10 Years Later

Last night Rob and I attended my 10 year high school reunion. I wasn't sure I really wanted to go, but I felt that I would feel regret if I didn't attend. Like I had missed out. So Rob and I got ready and headed into the metropolis known as Phoenix with our two stop lights and our one local bar where my reunion was happening.

We got there a little after it started and I immediately spotted Ryan who I haven't seen in about a year and was truly looking forward to seeing. I greeted him with a hug and he pointed out the "sign in location" where I was to get a name tag and my bracelet for the night. Our name tags had our senior picture on them which brought back some memories. Shortly after we greeted Shawn and Bonita. They finally got to meet Rob which was super nice. Then Megan showed up and joined us which was great. She and I were roommates briefly in college, but haven't seen each other since.

Throughout the night I got to meet and greet with some people who I wanted to catch up with, but most of them are mentioned above. I did get to talk with a few people that I was curious about how things were going with them, but largely, there were a number of people I didn't talk to in high school and it just felt bizzare to ask those people, "So, how have things been? What are you up to these days?!" I don't say this to be mean, but what do you say to someone that you never really knew? I got a lot of those kind of head nods and recognition, but that's about where it ended.

Everyone fell back into their own clicks, but I think it's only natural. Those were the people who you spent a lot of time with during our younger years. I wasn't really that surprised. There were some people who were really nice and some people who were still big snots, but hey, we all can't change for the better. :) There was a lot of awkward moments that were like, ummm ok, moving on. I wished there were a lot more people there that I wanted to see. Overall it was kind of a small turn out, although more people showed up after our event "ended". We left shortly after that because we were pretty much ready to go and thought we wouldn't get much more out of staying. We came back to our house and hung out playing the Wii and flipping through the yearbook. Honesstly, between all of us, I got more information on where people were than if I had stayed chatting with people.

I thought about what has changed with me since high school. There are some things that haven't changed like my hair color, my ability to laugh at silly things, and my parents home address. But there's lots that has. So I thought I would compile a small list of things that I thought of.

- I like sushi
- I have lived in big cities and survived (Washington, DC and Atlanta)
- I have moved more than a dozen times
- I have a pretty good career
- I have been skiing out West
- I made my first international trip
- I dated a few losers
- I found the man I will marry and whom I am very much in love with
- One of my most fun jobs was in college scrubbing dishes and mopping floors
- I have officially watched the all of the Star Wars movies
- I own a guitar I can't play
- I have two cats who provide much entertainment and comfort
- I have great friends
- I enjoy a dinner party and game night more than being at a bar and at the movies
- I don't dress like a dork anymore :)
- I wear make up
- I donated my hair to Locks of Love and will donate it again to Pantene after my wedding
- I practice yoga

I am sure this list could go on, but I have a house to decorate for the Christmas season. :) I had a good time, but I don't know if I am interested in going again. I probably will for the same reasons I went to this one. The hopes of seeing people I really would love to see. Let's just hope next time we don't plan on in the middle of the worst economic downturn/recession ever. :) That might help.

March 5th

Today is a good day. Did you know that it has multiple unofficial holidays? Seriously! For one, today is my Half Birthday. For those of you who don't know what a Half Birthday is, it's 6 months from your normal birthday. Secondly, this is my logical Friday which is always a holiday to me. Hooray 4 day work weeks. And finally, this was discovered no doubt by the king of nerds. Well, I will let the notice I found speak for itself.

I just wanted to make the announcement, if anyone happened to be unaware. The reason for the holiday, if you haven't guessed already, is because sqrt(1225) = 35. Translating those numbers into calendar dates gives us the square root of Christmas 12/25 falling on 3/5. It just so happens that there is another big nerd holiday in March, Pi Day (3/14). Why not connect these two dates with a week(ish) long nerd celebration? I hereby declare that:

• March 5th shall be known as the Square Root of Christmas and
• The 10-day interval between the Square Root of Christmas and Pi Day shall be known as Nerdigras

So needless to say, it's a time of celebration.

Shh... Super Secret Dinosaur Party!

On New Year's day we chugged through the morning and were about put together after noon. We spent the first part of the afternoon with Meredith at her new home. We met Ginny and stumbled across the flooring project in place. It looks hectic now, but should be really nice when it's all done!

In the evening we went to the Pennock's house for chili (and wine for us real wine-and-chili-day die hards), football, and Kota! You may be asking yourself, who would drink wine with chili? That's just not right. Well my friends, there's a lot that's not right, but we do it anyway because it's FUN!

Also, you may be curious about this "Kota". Kota is a totally bad ass interactive dinosaur meant for children that only 30-year-olds can appreciate.


She (I am assuming it's female though not well versed in identifying gender in dinosaurs) was the life of the party. She roars, goes on adventures, and sneezes. Rummy doesn't really know what to make of her because she will roar at him if he barks at her. Hilarity I would love to have video taped. But she's totally awesome and us few and privileged people got to play with her. Thanks Mike for sharing your way cool Christmas gift with us!

Also, as I do not get to visit Rummy often, we had to destory a toy or two while we were there.

Notice the stuffed bone he has had for a week and is still intact! This is just not right. He decapitated the toy I got him for Christmas. Quite precious actually. Made me smile. :)


Rummy and I in process of destroying said bone. We had it half gone my the time I left. He is awesome because he gets excited when he hears the toys ripping and loves tearing them to bits. I fear for any animals he ever catches.

Really, I can't think of a better place to start the New Year! Thanks Pennocks!!!

Happy 2009!

Well another year is here. I hope you celebrated its coming well. Rob and I spent it at the Diehl's drinking, hanging out, eating chocolate fondue (YUM), and counting down with Mr. Seacrest who seemed to be more impressed with his iPhone as the new year came in. Nerd.



General peoples hanging out and having fun. Ben making his usual photo statement. :)


The nice photo of Rob and I. He has a habit of making faces like he is being tortured when we are photographed together. I wonder what our wedding photos will look like....


A picture that marked the beginning of us watching the countdown (handy clock in the corner). Promptly after everyone had confetti in their eyes, we turned them off and started playing Rock Band. Sadly, I must admit, I have no idea what the words are to My Sharona and I picked it out to sing to. Go me!

Merriment was had by all. It was nice to visit with people we only see a few times a year. Hopefully that will change come July. I think the majority pull is for Rockville, MD. We will see what happens.

Thanks to Diehl's for hosting a totally fabulous New Year's Party!