Big Love

So, about a month ago Comcast REALLY screwed up with our bill and Jeremiah was on the phone with them multiple times to get it fixed. As part of their "oops, sorry" package, they threw in free HBO for a YEAR! The beauty of that is that we've discovered some really great shows and movies.

Best of all, we discovered the TV series Big Love. Sure, it's about polygamists in Utah, one man, three wives, seven kids. BUT OH BABY, we love this show! The first two seasons are on demand, and season 3 starts in January. Tonight we'll watch the season one finale, and if the snow continues we may just watch all of season 2 this weekend!

It's a pretty interesting show, I don't know why but Polygamy has always fascinated me (not that I want to participate) but just that whole thing that Joseph Smith decided he wanted to sleep with his nanny and then God "told him" it was OK. Thankfully years later, Mormon's realized "yeah, not so much" which I really think was a group of guys who went "you know, one is MORE than enough!" but still the idea of living "the principle" is pretty interesting to me.

A couple years ago I read the John Krakauer book Under the Banner of Heaven which is all about polygamy and child brides, etc. What I thought was interesting, and wasn't mentioned as much as I think it should have been, is that when Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped, she was taken as the second wife in this family. The problem with Polygamy isn't the multiple wives, it's the child brides. The 13-17 year old girls who are being "placed" in a man's care. And the teenage boys who are kicked out on the street because the older men don't need competition.

After reading Under the Banner of Heaven I came to the conclusion that I think polygamy should be legal, BECAUSE then polygamists can report the underage marriages that the women know are wrong, but can't currently report because they'd be in trouble too. Sure, there's a lot of problems in our country right now, and maybe polygamy isn't the biggest issue we're facing, but when you have polygamists supporting gay marriage, you know that maybe it's a sign...

Hooray for VOTING!

Today I voted! I sent in the absentee ballot, and I voted on every measure on the ballot. There's a lot of district Judge's I learned...But, that's not the story of the day. Yesterday morning, Jeremiah and I were putting Hank in the car to take him to the dog park. Jeremiah asked where my Obama/Biden magnet was on the car. And sure enough, SOMEONE STOLE IT! I figured that it must have been when I went to see Drowsy Chaperone the other night, either in the garage, or when we parked over by the restaurant before dinner.

So, it's one of two things...a McCain supporter (not my husband, I drilled him on it...) who's being a sore loser, OR a Obama Supporter who clearly needed it more than me. Anyway you look at it, I'm pretty ticked, that my magnet is missing. I was so excited for the "I told you so" magnet that I could keep on my car to spite my husband for months to come...

What a GREAT guy!

I don't usually talk about Jeremiah, he doesn't seem to like it when I do on my blogs. BUT, he did something pretty great recently...On Monday, I got back to my desk at work after lunch. I had an e-mail from him in my inbox, which was a forward from AT&T. I had some issues with my cell phone earlier in the day, and had sent him a note about it. SO...this e-mail says that an IPHONE has been ordered in my name, and will be delivered in the next few days. I immediately call him, and make sure it's real. It sure is! Happy Birthday Jeremiah, thank you so much!

So, tonight the phone arrived in the mail...I open it up, know I have to charge it, start reading directions and see I can't transfer my number to it till tomorrow. So, now I'm trying to skip out of work in the afternoon so I can come home and play with my new phone. I love it!

What a great husband I have! Happy Birthday to him, this weekend, an xbox 360 will also join our technology based family!

Why Deschutes Brewery is THE BEST

A week or so ago at the store I picked up a 1/2 case of Mirror Pond. I grabbed two bottles on Monday night. One to drink, and one for a recipe that called for beer. I realized as I went to open the bottle, that it was flat AND that the bottle wasn't full. So, I drank the full one, which was fine, and then I used the flat one for cooking, and dumped the rest. And then I sent a note to Deschutes Brewery letting them know, and here's the response & trail of events...

Ms. Case,

First, let me apologize on behalf of Deschutes
Brewery for the half-full bottle of Mirror Pond in your 12-pack. I
appreciate the fact that you are a loyal fan of Deschutes Brewery, but you
should never have any experience short of spectacular with our beers. We
will investigate how this deviation occurred and work on preventing it from
reoccurring. Thanks for supplying the best by date.

Do you
still have the bottle? I would be more than happy to trade your for a few
full ones.

Thanks again for letting us know about your
experience,

So, I responded, with a thanks, and that my brother is coming to visit, so could bring the bottle back with him, etc...

Elizabeth,

Is your brother visiting you in Washington this
weekend? If so, please ask him to stop by the Brewery so that we can
send
a token of our appreciation to you. What is his name and I will
make sure
he procures your favorite flavor?

So, Jeremy and Cassie stopped by Deschutes on Friday afternoon on their way out of town. The procured two-six packs, AND two bottles of the 20th Anniversary Whit, which is a great beer! Deschutes Brewery guys are the GREATEST, and if your fridge isn't fully stocked with them, you should fix that immediately!

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

For my birthday, dad bought me this book he's reading. I just started it today, and I'm about 50 pages in. This is (so far) an AWESOME book! It's about a mute boy and his dog. It takes place in rural Wisconsin and so far I'm loving it!

I bought Lord of the Flies a month ago when I was at Powell's down in Portland. I've started reading it, but I'm not getting into it like I thought I would. A few people at work said it's one of the greatest books they've read, my office is full of readers with typically good suggestions. And then I kept hearing about the parallels with LOST, so thought that was probably a good idea to read. Ehh...I'll try it again later. Maybe in February right before LOST returns I'll want to...

AND THEN, a week or two ago I was reading my Real Simple and they were recommending good books, and so today I took two HUGE bags of books to Half Price Books to sell, and then I ended up buying The Secret History, and Water for Elephants. I'm pretty excited to read them, and now I'm excited about The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. If you have a dog, I'm thinking you'll want to read this book. And not in one of those "your dog looks like Marley" kind of ways. ALTHOUGH, should we let the bets begin on how many people will buy me Marley and Me for Christmas? I'm pretty sure it'll be in full promotion mode at all bookstores, with Owen Wilson & Jennifer Aniston on the cover (and a speck of a yellow dog in the background...). My guess is THREE...

Who names their kid after a NASCAR race anyway?

So, I've recently discovered a new blog that I'm really enjoying. AND, over the weekend, my dad was here visiting. With his favorite toy in hand while we returned from the dog park, he came across the greatest political drama of the season. The story that VP Candidate Sarah Palin's youngest child is actually her grandson, and that her 17 year old daughter is the mother of the baby, and it's an elaborate plan to cover it up for her daughter. This is far and away the BEST conspiracy theory I've heard in a few years...


BUT THEN, today while Gustav coverage was in full force, Palin finally decides to disclose that that story isn't true, but that Bristol IS pregnant, and better than that, she's going to keep the baby, AND (this is my favorite) they're getting MARRIED! What a great idea! That's guaranteed to work out and have a happy ending. This has Spears Family written all over it...


So, back to the blog...today's entry wraps it all up with a nice neat bow...

Sign of a come back?

At first I thought it was a joke...

BUT IT's NOT!

A Great Day to Read a Book...

A couple of months ago, dad gave me a graphic novel called The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I stuck it on my bookshelf of books I need to read. And, then a couple of weeks ago, I finished a book and decided to try out a graphic novel. I read the first few pages, but then got sidetracked.

So, then today, I picked it up because I was in a book reading mood. The beauty of these is that you can read the whole thing in a day! SWEET! So, 500 pages later, I read this very cool book about a kid in 1930's Paris who fixes clocks. And there's more, but that's kind of the gist of the book. It's a Young Adult graphic novel, so more of a children's book, BUT it was still a very sweet story, and ends up with a cool history lesson as well. So, if you're in the market for a comic, and some incredible pencil drawings, check it out!

I can't remember how Reading Rainbow ends, but I sure wish I did at this moment...

Today's Weather

07/31 Weather Forecast
Slight chance of drizzle in the hizzle fo shizzle

Man, I sure love when I go to funnyordie.com

Joke of the Day

My friend Michelle just sent this to me, and it made me laugh...

Two statues stood in a city park: one female and the other male. These statues faced each other for many years. Early one morning, an angel appeared before the statues and said, "Since the two of you have been exemplary statues and have brought enjoyment to many people, I am giving you your greatest wish. I hereby give you the gift of life. You have 30 minutes to do whatever you desire." And with that command, the statues came to life. The two statues smiled at each other, ran toward some nearby woods and dove behind a couple of bushes. The angel smiled to himself as he listened to the two statues giggling,bushes rustling, and twigs snapping. After fifteen minutes, the two statues emerged from the bushes,satisfied and smiling. Puzzled, the angel looked at his watch and asked the statues, "You still have fifteen minutes. Would you like to continue?" The male statue looked at the female and asked, "Do you want to do it again?" Smiling, the female statue said, "Sure. But this time YOU hold the pigeon down and I'll crap on its head!"

Exlax Update...

Last Wednesday evening after work I went to get the mail and had a letter from King County. Enclosed was a very thoughtful TICKET for $175 in follow up to the accident over a week earlier. At least they're efficient in their ticketing process. I was so pissed! The least he could have done was give it all to me at once. So a new hood cost me $675 total...and a lecture from Uncle Jerry the insurance adjuster...oops.

Smooth Move Exlax...

So tonight, I had to go to the Chiropractor after work. I'm doing better now, my hip was bugging me. Anyway, not the point of this story...

I'm driving home and going through Redmond. Thanks Microsoft for all the traffic...So, I look down at my phone to call Jeremiah and see what his schedule is. I'm at a stop light, cars on either side of me and another CRV in front of me. And all of a sudden, I see the cars on either side go, so I slowly lift off my break and BOOM, I hit the car in front of me...CRAP.

The woman moves slightly forward, and then parks the car and jumps out (JUMPS OUT, she's fine!) truly, we were both stopped, and I just rolled into her. Stupid new cell phone law. Can't be ON the phone while you drive, but how the heck are you supposed to get the number to call???

Anyway, we move over to a parking lot, and her car looks just fine. She had a bike rack on the back of her tire, so she's JUST FINE. Then I check out my car...Yeah, her damn bike rack bonked into the hood of my car and my hood is totally dented. CRAP. AND THEN! The cop shows up...

He gets our information, asks what happens, and then is in his car for a while writing stuff down. Luckily he did NOT give me a ticket, hooray! But the woman was kind of a pain, saying she didn't THINK she needed to go to the chiropractor, but she wasn't sure yet. Yeah, whatever. Even the cop couldn't find a dent on her car.

So, we exchanged information, etc. I talked to my insurance claims person when I got home, she was very nice, and is a big fan of Hank (who isn't) and after a $500 deductible on my car, we'll be back to normal...

In the mean time, no spending any money on anything, for any reason. OH BOY!

Laughing Buddha Brewery

When dad, Jeremy & Cassie were up for Father's Day, we went to a big Beer Festival up in Kenmore, at St. Edwards State Park. It's a cool brew festival, and I had heard that the newest Washington Brewery would be at the event. They sure were, AND they were the only ones with much in the way of a line, and it went on for quite some time.

So, we get around to the Laughing Buddha Brewery and get in the long line for it. We're hoping it'll be good, and as we get closer we realize they have a Ginger Pale Ale, a Brown Ale, and a Mango Hefeweizen. Hmmm...this may not go well. BUT, it's the longest line, and YOU MUST support your local breweries! So, we get in line, and we all get something different. The Ginger Pale Ale is AWESOME! We can't believe it! AND, the Mango-weizen is really good too. Not very fruity, just a great flavor to it. Jeremiah got the Brown Ale and it was really good to, although no fruit or spice to speak of. So, we get our beers, don't want to share, so get BACK in line to try it again! It's incredible, we're loving every minute of our tastes.

So, today we went to Whole Foods to get stuff for dinner tonight, and they had the beers! YAY! I grabbed a 20 oz. bottle of the Ginger Pale Ale to make Mike & Grace try tonight, we'll see how they like it!

Are you kidding me?

I think I'm going to be sick...my friend recently recommended a new blog to me, called Evil Beet. It's pretty great, and I don't read it every day, but when I do, I'm typically mortified.

So, today when the blog had THIS STORY, I became a little nauseous. As you know from a previous post, I'm not the world's biggest The Hills fan. So, to hear that Heidi (the slut) wants to record a Christian Album, makes me sick. First off, there are many reasons why people who I know are aware that I am a Christian. But thanks to crap like this, there are many reasons that I do NOT go around publicizing it! Good grief, I'd look crazy! If these are the kinds of people that Christian's will associate themselves with, I'll just keep me mouth shut (on this, you aren't that lucky...). So, there you have it. Heidi Montag, if you actually go through with this, shoot, there's a special place for you some where...

Baldwin Fey All the Way!

About a month ago, I was reading my favorite blog, and read this story (which I now can't find on the blog). I was so excited when I read it and went right online that afternoon (I work REALLY hard when I want to I swear) and ordered a few buttons.

So, how excited was I today to learn that my buttons arrived! AND, because of so much interest, they just sent me one of each. How cool is this! I can't wait to take them to work on Monday and stick a couple of them up in my cubical. My co-workers are going to be so jealous...

Grape Snow Cone!

Anyone who knows our family know that we LOVE Brian Regan. He is the family favorite comedian, and last summer for my birthday, dad, Jeremy, Jeremiah and I went to see him at Marymoor Park. He's good clean family fun humor.

So, about a week ago, I got my Mountain Mail, and it said that I could sign up to win a free pair of tickets to Brian Regan. It's the weirdest thing with The Mountain Mail. I win stuff! Last year I got tickets to go see The Killers at WaMu Theater (FYI-lame venue) and I won tickets to Rodrigo y Gabriela too, which I didn't make it to the concert.

Anyway, I get a call on Thursday that I won the tickets to Brian Regan! Thanks Mountain Mail! So, last night after work (and after happy hour) Jeremiah and I headed up to Redmond to see Brian Regan. It was a lot of old material which was kind of weird, I wanted more new stuff, but still, he makes me laugh no matter what.

And the encore was the Grape Snow Cone baseball story, which is so great! I was laughing really hard, and Jeremiah seemed a little confused at it, but we'll survive. I also got a copy of the 520 Funny Festival album which was a fun CD for the drive home last night. Thanks Mountain Mail!

My first SIFF experience

About a month ago, my little brother Jeremy, e-mailed me and dad. He said that one of his professors told him about this moving coming out with Zach Galifianakis in it, and Judy Greer. When you go to the homepage and see what you see, you know it can only go one of two ways. Then Jerm says that the brothers who made the movie (wrote and directed) are his nephews. AND, that it was going to premier at the Seattle International Film Festival over Father's Day weekend when they were up. PERFECT.

So, Jeremy scored us 4 tickets to the premier (Dad, me, Jeremy & Cassie) and off to Capitol Hill and a really cool theater we went! The movie was...well....

The premise of the movie is that George Washington Winsterhamerman lives in what turns out to be Snoqualmie, and works for a major corporation that starts each greeting by flipping each other the bird. The movie goes a little slow, and it's people start blowing up and they can't figure out why, so there's life coaches and all this stuff going on to try and stop people from blowing up. I think what I got from it, is that if you like what you're doing and you're happy, you won't blow up. If you're unsatisfied, there's nothing they can do to stop you. But it was a little slow, definitely an art film.

It was weird, and I'm not 110% sold on it. It was definitely perfect for SIFF, and my favorite part was that after the "screening" the brothers got up and asked questions, which was very cool. Especially when this girl in the audience asked a question about the philsophical meaning behind a scene, and they kind of looked at her, and then said, "we just did it because we hate hippies." Excellent, and I think it really ticked her off!

It was the most interesting film experience of my life, but right after the movie needed a drink and to debrief the movie, which truth be told, we were all feeling. I liked it, it was a neat experience, but not a movie I would ever go see myself.

Yup, I'm a Milliron!

So, yesterday after dad, Cassie & Jeremy left I drove down to beautiful SeaTac and flew to Denver to visit my friend Kelly and watch her run an event that my boss wants me to start doing. The event went well, after the event we watched Blackhawks fly through (between buildings, THROUGH) downtown Denver and practice for the DNC in August. It was great!

Then today did some other stuff...blah, blah, blah. The story begins HERE...

I was able to board my flight as an MVP, because Jeremiah and I fly so much that our combined miles make us MVP, it's really just a cocky status thing that we LOVE. We get to board early, and watch the common folks board, it's great. So, I board my flight on time, and the flight attendant says hello, and we start chatting. I have just a little over night bag, no rolling suitcase thing, like the woman in front of me. And I am talking and walking (my first mistake) and I don't realize that the woman in front of me STOPPED, and I full on (yes, I AM laughing while writing this story) TRIP on her suitcase and drop my bag and face plant into her bag! It was pretty incredible! She felt awful, you could tell the flight attendant was thinking"lawsuit!"because she kept asking if I was OK, really? To which I responded "nothing a gin & tonic can't fix!" and two gin & tonics later, I was fine. AND, I taught the really cute little boy behind me how to fist bump AND explode, AND fall out. AND, then, I made him practice with the nice old white guy next to me who did pretty well for a white guy!

All in all, a great flight, sans the flat on my face boarding process. I don't recommend it, but it works for some. AND, I spilled my drink on myself, yup, that's me. AND, another flight attendant saw what I was reading and stopped to talk about it, she even came back to ask me if I'd read one of the stories yet, it was great! But I still had to pay for my damn drinks...

Oh yeah, after the event, the publisher asked what I thought of it. Without thinking I said "It kicked ass, Kelly throws a great event!" For which I was quickly reprimanded by Kelly, that Scott doesn't really like the word ASS. Too bad, that guy is missing out...or maybe my publisher is just use to me.

We Aren't THAT Kind of Family!

Everyone knows that I treat EVERYONE like I treat my two brothers, Jake & Jeremy. From my friends to my publisher, I treat you all the SAME. So, it was a shock to me this week...

Upon returning from our fabulous sailing trip, I had an e-mail from Jake that "he lost his cell phone while at Six Flags with his students this past week. So, he is sans cell phone for a couple of days until it gets returned. So on Thursday when I am driving to my office about noon, I give Jake a quick call to see if his phone was found or if he got a new one. It goes straight to voicemail, and I realize he may still be in class. So, about ONE minute later, I receive a text message from him, while I'm driving down the road in downtown Seattle, that reads:

"Send me a naked pic"

So, as I'm DRIVING, I'm freaking out, uh oh, this isn't Jake, AND some perv got his phone! And I SWEAR, my next thought was, that I really hope that Jake has MOM listed in his phone as MOM and not Nancy. YIKES! So, that kind of scarred my day. I called dad and couldn't get a hold of him, so left him a voicemail, got to work and told a couple of co-workers who all thought it was funnier than I did, but they're guys so what do you expect. And I had to explain, yeah, we aren't THAT kind of family.

Finally, Jake called me from his home phone that evening and said that I'm not the only girl getting creepy texts from him, and he finally cancelled his phone so that while this perv has my number, he can't easily text me. Luckily he received a new phone yesterday so all is back to normal, except for some perv hitting on all the females in Jake's cell phone. I really hope the guy didn't send anything to mom...

Best Show EVER...but not with your family

The summer I graduated from high school, dad really wanted us to watch The World According to Garp, together. It's one of his favorite books by John Irving, and he bought me the book a couple years later actually. So, we watch the movie with Robin Williams in it, and it's pretty good. Except, it's rated R, and it's rated R because of "sexual content" and "suggestive dialogue." So, good times when you're 18 sitting on the couch watching a movie with your dad. But, as you can tell, 10 years later, I'm totally over it. In January 2007, dad and I took a last minute trip to NYC to see Letterman, on a GREAT father daughter bonding experience. We had a blast, and were told to go see Avenue Q while in town. All I knew about the show was that it was "Muppet's who swear." Sure, sign me up, this could be GREAT! Well, we couldn't get tickets. A few months back I heard it was coming to Seattle, so dad and I talked about going. One thing lead to another and it didn't work out to go to the show. But about two weeks ago at work, one of my editors got an envelope in the mail with two tickets to the opening night of Avenue Q. SUH-WEET. Working in "media" kicks ass sometimes! So, we go to the show. The reason I bring up The World According to Garp is that Avenue Q had a similar vibe to it. FABULOUS show, I recommend it to most people in my life (but not you mom), but when monsters say the F-word, and there's a song called, "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist" you know you're at a good show. Becky and I laughed and laughed, and laughed, and proceed to walk into work the next morning and without another word scream "It Sucks to be YOU!" the theme song of the show. Yeah, quality entertainment here mom, I swear. But, it was a great show, I called dad later and explained, it would be more a Garp kind of experience for us than a Spamalot-standing room only with drinks in our hand kind of experience. Good times had by all. But, Becky's my new favorite Theatre patron, after dad of course. I can't wait for THIS to happen in September, it will probably make my theatrical year, and definitely make up for this atrocity that Becky and I sat through. It's definitely a two drink minimum kind of show.

Dramamine Saved my life

Well, we returned safely from 4 days of sailing in the San Juan's. Thankfully, no whales were spotted on this trip. We did see some cute harbor seals, Bald Eagles, ducks and seagulls. Today on the ferry to Anacortes Jeremiah spotted a porpoise which was really cute!

I took two Dramamine each morning, followed by an afternoon nap and I did GREAT, I was washing dishes and making lunch down in salon while Mike & Grace were sailing at a 20% heel, AWESOME.

It was a VERY beautiful trip, and very relaxing. But I realized that relaxing and restful are two different things. Sleeping in a narrowing bed with no head room can have its challenges. I was amazed today that I couldn't feel bruises on my skull, but there are plenty of bruises throughout my body from the trip. I also took a few naps on this trip which is something I don't usually do. It was the afternoon Dramamine nap. I did finally finish my book, Beach Music which dad gave me for Christmas this year. It was REALLY great, and I highly recommend it. I think my next book will be the new David Sedaris book. He makes me laugh and I read a great review of it in Entertainment Weekly while sailing. Here's some pictures from the trip if you'd like to check it out.

I'll definitely get on a sail boat again, probably in the near future, but my next vacation will include a comfy hotel room with PLENTY of space above the bed so I don't have to roll over in fear of bonking something!

Well, it's the Thought that counts...

First off, I'll apologize to Jeremiah and Paula in advance, but this story is too good not to share...

I have a very thoughtful mother in law who for many holidays sends us sweet cards and gift certificates. So, for Valentine's Day this year she sent us a gift certificate to the movie theater. GREAT! It's the perfect date gift, and we don't go to movies very often, so it was a great gift idea (to force us to go more). Over the weekend we decided to go see the new Indiana Jones, which was a BLAST FYI. I grabbed the gift card, and off we went. I saw an ATM machine where you can buy tickets and it looked like the gift card might work there. So, I ordered the tickets and put in the gift card but it wouldn't accept it. A little weird, but the line isn't too long so we jump in line. I hand the gift card over to the guy and he runs it through...and it says it won't work there either. Again, WEIRD...

So, we pay, and are a little curious. We have time to get into our seats and then I'll go get popcorn. But when we sit down I noticed an 800 number on the back of the gift card, and since I had 15 minutes, I decided to call and check on it. I call, and input the number, and they say it's not recognized. So, I'm transferred to an operator. She checks on the number...it has a ZERO BALANCE on it. Huh. Paula doesn't seem like the dine & dash kind of mom, but you learn new things about your in laws all the time...

I went and PAID for popcorn and when I came back to our seats, I told Jeremiah about it. We laughed a lot. Mostly because Paula's in Mexico for a few days so we couldn't call her right away to give her a hard time about it. I'm sure it was just a glitch at the check out counter, (err...I hope) but it still made us laugh. Besides, now we have a new gift giving technique!

Anyway, it's the thought that counts.

The Hills: You have to be kidding me...

When we went to Vegas in March, the season premier of The Hills was on. My BROTHERS wanted to watch it, and since I don't watch it except for 5 minutes here of there, we all watched together and mocked it in it's glory.

Well, last night after dinner I wasn't feeling well for some reason. So I went up stairs to lay in bed and watch TV. There was NOTHING on, so I went to on demand, and found 4 episodes of The Hills.

So, here's the deal: Lauren's a BITCH! She's the star of the show and the one who tries to come across as the victim and the bigger person, but good grief she's manipulating and pretty awful. Now, none of them are that great, although I do kind of like Whitney because I think she's too dumb to realize that the PR rep she works with HATES HER.

Audrina is DUMB AS A BRICK, which is not a surprise, and explains why she was performing with the Pussycat Dolls when we were in Vegas (but somehow, we just couldn't bring ourselves to go...)

And Heidi and Spencer...no two people were more born for each other. Good grief they're awful people.

So, there you have it. MTV, what a disappointment, the whole channel should just go away!

Why You Little...

Okay, so my friend Jacqui asked a legitimate question. What's with Dickens? Well, Dickens is what my dad has always called me. Mom does too, but she uses another nickname (not necessary to mention them all!) mostly. Anyway, I use Dickens for a lot of different things I need screen names for, so there you have it.

I know Elizabeth is one of those classic names, but man alive, when you're 2, it's not that easy say! So, everyone had a nickname for me when I was a kid. Obviously dad knew how to say it, but we come from a long line of nickname giving (okay, so my mom's uncle did it and dad picked it up from him) but still.

Truth be told, I've never read any Charles Dickens, so if you stumble across this blog and that's what you're after, might I recommend this site...

Mmmm...Delicious Oregon Wine...

Yeah, actually the blog is so I can talk about what a drink, what I eat, what I watch, and what I do. It'll be VERY fun for me to push my wares upon you...

Yesterday I was at an event for work at the Convention Center. At the event they were pouring a Ponzi Vineyards Pinot Gris. I wanted white wine so thought I'd give it a try. It was AWESOME. Very grapefruity, clean and crisp. It's my new favorite wine. Jeremiah and I went to QFC this afternoon and they had a couple of bottles, so I snagged them. Man alive it's SO GREAT! The next time you're at the store and need a good summer white wine, check it out!

Why More? Why Now?

Yeah, I know this is VERY exciting! It's bad enough all I do is write about my dog, but now there's ANOTHER blog? Seriously?

Yup! I have Hank's blog, but it's very dog-centric. So, I decided to start my blog so that when something happens that I want to talk about, I can do that, and not encroach on Hank's territory. So, now you have to follow two blogs, and I'm sure over time something will change with that again...