Bi-naversary! UPDATE!!!!

I can hardly believe it but today is Matt and my two year anniversary. Wow. It has been two fantastic years with someone I really love. I got him a nifty present that I won't disclose yet because I haven't given it to him. Matt made reservations for us to go to the Melting Pot. mmmm, cheese.... *wipes away drool* We're both very excited about it. He was really surprised how much he liked it last time we went and we've both been looking forward for a sufficient reason to go.

I'm also feeling very proud of myself because we did our part to help fix the country and went to vote today. The nice kids running the Obama booth gave me a sticker and a veggie burrito from Chipotle. Voting always makes me feel so warm and fuzzy. I encourage everybody to do the same. I guess even if you want to vote for someone who thinks my job is pointless and a poor use of money. How lame is it that I study colon cancer in fruit flies, I kid you not.

UPDATE!!!! In case anyone was worried by my twitter updates. I did not intentionally stab myself with a fondue fork. I was trying to spear some asparagus while holding it and went through the asparagus and into my hand. Not too bad though, it is almost completely healed. I did give Matt his present. It was a large rectangular frame that has glass on both side and inside of it i put three vintage (ca 1920-1940) Notre Dame postcards. Two of them are linen and have that look like the old Technicolor movies since they were colored in afterward. Matt loved it. I was even more excited by his present to me. He got us two tickets to go see the Trans Siberian Orchestra just before Thanksgiving. w00t!!! I've wanted to see them for so long but it has never worked out before. Check out their website (link above) to see their awesomeness.

State Fair!!!!

I promised I would get to it and now that I have tidied up the living room a little bit I can.  On Wednesday Matt, Steph, Linda, Kuo-Chen (my super adorable rotation student from Taiwan) and I finally got to the always amazing NC State Fair.  Sure it meant having to leave work two hours early but it was darned worth it.  Let me just start by saying it was sooo cold out that night, Matt will laugh at my saying this but it was 48F.  I should have worn more layers.  Being a veteran of the fair, I took the lead and almost ran the whole way from the entrance to the roasted corn.  I can't even describe how much I love fair corn.  Maybe because its dipped in butter, maybe it is all the things that I sprinkle on it, who knows but it isn't the state fair with out it.  We munched our corn while viewing the display gardens because they are Linda's favorite part of the fair.  Afterwards we headed back into the fried food fray and began our decent into fried-ness.  In an effort to show Kuo-Chen everything that is right with American we might have gone a little over board with the food.  We ordered fried snickers, a blooming onion, fried mac and cheese (new this year).  Kuo-Chen got fried oreos, Dan (our lovely British friend and Kim's fiancé) got the fried pecan pie and ribbon fries for Kim.  Meanwhile, Steph was chowing down on a giant turkey leg.  I'd like to point out though that all food was bought for the purpose of sharing except for the giant turkey leg, that was all Steph.  After making all of that stuff disappear we decided that it was time for some veggies, fried veggies!  It is the state fair after all.  After the veggies and pickles were done, things were sitting heavy so it was time to check out some animals.  We wandered through the exhibits for a while and even got to pick up a baby duck when we realized it was time to head to Hogway Speedway.  Now, my dad pointed out that as a vegetarian I should probably object to the poor little animals being treated like this.  I'm not so sure though, they get treats at the end of the really short track...and they're so cute!  We managed to sneak in some fried cheese and ice cream, albeit separately before heading out.  You all might be surprised to hear that the cheese wasn't my idea.  I had explained it to Kuo-Chen earlier in the week and she was so amused by the idea that she insisted on trying it.  I was in a food coma the whole way home.  It is probably a good thing for my arteries that the state fair only comes once a year.

Dan enjoying his pecan pie

Kuo-Chen and the giant pumpkins which she found hilarious

Fried veggies and pickles

Matt and Steph sitting on a dumpster

Matt and I at the end

Happy Birthday Matt!!!!

I don't have time for a huge update.  We have pictures from the State Fair so I'm going to wait until I post those before I tell of the wonderousness that is the North Carolina State Fair.
It is Matt's birthday today!  Yay!!!  We're going to his favorite, Olive Garden, for dinner tonight.  I think we're both really looking forward to the free salad and bread sticks.  Matt and Dan are going to see the UNC vs. BC game tomorrow so it looks like I'll have a large block of time to do stuff tomorrow.  I'm really interested in going to see "Walking with Dinosaurs" on Sunday as a birthday treat.

Its been too long

I'm sorry its been so long.  I get to work with the plan of taking ten minutes to post and then start looking at what I need to do and forget about the blog.  Some of you may have noticed the new gadget on the left sidebar.  I've added twitter so that I can send mini-updates to the blog.  I know it is quite popular with the kids these days and this past weekend I've heard that NPR is now tweeting too.  Speaking of which they are doing their seasonal pledge drive right now.  I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold out before I send them money.  My immunity is running out plus, as Dave points out, we listen to it about ten hours a day.  I probably should send them something, they're wearing me down. 
Matt and I are (very) slowly finishing up the unpacking and organizing.  Pretty soon we will be able to start the decorating.  w00t!  Last year, at the after Halloween sale, I bought some cute little hand towels for the bathroom.  They are quite adorable in the downstairs bathroom.  We recently purchased a couple of Halloween themed kitchen towels at Target in their bargain area.  I keep teasing Matt that in a couple of years we will have a complete set of decorations for every holiday. 
We've unpacked nearly everything in the spare room now.  It has left us with a slightly disturbing discovery.  There is a 1.5' by 1.5' square on the floor that reeks of old lady perfume.  It is so gross!  We think that because we have always had boxes covering it up before we never noticed it.  Now that things in that room are almost done the smell is overwhelming.  I can only work in there for small bits of time because the odor gives me a headache.  Last night we poured baking soda all over it and I'm going to try and see it the smell is gone when I vacuum it up tonight, everybody cross your fingers.
Last but not least, since we have taken time off for weddings and whatnot this year and we'd like to be able to take time off for Christmas, neither Matt nor I are going home for Thanksgiving.  Instead we are going to be hosting a nice, quiet dinner at our new place this year.  Any family or friends who want to come are invited although being so far away I don't think we'll have many takers.  We are inviting a few local friends and judging by their responses so far we are having an international Thanksgiving.  So far those who have said they will come: Catarina and Nunu (Portugal), Mira (Germany), Kuo-Chen (Taiwan), Kim (Alabama) and Dan (England).  Two of the guests, Mira and Kuo-Chen, have never been to a Thanksgiving dinner.  Even better they have never eaten turkey.   So no pressure right?

Actually I believe it is pronounced "new-cle-ar"

I think I was raised by some pretty intelligent people.  I was raised with a definite left leaning philosophy but I was also taught to evaluate ideas and people based on the available information.  I never had anything against John McCain, I was never a crazy Obama fan either.  Having said that, I think John McCain has very quickly lost his mind over the time of this campaign.  Whatever made him think that Sarah Palin was a qualified running mate proves it.  The idea of that woman being a heartbeat away from the presidency is a truly frightening thought.  This whole idea of voting for her because, "Hey, she's just like me" is ridiculous.  I'm not qualified to be president, most people I know aren't.  Thats not bad, I'm not qualified to be a physician or a physicist either, some might argue I shouldn't be a scientist either but thats another story.  I can, however, name magazines and newspapers that I read, I can also tell you about several Supreme Court decisions that I don't agree with, and I don't count refueling stops as having visited a country.  *sigh*  Sorry this election is getting to me, I wish we could just elect Obama and stop having to hear about the idiocy of Sarah Palin.

Enough of that.  We have an action packed weekend.  Tonight we are headed over to Mike and Erin's for a little fondue and some gaming.  We don't get to see them often enough since they live aaaalllllllll the way over in Apex.  Back when I lived in LA or Vegas driving 45mins to see someone was nothing.  Now that everyone I know lives within ten minutes it seems really far.  Tomorrow is the semi annual wine show at Weaver Street.  We're going to that and then heading over to Steph and Linda's for some good food and good friends.