News & Notes

Here I sit, bleary eyed and muddle brained. Caffeine is not doing the trick today. It's Thursday. There is only one cure and it's called Friday.

My office was given a box of chocolates (how many of you just read that in Forrest Gump accents?) that had Jesus's name written all over it. I compared it to being in Las Vegas where they slap "Vegas" on everything and sell it. Yes, I just compared Vegas & Jesus. Let the smiting commence.

I randomly emailed my besties the other day that I am so over the Mean Girls in celebrityland. I am not a fan of Kathy Griffin or Chelsea Handler. While I can appreciate some of their humor, it seems like it's mostly based on holding someone else down and I don't like that. Salon.com had an interesting article this morning about it. Worth a read, I suppose. Mean Girls, Celebrity Edition

I am actively thinking about the couples gifts for my family. Gift cards are probably the best bet but that just isn't...I don't know...I like gift cards but it's not fun to wrap or open and there is no immediate gratification. For Little Brothers birthday, I bought an Amazon giftcard and put it into multiple envelopes, each filled with a little confetti, and then taped it to a bag of m-n-m's.

So, I am open to suggestions. There's Little Brother and his girlfriend and Brother Dear and his girlfriend. Each of them enjoy cooking, one couple enjoys reading, one enjoys movies (but buys new movies even during Christmas/birthday times) one is into motorcycles and the other is into fire department, one has food allergies and one does not.

Then there's Kevin's family where we are focusing on kids. There are 2 seven-year-olds, one six-year-old and three nearly four-year-olds. I don't buy weapons ever. I'm not a big superhero or commercial toy fan either. Luckily, the Nephews kids don't have Any Expectations for presents (one wants a yo-yo, another wants skates) so shopping should be easy.

Did I ever tell you that I did color my hair a darker color? The brown brought out some ginger in my hair so that was interesting. Kevin was meh about it and so was I after the initial excitement. I do think that the darker brown will look okay but it will definitely enhance the fact that I am a white girl. (:-D So, after the new year I will be returning to blonde. Kevin has requested what I call stripper-blonde but that's not going to happen.

Did everyone see the Oprah commercial? The one where she's all crying and emotional then yelling for a tissue? Isn't that awesome?

The passing of Elizabeth Edwards was quite the sad one. I can only hope that I can be that brave when my time is here. I imagine that these words will be quoted for years to come:

“The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren’t able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It’s called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact on the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful.”