My Birthdaymas Miracle!!

All you December babies out there will understand – sometimes you are so busy around your birthday, that you almost forget to celebrate. Christmas shopping, finals, wrapping things up for work before you go out of town – there are a million things to do. This year I was getting ready for a final, so for my birthday I was planning to go home from work and then study, study, study – exciting, right?

Then a birthdaymas miracle occurred. Our roommate had some extra tickets to a Colbie Caillat and Jon McLaughlin concert (I don’t know why she had them, but I should ask… maybe that will make the story even better) and Kami called her up and asked her for three. When she emailed me to tell me about it, I only hesitated for a few seconds… when opportunity knocks, you have to open the door! So I abandoned my studies and we went to the concert (which was awesome!! I LOVE Jon McLaughlin!) and then ended the evening with a midnight trip to IHOP.

The real birthday miracle, though, was that Diana’s car was still there when we got out of the concert!! Thanks Kami and Diana, you girls are the world’s best B-day Planners!!

My Thanksgiving Miracle or Why I love my Blackberry

For some reason all of my holiday miracles involve cell phones... I don't know why, but they do. Last year for Christmas I got a brand new Samsung Upstage for $40 because the old broken phone I took in to have fixed wasn't being made anymore. Lucky me! This year I already had the phone, my Blackberry Curve, and the phone did the miracle.

I have never gone shopping on Black Friday, so this year I agreed to join Diana, Kami, and Wayne on a trip to Woodbridge - home of the Potomac Mills Outlet Mall - just so I could have the experience. The mall opened at midnight on the 28th, but not wanting to seem too eager, we left our house at midnight and got there around 12:45 AM. I had been eyeing a certain item on sale at Best Buy (which must remain nameless until it is gifted at Christmas),but it had sold out online within a matter of minutes on Thursday, so we decided to stop by the store and see how long the line was, thinking I could buy it there.

Fact: Best Buy opened at 5 AM on Black Friday.
Fact: Best Buy started handing out tickets for hot items at 3 AM on Black Friday.
Fact: At 12:45 the line for Best Buy was already wrapped around the shopping center.

I was not about to wait in the line for over 4 hours, so we decided to head to the mall and then come back at 3 to see if we could get a ticket. The mall was crowded, but not too bad. There were great sales. I love to shop. 'Nuff said.

At 3 we went back to Best Buy and got into the line. It was freezing cold and we were in the dark alley in back of the store - lucky Wayne was there to protect us, right? As we were standing there waiting, I got this little intuition to check Best Buy's web site on my Blackberry and see if they had added more online. As I got to the page, I saw that instead of a big red "Sold Out" button, there was an "add to cart" button, which I immediately did, purchasing the item and freeing us from the line and the freezing cold! I LOVE my Blackberry! This gave us time to go back to the outlet malls and to Target, etc, etc.

Kami, Diana, and Wayne will tell you that the line wasn't all that bad. Sure it was cold, but they were passing out free Chick-fil-a brownies and coupons for free sandwiches and some of our best "that's-what-she-said" jokes of the evening were told in that line!

So... now that this post is written I'm pretty sure I am the only one who cares, but hey, it's my blog and I can write whatever I want!

NYC: Take II

Some of you may have heard me mention that I was going to go to New York in the fall, even if I had to sell a kidney to do it. Well, I have good news for you: I went to NYC last week AND I still have all of my internal organs. What a deal!

Every year our Institute hosts our Global Leadership Award Dinner in New York and this year I was able to go up to help with the event. Words cannot describe how well it went or how beautiful it looked (or how much work it was!!). The pictures should be up on our website soon, and if you are into German - American relations you DEFINITELY need to check the web site out!

So Thursday we were busy, busy, busy, but Friday I had some time before taking my train back to DC and got to spend some time in the city. I LOVED it, but I can't lie... I love DC more. DC is so clean, and the buildings are lower, so you feel like you can still breathe fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I love New York, but I LOVE LOVE D.C.!

So here are a few pictures from my day:

The Brooklyn Bridge

Where we had our Event - see the light blue flag at the bottom right of the picture? That's Tiffany's. Did I go in? You bet I did!!

Lady Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry

Ellis Island

The Manhattan Skyline

Central Park

Times Square

And, oh, can I just say - the Macy's on 34th - beyond my wildest dreams! I knew it was the largest department store in the world, but I could not have imagined how big it really is - it felt like heaven!

One of the MANY Reasons I love Virginia (other than the fact that Virginia is for Lovers... )

I love trees... I know it's weird, but hear me out.

If you grow up in the desert you can always entertain a crowd with childhood stories of riding your bike and falling into a cactus, or eating the fruit off a prickly pear cactus but forgetting to take the needles off first, or backing into a cactus while setting up your tent. You won't, however, have many stories about trees, or the fall for that matter. I never really knew anything was amiss in my life until I went to Germany, and, upon flying back home, realized that the desert really is just BROWN and UGLY. (I have since come to see that the desert has a beauty all its own, but that is going to have to wait for another post)

So upon graduating and moving to Virginia, I again found myself amongst the trees and fell in love with fall. This year I have been waiting for fall to come since, well, last December 22. Yes, I am a season anticipator.

It stayed really warm all through September, and even through October, and I was REALLY worried that all the leaves were going to turn brown, shrivel up, and fall in a matter of days like they do at home and that I wasn't going to get my fall. But Virginia didn't let me down and yesterday I spent 4 hours gallivanting around and obsessively taking pictures of every tree that even had a little bit of color in it. This was no small feat since my camera battery started dying a soon as I got the the Arlington Cemetery and I had to turn it on and off every time I wanted to take a picture or zoom.

Above is a slide show of my day. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!

A few of my favorite things...

My favorite scripture: (at the moment) Doctrine and Covenants 6: 37

"Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails
in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall
inherit the kingdom of heaven. Amen."

My favorite ice cream flavor: Pistachio

My favorite Brother: Rob

My favorite Sister: Nicole

My favorite tourist site: Pont Alexandre III in Paris

My favorite class: Humanitarian Intervention

My favorite German pastry: Marzipan Croissant

My favorite song: Ain't too proud to beg - the Temptations

My favorite hymn: O Love that Glorifies the Son

Favorite Family Vacation: camping

Favorite Perfume: Hugo for Women - but it's not for sale anymore!!

Favorite Quote:

"Wem das Wasser bis zum Halse steht, der sollte den Kopf nicht haengen lassen." (If you're in water up to your neck, don't hang your head!!)

Favorite Monument: hhhmmm... either the Jefferson or the FDR Memorial

Recipe for Love Handles

I have come to realize that my blog is totally random and not really meaningful at all, but I've decided to embrace it. So, since I love to cook, and my blog is kind of a reflection of me (random, but not meaningless :) ), I decided to post a recipe. I got this one from my freshman and sophomore year roommate Megan, and it is FABULOUS! I wish I could tell you single ladies that it will be the key to catching your dream man, but I can't. If, however, you're already pretty close to the finish line, it might just seal the deal!

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1/3 Cup butter or margarine
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Cup milk
2 Eggs
2 ¼ (1 packet) yeast
3 ¾ to 4 ¼ Cups Flour

Cinnamon Filling:
¼ to 1/3 cup butter, melted
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
*Add cinnamon generously (1 to 2 tsp) to the butter and then mix in the brown sugar until the mixture is smooth, but not runny.

Directions:
Heat the butter, sugar, salt, and milk on medium-low in a sauce pan until warm and the butter is melting.

Mix 2 cups of flour and the yeast in a large mixing bowl. Pour the butter mixture into the flower and yeast, add the eggs, and beat for 30 seconds on low speed. Beat for 3 minutes on high speed.

Using a spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as is needed.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead (with as much flour as necessary) until the dough is smooth and elastic (6-8 min). Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turn once to grease the entire surface.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size (30 min). Punch the dough down and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a 12x15 inch rectangle. Spread the cinnamon mixture (below) over the dough and roll it up long ways.

Cut the roll with floss or thread into 1 inch sections and place into a greased pan. Let them rise for 30 minutes.

Bake for 15-22 minutes at 375* (should be LIGHT brown)

I like to eat them with cream cheese frosting!!

So I was at the mall...

The last 5 or 6 times I have "discovered" a new song, it was while I was shopping at New York and company - a working girl's gotta dress professionally, right? I don't know what it is, but whoever picks out their music just gets me. So there I was - looking for a new shirt to wear to work and I heard another song that I really loved. So I got on my new Blackberry (I understand why they call them "Crackberry") and searched the song. I discover that it is called "Crush" by David Archuleta (you can listen to it on my play list). Normally I would have stopped right there. I've never been a fan of American Idol - in fact, I've never seen an episode - but I love Carrie Underwood, and this song is just so fun that I let my prejudice go. I think I've listened to the song 20 times already and it's only been 15 hours... 8 of which I spent sleeping.