Would you like relish with that?

So Target and I have a very love/hate relationship.... I looooove to shop there and my bank account hates me for it. I have bought the most bizarre things that I never knew I needed until stepping through their doors. It's also a great place to find cheap toasters when you set yours on fire. But I digress. My favorite aisle in Target by far is their doggie aisle. Some of moose's cuter toys have come from target (for example, his stuffed beer mug that says "Bark Brew". I mean, seriously, how funny is that??)

You cannot even begin to understand my excitement when last year around this time of year my mom and I were shopping and we found a moose doggie costume. Yes, I dressed moose as a moose for Halloween. It. was. fabulous.

So anyways, you combine one of my favorite holidays with my favorite target aisle and it's just happiness all around. So let me tell you how excited I was when I rounded the corner yesterday and saw the doggy costumes. Prominently displayed on their little endcap... beckoning me from the frozen foods. And no surprise here, Target did not disappoint. I mean, they had lobster costumes, the obligatory witch costumes.... all sorts. So, ladies and gents, let me introduce the moose-man, delightfully modeling his look for Halloween '08. (okay, so maybe not delightfully, maybe more along the lines of extremely annoyed and pissed, but regardless delightfully makes for a better intro....) Ta da!!

HOW GREAT IS THAT?? Okay, okay, so maybe it's a little cliche, but how could I resist?? And he's made with mustard!! Just how his mama likes it. It's a little top heavy and if you don't situate it just right the ties kinda hinder his manhood, but all and all, I would say it was a big success. It's the little things in life, right?? :)

ps- doesn't he look irritated? I swear one of these days he's gonna turn all pitbull on me and bite my ear off... or maybe a toe. That's probably a more likely situation. Unless he had a trampoline. Or a stepladder.

THANK YOU DALLAS!!

So this is by far my new favorite hobby. Rock Band. It's the greatest invention. Ever. I'm mean on the drums, but since I am handicapped at the moment I've taken over the lead singer position. I know everyone around me is thrilled about this. Especially after a few beers. That's when I can really start hitting the high notes. (you can hear the angelic like quality of my alcohol induced singing in your head right now, can't you? I know, it's a beautiful thing.)

This is a picture Matthew took last night. I was so engrossed that I didn't even notice him taking pictures until I just plugged my phone into my computer and they popped up. I look a little "special" in this one but it was the best action shot out of them. Alex did really well for being slightly new to the phenomenon. The foot pedal was throwing her off a little, but in her defense it was like 3 in the morning.

If you haven't tried it, you should. I rave about it so much that when my dad went to pick up his Wii, he bought Rock Band as well. Christmas is going to be fun at the Walker house this year!! Maybe they'll come out with a Christmas song list by then. Can't you just see all of us belting out "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" on Christmas Eve after a few too many glasses of Eggnog? I'm getting giddy just thinking about it!

The Wizard of Oz.... er, Ads

As most of you know, I've been going down to Austin every few months or so to go to classes at the Wizard of Ads, more affectionately known as "the cult". (for some reason they don't find that so funny down here, although they do say it's a common problem they have... hmm....)

Since most people think it's a little odd when they hear me talk about staying here for three days, I thought I would post a few pictures of the campus so you could see what it's all about. Above is Tuscan Hall where the classes are held.

Here is the Englebrecht House, the 14-room student "dorm". The only thing remotely dorm-like about the place is that the rooms don't have tv's. The beds are so incredibly comfy.

Here's another picture of the area around Tuscan Hall. He built the steps leading to the classroom on purpose. According to Roy, taking the steps down on the way into the classroom represents humility and surrendering your mind, and when you leave you are walking up the steps symbolizing growth and higher levels of knowledge. See?? I told you it was a cult! ;)

About to leave for Vegas, but just wanted to wish the birthday girl a happy day! See you in a few hours at the blackjack table!!

More birthdays!!

I just wanted to wish my wonderful father (or Bossdad as I've decided to affectionately rename him) a very happy 56th birthday!! He is much more low-maintenance than my mom... he said all he wants for his birthday is an iphone. ;)

All kidding aside, he is actually being very low maintenance this birthday. We had another birthday in the office yesterday and he said not to worry about getting him a cake that we could just scrape "Laura" off the half that was leftover from her cake and put a fresh candle in it.

Happy Birthday, dad! I hope you have a wonderful day! Thank you for being a fantastic mentor at work and a wonderful dad! Love you!

ps- the above picture if from Chi-O dad's weekend at Tech. My dad took it upon himself to pretend he was in college again and take all the other dads down with him. Those test tubes don't have water in them, people, that's all I'm sayin'.

My new accessory...

So here is my newest accessory. I've had it for about a week and while I've gotten fairly used to it in that time it's still very, very frustrating. Here is my list of annoyances so far:

1) It's black. Since I am not only white, but albino-ish white this proves to be very conspicuous.

2) It's long. I broke my hand, not my femur or tibia or whatever that long arm bone is. I really don't see the necessity in the to-the-elbow cast.

3) Gallon size ziplock baggy. Need I say more? This is my constant companion while showering, going to the lake, doing my synchronized diving, etc. (okay so I don't really synchronize dive... I've obviously been taking in a little olympics lately and seriously, how cool is that event??)

4) I'm not gonna lie, it's getting a teensy bit stinky. This is probably due to the fact that a) I haven't washed my left arm in a week and b) I spilled a little scotch down inside of it on Thursday when I was fixing my Bossdad a drink at work.

5) I have not one, but two signatures. Yes, signatures. With sharpie. I was very adamantly against this, but you combine a social setting with people I'm not used to, easy access to writing utensils to mark your glass of wine, and consuming a glass too many of said wine and all of a sudden I have people surrounding me pens in hand, and I, for some reason, feel bad saying no. So now I'm broken and tacky.

There is, however, one good element to it. Whenever Matthew is being difficult, I sneak up behind him and knock him with it right on the funny bone. He doesn't seem to think this is very funny, but I do! :) And it makes me feel better. Misery loves company, right? And that's what he gets for telling people the reason for my injury is that I "didn't listen the first time". So much for promising Dr. Jill I wouldn't use it as a weapon!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!

I just wanted to wish my beautiful mom a very happy birthday! She is 52 today, but it's not unusual for people to ask us if we're sisters when we go out. I have her to thank for my love of birthdays and of course, instilling the fact that it is not a birthDAY it's a birthWEEK. I know both my dad and matthew really love this part of the celebration. :)

To celebrate we went to Sevy's last night for dinner and today I'm taking moose to Plano to wish her a happy birthday and help her pick out paint colors. They are in the middle of renovating their house which led her to proclaim fairly dramatically earlier in the week... "I'm just too BUSY to have a birthday!" I hope you have a great day mom, love you!!

Just for kicks, here is my favorite birthday picture of her. I don't think she could have possibly been happier... wine in one hand, chocolate in the other!