Currently loving...

1. These pictures from my new favorite website HeyGirlTeacher that has dorky  sexy messages for teachers, like:

and this...

and one of my favorites:

Bahaha!   LOVE it.

2.  Lame games-  For my birthday last weekend, my friend Mali brought over a game called HeadBandz she plays with her nieces and nephews.  They're all under the age of eight.  I turned 31.  I'm pretty sure we enjoyed it just about the same.

Basically the game consists of wearing headbands, sticking a card that you don't look at into the front, and asking questions to figure out what is written on the card.

Don't you love how it looks like we are at a Roaring 20's party or something?

Anyway, the game was kind of unintentionally hilarious, especially because we were drinking and the husbands refused to play but made snide comments as we did.  Like at one point, when Missy was trying to figure out that her card said, "I am a mushroom", Dan blurted out, "Think 'Phish concert'!"   Which brings me to the next addictive game:

3.  The App "Draw Something".  Have an iPhone?  Like Pictionary?  Get it, immediately.   It's awesome.  My sister, the Draw Something pro, actually got me to guess "Katniss" from Hunger Games the other day.   (Although the below pic is not hers; I got it from here.) 

4.  My new camera!   I finally bought a DSLR with the tutoring money I've saved since September.  Not really sure how to use anything, so I've been reading this:

Pretentious shots of trees and flowers coming soon!  

Tom Cruise Run

Excuse the blog absence.  I've been "Tom Cruise running" for weeks.   You know how everyone's favorite action star runs with hands extended, arms pumping wildly, determined grit on his face?

Like this:

Side note:  That crazy ass scientologist may jump on couches and talk nonsense about post partum, but he sure is watchable in movies still.  I think he's made a deal with the devil so that he can still look young and hot.  See Night and Day if you don't believe me.

Anyway, I stole the phrase "Tom Cruise Run" from a recent episode of Cougar Town, where they joked that everyone looks like they can outrun a truck when they pump their arms frantically like Tom.  I've actually kidded to Dan that I do the same thing when I jog, even though I barely clock a 10 minute mile.

My really bad metaphor is that I've been Tom Cruise running: 

Not. Stopping. To. Catch. My. Breath. 

It's my own fault because I said yes to too much, running myself ragged with tutoring for extra France money, signing on for mentoring, applying to graduate school, in addition to normal teaching stuff.  I've also been literally running "Tom Cruise style" to get in shape for today's 10K.  This is a pic of me from last year.  Notice that one of my palms is outstretched like I'm running from an exploding car:

Things have calmed down a bit, so I finally have time to post about my birthday, upcoming trip, and New Year's resolution soon.   More on the 10K once I get pictures (Dan ran it too! So proud of him because he went from the couch to running 6.2 miles in under four weeks).  It's nice to be able to breathe a bit!

  Just for fun, I thought I'd share one of my running playlists.   You know, in case anyone is doing a little Tom Cruise running themselves.I actually have songs I never really listen to in any other occasion, but they're catchy enough to keep a steady pace to.

Tom Cruise Run

Song List:

"A-Punk", Vampire Weekend

"American Girl", Tom Petty

"Animal", Neon Trees

"Are you Gonna Be My Girl", Jet

"Bathwater", No Doubt

"Beat It", Michael Jackson

"Best of You", Foo Fighters

"Bullet with Butterfly Wings", Smashing Pumpkins

"Cheers", Rihanna

"Dog Days Are Over", Florence and the Machine

"Forget You", Cee Lo Green

"An Honest Mistake", The Bravery

"Howlin' for You", The Black Keys

"I Believe in a Thing Called Love", The Darkness

"Marry You", Bruno Mars

"Mr. Brightside", The Killers

"Paper Planes", M.I.A.

"Paradise", Coldplay

"Pump it", Black Eyed Peas

"Sabotage", Beastie Boys

"Stupid Girl", Garbage

"Vagabond", Wolfmother

"You Get What You Give", New Radicals

"Yeah", Usher

Other ideas for running songs? 

Volume I

La Vida Lista Encyclopedia: Volume I

Every so often, I do a blog post inspired by a letter. Without further ado, here's letter I!

iPhone, MyMy old phone broke last week. I went into the Verizon store fully intending to demand my free upgrade and nothing more because what does this girl know about technology? Case in point: Just the other day, Dan and I were just trying to figure out what these things are:

What can I say? I've never been a gadget girl. Somehow, though, the Verizon salesperson talked me into the upgrade to an iPhone. When I protested that I would never learn how to use half the apps or whatever the hell they're called, he deadpanned, "My grandma has one. I think you'll be okay."

I totally understand the hype now! I've already downloaded an app for Finding movies (Flixster and Redbox)- Dan and I are boring most Fridays, so we need easy movie selection before we fall into an exhaustion coma by 11:00, and TripAdvisor, which I stalk even when I don't have a trip planned. Still haven't figured out how to scan those weird squares though or what they do exactly, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Anyway, all this techie talk brings us to my next "I":

Instagram

Love how it makes the everyday look artsy. I've been playing with the settings (Toasted! Hudson! Blue steel!) non-stop.

Fair warning: The rest of the pics are probably mundane details from my Sunday to anyone but me. Dan and I met my family half-way in Fredericksburg for brunch.

My sis:

Dad:

Mom would kill me if I put the photo of her with her eyes closed on here, so I'll move on the yummy salmon benedict:

It almost looked like a heart. :)

Really cute bookstore where we sat and chatted:

Ethereal vibe, right? Instagram rocks my socks.

Then, Dan and I had our first snow day of the year today (March 5th!! In Virginia!!), so we did nothing all day and it was everything we dreamed. Our local coffee shop couldn't kick us out.

Of course, this meant more Instagram:

Moving on to another "I":

Ireland

When I was twenty- two, I did my first teaching practicum in Ireland for about three weeks. There is something about that country that is so beautiful and mysterious. Here's just a bit of eye candy from my trip ten years ago:

Notice the hokey Ireland sweatshirt and the frizziest hair I've ever had. Love that country's scenery and beer, but hated what that mist did to my do.

Oh by the way, I'm going to post kind of a funny story about my stay in Ireland around St. Patty's Day, now that I finally have the pics scanned. But time to move on to another country:

Inappropriate item from Italy
I've already told you about our trip to Italy, so instead of all those pictures and re-caps, I thought I'd just leave you with one you've seen before.

Dan and I were trying to find the cheesiest souveniers we could for family members. He bumped into a vendor outside of the Academy selling gear with The David printed on it. Dan couldn't resist this apron:

Immature souvenier? Yep! Just a little more "I" candy for you. :)

letter I from here, square from here

"Getting intimate"

That's the title of one of the chapters in the Frommer's French Phrase book Dan and I purchased at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. We're trying to bone up on our survival French for the upcoming trip, much like our cram session before our Italy trip two years ago. We kinda learned our lesson from the Italy trip where we were the annoying tourists fumbling with basic lines because we didn't review enough.

Anyway, when we first flipped through the French book, we sat at the B&N cafe and made a ridiculous amount of flashcards to quiz each other.

* Good evening, sir.... "Bonsoir, monsieur"* Please... and Thank you... "s'il vous plait" et "merci"* My name is Christen.... "Je m'appelle Christen."
Then, we flipped to the "getting intimate" section, thinking that it would include more informal phrases for, say, family and friends. Nope. Uh-uh. Instead, I'd like to suggest an alternate title: "Parisian One Night Stands for Dummies".

Is it weird that I pictured a French guy with one of those old-fashioned, curled mustaches whispering all the following womanizer lines? Now, you will too when you read 'em!

An Excerpt from "Getting Intimate" section of Frommer's French Dictionary

It started mild with: "Tu es tres seduisant" (You are sexy)

Then, it had the awkward VD questions, like: "Y a-t-il quelque chose dont tu voudrais me parler? (Do you have anything you need to tell me?)
It got all racy with: "Oui, comme ca!" (That's it!) and a few other blush-inducing... err... directions. Yes, Dan and I were chortling like my middle school students at these. We also worried that, knowing how awful we are at keeping phrases straight, we'll somehow slip up and accidentally say "Plus fort" (Harder!) to our waiter or something.

Worst of all, the chapter concluded with parting lines and some were downright slimy. We now know how to say "I think this was a mistake" and "I'm sorry; I have to go now" in French.

Who freaking wrote this chapter? My guess is this jackass:
Just wanted to share! By the way, my New Year's resolution is to try twelve new things in 2012, and Dan is kindly joining along on a few of them. In January, we went to a local pub's trivia night. For February, it's safe to say that we learned to talk dirty in French.

pics via here and here

Valentine Murder Mystery

I know Valentine's Day is officially wrapped up, but I just wanted to mention three last little things:

1. Dan LOVED his custom Jeopardy game I made him! He completely dominated the Beatles category and football category and raved about it so much that I'm thinking that he's going to get some kind of a scavenger hunt with Jeopardy clues for his birthday. Watch out, Alex Trebek; I'm gunning for your job.

2. My sister loved the card I sent to her, an inside joke about her once singing "The wind beneath my wings" for a ninth grade talent show:

Singing a Bette Midler song = Classic fodder for years of ridicule. It never gets old.

3. Dan dressed as a secret service agent the weekend before Valentine's Day. And, no, it wasn't some kind of kinky dress-up game we were playing. It was for...

A Valentine's Day Murder Mystery Party!

I pilfered these photos from the host's Facebook page. She did such a cute job! All of her guests received e-mails with information on our characters and ideas for costumes. I was supposed to be a trendy florist named Rose Darling (so I wore roses in my hair) and Dan sported sunglasses and my Bluetooth.

Turns out we had the lamest costumes there! The other guests showed costume commitment, like...

The Newlyweds:


Yep, this guest should have won "best dressed" for wearing high necked, puff sleeved, 80's wedding gown!

The movie stars:

Gold chain and chest hair - nothing if not classy

Oh, and I can't forget our hosts. Here they are, two hunters who are trying to hide a secret concerning a Cheney-esque accident...

If camouflaging your face in green paint isn't character commitment, I don't know what is!

Of course, many other characters joined too (the old couple, the molecular biologists, the cheerleader/ football player, the chocolatier, the farmers) It was hilarious :)

Oh, and the house was completely transformed into the "The Amore Cafe", where the amorous and scandalous meet. The below pic doesn't even do it justice. Our host put candles, cheesy hearts, rose petals, flowers, frilly heart shaped pillows, doilies, and even sassy sleeping masks everywhere.

Over our rock ass meal of Italian food, salad, and breadsticks, Dan and I won the romantic movie trivia contest. Or Dan won it because he's amazing at any kind of trivia (see above: Jeopardy). And I kind of judge him for answering the Twilight question correctly.

Spoiler alert: Someone died at dinner.

Don't scroll any lower in case you think you might play this game in the future 'cause I'm going to reveal the victim and the killer.

Seriously, stop scrolling now if you ever want to play this. Also, don't look at the comments either.

I mean it.

No crying to me if you play this game later 'cause I warned you...

SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD

Okay, back to the post! Carrie (the host) even put white face paint on our victim. Attention to detail, I tell ya'.

Fast forward three hours of cracking up, chocolate-covered strawberries, and heavy drinking later, they finally busted the killer.

It's always the one you least suspect.

Ba ha ha HA HA!

(That's my evil laugh since you can't hear me).

Cast of characters:

Angela Lansbury herself couldn't have come up with a better murder mystery!

In the words of Phil Dumphey, "Good times, she wrote!"

Languages of Love

I've been trying to learn survival French for our upcoming trip to Paris and found myself Googling "language of love" the other day. I was looking for something over-the-top schmaltzy and French-inspired to give Dan for Valentine's Day as a nod to our upcoming trip and our love for anything cheesy. See beret photo below for proof of that...

Instead of finding said cheesy gift, I came across this website called The Five Languages of Love. Essentially, this guy (paging, Dr. Love!) came up with the idea that people show and receive love to their "lov-ahs" and family and friends in five different ways:

Words- notes, phone calls, sexting (just kidding), telling how amazing that person is

Quality Time- easy enough to understand

Receiving Gifts- this has nothing to do with being materialistic and is more about the people who treasure tangible reminders, like a note from a friend

Acts of Service- anything from unloading the dishwasher to picking up the person's favorite take-out after a hard day

Touch- not just nookie! Anything from a hug from a friend to fist-bump during your team making a touchdown

What I found kind of fascinating is that everyone has one or two areas that are most important to them, the ways they feel the most loved. And they are more inclined to give in this way, which may or may not be how the people around them want to be loved. For instance, a guy may bring home roses and write notes because he values "receiving gifts" when his wife may really just want to feel cared for by having some of the house chores occasionally done for her ("acts of service"). This website makes the point that you should give in the way that other people need the most.

Of course, it's ideal to give in all five ways. Who can really pick a favorite?

Not to get all Dr. Phil on everyone, but I'll admit that I took the quiz. My top one was quality time. Nothing makes me feel as great as date nights with Dan or when friends clear time to hang out. I have to say Dan is also great at "acts of service", like picking up my favorite Thai meal after a very long day today or scraping frost off my windshield before I go to work in the morning. He admitted that his is probably quality time, too, which inspired me to go in a different direction for Valentine's Day.

I've noticed that Dan loves me sitting in the room while he watches Jeopardy. If I start to get up to leave because I frankly find the show nerdy as hell, he'll say, "You leaving, hon? Want to watch and see if I get this final question right?" I think he likes showing off his mad trivia skills (yes, that's his thing, being a history teacher and all), and while it isn't an elaborate date night, it probably feels like "quality time" to him. So what did I do for Valentine's Day for him?

I designed a Jeopardy game! Yep, I used an online program to create a custom game for him, with his favorite categories such as "The Beatles", "The Redskins", some funny facts about us, and then some actual trivia I stole from past seasons of the show. I'm going to hang out with them and watch as he dominates the board. What is... the nerdiest gift ever?? But I have a sneaking suspicion he's going to love it!

And just because I've been in a Valentine's kind of mood (I went to a murder mystery party themed around this holiday that I'll have to share about later!), I decided to give my sister and friends Valentine's this year as well, just for fun. I mailed each of them one of these quirky postcards from a fabulous Etsy vendor:

Yes, those are artsy postcards of none other than the Golden Girls! Who doesn't love Betty White? I stole the vendor's idea of writing "Thank you for being a friend" from that show's theme song on the back. I also mailed each of them a box of these:


They're the perfect size to mail and I mentioned on the postcard that I thought they would be a tasty treat to eat while watching The Bachelor (one of my close friends is into the show too) or a sappy movie. Everyone understands that chocolate can be a language of love, no?

Hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day!

Target is as trendy as I get

I'm always the last to catch on to a trend. Case in point: I bought my first pair of skinny jeans and high boots combo this January when everyone else had latched on to this look about two years ago. Side note: I was surprised that I ended up loving said skinny jeans because they are actually comfortable and stretchy, like yoga pants. Now, I'm just hoping the trend isn't over, say, next month.

Anyway, I'm the same was about home design trends. You know how the past few years blogs and then Pinterest have been all about the chevron print? These zany stripes look so chic and I-didn't-try-too-hard-because-I-am-bold-enough-to-do-crazy-pattern.

via House Beautiful

via here

I finally jumped on that home trend! Yep, 2010 is calling and wanting its print back. Target finally has some chevron pillows and lamp shades for $20 a pop. Dan indulged me by driving with me twenty-five minutes so I could snag the last two in the greater Richmond area.

I decided to replace the brown pillows in my living room:

I wanted to play off the turquoise in the flowery print I have on these pillows:

Ignore the clashy yellow walls (they're getting a new color this summer) and focus on the magic of chevron. Ooh... crisp! And they distract from the fugly green couch!

In my bedroom, I decided to perk up the corner, which has the same pillow (I buy three of anything that I like which is unoriginal but makes matching easy), chair, and some homemade paint chip art:

Since the paint chip art has gold in it...

... so I went with the gold chevron shade. I was worried the gold would look like something, say, Mariah Carey would have in her diva dressing room, but it I kind of like it against the blue.

The Ikea lamp post probably needs another coat of white spray paint, but over all, I was pretty pleased with the look:

Any trends that you are loving right now? Or have you also jumped on the chevron bandwagon before it officially creaks to a stop?

So I went with two of these chevron guys: