It's a joyous day.

Today marks the birth of the man I married.

Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet MD!

What's "Up"?

I am contemplating getting a bikini wax for our big trip to Vegas. It just seems like a vacation kind of thing to do. I've had one before, so I went to the website of that place and something struck me as odd. It says, "bikini wax: $25 and up". The "up" part threw me. Why isn't it just one price? Where exactly do the "up" charges come in? Do they take a look at you and say, "What you got goin' on there will cost you $30"? I'm just curious to know how that decision is made. And how do I ensure that I pay only $25 and not upward of $25?

Incidentally, a Brazilian wax is $60 and up.

"Madness" Update.

Currently I am in second place in the husband's work NCAA tournament pool. Go me!

In my mom's office pool, I think I'm hanging out at around 70th place. Whoops.

Hi Everybody!

I said I would say it, and I did.

It was SO fun meeting and chatting with the fellow bloggers on Friday night! It was pretty cool. Wouldn't it be great if we set up a larger convention for all those on Blogger to gather? Much like the Star Trek Convention that some likened our evening to. I say the first meeting should be on Maui.

Two Pretzels sure knows a lot of fun and friendly people! And now we all know each other, at least in the Bloggical sense :)


(I love popcorn.)

Competitive much?

I don't like basketball. I ex-pecially hate the NBA. I can usually tolerate this "maddening" college tournament to a certain extent. By that I mean I can usually get into the final half of the final game, if it's close. But this year I've decided to get over myself and I actually filled out one of those brackety things. Actually I did two. Even though the only knowledge I have about basketball is what team my husband likes (Indiana) and what team my Dad likes (Kent State). Other than that, basketball is sweaty tall men with squeaky shoes to me. Sure, I played basketball in sixth and seventh grade so I know the jist, but I'm guessing their objective is more than to make it past the half court line. But I could be way off.

Now that I have a vested interest, I cannot wait til the first game to find out how I did. My mom's and husband's co-workers are gonna feel like horse's asses when they see what they're up against. I didn't pick based on strategy because I have none. I chose based on the "feeling" I got from the team names. I'm sure I'll do awesome.

House Hunting for Idiots.

Thanks to my born again love for HGTV, I have discovered two things about homeowners and those looking for a home:

• EVERYONE loves to entertain. Just once I'd like to hear someone say, "Eh, make the kitchen smaller, I don't want people all up in my biznaz when I'm cooking."

• EVERYONE thinks it's funny to joke about there only being closet space in the master bedroom for the woman. I often hear, "This is great for me, but where's your stuff gonna' go? Then they laugh like they are the first person to ever say that and I roll my eyes.

My addiction to this channel is serious. If I can find a way to get Candice Olsen to my house, I'd have a project or two for her to tackle. Her talent is phenomenal.

End of an Era.

I found my first gray hair yesterday.

I didn't like it. It was taunting me, hanging out in the front of my head and all. Where every time I looked in the mirror it was staring back at me. Laughing.

So I did the only logical thing, I had my husband yank it out of my head. Then I took it, felt its courseness, weeped over the loss of my youth and then spiked it to the ground, cocky football player style.

Let that be a lesson to all of your friends who are sitting up there waiting to sprout.

A montage without pictures.

Today marks my 5-year anniversary at my job. It's unreal. It's been quite the half decade. In honor of this day, I'm going to reflect on the last 5 years of my life. Because I so love montages, this will be a montage, just without photos. Imagine the Green Day song, "Hope you had the time of your life" in your head as you read this.

- I was 24 when I started, now I'm staring 30 in the face.

- Bought my first home. All by myself. Learned ALL about the joys of home ownership. Many valuable lessons learned. Too many, really.

- Traveled to Baltimore for a conference and felt very adult traveling by myself for the first time.

- Met and became friends with my co-worker S and we banded together against evil.

- Met 3 new friends in co-workers K, K and J. Shared many, many laughs together and developed wonderful friendships.

- Gave up trying to find The One. Seemed hopeless. Thankfully I had great friends and a house to focus on.

But wait...

- Thanks in part to K, met a lovely man by the name of MD. He seemed nice. We had quite a bit in common. And he has a great dog. Didn't much care for dogs, until I met this one.

- Traveled with my Mom to my Grandparent's Daytona Beach condo after not having been there in 15 years. It was pretty emotional, I have a lot of fun memories of that place.

- Kept talking to that MD guy. Was really starting to like him. He liked to go places and do fun things. Loved that. We made some trips to Chicago, one of my favorite cities.

- Met some of MD's friends and family members. Awesome people.

- Attended my first NFL game, live. Always wanted to do that.

- Went to Whitewater, Wisconsin with MD. Thought I would go to get some yummy cheese, and came home with a beautiful engagement ring! Cried.

- Met another new friend/co-worker A.

- Bought a wedding dress!

- Made another trip to the Daytona Beach condo. This time with the fiance.

- Traveled to New York with MD and the D's. Nothing better than a road trip with your man and your best friend.

- Fulfilled my dream of attending the Late Show with David Letterman. Got to sit in the front row! Cried.

- Thanks to my parents, had the most beautiful wedding a girl could ask for. And thanks to my new husband, had the most perfect day a girl could dream of. Cried.

- Officially became an aunt. And a "mom". And a sister. And owner of a second home. (Still have the first home. It's for sale if anyone wants to buy it. It is cu-ute.)

- Thanks again to my parents and mother-in-law, fulfilled another dream and traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii. Many wonderful memories were made on that trip. Flew first class for the first (and probably last) time ever.

- Celebrated our first Christmas together as a married couple.

- Cried.

Wow. Who knew so much could happen in 5 years? I guess life is what happens when you are sitting at your desk being a Marketing Coordinator.

I need more.

Damn those Girl Scouts for making their delectable deliciousnesses only once a year. Why someone hasn't stolen the recipe for those Samoas and started mass producing them, I'll never know.