Hey!!!  Don’t miss this year’s Christmas party!!!

Friday, December 4, 2009
7 until 11 p.m.
at Joy’s house
(click here for a map)

We’re having a “white elephant” gift exchange, so bring a wrapped gift that you spend no more than $5 on or it can be something you make yourself.  This is always tons of fun!

Mrs. Schuchmann is making her world famous hot apple cider!!!

What to bring:
a Christmas snack &/or drink
a wrapped gift
your friends!!!

See you Friday!!!

For those of you too full on Thanksgiving Turkey to move, here’s some fodder for mental exertion (its a pretty good compilation this week too, if I do say so myself):

1. A short retrospective on the stimulus, echoing a few of my own thoughts.

2. On poverty relief efforts in the BRIC (sans Russia) countries.

3. An incredible set of photographs from Afghanistan- moving, often tear-inducing, and stunning. Sometimes pictures do speak louder than words.

4. Excellent article by Umair Muhajir on the Hindi Film Industry and its rudderless direction.

5. A recently released report from the Warwick Commission on International Financial Reform; I haven’t waded through the entire document yet since its fairly long, but its rather pertinent to the times.

6. Another longish- and extremely disturbing- read, this time from Frontline, covering various instances of brutal caste-based violence. Try keeping your anger in check.

7. On a lighter note, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, here’s President Obama officially pardoning the turkey. Even the Obama haters won’t be able to resist a smile:

Enjoy the rest of the long weekend.

Smile.

Today was pretty epic. Busy, hectic and a lot of fun.

Tomorrow, is going to be the same. I finish at three. Entire afternoon to myself! Sweeet!

To top it all off, I HAVE SUNDAY OFF!

What the hell am I going to do with myself?!

Had a great time at the Sunset Tavern snacking on fries and chicken wings while watching Fight Club on the Macbook tonight. The cool night air made it all the better for a timeout with the girlfriend.

Can you believe it’s only been a week since New Moon was released? We still have a long way to go for Ecilpse and Remember Me. What will I do to pass the time? Maybe watch New Moon a few more times. Or sit. And wait patiently…ever so patiently…

In the mean time I’ve been catching up on Eclipse again, because truthfully, I forgot some parts of the book. Instead of reading it, I’ve been listening to the audio book in my car to and from work. Sometimes I get really into it and I forget that I’m driving (oops)!

So, what will you do to pass the time until the releases of each movie?

Oh and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with lots of food and fun! Today’s black Friday, but why go out and shop when you can stay at home with your Pocket Edward and shop online?

[Steinlager Pure]

People here are very cultured when it comes to Friday. That’s because every Friday here is POET’S DAY (Piss Off Early, Tomorrow’s SaturDAY). 4pm is the time for a drinky or two and some foosball…

[Keep it pure]

I love POET’S DAY.

Link: http://www.steinlager.co.nz/Steinlager-Pure.aspx

God tidig morgon! Idag ska Freddis iväg på jobb nu vid 06, så här är vi redan igång.

Idag kommer farmor och farfar på besök, roligt!

Hoppas ni får en mysig fredag. Kram

Look everyone, it’s the original dumb guy of TV.  CODY from ABC’s Step by Step, part of the TGIF block of the early 90’s.

Ashton Kutcher,

you copycat you…….

C’mon Cody, come out of retirement and beat this guy down, you were in Kickboxer 2, that means you know Karate or Tae-Kwon-Do…. or some form of Asian asskicking discipline.

This must be awesome, it’s “Better than Kickboxer.”

Hey, everyone, there is no “TGIF” or “Teens GIG” this week!

See you at “TGIF” on Friday, December 4,
for “unsurpassed awesomeness”!

My morning was a whirl wind that included a stop for a chocolate covered donut for my little one (a treat she gets every few weeks for breakfast), then a stop to get gas, a drop off at the bus stop and a pick up at the dry cleaner before I got into work.

Once at work, which was a short trip do to the lack of traffic….a wonderful holiday side effect, I grabbed a yogurt from the fridge for breakfast and a cup of coffee.

Breakfast

I ate a really “light” breakfast this morning as I have an office Pot Luck to attend at noon in which TONS of great foods & deserts will be available so I need to save some room in my tummy and also save on some fat/calories!  =O

I was able to do a little blog surfing in the at work this morning and I read an excellent & very informative post from Tasha @ The Clean Eating Mama about “Her Clean Eating Philosophy”, so I asked her if she would mind if I shared what she had to say on my blog and she said yes, so check it out at the below link:

http://www.thecleaneatingmama.com/2009/11/my-clean-easting-philosophy.html

At noon I went over to my other office for a Pot Luck Lunch and had the following, sorry I didn’t take any pictures as the whole office was there while eating and I knew they would find it strange that I was taking pictures of my food………….=(

• Broccoli Salad
• Sheppard’s Pie
• Pulled Pork on a 1/2 of a Hamburger Bun
• Mac & Cheese
• Green Beans

Deserts from the Pot Luck were put in a Tupperware container and brought back to the office to share with my boss and enjoy around 3pm.  I got a pic of these for you since I ate them all by my lonesome in my office along with an apple so I could be partly “healthy”.  =)  Here is a list of what I sampled:

• Pumpkin Mouse (made by my friend Lindsay)
• Peanut Butter Pie
• Tiny Brownie
• Yellow Cake w/Chocolate Icing 

Deserts

Once I departed from work I stopped by the grocery store for some dinner items for tonight, then dropped them off at home, picked up my daughter from school, than dropped her off at her Girl Scout meeting and then headed home to make dinner which was a “Friday Night Special” of course, yes you guessed it, PIZZA!!!  

Dinner

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and watching t.v. with my hubby as we were all alone for the evening!  =)

_______________________________________________________________________________________

TIP OF THE DAY!

Rule #4: Give up your seat to trim your bottom line.

Even regular exercisers could benefit from extra toning of their tush, the largest muscle group in the body, which dozes all day at your desk job. “When you’re walking or running, it’s your hamstrings, hip flexors, and calf muscles that get the most work,” says FITNESS advisory board member Vonda Wright, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Unless you’re going uphill, your glutes don’t play a major role.” The good news? If you bailed on doing those butt-firming squats during your workout, you can easily sneak them in when your cube mate isn’t looking. Stand up from your chair, feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your bottom to the seat as though you’re going to sit, touch down, and then spring up, squeezing your glutes as you straighten. Do three sets of 10 to 15 reps two or even three times throughout the day.

Bei TGiF wird in dieser Woche nach einem Gesicht einer Femme Fatale gefragt. Der Hintergrund musste mal wieder in meiner Lieblingskombi sein

TGiF asks for Face’s of a Femme Fatale. Once again, the background has to be in my favourite colour-combination

Friday once again! It’s been raining for the past few days. Despite the wet weather, it is a great time to head out and walk the streets, as long you weren’t the one caught in the deluge. We headed first to Kino to get some books, and then to Borders for more books, before heading down to Sushi Kikuzawa. For those who remember, both Stella and I posted rave reviews about the place during our first time there, and we had planned this since the middle of the semester (man, how time passes so fast!).

Headed to Kikuzawa around 615. Sadly, the chef himself wasn’t there, but his two assistants were serving for the rest of the night. Despite the fact that there was a family with noisy kids running around, we had a wonderful time chatting and enjoying the delicious sushi. While the flow of food slowed down, and the rice got more and more as time got by, the pace was just right for us to have a very awesome dinner.
Christmas lights are up:
Unfortunately, Stella dropped her phone into the toilet, and it died. We then headed home after a short walk, so that she could get her sister’s phone as a replacement and retrieve some of her contacts. Poor girl Look how sad she is.

So the rest of the Friday evening was spent at Stella’s place, and despite not being out for the whole night, I had a wonderful time just hanging out (haha;)), enjoying the cool night air, and watching psudeo-horror movies in the comfort of Stella’s home.

TGIF!

Well, reunited without all that cheesy drama, anyway

Seems like everyone is getting back together these days, whether for money or a shot at career closure; some are actually reinvigorated and creating viable new music. So if you are pining the loss or lethargy of a favorite band or artist, there’s hope.

(Of course, nothing would be better than the three guys in the forefront of this picture sharing a stage again. Maybe if I leave that tooth under my pillow…)

Doesn’t have to be someone on a Van Halen level. For example, Fastball thought they had taken a long enough hiatus and decided to regroup – the result was a great new record. So why not our favorites?

So here’s ten acts right off the top of my head that are dormant; I wish they were making records right now. At least I have the fruits of their labor to date to savor over and over again. If any of these are new to you, please check them out. Maybe it will make you revive a few of your own favorites.

Because that’s the beauty of legacy. It’s right there.

Redd Kross:  Congrats on the new baby and all, but come on – make an album!

Cotton Mather:  Living on in other bands, but Kon Tiki is godhead.

The Pursuit of Happiness:  Too good to be satisfied with reunions.

The Tories:  So promising. So good. What happened?

Liquor Giants:  How about Something Special for the Adults?

World Party:  This generation’s Klaatu, the homage must go on.

Jen Trynin:  Disillusioned the first time, suck it up and get back out there.

Love Nut:  Andy Bopp, put Myracle Brah aside and rock me again.

Tonio K:  I know you’re sitting on pure gold. Share it, brother.

The Montgomery Cliffs:  Joey Salvia is solo but a reunion would be magic.

Apologies for the slow blog flow this past week- things have been a little crazy around here. Speaking of crazy, Chicago has now had 17 straight days of higher-than-normal temperatures for this time of the year; that would be delightful if it wasn’t quite so scary. I think the “truth” is a lot more than inconvenient right about now. Onwards to this weekend’s procrastination aids:

1. John Quiggin’s draft chapter from an upcoming book on the shifting macroeconomic paradigm. I’ve talked about this extensively before and while Quiggin’s chapter doesn’t say anything revolutionary, its well-written and spot-on.

2. Fans of my dismal New Jersey Nets (at 0-12, the only winless team in the NBA) can take some solace in Shaun Powell’s article. I can’t believe we’re already planning for next year…its going to be a long season.

3. Jimmy Fallon’s hysterical take on Going Rogue.

4. Flip through Chicagonow, where Jeff, Matt and I will begin blogging on beer some time post-Thanksgiving weekend. The site is a lot bigger than I thought, with close to 5 million page views expected this month. The blog is probably going to be called The Chicago Beer Travelers, but more on that as things progress.

5. Nice perspective on Roger Federer from Peter Bodo.

6. Tendulkar and Gilchrist playing together? Both are past their marauding peaks, but this is certainly one for the fanboys.

Smile.

gummy bear video

• Good hair week
• Pup being cute as ever (and not barking as much)
• Weather still bearable
• Euro Film Festival in Toronto – FREE screenings every night at the Royal! On now till December 2nd
• The view from my apartment
• Christmas season in full effect
• Sugary Coffee drinks
• Working a fun gig this weekend!
• Attempts at cooking/baking going my way
• Funny txts from good friends
• Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk
• Pictures of good times of the past (even if embarrassing)
• New sushi place opened up close by (To-ne Sushi) and it is excellent AND affordable and has walk in specials. This has made me so incredibly happy.
• About to watch Project Runway Finale!!!

How was your week?

Happy Friday, readership!

Oh, hello.  Me again.  Since the real job is getting in the way of my bloggy job, I’ve condensed a week’s worth of what I liked into one fabulous Friday post.  Does that work for you?  I sure hope so!

You all know how much I love stories about sci-fi weirdos (apparently the cool way to spell it now is SyFy.  Anybody else notice that the Sci-Fi Channel changed its spelling?).  Well, here’s a good one!  Computational linguistics expert d’Armond Speers spoke only Klingon to his son for the first three years of the boy’s life.  Ummm, WHAT?  He claims it was an experiment to see if his son would learn it like any normal human language in the early developmental stages.

He just confirmed what every child already knows– you are an experiment, and your parents are trying to corrupt you and make you as uncool as possible.

Here is the best quote from the article:

As for Speers, who still gets nostalgic when he recalls singing the Klingon lullaby “May the Empire Endure” with his son at bedtime, the experiment was a dud. His son is now in high school and doesn’t speak a word of Klingon.

Stay strong, young Speers!

Like any good yuppie bleeding-heart liberal, I have an iPhone.  We all know that there is an app for everything, but this new one is so hilarious and wonderful that I have to share it with you.  It’s totally politically nerdy, but it’s a bobble head guide to every single member of Congress.  Here is my favorite member of Congress:

Best 99 cents I’ve ever spent.  Download Bobble Rep.

Speaking of politics, lots of good stuff going on, eh? Lieberman sucks more than ever and the women’s movement took two steps back no thanks to Rep. Stupak.

I also remain perplexed as to how people can manipulate the messages of Christianity in light of healthcare reform.  To me, it seems that giving a little extra so our brothers and sisters will be able to be healthy and able to succeed in life is following that message.  Yet even the Christian right wing (like my girrrrrrl, Michele Bachman) has condemned it as communism, fascism, Marxism and any other ism you can imagine that probably doesn’t make sense.  Grrr.

Hey, speaking of Christianity– I know people are complaining about how early it’s coming, but sweet Jesus I love Christmastime.  And I love the new Gap ads!  Add being a Gap backup dancer to my bucketlist, right after being a Fanta Girl and a dancing iPod shadow.

Sigh.

In other news, Oprah is ending her show in 2011.  I’m not too upset about this.  She’s going to have her own TV station in 2011, and she’ll have 25 years of her show in syndication so I really don’t see the big deal.  They’ll still be enough of O’s wisdom to go around.

Oh, and just in time for a junky fastfood lunch:

But you know where you should really go?  Chipotle.

Okay, I think that’s it for now.  Miss me, because I miss you.

[Posted by Kathleen]

It’s Friday, TGIF! So much to do, so much to learn! Today, however, I’m taking my time to savor the day and what it has in store for me.  Friday for me is a moment to be still, to look back at everything I have done the past few days and regroup from it.  I try to make it as peaceful and relaxing as I can.

Most people start their week on Monday.  Mine, however, begins on Saturday.  I attend Praise and Worship service at 7:00 a.m. to honor the Lord of my life; I teach a Disciples Bible Study class from 9-11.  Afterwards, I may have a meeting or errands that take up most of my day. Tomorrow night my choir is in concert at Rolling Hills United Methodist Church; on Sunday morning we sing two worship services; that afternoon is Liturgical dance rehearsal.  See what I’m getting at?

This is why Fridays are so special. I take time to refuel and prepare me for all I do in the upcoming days. So again I say, “TGIF!”

Have you seen it yet? I’m talking about New Moon. I haven’t seen it yet. Tonight I will though! Let’s hope I don’t stay at work until 10pm like last Friday – ugh. Anyway, if you have seen it remember not to post spoilers…it just ruins it (yes, even if you read the book).

I’m really looking forward to see how Chris Weitz has put together the story. So far, it looks promising from all the trailers/special previews. Especially the sneak peeks at Comic Con…definitely good!

Here’s to tonight!

(And if you haven’t heard already the Remember Me trailer is out now. Go watch it and enjoy some badass Rob!)

So I’ve decided instead of a regular post on Fridays why not help you get the weekend started with some words you can live by.  Today’s inspiration comes from Miss Piggy.  (Yes, the puppet.)

Never eat more than you can lift!

(Classic.)  See you all on Monday for the music madness!

Short, sweet and simple:

I am so grateful today is Friday.

To share your gratitude, check out the excellent group Thankfulfor.com.  They run a great website and blog filled with ideas and ways to acknowledge what you’re thankful for in any given moment.

It could only be Friday.

I have a new theory about morning traffic around my place of employment. I’m calling it Big C’s Theory of Student/Rain Relationships:

“On any given day, the length of the tardy lines outside the Assistant Principals’ offices is directly proportionate to how much it’s been raining that morning.”

Seriously, friend, you can put money on that. It’s absolutely absurd how late the students are when there’s rain coming down. And apparently, I had the blessed luck of being behind most of these kids on the road this morning. As a result, I was a couple of minutes late. Lame.

Anyway, TGIF. I’m going to get my hurah cut after school, then Jenn and I are meeting my dad at his travel agent’s office so we can figure out our honeymoon to Hawaii. To say we’re excited is a bit of an understatement. Have a great weekend!