So, I went to my very first professional lacrosse game on Friday.  Initially, I was not terribly excited about the idea.  See, my first lacrosse experience was an outdoor college game at UNC a couple of years ago.  It was on a Saturday morning, with temperatures of about 13 degrees, with a wind-chill of approximately 82 degrees below zero.  I came away from it having gained nothing but some brutal windburn and loss of feeling in my extremities.  However… I can now recommend watching professional lacrosse in the luxury of an indoor arena!  What a crazy, busy, hyperactive, fast-paced game!  It’s second only to hockey in the quality and quantity of brutal fistfights!  After the game, we headed to Dave & Buster’s, where I won outrageous amounts of tickets playing trivia.  I did, however, lose all of the car, jet-ski, snowmobile, and horse racing games that I tried.  (I’m pretty sure that was due to everyone else cheating, and not my complete lack of coordination… uh-huh… sure it was…)

I’m heading to Vegas, baby!  I’m leaving on Tuesday to go to a conference for work.  I probably won’t be able to tell you much about the trip, though, since what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.  I get to stay at the Venetian, which should be quite fabulous!!  

 I’m going to try playing some craps this trip.  On my last trip to Vegas, I just kept losing money (quickly!) at blackjack, while Tina and Maya managed to play craps all night on a few bucks.  Well… almost all night, until the casino actually closed down that table… They didn’t win much money, but they definitely won the beer game!  I kept losing money too quickly at the blackjack tables to even win that game…  Maybe I’ll get lucky this time and win enough to buy some fabulous shoes in the shops at the Venetian…  Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

After trying out a few ideas to decorate and furnish the new entertainment center, including small children…

here’s what we ended up with, including the fancy new HDTV and fake plants that I can’t possibly kill.  I hate to admit I have fake plants!  Hopefully they aren’t too tacky and cliched.  I’d love to do real ones, but my track record with plants is pretty pathetic. 

Here are the new shoes!  They’re even better on than they were in the picture.  I so love them.

Wyoming made it to USA Today today!  Cool, huh?

Here’s a shot of the new entertainment center (sans plants or other decoration…).  I think it’s quite lovely!!  However… it pretty much screams for a bigger TV, don’t you think?

I’ve had these pictures on my camera for a couple of weeks, and finally uploaded them.  I didn’t get a good one of Stormy, but you can still see how handsome he and Grover look in their new fleece coats.  During the day, they go back and forth between the garage and their dog run – so they have shelter, but it’s been VERY COLD the last couple of weeks.  So the boys got coats!  Cute, huh?  Even if you’re not a “dress up your dogs in outfits” kind of person, those are some good-lookin’ pups.

   

We all went furniture shopping yesterday.  It was pretty fun, but would be lots more fun (obviously) with unlimited funds and space.  We did have the reward of a great meal at P.F. Chang’s awaiting us, however, at the end of the shopping trip.

I wonder what kinds of things other people ask themselves when furniture shopping?  Some of the questions that came up during yesterday’s venture:

• Leather or micro-fiber?  (Leather)
• Which will show less dirt when Grover rubs his beard up and down the sofa?  (Hopefully leather)
• Sofa and recliner?
• Sofa and loveseat?
• Loveseat and recliner?
• Two loveseats?
• Tan, ivory, ecru, or beige?  (None of the above)
• Cupholders?
• Seriously.  Cupholders??
• Tall entertainment center?
• Short entertainment center?
• Room for the turntable in the entertainment center?
• “You guys haven’t played a record in 4 years!” – Jimmy
• Room for record storage?  (The CD’s & DVD’s fit in nice, handy, zippered binders – no need for those cute little CD drawers.  Unless they can fit the LP’s.)
• When reclined, will I be able to see the TV over my feet?

On another note – when ordering dessert at P.F. Chang’s, go with the cheesecake, or for something even more decadent and delicious, go with the banana spring rolls.  Oh my gosh, so good!!  Skip the Great Wall of Chocolate.  Go home and do Duncan Hines instead.  It’s better.

It snowed!  It snowed a lot!!  Yesterday, there was a tiny bit of yuckiness on the road to work, which of course led to people driving like idiots and crashing their cars, which then, of course, led to people gawking at the accident and driving 10 MPH for 7 miles on the interstate (turning my 30 minute commute into a 55 minute commute).  Today, I woke up to approximately 27 inches of snow piled on the Cavalier (okay, maybe closer to 6 inches – but still a lot!).  There was lots of snow, ice, and slush on the roads – which can sometimes be a little bit fun to drive in, thanks to the magnificent anti-lock brakes and traction control on the Cavalier.  No wrecks, though, thankfully!  I got to drive close to the speed limit this morning – always a treat.  I did have a close call, thanks to the idiot in the mini van who pulled in front of me and immediately slowed down on a very slick stretch of road.  Brilliant.  I do so love my car in this kind of weather, though – it warms up quickly, and performs AWESOMELY on crappy roads!  Yay!!

So… I decided to do the responsible thing last night, and worked on mending all of my broken clothes.  I sewed on a few buttons, reattached a bow, and then worked on fixing the hem that was falling out of the cute brown pin-striped pants.  The hem took me TWO HOURS!!  Is it really any wonder that I save this job for my mom, the brilliant seamstress?  Putting in hems is so far below her abilities, but so far above mine… One of the many skills that passed me right over.  I think I’ll save the too-long brown pants for another day.