More Christmas Wishes

Guess who's been taking Christmas notes from my blog?

My mutha!

I forgot to add a few more items to my list of wants. The one below will most likely be purchased by my husband, who loves Patagonia. He says The North Face is overdone, overexposed, and he's over it. He is a loyal Patagonia lover, as his 15 year old pull over that he still wears would prove. I would love this jacket in the oatmeal. I'd probably need a large in this one. I like to think that's because the Chileans are a small people.

Oooooh...I love this stuff. It's actually made right here in Indy. My pilates/yoga studio sells it, and they keep a sample on the counter. I have no qualms about applying it like EVERY time I got to class. I get a whiff every time I do a downward dog. This has been happening for like a year. I should really buy it. I think I'll let someone else do it, though.

http://shop.ambreblends.com

Lastly, I love a good pair of flats. I can't get the picture to load, but I love the

Cambria Tartan flight in the black multi color at coach.com

That's all for today!

Christmas Wishes

It's not quite Halloween, but as I have done for the last 31 years, I makes my Christmas list early. I want to give everyone ample time to make me happy. Now my favorite Christmas tradition is attending mass on Christmas Eve, with the church lit ever so beautifully. Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season. I know that. I just enjoy the presents that go along with sweet Jesus. So let the list begin, mainly for these peeps:

Dear pretty lady,

You buy the good gifts, always have, always will. Plus you love me. Look at that adoring face. She's looking at me, possibly my father. I'm not sure who-

Hello handsome husband.

Our first Christmas as a married couple should be celebrated with lots of fun gifts.

Lastly, good ole dad, aka Big Bopper or iBob

He is truly Father Christmas. Santa has nothing on this guy. Good presents of the past: family trip to London, circa 1991, Macbook computers for all, circa 2008.

Item #1

I hesitate on this one. I like to turn the pages of a book, but I hear this is a life altering gadget.

Item #2

Michael Kors perfume via Nordstrom.com

Item #3

Philosophy bath and shower gels. I love this stuff, any scent. I always have some kind in the shower. It makes my showers a scentsational experience. via nordstrom.com or sephora.com

Item #4

A fancy smancy yoga mat. I like this scalloped/wavy one. Jade mats are the best. via jadeyoga.com

Item #5

I think I could just skip around and pretend like I'm Mary Tyler Moore in this. I already do that regularly, though. I love this coat. I must try it on in the store soon. I worry I might look like a gingerbread house in this. via anthropologie.com

Item #6

The North Face coat in black. I have tried this on. Size medium, nordstrom.com

Lastly, my favorite that I have been lusting after for a while.

Michael Kors rose gold watch. T isn't hip to this. He doesn't like the manly oversized watch style on a woman. I reminded him that I am the size of a man. He disagreed. I know this because he said, "I disagree." Nordstrom.com for this puppy too.

That's all for now!

Safety First

Sweet T accomplished one of his personal goals yesterday by passing his exam to be a Certified Safety Professional (CSP). He works as a safety engineer, but this extra certification means a lot in that field, according to him. Now he can sign his name with the initials C.S.P behind it, and can do cool things like testify in trials and stuff since he is an safety "expert." I told him I've been signing my professional stuff with the initials P.E. after my name for years, standing for Primo Educator. That's not actually true. I am proud of him, though because this took a lot of preparation. His company sent him to Chicago for a prep course for the test that lasted 3 days. The test took about 6 hours. He claimed the whole process "was not fun."

We went out after church to have a celebratory lunch.

I followed this suave fellow to The Weber Grill.

Brisket and fries= totally not safe for his heart/cholesterol!

I posed with some statue that I think was Mr. Weber. No C.S.P behind his name.

Our Very Own Valcor

When T comes home from work now, he no longer calls for Kashmir, or for Pork Chop, as he has called her in the past. He now calls for Valcor.

Who is Valcor?

For you fellow children of the 80s, Valcor is the giant flying dog from The Neverending Story, that creepy movie that scared me only slightly less than David Bowie did in The Labyrinth.

Valcor does a lot of lounging. As you can see above, her eyes sometimes light up like those horrendous she-beast statues from the movie who burned up unsuspecting warriors with light rays streaming from their eyes and mouths. Remember that?

Robby is Stronger

I am such a huge fan of Glee. I think Sue Sylvester is such a great character, and I love her custom made Adidas tracksuits. A couple of months ago my friend Tim told me that one of his friends said that my brother Robby looked like Artie from Glee. Now first I was a tad offended. Artie is dorky, and has a big snoz. Wait a sec, Rob is dorky and has a big snoz. We both share these traits. T and I now watch every episode referring to Artie as Robby. One of my favorite Robby performances was last week, particularly the part where he intensely stares at the camera as he pumps 5lb dumbbells.

I'm actually trying to convince Rob and his gal pal, Meghan, to go as Artie and Rachel Barry for Halloween. I think they have the look, no?

Fall Football

I took my sweet husband to his first Indiana University football game. He was jazzed. He didn't have a sweatshirt, but fortunately he did have a hat. The whole sweatshirt thing didn't matter anyway because it was very COLD when we arrived.

Now it must be noted that IU football games are not normally a big deal. We aren't known for our football skills. We used to be known for basketball, but that passed my senior year when Bob Knight left. Now I think we're known for our education school. I totally contributed to that-

The point is, I wasn't prepared for the crowd that gathered in my beloved Bloomington. Michigan was everywhere. They brought their fans, and their football team. The team proved to be a bit problematic in IU procuring a victory. We did not. Here we are in the church parking lot where T made an illegal left turn, weaving through cones so that I wouldn't have mental breakdown after waiting 2 hours in game traffic. I am grinning ear to ear, because I quickly located a port-o-let and a Woodchuck cider in my trunk.

SCORE!

After lots of angst and walking past college girls in black leggings and UGG boots, I found my BFF Nicole. 10 years ago we might have been legging offenders. Now we wear Seven jeans, fancy ourselves stylish, and lug toddlers to tailgates. Actually Nicole only does that last part. I'm not there yet. I was so overjoyed that I shut my eyes. I actually do that a lot.

Meet Madelyn. She's about to have her 2nd birthday at the end of this month. I think she is Nic's clone. Sadly for me, she didn't appear to love me as much as Nic does. Here she is skulking away from the giantess in the green jacket, who was gesturing a lot, cackling and squeezing her mother a little too much for her liking. She is stinking precious, and I don't get to see her very often. She's like looking at Nic, but with Randy's lips.

It seems as though the alumni have been giving some big bucks to IU. I wonder if my contribution of about $30 5 years ago made this happen?

Yeah!!!!

This guy was dressed as Wolverine, from X-Men. He was actually kinda hot. I took this shot right after I bragged to the 3 undergrad IU boys behind me that I'm a pro at taking shots of people for my blog, www.betsywantssomenutsandcider.blogspot.com, without anyone knowing.

Then this happened. Wolverine was hip to my game. I was a bit embarrassed, both in front of him and the three 19 year olds. I had to build my street cred back up quickly. "I once got drunk and swam in Showalter Fountain, then ran down the path to my home at Delta Gamma." I didn't say that actually, because it's not true. Those were my friends Jenn and Alison. They were ballsier than me. I decided one boast was enough-

Proof of my stair running days. Actually this is just a picture of the stairs, but I do swear that I once ran these for exercise with Court. This still happens according to the boy behind me. Oh, I guess I bragged about that.

We finished our day at Gray Brothers' Cafeteria. I was there. Look at the sign. And the fireplace.

We heart Chick-Fil-A!

We love Chick-Fil-A. My love affair with the Chick started when I moved to North Carolina back in 2001. I had one waffle fry and I was hooked. The food court in the mall of my college town had one, but I never even stepped a foot in there. I did not know what I was missing.

Now in the South, people love the Chick. My southern husband is no exception. We go too often to mention. The new spicy chicken sandwich is divine.

We have two problems with the Chick. #1 is the whole closed on Sunday thing. I guess I appreciate their reasoning, as we love Jesus too. We just also love chicken, and think it would be divine after mass on Sunday. Problem #2 is the family fun/kids crawling all over square inch of the establishment issue. The 2nd problem surfaced this evening.

We decided we needed some Fil-A for dinner. We drove there and passed a cow on a hayride with a gaggle of ankle biters in the parking lot. We should have turned back, but we couldn't. We could already smell the nuggets. We ventured in. There was not a single booth or table open. The place was filled with balloons. And children. I could smell children from the parking lot too.

Now any normal people would have grabbed the food to go and eaten it in the car. We aren't normal people. Trinity refuses to eat in the car. He won't do it. He says it gets too messy. So we were forced to do this-

We ate on the tailgate of his truck. We also waved to the hay riders.

Seriously?

The evil temptress sandwich.

Our Fridays are so exciting.