Take the dog to work day

For me, lots of days are "take the dog to work" days - it's one of the best things about this job. Other people get smoke breaks - I get dog walking breaks, and in the spring, he provides a welcome excuse to enjoy the nice weather (when we occasionally have nice weather). As you can see, he does a lot to contribute around here:

Although apparently he does not appreciate having his picture taken:

He didn't actually make any effort to get up and avoid the pictures, but I think those eyes show plenty of disapproval.

The best summer beauty tip

I know everyone loves summer - the warm weather means more to do outside, more chances to sit poolside, and longer daylight hours. However, summer also means more humidity, and if you're like me, that means more frizzy hair and more oily/shiny skin.

Well, last summer the makeup artist I used for our wedding introduced me to the BEST product for oily skin that I have ever encountered: MAC Pressed Blot Powder.
This stuff works miracles. No joke. Simply roll the pad around your finger, roll it on the powder, and roll the powder off on your skin - no more shine. It doesn't smear or remove your make up like oil blotting sheets do. It saved our photos on our wedding day, and it's saved me for many afternoon meetings and evening events.

It's more $ than I usually invest in make up (about $25 as I recall) but it's worth it - I've used it all year and barely made a dent in it, so I know it will last. If you're looking for a way to tackle summer's oily skin, I would highly recommend it!

we must have terrible taste...

in TV shows! I just found out this morning that one of our new favorite shows is getting canceled - The Chicago Code. It was a cop show about Chicago and I thought it was pretty good. It wasn't a procedural, so each show was related to the ones before it, and the characters were more unique/less cheesy than a lot of other cop shows. Plus, it's always fun to see my home town get some air time.

But alas, after next week's two hour season finale, The Chicago Code will be no more. Sadly, this is the 3rd show we started watching this year that has subsequently been canceled (the other two were Lights Out on FX about a boxer, and Detroit 187, another cop show). Since most of our man-approved shows are gone, we're going to have to figure out something new to watch in the fall. Hopefully we can break our streak of bad luck and find a show that will stick around!

PS sorry for the extreme blogging lapse. I'll try to be better this month :)

Our national budget crisis

I know not everyone's lives revolve around the political scene like mine does, but if you've been watching the news at all this week, you've probably seen that our country is debating two major budget issues right now.

The first is the budget for the remainder of 2011, often referred to as the Continuing Resolution, or CR. The current CR funds the government through this Friday, and if the Senate does not take action and an agreement is not reached, the government will shut down. Lots of federal employees will stop getting paid, including our troops. Bad news.

However, to be quite honest, that is not the biggest issue on the table right now. Yesterday Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee and Republican Congressman from Wisconsin, released his much-anticipated 2012 budget, a document he's calling the "Pathway to Prosperity". For the first time, someone is proposing a plan to start paying off our national debt by reforming the major entitlement programs: Medicare and Medicaid.

But Ryan's budget does much more than address our debt - it proposes a way to save these entitlement programs for future generations, including us. People currently receiving benefits from these programs would not be affected - seniors need not fear. Instead, this is a chance for seniors to get behind a plan that will save these programs not only for their children, but their grandchildren as well.

If you want to read/watch/hear more about Ryan's plan, here are a few good links:

Full Budget, Summary, Key Facts, and a video from Ryan

Ryan's Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal

Politco Op-Ed focusing on Medicare

Radio Interview with Roskam on both budget issues

I don't usually post political stuff on here because politics can be a sensitive issue for a lot of people, but this is too important not to pass along for discussion. Just imagine a future where international debates over the security of the dollar are over, our country is paying off it's national debt, and you and I would actually see benefits in our old age. Without reforms like these, that future is impossible.

The Big Chop

Yesterday afternoon I made a major life change...well maybe not major, but definitely a life change. I cut my hair! And not just a trim....I cut off almost 8 inches! Here's me on Wednesday, holding my office neighbor's adorable lab puppy. As you can see, my hair is about halfway down my back:

Here's the cutting room floor:


And here's the final product:

I have to say, I feel quite liberated :) It's definitely a new look for me (I don't think my hair has ever been this short....ever) but I'm getting used to it and I'm excited/nervous to figure out how to style it myself!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today, because it's St. Patrick's Day, and because I have a husband who loves me and is going out of town for the weekend, I got a special breakfast treat - biscuits and gravy!!!

Biscuits and gravy is one of my favorites, and when paired with some delicious canadian bacon...yum :) Here is my wonderful husband hard at work in the kitchen this morning - he woke up extra early to make me breakfast before I went to work!


He even made the biscuits from scratch (i.e. from Bisquick, not the pre-made refrigerated ones) - way to go babe! And happy St. Patrick's Day everyone - especially Jennie, and I know this is one of her favorite holidays (hehehe)!

Shreddin' some pow-pow

The title of this post was the catch phrase from our first ski trip - Scott even made us t-shirts with the phrase for Christmas!

Last weekend Alex and I went skiing at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah! It was a work trip for me, but honestly it was more fun than work :) You see, I love downhill skiing - I'm not great at it, but I'm good enough that it doesn't take me too long to get back into it and really enjoy it.

Alex learned to ski for the first time in December when we went with my family for Christmas, so this was the big test to see how much of his skiing knowledge he retained. As it turned out, he did great! He got back into it really quickly and we were skiing some tough blue runs in no time.

Here we are on at the end of the second day - the first day was sunny and beautiful, and the second was snowy. The first had better views, the second had better powder - I liked that we got a little of both!

You'll notice we're both wearing really attractive helmets - I skied with a helmet for the first time at Christmas and I will never go back to a hat, no matter how ridiculous we look with our giant heads that require giant helmets. They're safer AND warmer AND they keep the goggles from giving me a headache. Yay for helmets!

We can't wait to go again next year - although I'm psyched for summer to come, I'm sad to say goodbye to skis for the season!