The Besties

I know Christmas was a long time ago. Nearly two whole weeks. But I'm still thinking about it, maybe because somewhere in my brain I'm just dying to tell you all about it. Besides, I'm still on my Christmas vacation - I get one more week, and then back to school for the rest of my life. So it still feels like holiday-time to me. But don't let me get ahead of myself.

I'm giving out Bestie Awards for all the best moments of this finals month/Christmas vacation. Not of all time, just this year. I sort of started already with the Best Moment of the Bowl Season, but there are so many more! Ready? Here goes. Oh, by the way, somehow adding pictures makes the blog go all wonky. It's because Blogger is so $^&#*@* lame and makes me want to go on all kinds of face-punching sprees. Would it be so hard to make the picture go where the cursor goes? Seriously?? And what in Sam Hill do I have to do to get the spacing the way I want it? By the way, do you know what's funny? Blogger works better in Internet Explorer than Google Chrome...

Anyway...here goes, for reals.

Best December Discovery

So I may have mentioned this to you (I've been mentioning it a lot), but did you know you can stream Netflix Watch Instantly movies and tv shows through your X-Box 360??? I knew buying Chris that video game system was going to pay off someday. We have probably watched every episode of The Office three times since we made this fabulous discovery. Plus lots of movies, The A-Team, McGyver, Airwolf (did NOT stand the test of time, FYI), The Facts of Life, and tons more throwbacks to our misspent youths.

Best Husband

Duh. I really wouldn't have made it through this finals season without him - I'd probably still be in the library, crying. He was up every morning making me coffee, driving up to the library to bring me food and make sure I was ok, keeping me supplied with snacks and drinks, giving me backrubs, nursing me through my neck death, and just generally being supportive and encouraging when I wanted to die (which was almost always). And then he bragged about me to everyone he met. But that was just finals - he is also the best all-around human being on the planet. Fun, funny, handsome, and unquestionably does the best Christmas concert, ever.

Best Work Day

This is sort of a trick question. Because of the way all the holidays fell this year, and because I only go in to work on Thursdays and Fridays, yesterday was my first day at work since December 20th. Almost three weeks! Excepting the Rose Parade party, which is technically work but is not the same as a work day. One work day in three weeks? That's a pretty sweet gig. :) Have I ever mentioned I love my job?

Best Christmas Quote

Mom: We should do Christmas in New York next year!
Wonderful Little Sister (WLS): Yeah, Mom, we're rich. Hey, we should do Christmas on the moon next year!

Best Christmas Song


Without question, Alvin and the Chipmunks singing "Christmas Don't Be Late." Ok, I know it's a little annoying, but the way Alvin warbles hooooooola hooooop cracks me up every time. This is not actually a song I heard a lot in my childhood - somehow, my Mozart and Beethoven-loving father couldn't get his mind around singing chipmunks - but it's become a favorite anyway. What can I say? I still want a hula hoop.

Best Christmas Present

This is actually a tough one, not because we got so many millions of amazing presents, but because it was a really lean Christmas for us, so we had to make every little penny count. You might think that's lame, but it turned out to be wonderful, because it means you spend a lot of time making sure the gifts you give are special instead of just scattering hundreds of dollars on things you think someone might like. Not to mention it's hard to say whether one gift is better than another. (Well, in most instances anyway. But we're not talking about worsts here, we're talking about bests.) So with that, I got a lot of really special gifts this year, but I think the one that yielded the most immediate enjoyment was the hockey tickets for the Ducks-Flyers game last Friday. We got to go with Chris' parents, the seats were incredible, and the game was exciting. Lots of scoring, a couple of fights, overtime, and a shoot-out. I love hockey :)

Best Birthday Outing

I got to hang out with my WLS, who was home for Christmas from Hawaii (jerk), and we got up at what felt like the crack of dawn to hit up the sample sales in the Garment District in LA. Yay for a Saturday birthday (sample sale day)! Then she flew back to Hawaii and I went home to gloat over all my great deals :)

Best (Game Result) Moment of the Bowl Season, Part II

USC killing Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Of course.

Best Pig-Shaped Birthday Present

This one is actually a tie between the pig key-cover Veronica gave me and the singing piggy bank Grandma Frances gave me. They are both incredibly awesome :) The piggy bank is NOT driving my husband crazy. At all.

Best Bowl Picking Streak

I went 9-0 with my first nine bowl picks. I was ranked 23rd (out of however many thousands of people playing the FoxSports.com contest) and had these dreams of winning the whole contest and going to next year's national championship game. Those dreams? Crushed when Air Force couldn't muster enough juice against Houston. I finished 18-8, which is still respectable, and got me...5,135th place. Lame. But, I correctly picked Utah to beat Alabama (take that, Nick Saban), Oregon to beat Oklahoma State, and Iowa over South Carolina when hardly anyone else did, so that made me feel ok.

Best Video Game Day

Stef came down to visit us and we played Candy Factory on the Wii until we thought our heads were going to explode, and we finished the game! Sort of anti-climactic, since you think you're working toward the Candy Cup, and then you get to the end only to find out that the big reward at the finale is...qualifying for the Candy Cup? What??

Best New Recipe

Seriously? Drop what you're doing and make this bean dip, rightnow. Not that you can make anything rightnow in a crock pot, but you know what I mean. And you can feel free to use as much cheese as you want, it makes it better :)

Best Commercial That I'm Dying to See on The Soup

If you haven't seen this commercial for Heat Surge heaters yet, you simply must. If you're feeling adventurous, play a drinking game where you take a shot every time the narrator says the word "Amish."

Best (Hated Coach) Moment of the Bowl Season, Part III

Bob Stoops of Oklahoma looking like he's about to throw a full on screaming, crying, terrible-twos temper tantrum when his team failed, yet again, to win a BCS Championship game. No question, this moment was delicious. If only it would have been possible for Florida wonder-child Tim Tebow to win the game but for Florida coach Urban Meyer to lose...that would have been a perfect night.

Best Link I Just Found

Emily Dickinson: An Oerview

That's intentional, right? An Oerview? I certainly hope so.