We both feel that Valentine's Day is a little silly, considering the overcrowded restaurants and the skyrocketed flower prices and the overall cheesyness. We mutually agreed that in honor of Frugality February (ha) we would not buy flowers or gifts, and in honor of not enjoying crazy overcrowded restaurants we would not go out to dinner.
But it sounds pretty lame to not celebrate our first married Valentine's Day, now doesn't it? We both got a kick out of buying Valentine's Day cards from the "wife" section (and I was happy to discover that, like wedding congratulatory cards, there are a surprising number of V-day "wife" cards that don't require a "husband"!) but weren't sure what else to do. In brainstorming over the weekend we joked about making it a computer free zone. And then we realized that that was actually the perfect non-commercial but right to the heart of what V-day is solution. We're both sort of internet addicts, and sometimes we're certainly guilty of paying too much attention to our computers and not enough attention to each other. So for one night we agreed that we would not pick up the ubiquitous laptops and would instead spend quality time with each other.
We cooked and ate dinner together as usual, and then sat down on the couch, sans computer, and worked on reading the pile of books about Greece that Becky brought home from the library! We stared lazily at pictures of sail boats on azure water and the tall white columns of Greek ruins, studied ferry and airplane timetables, and dreamed about our honeymoon. We didn't go on a proper honeymoon immediately after the wedding because the planning and the paying and the implementing of it was just too difficult to do at the same time as the wedding. Plus, we want to swim in some of that azure water, and we got married in November! It's really nice to have something else fun to look forward to now. I must admit that at the current moment we're both feeling more inspired by relaxing at the sea than learning about Greek mythology and archaeology, but regardless this post is dedicated to Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love.
Happy Valentine's Day, a day late!
P.S. Hot chocolate and cuddling in front of Modern Family DVDs was also enjoyed by all present, including our kitties (well, no cocoa for them)!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
A low key weekend in the Jerz
We went into this weekend with basically nothing planned, which was a welcome change.
Last Thursday night Becky mentioned off hand that she turned down an invitation to a coworker's boyfriend's birthday party on Friday night. It wasn't starting until late and the location was not the most convenient for us. One of the unfortunate things about living in New Jersey is that it's really annoying to come home and then go back in to the city again. Which means that we almost always opt to stay in and wait if there's something else we want to do. After some joking back and forth about being old ladies and coming home to our cats we decided that Becky should rescind our refusal and accept the invitation.
And so, on Friday night, we had date night and then joined her coworker at a bar. For date night we first went to a movie on opening night. Oooh, exciting, right? What movie? Gnomeo and Juliet. Yep, for realz. We apparently have a strange thing for children's movies, judging by our date night and our DVD shelves. My verdict on Gnomeo and Juliet is that it would have made a really funny and cute Pixar short, but there was not nearly enough material for a feature length film. We then attempted to walk in to Dinosaur BBQ at 8pm on a Friday night. Bad idea. The wait was an hour and forty five minutes. Having nothing to do in that two hours and not wanting to be ridiculously late to the birthday party that inspired this madness, we left. Instead we traveled downtown and dined at another famous New York City restaurant, the 2nd Avenue Deli. It was decent, but not nearly as good as Dinosaur smelled. We're plotting a BBQ return in the near future, this time earlier and with more time to kill. We then meandered our way to the birthday party where we enjoyed not yet being old ladies! For one night anyways. The rest of the weekend was back to our usual ways.
Which means, we relaxed at home, watched some movies (Juno, which we own and I love! and Sex and the City 2, from Netflix, which was ridiculous and well, ridiculous.) , did laundry and dishes and cleaning, and did errands. We have been avoiding moving the car much since the snow is taking up several of the parking spots on our street, but we finally decided we needed to just go for it. Unfortunately we made this decision on Sunday, which meant that we had to go to a Target that we don't like as much. Yes, we've staked out all of the Targets within driving distance and have clear favorites. Our favorite Target is located in a county near us that has declared that stores in the entire county shall be forbidden to open on Sunday.
And now Becky is in the process of baking some bread pudding with brown sugar sauce for an end-of-weekend dessert. I bet you're jealous.
Last Thursday night Becky mentioned off hand that she turned down an invitation to a coworker's boyfriend's birthday party on Friday night. It wasn't starting until late and the location was not the most convenient for us. One of the unfortunate things about living in New Jersey is that it's really annoying to come home and then go back in to the city again. Which means that we almost always opt to stay in and wait if there's something else we want to do. After some joking back and forth about being old ladies and coming home to our cats we decided that Becky should rescind our refusal and accept the invitation.
And so, on Friday night, we had date night and then joined her coworker at a bar. For date night we first went to a movie on opening night. Oooh, exciting, right? What movie? Gnomeo and Juliet. Yep, for realz. We apparently have a strange thing for children's movies, judging by our date night and our DVD shelves. My verdict on Gnomeo and Juliet is that it would have made a really funny and cute Pixar short, but there was not nearly enough material for a feature length film. We then attempted to walk in to Dinosaur BBQ at 8pm on a Friday night. Bad idea. The wait was an hour and forty five minutes. Having nothing to do in that two hours and not wanting to be ridiculously late to the birthday party that inspired this madness, we left. Instead we traveled downtown and dined at another famous New York City restaurant, the 2nd Avenue Deli. It was decent, but not nearly as good as Dinosaur smelled. We're plotting a BBQ return in the near future, this time earlier and with more time to kill. We then meandered our way to the birthday party where we enjoyed not yet being old ladies! For one night anyways. The rest of the weekend was back to our usual ways.
Which means, we relaxed at home, watched some movies (Juno, which we own and I love! and Sex and the City 2, from Netflix, which was ridiculous and well, ridiculous.) , did laundry and dishes and cleaning, and did errands. We have been avoiding moving the car much since the snow is taking up several of the parking spots on our street, but we finally decided we needed to just go for it. Unfortunately we made this decision on Sunday, which meant that we had to go to a Target that we don't like as much. Yes, we've staked out all of the Targets within driving distance and have clear favorites. Our favorite Target is located in a county near us that has declared that stores in the entire county shall be forbidden to open on Sunday.
And now Becky is in the process of baking some bread pudding with brown sugar sauce for an end-of-weekend dessert. I bet you're jealous.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Chocolate Makes Life Better
In reviewing our last few posts, I fear that any new readers may have gotten the wrong idea. I mean, I think it's clear from our posts that we are not particularly knowledgeable about football, but you might get the idea that we are rabid fans. Or just bizarrely obsessed. Well, okay, I may be bizarrely obsessed with the Packers. But the season is over, so you can pretty much bet that will disappear until sometime next fall when they happen to be playing someone in the northeast and therefore the game is televised here. Sports fans, we are not. So if you were about to write off our blog because we post too many nonsensical football liveblogs, please don't leave!
Believe it or not, we did other stuff this weekend that didn't involve the Super Bowl. Weekend recap girl seems to have worn herself out with liveblogging, so I'm here to report on Saturday's events. We spent part of the afternoon at our friend's house in Queens, hanging out with her and her two-year-old daughter. Saturday afternoon festivities involved gorging ourselves on chips and guacamole, and making homemade valentines out of construction paper and paper doilies. Carrie tried to pretend like hers was for Cricket, but then she caved and gave it to me after all.
For the sake of upbeatness, I will try to not dwell on the fact that getting to Queens took us almost two hours (should have taken one) and that much of that time was spent standing in miserable, cold, windy rain. I will also not dwell on the part where I cried in public (apparently complete and total exhaustion + cold and wet + just missing a train = Becky has a meltdown.)
Fortunately, the day did look up, we had lots of fun with them, and then we headed back to Manhattan to hit up the Hot Chocolate Festival at City Bakery. They have the most delicious hot chocolate I've ever tasted--it's like a melted candy bar with a little bit of cream thrown in for good measure. And they have homemade marshmallows. Saturday's flavor of the day was caramel, and we had to get some. I think maybe Saturday was a little too busy for them to keep up or something--the chocolate was tasty but not very caramelly and not all that warm. Fortunately, they redeemed themselves. I went back today (the place is only a couple blocks from my office--it's dangerous!) for Darkest Dark hot chocolate, and it was both delicious and hot. On an impulse, I also bought a package of a dozen marshmallows, which Carrie gave me a little crap for but then admitted they are delicious. Okay, they were still insanely overpriced...but delicious. And now we will have them to put in our own fancy hot chocolate at home this weekend!
And now that I've told you about last weekend, it's nearly the weekend again! Hurrah!
Believe it or not, we did other stuff this weekend that didn't involve the Super Bowl. Weekend recap girl seems to have worn herself out with liveblogging, so I'm here to report on Saturday's events. We spent part of the afternoon at our friend's house in Queens, hanging out with her and her two-year-old daughter. Saturday afternoon festivities involved gorging ourselves on chips and guacamole, and making homemade valentines out of construction paper and paper doilies. Carrie tried to pretend like hers was for Cricket, but then she caved and gave it to me after all.
For the sake of upbeatness, I will try to not dwell on the fact that getting to Queens took us almost two hours (should have taken one) and that much of that time was spent standing in miserable, cold, windy rain. I will also not dwell on the part where I cried in public (apparently complete and total exhaustion + cold and wet + just missing a train = Becky has a meltdown.)
Fortunately, the day did look up, we had lots of fun with them, and then we headed back to Manhattan to hit up the Hot Chocolate Festival at City Bakery. They have the most delicious hot chocolate I've ever tasted--it's like a melted candy bar with a little bit of cream thrown in for good measure. And they have homemade marshmallows. Saturday's flavor of the day was caramel, and we had to get some. I think maybe Saturday was a little too busy for them to keep up or something--the chocolate was tasty but not very caramelly and not all that warm. Fortunately, they redeemed themselves. I went back today (the place is only a couple blocks from my office--it's dangerous!) for Darkest Dark hot chocolate, and it was both delicious and hot. On an impulse, I also bought a package of a dozen marshmallows, which Carrie gave me a little crap for but then admitted they are delicious. Okay, they were still insanely overpriced...but delicious. And now we will have them to put in our own fancy hot chocolate at home this weekend!
 |
| Hot chocolate, marshmallows, delicious chocolatey cookie, and a pretzel croissant. Yum, yum, yum. |
 | |
| Carrie demonstrates the proper method for consuming hot chocolate |
And now that I've told you about last weekend, it's nearly the weekend again! Hurrah!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Judgy Internet Commentators
As I have started to watch people close to me get pregnant or consider pregnancy, and we have started contemplating a future pregnancy, I’ve thought a lot about babies and pregnancy. Between the internet and real life I’ve gotten to know the stories of many people who have started families with varying degrees of medical assistance. And, as someone in a same-sex relationship, I’ve thought a lot about conception, pregnancy, and parenting with the added complications of fertility treatment, donor sperm, and a judgmental society.
A conversation I had today sent me hunting for this article that I stumbled upon at some point in the past. Apparently, in the UK at least, there are women who go through the whole process of IVF and then decide to have abortions. The article alleges that many of these abortions are elective and not inspired by health concerns or viability of the pregnancies. On a basic emotional level this sounds confusing and disturbing. Why would women pour so much money and time and emotional energy into becoming pregnant only to change their minds? A doctor quoted in the article calls each abortion a “tragedy” and some anonymous group of opinionated “family campaigners” apparently accused the “women of treating babies like ‘designer goods’.” The comments, like comments on many online articles, are mostly angry and judgmental.
It makes me crazy how one-dimensional and uninformed people, particularly on the internet, are about issues like this. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. I am pro-choice, but I admit that I have hesitations about abortion, and I can’t imagine ever having one myself (even in the case of an accidental pregnancy, although that obviously is not a concern where I am in life now.) But Nicholas Kristof informs me that worldwide allowing 100 selectively aborted female fetuses would prevent the deaths of 15 infant girls per year. And I've met several women who do not regret their decisions to have abortions (not sex-selective or after IVF, but in general). Of course there are a lot of difficult issues that need to be addressed concerning fertility treatments, and more so as the procedures get more invasive. Of course new family compositions require adjustment in unexpected ways.
But just because I would not make the same decision as you, it does not mean that whatever you want to do is nonsensical or should be illegal. Sometimes we need to be comfortable with “I don’t know” and with big grey areas where a solution is right in the case of one particular family but wrong in the case of another similar particular family. In some ways we need to lower our expectations of women to not expect new moms or potential new moms to have all of their complex emotions worked out. And in other ways we need to raise our expectations of women to accept that new moms and potential new moms are uniquely situated to sort out the emotional complexity of their own life situations. And when the reality is in the middle, and those moms need to have their emotions worked out in order to make life changing decisions but aren’t there yet, we as friends, sisters, social workers, doctors, etc. need to step up with services and support, not criticism.
A conversation I had today sent me hunting for this article that I stumbled upon at some point in the past. Apparently, in the UK at least, there are women who go through the whole process of IVF and then decide to have abortions. The article alleges that many of these abortions are elective and not inspired by health concerns or viability of the pregnancies. On a basic emotional level this sounds confusing and disturbing. Why would women pour so much money and time and emotional energy into becoming pregnant only to change their minds? A doctor quoted in the article calls each abortion a “tragedy” and some anonymous group of opinionated “family campaigners” apparently accused the “women of treating babies like ‘designer goods’.” The comments, like comments on many online articles, are mostly angry and judgmental.
It makes me crazy how one-dimensional and uninformed people, particularly on the internet, are about issues like this. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. I am pro-choice, but I admit that I have hesitations about abortion, and I can’t imagine ever having one myself (even in the case of an accidental pregnancy, although that obviously is not a concern where I am in life now.) But Nicholas Kristof informs me that worldwide allowing 100 selectively aborted female fetuses would prevent the deaths of 15 infant girls per year. And I've met several women who do not regret their decisions to have abortions (not sex-selective or after IVF, but in general). Of course there are a lot of difficult issues that need to be addressed concerning fertility treatments, and more so as the procedures get more invasive. Of course new family compositions require adjustment in unexpected ways.
But just because I would not make the same decision as you, it does not mean that whatever you want to do is nonsensical or should be illegal. Sometimes we need to be comfortable with “I don’t know” and with big grey areas where a solution is right in the case of one particular family but wrong in the case of another similar particular family. In some ways we need to lower our expectations of women to not expect new moms or potential new moms to have all of their complex emotions worked out. And in other ways we need to raise our expectations of women to accept that new moms and potential new moms are uniquely situated to sort out the emotional complexity of their own life situations. And when the reality is in the middle, and those moms need to have their emotions worked out in order to make life changing decisions but aren’t there yet, we as friends, sisters, social workers, doctors, etc. need to step up with services and support, not criticism.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Super Bowl - Now With Photos!
We were definitely not organized enough yesterday to compose blog entries that had both words AND pictures (translation: we were too lazy to download pictures off the camera), so here's a photo wrap-up of yesterday's events.
Carrie's lunchtime snakebite. Note the cooling black bottom cupcakes and vegetable chopping in the background. We were busy!
Making the shells for Broccoli Croustades. And yes, as a matter of fact, these are the same fashionable pajama pants I was sporting for my Zumba efforts.
Cupcakes: better with frosting.
Coffee table decor (note the easily accessible computer, for your liveblogging pleasure)
Cricket watches pre-game commentary from the safety of an inflatable helmet.
Kara keeping the deviled eggs safe.
The spread (featuring cupcakes, cheese/sausage, nachos, deviled eggs, and broccoli croustades--as green and yellow as we could get!)
The entire guestlist at our party (minus the cats)
And finally, a photo of the Empire State Building, all lit up in green and yellow tonight!
Carrie's lunchtime snakebite. Note the cooling black bottom cupcakes and vegetable chopping in the background. We were busy!
Making the shells for Broccoli Croustades. And yes, as a matter of fact, these are the same fashionable pajama pants I was sporting for my Zumba efforts.
Cupcakes: better with frosting.
Coffee table decor (note the easily accessible computer, for your liveblogging pleasure)
Cricket watches pre-game commentary from the safety of an inflatable helmet.
Kara keeping the deviled eggs safe.
The spread (featuring cupcakes, cheese/sausage, nachos, deviled eggs, and broccoli croustades--as green and yellow as we could get!)
The entire guestlist at our party (minus the cats)
And finally, a photo of the Empire State Building, all lit up in green and yellow tonight!
I hope all of you had an enjoyable weekend, whether or not you watched the Super Bowl!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Superbowl XLV
Welcome back! The three of us have settled in on the couch with full plates of green and yellow foods and alcohol. Even Kara managed to wear a green sweater in support of Beck...er... the Packers. Go Pack Go!
Edited to add: For the record, this blog entry was once again written by Carrie but posted by Becky.
5:56pm:
We attempt to open the bottle of Asti. It is difficult and I fail.
Kara: Do I have to use my brute strength?
Carrie: Are you strong?
Kara: Well, no.
Carrie: Ok. You try then.
5:58
Kara:What is this? The declaration of independence?
Carrie: I don't know, who is that with Colin Powell?
Kara: You're the political one.
6:03
Carrie: What is this, superbowl X L 5?
Becky: Can you please put THAT in the liveblog?
6:11
The Steelers look mean. I keep forgetting there are people rooting for them.
6:13
Becky: Go Pack Go.
6:13b
Becky: Christina Aguilera is signing the National Anthem? That's disgusting.
Me: She actually looks kind of..normal.
Becky: It's kind of difficult to eat through the inflatable helmet.
6:20
Becky: What's Lea Michelle doing? She's warming up the crowd!
Kar: Is she wearing PANTS?
Becky: Is that offensive to you?
Kara: I mean, well no.
6:21
Kara: That guy has a rug on his chin. I mean, not Ben Roethlisberger. The other guy. It wasn't good.
6:22
Becky: What, no 9-11 flag stitched by tornado victims??
Carrie: Not a real sporting event people.
Becky: Are they cheering because she got the words right?
Kara: What just occurred? That guy was NOT that hairy before. Did he just like shove a rug on there, I don't understand?
6:28
Kara: Is this still the pre-game?
6:30
Kara: I need to release my pants. ..... Aaah.
Kara: He's in the hall of fame already? He was a referee in X X X 5!
6:33
Carrie: I want them to interview Baji or Raji or whatever his name is. He's my favorite player.
Me: Silent stare
Carrie: What? At least I called him a player this time, not a character!
6:35
Carrie: It's very confusing to me that they're ALL wearing yellow pants!
6:36
Becky: His name is Zombo.
Kara: That's a good name. I always pick the guys with the good names that I like.
6:40
Becky tells us the story of Donald Driver, after I accused her of not knowing who he was. Apparently I was wrong.
6:42
Carrie: Seriously, look how hairy he is.
Kara: He's so hairy!
6:45
Kara: Oh, the game's back on, I can go to the bathroom.
Cupcakes are delicious, but the chocolate part is dry. Becky and I agree that we probably should have cooked them a little bit shorter. I have a mimosa. Becky watches the game.
6:54
Kara: Oh, oops, I buttoned my pants back up again.
6:55
Becky and Kara break out in song to The Blackeyed Peas halftime preview.
7:00
TOUCHDOWN! YAY!
Becky: I hope the neighbors aren't planning to go to bed early tonight.
7:02
Dorritos make dead people come alive again. Impressive.
7:07
INTERCEPTION! TOUCHDOWN! Becky didn't start yelling and we all wondered why.. turns out she was getting food. But she caught it on the replay.
Carrie: There's a flag for excessive celebration??
7:22
Becky: I don't know who he is. But I'm glad he's limping. Hallefrickinglujah.
Kara: Where's the small animal on Roethelisberger?
Becky: That was someone else.
7:23
Carrie: Wait, Do they get points for that?
Becky: Yes, they kicked a field goal.
Then she points at the blog and insists that I record this interaction.
7:28
Carrie: Will you leave them [the Packers] if they mess it up?
Becky: Of course not. I have a life long commitment to them, just like I have to you.
Aw, true love.
7:33
Cute VW commercial with a little kid being Darth Vader. Becky declares that it would make more sense if she had seen the movies.
7:34
Oh noez. Becky's guy is leaving the field. Poor Mr. Driver!
Kara: Quad injury. I still don't really know what quads are.
7:37
Kara: How long does it, like, take these guys to get in to their pants?
Laughter.
Kara: Well, they're just like, so tight. They're like Olivia Newton John getting sewn in in Grease?
7:38
Carrie: That should be an excessive celebration flag!! Lame!
I think when Becky liveblogs there's probably more information about the actual game. But I think the Packers just intercepted.
7:45
Touchdown! Woot.
7:52
Carrie: Another one of your guys is injured, Becky!
And then Woodson is slow to get up
Carrie: Is he important?
Becky: I don't know. But I've heard of him.
They docs check him out while Kara tells a story about her cat throwing up in her bed.
Becky: He's back on the field, we're okay.
7:57
Steelers touchdown. Saddie.
Becky: In case you were confused, they get points for that too.
7:59
Hm, the commentator just commented that the entire Packers defensive line is in the locker room. Jokes about quickies and orgies ensued.
8:00
Half time! Also, Kara farted.
8:12
This Blackeyed Peas thing is like Matrix meets Michael Jackson meets KISS. Kara says it's the first time in a long time it hasn't been someone old. So "this is, like, ground breaking or something." The shoulder pads on the girl are particularly disturbing. Becky and Kara are now reflecting on the fact that we have somehow become old.
8:14 My sister IMs me:
Jen: hm... your later blog entries make me ponder how much alcohol has been consumed since I last spoke with you.
I read this to Kara and Becky. Kara replies, "It's just that I'm feeling comfortable with you, to share all of my thoughts!"
Is Usher really saying Oh My Gosh? Really?
8:28
Sean inquires via Jen via IM how many dozen broccoli puffs we ate. I sent Becky to check. The verdict? 26. Total, not dozen.
There's a commercial for the Glee commercial. And Kara declares that she might be able to re-button her pants.
I did some internet research and learned that the Pittsburgh Rug is named Brett Keisel. In case you wanted to know.
8:36
Becky, giving her guys a peptalk: Guys, you've managed to accrue 35 yards of penalties in the last 2 minutes. Don't shoot yourself in the foot.
8:42
The Packers got cocky. Touchdown for Steelers. And now Kara has to get agitated, despite the fact that she doesn't care.
8:59
Becky: Somebody was wearing a Favre jersey!
Carrie: Wait....who?
Becky: Not on the field you dummy.
9:05
Becky: I think Kara might be right. If they were wearing underwear you'd be able to see the lines.
Kara: Well I think they're wearing cups.
Becky: I should hope so!
Kara: Maybe it's like a cup-underwear combo.
9:16
The mood is somber. Becky's guys are not doing very well.
9:22
Becky: I'm tired of getting my own drinks. This bar needs a waitress.
Carrie gets Becky a drink
Carrie: Only cuz your team's doing crap.
Becky MY TEAM IS NOT DOING CRAP!!!
9:23
Carrie: There's more eggs, Kara.
Kara: That's alright. My pants are feelin' okay.
9:25
Becky: Run run run.
Kara: Run fast not slow!
9:28
Becky: Sorry, I farted.
Kara: About time somebody else did!
Carrie: We're so going to regret this liveblog.
9:30
WOOO!!!! Touchdown!
9:42
Nnnooooo........... touchdown Pittsburgh. And a 2-point conversion. :(
9:48
Becky: Hairy man is back.
9:51
Carrie talks crap about Green Bay Packers.
Angry Becky: Clap for Tinkberbell.
Kara: What does that mean? I never saw Peter Pan.
Becky: What kind of Disney employee are you?
9:54
Carrie: Kick him in the teeth!
Kara: It's always fun to say anything "in the teeth."
Becky: Number 37. Jazz hands?? Are you getting ready for Glee??
10:04
Kara: Oh my gosh. Seconds are so long. In football anyway.
10:06
Did they get it, did they get it? They got it! Becky's guys did it! YAY!!
YELLOW PANTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL! That's a good end to the first season of football I ever watched. Congratulations Wisconsin. Congratulations Becky. Congratulations the real Yellow Pants.
And now time for Glee. But I will not liveblog that.
Edited to add: For the record, this blog entry was once again written by Carrie but posted by Becky.
5:56pm:
We attempt to open the bottle of Asti. It is difficult and I fail.
Kara: Do I have to use my brute strength?
Carrie: Are you strong?
Kara: Well, no.
Carrie: Ok. You try then.
5:58
Kara:What is this? The declaration of independence?
Carrie: I don't know, who is that with Colin Powell?
Kara: You're the political one.
6:03
Carrie: What is this, superbowl X L 5?
Becky: Can you please put THAT in the liveblog?
6:11
The Steelers look mean. I keep forgetting there are people rooting for them.
6:13
Becky: Go Pack Go.
6:13b
Becky: Christina Aguilera is signing the National Anthem? That's disgusting.
Me: She actually looks kind of..normal.
Becky: It's kind of difficult to eat through the inflatable helmet.
6:20
Becky: What's Lea Michelle doing? She's warming up the crowd!
Kar: Is she wearing PANTS?
Becky: Is that offensive to you?
Kara: I mean, well no.
6:21
Kara: That guy has a rug on his chin. I mean, not Ben Roethlisberger. The other guy. It wasn't good.
6:22
Becky: What, no 9-11 flag stitched by tornado victims??
Carrie: Not a real sporting event people.
Becky: Are they cheering because she got the words right?
Kara: What just occurred? That guy was NOT that hairy before. Did he just like shove a rug on there, I don't understand?
6:28
Kara: Is this still the pre-game?
6:30
Kara: I need to release my pants. ..... Aaah.
Kara: He's in the hall of fame already? He was a referee in X X X 5!
6:33
Carrie: I want them to interview Baji or Raji or whatever his name is. He's my favorite player.
Me: Silent stare
Carrie: What? At least I called him a player this time, not a character!
6:35
Carrie: It's very confusing to me that they're ALL wearing yellow pants!
6:36
Becky: His name is Zombo.
Kara: That's a good name. I always pick the guys with the good names that I like.
6:40
Becky tells us the story of Donald Driver, after I accused her of not knowing who he was. Apparently I was wrong.
6:42
Carrie: Seriously, look how hairy he is.
Kara: He's so hairy!
6:45
Kara: Oh, the game's back on, I can go to the bathroom.
Cupcakes are delicious, but the chocolate part is dry. Becky and I agree that we probably should have cooked them a little bit shorter. I have a mimosa. Becky watches the game.
6:54
Kara: Oh, oops, I buttoned my pants back up again.
6:55
Becky and Kara break out in song to The Blackeyed Peas halftime preview.
7:00
TOUCHDOWN! YAY!
Becky: I hope the neighbors aren't planning to go to bed early tonight.
7:02
Dorritos make dead people come alive again. Impressive.
7:07
INTERCEPTION! TOUCHDOWN! Becky didn't start yelling and we all wondered why.. turns out she was getting food. But she caught it on the replay.
Carrie: There's a flag for excessive celebration??
7:22
Becky: I don't know who he is. But I'm glad he's limping. Hallefrickinglujah.
Kara: Where's the small animal on Roethelisberger?
Becky: That was someone else.
7:23
Carrie: Wait, Do they get points for that?
Becky: Yes, they kicked a field goal.
Then she points at the blog and insists that I record this interaction.
7:28
Carrie: Will you leave them [the Packers] if they mess it up?
Becky: Of course not. I have a life long commitment to them, just like I have to you.
Aw, true love.
7:33
Cute VW commercial with a little kid being Darth Vader. Becky declares that it would make more sense if she had seen the movies.
7:34
Oh noez. Becky's guy is leaving the field. Poor Mr. Driver!
Kara: Quad injury. I still don't really know what quads are.
7:37
Kara: How long does it, like, take these guys to get in to their pants?
Laughter.
Kara: Well, they're just like, so tight. They're like Olivia Newton John getting sewn in in Grease?
7:38
Carrie: That should be an excessive celebration flag!! Lame!
I think when Becky liveblogs there's probably more information about the actual game. But I think the Packers just intercepted.
7:45
Touchdown! Woot.
7:52
Carrie: Another one of your guys is injured, Becky!
And then Woodson is slow to get up
Carrie: Is he important?
Becky: I don't know. But I've heard of him.
They docs check him out while Kara tells a story about her cat throwing up in her bed.
Becky: He's back on the field, we're okay.
7:57
Steelers touchdown. Saddie.
Becky: In case you were confused, they get points for that too.
7:59
Hm, the commentator just commented that the entire Packers defensive line is in the locker room. Jokes about quickies and orgies ensued.
8:00
Half time! Also, Kara farted.
8:12
This Blackeyed Peas thing is like Matrix meets Michael Jackson meets KISS. Kara says it's the first time in a long time it hasn't been someone old. So "this is, like, ground breaking or something." The shoulder pads on the girl are particularly disturbing. Becky and Kara are now reflecting on the fact that we have somehow become old.
8:14 My sister IMs me:
Jen: hm... your later blog entries make me ponder how much alcohol has been consumed since I last spoke with you.
I read this to Kara and Becky. Kara replies, "It's just that I'm feeling comfortable with you, to share all of my thoughts!"
Is Usher really saying Oh My Gosh? Really?
8:28
Sean inquires via Jen via IM how many dozen broccoli puffs we ate. I sent Becky to check. The verdict? 26. Total, not dozen.
There's a commercial for the Glee commercial. And Kara declares that she might be able to re-button her pants.
I did some internet research and learned that the Pittsburgh Rug is named Brett Keisel. In case you wanted to know.
8:36
Becky, giving her guys a peptalk: Guys, you've managed to accrue 35 yards of penalties in the last 2 minutes. Don't shoot yourself in the foot.
8:42
The Packers got cocky. Touchdown for Steelers. And now Kara has to get agitated, despite the fact that she doesn't care.
8:59
Becky: Somebody was wearing a Favre jersey!
Carrie: Wait....who?
Becky: Not on the field you dummy.
9:05
Becky: I think Kara might be right. If they were wearing underwear you'd be able to see the lines.
Kara: Well I think they're wearing cups.
Becky: I should hope so!
Kara: Maybe it's like a cup-underwear combo.
9:16
The mood is somber. Becky's guys are not doing very well.
9:22
Becky: I'm tired of getting my own drinks. This bar needs a waitress.
Carrie gets Becky a drink
Carrie: Only cuz your team's doing crap.
Becky MY TEAM IS NOT DOING CRAP!!!
9:23
Carrie: There's more eggs, Kara.
Kara: That's alright. My pants are feelin' okay.
9:25
Becky: Run run run.
Kara: Run fast not slow!
9:28
Becky: Sorry, I farted.
Kara: About time somebody else did!
Carrie: We're so going to regret this liveblog.
9:30
WOOO!!!! Touchdown!
9:42
Nnnooooo........... touchdown Pittsburgh. And a 2-point conversion. :(
9:48
Becky: Hairy man is back.
9:51
Carrie talks crap about Green Bay Packers.
Angry Becky: Clap for Tinkberbell.
Kara: What does that mean? I never saw Peter Pan.
Becky: What kind of Disney employee are you?
9:54
Carrie: Kick him in the teeth!
Kara: It's always fun to say anything "in the teeth."
Becky: Number 37. Jazz hands?? Are you getting ready for Glee??
10:04
Kara: Oh my gosh. Seconds are so long. In football anyway.
10:06
Did they get it, did they get it? They got it! Becky's guys did it! YAY!!
YELLOW PANTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL! That's a good end to the first season of football I ever watched. Congratulations Wisconsin. Congratulations Becky. Congratulations the real Yellow Pants.
And now time for Glee. But I will not liveblog that.
Superbowl Preparation Liveblog
Welcome to Superbowl Sunday at our house! I asked Becky if she would liveblog this event for us, as we've all come to expect such high quality comentary throughout this football season. She declined, and informed me that she cares too much about the game to liveblog it. And thus I was appointed family liveblogger of the day. Forgive me, for this is my first attempt! Not to appear overeager in my first attempt, but I decided that I would try to one up Becky and bit and not only liveblog the event itself but also the madness leading up to it. An event as momentous as the Superbowl deserves no less.
10:04am IM conversation with my sister:
Jen: who's coming to your party?
me: kara
Jen: wait. just kara?
me: yes
Jen: funny
me: yes
Jen: she sorted the M&Ms and made decorated cupcakes and stuff just for you and kara?
me: yes
Jen: ok
10:26am
Becky: I just realized your mom’s recipe for the broccoli and cheese things makes four dozen. I wish I would have thought of that when we were buying the ingredients.
10:29am
Becky asks me to make her some breakfast, because she just took Exederin migraine. Quote, “unless you want to see me go real crazy.”
----------------------------------
A long break in which I make some quick breakfast and we both cook and clean and generally pick up. This basically means I spent an hour sorting advertisements and credit card offers into the recycling bin. And Becky swears a lot at the people who wrote the cupcake recipe and neglected to list “water” in the ingredient list, which she eventually learned by googling. Much stress, but delicious looking cupcakes appear. And an oversized bag of recycling.
----------------------------------
1:21pm
I realize, mid-sandwich-making, that I stopped vacuuming in the middle of the rug to make lunch. I then forget my sandwich mid-sandwich in order to change the laundry. I decide that this is a hilarious clear sign that it’s time to have a Snakebite (Strongbow hard cider with Ribena).
1:46pm
I inquired whether I was allowed to eat potato chips for lunch or if they were reserved for the party. Becky informed me she was not a food nazi and then said:
Becky: “I think we may have an excessive amount of food at this party.”
Carrie: “I think you’re the first person to notice that.”
----------------------------------
Cooking continues. Also, I nominate myself to be on the decorating committee and put out the coffee table decorations. This includes yellow napkins, two different sizes of green and yellow confetti stars, football confetti, and a candy tray (wedding present alert!) filled with the famous green and yellow m&ms (peanutbutter and plain) and Milky Ways.
----------------------------------
3:16pm
Becky: Oh no, I have extra frosting! Extra frosting alert!
Carrie: Ooh, I can help with that!
3:19pm
Becky: Well, even if the others [cupcakes] completely fail, these look AWESOME.
4:32pm
Carrie and Kara text back and forth regarding Kara's anticipated early arrival, as she is apparently coming straight from brunch.
Me: Better make space fast cuz we've got food. :)
Kara: Haha I know don't worry. Am tipsy already though
Me: Nice. We've got beer and mimosas.
Kara: Haha mimosa number 5.
This is shaping up to be a good party people. I'm going to take a break from the day-of liveblog and catch you on the flip side!
10:04am IM conversation with my sister:
Jen: who's coming to your party?
me: kara
Jen: wait. just kara?
me: yes
Jen: funny
me: yes
Jen: she sorted the M&Ms and made decorated cupcakes and stuff just for you and kara?
me: yes
Jen: ok
10:26am
Becky: I just realized your mom’s recipe for the broccoli and cheese things makes four dozen. I wish I would have thought of that when we were buying the ingredients.
10:29am
Becky asks me to make her some breakfast, because she just took Exederin migraine. Quote, “unless you want to see me go real crazy.”
----------------------------------
A long break in which I make some quick breakfast and we both cook and clean and generally pick up. This basically means I spent an hour sorting advertisements and credit card offers into the recycling bin. And Becky swears a lot at the people who wrote the cupcake recipe and neglected to list “water” in the ingredient list, which she eventually learned by googling. Much stress, but delicious looking cupcakes appear. And an oversized bag of recycling.
----------------------------------
1:21pm
I realize, mid-sandwich-making, that I stopped vacuuming in the middle of the rug to make lunch. I then forget my sandwich mid-sandwich in order to change the laundry. I decide that this is a hilarious clear sign that it’s time to have a Snakebite (Strongbow hard cider with Ribena).
1:46pm
I inquired whether I was allowed to eat potato chips for lunch or if they were reserved for the party. Becky informed me she was not a food nazi and then said:
Becky: “I think we may have an excessive amount of food at this party.”
Carrie: “I think you’re the first person to notice that.”
----------------------------------
Cooking continues. Also, I nominate myself to be on the decorating committee and put out the coffee table decorations. This includes yellow napkins, two different sizes of green and yellow confetti stars, football confetti, and a candy tray (wedding present alert!) filled with the famous green and yellow m&ms (peanutbutter and plain) and Milky Ways.
----------------------------------
3:16pm
Becky: Oh no, I have extra frosting! Extra frosting alert!
Carrie: Ooh, I can help with that!
3:19pm
Becky: Well, even if the others [cupcakes] completely fail, these look AWESOME.
4:32pm
Carrie and Kara text back and forth regarding Kara's anticipated early arrival, as she is apparently coming straight from brunch.
Me: Better make space fast cuz we've got food. :)
Kara: Haha I know don't worry. Am tipsy already though
Me: Nice. We've got beer and mimosas.
Kara: Haha mimosa number 5.
This is shaping up to be a good party people. I'm going to take a break from the day-of liveblog and catch you on the flip side!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
I'm burned out, but my baked goods aren't!
Sadly, it seems that Despair, Inc's designs are not covered by the good ol' Creative Commons license, but I'd ask you all to take a moment to check out this de-motivational poster for a sense of where I'm at today.
Funny stuff, eh?
To be fair, I'm not quite to that point yet, but I am feeling pretty exhausted. One of the women in my office will be going on maternity leave soon, and I'll be covering many of her duties while she's gone. Fortunately, someone else in my office will then be covering many of my duties, so I shouldn't be stuck entirely in the situation of trying to do two jobs at once. It's a really great opportunity for me, and in many ways I'm really excited for it. I'll get a chance to work in some areas that I'm not currently involved in and fill in some gaps that I feel are missing on my resume right now. But with any new challenge comes new stresses, and the weight of all of those new challenges is suddenly hitting me. I'm also in the midst of training for that position, organizing training materials and training the person who will be covering much of my work, and trying to do all of my regular work at the same time. Yesterday I sat down and plotted out all of my meetings and training times on my calendar, and I discovered that I have about 4 hours free in the next week--to do 35+ hours of work. Yikes.
It certainly doesn't help matters that I'm a bit of a workaholic. Even without all of this crazy added stress, I'm usually at work much later than I need to be. And to some degree, this is pretty common in my field, but I absorb much more work stress than is healthy. I need to find a way to A. be more efficient while I'm at work and B. learn to tell my supervisors when I've reached my limits (instead of smiling and saying "No problem, I'm not sure when I'll have time for this, but I'll make it happen.")
All of this stress has led to a near explosion of baked goods in my kitchen. Some people stress eat. I am one of them. But in particular, I get cravings for baked goods, and homemade is always better than store-bought. So apparently I also stress bake. In the past two weeks, I've made two pans of brownies (one was tonight, so they should last a bit yet), peanut butter chip cookies (those went to work, so we were saved from ourselves), and a batch of butterscotch/chocolate chip cookies. We are suddenly remarkably low on chocolate chips, butter, eggs, and flour. I'm not sure how that happened...
If you're looking for a good brownie recipe, I would highly recommend these Extreme Chocolate Brownies, which I made tonight. The first step is a little putzy, but not hard, I promise. (Okay, third step I guess. If preheating the oven and greasing the pan are too difficult for you, please put down the recipe and go buy some brownies in the bakery at your local grocery store.)
How do you deal with work stress? Any tips to share? Or any recipes for chocolate baked goods?
Funny stuff, eh?
To be fair, I'm not quite to that point yet, but I am feeling pretty exhausted. One of the women in my office will be going on maternity leave soon, and I'll be covering many of her duties while she's gone. Fortunately, someone else in my office will then be covering many of my duties, so I shouldn't be stuck entirely in the situation of trying to do two jobs at once. It's a really great opportunity for me, and in many ways I'm really excited for it. I'll get a chance to work in some areas that I'm not currently involved in and fill in some gaps that I feel are missing on my resume right now. But with any new challenge comes new stresses, and the weight of all of those new challenges is suddenly hitting me. I'm also in the midst of training for that position, organizing training materials and training the person who will be covering much of my work, and trying to do all of my regular work at the same time. Yesterday I sat down and plotted out all of my meetings and training times on my calendar, and I discovered that I have about 4 hours free in the next week--to do 35+ hours of work. Yikes.
It certainly doesn't help matters that I'm a bit of a workaholic. Even without all of this crazy added stress, I'm usually at work much later than I need to be. And to some degree, this is pretty common in my field, but I absorb much more work stress than is healthy. I need to find a way to A. be more efficient while I'm at work and B. learn to tell my supervisors when I've reached my limits (instead of smiling and saying "No problem, I'm not sure when I'll have time for this, but I'll make it happen.")
All of this stress has led to a near explosion of baked goods in my kitchen. Some people stress eat. I am one of them. But in particular, I get cravings for baked goods, and homemade is always better than store-bought. So apparently I also stress bake. In the past two weeks, I've made two pans of brownies (one was tonight, so they should last a bit yet), peanut butter chip cookies (those went to work, so we were saved from ourselves), and a batch of butterscotch/chocolate chip cookies. We are suddenly remarkably low on chocolate chips, butter, eggs, and flour. I'm not sure how that happened...
If you're looking for a good brownie recipe, I would highly recommend these Extreme Chocolate Brownies, which I made tonight. The first step is a little putzy, but not hard, I promise. (Okay, third step I guess. If preheating the oven and greasing the pan are too difficult for you, please put down the recipe and go buy some brownies in the bakery at your local grocery store.)
How do you deal with work stress? Any tips to share? Or any recipes for chocolate baked goods?
Monday, January 31, 2011
Smith & Wollensky
As I hinted at yesterday, Becky and I both took the day off work today. Call it a one day "staycation." We did this in honor of New York's Restaurant Week, which has become a bit of a tradition for us. During Restaurant Week a large selection of participating restaurants offer three course meals, with lunch for $24.07 and dinner for $35.00. They offer a limited menu and if possible pack the tables a little closer together. But at the nicer restaurants that price is a steal for that much food. So, you might think that our tradition would be to try out a selection of different restaurants that would otherwise be inaccessible to us. That was actually our original intention. But then the first time we tried it (in 2008) we abandoned thoughts of going elsewhere. Our restaurant? Smith and Wollensky. 
For appetizers, Becky enjoyed fried calamari (which she proclaimed to be the best she's ever had) and I ate split pea soup (not exactly my favorite, but theirs is good and I didn't love the other options). Mostly though, during this course we enjoy the bread basket. It is piled high with four different types of bread, plus some crispy chip-like deliciousness. I'm a sucker for a good bread basket. As best I can describe, the options are pretzel bread, sourdough bread, crunchy delicious oatmeal bread, and strange fruity bread.
For main dishes, we pick the obvious. Do I even need to tell you that it is the 10 oz. filet mignon? Well, I probably do because I haven't actually linked you to the menu yet. But nonetheless, obvious. Since becoming my significant other, and being influenced by the uncooked steak love that runs rampant in my family, Becky has been on a slippery slope towards ordering rare steak. Today she took the plunge and, for the first time, ordered a rare steak in a restaurant. When she did this the waiter questioned, "would you like a warm center or a cool center?" It turns out there is a super secret "extra rare" option, which of course Becky passed on (she's still on the slippery slope after all) and I of course gleefully accepted. Steak verdict? Delicious. We also enjoyed adding some hash browned potatoes and some white wine on the side.
For dessert we again selected the same option. Chocolate mousse cake. Rich, creamy, chocolaty deliciousness for the win.
One of the things I like about this restaurant (and other similar restaurants) is that all of their stuff is personalized with the restaurant name. As in, the plates say "Smith and Wollensky" and the silver is engraved with "Smith and Wollensky" and the napkins have a woven likeness of the restaurant facade and even the mints have "Smith and Wollensky" candied right in.
To justify the price (even with the deal this is a lot more than we would usually pay for a lunch, once you consider wine and side dishes and taxes and tips!) we called it a late joint birthday celebration, despite the fact that they were both about a month ago. A very happy birthday to us! Long live the Smith & Wollensky tradition!
For appetizers, Becky enjoyed fried calamari (which she proclaimed to be the best she's ever had) and I ate split pea soup (not exactly my favorite, but theirs is good and I didn't love the other options). Mostly though, during this course we enjoy the bread basket. It is piled high with four different types of bread, plus some crispy chip-like deliciousness. I'm a sucker for a good bread basket. As best I can describe, the options are pretzel bread, sourdough bread, crunchy delicious oatmeal bread, and strange fruity bread.For main dishes, we pick the obvious. Do I even need to tell you that it is the 10 oz. filet mignon? Well, I probably do because I haven't actually linked you to the menu yet. But nonetheless, obvious. Since becoming my significant other, and being influenced by the uncooked steak love that runs rampant in my family, Becky has been on a slippery slope towards ordering rare steak. Today she took the plunge and, for the first time, ordered a rare steak in a restaurant. When she did this the waiter questioned, "would you like a warm center or a cool center?" It turns out there is a super secret "extra rare" option, which of course Becky passed on (she's still on the slippery slope after all) and I of course gleefully accepted. Steak verdict? Delicious. We also enjoyed adding some hash browned potatoes and some white wine on the side.
For dessert we again selected the same option. Chocolate mousse cake. Rich, creamy, chocolaty deliciousness for the win.
One of the things I like about this restaurant (and other similar restaurants) is that all of their stuff is personalized with the restaurant name. As in, the plates say "Smith and Wollensky" and the silver is engraved with "Smith and Wollensky" and the napkins have a woven likeness of the restaurant facade and even the mints have "Smith and Wollensky" candied right in.
To justify the price (even with the deal this is a lot more than we would usually pay for a lunch, once you consider wine and side dishes and taxes and tips!) we called it a late joint birthday celebration, despite the fact that they were both about a month ago. A very happy birthday to us! Long live the Smith & Wollensky tradition!Sunday, January 30, 2011
Still one day left!
While all of you suckers (er, loyal blog followers...) are preparing to go back to work tomorrow, Becky and I are still lounging and enjoying the weekend. One of us will update you on that tomorrow, I promise. But I figured in the mean time you need something to tide you over, seeing as how for you the weekend is over! So what kind of adventures did Becky and Carrie have this weekend?
Overall it was a pretty uneventful weekend. We watched both our Netflix movies: Love Happens and The Informant. The Informant sucked. Seriously, don't waste your time. I guess maybe it was supposed to be kind of a spoof, but we found it neither funny nor interesting. Becky actually asked me if we could turn it off, but I hate turning off movies once they're started. Love Happens was at least worth watching.
Saturday we spent almost two and a half hours outside digging my car out of the snowbank. We didn't actually want to move it (and in fact were afraid to move it, since we'd risk not having a parking spot when we came back, due to snow covering so many parking spots) but we were afraid that if we didn't put some work into uncovering it that we'd never see it again. We managed to anger two different neighbors in this process, who both accused us of trying to put the snow into their driveways and an empty parking spot. Yes, we were guilty of putting the snow in the empty spot (because it has to go somewhere!), but seriously, we were working so hard to be polite and not put the snow in other people's way. And what did we get? Neighbors yelling at us. Apparently snow brings out the crazy. We both really like people to like us and have strong Midwestern Nice streaks, so having the neighbors yelling at us was really stressful.
We also managed to make some progress on the kitchen reorganizing project. Part of this project is so that we can actually take some of our wedding presents out of the closet and put them somewhere accessible. We now have PopTop containers, a coffee machine, a hot chocolate machine, cutting boards, steak knives, champagne flutes, and a bunch of other random stuff! Woo!
For probably the first time ever we saw an ad on an internet TV show (Modern Family on Hulu, in case you're wondering) that we were actually interested in. Vittana is a non-profit that provides micro loans to students in developing countries who are completing college or vocational schools. Theoretically anyways you loan the students money and a year (or so) later they repay you. At which point you probably roll your money back into another student. Becky and I are both intrigued by the whole micro loans to individuals in developing countries concept, and of course we both support higher education. So there you go, we're helping sponsor a young Nicaraguan woman in her pursuit of education. Check it out.
Overall it was a pretty uneventful weekend. We watched both our Netflix movies: Love Happens and The Informant. The Informant sucked. Seriously, don't waste your time. I guess maybe it was supposed to be kind of a spoof, but we found it neither funny nor interesting. Becky actually asked me if we could turn it off, but I hate turning off movies once they're started. Love Happens was at least worth watching.
Saturday we spent almost two and a half hours outside digging my car out of the snowbank. We didn't actually want to move it (and in fact were afraid to move it, since we'd risk not having a parking spot when we came back, due to snow covering so many parking spots) but we were afraid that if we didn't put some work into uncovering it that we'd never see it again. We managed to anger two different neighbors in this process, who both accused us of trying to put the snow into their driveways and an empty parking spot. Yes, we were guilty of putting the snow in the empty spot (because it has to go somewhere!), but seriously, we were working so hard to be polite and not put the snow in other people's way. And what did we get? Neighbors yelling at us. Apparently snow brings out the crazy. We both really like people to like us and have strong Midwestern Nice streaks, so having the neighbors yelling at us was really stressful.
We also managed to make some progress on the kitchen reorganizing project. Part of this project is so that we can actually take some of our wedding presents out of the closet and put them somewhere accessible. We now have PopTop containers, a coffee machine, a hot chocolate machine, cutting boards, steak knives, champagne flutes, and a bunch of other random stuff! Woo!
For probably the first time ever we saw an ad on an internet TV show (Modern Family on Hulu, in case you're wondering) that we were actually interested in. Vittana is a non-profit that provides micro loans to students in developing countries who are completing college or vocational schools. Theoretically anyways you loan the students money and a year (or so) later they repay you. At which point you probably roll your money back into another student. Becky and I are both intrigued by the whole micro loans to individuals in developing countries concept, and of course we both support higher education. So there you go, we're helping sponsor a young Nicaraguan woman in her pursuit of education. Check it out.
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