Farewell, 2007. It was quite the tumultuous period for me, both personally and professionally...but I have no regrets, just lessons learned.

In 2008, I plan to take some photography and cooking classes just for fun.

I plan to get reacquainted with the gym...there's something about the holiday rush from Thanksgiving until now that makes it so hard for me to work out!

I would be delighted to start a family this year. The Huz and I are definitely ready for it. We're in a good place emotionally and financially and we've done just about all of the "selfish" things we've wanted to do. Let the babymaking begin!

May 2008 be your best year ever! I wish you all good health, good friends, and good things in the coming year.

Thank you so much for reading my little blog and for all your comments.

See you in 2008!

Labels: fitness, friends, goals, hobbies, holidays, marriage

Edited to add: My legal consultant has advised me to remove the name of the firm that is being discussed in the below post. Thanks. -Lori

The one topic of conversation that didn't get much play at our party last night was the large, locally-based financial services company where several of my family members and many of my friends work. Most of them were in attendance at our party last night, and this company usually winds up being a major discussion piece at our get-togethers.

I'm especially surprised no one was talking about the big issue--that is, the fact that this company is allegedly discontinuing their annual bonus. That's been a huge conversation-starter around here for the past six months or so.

I can't imagine what the fallout will be if this really does happen. This is most definitely a big deal; the company's bonus every June is the sole reason so many disgruntled employees work there. And EVERYONE I know who works there (and I know a lot of them!) is disgruntled, especially since their CEO came into power in the late 90s.

For some of the more tenured employees, the bonus equates to 30% of their salaries! It has always been touted by this company's PR machine as one of the primary benefits of working there. Sure, the company's base salaries are quite low compared to other firms in the industry, but the employees benefit from the "total compensation package" that includes the annual bonus, blahblahblah fishcakes.

Many people assume that there will be a mass exodus of employees from the company after the (alleged!!) announcement is made about the discontinuance of the bonus. But my question is this: where exactly will all of these people find other jobs if this does happen? This company is the largest employer in Chester County. I can't imagine what will happen if there is a huge glut of ex-employees from this company floating around the Philadelphia job market looking for new positions.

Based on the stat counters I use to track my visitors to this blog, I know that I have a bunch of readers from this company. What do you guys think? Remember, this blog does give you the option of posting anonymously if you don't want to leave your name!

Ideas? Thoughts?

Labels: family, friends, gossip, local news, money, opinions, work

Whew! It's all over.

The party was definitely a success!

My family got here around 4 p.m., hung out, ate, and did the whole gift-exchange thing. Children ran amok, the grown-ups circulated, chatting and laughing, and everyone was forced to watch the slideshow DVD I made of our Vegas and dude ranch photos. Hee.

The next wave of guests started streaming in the door at about 7 p.m. as planned. Did I mention that I sent two sets of invites, staggering the start times of the party? This worked well, I think. It may have created a little more work for me, making sure that the food supplies were refilled and hot or cold as necessary, but it also ensured that I got to actually spend time with everyone, and not be stuck behind the buffet line or at the oven. I actually had fun at my own party! What a rarity.

The majority of my family left around 8 p.m., just as all of our friends and neighbors arrived, so for about an hour things were absolute CHAOS...just the way I like it! Kids screeching, random spurts of uproarious laughter emanating from various groups of guests around the house, ambient holiday music playing from two different stereos, and the general hum of conversation. People mingling everywhere, in the family room, the living room, the basement, the kitchen...the smokers out on the deck (we also had great weather...on the warm side for late December and no rain!).

We got so many nice gifts from people, all kinds of wines and champagnes, flavored coffee, gift cards, candles, books...such generosity. Of course, as trite as it sounds, we really just enjoyed everyone's company. We are soooo lucky to have such great family and friends.

The last of our guests left around midnight. The Huz and I cleaned up for about an hour, and then spent some quiet time snuggling on the couch, rehashing some of the evening's events. We finally headed to bed at 1:30, but I was still so keyed up that I didn't fall asleep until almost 3 a.m.

Some pics:

Yes, I had to take a picture of our powder room with all the candles going. Atmosphere, people!

The second tree that we put up in the living room.

Dave and Steph.
Another quiet moment...most of the fam was opening gifts then.
Uncle, aunt, paternal unit, cousin...
The Huz and our neighbors
Cousin, dad, uncle, aunt
Christina, Colleen, PJ, Steph, Andrea
Shawn, The Huz, Joe
PJ holding up the tree, Colleen looking on...

Steph doing her Rihanna imitation!

Cousins

Dad, uncle, cousin
Cousin, aunts and uncle
Cousins!
More cousins, uncle, Mom
Jan and Mark
Deb and Chuck, our next-door neighbors

Labels: family, food, friends, holidays, pictures, sheer insanity

Our party is tomorrow.

We invited sixty one people; fifty five are coming. This is the biggest group I've ever entertained in one shot. I'm a little nervous, but I figure people will eat and drink whatever I've provided, so I can't get too worried about it. However, that didn't prevent me from having an awful nightmare last night that the party was about to start and I'd somehow forgotten about it, and all these people were coming into my house and I had no food for them! Ugh. I woke up this morning in a total panic.

I took the day off from work and cooked and baked basically all day. I roasted twelve pounds of red bliss potatoes and made four pounds of baked ziti. I baked four dozen snickerdoodles, five dozen chocolate chip cookies, a large pan of brownies, and four dozen cupcakes.

The Huz really pitched in and helped today, thankfully. He cleaned almost the entire house, even down to the baseboards.

Other stuff on the menu:

Chips, pretzels and dip
Vegetable crudite
Bocconcini, black olives, mini sweet gherkins
Hummus and pita chips
Pigs in a blanket
Shrimp cocktail
Deviled eggs
Hot roast beef
Green beans amandine
And the ever-popular Chick-Fil-A nuggets
Coffee, beer, wine, soda, and several different kinds of liquor
Pumpkin roll

I am exhausted and going to bed now. I'll be taking plenty of pics tomorrow with the new Nikon.

Labels: family, food, friends, holidays

Sorry to subject you all to these, but this camera just amazes me...capturing split-second movements that I've never been able to get before.

Labels: hobbies, pets, pictures

I bought the Nikon D40. It came with an 18-55 mm lens, but The Camera Shop was running a special bundled deal, so I also got the midrange telephoto lens (55-200 mm) for only $50, whereas it would cost $150 or more separately.

I nearly passed out when I forked over my credit card to pay for it. Other than a downpayment on our homes and cars, I've never spent so much money in one shot in my life.

To put it in perspective, this camera cost me more than my wedding gown, for pete's sake!!!!

Now, to figure out how in the hell to use it! Luckily, The Camera Shop gave me tickets for eighteen in-store photography classes, which are ordinarily $15 a pop. Pretty good deal, huh?

Here are two of my initial pics with this baby. Not very good at all. I have a LOT to learn, clearly. At this point, I don't even KNOW what I don't know. How's that for a braintwister? PS - Excuse the state of my home, please.

Labels: hobbies, pictures, sheer insanity, shopping

I am beside myself with excitement!!!!

Today I got my Christmas bonus check at work and of course it's already burning a hole in my pocket.

So I'm heading to The Camera Shop this evening to test out the Nikon D40. I've done plenty of research about digital SLRs and this is the one that has gotten consistently excellent reviews, especially from people like me who are making their first foray into the world of DSLRs.

Even better for me, there's a sale on right now for this camera that includes both the standard 18-55 mm lens that accompanies the body as well as a mid-range 55-200 mm telephoto lens. It's a really good deal, I think.

I'll leave you with a photo that I took today with my good old Panny Lumix LS70 at our firm's holiday luncheon at the Columbia Hotel in Phoenixville. This is the chandelier that was suspended over our table.

Labels: good news, hobbies, holidays, pictures

So we're going up to New York for Christmas, as we do every other year, to visit The Huz's family. His aunt usually hosts a party on Christmas Eve.

The Huz has just informed me that this year, she requested that everyone bring a useless gag gift for some kind of silly Pollyanna. Something that's laying around the house, something that we don't want.

Am I alone in thinking that these types of things are a complete waste?

Or do you believe that one person's trash is truly another person's treasure?

In previous years, she did a real Pollyanna in which each person brought a brand-new gift under $20. I don't know why we're not doing that again this year.

I'm a little irritated now. As a rule, gag gifts annoy me. I think they're tacky.

Labels: bitching, family, holidays, opinions, sheer idiocy

On a shallow (VERY shallow) note:

Britney Spears' kid sister and Nickelodeon actress Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant.

She's 16 years old.

Well done.

Labels: bad news, celebrities, sheer idiocy

As you might have noticed, I've been experimenting with my camera a bit. For an inexpensive point-and-shoot (Panasonic Lumix DMC-L70), I think it captures pretty nice images most of the time.

I've been reading a lot about digital photography lately and trying to learn how to use all of the bells-and-whistles features on my camera, rather than being lazy and relying entirely on the Simple or Normal auto modes.

I took this picture of Bailey last month while playing with the manual aperture settings on my camera. The room was very dim, lit only by a 60-watt incandescent bedside lamp that was positioned behind me, so I ramped up the f setting and also the ISO setting. The image is a little grainy but I still love looking at Bailey's little face. My baby.

Labels: hobbies, pets, pictures

Pawling Farm, Valley Forge National Park - December 14, 2007

Labels: Philly burbs, pictures

On most Saturday evenings when I was a kid, you could find me plunked down in front of our TV, watching this. For a brief time, I soooooo wanted to be a Solid Gold Dancer!

Looking back at this video, I'm surprised how risque it was for its time.



YouTube is the most awesome thing ever!

Labels: childhood, memories, music, nostalgia, The 80s, TV

Let me preface this by saying that I'm hesitant to write about this, but in the spirit of blogging naked (or at least...errr...semi-nude), I will forge ahead.

A couple months ago, a guy joined our firm. A very nice guy, married, in his mid-forties, four kids, and probably a white picket fence too.

He and I share an office for the present time. I lucked out because he's into music as much as I am, and so we happily rock out all day long to my Sirius internet radio.

The problem? He talks to himself. A lot. And not just about anything. No, he murmurs the artist name and song title to every. song. that. comes. on.

All day long.

Remember, Sirius is totally commercial-free. Do you know how many songs per day they play?

I've taken to calling him Milton when describing him to my family and friends, naming him after the unforgettable and perpetually murmuring character in the film Office Space who is obsessed with his stapler.

My mom never saw the movie, of course. So then I began a YouTube quest to find a clip of Milton to illustrate my point in a way that mere words could not. And I came across this hilarious recut of the movie that recreates it as a suspense/thriller.

Enjoy.

Labels: family, funny stuff, movies, work

You know you're getting old when "Sweet Child O'Mine" is playing on the classic rock radio station.

Sob.

Labels: bad news, childhood, memories, music

Reading about the mall shootings in Nebraska yesterday reminded me of a similar event that happened much closer to home back in the 1980s, when Sylvia Seegrist went into the Springfield Mall and started shooting. Several people were wounded and three were killed.

One of those wounded was my cousin's neighbor Maryann who, if I recall correctly, was sitting on a bench inside the mall, feeding her baby. I think Maryann actually got between her baby and Seegrist and for that effort, took several bullets to the gut.

Any of my local readers remember this? I was only eight years old when it happened but I remember it clearly.

Labels: local news, memories, Philly burbs

After five years of marriage, I've found that most people are desperate for us to start having children.

My parents are very low-key about that, fortunately. Even though I'm an only child, and thus the only shot at making them grandparents, they never bug me about it. So we jokingly refer to Bailey and Sebastian as their "grandcats."

Labels: family, marriage, pets