I don't even know what NCAA stands for.

I probably shouldn't be admitting that right now. I just received an email that I almost deleted, but decided not to for some reason. It was from a guy named Jonathan- which just sounds like a spamalicious name - and he was talking about a pool (swimming, I assumed). I opened it, casually skimmed if seeing if hot tubes were included, and saw my name and the name of my town. Still thinking it was a scam, my eyes caught "$1000 prize winner!" and I read closer. The email read:

Congratulations to North Carolina for winning the tournament, and special congratulations to our Bracket Challenge Winner - Emily C. of Haymarket, VA. Emily won the bracket by scoring 50 points, then claiming 1st place by winning the total cumulative score prediction tie-breaker - and will receive our grand prize of $1,000 Cash!

That's me! And it is true! My bracket...that I entered literally at the last minute on the True Oldies 105.9 fm's website...won out of everyone! All those people who are glued to their ESPN television sets all year long...keeping stats and taking score...memorizing people's last names and how tall they are, etc etc. And then there's me. I think the title of this post says it all. :)

I should mention though, that my husband had designed the bracket, I just entered it in on the website. Just for fun.

Sorry it's hard to see, but that's me up top, out of thousands of sports fanatics!

Happy Easter, Bobby.

These days, my husband and I spend most of our time thinking of ways how we can spoil our nephew next. We weren't sure we could top last year's Christmas present (a Wii)-- until Jim thought of the Ultimate Easter Basket. See below.







I would give anything to see the look on his face come Easter morn' !

A Good Week.

What a great week it was! Here's a recap of all the reasons I'm smiling:

1. The week started out with Jim and I sitting down and having a very serious conversation concerning a potentially life-changing decision: to buy or not to buy. ... Billy Joel/Elton John tickets that is! We decided to go for it! So from now until mid-July I will probably listen to Piano Man and Philadelphia Freedom on repeat until the big day...or until Jim decides to rescind the decision and scalp the tickets at the last minute. Either way - I can't wait!

2. I was half right with my American Idol prediction on Wednesday night...which puts me in 2nd place at the office! (along with 15 other people). Jorge went home...as well as Jasmine.

3. Possibly the most exciting news, # 3 and # 4: We got our federal and state tax returns! They went to:

4. We paid off a credit card! The unfortunate news though is that now that Citi isn't banking off of our ridiculous interest rate each month, The Mighty O has decided to increase their share of the stimulus pack - sorry fellow taxpayers. But it had to be done.

5. And the rest of the tax return (since we had so much of it) went to savings and paying down student loans. Weeee.

6. And last but not least...anticipation. I'm going swimming with George tomorrow! Pictures will definitely be taken!

American Idol - My First Year

2009 has been a year full of firsts for me, and being that it's only March, that's pretty impressive. I celebrated my first Valentine's Day as a married woman, made my first dinner without needing to pull the smoke detector's batteries out, and will (I hope/better) get my first raise in 2 years. The only thing that was missing was getting addicted to a new TV show. So why not American Idol?

I've been a pretty faithful "AI" watcher this season. I even stay up an hour past my bedtime on Tuesday nights. My husband has even suffered silently on evenings when AI is extended to a 3rd night of the week, when it takes the time slot of "Bones", my husband's second-favorite show next to Obama's weekly speeches. Anyway, here's the big news: At work today, as my boss' boss called me into his office and I started preparing myself for what he would be asking of me...he threw a piece of paper towards me. "You have to join the pool! The American Idol Pool!"

That's right. My office as an American Idol Pool.

This week, we are supposed to predict 2 things: Who will be voted off tonight, as well as who will make it to the final 3.

Each week we predict different things (well, like who will be voted off), get points each week for our accuracy, and at the end of the season whomever has the most points wins some dough.

What better way to pay down debt!

Here they are, my predictions for tonight's elimination round:


Jorge and Megan....adios!

Music to My Heart

Tonight is the first night of the year that I can hear the tree frogs.

They sound absolutely beautiful.

Their song, announcing the upcoming arrival of Spring, reminds me of the new life that is to come at the end of these 40 days of Lent.

I adore this time of year. Only good things to come.

I love love.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a wedding at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. My college roommate, Breah, got married to a wonderful man named Michael. I have not really gotten to know Michael too well, but from stories being told at the wedding, the slideshow during the reception, and the little that you can tell about a person by being their facebook friend, I can tell that these two are a match made in heaven. I don't know if I've ever been to a wedding other than my own where there was so much joy and love, especially between the two families. The Wests and Madsons were so genuinely happy to be gaining a new daughter/son, who they recognized as a God-send to help each other achieve Sainthood.

Aside from being overjoyed at their nuptuals, I was also so excited to really truly give my new camera a test drive! Here are a few of my favorites.







So what do you think I should call my new business? Conrad's Candids or Em's Gems? Or stick with my day job perhaps?

New Camera

I got a new camera for Christmas. I haven't really gotten a chance to play around with it much, but I'm learning.

Here are a few shots from the past several weeks:

Nutcrackers on Christmas morning.

New Years Eve, 2008.



My pup George giving me kisses.

One of my favorites, my nephew sleeping during a car ride in Colorado.

Weekend Fun

Oh how I love the feeling of a Friday afternoon. Saturday morning is my favorite day of the week. Which makes Friday almost as good since I spend the entire day anticipating Saturday, and dreaming up plans about what projects I want to work on over the 48-hour break from work.



This weekend's plans include (so far):



1. Help my aunt rearrange some furniture at her house.



2. Get my rear tires replaced at Goodyear...at 7:30 am Sat. (No sleeping in this weekend!)



3. Taking George to his swim lesson. This will be his 4th week going. Since we've been taking him, his limp has completely gone away! This saves us the anxiety of worrying about future surgeries, as well as saddness for our pup!

4. HOPEFULLY get up to Chrysallis Winery and pick up my past 2 wines-of-the-month. And maybe take my mom for her first tasting!



5. Work on my 3+ year project...that's almost complete...my nephew's scrapbook! I have to add a family tree to the last page, and a letter to him on the first page, and then I'm pretty much done! If I keep it in my possession much longer, I'm going to keep re-doing pages! I guess you can say that I am my Opa's granddaughter - he is notorious for re-writing church music that he's already written.



6. Church Sunday morning at 8:30 am!

I love the weekend! Thank you Lord for 52 of them a year!!

This is what the world looks like outside of my window right now in Tysons, VA:

I actually found this picture through Google-image search- and what do you know - China and Tysons, VA could be twins!

Seriously though- today is one of those days where I just want to make a run for my car, turn up the heat and the Christmas tunes, beat the Friday-rush home, change into soft pajamas, curl up in bed and take a long nap. Or watch a movie, bake cookies while making up alternative words to Christmas songs with Love, give George a long-belly rub. The possibilities are endless; and beat sitting in a cubicle!

Here's to the weekend before Christmas!!

Pho Friday

Today is Pho Friday. Didn't you hear?

If you have never had a bowl of Pho, you are definitely missing out. I was too, for the first 25 1/2 years of my life. Then my tastebuds were opened.

It's a Vietnamese soup. I like mine with a little bit of spice and a lot of broth. It is so good for you too. If you have a sore throat, runny nose, sinus pressure, upset stomach, heart-ache from a recent break up...you're good! Pho covers everything! Can't wait for lunch!

Black Friday: 3 1/2 weeks and counting

This year in honor of Black Friday, I entered a contest to win $1000 shopping spree to Best Buy, a limo ride to/from the store, and some other cool stuff.

The assignment was to, in 250 words or less, explain how you celebrate Black Friday. Since 50% of the judging was on creativity, I decided to write a poem.

Presenting...My Black Friday Poem:

There is a day that comes 'round every 12 months or so-
In the middle of each town's paper, the ads start to show.
My girlfriends start calling, "Let's plan this event-
Do we spend the night this year? How bout a tent?"
Our men all start groaning, recalling their moms and aunts
While visions of dollar signs fly from the pockets of their pants.
Just as the leftovers are sealed with Saran-
It's to the drawing board to map out my plan.
"At 3:35 I'll arrive at the mall
Make my way up Elm Street in my mini U-Haul."
The first stop is Best Buy to get my brother a game
I bump into his girlfriend who is there for the same.
If all goes as planned I'll hit 12 stores by two
And to think that men refer to the mall as the zoo!
I've even heard them call Black Friday "a prison"
Just because we come home well-after the moon's risen!
They'll take back their spite when Christmas Eve arrives
With their gifts under the tree, THEN they'll forgive their wives.
You see, without these women, who would do the shoppin'?
The coupon cutting, the standing-in-lines, and all the mall-hoppin.
For every December, on that Christmas night
Each man leans to their woman, and tells them it's alright.
"Thanks for the watch babe, and that new cologne spray-
Boy, am I glad you went out on BLACK FRIDAY."

Stay tuned. Winners announced by Nov. 24.

INFJ - The "Confidant" Jungian Personality Types (Free Test)

INFJs, making up an estimated 1% of all people, are the most rare type (males even more so). They are introspective, caring, sensitive, gentle and complex people that strive for peace and derive satisfaction from helping others. INFJs are highly intuitive, empathetic and dedicated listeners. These traits tend to act as a "tell me what's wrong" sign on their forehead, hence the nicknames Confidant, Counselor or Empath. INFJs are intensely private and deeply committed to their beliefs.

The Papers were Right.

Or at least our hometown paper. There is indeed, a black bear, roaming the neighborhoods of our town. My dog, G, confirmed this yesterday. (And my brother confirmed that G saw it.)

I was at work when the smack-down occured. Apparently the bear came a little too close to our house, which G was a bit uncomforable with. Giving Bear only one shrill-warning bark, G was out his doggie door, straight to the front yard as far as his electric boundary would allow him to go.

G scared the bear away. If only he'd gotten through the fence like the threatened, and mauled the bear to death. Then I'd finally get to ride a-top the Haymarket Parade Hometown Hero Float.

The Biggest Decision of the Year.

And the most important one, too. "What to Carve my Pumpkin As, 2008".

I begin contemplating this life-changing choice every November 1. However, being the indecisive person that I am, I usually rush around and make a rash, last minute decision 364 days later, mid-afternoon October 31, leaving me rushing around trying to find the pumpkin-carving knife, rumaging through Easter...Valentine's Day...New Years...Christmas...Thanksgiving jello molds, ah Halloween! there's the knife... finding and printing a pattern...shoot the printer's out of ink again...running to OfficeMax for the ink, returning to fight my brother for use of the pumpkin knife that I had just won right of using by finding it in the first place, removing the top of the pumpkin only to chase my pup for it once he discovers that it's much more fun than his frisbee, quickly carve a poor excuse for a jack-o-lantern, steal a votive Yankee candle from Mom's collection...ALL before the first doorbell ring of that evening. If I'm lucky, this is displayed on our front porch before the pitter patter of little trick-or-treaters appear:






Boring. Guess we get to eat all of the King-Sized Twix this year because we are getting NO trick-or-treaters with this bad boy.

Last year was a good year for me, however. Observe:





This one is going to be hard to beat. I had thought that I'd had a design picked out:




...Until I saw all that it involved:





In all honesty, I have a design and template picked out. I am not revealing it yet because, um, well because I just don't reveal these things until they actually happen. You'll understand once you see it. Let's just say that the chance that my pumpkin gets smashed this year is about 99% higher than last year, and I don't want to give people a head-start to my house. Oh, AND the image will probably be on the 11 O'Clock evening news. Stay tuned for my November post. I have to run to OfficeMax.

Two-Month Novena to Mary, Refuge of Holy Love

Mary, Refuge of Holy Love, intercede for our country with your Immaculately-Conceived Heart during the upcoming elections. Since you are the Ever-Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God, obtain for us from the Blessed Trinity a president and other elected political leaders who will help the United States become a country of great purity and high morality.

O Sweet Blessed Mother, intercede for us that our next president will support life for each individual at every stage, uphold family life, and influence other countries throughout the world to love God above all else and neighbor as self, to serve Him, and to live for Him alone. Time and again you have given us your gracious assistance, and thus we humbly and gratefully acknowledge you as our Patron.

Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee and all those who do not have recourse to thee!

May Our Eternal Father shine his Light upon our country and the whole world. Amen.

Sept 8 - Nov 4