#8: Living the PANELIFE

Shane and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary in December and he got me the most amazing gift...with a little help from our friends at PANELIFE, of course :) 

Shane's fraternity brother and our ex-roommate John loves woodworking, and his girlfriend Ashley is a wonderful graphic designer, so it's no surprise that their new business has taken off like crazy. They started off doing a craft show one weekend last fall and I think they've done a show just about every weekend since then! 

I had absolutely no idea what Shane had in mind for a gift. I figured it would be something wood, which is the traditional fifth anniversary gift, but had no idea it would be so cool and so us. In fact, this was a custom design. Shane gave Ashley some ideas and she knocked it out of the park. 

But that wasn't all. John and Ashley threw in a little surprise gift for us and I just love it...a custom leash holder for Charlie and Sheldon!!!

The little Maltese and Westie cutouts are too precious. Charlie and Sheldon have definitely caught on, when mom or dad walks over there, that means they get to go for a walk! We had been looking for a solution for their leashes but hadn't been able to find something fun enough to match our style. It's like John and Ashley read our minds.

Here you can see the owl panel and the leash holder happy in their new home. Sorry for the terrible lighting here, we're still working on adequately lighting our living room (no overhead lighting at all), but just trust me when I say they look so wonderful in person. 

I am so happy that John and Ashley's business has taken off so well and I look forward to seeing what designs they come up with next. I already want another one, or two, or ten...

So many cute designs and this is only the tip of the iceberg. And of course, everything is completely customizable and the designs can be made in a range of colors. I especially love the dog leash and tennis ball holders, which can be customized and the dog's name can be added. Too cute! 

The options don't stop at one panel either. They have some really neat multi-panel pieces. I love the color combinations on this one from their Facebook page. You know, we do have a big blank space over our bed, maybe I should talk Shane into letting me commission a big piece to hang there ;) 

If you're looking for a fun and unique gift for an upcoming occasion, definitely check out their Facebook and Etsy pages. And if you're ever in the Baltimore area, be sure to stop by and say hello at the craft fair, or make a trip to Annapolis to see their display at Twisted Sisters! 

www.facebook.com/panelife

www.etsy.com/shop/panelife

WE'RE MOVING!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you couldn't tell, I'm just a wee bit excited. And about to have a nervous breakdown, because in a little over a month, we'll be back in the Volunteer State. This time hopefully for keeps!

Starting June 18th, Shane will be starting his new job with a company in Franklin, TN. While this is awesome, super duper, wonderfully fabulous news, it's also pretty overwhelming! It seems like it's all happening so fast! Here's a quick rundown of what's happening in the next month or so:

• Two weeks in Maryland, where we get to pack, fix the holes Charlie and Sheldon chewed in our condo wall, attempt to find a new place to live, try to break our current lease, tying up lose ends, and trying to spend as much time with our friends as possible and doing all those things we've missed out on so far.
• Nine days in France. This has been planned for a long time (and I plan on blogging about it while we're there!) but I can't help but feel like we won't really get to fully enjoy the trip. I hope we can take a break and try to relax and have fun.
• A week and a half to finish packing, say our goodbyes, drive to Tennessee, find a place to live (if we haven't done that already), get settled, and try to find me a job so we can get back to our normal routine and not get behind on bills!

While this next month or so is going to be one panic attack after the other, I know we're going to be so glad when we finally make it down there! It will be so wonderful being so close to family and friends. It will be bittersweet though, because Maryland has finally started to feel a bit like home. The place has grown on us both a lot, and we'll be sad to leave (this was going to be the place where I listed all the things I'll miss, but the list got too long. Look for it in my next post).
Okay, I should probably stop writing and get back to packing, but one last thing...if you know of any awesome apartments/houses/condos in the Franklin-ish area that aren't super expensive, or any place that's hiring (I'm basically good at everything, just no fast food, and nothing where I have to see blood) let me know! (They also have to pay in American dollars, I don't accept Trident Layers)

That's taking it just a bit too far.

It's a fact that 98% of Americans really suck at grammar. Improper use of the apostrophe seems to be the worst offender. In fact, there are whole blogs dedicated to the topic. I admit that it does irk me when I see an obvious mistake but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Apparently there are some in B'more who feel differently and they decided to take to the streets (a.k.a. the St. Patrick's Day parade) to express their displeasure.

  I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the vibe from the crowd was one of general disinterest. After marching bands, Irish dancing troupes and the Mummers string bands, no one could figure out who these people were, why they were in the parade, and why they didn't at least bring some candy to throw out in the crowd. It was a silent, awkward few minutes until they passed.

In case you're as confused as I was, turns out these people were protesting the fact that the names listed on their licenses read, for example, as "OMalley" instead of "O'Malley", which probably only affects this troupe of people plus a handful of others. I also have a feeling that the missing apostrophe isn't due to some MVA rule against them, but rather the fact that the woman typing your name into the computer probably has four inch nails with dangling charms. Just be glad it's spelled right.

Hey, and while they're at it, maybe they should really be protesting that whole "O's" thing. Why they're using that as an example of "good apostrophe usage" I'll never know.

House of Wax

A while ago, my mom and sister got to come up to Baltimore to visit for the weekend, which was awesome. The only way it would have been better would be if my dad had come too, but he had to miss that trip :( oh well, there's always next time, right? 

While they were here we did all sorts of fun touristy things and showed them the sights, like the Bay Bridge and Chick and Ruth's Delly and the Inner Harbor. It was a really fun visit, and I'm glad they got to come up here and see where we live. We even had some excitement when we sorta-kinda got involved in a police chase in downtown DC. But that's another story, I'm getting off track...

Before Mom and  Hannah went back home, we all got to experience something super fun, super awesome, and super touristy together...Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in DC!

I've always wanted to go to one, but could never justify the sky-high admission price. But when you find one that is home to all 44 US Presidents (plus some extra celebrities), you just have to go. Plus, some of those dudes have some crazy hair and/or creepy stares going on.

And I think one of them starred in Third Rock from the Sun. You see it too, right?

This obviously isn't all 44 right here, but you get the idea. And yes, I do realize that Ben Franklin isn't a President, but he was mixed in there with everyone else, so I'm not sure that Madame Tussaud realizes that. 

You soon realize that you can only take so many creepily lifelike photos of dead presidents, and then it's time to have some fun. We gotta get our money's worth out of that $20 admission, right?

 All of Madame Tussaud's wax figurines are true to life, so they are supposed to be exact replicas of the person. Apparently, they could've all been members of the Lollipop Guild.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hoover! It was just a joke, I swear! I thought everyone loved the Wizard of Oz?"

 

 My mom, witnessing Lee surrender while wearing one of the museum's fashionable prop coats.

Of course there are lots of other fun props to be silly with, like this whole WWII set-up.

 And of course, there's nothing like a little bit of monkey-see, monkey-do:

 
Madame Tussaud must've realized that even something as awesome as the leader of the free world gets boring after a while, so she was nice enough to throw in some other famous people. 

Nice belt buckle.

 

 Way to keep it classy, Madonna.

Big Willie Style. 

Shane's new girlfriend.

Don't worry Dad, she just held his hand...

I need to put a leash on him. 

Well I guess Britney and I weren't really behaving ourselves either. 

 This was honestly the scariest thing in the museum, and the only one who was made of less wax than the original.

 Sir Elton seems to be a little less bling-tastic than usual. 

"Here's what's happening in your neck of the woods!"

Seriously, where is that leash? 

My sister, pretending she didn't used to be in love with Captain Jack.

 Of course, Madame Tussaud is an actual person, born in 1761. Her story is actually pretty interesting...

...she narrowly avoided the guillotine during the French Revolution by making wax casts of political figures, like Marie Antoinette.

 Soon though, all good things must come to an end. You'll realize that you've seen all there is to see and the only thing left is a bunch of $6 key chains in the gift shop. 

That is, until you make it to the hallway and realize there's a spare Hoover holding down the information desk. That's priceless.

A very Merry-land Christmas

Christmas in Maryland is drawing to a close (since we're leaving tomorrow for Tennessee, yay!) so I thought I would share some of the fun things we've been up to for the holiday season :)

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Check out our awesome Christmas tree! And please ignore the partially painted dining room wall.

Shane's parents got to visit the first weekend in December and brought it up here for us. I kinda went crazy decorating and put every ornament ever made on there. Shane's mom went home saying she needed more ornaments for their tree. When I look at it, all I can think is "Holy Christmas that's a lot of ornaments!"

 "Maybe just one more? And another? Well we *have* to hang this one up..."

* * * *

Meanwhile, we found some wild animals running around our house one day. Seriously, haven't their owners ever heard of hair cuts? 

Before: 

Being the good people that we are, we decided to take them to the groomer. It was Sheldon's very first trip! Knowing him, that girl really earned her money that day. 

 After, and Christmassy:

I'm probably the only one who finds that funny, but let's face it, those little blank stares on their faces...all they're wondering is "where are the treats?"

* * * *

As it turns out, there are a lot of fun things to do in Baltimore around Christmas time.  Like going down to Hampden to see the Miracle on 34th Street. No, not the one where Kris Kringle goes to court for a competency hearing. This is the one with all the lights!

Miracle on 34th Street is a Baltimore tradition that has been going on since 1947. Which is actually the same year the movie came out. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. 

For one block, residents on both sides of 34th go crazy with lights, decorations, plastic Santas and more. It's probably just easier for me to show you rather than tell you. 

That's a lot of Christmas right there.

They had a parade too but it was kinda cold that day. We decided to stay home instead. 

* * * *

Shane participated in Tuba Christmas this year with the Ravens Marching Band, which was really fun. Tuba Christmas is a huge concert where the only instruments are, you guessed it, various types of tubas (yes there *is*  more than one kind). The final count of participants was somewhere in the 230s. And they play all Christmas songs! The whole crowd gets to sing along. And then they played one Hannukah song. No one knew the words to that one. 

Aww, doesn't he look adorable in his little uniform? 

* * * *

Well I think that's enough blabber, why don't you just check out this super awesome wonderful fantastic holiday video I made?

* * * * 

And as a gift for all you wonderful people who have stuck it out til the end of this post, here's an early Christmas present from yours truly. You're welcome :)

A fun announcement!

So I'm sure all of you know this already, but I just wanted to say it again! 

Yep, you heard Mr. Carey right! Or is it "read him right?" hmm...must ponder. Oh wait, what was I talking about? OH YEAH, MY NEW JOB! 

If you couldn't tell, I'm pretty excited.  I started the other day as a legal secretary at a law office. The people are fabulous. The hours are great, and I'm guaranteed 40 hours a week (which was practically nonexistent in retail). I actually get time off too! And weekends off, which means that I get to actually do fun stuff with Shane instead of dealing with customers all Saturday and Sunday. As for the pay, well let's just say it's substantially better :)

It's not that I hated retail. It was more a hate/love/hate relationship. I loved (most) of the people I worked with. And I really enjoyed working on things like shipment and merchandising while there were no customers were in the store. But once you added shoppers into the mix, with all their various questions and complaints and coupons, things got a little less pleasant. Plus it was just exhausting. Standing on a concrete floor for 8 hours a day is no fun. Lifting boxes is no fun. Standing out in the weather counting said boxes is no fun. I would come home every day, pretty much worn out and just ready to go to bed, covered in scrapes and bruises. No use in painting your fingernails cause they would be ruined the next shipment. And you would not believe how much cardboard dries out your hands. I could never even dress nice without my clothes getting box dust all over them. 

Retail just wasn't the career path I felt like I wanted to stick to. The hours are crappy, there are lots of difficult people to deal with, and you always feel like you get paid way less than you should. Not to mention, in the six months I was at this particular store, I was never given my set of keys, or the code to the alarm, which were both things that were supposed to come with my position. I was half-trained, and it was getting old, fast. 

I am glad to say that my situation is looking up! I've only been at the law firm for two days and I already have my own key! Today they even threw me a lunch party and bought everyone sushi (I had chicken teriyaki, since sushi and I are not really friends). I am so thankful to have found this job. I know that I am really lucky to have found something so great, and I hope that I love it!

I mean, who wouldn't love nights and weekends off?

Now I'll have so much time for activities! And have the energy to do said activities. And money to pay for the activities! YAY!

P.S. Don't worry, now I will have so much more time for blog posts too! I have so many that I need to catch up on. In fact, I have one in the works about the worst shopper behaviors, and reasons why they make retail workers hate them. Check back soon!

The true gentleman's sport

Forget football, soccer, and even fencing. If you want to see a real sport, something with full contact, speed, and lots of strategy, rugby is the way to go. It was an Olympic sport until 1924, which the US dominated. In fact, Charles Doe, a member of the last US team, once said about their win over France: 

"Our victory in '24 made the hockey win against the Soviets look like an everyday occurrence. If we had that kind of coverage rugby might be the great American pastime today." read more here

Rugby, despite its popularity in the rest of the world, fell out of style in the United States for a little while, but has been gaining followers since it's reemergence in the 1960s. Some famous players, also called "ruggers," from around the world include (in no particular order) George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Prince William and Prince Harry, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charlie Chaplin, Sean Connery, Daniel Radcliffe, Chris Farley, Daniel Craig, Russel Crowe, Che Guevara, John F. Kennedy, and Baltimore Raven Haloti Ngata. 

Shane started playing rugby at our high school when they formed the Powell High Rugby Club, and he loved it from day one. It was the perfect way for him to get lots of exercise, let out any aggression, and have a great time. Rugby can be dangerous and violent (imagine tackling people without any padding or helmets), but the players always strive for the highest level of sportsmanship. In fact, many teams celebrate by going to the pub with their opponents after a match. Shane never seemed to have time to go to a practice in college, and I could tell that he really missed it. Now that he has a little bit of free time, he has finally gotten involved again! 

This season, Shane joined the Baltimore Chesapeake RFC (aka the Brumbies). They were the first team south of the Mason-Dixon line, founded in 1960. They are a Men's Division I team and compete in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union, or MARFU.

If you're new to rugby, you should know that watching a game match can be very confusing.  Their cleats are called 'boots,' the field is called a 'pitch,' and lots of odd-looking things go on during a match. Keep in mind that my knowledge of the rules is very limited (I told you it's confusing), but I will try my best to explain it, with a little help from Google of course. 

Regulation matches have two 40 minute halves with a 10 minute halftime. Unlike football, they don't "stop the clock" in between plays. There are also no time outs. The only time the clock stops is if someone is seriously injured and needs to be helped off the pitch. Each team has 15 players on the field, and each position has a name. Also, players don't choose their numbers at random. The number on their jersey (usually) correlates to what position they are playing. 

Here are some examples of things that happen during a match, again in no particular order that makes any sense: 

This is called a line out, and it's what happens after the ball goes out of bounds. 

 Wanna see that closer up? Yeah, they have to lift a guy in the air by his shorts/legs. Doesn't that look fun?

One of the fundamentals of the game is that the ball must always be passed backwards/sideways, never forward, as demonstrated here by the Old Boys team (35 yrs old and up)

Fun fact: the guy who is about to receive the pass is Shane's coach.

Sometimes the ball goes forward, whether it's because a player gets tackled or just drops it during a pass. That is called 'knocking-on.' To remedy this situation, a scrum occurs. 

In this picture, Shane is performing the role of loose head prop, which is position #1.

Both teams get into formation and bind together. The other team (the one who didn't drop the ball) throws the ball into the middle of the scrum in between the two front lines. The front line is made up of three people, a loose head prop, a hooker, and a tight head prop. The two props bind push against the other team's props, and the hookers try to kick the rugby ball behind them and out their side of the scrum.

Loose head prop is what position Shane played in high school and the one he has the most experience with. However, that particular day, several team members had gone to New Zealand and the team was a bit short on players, so he had to fill in for tight head prop at one point, and he also played on the second row a little bit. 

Shane is the one with the black socks in the very middle of the picture. 

 He doesn't particularly like second row, mainly because it's a dangerous place to be. If you're in the middle, your head goes in between the prop and the hooker's butts. Common injuries include cauliflower ear, and worse, getting your ear ripped right off. In fact, one of Shane's high school teammates got his ripped halfway off just during practice. Some players wear a scrum cap or wrap tape around their heads to prevent this.

Hey look! Shane has the ball! 

 Their attempt at tackling him.

 And he's down.

This is a ruck. It is used to gain possession of the ball, like after someone has been tackled and the ball goes to the ground. It's kinda like an informal scrum.

And what about tackling? There is definitely a method to the madness. The player tries to lead with their shoulders, aiming for the midsection of the person carrying the ball. Aim too high and they could get a penalty, too low and they might end up getting hurt. Next, they wrap their arms around them, squeeze, and try to bring them to the ground.

This is Shane's friend Sam (the one tackling). Can you believe that was his very first rugby match ever?

I don't have a good picture of it, but when they score, it's called a 'try.' The person carrying the ball has to take it into the try zone and then touch it to the ground. Each try is worth 5 points. After a try, there is a conversion kick for an additional 2 points. You can also kick for a goal at any time for 3 points.

You got all that?

And no, those aren't all of the rules. Just the ones that I know about.

Coming up this Saturday, October 8th, is the Brumbies' game for breast cancer awareness against Raleigh. Check out the website for more information, and then I will have some pictures up after the game of the guys decked out in pink!