best of 2008

Aidan's asleep in his bouncy/vibrating chair, while Clifford the Big Red Dog plays on TV. (Hey, he's red. It's Christmasy, isn't it?) Missy the cat is purring at my side. My mom is busy moving around the house, putting the final touches on presents. Jason is still in bed with an unwanted Christmas gift: a bad head cold. And I'm here, laptop in hand, called off from work for the day (yesss!).

Sounds like a good time for a Best Of list!

BEST PURCHASE: Our home!

BEST REASON NOT TO STAY AT HOME: My Wednesday Thursday night girls - Maggie, Shannon, Tiffany, Loni, Kim, Maruxa, and (in spirit) Amanda.

BEST NEW RECIPE MADE: Red Velvet Cake Balls, courtesy of Bakerella

BEST MOMENT FROM THE 2008 ELECTION: Kelly twittering during election night: "Somebody get Wolf Blitzer a diaper".

BEST MOVIE SEEN: The Dark Knight, hands down. Especially in an IMAX theater.

BEST FACEBOOK MOMENT: Reconnecting with so many old friends, but especially my childhood best friend Maureen.

BEST MOMENT INVOLVING LIQUOR: Craig's birthday at Fiddler's Green, where he drank an Irish car bomb and led the entire bar in dancing with a backup band consisting mostly of obese, Hawaiian-shirt-clad men singing Irish drinking songs.

FAVORITE "NEW" TV SHOW: The Office. We've been catching up on seasons 1-4 with Netflix.

BEST TRAVEL DESTINATION: Rocky Mountain National Park with Jason, 10pm at night, on the side of a mountain, seeing every star possible

BEST MUSICAL MOMENT AT GRACE FELLOWSHIP: It's a three-way tie - turning "Great in All the Earth" into a chick-led song, doing Three Dog Night's "One" complete with Kelly in a cool hat, and singing "Winter Wonderland" in full 1940's dress with three of the best singers ever in a beautiful theater for Christmas Eve.

BEST MOMENT OF ALL: holding Aidan for the first time:

the viral meme

Oh, it's contagious alright.

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names)
Eileen Edward.

NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad )
Edward Vincent.

STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name)
VeAnne.

DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color, fav animal)
Pink Bear. (uhhh...)

SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live)
Carol Orlando.

SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav alcoholic drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The Purple Strongbow.

FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Anen. (That just looks like I misspelled my own name)

GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie):
Mint Chocolate Chip Chocolate Chip (okay, now I REALLY sound dumb)

ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet's name, current street name)
Missy Faith

PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on)
Scooter Christa (no, not really working, is it?)

five foods/meals of which I will never tire

1. Chicken parmesan subs

2. Brownies and ice cream

3. Macaroni & cheese

4. Potato bread

5. Coke (okay, not a food, but still)

get this node goin'...

I think for most of you, this is going to be like a foreign language... but for all my nursing friends and co-workers, this is definitely for you: