25 Random Things

1. I LOVE road trips to anywhere, especially being the driver. Must have inherited that from my dad.

2. My car broke down once while on a solo road trip in an isolated area of the Cascades in Oregon. I had no cell phone and had to be rescued by a highway department worker.

3. My grandma Ruby is the person I admire the most in the world.

4. I get bored if I stay in the same place for more than 2 or 3 years.

5. I wish I had studied less in college.

6. A little girl, just learning to walk, fell into the most disgusting urban lake in Cincinnati and was drowning. Her babysitter panicked and just watched her disappear. I jumped in and hauled her out from what I'm pretty certain was a sewer. I had just had knee surgery and was on crutches at the time. It was seriously terrifying.

7. If I weren't a genetic counselor, I would want to study foreign languages and work for the CIA.

8. One of my favorite noises is the sound of my cat, Sweet Pea's, purring.

9. America's Funniest Home Videos totally cracks me up.

10. I can be very indecisive.

11. I have a photographic memory for maps and have a very good sense of direction. That being said, my friend Liz and I were studying for a molecular genetics test during a grad school road trip and I got distracted and accidentally drove us to Chicago instead of Cincinnati!!

12. I have a song for every major event in my life.

13. I believe that where you end up in life is a direct reflection of the choices you make.

14. My husband is the most eternally optimistic person I have ever known.

15. I plan everything. Seriously. I even plan to "not plan" things.

16. I love to dance.

17. I get really annoyed by people who don't follow the rules.

18. I have always wanted to play an instrument and now I'm learning to play guitar. Don't expect any concerts any time soon...I'm HORRIBLE!

19. I spend my days conversing in depth with strangers so in my free time I dislike attending functions where there are lots of people I don't know.

20. I love the smell of the lilac bushes in my mom's front yard.

21. I'm really sad that none of my girlfriends live nearby. I miss them A LOT!

22. I have a snot phobia. I have been knee deep in way more disgusting things at work, but will wretch if I see a little kid with a snotty nose. Ugh. I feel a little sick just thinking about it.

23. I love surprises.

24. I'm convinced that there are werewolves that live in the woods by my parents house. My husband makes fun of me relentlessly.

25. I must be part rooster. Normal people do not wake up as early as I do.

Where did January go?

How on earth did it get to be the end of the month already? I haven't really accomplished much of anything so far in 2009 so I definitely need to get my rear in gear. Still haven't found the solution to my little cardio problem...I tried spinning a few times but after an hour long class I could barely walk and definitely couldn't sit for a week! We've shown our condo a few times over the past month without much interest from anyone. I can't believe we've had it on the market for 4 months already. Ugh! The prospect of selling our place in this economy is pretty dismal, unfortunately. We've looked at a few places, none yet that we absolutely loved; however, everything is on hold anyway until our place sells.

Traci sent me this picture of my nephews on their recent snow day and it brightened my day.

Cats! Cats! Cats!

I'm probably the ONLY person in the world who didn't know about lolcats until recently. Even Mike (who tolerates cats) thinks some of these are funny...here are a couple of my favorites...

Kitty Chan

We are fortunate to have our own lolcats; however, they prefer snoozing over antics...

Vroom! Vroom!

My first ride on Mr. Jinx's motorcycle was TERRIFYING!! We went about 300 yards, never got out of first gear and I nearly had a heart attack! I swore I would never ever try that again...well, never say never...2 years and a few glasses of wine later here I am with a smile!

Mr. Jinx took me for a spin around the block! 28 mph on a motorcycle feels like about 90mph!

Shape Up and Ship Out!

After accumulating several pounds of happiness during this first year of marriage, Mr. Jinx and I have decided that it's time to get in shape. To motivate ourselves, we decided that if we both reached our goals by our anniversary in May, our reward would be to take a trip somewhere (Europe would be my preference). So, today starts our attempt to eat healthier and (ugh!) get back to the gym. The eating healthy part will be the easiest for me, but in general, I DESPISE cardio work outs at the gym. I've got to figure out some way to get my cardio in that I don't absolutely hate...

Rock Star

I always wanted to be a rock star...last weekend I got my chance!
That's our friend Todd on the lead guitar, Mr. Jinx on the bass, me rockin' the drums, and Jackie on vocals. We 30 somethings were quite a sight rocking out to the Beastie Boys! Video games nowadays are way more cool than the old Nintendo games when we were 8 years old. We LOVE Rock Band!

Baking Cookies

I am a fan of the chocolate chip cookie, plain and simple. After making many, many batches using various recipes I keep coming back to my old tried and true variation of a Betty Crocker recipe. There's almost no way to screw this one up. The cookies seem to turn out perfectly chocolatey with a hint of butter every time. They have a way of disappearing mysteriously when Mr. Jinx is about. Here's the basic recipe. Enjoy!

3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. stick butter, softened
1 large egg
2-1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 c. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix sugars, butter, and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack. Makes 3 dozen.

The Best Gift Ever!

Attention ladies! I have vital information to share. Mike received the BEST gift ever for Christmas from his sister. See link below.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/car/aa31/

The Car Chip Pro Engine Performance Monitor, you wonder? Why yes! The tiny monitor plugs into your car and voila, every time you go somewhere you can record lots of cool tidbits of information such as speed, engine performance, etc. Mike was super stoked about using this to monitor the performance of his car. What he did not plan for, however, were all of the additional features such as when the driver accelerates/brakes too hard, drives too fast, or is a menace to traffic in general, a shrill "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP" warning alarm goes off.

Last night Mike drove us to dinner. About 15 minutes and 8 alarms later we arrived at our destination safe and sound with Mike grumbling about all of the beeps and how he could not possibly be THAT bad of a driver. It was then that I came to fully appreciating the genius of this device which had, thankfully, replaced me as the driving monitor.

Mrs. Jinx Rewind

Before Mike and I got married we gathered up a bunch of our old photos in the hopes of making a slide show for our reception. Unfortunately, the slide show never materialized, but here is a sampling.

1976. Dad taking me for a ride on a Missouri Mule

1978. Mom and I with a yummy looking birthday cake!1986. Granny, Mom, me, and Traci on vacation in Colorado.
1994. Volleyball days.1998. Justin and I at his preschool graduation.


2005. Granny and I over Thanksgiving at my house.

The Evil Red Drink

Ugh! EVERY time we visit my nephews I catch "the crud". My nephews had slight colds over Christmas and I'm pretty sure I caught whatever they had. I woke up this morning and my throat was clogged and I couldn't breathe. Poor Mike had to get up and sit with me to make sure I didn't asphyxiate! I spent the entire day today on the couch feeling like crap. Mike disappeared for a few minutes and came back with some truly evil medicine that he practically had to force down me. Whoever said that cherry flavoring helps the medicine go down more smoothly is freaking crazy. I don't know what's worse, being ill or taking the evil red drink.

Happy New Year 2009!

We ushered in the new year with our friends Chris, Valarie, James and Karen. It was a Mexican themed New Year's Eve, complete with Valarie's homemade enchiladas and plenty of yummy margaritas to go around! The Karaoke Revolution was a big hit, made possible in part by the margaritas and Mike's X-box prowess. I think Mike won the award for the best Karaoke performance; he didn't get booed off stage even once!

2008 has been an AWESOME year and Mike and I are looking forward to an even better 2009 filled with friends, family, and fun!