Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

I love that The Rock was in my choices! Evangeline and Sofia came up for a couple other pictures of me too. If The Rock came up for other pictures I would start to worry. :)

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free genealogy

New Car!

Well, not really new. More like a makeover, a new used car.

I had a big service coming up and needed new tires, new timing belt, and new water pump. So I dropped off the car and asked them to fix it up and give it a nice detailing job. Then I spent a week in North Carolina visiting with Jami and Tom & Kris. When I got home I had a new-ish car waiting for me! I think it looks great and it smells nice. Not that it smelled bad before.

Landscaping 101

I decided to redo the landscaping around our house. I upgrades the existing beds and created some new ones. I think I did pretty well. I still have more to do in the backyard and side yard.

Crawfish

Natalie and Chris hosted a crawfish boil this weekend. We have never had crawfish before, so we were excited about trying something new.

The crawfish arrived via FedEx Sat morning (alive and kickin').

All of the crawfish survived the trip. No dead ones in the batch.

They smelled great the whole time they were cooking. Creole seasonings helped to season them to perfection!

Doesn't it look delicious?
Mmm mmm.

It's hard work getting the meat out, but it was tasty!

Microwave This!!!!

I completed all the requirements in Toastmasters to get the award that my workplace gives out. With the money I am buying some trees for the yard and an over the range microwave. The award money was sent to me today and I immediately spent some of it on the microwave. Jason helped to install it after work today. I can't wait to use it tomorrow! She's a beauty.

It's a Girl

Jason has been brewing beer with his buddies for a while now. The latest batch is Hibiscus Ginger Saison. Today he transferred the beer to the secondary and is was pink!!!

It's a girl beer!

Comparison of Bo and Chewy

The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog as their family pet. Chewy is a bit bummed out since he was hoping they would get a Goldendoodle. Both dogs look very similar. Chewy has been mistaken for a PWD before. Below are some photos so you can compare the two.

Caribbean Vacation Success!

We just enjoyed a wonderful week in the Caribbean with friends!

Jason and I just finished a week long Western Caribbean cruise on the Independence of the Seas. We had a great time! As an added bonus, were able to enjoy it with friends.

Here are some pictures and a link to more.

http://picasaweb.google.com/christineduffy

Everyone got dressed to the 9's for formal dinner.

Jason and I attempted to climb the rock wall.
Jason got 3/4 of the way up, I got about 1/2 way up.

We attempted to boogie board, which is hard work.


Here we are in Costa Maya. We had to skip this port due to water conditions.

Here we are enjoying the Maya Ruins in Tulum Mexico.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulum

And we caught the beautiful sunset on the last evening on the ship.

Here are some pictures from the other couples that went with us.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=345815017/a=26690983_12514337/t_=26690983

http://picasaweb.google.com/schoeff

Twitter

For those of you that use (or are interested in) Twitter you can follow me at http://twitter.com/DarthStrom. I can't promise frequent updates, but I thought this would be a good place to let people know I have an account.

Restaurant Week: March 9th - 15th

I like to visit a blog called Columbus Foodie. She talks about restaurants around central Ohio. She recently posted about an upcoming event that I think sounds very interesting.

Dine Originals Columbus’s Inaugural Restaurant Week!
42 restaurants offer a special fixed-price menu for one week (March 9th to 15th), for either $15 or $30. The restaurants vary from casual to fine dining so you can try out restaurants you've never been to or visit a favorite of yours.

I think I'll try to get out and visit one of these during that week. It's highly recommended that you make a reservation if you plan to dine in. Carryout is available for some of the restaurants - confirm that yourself if you plan to try that option.

What happens in Texas.....

Is posted on this blog! :)

We visited the Fort Worth Zoo!

Then after lunch we went to a fun center and played pool, bowled, and had some air hockey matches.

Sunday was the BIG day. Jim and Tara looked wonderful.

Before we left we made sure to see the new Dallas Cowboys stadium and have some Texas Dr. Pepper that is made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

Elijah

Elijah.

In the past, if I heard this name, I would imagine the actor Elijah Wood.

And if I heard the name Eli, I thought of the TV show Eli Stone.

Well something has given my brain a new image to draw up when I hear the name Elijah or Eli. It's my nephew. Jenna and Keith found out there is a little boy growing in Jenna's belly. They have decided to name him Elijah Duffy Caldwell. Now I will think of him whenever I hear those names.

I'm sure he will be cuter than either of the two Elijah's pictured above.

Winter Wonderland

LOST

If you know me, then you know I am a huge LOST fan.

The penultimate season starts tonight, aka the fifth season, on ABC. The first hour is just for recapping what has happened so far, following that are two all new episodes. So set your DVRs or watch it live with me.

Please ignore that the following image is stolen.

Surprise!

Today I had two surprises.

First, my work had an early dismissal today due to MLK Jr. day on Monday. This was great and I chose to spend the extra time getting my car serviced. w00t!

The second surprise of the day for me was not as wonderful. I can home from the car place, got the mail, put some dishes away in the kitchen, and then went to the bathroom. This is where the second surprise occurred - I know what you are thinking and don't worry I'm not going there :) The surprise was that a quarter of the toilet paper roll was missing! I realized right away this was something Chewy must have done. When he was a puppy we gave him the empty TP roll to play with and he LOVED that. I guess he's either trying to get the toy our of the wrapping, or he is protesting his new hairdo. Now he has been out and about while we are at work for a long time and this is the first I have ever had him get into trouble like this. He usually just eats a hole in a sock or a blanket - he has never touched the toilet paper.

Look at the guilt on that face!

Note the beautiful new hair do as well!

The scene of the crime.

So now we have to make sure the bathroom door is closed during the day before we both leave the house.

Chewy's new look

Chewy got his haircut a little early this year. Usually we'd cut his hair in the late winter/early spring, but we had to do it earlier this time since he was really matting. He kept licking the mats(i think because dirt and debris were in them) till his skin got irritated, so no more hair equals no more mats. We got a lot done this evening but we still have to tackle the head. So right now he has a BIG head and tiny body. Just like a supermodel or a lion.

Water

Have you ever tried drinking the 8 glasses of water a day? I'm trying to do that this year and I hope that my body adjusts to this change soon. I'm so tired of having to go to the bathroom all the time. I feel like I'm Jenna. :)