Montpelier is possibly the most awesome capital in the country. It’s small, quaint, quiet, clean, cute and nice. Literally, the entire place is like that. Chop and I didn’t get to spend too much time there as we got in late Friday night and left early Sunday, but I’ve been there before and this visit only reinforced my deep abiding love.

Most of the shops are unique (i.e., no chains)—this is actually the only state capital that doesn’t have a McDonald’s—and the restaurants and cafes are all locally owned and run. The weekend farmer’s market was packed with local produce and other goodies (Pakistani food booth anyone? samosas? artisan cheese?) and people. Granted some of the people needed a shower and a shave (kinda sorta hippieville), but everyone was very pleasant. Even their dogs were quiet and friendly.

If the Chop and I could find work up there (incredibly low cost of living = not a lot of high paying tech jobs), I’d move in a heartbeat.

And if by some sort of insanity the Republicans take the White House, that’s where we’re going. They wanted to secede at one point, so we figure they’re close enough to wanting to be Canada, to be Canada. 😀

On our way home from VT, I got pulled over. Yippee for me, sigh. I was doing 82 in a 65… erm… but it was the middle of nowhere VT!

Fortunately the guy was incredibly nice and only gave me a ticket for my expired registration. Yeah. I’m gifted. Not only did I have expired registration (it was from April and I MEANT to renew, but we had moved so that “required” me coming in to renew—as opposed to online—and the last time was such a nightmare, so I didn’t… oops), I also couldn’t find my insurance card. Oh, and my license and my registration didn’t have my current address, so we gave him Chop’s ID, which does.

I know, I know, it’s amazing I wasn’t hauled away in handcuffs.

The guy was incredibly nice and only gave me a ticket for my expired registration (I love VT, hi)—which saved me a bundle of money for the speeding (ticket price + rise in insurance = bad). I proceeded to set cruise control for the rest of the drive.

As an aside, this is my 701 post. I can’t believe I’ve had that much to say since June of 2005. Granted, I’ve moved three times, been seriously ill, quit one job, started another and met the love of my life… it’s been a busy three years.

I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime… one major political party ticket has a black man and the other has a woman.

Completely and totally awesome.

I look forward to one day telling my kids that yes, I watched Michael Phelps win 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. And yes, I was probably working during every race and your dad was playing PSP, but we both PAUSED to watch Phelps. Every. damn. time.

And it was awesome.

Chop gave me grief today for not blogging for awhile, and the truth is, it’s been a long couple of weeks.

My best friend from high school and her husband stayed with us for a couple of days, then the morning they left, his parents flew in and stayed with us for five days. Two days after they left, his sisters flew in and stayed with us for five days. Parts of it were fun (lots of visiting local attractions, lots of drinking and reminiscing) and parts of it were rough (his sisters like to argue, massive quantities of rain, not being able to work as much as necessary), but all in all, it was very entertaining.

Like I said, it’s been a long couple of weeks, lol.

Up side.. the Olympics. And omg, do I LOVE the Olympics. My Nana and I watched the ’96 and ’00 Olympics together, and ever since, I’ve been hooked. I use the DVR to tape all the coverage and then I fast-forward through what I don’t want to watch (basketball, baseball, tennis, water polo, etc.) and watch what I like (swimming, gymnastics, diving, track and field, some weightlifting, kayaking). Working from home definitely has it’s advantages, as I’ve watched Olympic coverage every day for upwards of 12 hours. Goooood times.

The big sport for the Chop is basketball, and seeing as how he came from MN, his favorite player is KG (Kevin Garnett), who, about two minutes ago, finally won his championship ring.

We’re pretty excited over here.

Woot!

I’m leaving on Thursday to go hang out with my parents while my dad’s at a conference in Philly. While we’re there, my mom and I will be traveling to her hometown, putting flowers on the graves of my grandparents and visiting my Nana’s best friend Emma… who is in her 90s and still kicking.

I was trying to think of something we could do, or bring, this amazing woman who lives alone in the middle of nowhere, and I remembered a conversation I once had with my grandmother.

Every time she came to visit, she made cinnamon rolls from scratch, and I am telling you, they are the greatest things in the world. She’d get up early, mix up a batch of dough, let it rise for a few hours, then roll it out, spread the different ingredients on, roll it up and let it rise again for another few hours before she baked them in a brown sugar-butter syrup. One of my fondest memories of when I was young was eating the “ends” off the raw cinnamon-sugar-butter dough roll-ups before she placed them in the pan to rise and bake. She always made six pans (oh the deliciousness, normally two were gone on day one!), and I asked her what she did with them when she was at home (she had lived alone for over 20 years).

Oh I give them away, she said. The neighbors, your aunt comes and gets a pan and then I always give one to Emma. She loves my rolls.

So yesterday I shopped, and today I got up early and made the dough. And this dough? Not easy. For some unknown reason my mom and I have horrible luck with yeast, LOL. It’s either old, or our water is too hot, or the bowl is too cold, etc., but yeast is the bane of my baking existence. Amazingly, the yeast worked this time… granted, I bought it fresh yesterday, heated the bowl and used a thermometer to measure the water, but I was still stunned.

Now I’m waiting for it to rise and missing my Nana.

Update: Finished product!

I’ve been waiting for awhile to talk to my boss about getting a raise. My performance review was today, and I was planning to say, OK, this is what I need. And if they said no, I was going to start looking for a new job.

I flipped open my review and to my utter shock, saw my raise was going to be in the double digits, without me even asking.

I pushed for what I wanted (a difference of a couple thousand) and while they can’t go as high as I wanted, I’m still getting a huge raise and have plans to review adding to it after the summer.

Woot!

I just found out that today is Something on a Stick day.

First of all, how have I not known of this day MY WHOLE LIFE?! I love things on sticks… cotton candy, lollipops, candy apples, popsicles, etc.

Second, how come none of you people told me?! 😛

Wii belong together, you and Mii

Hiya, yes I am a dork on Valentine’s Day, what of it? 😀