better late than never

I was tagged by the legend herself, Bunny Mendelbaum, and even though I took my time to get around to it. I am answering it now.

The rules: Answer the following questions about yourself. At the end of the post you pass on the questions to 6 (or so) other bloggers and list their names. Then write them a comment telling them that they've been tagged and ask them to read your blog.

1. What did you do 10 years ago?
Summer of 1998...I was 16 and I had started a new job at Best Buy. I was making $6.00 per hour starting out and that was okay by me. It is amazing the amount of money you can get by on when you dont have any bills or rent! I just got over my first knee surgery and little did I know that I was on my way to a second within a few months. I never should have gone back to playing soccer so quickly!

2. Five items on your to-do list today:
- Visit my grandpa in the hospital
- Think of the remainder of Jeff's birthday gift (its tomorrow!)
- Dinner at Jeff's moms house
- Catch up on work...phone calls and emails
- Clean up my office. I think that a cyclone went through here last week. I need to organize.

3. Snacks I enjoy:
I am seriously entirely too intrigued by the Candy Bracket that Nikki and Marc did...I think I need to email her for said bracket. For scientific purposes only of course.
I enjoy marshmallow fluff and fruit snacks. I can eat an entire box of fruit snacks in 1 sitting. They are that good.

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Take care of the family and close friends, thats a given. Buy a vacation house (or 5) and spend my days helping charities of my choice and traveling and enjoying life. Perhaps I would put out my own fruit snack, or buy a winery, or just shop a lot and eat amazing foods all the time (lets be realistic here).

5. Places I would live:
Seattle, Washington
France
Germany
Great Britain - can't decide where though
Caribbean
Mexico
I guess the list is long and neverending.

6. Bloggers I am passing the challenge onto are:
Not Just Any Jen, I'm Not THAT pregnant, Hoping for a Miracle, Finding Life...

he only has eyes for me...and Janet Reno

From reading my recent post of the Top 5 men that make my heart skip a beat my darling Jeff has composed a Top 5 list of his own.

He emailed it to me yesterday and I made the error of reading his list when I was drinking. I had to toss my keyboard aside to save it from the spray of Diet Coke that erupted from said list.

You'll see what I mean.

And this is why Jeff is my love...

(Oh, I will preface this by saying that my man has impeccable taste! And these are his captions)

Jeff's Top 5

It's hard to limit it to just 5, because so many celebrities catch my eye, I could never limit myself to just 5, but here is my best effort:

5. Sandra Bernhard - What a smile...she can burn me hard anyday.

4. Rhea Perlman - Hello Carla...how you doing?

3. Camilla Parker-Bowles - Good enough for a prince, good enough for me...and then some...yum!

2. Melissa Rivers - Seeing her last night on tv brought back that tingle I had when she hosted those red carpet shows on E!

1. Janet Reno - total package. Brains...brawn and I hear she makes a mean apple dumpling.

paper, glass, plastic and cardboard

Since moving to Perrysburg I have been nothing short of giddy at the thought of recycling.

Yeah, I said recycling!

Perrysburg has an excellent program, they are really very polite and dont mind being asked the stupidest of questions, PLUS they have these super cute red recycling bins to use! Durable even when hit by a car.

Against his prior just throw it all in the garbage ways I have 99% successfully converted Jeff to the other side. The hippy, granola, recycling side. Not only have I converted Jeff but his darling daughter, Carah, as well.

I do know that when I am not around and he tries to throw away a plastic or glass container (force of habit, Im sure) that he is sometimes busted by my new recycling deputy. She is on top of things in my absence.

In all of her 4 year old cuteness she comes up to me as I put on my makeup in the bathroom today (you know, so I can look like Hayden Penettiere, only older) she brings her juice box to me "Can I recycle this?"

Sadly, we could not recycle the juice box but just the fact that I have her little mind ticking towards a better tomorrow is just fabulous.

bears and worms and sharks Oh! My!

I think that gummy candy is something that has no human can resist. Well, not Jeff at least. Sorry to out you...but Jeff is a candy freak. I never thought that I would meet my candy match but I sure as fuck have!

They make so many types of gummies that there is literally something for every taste.

My pleasure is plain 'ol gummy bears.

But they must be from The Candy Jar on Louisiana Avenue (thats downtown) Perrysburg. They do not have a webpage but trust me that they have just about any candy that you desire! Their prices are beyond reasonable and where else can you peruse delicious, tooth-decaying candy in old fashioned glass candy jars? I am a huge advocate for local businesses and this is one of my favorites.

Their gummy bears are completely special because they are flown in from a distributer in Germany. These little German bears are divine. Yes, I am a gummy bear snob. I openly admit to it.

Gummy candies range from gummy peach rings, gummy sharks, gummy dinosaurs, gummy penguins, sour patch kids, sour gummy worms, gummy ice cream cones, gumy hot dogs and gummy tv stars even. The world is ga-ga for gummies.

I recall our dear Homer Simpson partaking of the free samples at the candy convention and accidentally taking the gummy Venus Di Milo...he even went so far as to grab the gummy off of the babysitters ass, just so he could savor its gummy goodness.

What is your gummy pleasure??

I reluctantly list my 5

I know that as soon as I post the list Ill think of someone else to add to it...and who do you bump from a top 5?

And I would also like to preface this list by saying that I am very much in love with a total hottie. Jeff is fantastic....and Jeff, we know that I have no chance in hell with any of these celebrities so they are only eye candy, while you...you are the one I fall asleep with every night. And thats the best kind of love (and lust).

I am not going to list the following, even though they could easily make the top 5..........David Beckham, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Will Smith, Christian Bale, Matthew Fox, Mike Rowe, Ryan Reynolds...and the list goes on. I like to go with the unsung hotties.

Here is my current and ever changing, top 5.


#1 Matt Damon

He is a fabulous family man, has his own production company, is one hell of an actor and is actively involved in numerous charities. Oh, plus he has those amazing blue eyes. I completely have a thing for blue eyed men (right Jeff?)
The word to describe Matt Damon? Delicious.

#2 Ryan Gosling

Who didnt fall in love with him while watching The Notebook?
He sizzled onscreen and made me *swoon* when he and Rachel McAdams totally got it on after they were caught in the rainstorm. Wow. Just wow. And seriously, he is one of the few men that looks amazing while totally scruffy.

#3 Simon Baker

I just discovered him yesterday while watching a DVR'd movie, Something New.

Decent movie, made better by his rugged good looks. He is the all-American boy next door type. Move over Mr. Rogers, he can be my neighbor.

#4 Daniel Craig

The new 007 himself.

Thank God the James Bond powers that be gave us females our very own 'hottie in the ocean' moment. The men all had it with Halle Berry, okay and a lot of us girls like it too. But we were due. Thank you Daniel Craig for delivering. And any man that can take the torture he endured and still think about sex...a man after my own heart.

#5 Ian Somerhalder

He played Boone on LOST (the best TV show ever).

I could have cried when he died, okay, I DID cry when he died. I guess the island was done with him. I really dont know if he has even done any other acting work, but he had my eye in LOST and I guess I could find a few things to do with him on a stranded island. They did have handcuffs. But he is totally a pretty boy and that is not my style at all.

But here is my all time #1 cuddled up with me at Christmas last year.

fruit loops to go

Thats right, I can finally start having my cereal at work.

For the past few years I have had to buy Nutra Grain Bars, Granola Bars, Oatmeal and other work friendly breakfast options (we wont talk about the McDonald's, pastries and cookies that I sometimes have for breakfast).

The container Gods have smiled upon me leading me to the Container Store's webpage. I found this little beauty
Cereal to go! Milk on the bottom, cereal on the top! And there is a tiny travel spoon with it too, score! So now I can get my cereal and milk ready at night at actually eat a delicious bowl of cereal at work. Oh yeah!

I ordered two of them yesterday. On sale currently for $3.99 each and FREE shipping. They are backordered. Apparently everyone sees this as a fabulous invention and wants one. Ill let you know when they get here. And what colors The Container Store chooses for me. I am hoping for blue and orange naturally.

Mix and Freeze

I have found my new favorite summer drink. Actually Jeff and I found it last month and have not been able to order more yet. I know we are both jonesing for it and luckily, we will have some next week!

I speak to you of the Tastefully Simple Mango Breeze Margarita Mix. It is the bees knees. I am not a mix and freeze drink fan but something about this mix told me it was different.
I added the necessary amount of water and tequila, mixed and froze overnight.
Okay, to be honest with you I wanted to try and add MORE tequila than it called for, but I ran out of tequila. So I ended up following the recipe exactly.
It was perfect! After 2 slushy glasses I was pleasantly surprised at their potency.

I officially dubbed it My favorite summer drink.

things in life that drive me bonkers

1. Nose whistles. Its an odd conversation to tell someone that they have a nose whistle. And how awkward is it when it is YOU that has the annoying nose whistle and you cannot get rid of it.
Don't these people realize that their nose is whistling with every single breath they take? No. Of course not. It wouldn't be annoying that way.

2. That we have not yet invented self cleaning dishes and utensils. This would be most helpful.

3. Hearing the same song on different genres of radio stations. If I hear a great song on our local New Rock Alternative/90's Alternative station I sure as hell don't want to be hearing that song on our top 40/pop station. I am not one for a song to transcend the station lines and be acceptable for all to listen to.

4. That other restaurants have not discovered the need for food delivery. Pizza is delivered. Chinese is delivered. But why did the powers that be decide to stop there? Is it really that much harder to deliver burgers? Sushi? Thai? We need to force a delivery revolution. Yes, this will further the obesity epidemic in America, but isn't it slightly worth it for a Spicy Tiger Roll to be delivered at your beck and call?
When I was at Bowling Green State University there was a fabulous delivery service that was fairly novel. They delivered beer. To college kids. Can we all say money maker? This marvel is known as Mr. Spots. They have hoagies, philly's and the best damn waffle fries you'll find in NW Ohio. The delivery goes into the wee hours of the morning. So if you have a hankering for food other than Taco Bell at 3am you DO have another option in Bowling Green.

5. When I paint my fingernails - my left hand always comes out looking great. My right hand looks like I let the cats try and paint it for me. I am not left handed so unfortunately the hand that I use for everything always ends up looking unkept. I promise you that I try my best to not look slovenly in my nail polishing but you have to accept that this is the best I can muster with a hand that feels like it was just attached yesterday when I try and actually use it for such technical purposes. The left hand is much happier when I use it for functions such as back scratching, helping getting dressed and hell, even typing makes it happy. Trying to feed myself with my left hand is right up there with nail polishing. You'd think my mouth moved into my cheek.

6. The over-achieving co-worker. I have a co-worker that is a constant over achiever. This is not necessarily a bad thing by any means but when it makes me look bad I start to care. This person ALWAYS volunteers to take on projects, plan meetings, order food and brown nose the boss on any occasion applicable. Its sickening.

my wish for you is happiness

One of my bestest is going through one of the hardest things ever right now. I am not going to go on and on about it but I just want her to know that I am supporting her decision 100%!

So to one of my bestest....this is acollection of random fun summer things. Nope, its not as cool as a Hallmark Card. It'll have to do. But it is just for you. Hope it cheers you up!

circa 1995

A few weeks ago I realized that try as I might I wasnt going to be able to cram all of my clothes into my ridiculously small closet. So I decided to retire some of my shirts to a drawer and weed through the rest of the clothes and see what I can give away.My goal was to get out everything that I hadnt worn in a year and to try it on and see if it 1. Still fit, 2. looked hip enough that I could be mistaken for a 19 year old who was still up on what was cool and 3. didnt look like I had been hanging onto it since I was in high school.

Has it really been that long since the 90's were in full swing and NKOTB were singing "Please Don't Go Girl", the slap bracelet, obscenely large scrunchies and triple colored socks were the height of fashion?
In that case I am in serious need of a wardrobe update...

I did find quite a few shirts from high school that I had been very reluctant to get rid of. Okay, and a pair of pants and two pairs of shorts. This isnt that far fetched because I am actually the same weight as I was in high school... I am not the toned soccer goddess I once was but either way I still fit into most of them.

Things that are not as cool today as they were in high school:
1. t shirts with my picture on them
2. pants and shorts that come up to my natural waist
3. shorts that are so short they show part of my ass
4. jean shorts with holes in the ass that show part of my ass (klassy)
5. belly shirts

So the next time the donation truck makes its way through my neighborhood some poor unsuspecting consumer will have their choice of the high school soccer team t shirt, a large purple scrunchie and a high waist pair of MUDD jeans with a hole in the knee.

I did hang onto the slap bracelet though. You never know when trends will come around again and I want to be ready for this one.

135 dog years old

I just realized that my birthday is about 3 months from now. Yeah, 3 months is eons away. But I had a 1.4 minute fixation on it. I think it was the birthday gift planning for dear Jeff who has a birthday coming up on July 1.
Now, I know that 27 is considered young by many, but this 26 year old is having a hard time stepping out of the mid-20's area where ages 24, 25 and 26 are housed. 27. I consider 27 to be late-20's. I think we all do.
I just dont want it. Not at all.

I dont want the 30th birthday, the wrinkles, (more) stretch marks and loss of valuable muscle mass needed to hold down the couch during the weekends.

I know its stupid to even think about. 27 is a perfectly acceptable age. And it is young.
It is often times hard to not compare myself to other 27 year olds around our fair nation. Not just the mega-millionaire celebrities. But even to my friends. They have beautiful houses, happy marriages and have fantastic drunken midgets running around they call kids.

It may sound boring to some and even stupid to the others. But one of my goals in life include having a boringly happy The Dick Van Dyke Show kind of existence. I'm not saying that I agree to smile as much as Laura Petrie. But you get the picture.

I do know that a good friend of mine, Brittany, recently turned 27 and she didnt spontaneously combust or anything. She actually had a great 3 day celebration. So I am fairly certain that Ill come out alive in the end. If you hear of anything to the contrary over the next three months...fill me in would ya?