Bank name is WHAT?

Friday funny provided by Nicole

https://www.atholsb.com/

Heee heeeee

25 Things About Me

It came through on Facebook and I love to talk about myself so I am posting this here too:

1. My middle name, Ellen is my deceased sisters' first name
2. It bothers me extremely to leave things unresolved
3. I hate being accused of things I didn't do
4. I actually really like The Jonas Brothers
5. I want to be the person my nieces can look up to
5. I love a really good pen
6. I am extremely good at growing orchids and currently 2 of my 3 plants are in full bloom
7. I love my dogs, especially Pugsley more than a human should love a pet
8. The reason being that I lost my first puppy, Piglet in a terrible car accident, he was thrown from the car and was never seen since and it still hurts today and it happened 3 Thanksgivings ago.
9. I am obsessively clean
10. I love sitting around talking about music with my dad, he can always teach me something new
11. I have a day planner and order a new one every year - I just can't stop writing things down
12. I am on a bridal diet and hate every moment of it
13. I am a notorious night-snacker and love nachos with a passion
14. I watch the new 90210 (another dirty secret)
15. I like to make new people at work feel welcome
16. Every day I fall a little bit more in love with Jason
17. I try on my wedding dress a few times a month just to wear it
18. My oldest sister, Merry AKA Sissy is one of my best friends
19. I hate liars
20. I am really good at gardening and am known for my tomatoes
21. I hate night clubs
22. I feel a special bond with anyone who is from Jersey no matter where I meet them
23. I have a crush on Chuck Bass AKA Ed Westwick
24. I love to cook and try new recipies
25. I miss my other 2 sisters too much and wish we would talk

And a few that I didn't mention that I will now:
My first car was a powder blue Dodge Dynasty
I won the Jelly Bean Counting Contest in Middle School and was in the paper
I was on the entire front page of the Middlesex Paper for having open heart surgery and damn I was a cute baby
Oh yeah I had open-heart surgery when I was 2 and now have a giant scar down my chest
I can win any scar contest
I am not so scared of turning into my mother and hope one day to have half as many answers as she does
And I'm a little scared to have kids

I guess being a skank does pay off

So I know the name Anna-Nicole might run through your mind when you think of gold-digging skank but...I went to college with this girl, Megan and the last time I "saw" her was a very questionable picture on her myspace page.
I really don't talk to many people from college anymore - but my friend Jess told me that this girl is now on The Bachelor?! She looks really different, I'm guessing that they gave her a total makeover and I had to email her the link of this girl to verify that it actually is her.
Too funny though, normal people go to college, get a job and get married.
People like Megan go to college, take skanky pictures to post on myspace then sell themselves on TV for a chessy-ass show that no one watches anymore in hopes of finding TRUE LOVE? Good luck, honey.

Funny things on Ebay

I bought some ink cartridges for our printer (not fun I know but necessary) and saw under items they thought might be interesting to me:

Learn How I Work In My Pajamas - CD ROM with this picture -

Eli Stone was a heroin addict?

No but he played one!
I recently came across my Trainspotting Soundtrack and realized that none other than Sick Boy was really Johnny Lee Miller AKA Eli Stone.
I had to take a closer look and even had to go to his imdb page to prove it to Jason. I could have SWORN that he was tall in the movie but anyone who has seen Eli Stone knows that he is a little guy. Yes, a little guy that was once married to Angelina Jolie - wow back the day much?
So yes here is Sick Boy - see the resemblance? I am just beside myself this guy really has had quite a life and it only goes to show you look can be deceiving.
P.S. I suggest you start watching Eli Stone it's a really good show!

Gilt!

In my mind it sounds like guilt which is a pretty good explanation of this website

It is designer sample sales and this week I've already gotten 2 emails and the 1 today featured costume jewelry and being that I am in the market for wedding jewels I figured it was good research to start looking here.

I didn't find anything yet for the wedding but I did find the CUTEST necklace -

So I HAD to have it. And I will!

There is also a great blog with some featured designers and recently they were at Sundance.
The blog to follow is:
http://www.gilt.com/blog

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight was released on DVD yesterday and being the faitful Netflix customer that I am I added it to the top of my queue and there it was in the mail ready for me yesterday.
I had watched it before when Mr. Jason bought it from the bootleg guy - I have many issues with bootlegs and no one of them is NOT that they are illegal I could care less. The issues are: the picture sucks, the sound sucks and they are GHETTO. But my biggest complaint about the Dark Knight bootleg - it cut off in the last 20 minutes!! Sucked big time.
So we settled down to watch in stellar color and sound a real DVD. And the one thing I kept thinking was how amazing Heath Ledger was and that many people probably didn't realize his true gift until this movie. He was amazing as the Joker, just breathtakingly amazing. The laugh is what got me the most - it was so on point it was unreal.
The first time we watched it we weren't that crazy about it - why does everyone call him "The Batman"? And why does Christan Bale put on that ultra-scruffy voice to speak as The Bat? And my biggest complaint is schnauzer-faced Maggie Gyllenhall -- she does NOT deserve to be the leading lady in a Bat Man movie nor did Katie Holmes. It's like casting one of the Duff sisters as a Bond Girl. It doesn't work unless you are a descendant of Michelle Pfeiffer or Nicole Kidman.
But moving back to the movie...We both said how much more we liked it the second time around but my thoughts lead back to the horrible quality of the movie and that might have been more of a factor than I considered.

Favorite Cameo: Anthony Michael Hall as the news reporter - he is STILL fat

and Deebo from the Friday Movies - he plays the "Tattooed Prisoner" who throws the detonation devise out the window. Brilliant acting.

But my favorite quote of the movie was:
"Madness is like gravity, all you need is a little push" - The Joker

The best Christmas forward

I am a big fan of the emails with all the questions that instruct you to fill in the blanks and send to others in hopes that they are as easily amused as you and reply. And to my delight my sister, Sissy did and I had to copy and paste her answers because they were so lovely and her little family sounds so nice with their holiday traditions that I had to share it with the world (or the 5 people that read my blog)...

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, Here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I know it's so Martha Stewart, but I LOVE matching, coordinated wrapping paper, bows & ribbons!

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial AND real.

3. When do you put up the tree? The artificial went up the day after Thanksgiving and the real one went up last night.

4. When do you take the tree down? A week or so after New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? I've never actually had it, but it sounds gross.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A beautiful Chrissy doll, with gorgeous red hair that you could make longer or shorter by turning a huge knob on her back!

7. Hardest person to buy for? Nobody really - I can think of gifts for just about anybody.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Anybody in my family - we all have lists on the refrigerator.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I have a beautiful Lenox one and my favorite one is made by Madison out of drinkable yogurt containers. The Fisher Price doll house baby is baby Jesus. Ray threw him in the trash last year by accident and I made him sift through the trash in the middle of the night until he found him!!!!!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I don't send cards out on a regular basis, but if I did - they would be regular mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I'm sure there were one or two, but I can't even remember. I think I banished them from my subconscious.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf, the Bells of St. Mary's, & Emmet Otter's Jug band Christmas.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I always by something during the year, stash it someplace and forget about it, so I would say all year round!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Sure, who hasn't?

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Filet & coconut custard pie from Aunt Linda - not at the same time though!

16. Lights on the tree? Can you ever have enough?

17. Favorite Christmas song (s)? I love Josh Groban (I know, I know) singing O' Holy Night. It gives me chills. But I of course love, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and The Little Drummer Boy

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually Christmas Eve is Mom's holiday, but this year I borrowed it! Christmas Day is always spent at home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Comet, & Vixen, Cupid, Prancer, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve? Only the ones from people that won't be around on the Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowds, stressing about money and the COLD.

23. Favorite ornament, theme or color? Madison & Mackenzie's baby binky ornaments - they're usually the first ones on the tree.

24. Favorite tradition in your house? Going to the same Christmas tree farm that we've been going to since the girls were little, picking a tree, making a secret bet with Madison & Mackenzie if Dad will say "Timber" or not when the tree falls over. Going to Mass on Christmas Even and then spending the entire Christmas day in pajamas (clean pajamas of course). We don't leave the house, except for Ray, who goes out to get Chinese food, but he even goes in his pajamas. We watch movies, nap and enjoy the day. It's one of my most favorite days of the year!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Peace and harmony in my family.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Diane?

27. Who is least likely to respond to this?? Becky's right - my Mom.

This shit is still on Ebay

BATWING BLOUSE WOVEN ART PAINTING Wearable Art ChainMail

Buy it now price:
US $800.00

I think I posted about this before and had to post it again. Here is the listing and I recommend going to it because some of the comments are really funny.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=934710233#ebayphotohosting

Reasons that this is worthy of a re-post 1 - it's called a Batwing Blouse, 2 - it's called wearable art, 3 - it sells for $800??!!

I might be unpatriotic but...

I am SO over Michael Phelps. He's everywhere and his hayday is OVER. Yes I know he is a decorated American Hero but seriously what did he REALLY do for us? The economy still sucks and all the Olympics did was make this country patriotic for about 1 month then we all went back to being typical selfish Americans.
My hatred was spurned by last weeks' episode of Entourage. Vinnie was walking down the streets of NYC and ran into Michael Phelps - quite literally. I know that he is just NOW showing up on Entourage because it took his agents this long to get him on a show that has been pre-written so far that they had to probably make a scene up for him to appear in. I've been ok with seeing him in Rock Band commercials even though I don't think he has much right to stand beside such greats as A-Rod, Kobe and Tony Hawk. Yes I know he has broken every single Olympic swimming record further proving to us that he is in fact half man half dolphin and his body has the eerie shape of a bottle opener...
But truth-be-told in 3 more months people will be even more over him. This is what I consider abusing your 15 minutes of fame. We've all forgotten the rest of the Olympic winners why can't he just go and disappear into oblivion like Bruce Jenner and let his kids be the ridiculous ones in the family?
His appearance on SNL was embarassing to a point that I couldn't even stand to watch clips and thankfully Entourage had enough sense to not let him talk or else he will expose the man-child that he really is by opening his mouth.
Seriously Phelps, you don't belong with such greats so get off TV, shave your legs and get back in the pool.

Puppy Mills

Today, The Humane Society of the United States releases the results of a shocking investigation revealing that pet store chain Petland Incorporated is the nation's largest retail supporter of puppy mills.

So in summation - do not shop there and tell everyone you know not to.
here is the link to the map of stores so if you know anyone in that area tell them DO NOT SHOP

http://www.petland.com/FindPetlandStores/FindPetlandStoresUnitedStates.htm

HUGH

If you don't know that I am a HUGE fan of Hugh Jackman I suggest you find my posting where I was deeply saddened by the cancellation of his last show - Viva Laughlin. It was a terrific show and they cancelled it after only 2 episodes. But I digress. My day was brightened when my friend, Andrew sent me a link to this months' People Magazine and I saw that Hughie was voted the Sexiest Man Alive 2008! Hooray!! He is yummy delicious and for any guys that think he's a wuss may I remind you he was Wolverine!!

Why fall sucks

Ah the joys of home ownership...and no not townhome or condo ownership but HOME ownership. One of the reasons we fell in love with our new house was the big ass backyard - we got a total of 1/2 acre which around here is kinda of a big deal. We thought it was just great, the dogs can run free around the backyard, the front is quite lovely with a birdbath and a small holly tree - blah blah. 2 weeks ago Jason and his brother-in-law Steve came riding over from his dad's house on mowers and took about 2 hours and got all the leaves together, put them in a small pile and were done with it.
Well this weekend we tackled the leaves about 11AM and didn't finish until 6ish...DEATH
It started badly with some guy that our neighbor hired to do his lawn (brilliant idea in retrospect) who decided to lecture Jason and I on our lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc. all things that we don't even OWN but are borrowing, along with how we were piling our leaves by the side of the street. By about his 3rd interruption on my mowing efforts I finally looked at him and yelled "WHAT, WHAT NOW?" I don't think he got the point because he came over with his big, fancy stuff and did half our yard for us. Wow. I couldn't believe he wasn't the least bit offended by me and my attitude. I think he got me back a bit though - he came by and literally showered me with leaves shooting out from his giant John Deere thingy.
But the backyard is a different story. The back has 3 times the BIG ASS trees as the front, a ton of exposed roots and piles of dog shit that have been covered by inches of leaves.
By this time after Jason lectured me on being on the lookout for such roots he hit a big one with his dads mower so bad that he broke it beyond repair. Oops.
Long story short - I ran over so much dog shit it was stuck to 3 wheels and turning over and over sent a fresh wave of stench towards my nose. Then my mower ran out of gas and the cap was turned on so tightly even Jason couldn't get it loose. It took us FOREVER and we didn't even finish. We left a big pile in the back and 1 in the driveway...after being forced to rake and manually drag a tarp covered with pounds of leaves to the front yard.
UGH - paying someone $1,000 for this would SO be worth it...my back, arms and entire body are so sore and stiff it's not even funny.
LEAVES ARE THE WORST and being the eco-friendly person that I am I am very upset that I had dreams of burning down my entire backyard forest but good god it is tempting.

Even hockey brings out the sleeze

Last week we went to an impromptu hockey game - no the game wasn't but our appearance was a bit last minute. Jason's dad has box seats so whenever there's a chance to go we feel bad letting the tickets go to waste. So far the games have been pretty uneventful until the last time - first off the Caps actually won which was a feat among itself. But even more fascinating was this girl 2 rows in front of us. I am assuming and hoping that she was wasted. She was with a guy who I am pretty sure she was dating but whenever they scored a goal she ran up to the security guards and did a little rump shaking dance up on them. It was majorly disturbing and she was the biggest fan of the Caps which she demonstrated by pumping her fists in the air and standing up and dancing in her seat oh yes and the ass rubbing.

I tried a few times to get a picture of this monstrosity of a person but all I got was this:

She's the person in the middle with her glass in one hand pointing very suggestively towards the rink with her 1 arm over her head dancing.

Sofia Coppola

My dear friend Andrew introduced me to the BEST DRINK EVER

Sofia Coppola is following in the steps of her father and getting into the wine business. I will say I am a big fan of Francis Ford Coppola wine. But when he told me about the mini Champagnes that come in cans with their own individual bendy straws I was SOLD.

I bought 2 packages of these lovely, pink canisters of happy last weekend - by Monday it was all gone.

If you are so inclined you can order it at Whole Foods, which is what we did - they do carry it at the Whole Foods by Andrew's house in the city but I'm not sure where else you can get it. But that's not my problem, its yours. HA

But the name is Sofia Blanc de Blancs and you can also purchase them on the website at:

http://www.sofiamini.com/site.php

Enjoy!

Why computers are the Devil

Now don't get me wrong I don't know what we would do all day if we didn't have computers. I often wonder whilst watching 80's movies and I see a big corporate executive what they do all day without a computer on their desk. But when they malfunction that is when ze devil comes out. For some reason my CD-ROM drive decided to eat itself and not work.
So one of our IT guys comes to my desk about 2 weeks ago and tries looking up some software malfunction code on the internet - all the while I'm thinking "can't I do this myself?" Then I suggest replacing said CD drive which wasn't the solution. So it turns out I have stumped them in IT - this is something they don't know what to do. So the solution is to replace my entire tower. This was not as easy as it sounds. Then I couldn't get into any of my own documents nor anything on my desktop - grrrr.
Now 2 days later I am still having things reinstalled - looking for archived emails, searching for files, blah blah. All my settings were lost, my Outlook is a mess - in summation I am NOT a happy worker and am behind almost an entire day from watching them work on my computer then spending the time to restore all my settings and it's not even close to being done.
BLAH technology.
One good thing happened today - I found a new box of soft tissues in the workroom and they are now mine. The little things give me pleasure.

Retail Me Not

As is my duty to share all the lovely little secrets to saving money I had to share this one. Whenever shopping online make sure to go to http://www.retailmenot.com/ and search for the retailer you are buying from. Chances are that you'll find a coupon. I've had luck with a lot of them and the ones that don't work what's the downside? You tried to save and even if you only find 1 coupon code that helps you save 10% at Amazon my thoughts are the more the better!

$1 donation

I made my first purchase from Uncommon Goods yesterday and was even more delighted with them when they gave me choices of charities to donate $1 of my purchase to. They included Americares which gives help to the victims of Hurricane Katrina - hey remember that? I still have it fresh on my mind from my trip this summer to New Orleans and even more the sight of people still living in a city of tents under the highway.


Defenders of Wildlife - which this time was my charity of choice, I think the name pretty much sums up what they do. And a great one for all you New Yorkers - Comprehensive Development, Inc. which gives support to NYC public highschool students.


I am trying to find something for everyone from this site for Christmas and I like that I can feel like I'm helping by shopping!!

This is what I got yesterday and anyone with a baby boy knows how essential these can be:
For the Sprinkling Wee-Wee - PEE-PEE TEEPEES

Birmingham, Raleigh-Durham, NY or Boston - Mental Floss is coming to you!!

From this weeks' Mental Floss:

If you live in the vicinity of Birmingham, Raleigh-Durham, New York or Boston and you're looking for something to do, come out to a Mental Floss History of the World book release event. I feel like an FM disc jockey saying this, but Mangesh and I will be at the Diamond Bar in Brooklyn tonight (Tuesday). We'd love to meet you, and we're offering free nametags.

Some good advice for you

I read this article on 401(k)'s today - I think it's pretty good and worth sharing!

http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20081107005758/schwab-offers-six-tips-for-401k-investing-in-todays-volatile-market.html