Move Over Courier and Ives...

...Christmas comes to Cary! This past Saturday morning, I got up early and ventured out to Target to run some errands. Most Saturday mornings I sleep in. But I decided to take advantage of the crisp fall air and go out and about in the morning.

On my way to Target, I stopped by my local Starbucks and picked up my grande soy latte. Christmas was in full swing at the 'Bucks, and I was quickly overcome with the intoxicating mix of "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole and caffinated coffee aromas wafting from the coffee bar. Mmmm...I should work there.

When I hopped back in the car to continue on to Target, I discovered that one of the local radio stations is playing Christmas music too! Now, I am ALL about some Christmas and holiday cheer, but thought to myself that it was a little too early to hear "Please Come Home For Christmas" by the Eagles. However, already high on Christmas from Starbucks, I shrugged this "it's too early" nonsense off and decided to embrace the Christmas music. After all, Thanksgiving is next week and that is the real kickoff to Christmas.

By the time I arrived at Target, I was fully caffinated and singing right along with Burl Ives on the radio. Burl! You're a classic! When I pulled into the parking lot, I found myself surrounded by two dozen geese! There is a pond near the shopping center next to Target, and I guess the geese were making their way over to it! I had to proceed cautiously to my parking space, as many of the geese were walking right into the road. The geese were so cute, and I couldn't help but feel as though I were in a Courier and Ives Christmas card (minus the snow, the Christmas tree, the ornaments, and more. Oh well. I was still in my Starbucks induced Christmas stupor).

I ran my errands quickly (it's amazing how quiet Target is at 9:30 am). I did make one indulgent purchase (which I completely blame on the intoxicated state I found myself in at Starbucks): brown flannel sheets with light blue snowflakes! Not only are the cute snowflake sheets the colors of our wedding, but they are cute snowflake sheets! Knowing that we were having overnight guests for Thanksgiving, I couldn't help but buy some fun sheets for the guest bed.

After loading up the car with my goodies from Target (yay, sheets!), I made my way back home. I was still in a great holiday mood, although I was quickly brought back to my senses when I heard John Mellencamp's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" on the radio. That song should NEVER be played on the radio. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the Cougar should have never made a Christmas album in the first place. I guess when they start playing all the crappy Christmas songs on the radio, you know Christmas can't be too far away. Happy Holidays everyone!

Cheers!

Sonny

Yesterday Sonny left our family. He was a wonderful pet. I miss him terribly. He was always a faithful friend, and constant companion and a very loving animal. I remember bringing home Sonny from the pet store with my mom and brother the summer before I started fifth grade. I was so happy! We finally had a pet! We named him Sonny because of the color of his fur, golden yellow, like the sun (although we probably should have spelled his name "Sunny").

Mom was with Sonny and the vet yesterday when they put him down. It was his time. It's hard for me to believe that he is gone. I've had Sonny the majority of my life. Sonny taught me how to love a pet, and I will always remember that. He was one of my best friends growing up. Although he got into his fair share of trouble - like the year he climbed up the Christmas tree and knocked it down, breaking many ornaments - he was always a good pet.

Sonny, I love you. I know you are in a better place now. I'll never forget you!

Jack Will Not Be Back

This morning I learned that Fox's "24" will NOT return in January for Day 7 because of the strike by the Writers Guild of America. OK. Now I'm really mad. Take away Desperate Housewives and Dave Letterman. I don't care. But do not take away Jack Bauer. Keifer Sutherland should don his Jack Bauer bullet-proof vest, bomber sunglasses and canvas nap sack, storm the offices of the Writers Guild and demand that they start writing scripts again. After all, he would tell them, the future of the world rests on their shoulders and, dammit, if they don't start writing, the life of the President may be in jeopardy!

Maybe I'm a little too into "24", but with good reason. It is an awesome show. Just when you think the concept of real-time television might get stale, the writers (now former writers) always came up with an awesome plot twist. Now, the twist is that there is no Day 7 awaiting me in January. I understand that especially for a show like 24, (that starts in January and ends in May so that there will be no repeats) it is imperative to have a full season written out before filming starts. And this is why they went ahead and postponed Day 7. But that still does not sit well with me.

I heard somewhere on the radio that television writers have a starting salary of about $200,000. And as my husband pointed out, they are not paid on commission. They are paid for their product, the script, and once they are done writing, then that is the end of that. After all, writers aren't punished monetarily if they write for a television show that doesn't make it. The studio absorbs the costs of sucky shows, not the writers. The worst that happens to a writer is he or she moves on to another show. And if they happen upon a hit show, then kudos to them.

I just hope it ends soon. I don't pretend to understand all the details of the dispute between the writers and the studios. They just better not cancel Grey's Anatomy, or I might have to don the Jack Bauer bullet-proof vest and storm my way into Hollywood and change some minds. After all, the future of the world depends on it.

My First Pet

This is a close up shot of my first pet, Sonny. Sonny is a yellow tabby cat who is going on 17 plus years. He has been a wonderful pet, and I love him dearly even though he lives in Winston-Salem with my parents.

Sonny is sick. Last night, my mom found him on the couch on his back whithering in pain. She scooped him up, placed him in a laundry basket with towels and drove him to the emergency vet. The doctor said that Sonny had suffered the human equivalent of a stroke. They checked his other vitals, and they were all strong. Sonny is back at home today, and Mom is taking him to the vet later this afternoon. While I am praying for the best, I know that Sonny has lived a long and happy life. Mom is suppose to call me later today to let me know what his regular vet determines about Sonny's condition. Until then, I'm just hoping for the best. I love you Sonny!

Dog Loves of My Life

There are three dogs in my life that I love: Sydney, Maxwell and Tucker.


This is Sydney and Tucker chilling at my brother-in-law's house. A few weeks ago, myself, my husband and my brother-in-law took a trip down to Atlanta to visit my mother-in-law. Sydney stayed at Tucker's house while we were down in Georgia. We had a great time, but I think Sydney and Tucker had an even better time. Sydney adores Tucker, who is a four year old yellow lab. She tries to copy everything that he does. I think she might have a little crush on him. Sydney likes to tackle Tucker in the backyard and steal the ball from his mouth (literally) and she follows him around everywhere. They are really cute together.


This is Maxwell. Maxwell recently went to doggie heaven and is happily chasing squirrels and rabbits. Max was a very sweet dog and I miss having him around. He was Jason's dog growing up, a chocolate brown lab. Although I only knew Max for about three years, I've heard many stories about his younger days and growing up with Jason. My favorite story might be how Max use to take a ball to the top of the stairs, let go of it and watch it fall down, and then he would go down the stairs, pick it up, and start all over again. His own game of fetch. Very clever.

These are the dog loves of my life. Truly a man (and woman's) best friend.

Episode 1: Bostic Family Halloween

As you can clearly see from the photo above, we like Star Wars. Jason has loved the series since he was a little kid. I only recently began to appreciate and love the series. This year, we decided to do a Star Wars theme for Halloween. I transformed myself into Princess Leia, and we brought out the cardboard cut out of Yoda and the robotic R2D2 to accompany me.

We acquired R2D2 last Saturday at Southpoint mall in Durham. They had dozens of R2D2s in the window of The Sharper Image, and we just had to go in a take a look. R2D2 responds to your voice commands. He can sing, talk back to you, go on patrol, turn right and left and even monitor a room! R2 is pretty fun to have around, and it fit our theme quite nicely. Sydney is still a little wary of R2, but we've made a lot of progress from the initial barking and jumping fit last weekend.

We had about 20 or so trick-or-treators last night, and it was fun to see the kids' reaction when a costume clad adult answered the door and gave them candy. When we weren't handing out candy, Jason and I (in keeping with our theme) watched Episode 4: A New Hope on DVD. We had a fun night and decided to keep with our Star Wars Halloween tradition for next year.

PS - Can you spot Sydney in the background of the picture?

How Fast Does A Year Go?

A year goes by pretty darn fast when you are married. Yesterday, my wonderful husband and I celebrated our 1st year anniversary! We went out to dinner on Saturday night to Rey's Restaurant (the site of our rehearsal dinner). We had drinks, dinner and dessert - my three favorite D's.

Before dinner we exchanged gifts. My wonderful and talented husband gave me a framed poster of 96 pictures from our wedding. Think of it as a large collage of our wedding day. It's wonderful. He also gave me a beautiful Tiffany charm bracelet. I gave him a Tivoli radio, a Christmas ornament and a tissue dispenser (for paper anniversary; also sort of a gag gift but hard to describe online).

Yesterday, we ate a piece of our wedding cake. Now, this cake was not the topper we had frozen in the back of our refrigerator. Our cake baker made us a brand new cake topper for our anniversary. She does this for all of her couples. It's one of the many reasons we decided to use her as our baker. The cake was delicious, and she even decorated it in our wedding colors, light blue and dark brown.

We had a wonderful wedding anniversary, and even got some things done around the house! Thanks to Restoration Hardware, we have a new door bell, a new door knocker and new house numbers! Now our house is ready for those trick-or-treators on Halloween!

Happy "Paper" Anniversary!