 5:05 pm ET

CHICAGO – Visitors to the Sears Tower's new glass balconies all seem to agree: The first step is the hardest.

The balconies are suspended 1,353 feet in the air and jut out four feet from the building's 103rd floor Skydeck. Their transparent walls, floor and ceiling leave visitors with the impression they're floating over the city.

"It's like walking on ice," said Margaret Kemp, of Bishop, Calif., who said her heart was still pounding even after stepping away from the balcony. "That first step you take — 'am I going down?'"

Kemp was among the visitors who got a sneak preview of the balconies Wednesday. "The Ledge," as the balconies have been nicknamed, open to the public Thursday. Visitors are treated to unobstructed views of Chicago from the building's west side and a heart-stopping vista of the street and Chicago River below — for those brave enough to look straight down.

John Huston, one of the property owners of the Sears Tower, even admitted to getting "a little queasy" the first time he ventured out. But 30 or 40 trips later, he's got the hang of it.

"The Sears Tower has always been about superlatives — tallest, largest, most iconic," he said. "Today is also about superlatives. Today, we present you with 'the Ledge,' the world's most awesome view, the world's most precipitous view, the view with the most wow in the world."

The balconies can hold five tons, and the glass is an inch-and-a-half thick, officials said. Sears Tower officials have said the inspiration for the balconies came from the hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind on Skydeck windows every week. Now, staff will have a new glass surface to clean: floors.

"It's very scary, but at the same time it's very cool," said Chanti Lawrence of Atlanta, adding that she's made her first step toward overcoming her fear of heights.

Adam Kane, 10, of Alton, Ill., rushed to the ledge with his friends and siblings, and they each eagerly pressed their faces to the glass bottom.

"Look at all those tiny things that are usually huge," Adam said.

The balconies are just one of the big changes coming to the Sears Tower. The building's name will change to Willis Tower later this summer. Last week, officials announced a 5-year, $350 million green renovation complete with wind turbines, roof gardens and solar panels.

With the ledge, visitors like Kemp said the nation's tallest building has succeeded in creating something they've never seen before.

"I had to live 70 years for a thrill like this," she said.

Winston wrap-up

The visit to Winston-Salem was a blast! I not only got to try my hand at swinging a golf club but also ended up getting to ride a Paso Fino horse that just returned from a horse show! It pretty much kicked ass! It was SO NICE to get away from the doldrums of work for a few days with my peach, a good book and plenty of time to relax! I'd like to do one of these lil trips once a month but doubt my budget (or annual leave balance) could accomodate such a request. Retirement's how far away? ;-)