Joint ownership

My boy and I have been together for 3 1/2 years now. We have what most would consider to be a ’serious relationship’, and have had for quite some time now. Despite all this ’seriousness’ and our talkings about the future for us, I realized today that there’s one thing the relationship has been missing.

We haven’t bought anything for ourselves that could be considered ‘ours’.

Sure, we’ve traveled together, and we’ve obviously bought each other gifts, but when taking an inventory today, there’s not really anything that could be considered under joint ownership.

Today…haha! Today, that all changed! In one drastic measure, I think* I officially bought us our first ‘joint’ items today.

Want to see?

That’s right. Tupperware.

What’s even worse than this is the fact that I’m EXCITED by this purchase.

Sigh.

*I say think because I fully admit that I might be wrong, and some item may be being overlooked.

**As a side note, I do have something more interesting to post than buying Tupperware.  This weekend, we tried to blow up a watermelon with firecrackers, but WordPress sucks and isn’t letting me embed the video.  I’ll get it figured out though!

Weekly Winners, 7/6/08

The Weekly Winners is the great idea of Lotus at Sarcastic Mom - click on her for the original weekly winners post, and to see more great weekly winners!

July already?? This week’s winners are obviously dominated by 4th of July festivus! On the 4th, my boy and I did our annual tradition of Dreamland ribs and fireworks, but we went into town early to have a hot picture taking date.

We started out here…

We peered through fences…

We admired the reflections of buildings…

We stopped by the historic Alabama Theatre…

And found something else that could be considered historic…

Hey! In case you’re confused, this is a bell…

After dinner, we headed up to a spot atop one of the downtown parking decks and watched night fall on the city…

And then settled in for some fireworks.

They call it “Thunder on the Mountain” in Birmingham. They shoot the fireworks over the statue of Vulcan, which is the world’s largest cast iron statue.

They changed the program this year. I didn’t like it. It was still pretty though!

Afterwards, we came home and had fun with sparklers.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you had a safe and fun holiday!

44 Meme

This meme is stolen from Kwizgiver, a great place to find cool memes!

1) If you got married would you keep your last name or take theirs? I’m planning on hyphenating for professional/publishing purposes, but plan on being just Annie His Last name as general knowledge.

2) What did you do yesterday? Slept late, vegged around a bit, then went to Birmingham for a hot picture taking date, Dreamland BBQ and fireworks!

3) When do you plan on having kids or your next kid? After I graduate, and get a job with benefits and have some security in my life

4) Do you know a secret about your last ex that would embarrass them? Oh, you have NO idea…

5) Can you take a bra off with one hand? Yes

6) Can you use chopsticks? Badly, but yes

7) How old were you when you lost your first tooth? I think I was 5? I try not to think about it, because now the thought completely grosses me out.

Were you a hyper or mellow kid? Hyper. Always moving, always doing something. Kind of like I am now.

9) Why did you throw up last? I think it was a combo of alcohol with an already upset tummy.

10) What’s for dinner? I have no idea yet.

11) Ever been to the Statue of Liberty? I’ve never been on Ellis Island, but I’ve gone by it several times on the Circle Line.

12) Voting for Hilary? Not currently!

13) How many e-mail addresses do you have? Four, but I only use three

14) Do you HAVE to have brand name stuff? Nope

15) Who will you be sleeping with tonight? My boy

16) Do you like Oreos? Yes!

17) Do you send out Thank-You cards? Yes, I do. My mother would disown me if I didn’t.

1 Can you ice skate? Yes, but I haven’t been in looooooong time.

19) Do you have a brother? Nope

20) Do you know how to change a diaper? Yes

21) Do you flip people off while driving? Hell yes! It’s the proud Yankee in me!

22) Would you take a bullet for anyone? Just anyone? No. Certain people, yes.

23) Do you keep a planner? I keep track of my life on Google Calendar

24) Who’s your favorite American Idol judge? Simon, because he’s the most honest.

25) Do you like to grocery shop? I do as long as I’m shopping at Publix. Shopping is a pleasure there.

26) What kind of mood are you in? Excellent and carefree!

27) Last time you cleaned? Yesterday

2 Did you get an Easter basket? Every year! My mom still has my original Easter basket at her house. If I was ever home again at Easter, I’m sure she’d use it.

29) What pills do you take daily? A daily pill for lactose intolerance

30) Do you do your own laundry? Yes

31) Has someone close to you passed away this year? Thankfully, no.

32) Baths or showers? Bath. Bubble. With a book and glass of wine.

33) Do you take out the trash? Sometimes. My boy and I split that chore pretty evenly.

34) Are you getting engaged any time soon? Ask my boy!

35) What’s the best part about being single? Um…ok, this answer is going to be lame. I’d say being able to watch chick flicks while doing a face mask and hair color without worrying about being seen.

36) Paper or Plastic? Plastic, which is terrible, I know. I want to buy some of my own canvas bags.

37) Do you watch “The Hills”? No

3 Last CD you played? A mix of Sister Hazel songs

39) What did you do last Saturday night? In the evening my boy and I took a walk with our cameras (and that’s when we met the horses from last week’s Weekly Winner’s post). Afterwards I braved the hell that is Wal-Mart for some miscellaneous groceries so I could try my hand at a new jambalaya recipe. Then we just hung out and watched old Cheers re-runs.

40) Which one of your friends is going to have the cutest baby? All of my friends have cute babies!

41) Wearing any bracelets? No. I usually don’t.

42) Last thing someone bought for you? Dinner

43) What are you going to do now? Go eat breakfast

44) What is your current problem? Honestly? I don’t have any that are big enough to complain about!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope your holiday is relaxed, fun, and filled with many smiles and laughter!

(Not really) Teaching Ethics

Last week I had a rather interesting - and quite frankly, disturbing - meeting about the upcoming class I’m teaching. I’ll be the first ‘new blood’ in a long time to teach the media ethics class, as the person that previously laid claim to it has retired. It’s no secret that the powers that be were not happy with the way the class was run, hence, the future teachers are tasked with revamping the course.

Last week I sat down with the two guys to talk about the vision. I’m being purposefully vague here, but we’ll just say they are both long time journalists. One is a student with me, the other is currently working in the industry.

Now, they are both journalists and I am not, so my plan was to just kind of listen to their vision and steal from them. However, the first thing the industry guy says is, “I don’t want this to be a class on ethics.” Um. What? Did you not read the title of the class? He goes on to explain that he wants to turn the class more into a discussion on how media is changing, and blogs are coming in to play, and the concept of citizen journalism. Yeah…that’s all well and good, but that’s not the point on the class. I think there’s a way to tie ethics into those things…but it’s an ethics class!

I was ready to leave right then. I was even more pleased when I found out that they have the idea of letting me do a trial run with the class, letting me make the mistakes, and then changing their classes for the fall. Great. Because I want to be a sacrificial guinea pig.

It brings up a lot of interesting teaching dilemmas. In a world of blogs and citizen journalists, how does that change all the ethical considerations that were once in place? When Tim Russert died last week, NBC decided to hold the story until the family was notified, which was decent, except bloggers broke the story and forced NBC to go forward with the story. Once upon a time, ethics in journalism was clear cut and simple. Now those lines are blurred, and as many of the more progressive journalists will tell you, there really is no model in place for all of the new media that is present now.

I’m really excited to teach it, even though I’m scared as hell. I have some ideas that I think are going to be interesting and challenging - but will the kids? I’m actually nervous to teach seniors. It’ll be the highest grade level I’ve ever taught, and I hope I can be a good instructor for them. After 4 years, I’m expecting that most of them are going to be interested in the class, and it’s got the potential to be such a influential class for them and the challenges they could potentially be facing. That’s definitely more pressure (I think) than a 100 level public speaking class.

I hope they are a good group of kids. I hope they get in to the material. I hope we can spark some interesting discussion. Selfishly, I hope we can dance around topics that I find fascinating for my own research in this class.

You know…an ethics class that isn’t about ethics.

Wordless Wednesday

My feelings about life, summed up on a tire cover.

Putting it all together

I frustrate myself sometimes.  I frustrate myself a lot of times.  The biggest frustration I have going for me right now?

I can’t get myself motivated to work out.

I like to work out.  Really.  I do.  I’m one of those sick people that likes sweating, that likes pushing myself a little bit more, and the high that I get after a good hard workout.  Working out helps my stress levels tremendously.  I know it does wonders for my health, and all those hereditary health issues I’m trying to avoid.  But lately?  Can’t do it.  Don’t know what my problem is.

I mentioned a week or so ago that I joined Weight Watchers, and I’ve done well so far, though not as well as I know I could.  It’s not a race, I never went in to the program thinking that I wanted to lose X amount of weight by this date.  I truly did it for the lifestyle change.  However, I can’t seem to put the concepts together of working out and eating healthy.  I can manage to do one fine, but when I try to combine them?  It’s a mess.

It’s summer now (duh, right?) and I said at the beginning of June that I was going to try to get moving, and work out 5 times a week.  I could go before classes started.  I could get it out of the way.  Did I?  Yeah.  For about a week.  And then it fizzled.  I started making excuses - my personal favorite one?  That it’s too hard to pack a bag, a lunch, my books and an outfit and such for the entire day ahead of me.  Pffft.  Really?  Even I have to laugh at myself for that one.  After all the bitching I do about my undergrads and their crappy excuses, here I am making one myself.  How freaking hard is it, really, to pack a bag?  I even have a locker at the gym, so I only have to haul my workout clothes and such once a week.

So what I can’t figure out is what the heck my problem is?  I like to workout.  I have a gym that accessible.   It’s summer, and I have less going on. (Well.  June was kind of crazy.  But July is fairly low key.)  So why can’t I get my butt to the gym and just do it?  I know…it takes 21 days to form a new habit, so I should just quit my bitching and go, right?  I just can’t figure out what the heck I need to do to get myself back into the habit.

Le sigh.

In my mind, when it seems easier to me to write a doctoral dissertation than to go to the gym…yeah.  I have some issues.

One more thing…

I just read Momisodes blog for the day, and she pointed out that today Today officially marks the midway point for Blog 365.

That means today I have officially blogged for 182 days straight.

I thought this would be really hard.  Other blog 365′ers are dropping out.  For me? Surprisingly?  It’s become really easy over the past couple of months.  It’s become habit, and routine, which is what I was hoping for.  I’m kind of anal.  I like to have routines.

I think I just might be the only wacko that has found this easier as I’ve gone along.

And to all the new readers I’ve picked up along the way and the new blogs I’ve found?  Thank you.  I’m truly enjoying reading all your blogs, as well as the comments you leave me here.

Another Monday

You know what I did this weekend? Practically nothing. And for me, that’s saying quite a bit.

Friday my boy was off, so we slept late, had some lunch, and then went to the dollar theater to see “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”. It was totally worth $1, and that’s about it. Yes, I laughed, yes, I enjoy sophomoric humor, and yes, I totally enjoyed multiple male frontal nudity shots (and my boy did NOT), but overall? Eh. Good choice to watch it in the dollar theater.

My boy has a theory that the more marketing a movie has, the more likely it is to be really bad. He’s usually fairly spot on with this theory.

The rest of the weekend? I cleaned a little bit. I slept late. We hung up some pictures we keep saying we need to hang. I read a book (for pleasure!). It was totally chill. How unusual for me.

Today I went on a quest for something to wash my face with. I’m allergic to glycerin, which, until you have this allergy, you do not realize how many facial care products it is actually in. I had been using Aveeno until a couple of weeks ago I realized I was breaking out worse than ever (no, it’s fine! It’s just your skin getting rid of impurities!), and then started getting the telltale hivey bumps. I looked at the ingredients in the Aveeno wash, and yup. 2nd ingredient. Glycerin. What a big moron I am. I just figured since it was touted as ‘all natural’ and soy based, I’d be fine. Turns out I was wrong.

I had lunch with my boy and Brian today, and then headed to Whole Foods. I am seriously in love with this store, and curse my student budget that makes it seem impossible to shop there. I’ve actually been told it’s doable, if you watch for sales and such, but it’s also not in our neighborhood. Anyway. I stood in the beauty section for probably a half an hour, reading labels, contemplating, rejecting. I did buy some natural deodorant - it wasn’t any more expensive than my usual Secret, and after having two women in my family fall victim to Alzheimer’s, I’d like to do everything possible to lessen my risk, thanks. I had two very nice store associates help me, and after much agonizing, decided on Aubrey Organics Blue Green Algae face wash. Sounds yummy, doesn’t it? My runner up choice was Avalon Organics, but I went with the Aubrey because it was cheaper and smaller. There was nothing there for clearing up breakouts, so I went to Sephora to check out the Philosophy line. I’m already a huge fan of Pure Grace by Philosophy, and my mom suggested I check out their Purity line. Purity, it turns out, has glycerin, and the not so helpful saleswoman there told me that glycerin was natural and you couldn’t buy soap without it. I did find a Philosophy product that had no glycerin that could be used for breakouts and such. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I headed to the dollar theater on my own after that. I debated not going, saying “I still have stuff to do”, but my boy told me to go and take a break for once. So I did. I saw “Made of Honor” and it was very cute. I was feeling all sinful, going to a movie in the middle of the afternoon on a Monday until I got to the theater and realized I was the ONLY person under 60 in the theater. Then I just felt old.

Hit up Sam’s after that to stock up on meats and bulk items (so much for taking a break, right?) and then I got to come home and have the most INFURIATING conversation with Washington Mutual, who I have one credit card with. Seems that a payment I made over a month ago first got sent back from my bank for me having insufficient funds in my account. After talking to my own bank this morning about it, and having the statement to back me up, it turns out that Wamu is, well, full of shit - my bank said that they never rejected a payment due to insufficient funds.

Sounds easy, right? Ha. After 50 infuriating minutes, and speaking to three different customer service people who apparently can’t communicate (seriously, I asked one woman a question to make sure I had what she was telling me right, she told me no, and then spent the next two minutes telling me EXACTLY what I had just told her), I finally got a supervisor, and it was brought to my attention that said payment? Well, it cleared my bank - but WaMu is showing no record of ever having received it. So my payment? Out in Lala land somewhere. As my account on their site shows that the bill is paid, yet there are late fees and interest charges accruing.

Fabulous. Want to place bets on how long after I get this mess straightened out I’ll be canceling this card?

I think I’ll go wash my face now with some blue green algae.

Weekly Winners, 6/29/08

The Weekly Winners is the great idea of Lotus at Sarcastic Mom - click on her for the original weekly winners post, and to see more great weekly winners!

This week started out slow (i.e., I took all my shots this weekend) but I’m pretty happy with the results…

Cloud contrast…

Flower growing through the deck…

Out to dinner…

The following are all from a walk I took with my boy around our neighborhood:

Old fences…

I like this one, I don’t know why…

We saw butterflies…

In the honeysuckle…

This guy didn’t like us on his street…

Then we hopped a fence and went to see some horses that are boarded near us…

After a few minutes, they got curious (hungry? greedy?) and came to check us out…

Is that camera food?

So beautiful…

This last series I show you with help from my boy…I was squatted down to take a shot of a donkey…

When I felt a presence behind me…

Apparently, he thought my ponytail was a treat…because this was right after he nibbled it…

That’s ok…he interrupted my boy’s photo shooting too…

Thanks for visiting!