Appetizer Post

My friend Julia P. invited me to go to the Kentucky Derby with her earlier this week. I have some schoolwork to do so I originally said "no". Then I decided that I'm moving soon and you're only young once, so I changed my mind and decided to go.

She then called me later and said that she got grandstand tickets (valued at $800 each) from her company (she works at GE). We're going shopping for hats tomorrow. Adam was really supportive of me buying a hat that I will surely only wear once. What a good husband I married.

Be sure to check back later in the week for an update of : Michelle and Julia go to the Kentucky Derby

Happy Birthday Justin!

This past weekend we went out for my friend Justin's birthday. Everyone thinks he looks like the guys from Rascal Flatts. The first time I met

him and suggested that he looked like him, he acted like he had never heard that before. I come to find out later, that in college his friends called him Rascal! Hmmm.

Justin knows the manager (and pretty much the entire staff) at a local bar, so we got to have the VIP section and free drinks the whole night. It was a good time and more tame than I had anticipated (that's a good thing), I told Justin that must mean he's getting old. He then reminded me that no matter how old he gets, he'll never be as old as me...that jerk!

He spent a large portion of the night talking to a nice, cute girl. I was very excited for him! I left earlier than he did (since I'm an old lady). He called me the next day and I asked him how things went with that girl, he said they were going great until he found out she had a boyfriend...who plays for the Cincinnati Reds. Doh! He said she invited him to a game to sit in his seats, I suggested that he should politely decline the invitation and he agreed.

Happy Birthday Justin!

Earthquake awakening

I go from having nothing to report for a couple of weeks to a couple of things. I was awoken this morning by an earthquake. I woke up and my bed was shaking (it was about 5:45am) and in my sleepy state I thought that my neighbors must have been stomping/jumping on the floor or something. I never fully woke up but I remember thinking that if I turned to lay on my stomach that would help. When I did that, the bed stopped shaking and I went back to sleep and woke up a little while later. Lucky for my magic earthquake powers.

When I had finally gotten up, I actually though it was a dream, but then I turned on the news and there was, in fact, an earthquake. It was actually near Evansville, IN but the tremors were felt in Cincinnati. There wasn't any damage (I saw on the news that Louisville had some) and nobody was hurt. It's been awhile since I've been in an earthquake, I don't think I've been in one since I lived in California in the 80's. I really only remember one earthquake, all the others I slept through.

How I got the building evacuated today.

First of all, it really wasn't my fault. What happened was I made some microwave popcorn that wasn't even burnt! I stood there and listened to it pop until it had reached the perfect state of popness. I also must mention that our microwave is gross and filled with yucky food particles.

I had just begun enjoying my popcorn when the fire alarm went off so we had to evacuate the building and naturally I took my popcorn with me. As I stood outside some people accused my popcorn of setting off the alarm, but agreed that the popcorn wasn't burnt. After waiting outside for a little bit, I decided to go to lunch with some co-workers. While at lunch, I received a call that the Fire Marshall was there and had traced the fire alarm to the room in which I had heated my popcorn and he needed to talk to me for his police report.

By the time I had returned, somehow EVERYONE knew about me and my popcorn which was partly funny, but partly frustrating because I did make popcorn but I didn't burn it or anything. After talking to the fire chief, he did say it was likely simply the steam from the popcorn set it off and that the microwave did need to be cleaned out (which there is no way I'm doing).

I have a feeling now that I'm always going to be that girl with the popcorn that set off the fire alarm.

Finally, an update!

Sorry for not posting in awhile, I know that many of you rely on me for your procrastinating needs and I apologize. The truth is, I really don't have a lot to report. I neither a) have a new baby to show off like Woody or b) travel to exciting places such as Boise Idaho (like Ski). Since returning from Mississippi I've been working, doing school, and looking for a job down south and that's about it. I did go out with my friends, Julia P. (not to be confused with Julia G.) and Meredith last weekend but it was pretty relaxed and not really newsworthy.

That should change this weekend. This weekend is my crazy friend Justin's 25th birthday. Now Justin is pretty nuts in general and you can usually count on something noteworthy to happen when you go out with him on a normal night, so I can only imagine what going out for Justin's birthday will be like. I've been getting some sleep and drinking lots of water to train for it. My friend Julie is coming down from the Cleveland area for it, she might have to ride her bike though with gas prices as high as they are.

In addition to being Justin's birthday, our friend Grandpa Tom (who is only 33 but we still call him Grandpa) is leaving for deployment in Afghanistan in week so it will also be a going away party for him.

As far as Adam, he's busy working on spring ball, but he is very excited that the university is going to hire a football operations person and a video person. He's excited because in addition to coaching, he's been working on things that should be the responsibility of the football operations person. So if anyone is interested, send your resumes to him!

Annabel Riley Saxe has arrived!

On March 28th our good friends Jennifer and Nate had their first child, a girl named Annabel Riley Saxe. The timing of her arrival worked out great for me since I was flying back from Mississippi on March 29th and flew in and out of Indy since it was significantly cheaper to do so. Before I headed back to Cincinnati, I was able to stop by the hospital to visit her. I think Annabel decided to come early just so that she could see her Auntie Michelle. She is very cute and arrived weighing 7 pounds and I forget how many ounces.

I used to tease Jennifer that she had no soul, this is because in college whenever we watched a tearjerker movie and everyone else was crying, she wouldn't. I therefore concluded that she had no soul. I am proud to announce that Jennifer does, in fact, have a soul because she said she cried her eyes out when Annabel was born. Congrats to Annabel! You made your mom cry when so many others have failed. Here is a picture of Annabel...isn't she cute??

Here I am with Annabel, she obviously loves her Auntie Michelle. Jennifer's mom made the blanket she is in. Jennifer's mom has been itching for a grandchild pretty much since the day Jennifer and Nate got married and when she found out that Jennifer was pregnant, she immediately began knitting a blanket before they knew the gender of the baby.

My mom was in town and also came to see Annabel. She was surprised at how much nicer the rooms have gotten compared to when she had kids. She is also starting to feel old, I'm sure she'll feel even older when Adam and I start having kids. We're really her only chance at having grand kids anytime soon, I tell her she'll get a granddog before she'll get a grandchild. You can see more Annabel pictures on Jennifer and Nate's new blog via the link from our blog on the right.

Now for the rest of my Mississippi trip. In addition to seeing the double-wide trailer nightclub, I also saw a pack of goats grazing on the side of the highway. I learned two things that day that I didn't know before. First, I didn't know that there was such a thing as wild goats. I guess it makes sense for their to be wild goats, but I never really thought about it. I also didn't know that goats traveled in packs.

The day after I left Adam and some friends when to a festival and while he was there, Adam ate gator. He says it tastes like spice chicken, I'll have to take his word on that because I do not anticipate trying gator.

As for school, I am in my final quarter of grad school. I'm taking one class (corporate strategy) and working on my capstone and an independent study and in 10 weeks I am done!!