Category: Randomness

On Friday, Chuck and I went to the Minnesota Zoo and had a great time. I only took a couple pictures and they were taken with my phone since it didn't even occur to me to take my camera with me. How silly!

This first picture is of one of my new favorite animals to watch! It's a Red Panda. And it is also the Mozilla Firefox mascot. I think they picked a great animal for it! They are so cute and fun to watch. I stood there watching them for quite some time. One was eating. They were kind of hard to take good pictures of. And I didn't have a zoom on my camera or I would have gotten really good pictures of him!

This other picture is of a bald eagle. This was on the Minnesota Trail and I don't remember going on this one. I think it was closed the last time we were there. I think he was tethered to the branch he was on. The funny part is there were a couple of cats right across the isle from him. Just staring at him and probably becoming incredibly frustrated that they couldn't get to the bird and eat it! But he was very cool to see up close!

I am also fascinated by bats. I could watch them all day long! Now, mind you, if I were encountered by one of these creatures in a pace other than with glass between us, I would not be nearly as interested in them! I would run and scream and you wouldn't want to be in my way. But in a safe environment, I love them!

They have also finished the Russia exhibit with Grizzly Bears. They apparently, as we learned, do not hibernate. Just sleep. If you can wake them up, that means they are not in hibernation. Now they weren't very active by any means, but they were sleeping in a cave you can get really close to them and see the enormity of them. And that was cool!

The cool weather also made all of the cats very active…even the ones that weren't being taunted by eagles! And Chuck and I both love watching the cats. They are such amazing creatures!

The dolphins aren't doing any more shows for a while because one of them is pregnant. So keep that in mind if you want to see a show. And the Baboons with the red butts just had a baby and there are a couple that are only a year old. They were fun to see and so very tiny! They made me laugh. They imitate everything the older monkeys do!

Overall, I think you should go! It was fun even though it was cold out. When we are in Omaha for Christmas we are already planning on going to the zoo. I can't get enough of those animals!

Oh, and Happy December!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We got to eat lots of food and spend time with family. What could be better? We even got the tree up and my brother's girlfriend helped me put the ornaments on it. We did some planning for what to get people for Christmas and I got to show off my new car. Chuck and I even went to the zoo on Friday. That was so much fun. I could hang out all day staring at the animals. I'll do another post on that soon.

Today we are just catching up on cleaning and getting ready for the week. Chuck will be leaving on Wednesday for Redmond, Washington for work and I have some things planned with friends and family.

One thing I have planned is to see a concert by Toby Lightman.

She is one of my favorite singers and I kind of stumbled upon her accidentally. We were are at an O.A.R. concert and she opened for them and sang on one of their cds. I have been hooked ever since! My mom and step dad are going to come to the concert with me and one of my friends might end up meeting us there. But I am so excited! I might have to get myself a t-shirt or something. I would bring my cd to get signed, but I have no idea where it is packed!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, too. And on that note, I think I need some leftovers!

My friend sent this to me the other day. She knows my love…I mean enormous dislike of pugs. How nice of my friends to think of me.

Have you ever wondered what is going through your cat's mind at that moment before they look like they might eat you for a snack? Well, there's a website that explains it all.

How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you.

This will help you understand your pet a little better and also make you a little scared of them! It's a good thing they are small and you don't have a tiger for a pet kitty!

That's right everyone. There's a place you can “Make a baby without actually 'making' a baby” according to the website! These commercials just crack me up. I have “made” babies on here and it's amusing that they are in a car seat and will follow the mouse with their eyes and make noises when you click on them. It's just funny!

So if you want to make your very own Routan baby, the Baby Maker 3000 will help you out. And remember…make a baby for love, not just to get a VW Routan!

I would love to have some of the new “trendy” sunglasses, the bug ones, but haven't found any that aren't really expensive (since they WILL go out of style). I am sure to make them look ok on me I would need some kids ones.

But look at how cute these Oakley ones are! They even have them in some adorable colors as well as the standard color. And imagine how cute I would be with that white puffy coat! And they did indicate they would be good for small faces!

Please note that I do want these, but have not tired any of them on. If I do try them on and can't stand them or love them even more, I will make a web update!

*Update*I ended up buying a pair from Target for $5.99. That was about all that I could imagine these funny things being worth! So I don't need any new sunglasses.

And for those of you wondering how I love my new car…well, I LOVE IT! We didn't drive it to work today because we wanted to be sure we had it insured first. And now it is and it's even cheaper than the old Jetta to insure. So that's a nice bonus. I'll take some pictures one of these days of it and post some of the things I really don't know how I lived without before!

Here are a couple mugs I think are adorable at Caribou. I would love to get these, but I am sure I won't since I don't drink coffee. But…they would make a good gift! *wink*

This one is just pretty. I love the colors and the subtle pattern on it.

This one I love because it's pink!

Just some little subliminal messages for those readers out there!

Yes, I love my Jetta. It's been a wonderful, faithful and fun car. But alas, we have decided to upgrade to a newer Jetta. Not brand spanking new, but it may as well be. We got a 2006 Jetta TDI (yes, we stuck to the diesel AND the manual transmission). We looked at some this weekend and came across one that had all the things we wanted. The only catch is that it had JUST come in to the dealership and wasn't even cleaned or anything yet. So we will get it as soon as they are done. Which will be tomorrow. I am giddy with glee! I can hardly wait to play in it! Here's a picture of the beauty (although this isn't the EXACT one).

The previous owners got it in June 2007 and only put 17k miles on it. Which means it's hardly broken in! And since they got it only a year and a half ago, there's a bunch of warranty left and we got the additional one, so we have it under warranty until about 2013! Not too shabby! I think in celebration I need to get one of these while I am at the dealership to finish it off!

I spent Sunday getting my car cleaned up. A couple things I am going to miss are the trailer hitch we added for pulling the jet ski, but I am sure we can add one to the new car. And we recently got a new stereo for the car, and I really like it. But we might put our old mp3 thing (Phat Noise) into the new one. We'll see. One of the things we liked about the new Jetta was that it had radio controls on the steering wheel (these control some other things on the dash for information on your car, too…miles to empty, trip stuff and who knows what else!). Chuck pointed out that those aren't going to work if we get a new stereo…so hmmm. I am going to do my best to try to make it through today without knowing if I'll get my new beauty today or tomorrow. MMM…Jetta! I'll have to break out my VW key ring in celebration!

So I love Caribou these days. Every once in a while I like to get a hot chocolate there. I recently saw that they have the most adorable cups and NAPKINS! Check out the cute napkins and cups they have now! I think these have even inspired my Christmas cards for this year!

I am sorry for the bad pictures. I took these at my desk at work with my phone camera. But man is it handy to use when I want to take a quick picture!

I have adored these candles from the moment I first saw them. Chuck's step mom has a bunch of them and I asked for one for my birthday. She not only got me one, but also got me some really cool things for them to sit in! I have attached some pictures of them.

I definitely need more of these candles. They sound so cool! They make a really cool crackling sound like a fire. I found them at Bed Bath & Beyond and I think you might be able to use the coupons they always send for them. I might need to get another one to go in the other holder I have. I added them to my wish list! Maybe I'll get one for Christmas! The one below is the one I have now (Applewood).