the daily coyote

if you haven't visited the daily coyote yet, you are missing out! what an amazing blog.

the story is intriguing, the photographs are stunning, and i think i'm officially addicted. it's such a great reminder to pay attention to the little things in life, like sweet happy moments or the grace of a beautiful animal.

if i had any kind of photography skills, i would start a "daily scoop" blog. but i think that people might get tired of pictures of my cat sleeping and eating.

happy birthday, audra!

oh, the weather outside is...

uhh have you been outside today?? holy crap it's amazing out there. the sun is shining, it is a beautiful 68 degrees, and there is just the right amount of breeze happening. absolutely perfect.

sudafed

i can breathe! i'm hyper! it's friday! yAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAy!!

google

as one of my many beautiful, talented, and intelligent friends once said, "google owns my life." when she said it (or typed it, rather) it sounded crazy to me. at the time, i was new to gmail, and i had yet to discover the bountiful wonders of the google empire. my experience was limited to email, search, youtube, and google earth. many months later, i have now fallen head over heels in love with reader, calendar, docs, and of course, blogger. i mean, seriously, everything is in one place! and you can go to it from any computer! pure awesomeness. anyway i know there are about a million other applications to explore as well, but i still feel so new to computerland, so i'm going to pace myself.

happy birthday, lelysa!

my partner in crime

how do i even put into words how thankful i am for alan? he is my hero, my biggest fan, my husband, my best friend; he is so much a part of who i am that i can’t tell where i stop and he begins.

he is amazingly kind and thoughtful, selfless and loyal, honest and respectful. he knows better than anyone in the world how to make me smile, laugh, yell, cry – and yet i know and trust that he would never in a million years dream of making me cry.

before i met alan, i probably thought i knew what it was to love someone, but i didn’t. he has taught me so much about myself, about relationships, about life. i don't know what i did to deserve him, but i thank God every day for bringing him into my life.

happy birthday, alan!

and

happy birthday, marcus!

chocolate

anyone who claims to not like chocolate is a liar. either that or they just haven't had good chocolate. nothing in the whole world is better than a really good piece of chocolate. this fact is not up for debate.

besides being intensely tasty and delicious, chocolate makes you happy.

it contains sugar, tryptophan (a precursor to serotonin), phenethylamine (the "love" chemical), and caffeine.

according to wikipedia, "a study reported by the BBC indicated that melting chocolate in one's mouth produced an increase in brain activity and heart rate that was more intense than that associated with passionate kissing, and also lasted four times as long after the activity had ended." ...something to think about this valentine's day, anyway.

and, studies have also shown that dark chocolate has certain health benefits -- it may help lower blood pressure, and it definitely contains lots of good-for-you antioxidants.

so, anyway, chocolate is fabulous and i love it.

happy birthday, ronny!

grown-up toys

this weekend, alan and i purchased the best grown-up toy that ever existed in the whole world ever: the dyson dc07 all floors vacuum. we were grocery shopping at our local mass-merchandiser when alan saw it. on sale. at a ridiculous price.

so, i put my foot down. we have been needing to replace our dinosaur of a vacuum since before i can remember. it is ginormous, heavy, moody, noisy, and all it does is push stuff around instead of sucking it up. not to mention the cord is way too short... or should i say, was. it is no longer with us.

the glory of the dc07 can not be put into mere words. it is quiet, it has all kinds of fun and useful attachments, and it is completely bagless. the amount of filth that it removed from our carpets was quite disgusting. and the cord is so long! we have vacuumed three times since we got it. i think alan is secretly in love with it. i think i am secretly okay with that. who knew i would ever get so freakishly excited over a vacuum cleaner?

football

so the thing about football is that i never really cared about it that much until i met alan.

before that, i used to work in a sports bar type situation for a while and i had learned to pretend i cared about football, but in reality i didn't know anything about it and i only cared about it to the extent that it might affect my income (happy fans = bigger tips).

however, i was born in washington, d.c. and i was raised a redskins fan, regardless of whether or not i even knew what that meant. living in dallas, you don't meet many redskins fans. at all. i have my suspicions that my allegiance to the redskins, and not my superior first date skills, is what earned me a second date with alan, but i suppose i'll never really know... over time, i learned more about the game and grew to genuinely enjoy watching it. it's been such a bonding experience for us - we watch every game; we go to see our team when they come to dallas every year; we celebrate the victories and mourn every loss, on and off the field.

for a lot of people, football is just a game. and i understand that - i used to be one of those people. but the thing about football (and any other sport) is that it brings people together. today, on this most sacred day of football, i am thankful for the game itself, and for how it has changed my life and brought me that much closer to the people i love most.

oh and p.s. go giants!!!

photo by scott and tem juarez

happy groundhog day

punxsutawney phil made his official prediction today, and it looks like we're in for six more weeks of winter.

thank goodness we have our nintendo wii! we decided we wanted one about four months ago, and of course they've been impossible to find since then. alan started stalking gamestop and walmart and target and everywhere else he could think of that might have a wii and he finally found one on wednesday!

i'm not a video game person; my favorite video games of all time include arcade-style galaga and super mariokart for the nintendo 64. anything more sophisticated than that will both intimidate and terrify me. but the wii is the most fun i've ever had playing a video game, and i love the fact that it gets us off the couch (and the fact that i can kick alan's booty at baseball)! the perfect indoor activity to keep us busy for six more weeks!

tgif

well i'm pretty sure january was like the looooooongest month ever. gray. cold. a constant struggle for the survival of my sanity and my happiness. so i for one am incredibly thankful that it is finally february! happy february to all of you!

things i love about february:

1. it's not january.
2. aquarians. and pisces-es. so many of my most favoritest people were born in february!

3. the superbowl! (btw i am a part-time giants fan this weekend!)

4. the pro bowl!

5. mardi gras. never been, don't ever want to go, but if it has to do with new orleans i love it.

6. valentine's day. (awwww)

other random things about february:

1. american heart month (today is national wear red day! did you wear red??)

2. black history month

3. library lovers month (omg!)

4. pet dental health month (what?)

5. groundhog day (tomorrow)

6. presidents' day (2/18)