Apparently, there's only one gator.

Unless you're a Gator fan, you will love this.  And if you happen to be from the Sunshine State, you'll wonder if this woman ever gave a speech in her quest for Congress.  I'm going with no.

{ PS - apparently, there's only one gator. }

Christmas is coming!

In my world, Christmas starts with the day after Thanksgiving.  Being a Christmas baby makes you a bit of a purist.  It's not special if it's here all the time!

So, since today is the first day I'll allow myself to start Christmas-ing { even if we're in Ft. Myers and it's 85* outside }, I thought I'd share a little something to get you in the Christmas spirit.  Elf Yourself is back!

It was a tough call, but of course we went for the hip hop one.  That's how we roll.  Besides, Spencer does the coffee grinder AND the worm!

Let the Christmas-ing begin...

Giving Thanks

As I sit here with my laptop, it's 83* outside.  I'm overlooking palm trees, a lake and a golf course, while my family is at Reagan National Airport flying back through the fog from DC.  Sort of reminds me of what it was like to grow up down here.  It's my first Thanksgiving with the in-laws in Florida, and the long drive was great time for reflection on all that I have to be grateful for.

I'm thankful to have been blessed with such fantastic parents.  Yes, they drive me absolutely bananas sometimes, but to be honest I love it.  I'm more like them each and every day. { There are even moments when Spencer and I are driving somewhere and I hear myself say, "Honey, why on earth did you turn HERE?!?" and I realize that I'm well on my way to becoming my mother. Heaven help us all. }

{ Aloha. }

I'm thankful for my sister.  Kates, Katiea, Maude... whatever you call her, she's the perfect complement to me.  We've been a tag team since the day she came home from the hospital in 1989 and I turned cartwheels all over the house.  { There may or may not be video of said occurrence. } And now she keeps me cool by introducing me to things like Google Video Chat and the cat { meow } flushing a toilet and the baby monkey riding backwards on a pig.

{ The team having coffee with Emily Giffin }

I'm thankful for my job.  In this economy, I realize that it's a serious blessing to have a job at all, much less one that you actually enjoy.  But I love my job, the people I work with, and the company that we work for.  Besides, my boss is so fabulous she arranged for us to have coffee with Emily Giffin earlier this year!

{ I'd like to go back to Hawaii.  Now sounds like a good time. }

I'm thankful that on May 8, I had the privilege of marrying my best friend.  And the thought that we get to spend the rest of our lives together... well that's about more than my little pea brain can handle.  Take it from someone who went to 9 schools before she was 18.  I've never had a friend for that long!  Here's to many, many happy years ahead.  {And sweetheart, if you want to know what I'll be like in 30 years... just go spend some time with Mom. }

{ This has nothing to do with health, but you don't want to see a picture of my leg. :) }

I'm thankful for my health.  Thankful that Dr. Benedict found the cancer before it could grow any bigger.  Thankful that they got it all.  Thankful that now we know what to look for and that if it comes back anywhere else, we know what to do.

And I'm thankful for you.  Thankful for your friendship.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth!  Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the LORD is God.  It is He who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.  { Psalm 100 }

If Handel had a Flash Mob...

If Handel had a Flash Mob { wait, should that be capitalized or not? }, this would be it. And concidentally, if this happens to me while I'm out Christmas shopping it will seriously make my day.  I would most definitely join in singing.  Guess if I want to be part of spontaneous Christmas-caroling I should shop somewhere other than Costco and TJ Maxx...

Enjoy!

Buyer Beware.

I've always said I'd rather have one nice pair of shoes that I love and wear constantly than ten cheap pair that hurt my feet and fall apart.  That, and I have champagne taste on a beer budget.  So, I love online private sale sites like RueLala and One Kings Lane, not to mention local deal mongers like Groupon and Living Social.  I have a radar for outlet malls and once even got a fabulous pair of $125 JCrew jeans for $15!  {That was in college.  And they still fit. }

All that to say... finding great things and not paying full price for them is like a sport for me.  { Athleticism is not a gift I possess. }  So when my mom found toryburch-outlet.com, I was pretty pumped.  JCrew just recently opened an online outlet, so Tory Burch having one didn't seem too out of the ordinary.  I Googled "Tory Burch" and, at the time, it was the top non-sponsored result.  The prices were good { $99 for what would normally be $200 shoes }, but not so outlandishly low that I was alarmed.

Take a look for yourself.  See anything sketchy?  Nope?  Neither did I.  It even links back to toryburch.com and has hi-res zoom options where you can view the merchandise in detail.

But the moment I placed my order I knew something was up.  It dawned on me that while I'm usually a size 9.5, none of the shoes I wanted had half sizes available.  A little further digging on the site and I discovered that none of their shoes come in half sizes.  Hmm.

Then my confirmation email arrived, and it wasn't branded with Tory Burch.  And the "Contact Us" email?  A Gmail account.  Ouch.  So I did a little more Googling.  "Tory Burch Outlet Counterfeit." "Tory Burch Outlet Fake."  Nothing anywhere gave any indication that the website I had ordered from wasn't legit.  I even looked on toryburch.com for warnings about counterfeit merchandise and came up empty handed.

But somewhere in my gut I knew something wasn't right. { I spent half the night pacing the living room like wild woman I was so ticked.  Spencer had to convince me that we couldn't do anything about it at midnight and that maybe I should come upstairs and go to bed. }

The next day I checked our credit card statement online to see if it had gone through yet.  Sure enough it had, but so had an $8.95 International Transaction Fee.  INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTION FEE?!?  { Mad pacing resumes. }

{ They may look real... but they aren't. }

Well, that was three weeks ago.  And today, this gray taped up package arrived.  With a shipping label IN CHINESE.  Now, I bought real Tory Burch Reva flats as my "last big purchase before we get married and I know my husband isn't going to appreciate my love for $200 shoes", so one look at the hot pink and bright yellow shoebox before me said it all.  They may be good fakes, but they're still fake.

These shoes smell like they've been dipped in a caustic combination of paint thinner and permanent markers.  The boxes are poorly printed, the tissue has pink T medallions { instead of white on white like the real deal }, and what is marked as a size 9 is probably more like a 7.  Closer inspection reveals that the size markings on the inside of the shoe are in the wrong place and that the T medallion on the toe is a hair too small.  Not to mention the fact that the metal probably contains lead or something else equally as scary.  The smell is so bad I won't even bring them into my house.  I left them in the garage.

Needless to say, yours truly is on a bit of a rampage.  This is the kind of thing you buy on Canal Street, or on eBay, but not from your living room sofa.  Tonight, I disputed the charges with our credit card company, called Tory Burch { apparently they already know but haven't put anything on their website to warn consumers }, and reported it to:

• The Internet Crime Complaint Center
• International Consumer Protection & Enforcement Network
• The Federal Trade Commission
• Google { because these people are using Gmail to commit what I'm pretty sure is a crime }

So take that, sketchy international-copyright-infringing, stinky-shoe-sending creeps!  Maybe this post will show up if someone else decides they might want to buy a pair of cute shoes and Googles "Tory Burch Outlet".  The real ones are worth it.  The fakes... not so much!

The Bucket List

The quiz post from Tuesday got me thinking... I have a Bucket List.  Why not post it?  They say that goals written down are exponentially more likely to come to fruition.  I can only imagine that sharing goals with friends gives them an even higher probability of actually happening!

Some of the things on this list are big.  Some are small.  { A few would may even be considered completely normal experiences for some people. }  And they're in no particular order, other than my feeble attempts to categorize.

Travel & Experiences

• See the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall { December 2002 }
• Be on the field at Sanford Stadium { October 2005 }
• Be in a parade (October 2005)
• See an active volcano { May 2010 }
• Climb the Eiffel Tower
• Eat gelato in Italy
• See the Pyramids
• Have tea at the Plaza Hotel
• Go on a Mediterranean cruise
• Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
• Go back to Hawaii for Honeymoon II
• Swim with dolphins
• Attend my high school reunion
• Learn to ski
• Go zip lining
• See Aurora Borealis
• Run a 10K { and if that goes well… maybe a Half Marathon }
• Ride in a hot air balloon
• Visit the Great Wall of China
• See a meteor shower
• Throw a surprise party
• Start a Supper Club { Want in? Let me know! }
• Be a Disney Imagineer for a day
• Go underground at Walt Disney World
• Attend a concert at Carnegie Hall
• Watch a game at Fenway Park
• See a movie in the theater by myself

{ Checking off the field at Sanford Stadium... October 2005 }

Milestones

• Get a dog { his name will probably be Barney }
• Be a mom
• Ge a grandmother
• Pay cash for a new { or at least new to me } car
• Learn to drive a stick shift
• Pay off the mortgage
• Find a mentor
• Be a mentor
• Celebrate our 50^th Wedding Anniversary 

Creativity and Faith

• Be on television { August 2010 }
• Start a blog { August 2010 }
• Read the whole Bible
• Voiceover a cartoon
• Be an extra in a movie
• Fast { as in, not eat for a predefined period of time }
• Write a children’s book
• Take piano lessons again
• Take a cake-decorating course
• Learn to paint
• Take a photography course
• Learn calligraphy
• Have a real garden with herbs, vegetables, etc. { sadly, the little pot on our balcony doesn’t count }

So if you're up for tea at the Plaza Hotel, if you have any idea how to get voiceover work, if you know any Imagineers, or if any of these overlap with your Bucket List... you know where to find me!

"I don't dream at night; I dream all day. I dream for a living!"

- Steven Spielberg

Tag... you're it!

I love fun surprises!  On Monday, Erin { a sweet friend and fabulous old roommate who's currently living the sunny life in California } tagged me in a quiz post she wrote.  As a relative newcomer to the blog world, I've never done one of these sorts of things.  And apparently rules apply.  { Emily Post, honey.  Get with it.  I need a guidebook to this Internet etiquette thing. }

So, without further ado { and no, it's not "adieu"... that's French for "goodbye" }, let the randomness commence!

If there was an extra hour in your day, what would you spend it doing?
OK.  I'm only on question number one and this is already hard.  I can't make up my mind, so we'll go with what I'd do today.  If I had an extra hour right this very moment, I'd probably use it to bake something.  I was on the road almost every week in October, so I haven't had time lately to play with all of the fun fall recipes I want to try!

What movie have you watched the most?

If I'm honest, this one is unbelievably strange and embarrassing to admit.  Growing up in our house, we watched Mrs. Doubtfire about a hundred thousand times.  No, seriously.  We wore out the VHS tape.  And we still quote it.  { "Virginia!  Get back in your cell.  Don't make me get the fire hose!" }  I guess it's kind of like the play count on my iPod.  I haven't seen the movie in forever, but I've watched it so much in the past it's still on top.

Which is worse? Being in a place that is too loud or too quiet?
If I had to choose, I'd rather have somewhere that's too quiet than somewhere that's too loud.  I'm like a kid with shiny objects when it comes to being easily distracted.  The more I try to block something out, the more I can't seem to stop thinking about it.

Are you generally an optimist, a pessimist or a realist?
If you know me, then you already know the answer to this question. : ) Optimist.  All the way.  Here's my train of thought: everything is going to be okay because, well, I don't like the alternative!

Who is your favorite celebrity crush?
Gleek alert.  Mr. Schuester, aka Matthew Morrison.  He's just so stinkin' cute!  { But not as cute as my husband, of course. } That, and I secretly wish my life spontaneously broke out into song.

What is the top thing to do on your bucket list?
I actually have a Bucket List I've been working on for a while now.  For here, I'll go with one of no particular stature in the list, other than that I think it might be kind of unique and I'm going to need some help making it happen.  I would love to be an Imagineer at Disney for a day or a week or really just like an hour.  And I'm dying to go underground at The Magic Kingdom.  I figure I can combine the two somehow.  Does anyone know an Imagineer that might be willing to let me tag along for a day?  I'll gladly return the favor if they like Chick-fil-A! : )

Would you rather be a great photographer, dancer or singer?
When I was four, I got the greatest Christmas present ever.  { Or maybe it was a birthday present.  It's hard to keep them straight when your birthday is actually on Christmas Day.  Anyway, I digress. }  Behold, the STAR STAGE.  We're talking a working microphone, voice synthesizer, and the all-important flashing stage lights.  I played with this thing until I'd Steven-Tylered it across my fireplace "stage" one too many times and the mic would no longer attach to the base.  The living room was my arena and I thought I was Gem with the Holograms singing backup.  Suffice it to say, I wish I could sing.  I mean really sing.  I did musical theater in high school, I sing in the ensemble at church now... but I've always sort of been the backup girl. : )

Now for the fun part.  To the five friends below, now it's your turn.  Let me know if you find Emily Post or her Internet Guide to Etiquette. : )

• Katie at Gamble's Rambles
• Ashley at Healthy, Happier Bear
• Amy at All is Wells
• Courtney at Daily Tales of Sugar & Spice
• Janelle at The Sweet & Interesting Moments

And here are your questions...

• What's the last book that you read?  Was it any good?
• If you could tell your sixteen-year-old self anything, what would it be?
• What is your biggest pet peeve?
• If you were a Muppet, who would you be?
• When you were young, what did you want to be when you "grew up"? { And of course we know we're not grown up yet, are we ladies? }

3... 2... 1... go!

For the love. Vote!

I love Seth Godin's blog.  He's short, to the point, and always makes me think.  { Instead of some blogs I read where they just make me want to buy new shoes.  Or throw big dinner parties.  Or redecorate my house to throw big dinner parties while wearing new shoes.  Seth, at least, doesn't end up costing me money. }

His post this morning was quite appropriate and much along the lines of one that I had started.  You see, I'm originally from Florida { the land of the hanging chads! }, so I know votes count.  And then sometimes they recount.

But, I'm abandoning my little post in favor of his.  Seth said exactly what I wanted to, only more eloqently.  Maybe that's why he's the one that's sold hundreds of thousands of books!

Voting, Misunderstood

This year, fewer than 40% of voting age Americans will actually vote.

A serious glitch in self-marketing, I think.

If you don't vote because you're trying to teach politicians a lesson, you're tragically misguided in your strategy. The very politicians you're trying to send a message to don't want you to vote. Since 1960, voting turnouts in mid-term elections are down significantly, and there's one reason: because of TV advertising.

Political TV advertising is designed to do only one thing: suppress the turnout of the opponent's supporters. If the TV ads can turn you off enough not to vote ("they're all bums") then their strategy has succeeded.

The astonishing thing is that voters haven't figured this out. As the scumminess and nastiness of campaigning and governing has escalated and the flakiness of candidates appears to have escalated as well, we've largely abdicated the high ground and permitted selfish partisans on both sides to hijack the system.

Voting is free. It's fairly fast. It doesn't make you responsible for the outcome, but it sure has an impact on what we have to live with going forward. The only thing that would make it better is free snacks.

Even if you're disgusted, vote. Vote for your least unfavorite choice. But go vote.

Here's to our "least unfavorite" candidates!