Lights!

You know, everyone's all about this now...

But I'm still all about this from five years ago...

Why do I love these so much? I really don't know. Now I'm lurking all over the Gangham Style house's site, Listen to Our Lights, to see what else they've done.

By the way, this is another thing I do to usher in the holidays. Watch the TSO house lights show on Youtube. Reminds me of Christmas growing up. Dad would play Manheim Steamroller and Transiberian Orchestra CD's all day long. I think it annoyed the heck out of my brother and sister but I liked it. Though I do remember one year we all bought him new CD's so we could hear some new songs.

Happy Friday!!

Pub Crawl! The things I do to get a free glass (prt 2)

Just got the email with St Arnold's next pub crawl information so this is yet another placeholder post for me to figure out these bar clues and then map out a route.

The first four locations (at which we will be simultaneously between 2:30 PM and 5:30 PM):

• We'll find three places in the southern Morningside area but north of University. Two are on the east side of the street and one on the west side. Hint: Ginger baker wood.
• Ginger Man - 5607 Morningside
• Bakerstreet Pub - 5510 Morningside
• Little Woodrow's - 5611 Morningside
• We'll find one place around Rice Blvd and Kirby. You'll have to wing this one. 
• Nailed that one - Buffalo Wild Winds - 2525 Rice Boulevard

At 5:30 PM, we'll look for one final place in the Morningside area, perhaps a little north of the others, but still staying south of Rice Blvd and on the east side of Morningside.

•  Not sure on this one, don't see that many locations... Brian O'Neill's is just barely north of Bakerstreet....

Hmmmm. Anyone? Anyone? 

Maybe have to just figure out the final location that night. O'Neill's makes sense. There aren't that many large bars around.

 Plan... Go to Rice Village around 2, eat at Jason's Deli or Le Madeline's or Black Walnut or D'Amico's or wherever... I'm afraid everyone will be eating at Buffalo Wild Wings. Then proceed to BWW and then to the Morningside locations!

So.... I'm not a millionaire.

Like many others today, I did not become a millionaire last night at 10:59pm EST when the Powerball lottery numbers were drawn for the $550M jackpot. Shocking. I know! The odds were so in my favor!

The odds, from Powerball's site:

	Powerball - Prizes and Odds
	Match Prize Odds + Jackpot 1 in 175,223,510.00 $1,000,000 1 in 5,153,632.65 + $10,000 1 in 648,975.96 $100 1 in 19,087.53 + $100 1 in 12,244.83 $7 1 in 360.14 + $7 1 in 706.43 + $4 1 in 110.81 $4 1 in 55.41 The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 31.85. The odds presented here are based on a $2 play (rounded to two decimal places). Why isn't the chance of winning $4 at 1 in 35? Click here for FAQ.

I knew the jackpot was pretty high so yesterday, when one of my coworkers came around and asked if I wanted to enter the pool with $10, I said sure why not. Eight of us went in so we ended up buying 40 tickets and guess what! None of them won anything!

But that's okay.. I'm rich in so many other ways. I don't need millions of dollars. I only wanted the money so how rich I am financially could match how rich I am spiritually, emotionally, etc. Well.... $550M, was really worth $320M net... then divided 8 ways.. $40M would have been a nice start to match how rich I am financially to how rich I am in every other way.

• I have my wonderful friends -- too many to name! They're funny, they're supportive, they keep me active.
• I have my wonderful family -- my parents have raised me to be someone they can be proud of and I can be proud of. They are always supportive. My sister is one of my best friends. My brother is my fellow adventurous spirit. And I cannot forget my siblings-in-law. The perfect matches for my siblings. Gotta love seeing those I love happy!
• I have my wonderful job -- working at a place I never imagined I'd work. For a professional sports team? Crazy! I still remember my thoughts when I saw the job opening when I was searching.  I was chatting with one of my best friends at the time on Yahoo Instant Messenger, and going through my job postings emails, and thought, wow they're hiring. Ha, they'd never hire me. And she said something that was very true - "They'll definitely never hire you if you don't apply." Truer words have never been said! You have to go for your dreams. You never know when you'll actually snare one. Every day is different... I never know who I'll run into in this building. I never know what swag I'll get! The organization culture is very close and friendly. My coworkers are all great and easy to talk to and easy to work with. And most importantly, I know I'm appreciated. And I appreciate that!
• I have my health. And I have a game plan to make that health even healthier!
• I have my kitty. My goofy kitty who is always nudging her face against my Kindle, annoying me because it's hard to read when she's bumping it, but it just means she wants my attention.
• And last. And very certainly not least. I have my boyfriend. My awesome awesome sweet boyfriend of 1 year, 2 months, and 13 days (no that's  not creepy... I just did the math right now, I don't wake up every day with that count updated in my head). Some days I cannot believe I met him and he fell in love with me. Me! He just gets me. And supports me. And surprises me. And makes me laugh. And I can't wait to continue our life together... even if he does leave his dirty socks on the floor. Not all the time. I think just when he wants to remind me he's human. Or when he wants to annoy me.

So there we go. A little belated "what I'm thankful for" post. Hey Thanksgiving was last week but it's still November! People on my Facebook are still posting their days of thanks posts every day. (Only two more days of that...)

Still... my cut of the $550M jackpot would have been nice to add to that list!

In other news.... one of my friends is taking his (hopefully!) last exam for the CPA certification tomorrow. We'll be partying it up with him tomorrow night in celebration now that he can end his studying quarantine! Chris is going to make a cheesecake for his parents who are getting back from China tomorrow evening. I am going to try a curry recipe using a sauce mix his parents gave us awhile ago. I'm hoping it turns out close to how the curry is at Tokyo Bowl in Clear Lake. We've been there a few times with his parents. So tasty!!

I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping. I need to buy a few things -- to Bed Bath & Beyond I will go! With coupons in hand! Then I need to see where Chris is on his shopping.

Got an interesting email last night from Pinterest: Texas Parenting Magazine invited you to start pinning to the board, Texas - Food and Recipes. I was very surprised and a little freaked out at first. It's like getting a parenting magazine in your mail. Or worse. Anything about menopause. Um, hello, last I checked, I don't have children -- I'm not interested in anything Parenting related!!! But I left the email marked as unread and came back to it this morning to check out the board: Texas food and recipes

Um. Yum. So I accepted the invitation. Don't read too much into things, it just means 1) I have lots of awesome food on my Pinterest board and 2) I'm in Texas.

I already have my first contribution to the board! I was pretty excited when I saw this pin: Crock Pot Cinnamon Almonds but when I clicked on it to see the original recipe, it doesn't say how long to cook them. Um that's a little important... So I did some searching of my own and pinned this one: Slow Cooker Cinnamon Almonds. With cooking level and time, yes! And the recipes are exactly the same, ha. So I will definitely be trying that recipe this holiday season! Expect updates when I do.

Blogger book club - She's gone, move on

I was very excited to see that a blog I read often and that does the Sunday Confession link ups hosts a Blogger book club and this month's book is actually one I've already read. It's also one I plan on recommending to my in-person book club to read in February. So I decided to join in.

BTW, points to whoever can name the reference to my blog entry title!


The book is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I've read one of her other books Dark Places and really enjoy her writing style and story telling. Now that I've ready two of her books I need to read the third, Sharp Objects.

I'm going to try to keep this post rather spoiler-free because I would NOT have wanted to be spoiled for this book. So I'll return the favor. I really enjoyed this book. It sucked me in pretty early on and I could not put it down and once I got about a third-way through, it really drew me in and there was no way I could stop reading it. What's surprising about how much I liked this book as by the end, I didn't like any of the characters much, which usually throws me out of a book, but for this one, I kept right on rolling. While I didn't like them much, I still wanted to know how it would all play out.

The end was a little frustrating but I wouldn't call it a let down. I honestly could not have thought of a better ending. It's really almost the perfect ending for a story like this.

Definitely check this book out. I think most people would enjoy it. And the more people read it, the more I can talk about it!

Spoilers in the comments are fine, I just wanted to keep them off the main entry. So see that people? You've been warned. Spoilers in comments!

Sunday Confessions - 1 day late, shhhh

Totally forgot to do my Sunday Confessions on Sunday. Oh well here we go.


1. I wasn't feeling great yesterday -- at first I was afraid I caught what my brother-in-law had over the holiday, but I'm feeling okay today so I think it was just some sinus congestion crap -- so I restarted playing Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (I finally finished playing Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword just on Saturday -- such a beautiful ending! It took a year to play, cos it came out last year around Thanksgiving but I hadn't played since February so it's not like I played every day and it took a year. It only took about 60 hours total play time. Haha.) I played Twilight for about 6 hours straight... yea. I'm so cool. The sad thing is, 6+ hours of play time and I'm only to the second dungeon...

2. I noticed today when I logged in, this blog has had over 500 hits! That makes me super happy. I'm a bit of a hit counter stats stalker. Looking back at the history, it looks like it hit the 500th page view/hit on Thanksgiving. :) More happy! So whoever you were, thanks for visiting! Not too shabby for this little blog being around just over a month and I'm still feeling out my niche in the interwebz world.

3. I love Living Social/Groupon/Amazon Local/whatever deals! I recently bought a Xumba deal on Living Social for Tropa Z Fitness and I went to my first class last week -- had to work out a little before the smorgasbord of food! -- and I loved it! It's very high intensity and I was a little sore the next day, which is exactly what I need. It's even better that I ran into one of my friends there and she goes there about twice a week. New workout buddy! So my plan is to try to go there twice a week, work up to three times a week. My friend goes Monday and Tuesdays... Tuesdays would be good for me. My next three Mondays are already booked... Maybe Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday mornings. They have Zumba M-Th at 7pm and on Saturday morning around 10. I love that schedule! I can work with that schedule!

4. Looking over the list of books I've read recently, I think I'm a little zombie obsessed...
World War Z
Zone One (reading it now)
The Walking Dead - graphic novel volumes 1-16
The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
And I have so many more zombie-centric books I want to read... No wonder one of my favorite games of Chris' is Zombicide. Right up my alley! And it's a co-op game.

5. Is it Christmas yet? I love Thanksgiving but this year it was a little different, since as I've mentioned, my brother and sister-in-law couldn't make it. It was so nice to get to spend time with family... My boyfriend hasn't gotten a lot of face time with my parents so that was great. Although a little eerie at times when I started seeing some similarities between my father and my boyfriend... mainly how they like to tease me and their love of puns. Oh the puns. So many puns....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I've been looking forward to this weekend all year. I love this weekend, love the holidays! Love getting to spend time with the family. Too bad that it won't be the full family... my brother couldn't get off work and my sister-in-law has to work the rest of the weekend so it'll be Chris' first Thanksgiving with the Bosche family but not the full family. Maybe that'll be better... ease him in slowly? I've been told my family can be a little overwhelming.

So today is just lazy... Slept in a little, read a little, took a nap, started my overdue laundry. I'm working on making my chocolate chip pumpkin spice cookies again. Chris is going to make a pumpkin cheesecake later. And then we're heading to his uncle's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Later tonight we're going to drive up to my sister's house and we'll have Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow.

Used my new kitchen toy - medium cookie scoop. It definitely makes the the cookies cuter.

My ingredients!

My tools! One of which has not been used

Now it's been used.

Cute little rounded cookies!

Here's the recipe I used, plus I add semi-sweet chips.

I have no idea what we're eating tonight but here is the menu for tomorrow. So much food.. yum. So many desserts! We even cut the food a little - we originally were going to have a ham.

Recipes to follow later... 

Turkey

Mashed potatoes

Sweet potato casserole

Green beans - I also add finely chopped bacon

Cranberries

Rolls

Cajun rice dressing

Gravy

Five cup salad

Cherry coke salad

Pumpkin pie

Pecan pie

Chocolate pie

And my cookies!

Chris and I are planning to bring some games with us to my sister's house. I'm thinking about introducing my sister and brother-in-law to Zombicide.

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!

Me, Myself, and I - link up party #1 (for me)

Holiday questions make me happy.

1. What are your top 5 favorite movies to watch during the Holidays?
I really only have two movies I watch almost every holiday season -- A Christmas Story. A classic. Thanks TBS! I watch this in bits and pieces, every Christmas Day when home with the family. "You'll shoot your eye out!" And Love Actually. For several years now, a friend and I usher in the holiday season by watching this movie "together". She lives in California, I live in Texas. We pop it into the DVD player at the same time, queue it up, and just enjoy the fluffy holiday good times. I usually add in hot chocolate to my viewing.

2. It’s the month of giving thanks, what are you most thankful for?
Family, family, family! I have the most amazing family. We're very close and get along. My sister is one of my best friends.
My parents. I know, yes they're part of my family, but they have their own spot. I owe so much to them, I really cannot express in words how much I am thankful for the parents I was blessed with. They raised me right. They offered me opportunities a lot of people aren't lucky enough to have... They put up with me when I was a bratty teenager. They've never let me give up on myself.

3. If there was a quote or verse to describe your life, what would it be?
"The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving with passion and compassion and humor and style and generosity and kindness."
 -Maya Angelou

4. Who in your family are you most alike?
Probably my sister. 

5. What is your favorite drink order at Starbucks?
I honestly don't go to Starbucks much when whenever I do, if I have a gift card or whatever, there are really only two things I order, depending on the season:
Hot Vanilla (when it's cold) - think hot chocolate, but vanilla. Steamed milk and vanilla and sugar. And that's it. Yum.
Passion Fruit Lemonade Tea, sweetened (for the other 350 days in the year when it's not cold here in Houston, TX) - I discovered this drink when I worked at Target years ago, and we have a Starbucks in the store. The grocery ETL brought venti's of this for everyone. Yum!