You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2009.
Or at least I’m like the Groundhog on that “special day”. As much as I love the Bob Becker, I’m starting to think that I might be a natural born meteorologist myself. For example: and I know those who follow me on Facebook know my analogy…how do you know when it’s going to rain? When Anna has to drive 3 1/2 hours to South Carolina on business! Like clockwork, I woke up this morning to see a solid downpour as I prepare to get on the road for LONG HOURS. It’s almost like the moon and the tides. Rest assured, if I end up going to SC every month, we’ll be out of this drought in no time.
I was going to do another “weekend wrap-up” post, but in short it was a good if not SHORT weekend as I have a busy week ahead of me…and I mean BUSY. So, what about the title of this post? Well, after getting a pleasant surprise call from The Dotsons on Sunday, we ended up at Puleo’s Grille where I had my “ususal”, Thin Crust Margherita Pizza and the Jim had a burger with a side of broccoli (I applaud the effort). Well, the Jim remarked how amazing the broccoli tasted. I’m not the biggest broccoli fan so when he offered me a spear, I initially declined…but eventually gave in. I mean, he was RAVING about it. Well, that was the best tasting steamed broccoli and carrot dish I’ve ever had. Something about how they season it at Puleo’s (Merchant’s Drive), buttery, garlicy and just YUMMY. The Jim actually ordered a second side of it and downed that excitedly. So, in short – fabu weekend (hair did at Belleza VIBE – best salon in town), and amazing broccoli. A bit of randomness on a Monday morning.
Since WME has a booth at the Knoxville Healthy Living Expo, I had to go and check out what was there this year, and I stumbled upon some great finds:
1) Jazzercise – IT’S BAAAAAAK. I’m going into this with a little apprehension, but Jazzercise, the exercise for frustrated Jazz dancers of all ages is making a resurgence from the 80s. So, I decided to sign on up. I am, of course, a frustrated Jazz dancer myself who misses dancing and thankfully Jazzercise also incorporates some strength training so, BONUS! I’ll be sure to blog about it on Anna 101 so stay tuned. Find a class near you at www.jazzercise.com and go get your groove on!
2) Rita’s Ice-Custard Happiness – I was born and raised in Easton, PA and lived a lot of my adult live nearer to Philadelphia than I expected. That’s where I found the joy that is Rita’s Water Ice. This stuff is GOOOOOOOOD! Not just the water ice, but the frozen custard is something that I find I crave every now and then. So, you can imagine how happy I was that a Rita’s Water Ice opened up here in KNOXVILLE! I mean, apparently the Jim saw a car with the advertising all over it and hurriedly contacted me to let me know – IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE (since he learned to love the stuff when he was coming up to visit and dating me). The proprietor is really great, and everyone was raving about the free samples on hand at the expo so I’m hoping they got good some good exposure. They’re located in Market Square and I think that when Sundown comes to town, business will be BOOMING…at least I hope so cause I need them to stick around! Check em’ out at www.ritasknoxville.com – better yet, GO!
3) Massage Envy – Already raved about them here (see blog post “You Don’t Have To Be Envious”). Great find and best of all making massage affordable!
4) Tap-N-Burn – First of all, I only wish they weren’t so far out in West Knoxville (i.e. Lovell Road), because I’m ready to sign up and grab my taps. Unfortunately it’s not sensible for me to drive that far to take a class that’s not essential but rest assured, if they every come to North Knox, I’m onboard! Check em’ out at www.tapnburn.com.
5) A local Cutco Representative – A long time ago in a living room not so far away (okay, my parents’ living room), a friend of our family’s daughter was selling Cutco while she was in college. My Mom decided to have her come and demonstrate the product and I will never forget seeing Marci stand on the steak knife holder (which was plastic), and it didn’t break! If that wasn’t enough, my parents have had those knives since I was 13 years old or somewhere around there and they still look almost the same as the day they bought them and are still the best knives that I look forward to using when I’m visiting home (sharp baby sharp). So granted, I was happy to find a local representative that I can order from when I need to. While these knives ain’t cheap (they are an investment folks), they are worth the price you’ll pay for them. Seriously. So check out the offerings at www.cutco.com and feel free to email local rep, Harold Williams at cutcoharold@yahoo.com and tell him I sent ya! If you decide to get some, you won’t be sorry.
5) Haze & Co. – Local yumminess in salad dressing and marinades. I highly recommend buying local when we can so check out www.hazeandco.com; I took home the Ginger Lime Dressing and the Buttermilk Dill – delish!
6) Over The Moon Milk – Believe it or not, it’s non-fat chocolate and regular milk that tastes creamy and rich. Check it out at www.overthemoonmilk.com; I already bought some for the fridge (and my belly).
Add to these finds, a great sampling of FABULOUS Papa Murphy’s Pizza, a free chair massage, a possible option for daycare for us when the time comes and I feel like I got a lot out of the Expo so I plan to go next year too!
The Jim’s wonderful Mum, sent this to me…and while typically I don’t look at forwards, I was so glad that I did. Check it out, it actually made me tear up…I’m such a sap!
I went to the Knoxville Health Expo at the Convention Center Downtown where I stumbled upon a coupon offer for a new place in town: MASSAGE ENVY. I haven’t had a good massage in like FOREVER, seriously, probably since I left Philadelphia which was almost 7 years ago now. So, when I saw that I could get an hour massage for $39.00, I was ready to sign up. So, I did. The best part about the new massage place is that they have hours that fit real people’s lives (i.e. I think they are open till 10 PM), unlike a lot of spas which focus on hours that people work mostly or not too long after they get off work. I digress. So I hurriedly called up and got a great time slot, Friday at 5 PM right after work. It’s been a long week and I have an INSANE week ahead of me next week, so I figured now was the best time.
I arrived there early and filled out the paperwork (the usual stuff – did you ever have a massage before, please don’t sue us, etc.); and the waiting room was nice and very professional looking. I was scheduled with a male massage therapist who I think was a little not too thrilled to have to massage a big broad, but it might be me just assuming that. Still, there was an uncomfortable snicker between him and another female massage therapist but I’m not sure what that was about. Look, I’m not a small girl and haven’t been since I was 14 so deal.
Anyhow, I got walked back to the sparse treatment room, which was nicely lit and the massage table is topped with a warming blanket that you lay on which is nice. After an awkward verbal exchange with my masseuse, he left, I stripped to the undies and the massage soon began. Dispite some of the awkward beginnings, the massage was glorious. I opted for a Swedish Massage because it’s the most inclined towards generating a sense of relaxation. It did. The best part was I could feel the knots get worked through in my shoulder blades. He also spent some good solid time on my neck which has problems and felt a lot better afterwards. It was peaceful and definitely relaxing. After my 50 minutes, I was up, with clothes on and out.
Now, here’s the BEST part about massage envy. You can become a member. For only $49.00 a month, which I can afford with my mad-money, you are assured a massage each month that you’ve already pre-paid for. Plus, you get the member rate (49) instead of the non-member rate of $65.00. So, I decided to become a member as the monthly fee is taken out starting next month (so all good). I like the idea of paying for a service that you know you’ll use and believe me, with a stressful job I fully intend to indulge in my prepaid massage each month (and nicely they roll-over if you skip a month, ie. you don’t lose your month). So…my recommendation is if you LOVE massages, MASSAGE ENVY in Bearden will make you feel like this delight is reasonable to maintain. They also have a 1 time introductory massage rate of $39.00 for everyone, so no coupon needed! Check them out…you might love it.
The Jim and I have been thinking. We’re blessed to have what appear to be two solid jobs at this time…and these happen to be jobs we both love so BONUS. However, we do have a “Plan B” budget just in case and we’ll go hard-core Dave Ramsey if we need to. Although it’s got us to thinking too…we support four four-legged children. Perhaps, they could assist if the financial crisis hits our family (mind you we’ve tightened our belts pretty tight lately anyhow). So here are some thoughts…
Uli – our Eskie-spitz-mix-breed can help bail the family out by offering the following unique services:
1) Lawn Advocacy – Seriously, our perky little puppy is one passionate pup about lawns. She loves them. Loves them so much that when she sees anyone on (mind you their own), lawn she proceeds in barking out her angry “YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER!” stance. Uli believes that you should love your lawn by not standing on it, playing on it or otherwise being on it and she’s happy to let anyone in our neighborhood know about lawn rights. The only glitch is when I counteract this with the fact that she does indeed use the lawn for her own potty purposes…she feels that’s fertilizing it.
2) Chewlie Shredding Services – Need something chewed up!? Feeling bad because your nice leather heels look only a bit shabby to can just yet?! Give them to Uli and she can assist you in making sure your shoes are unwearable and free you up to purchase brand new shoes at the department store of your choice! Her unique skill will make any full shoe in to a mule clog! It’s fantastic and unique so call today!
Our Dog Easton could also join in by offering:
1) Love Muffins Matching Service – need someone to rest their head on your lap and make you feel better? It’s cheaper than therapy! Our Easton will make you feel like you’re the most stunning person on the block and he’ll spoon at night. The best part, is you don’t have to argue or nag or fight. Looking for the perfect man, sign up for the labrador love-muffin matching system and find your love-muffin today!
Our Cat Iris could serve the family by:
1) Quality Control Bowl Management – Iris can’t wait to let you know when she can see the bottom of a food bowl, whether it be hers or her sister’s or the community water bowl. She can let you know when you haven’t done what you need to do with a wonderful alarm system of loud meows. It’s a sure fire way to get what needs to be done, done!
Our Cat Kira could offer:
1) Style-Needs Sprinkler Services – Need some new clothes but your spouse or mom or dad make you feel guilty? We’ll lend you Kira! Just put a pile on the floor and she’ll add the luxuriously gross scent of cat pee. Since you don’t have a cat, you’re funding provider will assume the clothes are runied and voila – new DUDS! Yippie!
So, I challenge all of us to look at the unique talents that each member of our families can provide. In these tough times, we may have to think about the unique ways to survive. I know that I’m just having a couple of plans B, C and D stashed away just in case. Here’s hoping things will get better in time.
The Jim and I ventured out on a CHILLY Wednesday night to see one of my favorite comedians, Lewis Black (of Back in Black fame from The Daily Show, amongst other things – which are many that he’s done/been in). Lewis Black has that air of educated, cranky comedy that I love so much. I had a co-worker once who commented that he didn’t get Mr. Black’s humour because…it was “that intellectual comedy stuff”. Well, I guess…sure. I mean in order to understand the social commentary that Mr. Black makes, it would be helpful to be current with newsworthy items? While I am not sure that qualifies as being an intellectual, I do qualify that as being “aware”. However, this blog post is not about semantics and definitely not going to be a diatribe on how the younger generation needs to get their heads our of their collective patooties and actually do something like, um…I don’t know…learn what’s going on in their country (and not just what fashion their favorite star wore yesterday). Alas, back on track Anna…back on track!
Lewis Black is a great comic of our time. He talked about everything last night from the outgoing Bush administration (and the conundrum this will cause for comics worldwide), to the fly-ash situation we have going on here in East Tennessee. He talked about the economy, but also talked about his parents (both in their 90s and married for an astonishing 63 years – friggin a!). He talked about turning 60, and the potential legacy of his “generation” (which I think is funny and if they can do it – go to it); and my favorite part was giving a nod to the silly romantic locales of the Pocono Mountains (where I went to undergraduate school), by giving the rooms at the Caesar’s Pocono Resorts a nickname that I will use FOREVER and out of politeness will not name here. It was a great night. I laughed very hard and I needed that. Truly, comedy is there for us to look at our times and lives and to live with some knowledge that if we don’t laugh at our situations sometimes, we’ll be mired in the sadness that is so obvious. Yes, life is hard people…as Denis Leary once said, “Grab a helmet.”
For anyone who doesn’t know who Lewis Black is…here’s a quick snippet (I had to find one without expletives for those faint of heart and helmetless…but go on youtube and find some of his stuff – it’s GREAT but loaded with my, albeit favorite curse word).
So last night, I had a good hump day indeed. I laughed and shared some good vibes with my hubby and folks, that’s what life is about…good times with people you love.
It’s a TV lover’s dream tonight – at least for the Jim and me. We are both into a lot of the series that are on HBO or Showtime and rarely watch a lot of series that are on regular TV. Yes, I suppose we’re TV snobs, but hey good TV is good TV. The Jim and I have DirecTV so we can set our DVRs to tape via the computer (swanky and love it). So I just set up the TV schedule for tonight and here’s a rundown:
1) We Are One – The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial (HBO)…We’ve been waiting for the changing of the guard folks, and the Jim and I have the Champagne chilling and ready to pour. Been a long time coming. We’re going to have a really rough and tough road ahead as a country, that it is time to put away the ignorance and selfishness that has held us back for so long and learn to support one another and work together. In the end, that’s the only way this civilization we call USA will continue to prosper. Otherwise, learn lessons from the fall of Rome people. Enough is enough…look towards hope and put on your big girl panties or helmets (if you’re a boy), and let’s all do something to make this country a better place.
2) Big Love (HBO) – Its the season premiere! The Jim and I love this ongoing saga of Mormon Polygamy and the seemingly unstoppable libido of Bill Paxton (I mean in order to have 3 wives…come on now). Seriously, this season looks like its going to be drama filled and the potential new introduction of wife number 4?!?! Who knows!? What I love is that her name is Anna (pronounced as it should be AH-na, just like me). Let’s see where Salt Lake City goes this time around.
3) Flight of the Conchords (HBO) – Second, and what is rumoured to be the final season of this great show about New Zealish folkie-funsters living and trying to gig in NYC. The only reason that its rumoured to be the final season is that Season 1 was a breeze since the used the songs that they’ve had to build stories around. Apparently, they had to really write a whole lot of new songs this season in order to build the story lines. Its obviously a lot of work for our boys (I love Jemaine, btw), and I hope this season is a good one cause the last few story lines were a bit weak as well as some of the songs. I am hopeful!
4) The United States of Tara (SHOtime) – Brand new show featuring the genius that is Toni Collette and a tid-bit for those who loved Aiden from SATC. How awesome to have show built around a normal family, functioning daily and dealing with Mom’s multiple personalities. I can’t wait to see this, and I hope it’s done well.
Snoop Dogg's Toys!
Our pups each received an exclusive goodie this Christmas…a stuffed Doberman and Stuffed Boombox from The Snoop Dogg Dog Toy Collection. I mean, when we saw these in the fabulous hit-or-miss spot, Ross, we couldn’t resist. The doggs love them. The funniest thing is while their delightfully chewing away at the toys…they will occasionally hit the “sweet spot” and instead of a shrill squeeker sound, we hear the laid-back tones of the D-O-G-G himself with his rally cry…”Bow, wow, wow, yippie yo, yippie yea.” In the middle of the night, it makes me giggle slightly. Funny thing is they’re both still in tact even with Uli the chewer extrordinaire! So run out and getcha some…
The Jim watched the film Serenity on the suggestion of dear friends KH and SH and fell in love with the cast. This sent him on a plan to watch the entire Firefly series since it only had 1 season back when the new milenium began. He’s gotten through 4 shows (only because he’s has them in a format only compatible for his TV), but now we have them watchable on the big screen TV downstairs. As promise to give more to my hubby this year (because he’s so good to me), I watched an episode with him (1st episode), over the holiday. I like it. I’m suprised I like it, but I do. The characters are good and nicely diverse. I’m just shocked I supposed. I’m not into a lot of the TV sci-fi shows (wasn’t into any of the Star Trek series, etc.), and I also am not fond of the “western” genre. This series feels a lot like a sci-fi western and I actually like it. I suppose it goes along with the reality that our tastes grow/change/mature as we age. Ah…well, onto episode 2. 
Okay, so it sounds more elaborate than it really is right? This is our little slice of internet nonsense, which basically is our on-going effort to keep our friends and family up-to-date on our lives, our love and our continuing pursuit of pomegranates. In this modern age of movement, we’ve realized that distance is not an excuse to not keep everyone posted, so please - stop by anytime - in person or internet-ly and know that you are all never far from our thoughts.
