top 10

top 10 reasons you know you've found a good online dating prospect:

1. he's the first guy in a really long time to peak your interest
2. he ups his cell phone plan to insure he doesn't go broke after your daily three and four hour long conversations
3. his sister im's him while you're on the phone to ask how it's going
4. he knows who joss whedon is
5. he's comfortable with you setting the pace but he's ready to meet when you are. he'll come to you, or you can go to him, it doesn't matter, he's just ready
6. you can almost hear him taking mental notes when you say things like 'i'm a sucker for chocolate and cheese'
7. he makes you belly laugh
8. he goes to the temple with his parents
9. he plays basketball three times a week AND watches battlestar galactica
10. he has a passport

getting ahead of myself

i realize it's only may, but when you live your life dictated by calendars, you tend to plan ahead. sometimes FAR ahead. in this case, i'm planning for august.

it turns out i'll be at a conference a couple weeks before my birthday in hershey, pa. and since, for as long as i'm with my current company, i'll be spending my actual birthday in kansas city, mo, i had an awesomely brilliant idea.

the idea, is to extend my work trip for a couple of days, and to coerce a couple of my closest friends to join me for a girls weekend, focused solely and completely on two things:

hershey park, of course, AND

whether or not my coercion attempts are successful, i plan to celebrate the big 34 by dropping some greenbacks on the following:

Cocoa Massage
Only in Hershey, Pennsylvania are you able to relax AND enjoy chocolate without a single calorie. Our signature chocolate scented massage oil along with a classic Swedish Massage will surely soothe your senses.

Chocolate Bean Polish
One of our signature chocolate services! We combine the gentle exfoliation of cocoa bean husks and walnut shells with a softening Cocoa Body Moisturizer for superb results. Smells so good, you may want to eat it!

Cocoa Facial Experience
The most unique Hershey facial experience! In the rich tradition of cocoa, relax with the newest addition to the Chocolate Spa. Enjoy aromas of caramel, strawberry, rose, and mint. This facial experience contains active ingredients carefully selected from natural resources to maintain beneficial properties of the cacao fruit, proven as an anti-oxidant, to combat the visual signs of aging.

Sweet Hands & Feet
The ultimate chocolate experience for your hands and feet! Enjoy either a classic manicure or pedicure with a chocolate sugar exfoliation, chocolate mask for the feet, paraffin dip, and chocolate moisturizing massage.

doesn't that sound absolutely delicious!?! and, ya know, if you wanted to help me celebrate, it's never too early for this ;)

monday at ohio state university

i'm a HUGE fan of non-random random dance routines performed in public places to 'glee' music.

bbq: parts 1 & 2

back before i can remember (march, maybe?), heather bought a grill, and i a fire pit, vowing that we would find a saturday, no matter how distant, to host a bbq. it was this, my first saturday back in the state after a very long month of travel, that was chosen as the golden day.

the weather gods held up their end of the bargain, and we were blessed with a perfect california spring day to welcome in the month of may, and to celebrate my return home for almost an entire month.

on the menu were delicacies such as hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, avocado salsa, queso, fresh strawberries and grapes, key lime pie, and the biggest cupcakes you've ever seen (thank you costco!) heather put on her grill-mistress hat (figuratively) and went to work preparing our dinner amidst the smoke and yummy smelling smells emanating from the charcoal half of the grill, as our guests arrived with more goodies, and fully intent on having a good time.

we spent the afternoon chowing and chatting with old friends and enjoyed meeting new ones. this was also my first successful attempt at blending my work social life with my home social life, as my friend vicki was in town for an event and came over to join the fun..

as the sun began to set, and with stomachs full, a few of us warmed up by the fire pit before eventually retreating inside to eat more!

eventually the guests began to depart with a small group staying much later to chill and chat and chow some more, before calling it a night.

as usual though, we had a lot of food left over, so we decided to offer up 'bbq: the sequel" as a perfect way to break our fast on sunday, and after church the chowing and chatting recommenced with a slightly different and more intimate group of mouths. it was both relaxing a stimulating - the perfect siaze group for everyone to be included in conversation and still have it be somewhat depthful.

when we were done eating and the majority of the group took their leave, a couple of the boys decided to hang out for awhile, so we popped in a movie, and curled up on the couch together to enjoy.

for those of you who've previously commented on the 'cute-ness' of my friend brandon, you'll be pleased to know that he was, in fact, MY couch buddy. that being said, he is and will always remain a friend, but that doesn't mean i can't enjoy sharing a couch and a blanket with a cute boy;)

for the rest of the pics, click here

new york highlights and lowlight

lowlight #1:

the only bummer of the long weekend in the new york was that event day, the day on which we were holding our k9k pet cancer awareness dog walk across the brooklyn bridge, was 48 degrees and pouring rain. six hours in those conditions and i don't remember ever being so miserable. when i got back to my hotel, i literally took my boots off and poured them into the sink.

the weather was such a total buzzkill, with only 105 of our 300+ registered participants showing up for the walk. Although, don't get me wrong, we were grateful for that high a number!

this is the second year in a row that this event has been rained on, so i'm not sure whether we'll be able to do it again. :(


highlight #1:

a $10 new york manicure.

it's been literally months since my last manicure, which is the only self-indulgent pampering i consistently engage in. but when you're constantly running through airports, hauling luggage and boxes, there's no point in wasting money on a manicure. with the impending arrival of may, a month in which i'm home for almost the entire duration, new york was the perfect place to remedy the tragedy that has become of my hands.


highlight #2:

spending time with deb while taking in the (relatively) new high line park.


The High Line was originally constructed in the 1930s, to lift dangerous freight trains off Manhattan's streets. Section 1 of the High Line is open as a public park, owned by the City of New York and operated under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Friends of the High Line is the conservancy charged with raising private funds for the park and overseeing its maintenance and operations, pursuant to an agreement with the Parks Department.


When all sections are complete, the High Line will be a mile-and-a-half-long elevated park, running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell's Kitchen. It features an integrated landscape, designed by landscape architects James Corner Field Operations, with architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, combining meandering concrete pathways with naturalistic plantings. Fixed and movable seating, lighting, and special features are also included in the park.


it was a spectacularly beautiful new york day (ironic considering that the following day would be soooo ugly), sunny and upper 60's. while there were many new yorkers enjoying the park, it didn't feel too crowded or bustling, which always makes for a nice change in a typical new york day.


we sat on the sun deck catching up on her recent trip to berlin and enjoyed the various art works and greenery the park had to offer, before heading home to ready ourselves for the main attraction.


highlight #3:

american idiot on broadway.

my pop-culture enslavement sometimes yields great rewards. after seeing green day's performance with the broadway cast of 'american idiot' on the grammy's months ago, i asked deb about getting tickets to the show during my next work function in the city. it turned out that it would actually be opening week for the musical, but deb was able to secure tickets for us.


my experience ON broadway is actually fairly limited, so i was looking forward to taking in my first musical there. american idiot is based on green day's album of the same name, a classic tale of disaffected youth and suburban escapism. the plot was so-so, but the music was fantastic, as was the set and the majority of the performances.

the bonus came when, just before the house lights went down, green day entered the theater and took their seats to watch the performance.

i'm going to have to remember that opening week is a good week to see a play!