BENDER'S BIG STUDY BREAK

a tv show that is funny is nice and all, but a tv show that sponsors a study break during finals-season by giving students some tasty eats is awesome in my book!

so when futurama decided to promote the release of the fifth volume of it's shows on dvd, andrea and i happily went and ate the tasty Dr. Zoidburg-ers and Philip J. Frys (courtesy of Chuckbox) and Bender's Blenders (from Juice it Up) that were provided :)

this was actually a pretty cool thing they were doing all over the country at quite a few universities. and if i wasn't already planning on getting the dvd's myself i think this little marketing ploy would help me make up my mind about it. thanks futurama!

Celebrate good times COME ON!

It’s no secret that the best pizza in the valley can be found in a little place called Oregano’s. Cracker thin crust, fresh toppings, and it doesn’t even seem bad for you! Well, in celebration of Andre, my brother Christopher, my Grandpa Frank, and my Mom being borned AND in celebration of me getting the super-awesome co-op described here, WE ALL WENT TO OREGANO’S!!!!!!

This was awesome for several reasons:
Celebrating is fun
Time with grandpa frank is always special
WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED

Fun times included my mom’s favorite antipasta salad, my FAVORITE pizza (sproccoli pizza [spinach, broccoli, and garlic] on a thin crust WITH roma tomatoes and sliced meatballs added) as well as my grandpa’s favorite (numero one-o) and even art time with the pieces that fell on the table

Mmmm mmm mmm. Good times in Tempe, Rock City!

I GOT THE CO-OP

From the beginning of January til the end of June I will be the happiest little helper over in the Marketing Department at the Neutrogena Corporation in Los Angeles.

Supposedly I’ll be working on artwork, product launches, and in cross-functional teams with other departments. I’d be lying if I said I was excited. I’m ECSTATIC!

I really can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing for the next 6 months… especially since they’re paying me… and I’LL BE LIVING IN LA. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have unreal expectations or think Los Angeles is my favorite city in the world or anything, but I think it’ll be awesome to live there for 6 months as a newly-married couple. There’s plenty to do, and we’ll be there just long enough to get used to it and get tired of some things I’m sure.

ANYWHOOO… that’s where we’re going for now, and then probably grad school for Andre’ WHO KNOWS WHERE! So if you wanna see us anytime soon, get with us before we move OR come visit us in Cali while we’re someplace relatively cool : )

Sprinkles

I know I know I know. I missed the bandwagon by a longshot.  And I’m pretty embarrassed.  In my defense I’ve had a cupcake HATING boyfriend/fiancé/husband and I don’t really have any friends to make the trek with so I’ve just sit for far too long trying to convince myself they’re probably not even that good (after all anything that hyped up can’t really be as good as everyone imagines they are right?) even when they sound deliciousssss.

Well… one day I tricked Mr. Andre’ REAL good.  I think I was wanting to go to Scottsdale for a school marketing project to go to Teavana and to return something to H&M and reeled him into coming along by stopping at the Scottsdale Library. Well, since we were all the way out there we *might as well* stop in at Sprinkles, right? (and UO, Betsey Johnson, H&M, Banana Republic, Forever 21 etc etc.....) (muhaha)

Well... it was love at first bite (hah, I sound like a vampire and NO i'm not into all that stuff... zombies are cooler anyway).  My first and favorite cupcake to date has been the Coconut.  I've tried quite a few by now but I'm on a mission to try them all and I won't stop til I do... yes that includes seasonal flavors : D  After all, it's just so fulfilling to have accomplishable goals, right?!

Sweet Mother of Black on Charcoal Velvet Skull Pillows

As I try to create a livable living space that’s not an eyesore; trying to keep the apartment functional, looking decently cool, and tidy (against Andre’s best efforts). I was leaping with joy when I saw the most wonderful pillows ever and at a good price at my favorite huge box of a store – Target. Now since they were Halloweenie pillows (the best kind, if I do say so myself) Andre’ made me wait til they went on clearance a couple weeks later even though I was sure they would sell out and I would be left with a frowny face. I went along with his responsible approach anyway and lo and behold the day after Halloween Andre went to Target for me and lo and behold they were out!!!

BUT THEN he called lots of other targets til he found some (3 at one store… WHAT LUCK!!!) and bought em all at half price (what a stud). Best after Halloween treat EVAH : ) I should figure out how to make a skull emoticon. That would probably be my new fav. I always love NEW favs. Not that old faves aren’t great. But yeah… these pillows are my new faves ; ) Oh yeah… and in case you were wondering Andre’s my always fav - above all other new and old faves... even if he leaves his socks on the floor...

Halloweenie

Ohhhh to follow our dreams of being current on our blog. As a wise man once said,I think I’m just going to see where my dreams are going and catch up with them later.

Oh look. It’s Halloween.

In honor of such a magical holiday (when else to you get to see grown people look like silly little kids and kids look like silly little sluts) we celebrated it all weekend long. Our Halloween Weekend was spent in the best way possible – by taking a trip to California!!! We got to spend time with family, catch up on our shows, carve some sweet punkins, eat at the site of the original French dip sandwich in LA Chinatown (of all places), AAAAAAND go to OCTOBERFLAME III at The Grove!!!

It was, in a word, special. The two opening bands were unfortunate. The first one kinda almost had something going for them. They all had sweet face paint except the awkward tubby guy in a dress. The lead singer had on a Mexican/Sailor costume on… to start with. The music was almost okay, entertaining enough as the lead guy did some ridiculous, seemingly drink induced dances… by the end he was down to tighty whities and frankly I was embarrassed for him. The second band was just shameful. They were old, painful to listen to, and looked like they belonged in cubicles... not in a geek chic way. Yeahhhh I walked out and got some fresh air during their set.

BUT then… the main event… TIGER ARMY!! They were aaaaaaaawesomeeeeeeee. I even fished my wish and got to hear my favorite Tiger Army song (Afterworld, which we coincidentally danced to at our wedding for THE first dance) as the SECOND song they played. ALSO Nick 13’s parents were in the audience and so he played his mom’s favorite song they play (Through the Darkness) and it became my NEW favorite : )

All Hallows Eve was pretty sweet too – we walked around with Chris & Dennis – both dressed for the part – Dennis as Nacho Libre and Chris as a lovely Asian. We even shared an awesome dark choco sundae for a Halloween treat. But anyone who knows anything about me and trips to San Clemente know that my FAVORITE treat I could even wish for is Pedro’s Fish Tacos and Horchata which I also had at least once a day : D

BEST HALLOWEEN EVERRRRR!

TV - new for fall 2010!

know what's pretty good? TV. Not all of it, but some of it. Here are some of the things you can find on one near you that is worth your time:

Raising Hope. Never heard of it? Neither did we until earlier today. It may be best to just watch it not knowing what you're getting into.

No Ordinary Family. Did you like the Incredibles? X-men? Smallville? Throw them all in a blender, add Michael Chiklis and you've got No Ordinary Family. It's actually eerily similar to the Incredibles (it's a good thing it's made by ABC so Disney doesn't go crazy on them).

Running Wilde. Love Arrested Development? Well here's a show for you! It even has G.O.B. and Tobias! PLUS Mitch Hurwitz is one of the Exec. Producers.

My Generation. A fake documentary about how some high schoolers 10 years after they graduate, complete with flashbacks and all!

And of course there are all the staples: the Office, Community, and Modern Family.

(and when we finally get around to catching up on past seasons: Chuck, Psych, and Burn Notice)

And that's how we spend our free time. Of course there isn't much of that since for some reason we think we need to go to school and work, and eat and sleep. I don't know where those ideas came from , but they're really cramping our leisure time.

We're becoming a real family

Last night we got home a little past 9pm due to my night class, and yet Andre decided we would have our first "real" Family Home Evening - like with a theme and scriptures and a treat and an activity and everything.  I thought this was quite cute.  He pulled up the scripture story about David and how his friend's dad, the king, wanted to kill him, but his friend hid him to protect him cause he was his best friend.  I hadn't heard that story before, but his point was the importance of friends and how happy he is we're best friends : )

We then had hot dogs and popcorn for our treat (aka dinner).  I sure hope Jamie Oliver isn't reading this.... I really do want us to start cooking more and being more healthy.  The popcorn isn't THAT bad though - it's my very favorite kind.

Then for our activity, we watched animal bff videos here.

I think my favorite was this one

General Conference

This weekend was one of the two special weekends a year when everyone in the whole world has the opportunity to hear from the prophet and his apostles on the things we need to hear today in our time. While I admit I wasn't as prepared as many others and I had to work on Saturday, so I only got to watch to Sunday's sessions live, between what I was able to watch and what I was able to hear from my institute class yesterday, I thought I'd jot down some of my favorite stories and takeaways.

1. The Stupid Cow story.  Short version - there were cows grazing in a pasture with a fence to keep them out of the wheat (bc if they ate the wheat their bellies would expand and they'd die) well one cow liked the wheat, busted out of the fence, ate a bunch of wheat, bloated up like a balloon, and died before they were able to help rescue him. Moral of the story - fences are there for a reason, to protect us. If you do things you ought not to you will face the consequences (ouch).

2. The Farm story. Short version - A farmer had his kids count all their sheep and chickens etc, which was a lot of work, but they were able to see how much they have and feel good because they worked to see their blessings. Moral of the story - we are so blessed and have so much to be grateful for so look around and say thanks : )

3. The message to slow down.  I didn't actually hear this talk, but the gist I got was that we so easily get caught up in ourselves and the "go go go" "i need everything and i need it right now" mentality, but sometimes we just need to take a step back, slow down, and think about what really matters most.  This made me think of one of my favorite songs by Jack Johnson

A celebration for a smarty-pants

 Well, one of the many things that attracted me to my little Andre Joseph in the first place was his rating of awesome in the smartness category.  A couple weekends ago on the 18th of September after a whole week of sleep deprivation and exams and stress he took THE GRE. That dreaded exam to help decide the fate of grad school.  He may not admit it, but he was pretty nervous. HOWEVER, not only did he finish way early, he got 100% of the math part right!!!! Yeah.... ALL of it. In addition to doing pretty dang well on the other parts. Obviously I am beyond proud and love to embarrass him by telling everyone I know, but before we told the world we had a *little* celebration at our apartment by playing dress up and drinking fancy drinks : )

back to the future: lost vegas

WHAT?!?! now we're in Las Vegas again?

Now I remember, we're on our honeymoon! That was fun: seeing all the fun free stuff, bumping into friends and family, what a grand time to be had by all.

(Jaala and Harrison were shrunk with us when we went to see visit the flower garden)
(world's biggest chocolate fountain, or something like that. I swear we're not obsessed with the delicious cocoa bean treat from the heavens)

WORD

UP!

wax.

breakfast of champions!!

here's the recipe:

1) drive through the ghetto to find a grocery store in the middle of the night

1a) find tastiest cookies in the whole world (or at least Andrea's fav) ON SALE!!!

2) realize there's no fridge in the room

3) fill the sink with ice

4) insert milk into sink of ice

5) call room service for extra glasses

6) pour milk

7) dunk cookies

8) enjoi!

oh yeah, and it IS possible to have the world spin in Vegas with out alcohol or illegal substances.

It's fun to get pictures with random German tourists.

I also recommend watching the Bellagio fountain show from the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris, then you don't have to battle smelly tourists for a good view.

Back to the Future: part 1 - new member of the family

What's going on? Now it's like a week ago?

Oh yeah, how could we forget? our family just got a little bigger!!!

We're no longer a couple and their little fish (Alpha the Betta), but now Dirk the Dyson has been added to the brood.

As hardcore as they are made out to be, they are REALLY easy to assemble (step 1: open the box, step 2: plug in the hose. that's basically it).
SOMEONE was REALLLLLLY excited about the new addition...
They were exited enough that at 11 pm they wanted to vacuum the entire apartment.
Ok, it was Andrea, you got it out of me.

MY BIRTHDAY - by andre

Is it Labor Day weekend already? Then I guess it's time for a road trip. And what better way is there to start a trip than the proper way, with In-N-Out!!!

Yup, cheeseburgers animal style, pink lemonade, chocolate milkshake, and fries. This would be the fuel for the 4 1/2 hours ride to the city of sin. (take that Google maps, beat ya by an hour!)

When we finally got there we went to the mecca of chocolate. It was DELICIOUS!!!!! If you ever get a chance to find yourself in such far flung locals as Vegas, Philly, or NYC in the States, or you find yourself in South East Asia in the Philippines or Singapore, a little further south in Australia, or in Israel (all the places you would expect a chocolate based restaurant would set up shop) you should stop in for the best peanut butter shake of your life.

(thanks to Jaala for the photographic evidence and sharing her Mexican Hot Chocolate)

So that was all nice and good, but THEN we went to... THE PINBALL HALL OF FAME!!!!

It was pretty sick (good sick, not bad sick).

so far, so good.

LESS THAN 10 DAYS!!!

time flies, and it's all the more evident by how we made a goal to post once a week and didn't post for the entire month of july. oh well.

anyway, we have less than 10 days until the wedding and only earlier today figured out our cake situation for the reception. it must be all that last minute, deadline adrenaline that is helping us get things done. hopefully before the reception starts we'll figure out the music situation.

but on a fun note, today was Andrea's last day at work for a while, so the party has finally begun. tomorrow we're going to be all kinds of productive and run a million and a half errands. HOORAY FOR SPENDING MONEY!!!! :) !!!! it's a good thing we love each other, otherwise this would all be some kind of ridiculous.

it has just been decided that we'll actually be going to the movies in the morning before we get anything done, that's what i'm talking about.

speaking of movies, who keeps thinking hiring will ferrell is a good idea?

Philadelphia: part 1

We now join our heroes in Pennsylvania.

After making their way through the dense wilderness, Andre and Andrea finally stumbled upon the ruins of the great civilization known to the locals that now live in the region as Philly. But getting to this mysterious land was only the beginning of the adventure.

Curls, the local on loan to our two adventurers as a guide, must have known how treacherous the trail was that lay ahead because she bolstered their souls up by singing them a traditional tune about the excitement of being alive. But could she have really known what lay in store?

The next leg of their journey would take them to the edge of the known world: NORTH-eastern Pennsylvania. Susquehanna, PA to be exact, at least a days ride from indoor plumbing or an air conditioning unit, even further than the frontier town of Scranton (What? the electric city!).

But out here one could really "get in touch with nature" or at the very least take some pretty pictures.

However, while taking in the scenic beauty of the local river, Curls was ambushed by an overly well dressed mountain dweller that Andrea had to fight to the death.

Sadly for the mysterious man, Andrea had been perfecting her mighty right-left-right combo punch since she was a child prodigy boxer in underground fight club in the little village of older-sisterhood. Not only did she demolish this poor sap, but her final blow knocked the stranger into a tree which knocked the tree down as well!

Now aware that there were others out here with them, Andre began to keep an eye out for anyone that was looking for a fight. The more he looked the more he had an uneasy feeling about being in these woods, but since he couldn't see anything he just said that they should all look for higher ground so they could set up camp for the night. It was a little early for setting up camp, and most of the group was hungry and wanted to do a little hunting so they could eat one of the tasty beasts that lurks in the area.

But after a lively debate over which homeland had the best cooking a fight ensued that managed to get everything the group was carrying strewn all across the clearing along the rivers edge.

After everyone was too tired to beat on anyone else, the hungry group got back to the matter at hand, finding the next piece of the puzzle to discover the treasure. It wasn't more than half an hour later that they had gathered all their equipment and were on their way to find the House of Dragons when Andre saw what was giving him his uneasy feeling, one of the evil prince's sorcerers.

"How did you find us?" Andre inquired, as if he didn't know that local guides are just about always used by Prince Vince to lure his enemies into traps. But the sorcerer didn't say a single word, we just banished Andrea to the Land Behind the Shattered Glass.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Curly knocked Andre unconscious so she and the magician could report back to Prince Vince that his plan was underway.

When Andre finally awoke it was the middle of the night and he had no idea where he was, making him only slightly better off than Andrea. After the prince's minions in the Glass world found Andrea, they took her to their compound and chained her to a wall.

However, news travels quickly in this realm and she only had to endure 6 hours of interrogation before the G2 (Gang of Two) came to her rescue.The G2 came at once when they heard Andrea was taken captive and devised a plan to break her out. It was simple, but would be more dangerous than anything they'd ever tried before. The plan basically consisted of creeping into the compound in the middle of the night with only a slice of bacon to keep the guard dogs busy and acting like statues if they were seen.

99% crazy, 99.9% luck, but somehow they managed to pull it off.

After their amazing escape the G2 and Andrea made their way to the boundary between our world and the Glass World. It took almost a week, but they finally made it. They'd walked all day and night with only 3 minutes of sleep, which they did in rotation so as to never be left with their guard down. As one can imagine, they were exhausted when they finally got to the Wall and just collapsed (why no one chose the chair is beyond me).

All the while, back in our world Andre had managed to make it all the way back to civilization. After searching high and low for a crazy one-eyed witch doctor that could bring Andrea and her posse back, he finally found one and had JUST enough tokens to pay for her services.

They celebrated yet another run in with the prince's stooges by stopping by the royal dessert shoppe where they planned their next step...