pictures

Countdown III (Pictures)

19 December 2007 / birthday, christmas, life, meme, pictures, to do, work

Six more days!!
One more till my birthday! I’ll be &@#&@&#@. Ooops, must have missed something in the translation there….

Today, I got a a gift certificate to Amazon.com from Adam’s dad (and my future father-in-law). THAT makes me so happy. Books! This evening, I got a package from Rosa (meimeigui) and Richard, with strict instructions not to open anything early. So I have a birthday present next to me, and a Christmas present for me, and a Christmas present for Aidan, under the tree.

Janet spoiled me yesterday at work. First, there was this at my desk:

Then, a bunch of us went to La Chatelaine for lunch, and Janet treated me. I had the lunch combo: ham sandwich, tomato basil soup, and Caesar salad. Yummmmo. I really like that place and want to go again SOON. The prices are not unreasonable, either.

Karen gave me a card and told me not to open it until tomorrow. I sat it by my computer so I can remember. If I am up at midnight tonight, I’m going to open the present from Rosa and Richard. 🙂

This morning, I came into work and found a poinsettia, two cards, candy, and two books on my desk. What a nice surprise, yes? This time of year is so awesome. One of the cards had a lottery ticket in it. I didn’t win.

E Mae treated the copy editors to lunch at Spagio. It was good. I had leftovers. It’s really rich food, so I can eat like, 1/3 of a serving at a time before my mouth says NO MORE FOR NOW, you!

I have to wrap all of Adam’s gifts tonight, as he’ll be here tomorrow. (!!!♥!!!) I don’t take him for a snooper, but I just want to have it done. Some of the boxes are soooo cute that I’m not bothering to wrap them. But the animal print ones I picked up at Marc’s—DEFINITELY getting wrapped. LoL.

Aidan’s disappointed because there are things under the tree for him and he can’t open them yet.

He’s still cute though:

My Favorite Present, Always!

I took a Spending Style test on Tickle today. Here is the result:

Ronni, you’re a Bargain Hunter

In your life, you’re willing to go the extra mile in order to find a good deal. Whenever possible, you hold out until you can find the least expensive version of something you need. Your patience and persistence generally leads you to significant savings, which you likely take great pride in. While some may mistakenly think you are cheap and puzzle over why you prefer thrift stores to overpriced boutiques, you’re content to let them squander their cash while you chase down a great bargain.

When it comes to your financial state, you tend to feel like you’re about where you think you should be.

Except for that last statement, it’s pretty much right on.

To Do, Revisited:

– renew driver’s license (12/20)
– renew license plate tags (12/20)
~~– clean my room (that includes finally unpacking my clothes from my Atlanta and NYC trips, changing the sheets, and general tidying up)~~
~~– finish Christmas shopping~~
~~– Christmas cards~~
– insulate windows with some of that plastic stuff you use with a hairdryer
~~– hair~~
~~– clean little Lucy’s litter box (thorough cleaning, not just litter exchange)~~
– burn a Christmas CD
– wrap gifts
– get groceries

My computer is SO SLOW. It’s driving me nuts. Takes freakin’ Facebook forever to load, and to switch between programs… the thing acts like it’s straining to do that. I have 1.5 gigs of memory and it’s a 2.something gig processor. Web sites take ages to come up. The thing takes at least ten minutes to fully boot up. It amazes me how much Windows deteriorates after a few years, or months even. I also hate how certain programs steal focus. I’ll start something in the background and then go to something else while I am waiting for it to open. Instead of the other program blinking in the taskbar to let me know its ready, all of a sudden, whatever I’m working on disappears and a new IE window or something is in the way. Drives me bananas. But the new Flickr Uploader is awesome. I can do EVERYTHING I need to do to the photos right in the uploader, so no need to wait for the site to load to finish editing (tags, sets, etc.). Good times.

At about 11am tomorrow, I will be leaving ZB until next Friday. Can’t wait. No more Core TEs to bother with for days and days and days. *glares at vendor*

OK, gonna go finish with the gifts and trying to make Aidan giggle. Later! 🙂

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Christmas Time & Christmas Meme (Pictures)

12 December 2007 / christmas, meme, pictures, survey

Put up the tree today. 🙂 There’s something nice about small trees. They’re so easy to decorate. I hadn’t even taken the thing apart really. Just stood it up and fluffed it out a bit. Plopped on the garland and the lights, and when Aidan got here, hung the ornaments with him. Good times.

I’ve been playing with the manual settings on my camera (FINALLY, after having it for 20 months!), and while I still have a lot to learn, I’m excited about how much more flexibility I have with photography. I’m also scared that I’ll screw up pix a lot more. :O Like those sparkle things on Aidan’s face in the above picture. What the hot banana is that all about?

Festive Experimentation

And time for a survey! 🙂

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Both! I like to wrap, but gift bags are pretty and reusable! 🙂

2. Real or Artificial tree?
Artificial. I have a cat.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Usually the first week of December, but I got sick this year, then went to NYC. So, today.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Whenever I get around to it. I try to do it soon after the new year.

5. Do you like Eggnog?
No.

6. Favorite gift you received as a child?
Oh man, let me think! Barbie Dolls, and the Hanging’ Tough Live video. 🙂

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
I think I do? I do have an ornament that I keep up all year round.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
My stepfather.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
Aidan and Adam.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received?
Dunno.

11. Christmas Cards?
Yes.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
I LOVE The Christmas List. After that? Hmm, A Christmas Story. A Christmas Carol.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
A bit before Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever ‘recycled’ a Christmas present?
I may have for a white elephant thing.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
My mommy’s dressing, greens, and mac & cheese. And raspberry chocolate chip cookies!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Clear.

17. Favorite Christmas Song?
We’ll start with Transiberian Orchestra ones first:
Christmas Canon
Christmas Canon Rock
Wish Liszt (Toy Shop Madness)
Next, Harry Connick, Jr. songs:
Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
I Pray on Christmas
… and these randoms:
– O Come O Come Emmanuel – Carter’s Cord (It’s FREE on iTunes right now—’til 12/18/07—so go get it!)
– Emmanuel, God With Us – Amy Grant
– These Are The Special Times
– God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (the 98º one)
– Agnus De, the Michael W. Smith version. It’s not really a Christmas song, but it fits.
– Christmastime – Michael W. Smith
– The Prayer
– Angels We Have Heard on High (the Joan Osborne version)

And and…. of course, You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch. 🙂

Oh, and I like the ones Mariah Carey sings and Sarah McLachlan and Jewel and Nat King Cole and … OK, you know what? It’s going to take me too long to answer this question. I have 218 Christmas songs on my computer That’s 13.4 hours.

HEY, I also like the I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas song. Anyone have it and want to share? 🙂

18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home?
I’m the young, unmarried one, so I’ll be traveling. Adam, Aidan, and I are going up to see my mom.

19. Can you name Santa’s Reindeer?
A few of them.

20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree?
Angel. Always an angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
It depends. This year, I opened some on Thanksgiving!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
It goes away so quickly.

23. Shopping…Mall or online?
I like to go out and shop. No paying for shipping that way. I remember when they were really trying to push online shopping, back in 1999. EVERY place offered free shipping, and I didn’t have a car. It was the best thing ever. But then, online shopping caught on, so it’s not as much fun anymore.

24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?)
I have an apartment, so I only decorate inside.

25. Favorite Christmas cookie?
Raspberry chocolate chip. I need to get some raspberry chocolate chips and a new cookie sheet so I can make them!

26. Do you own Christmassy clothing or jewelry?
I have a couple pairs of socks. 🙂

27. Do you believe in Santa?
Santa rocks, dude.

‘Til next time.

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New York City… Center of the Universe (Pictures)

10 December 2007 / adam, new york city, pictures, sick, vacation

Hey there! I’m safely installed in Columbus, and plan to remain in Ohio for the rest of 2007. After last night’s/this morning’s travel fiasco, I can say I’m relieved that I don’t need to fly anywhere for awhile. I’m sure the bug will be biting in about a month or so, though.

Anyway, if you’re a regular reader, you know that my adorable fiancé Adam (adamselzer) flew us to New York City for the weekend. The arrangement was to meet at JFK airport at about 8:25pm or so. Well, both of our flights got delayed due to weather, and when Adam landed (about a half hour after I did), there was some drama in actually finding each other. After a long, long subway trip to Brooklyn (where we were staying), we finally got to our destination, and crashed.

And then I couldn’t sleep. Blah.

You know you want to see pictures!

Woke up Saturday morning, and my digestive system was acting quite unstable (due to the meds I’m on). However, I was not going to let that stop me from seeing New York. We hopped on the subway and got off at Times Square. That subway station is crazy. CRAZY. Apparently, my face when I first saw Times Square was a big, open-mouthed smile, probably not unlike the face I made when Adam proposed to me. I mean, WOW. Lots of flashing lights and signs and big billboards and people and people and people.

Oh my Lord, were there people. Not too many in Times Square. 5th Avenue, however, was another story. Quite.

THERE WERE LINES TO GET INTO ABERCROMBIE & FITCH.

Not even right.

Anyway.

Guess what! 🙂

The biggest ass Christmas tree I have ever seen.

There’s me! 🙂

Penny Harvest Field
http://www.commoncents.org

Adam

Central Park

Remembering John Lennon
** see wlotus‘s LJ for a really excellent shot.

Central Park

Adam & Me in Central Park

I got to meet and hang out with wlotus!!!!! She is soooo much fun! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Pretty star on 5th Avenue

I dunno. It’s just cool.

Times Square, at night.

Wanda, Adam, and I took a break from all the walking and stuff to see the movie Juno.

YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. It is brilliant, amazing, funny, just… it’s so good. Everyone should go see Juno. I can’t stop quoting it.

Rent was amazing. Troy Horne was amazing as Tom Collins (I didn’t get a chance to say hi to him, unfortunately, watchwhat), and the actress who played Mimi really did a great job in that role! I enjoyed it a lot and REALLY want to see it again. Really, really. 🙂

Yesterday, Adam and I CRASHED. We spent the day hanging around the flat and napping and watching Christmas cartoons. We walked around the corner and got lunch at a deli. That night, we hung out with Nadia, and I left for the airport at 8:30ish. Hired cars are a beautiful thing in NYC. Cheaper than cabs and WAY quicker than subways and trains. Anyway, my flight was to take off at 10pm. We had no crew. The crew was stuck on a delayed flight from NC. We didn’t take off until about 11pm. Got to Columbus and couldn’t land because of really bad fog. So, we circled and circled and circled until the fuel ran out, then we flew to Cleveland. Sat in the plane for a few hours until the fog in Columbus lifted. I couldn’t sleep at all so I ended up calling confusified and talking for more than an hour. I was dropping my stuff on my floor at home at about 4:35am.

I flew jetBlue for this trip, which was a new experience for me. I’ll tell you what, if I’m going to be stuck inside a plane for whatever reason, I’d want it to be a jetBlue plane because they have DirecTV and XM Radio at every seat. You know how I don’t have cable? Boy did I get my fix last night/this morning! I watched American’s Most Smartest Model, ET, House Hunters (and other assorted HGTV shows), and I flipped between South Park and oh Lord, I don’t even know what else. Plus, the flight attendants passed out water and snacks. And jetBlue has GOOD snacks like Doritos and organic chocolate chunk cookies. The entire plane is leather seats, lots of leg room, and they even give you free headphones. I rather enjoyed flying with them, and I’m sorry that they’re leaving Columbus next month. No more jetBlue. 🙁

This trip has completed numbers 65 and 74 on my 101 in 1001 list (which needs to be updated big time)!! YAY!

I can’t even believe how much I have traveled this year. Chicago in February, Chicago and San Jose/San Francisco in May, Chicago in June, Atlanta in August/September, Chicago in September, San Francisco in October, Atlanta in November, New York City in December. Am I missing anything? 🙂 I’m so glad I have friends who like to send me places. 🙂

See ya!

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Today For You, Tomorrow For Me (Pictures)

25 November 2007 / adam, atlanta, family, pictures, ronni, sick, thanksgiving, vacation

To be honest, I don’t feel a heck of a lot like writing, but I’m going to babble on a bit until the generic Nyquil kicks in and hopefully puts me to sleep.

I’ve been non-stop sick for the past six or seven weeks and today, my throat feels like it’s on fire. My ears are burning too. And I’m having periodic coughing fits, especially when I lie down. This started (again) Sunday night, so it’s been a week—way too long for a sore throat. I have to clench my hands when I swallow, it hurts so badly. I went to Urgent Care a few weeks ago, got a z-pack, but I don’t think it worked because I vomited up the dosage the first night. Plus, the doctor MAY have taken five minutes to look at me, so I doubt his diagnosis was correct. I am going to have to suck it up and go out to Stonecreek after all, I think, even though it’ll kill my gas mileage for the week and I’ll have to take some unpaid time off of work. I’m thinking it’ll be worth it so I can stop feeling so sick. ‘Cause on top of all that, I’m battling a migraine.

Still, sick or not, I had a wonderful time in Atlanta with Adam’s family. I flew in Monday night (November 19th), and stayed until yesterday. Nice, long, relaxing vacation. And I do feel very relaxed and at home at the Selzer’s. While there, I got to spend lots of quality time with the family, eat good food, and celebrate Thanksmas. Because most of us kids can’t make it to Atlanta for Christmas, Adam’s mom combined Thanksgiving and Christmas into one really fun holiday. I got spoiled. Rotten. And…not only did Adam and I get our first ornament together, but I also got my very own stocking with my name embroidered on it. 🙂

Here’s the ornament:

Among the gifts I received:

– An electric throw, which I am using now. This will totally help me save on energy costs this winter.
– Rent DVD
– Woody Woodpecker DVD
– Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo (and lots of other books)
– A cute tee-shirt that says “Life is Simple. Eat. Sleep. Read.” PERFECT!
– A cute hoodie with the snowman from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Under him it says “Ice Cold.” Again, perfect.
– Monkey Pajamas:

It was very beautiful there. The fall colors were at the tail end of their peak, and most days, the weather was very nice. Check out the photos:

Thanksmas 2007

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Registered, New Family, Marriage (Pictures)

25 November 2007 / adam, atlanta, family, marriage, pictures, ronni

Adam and I spent last week together, with his family, in Atlanta. We popped in to Target to do our first registry. Good times. 🙂

We both had fun with the gun, even though it yelled at us from time to time. We tried to register for things that’ll be around for a while there rather than seasonal stuff; the wedding is still almost a year away. What’s challenging is that he and I both like fall colors, like oranges and browns and reds, and those are seasonal!

Speaking of the wedding, I haven’t done anything major with plans in a while. Well, I did pop into the Jessica McClintock store to peep at some of the dresses, but that’s it. I’m not sure I should even be worrying about much until I move. It’ll just be easier once I’m living in Chicago.

But, we’re registered at Target. At first, I thought about registering at least one more placeâ€”probably Bed, Bath & Beyond or Linens & Things, but we’ll see.

I had a great time with the Selzers in Atlanta. We celebrated Thanksmas, which is a fun combination of Christmas and Thanksgiving. With Eli & Melissa in California, myself in Ohio, and Adam in Illinois, it’s hard to travel a lot this time of year for both holidays. Sooooo, Adam’s mom, Sharon, decided to combine the two holidays.

It was a lot of fun. Sharon had told me once that I really fit in with the family, and I really felt like it all last week. 🙂 I hear these stories about in-laws not getting along and I feel fortunate that won’t be a problem for me. I’m going to like being a Selzer.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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