Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Father's Day:

To my dad

For all the years of memories

To his dad, in heaven

For your art and kind heart

To my step-dad

For teaching me all that a father should, and loving me like I was yours

To Opa

Because you are the best man and dad I've ever known

To D, Al's dad

For raising such a wonderful son and welcoming me into your life

And finally, to Al

My future husband and future father of my children

My 100th Post!

Wow! I can't even believe that I have written 100 posts. I am so honored to have over 70 followers after only a few months and 100 posts of blogging. You guys totally rock!

I've been racking my brain to come up with something cool to do for this post. I was going to do a giveaway, but since (as I'm sure you've all been diligently reading) I'm on a spending hiatus, I've decided it's in my best interest NOT to do that.

Then I thought about doing a Q&A session. Many of you were able to participate in the first one I did, but I have almost 20 new followers since then! I'm (OF COURSE) naive enough to believe that you might want to get to know me more.

Instead, I decided to flip the Q&A around and give you a quiz about me. I will attempt to stick to things you've read on my blog and/or could deduce from it. You can submit your answers in the comment section, or by e-mail if you think your answers are so stellar you don't want to share them with anyone else. Finally, I will release the answers by Friday, June 25.

Again, there is no *actual* prize, but I'll make you a button that says you won my contest.

Here are the Questions:

1. How many siblings do I have?

2. Of the following, which job have I NOT held in my lifetime?

a. Call Center Customer Service Representative b. Internet Web Designer c. Rainbow Foods Playplace Manager

3. What is my favorite "adult" beverage?

4. Is this my first blog, or have I blogged previously in my life?

5. Name one place I would love to travel that I haven't visited yet?

6. If I won $1 Million, how would I spend it?

a. Pay off debt, travel and a pair of Jimmy Choos b. Buy a Mercedes and a house c. Pay of school loans and invest the rest

7. What is my BS degree?

8. How much time did I spend in the Navy? Where was I stationed?

9. How many years have Al and I known each other?

10. Where did we meet?

11. Which of the following is NOT true of my relationship with Al?

a. We decided to date long-distance after a spontaneous trip I took to Texas to "check out law schools" b. He remembers all the details of our first date, down to what I wore and ordered c. We broke up early in our relationship because of the long-distance, but got back together a week later

12. What language, other than English, do I speak?

13. I really, really, really want a dog. What kind of dog do I want?

(Bonus if you know what I'd name him)

14. Do I have any tattoos?

15. Other than law school, I would do which of the following:

a. Teach college b. Become a politician c. Be a housewife

Thank you all so much for reading! I really wouldn't enjoy blogging half as much without you guys! Enjoy!

Pillow Talk #3: Handsome Head

Al was relaying this story to me earlier regarding a conversation he had with his XO.

Al: We talk about you a lot. Mostly dealing with money and our future.

Me: Oh that's nice that you can talk to him about that.

Al: Yeah, except he told me to run because of all your school debt.

Me: Well, that's less nice.

Al: And then today something weird happened...

{silence}

Al: He mentioned that he wants to shave his head, short like mine

Me: OK

Al: And he wanted my opinion, because some guys don't look right that way

{silence}

Al: And then he gave me a once-over and said, "See, you have a handsome head."

Me: **Laughing hysterically** What did you say?

Al: I told him he broke the guy-code. That you don't compliment another guys head.

Me: You told your XO that?

Al: Yes

Me: What did he say back?

Al: Nothing. Just laughed it off. And I left.

{hours later we're having another conversation - which started with a lengthy discussion of attraction and how guys talk about girls}

Al: So, where do I fit on your looks chart?

{I explained to him how I have always been attracted to clean-cut, suit-wearing guys, but realized that it was a strict physical attraction and I was actually much more attracted to rugged, manly guys.}

Al: Yeah, well I was only attracted to super models until I met you...Hold on, let me turn my attractive side to you.

{turns to show me his handsome head}

Funny, funny guy, huh!?

This and That

So, I wasn't able to get to Habitat today. I woke up this morning, an hour late, with my alarm clock blinking 12:00. I can't figure out if it had to do with the storm (we had a tornado watch last night and quite a bit of wind) or if something else had happened. There didn't appear to be any other electronics off throughout the apartment, so I chalk it up to something I did when I set my alarm last night. I contact the project manager at Habitat and she was very understanding (whew!) and told me I could come on the next build day (Wednesday.)

I am a little bummed. I was pretty excited. I layed out my clothes, set the coffee pot and had a lunch ready for the day. It was like the first day of school (minus the coffee!) Oh well, the important thing is that I can help, so I will start next week and go from there.

A few quick happenings in my blog-hood. First, I am on spotlight over at Musings of an Army Wife. Don't visit to check me out, you read me every day. But go check it out to see her. She's a pretty amazing woman and a great blogger, so she's worth reading!

Second, I received a lovely blog award from Photina at one Guy in a house of Girls. Thanks lady. I will add the button to my awards list on the sidebar, but I am not going to follow the rules of the award and hand it out. Not because I don't love you all, but because I love ALL of you too much to narrow it down. Yeah, so I'm a little lazy too!

Finally, Jessica from {Mis}Adventures of an Army Wife is hosting a financial blog hop! You can meet wonderful blogging ladies AND learn some financial tips. Hop on over there and join in on the fun (and the smarts!)

Now for other news. Since I mentioned the red lipstick thing, and ya'll were so encouraging, I tried it for class last night. Eek. I got compliments that it worked well and wasn't trampy (although I must note that Al compared me to Christina Aguilera "before she was trampy but after she was innocent" - which I think is him complimenting me!)

Behold, my red lipstick:

I tried to keep the eye makeup very simply (just mascara and a little brush of shadow) so that the lips were the only thing that stood out.

(Click to enlarge the photos)

I also took a couple of photos of my first sewing project! I made a pillow cover for my bed.

This is the final product:

The hand-sewn edge:

And the corner:

(Obviously not professional caliber work, but I'm not embarrassed by it. It will definitely be going on my bed!)

So, there you have it, folks. That's the smörgåsbord of stuff going on in my life and in blog-land. I hope you will all link-up below on my Wondering meme. It's all about volunteering and thought it was a cool way to learn more about it.

Happy Friday All!

What I'm Wondering Today

I am spending my day today doing a build with Habitat for Humanity. It's a full day build not far from my house so I signed up. If I like it, I will be signing up for a couple days each week.

This week's Wondering segment will be centered around philanthropy and volunteering. So here are the questions:

1. Have you ever participated in a major volunteer event (Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, United Way, etc...)?

2. Do you volunteer locally on your post (or in your city)? Explain.

3. Have you ever done a charity run/walk/ride/etc...?

4. Do you have a charity or other organization that you support regularly with your time, money or in other ways? Share a little about it.

5. Are there any resources or advice for volunteering in your area so other women can get out there and help too?

My answers:

1. Other then my aforementioned participation with Habitat, I volunteered with the Special Olympics of Rhode Island

2. In college, I did a lot of local volunteer work. I stocked at a food shelf for 3 years; I ran a group for Vine Senior Community and did yard work and fix-ups for local elderly homes for 2 years; and I ran a donation box to collect cold-weather gear for homeless shelters.

3. No. I would really like to do the Susan G. Komen Walk for a Cure at some point, but have not had the opportunity yet.

4. I donate money once per year to St. Jude's Children's Hospital and the American Cancer Association. I donate to St. Jude's because of a friend of mine who spent a lot of time at St. Jude when she lost her son at the age of 9. The donation is in the memorial of her son. I donate to the ACA in memorial of my best friend's father who passed from stomach cancer just over a year ago.

5. See below.

My hope is to offer options and encourage everyone to spend a little of your time giving back in some way. We all get so busy, and funds get scarce so donating either seems so difficult. If you can't afford to donate money, donate your time; if you don't have time to give, drop off food or clothes at a shelter. Anything you can do can and WILL help.

For those of you who have children, I found a couple of resources that you can use to volunteer WITH your children! How great is that?!?

Here they are:

http://www.compassionatekids.com/volunteering.shtml

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/2003-01-23-kid-picks_x.htm

http://www.kidscare.org/GetToKnowKCC/LearnAboutVolunteering

Hope this helps! Link up below and share you volunteering experiences with me. Thank you!

Things I've Seen Lately

I started watching this ridiculous show on VH1 called "You're Cut Off!" It's about these girls who come from wealthy families and have been spending their parents money, not working, and basically taking advantage at every chance they get. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. And they're all complete idiots. Some of them don't know how to do laundry or make a simple dinner. Others refuse to "because they're princesses."

The premise of the show is that their parents are tired of it and have cut them off. They are forced to live in a town home in a small-ish suburb (which they called "the ghetto" - By the way, none of them would survive a single day in an actual ghetto!) Along with losing all their spending privileges, they are forced to learn how to cook, clean and work so they can become self-sufficient. It's a ridiculous show, but I'm so intrigued. It's a hot-mess train-wreck and I can't turn it off.

Last night I went to Iron Man 2 with a good friend of mine. I really enjoyed it. I liked the first one, but I did play a little catch-up in my head since it had been a while since I saw it. I'm not a big fan of Gwenyth Paltrow (I can never tell if she's a whiney, boring person, or if that's just all the characters she plays) but I LOVE Scarlett Johannson and Robert Downey Jr.. I recommend the movie to anyone who likes action and girls who kick butt!

I saw my first-ever FIFA Soccer (Futbol?) game the other day. Some team played Brazil (who I've come to understand is pretty much the best soccer team ever.) I still don't fully understand all the rules and no one ever seems to score more than 2 goals. I can, however, get excited for hot foreign men in shorts, especially when they get sweaty and passionate! I can't say I will watch a lot more of the World Cup, but I am glad to experience it here and there. Heck, I'm the girl who LOVES baseball and many think that's boring and I'm crazy for being such a fan. Viva la futbol!

Finally, I found this website the other day. Particularly, this video stood out (and made me bawl my eyes out!) Check it out, but grab the tissues first.

Mortality Week: Question 1

Head on over to Excess Baggage and visit my girl, Brandi if you want to play along.

One week left to live, where would you go?

You can chose to have an unlimited amount of money, or you can chose to abide by how much is in your account at the moment.

My Answer:

The practical part of my brain says that I'd want to make sure I didn't leave my family with a lot of debt, so I'd take care of that as much as possible.

Assuming I had money left over after that, I would take Al to Germany to see where my mom grew up - just for a couple days.

Then I would return home to Minnesota. Plop myself down at my Oma's house on the lake (make sure my parents, sister, Al, his parents, etc... were there) and just soak it all up. Go fishing and eat what we catch, watch the sunsets and play cards with my family, laughing 'til we're crying. I hate the idea that death is a sad thing. I'd rather celebrate the life I've had and have the people I love with me doing the same.

Why Me?

Why did the guy at the gym completely ignore th F-off sign on my forehead, clearly manifested by the sweat, headphones and scowl on my face? Why did he proceed to tap me on the shoulder, messing up my concentration, just to hit on me? And why after I politely declined, did he proceed to watch me the rest of my time at the gym?

Why when I stopped at the Salvation Army thrift store to find work boots for the Habitat for Humanity build this Friday, was I accosted by two misbehaving children? And why when I went to make my purchase was I told "no tag, no sale?"

Why are the new steps being built in front of my apartment taking FOREVER to complete, therefore rendering entry to my building from the front door useless, requiring me to exit out the back door into the alley-way and drive around to the front to leave?

Why am I complaining when it's a beautiful 80 degrees outside today and I get to spend the evening with a good friend grilling on his new deck?

Beautiful Blogger Award!

I got another award! It's crazy to me how in the few short months I've been given such recognition by all my blog buddies! Ya'll are truly awesome!

(Thank you, Jessica for thinking of me!)

The rule is that I have to share 7 things about myself that most people (or at least most blog-people) wouldn't know. So, here goes:

1. Some day, I want to buy an old muscle car (or two) and fix them up. I don't know a lot about cars but I would LOVE an old Gran Turino and Vette' Stingray and have it be a project Al and I work on together.

2. When staying at my parents' house, Al and I have to sleep in separate rooms. Even at the age of 26. Just last week my step-father informed me that he trusted us and respected how serious our relationship was and agreed that this was no longer the rule.

3. I have never seen any of the Star Wars Trilogy, The Godfather or the Rocky movies. I really have no desire to.

4. I consider some of the friendships I'm making in the blog-hood to be as true and important as many of my other friendships. I hope some of them can manifest in real-life and stay for a lifetime!

5. Finding law firm jobs your first summer of law school is extremely competitive. I had an interview for a stellar position but have not heard back yet. In the meantime, I'm told I'm over-qualified for all the non-legal (administrative) jobs out there. I need money, but mostly I'm bored!

6. I bought and tried red lipstick and wore it out to dinner with my parents. I was complimented, but I'm still afraid to wear it to school for fear it will look "trampy."

7. My criteria for moving to another state includes having Target and a good baseball team. And I'm worried I won't find another hairdresser or OB/GYN. Other than that, I would love to try to live in many new places.

And I have (want) to pass this along to some other beautiful ladies. Honestly though, I don't know that I can narrow down my choices and I am fairly certain that most of you have received this award before. So, in an entirely magnanimous act, I open this award to any one of my beautiful readers.

I love you all!

(And hope you don't take this as a cop-out but rather an act of appreciation & love!)

MSN Messenger Meltdown

Sunday, I spent some time on MSN messenger web-camming with Al. We prefer MSN to Skype because we simply get better quality. It seems that MSN can withstand poor internet connections much better then Skype.

Monday morning, MSN messenger was working fine, although I don't recall specifically using it for anything. I went to work and logged in remotely (meaning, using the MSN online messenger) so Al and I could chat a bit. This prompted me to log out from my home location (which I am used to and didn't have a problem with) and I agreed.

Monday evening I returned home from work, got into more comfortable clothes, and sat down at my computer to commence blogging and other online-related activities. I found at that moment MSN Messenger had an error message:

"Windows Messenger has stopped working. The program will shut down and we will notify you if there is a solution."

I rebooted, troubleshoot-ed (troubleshot?), and reinstalled.

Nothing.

I called Al who told me to do all of the things I'd already done. I then tried to repair it through Windows.

Nothing.

Finally I called my computer guru (who happens to be my ex) who accessed it remotely from his computer, ran through the same troubleshooting I did, and gave up. (Some guru, huh!?)

This morning, I still had no messenger and no other solution to try. I rebooted and reinstalled again (maybe it just didn't take the first time...ha ha). And then I tried it again.

(I was desperate.)

Finally, Al (who had already suggested this, but in my stubbornness of knowing what I was doing I ignored completely) told me to system restore back to Sunday when it was working just fine.

I did and it worked! I've been up and running for a couple of hours again and so far there have been no additional glitches. The true test will be when my Windows update runs again, since that is likely part of the problem.

In the meantime, though, I can talk to my man again. All is right with the world.