Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Last night Marc and I decided to touch up some walls. After he taught me all about semi-gloss paint and flat paint, I got the lucky job of painting the bathrooms, kitchen, and all of the base boards that needed touching up. As I was sitting on the floor touching up the base boards on the staircase I thought to myself, a) "I can't wait for our housecleaners to come tomorrow!" and b) "Wow, this was the first thing I wanted to do when we moved into the house. And here we were exactly one year later actually doing it." Where does the time go!

So the moral of the story...Happy 1 Year Anniversary in the house and time flies when you are having fun!

Your INDIANA HOOOOSIERS!

I was flipping through the channels late one evening this week and I came across ESPN. Now I was super excited when Marc left that I would not have to watch ESPN for a week while he was gone but something caught my eye…college basketball. College basketball I love, now even though it was Ohio University and Columbia, I still watched it because I love this time of year. I love college basketball, I have most of my life. My dad and I used to sit and watch Duke games all season when I was younger and I even followed the Fab 5 at Michigan. Then when I went off to Indiana and I became a Hoosier…later I went to University of Florida for my MBA and semi-became a Gator but I will always be a Hoosier fan first. (I will admit when the Hoosiers are really bad I jump on the Gator bandwagon).

Not only have I always loved college basketball but I used to love this time of year when I was at IU. The whole campus was buzzing with excitement as the date allowed by the NCAA to start practice approached and that night we all went out to Assembly Hall for Midnight Madness. Red-Dawg (aka Michelle) got hardcore this time of year, and if nothing else it was awesome just to watch her yell at the players or the TV, whichever was closer. But watch out because if IU stunk that year, she was mighty grumpy. (Love ya Red-Dawg!)


I had season tickets to the games all four years at IU and it was the best, I think we could have groups up to 6 in a block (I could be off, my memory is getting bad in my old age - or I may have the case of the Woody's and be forgetting half of what happened in college). We would walk over from the sorority house, when we were legal from Kilroy's, and watch the Hoosiers do what IU, and Indiana for that matter, is known for. My first three years we watched Bobby Knight coach the team, we watched as the school rioted when he was fired and we watched Mike Davis take over under very tough circumstances and take them to the finals in the NCAA tournament, naturally after I had graduated and was back in California. Every so often around tournament time the Hoosiers play a round in California and I try to get tickets. One year they played on our spring break at SDSU so I got tickets for myself and my parents. After I graduated they played in Sacramento and I drove up to watch them play. Basketball season was the reason I chose to go to a school like IU rather than a better known private school. The school came alive. Not matter how cold it was or how bad the team was, students, locals, professors were out on the streets, in the bars cheering on the team. On many occassions we saw John Mellencamp and his family at the IU games since he didn't live far from campus. The school and Bloomington just thrived around basketball season. Games were like nothing you have ever experienced, no one sat, not even alumni. I must say my favorite part was after 1/2 time when the cheerleaders came running out with the IU flags and we all sang the fight song.


http://www.fightmusic.com/mp3/big10/Indiana__Indiana_Our_Indiana.mp3 (The words are below so you can sing along!)


Indiana, our Indiana,
Indiana, we're all for you
We will fight for the cream and crimson
For the glory of old IU
Never daunted, we will not falter
In the battle, we're tried and true
Indiana, Our Indiana
Indiana, we're all for you!
Our cream and crimson school. IU!



I was looking through old scapbooks with Marc a few months back while we were getting pictures together for our wedding slide show and I found this cut out from the school newspaper (which I used to work for in college) with the back of my head, I am in the white t-shirt toward the bottom left corner of the picture. We had just beaten Michigan State and I had court seats that game and after we won (I think at the buzzer - again, bad Kilroy's!) we all rushed the floor. Looking at the score on the scoreboard, I am pretty sure it was a buzzer win.


Not only am I happy to see the Hoosiers are undefeated thus far (never mind that they are all unheard of schools) but I am equally happy to say my Hoosiers are once again ranked, now I don't want to jinx them so early in the season because they can do that on their own but they are ranked a solid #8. I can't wait for the regular season to get under way…I have already been sporting my IU Basketball t-shirt in anticipation and am in the process of downloading a schedule so I know when I can catch them on TV. Most of all watching them reminds me of all of my good times at IU and all of my girls I shared it with. Ahh memories!
I miss you girls!


And of course let's go HOOSIERS!

Favorite Marc Singapore Story

Marc sent me some photos of his adventures in Singapore this week and my favorite story is of his coffee in a bag.

He went to a deli near his office in Singapore and ordered a coffee and this is how they served him, when he got to the office he asked how he should rest it in case he wanted to take a sip later…as you can see it isn't like a Capri Sun and stands up on his own. The locals told him to use the string on the bag and hang it from the door knob…shenanigans! The coffee just hung there all morning!


This is my favorite Singapore story so far!

Double Decker Planes

For some strange reason most of my life I have been obsessed with double decker planes, don't judge me, they just fascinate me, which I know is odd but to me they are the coolest. I don't know where my fascination stemmed from or why I am so intrigued by them, I guess it's just amazing to me that something so massive gets in the air. I also think it is pretty cool that you can go upstairs on an airplane. How cool is that? It sort of takes away the claustrophobia of the whole experience. We always pass the double decker planes when we fly out of SFO because we have to pass the International Terminal to get to the parking garage and I stare in awe at the Virgin, Cathay, and Qantas double decker planes.

I have been to Europe twice in my life and have not yet had the joy of experiencing a double decker plane - traveling on one remains one of the things I want to do before I die - mostly because American doesn’t fleet them, which I think is a big mistake on American's part. Anyway, when Marc told me he was going to Singapore the first question out of my mouth was: "Do you get to go on a double decker airplane?" Ding, ding, ding, the lucky guy did. So I begged, begged, begged him to take pictures. I even told him he could call me crazy and tell the flight attendants his crazy wife was obsessed with double decker planes. It's not everyday I allow Marc to call me crazy - but in this case I can admit that it is a little odd to be obsessed with double decker airplanes.

Marc was very conservative with his pictures on the plane but this is what I got (and they are small because I got them off of Snapfish):

I'm hoping he reads the blog while he is away and feels bad and takes more on the way home, yes he gets to go on 2 double decker planes! But if not I guess it will have to do until I get to go on a double decker plane myself, and rest assured, I will buy a business class ticket so I get to ride on the top deck and go up there!

"The Homer Test"

Back in the day I used to put potential suiters through what I called "The Homer Test." Basically if Homer didn't like you, you were out. Now obviously Marc has passed the Homer test. However, not passing the Homer test involves, but is not limited to:

• Peeing in shoes (yes, inside so there is a nice puddle)
• Chewing flip flops
• Following the potential suiter to the bathroom and sitting outside the door shooting nasty looks
• Nasty looks in general

Homer has been known to do all of the above, but not to Marc. Homer's test has actually been pretty flawless, all failures have indeed turned out to be losers.

Now, I bring up "The Homer Test" because Marc left for Singapore yesterday for a week and I have to say, he has truly passed "The Homer Test." Homer has not been the same since he left; he is barely eating (which for Homer is a tell-tale sign there is something wrong), he is moping around the house, and on multiple occassions he has sat by the door to the garage and has been sniffing at the door (which he is actually doing right now), something he always does when he is waiting for one of us to come home. My boy misses his Dada!

I am thrilled that Homer misses Marc and loves him but I keep reminding him who poops him, feeds him, and walks him everyday - ME!!! None of that seems to matter to Homer because his cuddle buddy is missing - Marc cuddles with Homer almost every morning before work while I am the drill sargeant keeping everyone on schedule.

Don't worry Homes, Dada will be home soon!

Florida Trip: Part C - The Party

My Aunt and my mom arranged to have a party at a very nice restaurant called Brooks which is located near Boca Raton. 28 people RSVP'd that they would be attending. My Aunt picked up my grandpa for a "family dinner." My cousin, Travis, came early to help my mom and I set up, and most people had arrived when Poppa showed up.

Poppa arriving, he told Marc he was walking as fast as he could...he's so funny!

Poppa realizing it isn't going to be just a family dinner:

Everybody mingled for a bit before we sat down to dinner. My mom's cousin flew in from Connecticutt (she is the daughter of one of my Poppa's brothers). I also got to meet her son, my second-cousin Matt whom I had never met.

Ed & I:

Ed & Lauren:

Ed, Lauren, Marc & I:

My cousin Jason & Poppa:

Cousin Travis & Poppa:

Lauren was brave and tried escargot:

After dinner it was time for toasts, almost everyone in the room had wonderful things to say about my grandfather. We heard some funny stories about him as a Doctor in New Haven. I'm going to attempt to post a few videos Marc took on his camera...the quality is not great but you will get the idea.

My Dad's Toast to Poppa:

Poppa Making his speech:

After speeches a cake was brought out for Poppa and we all sang happy birthday to him and everyone had a taste of cake for good luck.

He looks so happy!

The dinner was a huge success with Poppa. After dinner Marc and I went to a wine bar with Ed, Lauren, my cousin Travis and his girlfriend Kat, and my cousin Jason and his friend Eileen. We had a great time hanging out with my cousins and meeting Travis' girlfriend (we totally hit it off). Hopefully all four of them will pay Marc and I a visit so we can continue to hang out some more.

So in summary, flying to Florida for one day is very hard but to see how happy Poppa was to have us there was well worth the exhaustion. My mom said Sunday he went around the facility telling everyone he knew that his grandkids flew all the way across country for one day just to have dinner with him. It was also great to see Nana and Poppy and spend time with them.

Oh and we also promised Poppa that if he made it to 100 we would promise to tell him that we were coming out to visit him and not surprise him.

Florida Trip: Part B - The Surprise

After spending a few hours with Nana and Poppy we headed out to surprise my Poppa. After Ed and Lauren surprised Poppa everyone explained to him that Marc and I couldn't make it because we had to work so he had no idea we were enroute to surprise him. Unfortunately our drive took longer than expected because my mom has a new habit of leaving the last few digits off of addresses so instead of mapping to 8500 Sunrise Blvd we had mapped to 85 Sunrise Blvd. It took us forever to go from 85 to 8500. My dad met us outside of my grandpa's building so that we didn't have to go through the front desk and ruin the surprise by the staff calling my Poppa. He let us in and when we walked into his room, my mom, brother and Lauren were sitting on the couch but Poppa'a back was to us. I walked up next to him as my dad made a joke about going outside and having rif-raf follow you back in. My Poppa turned around and his jaw just dropped. He was so shocked to see Marc and I standing there.

Here are a few photos Marc captured of him seeing us for the first time:

After the shock wore off, we hung out for a bit and kept Poppa company. Poppa and I shared some Diet Chocolate soda which we used to drink together at the condo and I had brought to him. His new apartment is very nice, he is in a Hyatt Retirement Home and it is super nice, he has a nice sized room and the grounds are beautiful. Plus they have a shuttle that with bring him to the bank, shopping, doctors, etc. It's a very nice place and he is beginning to make lots of new friends, which is no shock to anyone since he is super social. After we visited for a while we let him rest up for what he thought was a family dinner.

Florida Trip: Part A - Arrival & Nana & Poppy

This last weekend Marc and I flew to Florida. I have decided to split the blogging into several different parts because there was a ton going on over the weekend! So without further adieu...

Friday night we arrived to Fort Lauderdale at midnight and were starving. Our flight into Dallas was running about 30 minutes behind schedule and since we only had about 45 minutes to change planes to begin with we didn't have time to grab food. So starving we stopped an exit before my grandfather's exit and found a Wendy's in a very sketch area. We finally made it to my grandpa's condo. I hadn't seen it since my mom and Aunt had it remodeled and decorated after Hurricane Wilma destroyed it. I took some pictures since Poppa has moved out and it is for sale, and it may have been my last visit there so I wanted to capture all of the memories.

My Nana and I used to sit on the balcony which overlooks the golf course in the morning and wait for my Poppa to come around the course so we could wave to him:

Poppa and I used to play War in the den...

A view of the living room from the front hallway:

The kitchen:

The Dining Room & Living Room:

Ed & Lauren took a red eye on Friday night so they arrived at Poppa's condo at about 7 am...their key to entry...Dunkin Donuts coffee and donuts. We chilled with Ed and Lauren for a while eating donuts and drinking our coffee. On a side note...we really need to get some Dunkin Donuts in California! They were amazing.

Finally we got ourselves dressed and one the road to see Marc's Nana and Poppy while Ed and Lauren went to Poppa's retirement home to surprise him. We had a great time with Nana and Poppy. We caught up and watched part of our wedding DVD and had a yummy lunch of deli sandwiches on croissants.

Here are some pictures with them: