Chris and Kelly's British Dictionary

Please note: I plan on updating this post frequently as we continue to play our little game. I started this post quite a long time ago but I just saved the draft, I didn't post it, but that also made me almost forget that I started writing it, so I'm posting it now and adding more to it later.

I consider myself a very lucky lady because I'm married to someone I get along with so well. We have little code words and play little games and no one knows what's going on (unless we've let you in on some of our games, especially the people-watching games). Every once in a while we add a game to our list. Our most recent game has created lots of laughs and some lighthearted competition :)

We went to England in April and realized that although they speak English there, it's quite different from the English we use here. Some of their words and phrases are downright funny! We occasionally use some of the words we learned when we were there, but we added fuel to our British fire when we realized that we could watch Top Gear, a show we fell in love with in England, on BBC America. Sometimes they use phrases that we heard when we were there. Sometimes they use phrases we've never heard, but are decidedly English. So our new game is to use as many English words/phrases in regular conversation as possible. We also award a point if you use the British pronunciation of a word that is the same "in American." Here are some words that we have used:

"It's gone all pear-shaped"
Petrol
Simultaneously (the "i" is pronounced like the "i" in "pig")

How we wasted a Saturday...

~Threw the bikes on the rack and drove to Buffalo
~Went to HSBC Arena for the Sabres scrimmage
~Heard them play "Better Now" by Collective Soul in its entirety during intermission
~Left the game halfway through the third period to get a jump on the next leg of our journey
~Found a Subway on the way to Niagara Falls and got footlongs. Ate half at the restaurant and saved half for a picnic at the falls.
~Parked at the Seneca Niagara casino and hopped on our bikes.
~Biked to Niagara Falls state park and found that it's not a bike-friendly environment with all of the pedestrians.
~Realized how inconsiderate pedestrians can be.
~Rode our bikes down stairs. Twice.
~Ate the rest of our sammies in a grassy spot by the falls while being stared at by an angry looking seagull.
~Found that if the wind blows just right, you can get really wet from the mist at the falls.
~Thought about riding our bikes across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada, but thought we should probably check out Canadian bike laws before making the journey. Decided to attempt that next spring.
~Feeling bad that we parked at the casino without patronizing the establishment, we decided to go in and gamble for a few minutes.
~Won $4 on a slot machine. Got excited.
~Took the money and ran.
~Drove down to the Boulevard Mall to waste some time until we got hungry again because we had coupons for Pizzaria Uno and really wanted to try it.
~Bought 10 pairs of socks at Gap.
~Had a nice chat with a little boy about the Sabres. Drew Stafford is his favorite.
~Headed over to Pizzaria Uno for an early dinner. I had the Spinoccoli (spinach/broccoli) pizza.
~Had a very talkative waiter. Now I think we know more about him than his own parents do.
Quite the story teller he was.
~Got said waiter to say the word "hymen."
~

Please vote for my friend's friend Zach

I met Leah in college and adored her bubbly personality and love for everyone. We didn't really hang out a lot or anything, but we were friends. We reconnected a while back on Facebook, and I was shocked to learn that she has had cancer TWICE since we graduated from St. Bonaventure 8 years ago!!! Through her battle, she has met some friends who are also living with cancer (and kicking its ass!). One of the people she has met is Zach. He is a finalist in the LiveStrong Challenge. PLEASE consider watching this video and voting for him. I know it would mean the world to Leah, Zach, and everyone who knows them!

http://www.livestrong.com/video/5023-dare-to-challenge-finalist-mhallstr4/

11:30am

I really want a cookie

I get really drained at work. I feel great at home in the morning, and I have breakfast every day. But then I get to work and all I can think about is eating. Over the summer I made some yummy cookies--I combined the best of two recipes, and came up with a cookie that I love, and besides the butter and sugar, they're fairly healthy (I use oatmeal, wheat germ, flax seed meal, coconut, and a few chocolate chips). I know I shouldn't eat them, but I make them every once in a while, and lately I just crave them in the morning! (Let me just say that whenever I crave something or I'm nauseous, people start speculating, and I can't even begin to tell you how annoying that is, so don't even say it. You know what I'm talking about.) So anyway, I'm down to my last cookie, and I wanted to eat it before 9am, but I've held off so far. And tonight I have to figure out if I want to make more or if I just need to suck it up and try to ignore the cravings. When I ignore my cravings, though, I feel really droopy and can barely make it through the day. I need to come up with some yummy (and affordable) snack ideas...things that I can bring to work to keep me from trying to eat everything in sight.

10:11am

The knee is ok-yay!

I had my follow up appointment for my knee today. I had my MRI last Monday. The Dr. said everything looks fine, and he cleared me for most activities as long as they're comfortable, so that's good news. I was sure I'd need surgery, just from the type and location of the pain, but he said no, so I'm good to go! I guess I'm just going to have to push myself a little more and work on strengthening my knee. When the weather turns bad, we'll join the gym again, so that will give me more ways to get exercise--I'll have access to bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, stair steppers, and weight machines. I really, really, really need to force myself to do yoga, though. That always makes me feel better, but at the same time, I find it a little boring and sometimes I just don't have the energy for it. Or the time. Which reminds me, I really need to do a load of laundry.

Steve and Lacie's house burned down

My mother in law just called and said that my brother-in-law's house burned down. The power was off in Cincinnati due to the wind storm last night, and when it came back on, there was a spark, and their house (a trailer) caught on fire and burned to the ground. No one was home, but they lost both of their cats and all of their belongings. Steve is a musician, so I imagine he lost all of his instruments and recording equipment. Any music lovers out there can imagine how devastating that must be!

I feel so bad because they don't have a lot, but they work very hard to pay their bills and take care of their one-year-old daughter, Avah Marie. They've had a lot of bad luck, and this is obviously a life-altering tragedy.

More details later. Thanks for reading.

Remembering 9/11, Twitter, Garlic Festival

I'm in a good mood today, but I'm kind of somber, too, as I remember the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. I'm sure many people have the same thoughts I'm having right now...they remember how they felt that day, where they were, how they found out, and how their lives were changed. I even remember what I was wearing that day! I think that the attacks temporarily made Americans a little more aware, and a little more thankful. As we remember what happened seven years ago, I hope that everyone takes a minute to think of what it means to be an American, and to appreciate and accept the people around them, and to always do the right thing, even if that choice is the more difficult one.
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I've been using Twitter since this summer, and I'm surprised to find that I'm meeting some very cool new people on there!
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I guess I didn't get much blogging done today. Most of my thoughts seem to leave my head before I can write about them.
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This weekend I'm going to Cuba for the garlic festival. I think this is the fourth year of the event, and my parents are in charge of parking, so I get to go back to my hometown and work the whole weekend. Part of me is excited to go down there, but the other part of me is really wishing I could stay home, do housework, sleep in until 7am in my own bed, and spend time with Chris. But now I actually need to go and pack for the weekend. It's probably going to rain, which is going to mean I'll be very wet, dirty, and uncomfortable.

Rob and Em's wedding

Chris and I just spent the weekend with some of our best friends for a very special occasion. Rob Tyrrell, our close friend from college, got married on Friday. That was one of those weddings that we just couldn't miss. Even though I had to take two days off during the first week of school!

We left on Thursday morning so that we could make it to the rehearsal at Rosary Chapel at Dominican College at 5:00. (I used "at" too many times, I know.) Chris was an usher at the wedding. So we rehearsed, then we went to the Clarksville Inn for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious meal with Rob and Emily's close friends and family. We stayed until well after 10pm (which is late for us!) talking to people, many of whom we had never met before that night.

The next morning we picked up Rob and took him to breakie at a little diner. Two of Rob's other friends met us there. We had a nice time hearing stories about times that Rob and his friends spent together when they were younger.

I'm sure I'll add to this story later, but I just have to mention the picture I'm posting below. This is the Bonaventure Crew who attended the wedding--Terri Hammond, Matt Hammond, Justin Behan (his wife Tracy couldn't make it, but she wouldn't have been in the pic anyway because she didn't go to Bonas), me (in my strapless dress that I'm realizing didn't look very good on me), Chris, Rob, and Emily (who didn't attend Bonaventure, either, but she's allowed in the pic because she's the bride).

More later!

Why is healthy food so expensive and junk food so cheap?

One thing I'm learning about work--I have to take food with me. And I'm talking a LOT of food. Whenever I'm there, I'm starving, and that keeps me from concentrating. I took some salad, but that wasn't much of a "meal." Problem is that I have no clue what to pack to take with me. I can't believe how expensive food is. And you know what makes me mad? You can get all kinds of junky food super cheap, but the most expensive foods are fruits and vegetables! What gives?

Chris bought a half-pound of lunch meat over the weekend. He got lean turkey, but I still kind of consider that junk food because of all of the processing and preservatives that goes into making that loaf that they slice up. I looked at the price--it was a little over $3 for that half pound bag, which equals a week's worth of lunches for him. I often buy strawberries to put into smoothies, but now that they're not local anymore, they're $3 for a one-pound container at the cheapest place I've found them! I get about two smoothies out of a pound of strawberries, but I also mix it with kale (yes, that green leafy stuff) and apples or bananas. (I also don't cut the leaves off the top of the strawberries--I blend them into my smoothie for even more greens :) So one of the healthiest things I could eat is also one of the most expensive things to eat. I shouldn't feel guilty about eating FRUIT, but it kills me to spend so much of our food budget on that stuff.