T&L

We’ve had an eventful weekend to go along with our eventful weather map! Cincinnati has been inundated with rain this month – one of the rainiest Aprils in our fair city’s history, in fact. We’ve had at least 10″ this month with more expected nearly every day. The rivers are well above flood stage, highway 32 was closed this morning, water is halfway up some tree trunks along the banks of the river, and Cirque Du Soleil had to cancel a few performances this weekend while they attempted to suck inches of water out of their circus tents. We live on a hill, so the Rhyner Rapids that form in the valley of our property, at the base of our backyard, swell and recede often as we play peek-a-boo with the fire pit. And every time we have visitors in Cincinnati, without fail, the torrents of rain feel they are invited too. This weekend was, of course, no exception. Ted’s parents came to town for the Easter holidays and it rained solidly pretty much the whole time, just as it did the last time they came to visit and when my parents came to visit in November.

It’s been a busy week. Tuesday we watched the invited dress rehearsal of Our Town at CCM. Wednesday night was the grand Cirque Du Soleil night, Thursday night we put in two hours downstairs and finally finished organizing the basement. It’s so clean, wide-open and glorious! In celebration we set up my rotating disco ball, which casts a groovy glow of osculating color drops throughout the whole basement – it’s definite party material. Your jealousy is palpable.

Friday was our 6-month anniversary of married life. Ted’s parents arrived by mid-afternoon, bearing gifts of our favorite Wisconsin food – buckets of Chili John’s chili, Wisconsin bratwursts, fresh Wisconsin cheese curds, Hansen’s pizzas, and an Easter basket full of Seroogy’s chocolates. Our freezer is well stocked for the coming months for whenever we feel like binging on unhealthy crap! And upon their arrival, the rain clouds did not hold back. After we both finished with work for the day, they treated us to an absolutely delicious meal at Rock Bottom Brewery in the heart of downtown Cincinnati at Fountain Square. We dined on tender, cedar-seared plank salmon topped with sweetly-drizzled pecans, lemon rice, broccoli, home-baked crisps, and the most fantastic chocolate and caramel brownie topped with vanilla ice cream that one can possibly imagine.

After dinner we headed over to CCM where Ted’s parents had tickets to the Friday evening performance of Our Town. While they were at the show, Ted and I watched an episode of Modern Family in his office, then ventured out for a drizzly moonlight stroll around campus, through the Bearcats football stadium and across the field, into a parking garage maze, and finally to a sidewalk overlooking the baseball stadium where a very dismal and dreary game, delayed twice by lightning and attended by no more than 20 damp fans, was slowly progressing. We watched for a while and made it back to the building, crawling through the mud, before the end of Act 3.

In the morning we awoke early to the sounds of booming thunder, put on our running gear, and drove to the Evansdale/Sharonville suburb of Cincinnati to compete in our second 5k walk/run, this one benefiting the residents of the St. Joseph Home of Cincinnati. The course is known as the most challenging 5k route in Cincinnati and includes the slogan “incline to the finish line.” Now, let’s clear something up right now. Cincinnati is the San Francisco of Midwest. The roads curve and turn and snake uphill and downhill every few hundred feet. Some of the hills are extremely steep. I almost always drive in third gear. The only straight road in the whole city is the one we live on. We scored a lucky break from the rain for a few hours, just in time for the race. On the last race we did, we registered as walkers, but every now and then we ran for a while. On this race, however, it was made clear that walkers were not permitted to run at all. So, we sped walked and expected our overall times to be slower than our first race.

This walk was much less tedious and tiresome than the first and neither of us woke up sore this morning like we did the last time. I guess that’s a good sign! The first mile yesterday was great – it was all downhill! Our goal for the second mile was to maintain our pace. The second mile was on fairly level terrain and we actually beat our pace from the previous downhill mile by a good minute! At this point I’m thinking, “This is the most challenging 5k course in Cincinnati? Pssssh…piece of cake!” Then we turned the corner to start our final mile and I spied the mother of all hills and suddenly the phrase “incline to the finish line” became astonishingly clear as I gazed up that 400+ foot steep incline. It was pure hell. There were at least 5 baby hills on that 400-foot climb and they were all killers! Texas State’s massive on-campus hills don’t hold a candle to these beasts. I dropped my pace to a snail’s crawl and puffed and panted the whole way, fully expecting our timing to be shot to hell. Damn that hill. I all but drank the cold rainwater off the gravel as it flowed down the hills. This picture doesn’t even do it justice. Suffice it to say, it sucked.

But we crossed the finish line and clocked in at 40:32 (Ted) and 40:33 (Lara). That’s 8 seconds faster than the first race where we actually ran! Our overall pace improved by roughly 1 second per mile (averaging about 13:05 per mile). Not bad for speed walking, especially with the Hill from Hell. Ted’s dad walked the 5k with us and actually maintained his pace on those insane hills, which deserved a medal in and of itself!

Ted and I both finished first in our gender and age divisions for walkers, for which we received medals, which was really exciting!

Feeling great from the morning exercise, we enjoyed the rest of the day with Ted’s parents, visiting the Cincinnati History Museum, seeing an OmniMax film, chowing on our favorite pie at Hyde Park Pizzeria and ice cream at Graeter’s, and coloring Easter eggs while Ted and his dad spent some time outside at night using special color-changing LED stage lights to test light a tree…you know, like any other normal family. The rain poured on.

Our Easter eggs turned out lovely and we ate them, hard-boiled and scrambled, served with hot and cold Polish sausage and Wisconsin cheese curds, this morning after Easter Mass. Breakfast of champions!

In a welcome change of pace, work was actually exciting too as we may or may not have un-alarmed all the display cases and had an adventurous staff-only Easter egg hunt through the special exhibits hall of the museum like a bunch of hooligans. Picture 15 professionals between the ages of 23 and 70 tearing through the dimly-lit exhibit hall, plastic bags in hand, crawling the floors searching feverishly in, on, above, under, and around the precious artifacts’ display cases, hunting for any sighting of beloved plastic pastel eggs filled with candy, rings and bubbles. There are so many devilishly excellent hiding spots for eggs in a museum chock full of rare artifacts…you have no idea. Of the fifty hidden there were still ten missing by the time the museum opened and throughout the day we’ve been inconspicuously searching for them, hoping to spy them before the patrons do. Every now and then we’d hear a radio call throughout the day: “13 to 27…found one!” It was awesome. Though there’s one left that nobody has found yet. I spent a good 30 minutes at the end of the day looking for it, but to no avail. I would encourage all workplaces to implement this activity. I found two extra-well hidden ones! Time-and-a-half and a day-long egg hunt? Um, yes please. The rain continued outside.

Hope your Easter weekend was just as joyful, and maybe a little less soggy.

My husband. I love that man.

He doesn’t complain too much when I drift over to his side of the bed within 15 minutes of us falling asleep and drape myself across him spider-monkey style, leaving him with nothing but a minuscule sliver of personal sleeping space on the far left side of the bed and absolutely no air or blood circulation whatsoever. And then stay there. All night. Breathing hot air on him. When our bedroom is already nearly 80 degrees. He hasn’t shoved me to the floor, yet. Though I’m certain he’s considered it. Multiple times a night. That’s love.

Sometimes, between suspiciously inquiring about the spiciness of my dinner intentions to make sure I didn’t add something as ludicrous as hot sauce or, God forbid, red pepper flakes to our meals, requesting homemade pie for dessert nearly every single night with a hopeful, childish look on his face, and ragging on the lavender fabric softener I use when doing laundry, he hugs me tight and thanks me for making such wonderful dinners, for cleaning the house, for doing the laundry, for packing lunches every day, and for all I do around our home in addition to working. And I thank him for working 257 hours in February so that we can live in this house that I so hopelessly fell in love with one warm October afternoon.

Occasionally, when we’re both crammed into our one tiny little bathroom, huddled around our one tiny little pedestal sink, trying to get ready for bed and brush our teeth at the same time without elbowing the crap out of each other or falling backwards into the shower, he’ll take stock of our life together and mutter, completely bewildered: “This is so weird. Ted doesn’t get married! How am I married!?” Except, apparently, he does get married. Despite the fact that he never thought he would. He doesn’t mean it in a negative or regretful way. He just says it with such awe and amusement, with a halo of stars circling his head as he tries to comprehend how on Earth this came to be. Kind of like the coyote after the roadrunner drops an anvil on his head. It’s pretty cute.

Every now and then, on an exceedingly rare Saturday when I have to go to work and he doesn’t, instead of sleeping til 11 a.m. and scarfing cereal straight from the box and planting himself firmly on the couch for a marathon of boxing or racing or “end of the world” movies, he’ll take the trash out, or pay the bills, or turn the clocks back, or organize the basement, or surprise me and print our wedding photos and add them to picture frames around the house when I haven’t had time to do it. I’d certainly understand if he opted instead to laze around the house and do nothing but enjoy his time alone, but it’s sweet of him to do it all because he knows it would be helpful.

Yesterday he came home from work and took one look at the totally awesome royal blue flowered ankle-strap sandals I’d dug out of my summer clothing storage in celebration of the lovely spring weather and proclaimed that they, along with my favorite white flower headband, were, and I quote, “floofy and hideous.” I think they’re both quite stylish and charming. I promised I’d wear them more often. Together. At CCM and in public. You’re welcome, honey.

I love to obsessively pick up any miscellaneous, what I deem “clutter” I see lying randomly about the house and put it away, this includes Ted’s coasters, Ted’s wallet, keys, phone and glasses, Ted’s slippers, Ted’s sweatshirt, and usually anything and everything else of Ted’s that he doesn’t want me to move because he put it there for a reason. I also may or may not have accidentally cut the roots off the bamboo plants Ted handpicked for our wedding when I was changing their water. In my defense, I really didn’t mean to! In turn he likes to eat all the stalks of string cheese out of the refrigerator by the handful and plop completely random crap like frozen garlic bread, chocolate coated marshmallow Easter bunnies, green grapes, shelled peanuts, and herring in wine sauce into the grocery cart when he’s hungry and I’m not looking thus tripling our grocery bill and thwarting my attempts to feed us healthy at least 97.5% of the time . Sometimes you just gotta annoy the hell out of each other, you know? It keeps the romance fresh.

And every now and then he makes some of his crazy noises and laughs when I try to imitate them. Or tells a funny joke or sprouts useless facts and knowledge. Or lovingly smiles at me. Or squeezes my hand during church. Or shares the couch blankets with me when he knows I’m cold. Or comes home from work unexpectedly early and makes my entire day so much better.

I love that man.

Hello?

Carmela babies? Is that you?

*shake shake shake*

When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature bell and other bike gear!

Ding ding!

A rockin’ new helmet so lovely and slick, and a black and white bottle that chills extra quick. Safer than Krytponite bike locks have yet to come, and a shiny bottle holder because Carmela ain’t a bum.

(And the world’s most luxurious, exotic face wash, imported directly from eBay)

Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!

(Ding ding!)

Five of the first seven letters Ted blindly selected from the tile pile in our Scrabble game two nights ago. He had to show me his tiles because he couldn’t focus on making any other word than this one. Don’t temp fate! ;-)

I came across this gem of an article:  The 20 Worst Drinks in America. I was rightfully intrigued and after scanning the online pages of this epic social news story, the thought that popped into my head was, “Seriously!?”  It’s so easy to blame the manufacturer’s for products like this. After all, who really thinks mass producing a single beverage worth an entire day’s allotment of calories, fat and sugar is a good idea? But I think it’s more the consumer’s fault than anything else. Are Americans seriously that ignorant or incapable of glancing at the nutrition label, pinpointing such tidbits as “10% fruit juice” or “340 calories” and comprehending that this might not be the best choice for themselves or their child? Regardless, it’s a really interesting read if you’re up for some jaw-dropping statistics.

Yesterday at work, in celebration of Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras, CMC hosted a chili cookoff. I intended to enter the competition myself, but thought better of it over the weekend after considering the time and (albeit minimal) extra cash it would take for me to cook up a crock pot of my fresh chili. I also assumed it would be a waste of effort, as I’m not a master chef by any means and my creation would most likely get knocked clear out of the water by the competition. Let this be a lesson in self-confidence. Next time I won’t be so timid about putting myself out there for stuff like this, because most of the chili dishes there were plainly lackluster in flavor or downright frightening in texture. I’m fairly positive I could have smoked the competition. I truly wasn’t that impressed with any of the entries, though there were one or two yummy options. The free lunch meal was catered by (who else?) Skyline Chili and there was even some Mardi Gras King’s Cake for dessert. Not too shabby for a Tuesday lunch hour. Though I’ve had a craving for a bowl of my own creamy chili and a slab of cornbread ever since. Oh, well. There will be more chili cookoffs to obliterate the pants off of in my lifetime.

And now, as promised, the 30 day photo blog challenge.

Day 1 – A picture of yourself with ten facts about you.

1. This photo was taken at the Old Globe Theatre in London before the showing of an abysmal performance of Othello during my summer 2007 Shakespeare performance and academic intensive study abroad program in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. I was 20 years old and so happy with this opportunity and with my life. It was a fantastic adventure and I have amazing memories from this trip. I count this as one of the most life-changing moments I have ever experienced. In an instant I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
2. Despite my appreciation for and delight in tasting all kinds of foods from gourmet to ethnic, I truly love macaroni and cheese. If a restaurant has it, I will order it. I am a mac n’ cheese connoisseur and have rarely met a mac n’ cheese I didn’t like.
3. I was born on the 66th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Naturally, I believe in the ability of women to be great leaders and I aspire to be a great woman in my own way.
4. I have two dream careers: to be an travel and adventure writer or novelist and playwright, and to sing, dance and act professionally in the ensemble of nationally touring productions. Lofty much?
5. I am the crazy cat lady. I know – and I feel no shame. I have adored every one of my felines from Rufus to Sancho and my entire being lights up every time I catch a glimpse of a cat. I have a special affinity for homeless adult cats, orange tabbies, and disabled cats (blind, deaf, diabetic, missing legs, eyeless, etc.) I cannot be taken into pet stores with cats that are up for adoption because I leave in a fit of tears. I definitely like cats more than most humans.
6. The 1930s-1940s are my favorite decades style wise. I am absolutely inspired by the music, fashion, hair & makeup, and the lifestyle of that era. If I could I would immediately time travel back to that time period for a week.
7. I cannot wink, whistle, raise one eyebrow, roll my tongue into a taco, or wiggle my nose or ears. Clearly my talents do not lie in the visual amusement department.
8. I HATE the color pink with a passion. I do not own anything pink and I adamantly refuse to wear such a hideous color.
9. I never played a sport growing up. This hasn’t scarred me for life in any way, but I kind of wish I had attempted participation in a sport other than trampoline jumping and pogo sticking at least once during my childhood. Though thanks to gymnastic I can still do the splits!
10. I have ziplined across a jungle in Jamaica, kissed a stingray in the waters of the Caribbean, played in the snow in Canada, drank margaritas on a beach in Mexico, climbed the Great Wall of China, soaked in Iceland’s Blue Lagoon beneath the northern lights, sailed the seas on a cruise ship, seen the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, studied Shakespeare in England, picked strawberries and explored a salt mine in Germany, enjoyed the tremendous hospitality of the ex-head of Hungary’s military and his lovely wife in their home near Budapest, dined on chocolate covered grasshopper in Japan, and skipped through castles and along the filming trail of The Sound of Music in Austria. I am incredibly blessed.

Our electric bill came. You know it’s a downer of a post when it starts off with that little statement. Despite being gone 14 days for Christmas, keeping the house at a frigid 60 degrees (which really means 56-57), and lowering the water heater temperature by like 50 degrees, our bill was only a whopping $4 less than last month. All that freezing for nothing. Awesome. You just can’t win with Duke Energy. I am desperate for summer to come.

Two evenings ago my last outdoor kitty in Texas passed away. A quartet of orange tabbies named Precious, Few, Champion and Tiger (please ignore the terrible and random name choices from my childhood) appeared under our gazebo a few years after we moved into the Boerne house. Precious was Mamma cat and with her came 3 adorable male kittens. Who is heartless enough to turn away a family of hungry cats? Not I (um, or my mom and dad who made the money to pay for their cat food). So we fed them and they stayed. We spayed and neutered them, got them their shots, and gave them names and warm kennels with heating pads (I’m serious) to sleep in during the winters. Outdoor cats have a life expectancy of about 8 years I think. Tiger died first, followed by Precious and then Few. Champion – ever the fighter – held on for years after the others passed. He lived to be 15. He had a thyroid condition so he was all bones – you could feel every rib – and his little mew was hardly audible anymore. But the vet said he wasn’t in any pain and other than that, he was perfectly healthy. The night he died he got some cuddles from my Mamma and then a little gray and white kitten that’s been frequenting our house laid down in the kennel with him and nuzzled his head against Champion until he passed. If you know anything about me, you know I love cats more than most human beings. I am much more of a cat person than a people person. So I am thankful he wasn’t alone when he died and that he lived a long, loving life with plenty of company and lizards and frogs to torture and inhale. See, cats are much cooler than the humans they own.

The picture quality is shoddy at best, but it’s the only two pictures I have of all 8 of my loves. Yes, 8, at once. My crazy cat lady flag is waving loud and proud.

Also, today is our 3 month anniversary! I’m thankful to have such a great husband. Very unlike myself, he may be weird as all get-out sometimes, but he’s funny, kind, smart and handsome, and I’m honored to be his wife.

(click to enlarge)

Happy 3-months to my sweet husband!

Mom & Dad-in-law are rolling into Cincy from Green Bay this weekend for a brief visit, so I’ll trade a coherent storyline post for a multi-topic rambling one while we prepare for their arrival.

Five Questions

1. Where did you meet your spouse? We met in August 2008 in Lansing, MI. He was the Production Manager at BoarsHead Theatre and I was hired as one of the Second Company interns that season. That week I packed up my belongings, left Texas, drove to Michigan, and moved into an intern house with three other people. We were all supposed to meet at the theatre for an orientation day – reviewing paperwork, signing the contract, staff introductions, an official tour, and a potluck BBQ kinda-thing. We were sitting at a table in the kitchen and in walked this dude with a shirt with some smart-ass phrase on it, he looked at the pile of four new female interns, made some sarcastic comment and walked out. What a charmer! At the BBQ I apparently politely declined a bratwurst he had grilled just for me (right.) and he still gives me crap about it to this day. Little did I know way back then that a few months before my arrival in Michigan he’d picked up my resume and headshot from the pile of potential intern applications, pointed to my picture and announced that he was going to marry this girl. Amazingly (hmmm), I was hired, and by some miracle we were actually compatible. I was also by far the least ridiculous, stupid, and mean of the interns that season, so we struck up a friendship. He’d teach me cool theatre things, we’d catch a drink after work and then he left BoarsHead to start grad school at MSU, leaving us free to date. So we did.

2. What is your favorite room in your house? It’s a toss-up between the kitchen and the bedroom. I’d probably pick the bedroom though because of the big cushy bed and all those windows – it’s just so pretty with all the natural sunlight filtering in. It’s also the warmest room in the house, which makes me all kinds of happy. The kitchen comes in a close second now that we have the gorgeous new furniture and all these really nice kitchen gadgets and appliances we received as wedding presents – makes cooking a luxury!

3. What are your favorite places in your city? Since we’ve only lived here a few months we’re still in the exploring stage, but the Mt. Adams area is really cool. It’s a giant hilltop that overlooks all of Cincy – lots of funky, fancy homes, neat restaurants, jazz bars and wine shops. The Edan Park and Mirror Lake areas are also really pretty. In terms of actual places? I’ll translate that to mean restaurants:  Montgomery Inn, Mac’s, and Graeter’s. YUM.

4. What are five productive things you did this week? I cleaned the house top-to-bottom, planted the seeds for my hanging herb garden, helped Ted build our basement shelves, shoveled snow off the driveway twice, and secured a starter job. I totally did a ton of other productive things too, but we’ll stop at five.

5. How many hours of sleep do you need to function? Um, at least 6 or 7. Though I’ve been getting between 8 and 9 lately, which is great because it feels awesome and is good for you too.

Have a great Friday!

Ahhh zodiac. Don’t you love how the zodiac has everyone up in arms in a fit of panic lately? Apparently after 3,000 years the Earth’s alignment shifted causing the dates of all the zodiac signs to change. “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!? HOW SHALL WE SURVIVE!?” is the basic sentiment I’m getting from people. First, take a moment to slow your raging heartbeat, pull your head from the clouds, and join the rest of us back here on Earth. Second, if you would like to continue to survive, consider learning how to read and when to read further into something – for example, if you spent even 0.5 seconds more reading from the article after reading the initial headline of “Run For You Lives Because Your Zodiac Sign May Have Changed” you probably would have learned that the change only affects those born after 2009. This short little factoid was clearly missed by oh, everyone, on Facebook because I cannot find a normal status anywhere that doesn’t have to do with someone’s refusal to abandon their “old” sign and change over to their “new” one. Newsflash: unless you are under the age of 13 months (in which case, you don’t need a Facebook account, you need a stuffed monkey or something equally as age appropriate), your sign did not change. And lastly, get a grip! If a change in zodiac truly causes this much of an uproar in your life, you may need to reevaluate your priorities. Or, you know, continue to freak yourself out. That’s fine too.

On a totally unrelated topic, a church in our area is hosting a Marriage Matters series every Thursday night in the month of January as part of an effort to jumpstart a bigger concern for supporting, helping and encouraging married couples within the Catholic Church. I think it’s an excellent idea since the church puts a heck of a lot of focus on all this preparation stuff via Engaged Encounter weekends and FOCCUS sessions to prepare a couple for marriage during their engagement, but after the wedding? Good luck finding any sort of regular marriage programs other than National Marriage Encounter at your church. And a lot of churches don’t even have that. So the one in our area is hosting a month-long series right now along with monthly dinners and guest speakers throughout the rest of the year to help build up married couples. Cool, right? What I love about these sessions is that they’re not just for couples whose marriage is on the rocks. They’re great for happily married couples who want to be reminded of skills and ideas to help them continue strengthen their relationship. The speakers so far are very cool, real, down to Earth people (and usually funny) – and it doesn’t hurt that they provide yummy snacks, sodas, beer and wine (and sometimes a dinner) which could be why so many couples showed up – seriously, the place was packed.

The one we attended way back in November was with the author of the book What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About the First Five Years of Marriage. Last week’s topic was the movie Fireproof and the accompanying book The Love Dare. This week it was based off the book The 5 Love Languages. I read 5 Love Languages over the summer and thought it was very insightful. The 5 languages are words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. The goal is to find out which one is your spouse’s primary love language (the one which makes them feel the most loved) and to have them discover yours so you understand how they best feel love, and consequently you know how to best show them love in their primary language in return. Anyway, if you’re looking for a quick, easy read – I’d recommend it.

This weekend is project weekend for us. Two nights ago Ted installed a shelf in the entryway closet that we’ve been meaning to put up since we moved in. Last night and tonight we’re setting up our newest addition (it’s a surprise!). This weekend we’re hoping to build sawhorses, a few more shelves to add into the kitchen cabinets, find a home for everything in the kitchen, and if we can get to it, start building and installing the basement shelves – between NFL playoff games, of course. Since today is Friday I’m going to take it easy today – watch a movie before it has to go back to the library, do some research, figure out some financial stuff, and possibly play around with my camera’s macro setting a little more.

I hope everyone has a great Friday!

Yesterday my new laptop bag from my mom and dad arrived:

I loooooove it! I really needed a new one since my old one resembles a diaper bag (I’m told. For the record I highly disagree), and is exceptionally well-loved – so much so that its been mended 3 or 4 times, to the point where it cannot be sewn again and it is so worn that you can’t even tell on some places what color the bag actually is. It was my first laptop tote for my first laptop and I dragged that thing all over the country with me for four and a half years. Let us all take a minute to mourn my loss. Thank you. But I really do love this new one. I like its versatility, gazillions of pockets, color, and that it can be worn as a side sling messenger bag. I love that it is just a bit different from the norm (naturally) in terms of laptop bags. So, thanks mom & dad!

I finally (I know, get with it Lara!) discovered the macro and super macro setting on my camera, so in a fit of joy I went on a detailed glamour shot binge:

Pretty heavenly for a point-and-shoot, right? This will not be the last of my super macro endeavors.

Today in my slow cooker experiments I made a beef stew. It smells amazing and I can’t wait to try it after we get home from the Thursday night Marriage Matters series at church tonight! I took a basic stew recipe with potatoes, stew beef, carrots and onions (among other ingredients) and added peas, red wine, and thyme to it – nothing too special, but I’m sure it’ll amp up the flavor. I love tweaking my ingredients. Ted says this means I am definitely a cook and not a baker. I’m positively okay with that. I’m also proud that my carnitas and pulled pork shenanigans inspired my mom to request the recipe and interested my sister enough that she made her own pulled pork carnitas the other night! That’s pretty neat.

I’m not sure what got me thinking about this, but today I remembered a game we used to play when I worked at Magik called Friend Olympics.

I wasn’t introduced to it until I’d been working there for several months already, but once I really got to spending more time with my crazy co-workers in the middle office and becoming better and better friends with them, the game came up. Essentially it consists of acquiring useless knowledge about your friends so you can blurt it out randomly and boast about your triumph with a smirk saying “Friend Olympics” when others gaze upon you questioningly and recollect their jaws from the floor, stunned by your awesome friendship skills. It goes something like this:

A: (speaking to C) Hey! Did you know that…

B: (B enters the room) Tommy has webbed feet?

A: (stunned silence)….He does!?

B: Friend Olympics. (exits)

There’s other ways to play too, like in a group.  Someone asks who has a phobia of bagels, and the person who actually knows the right answer because they’re an awesome friend (or because they have killer investigative skills) blurts the name of the person. Or if you mention something interesting about someone in conversation and it is information that the other person didn’t know and the other person is like “what!? really?” you simply say “Friend Olympics” and continue on with the conversation. It’s a simple, dumb game, but really effective and funny when played randomly like the scenario above. I kind of miss playing that game. So, that’s my show & tell for the day. Pass it on!