Top 8 From 2008

a Wandering Illustrator recap, if you will.

(in no particular order...except maybe the top 3)

8. Started running
7. Memorial Day weekend in L.A.
6. Seattle and Vancouver with the ladies
5. Indiana to see Aunnee and Heath
4. Bought a house (and a car)
3. Surprised Bea for his play
2. Emmalyn Louise entered the world
aaaaaaaand the number one event of 2008:
1. I ran a freaking MARATHON!

Wow, it has definitely been a busy year - and a good one. Thanks for reading along. :)

Here's hoping you all have a fantastic 2009!

Still Alive

posts a-brewing.

In the meantime...
...I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Who wants to do something for New Year's Eve?

Sigh.

Jim: How Many Shoes Do You Need?

Dwight: I don't know. Two, maybe three if one wears out. How many shoes do you need?

I went to the mall tonight. I hate the mall. I hate the crowds and the pushy kiosk vendors and the never-ending parade of stores that don't carry pants in tall sizes. I hate the onslaught of store credit card offers and the tittering packs of middle-schoolers shuffling around. I hate it. But...I love finding an awesome bargain. And tonight, I hit the mother lode. Ann Taylor Loft. Four pairs of super-cute flats. $200 worth of shoes. For 20 bucks. $20. Total. Wizard.

I had no luck finding pants though. I mean, come on - how hard is it to find a pair of dark brown, tall-length, non-dressy pants? Turns out: very.

This Is Me Trying To Blog More.

so you get posts like this with scattered bits of information that you probably already know.

I had to crawl around in my attic last night to (hopefully) fix a water softener leak that was causing water to run down the wall in my bathroom. This required quite a bit of crawling and contortions to maneuver past two-by-fours and protruding nails and fiberglass insulation. As I was telling htd and the Bea, it was like that scene from Entrapment with Catherine Zeta-Jones and the string "lasers"...only the non-sexy version.

Some guy wasn't paying attention in stop and go traffic and ran into the back of my car on the way to work yesterday morning. I was PISSED. But it didn't do any damage and, as Bree so astutely pointed out, the FIT is still GO.

I watched two movies this past weekend that have been sitting on my shelf waiting to be watched for a couple years at least. The first one was Sleepers - a really intense movie with a pretty incredible cast and some fantastic acting. I'd recommend it. The other was Suicide Kings - I still haven't finished it (I had to go pick up my cousin from the airport), but my sister and parents tell me I didn't miss much. And then we all went to see Four Christmases. It was pretty funny with the usual just-over-the-line moments. I'd say if you liked Meet the Parents, you'd probably like this movie.

I signed up tonight for a 5K at the fancy little shopping/theater district in Mesa next weekend. It's called the Jingle Bell Walk, but it's really a walk/run. It seems like the perfect way to get back into "racing" before I'm staring down the barrel of the P.F. Chang's half marathon next month.

If you've ever wondered what the literal version of A-Ha's music video for the song Take On Me might sound like, you should go here. "I'm gonna kick some ass with my own pipe-wrench."

Band montage!

A Thanksgiving Feast

in words and pictures. (mostly pictures)

(htd, you will notice that I snagged the pictures from your camera. It was sitting right next to me, so I took the opportunity. And guess what?? I love you I love you I LOVE YOU!!!!) (for all of you gagging right now, that was from Elf, so really, you should be laughing.)

Herbed Turkey Breast (me)
















Aunt Jeanette's Egg Rolls *not the Chinese variety* (htd)
















Classic Green Bean Casserole(me)
















The Family Favorite (Pops)
















I say Dressing (me)
















Jello Fruit Salad (htd)
















Pumpkin Pie (htd)
















Traditional Thanksgiving Trifle (htd)