If I were Ohio's PR agent...

Being the resident Buckeye here in my office at the Pentagon, I frequently come under a lot of scrutiny about my state and a few of the WHACK jobs that live there. It seems that my co-workers love to send me lovely and insightful articles about the seemingly endless idiots in the news that reign from the great state of Ohio. And it's not just the people! I recently was forwarded a column that was written in TIME magazine featuring Ohio. It wasn't about some scientist that had cured some horrible disease. It was about bedbugs, and how the state is seemingly riddled with the sleepy little pests. Just today I saw an article about a pot-smuggling grandpa delivering drugs to his imprisoned grandson, and we all have heard of the serial killer recently detained in Ohio and extradited back to Michigan.

Who does your PR Ohio? Is there a spin doctor in the house? If I were Ohio's PR agent, and here I practically am, I would do a few things to get things back on track.

1. Highlight stories that don't make national headlines but really should like the increase in solar fields across the great state of Ohio. Who knew they were making such great strides in clean energy efforts?

2. The everyday heroes of Ohio making news, like the 65-year-old Vermilion, OH woman who scared off a would-be robber from a convenient store.

3. If these initiatives fail, I could just revert every bad news story back to The Ohio State Buckeyes, and the hopeful season that lies ahead of them. The art of distraction is never below me...

No matter what, I will continue to defend my home state and the people that live there. No matter how many stories I see about Ohioans being pulled over on their motorized bar stools or Ohio families who call police after being trapped in their home by squirrels, I will still stand tall and just be glad that I don't come from somewhere awful, like Michigan.

cattitude

So my roommate's cat Hopper is 1. Adorable, and 2. a complete brat. I give him a hard time ALL of the time. "Hopper don't eat that." "Stop scratching the company." "Don't bite my toes when I'm trying to sleep." I'm such a nag right? My roommate's parents call it "cattitude".

I've just recently realized that we have WAY more in common that I first realized! Recently I have been a complete brat and unfortunately to those I am closest with. I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but do you ever find yourself acting out? Do you ever develop your own case of "cattitude" and take out the wrath on those you just assume will understand?

It's extremely unfortunate that a little stress at work, or a fight with a friend can create such a funk that rubs off on the innocent unsuspecting bystander. Well for all of my innocent, unsuspecting bystanders that may have been a victim to my recent bad attitude I just want to say sorry. And for some that is SO hard to say. It's amazing how two little words can change a whole situation. An apology can change so much, and it's unfortunate when people overlook that fact. If Hopper could speak I'm sure he'd say the same.

I forgot about #1! So yes, Hopper and I are both kind of adorable too... when we aren't biting and scratching of course. :D

Cake, I'm in Love...

Thanks to a great deal from Groupon, I was able to slip into a cake induced comatose with this little beauty. This my friends is a CakeLove creation called "Susie's a Pink Lady. Fresh raspberry butter cream floats between layers of vanilla butter cake. And did I mention it has FRESH raspberries and is baked from scratch that day...yum!

It was DELICIOUS! So if you aren't afraid to spend $40 on a cake (or get a great 50% deal from Groupon) then I highly suggest one of these little beauties. My only complaint was this: If I am spending an insane amount of money on a cake, could you please not let a 5 year-old write the birthday message?

My post-it note organization system

Today I learned a VERY valuable lesson. A colleague called me and asked me for a phone number that I had written down last week. Now what did I do with that? I knew the number was scribbled somewhere on a piece of paper the size of a post-it note. Because why wouldn't it be? Everyone knows that's the most effective way of logging calls. On a 6-inch square of paper with no name or reference to be found. Just a number. Right next to 5 others with the same area code...ahh! As I scrambled through my filing system, and by filing system I mean roughly 34 pieces of scrap paper, post-it notes and two notebooks, I realized something. Although my perception is that I have my organization system completely in check, the aftermath of me searching for this phone number would prove that I am, dare I say, a HOT MESS.

While I mean well writing down endless phone numbers and to-do lists (I'm obsessed) on these bitty pieces of paper, I'm really not doing myself any good keeping all of these scraps piled on my desk. God forbid the fan trend comes back to the office culture. I would be screwed!

So from now on, I will refrain from scribbling on scraps as my main source of call documentation. I hear they have this thing called "e-mail".... Ya, that might be a good start.

I dream of Frosty

Does this remind anyone else of a diet-induced nightmare? I know I've been chased by a giant delicious Frosty in my dreams many times...

CASH CAB

OK! I was on Cash Cab! The Discovery Channel show that takes place in a cab in NYC! And since it aired on Friday July 23, I can now tell you ALL about it!

First question: Did I win? Umm no. But like my mother always used to say, winning isn't everything. YA RIGHT! How do you think I have become the competitive nut-ball that I am today?! Thanks mom! :D

My roommates and I went through a phase in early 2009 where we would ONLY hail Toyota van-cabs in hopes that Ben Bailey would be hiding inside. We also would ask every driver if this was the cash cab, and they were clearly unimpressed with that.But seriously, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity that not everyone gets to experience. So here's how it went down:

So my friend Angela and I were going to Elmo, a bar in NYC, and hailed a cab. Right when we got in, I knew something was up. I could see the driver was a REALLY tall white guy, with ridiculously long legs. AKA he was not your average NYC cab driver. My friend Ang looked around and said, "I think we're on cash cab." (Which actually we say every time we get into a van-cab in NYC)

LIGHTS! BELLS! BEN BAILEY! "You're right!" He said, "Welcome to Cash Cab, do you wanna play?"

Umm hells yes!

Okay so we fill out our "forms" (disclosure...yada yada) and we are on our way. The first question he asked had to do with Univ. of Michigan, and being that they are Ohio State's arch-nemesis, I definitely knew that one. The next question's answer was my high school mascot (CRAZY!) So pretty much we were on a roll. The first one we got wrong was "Tiger Beat". I must not have gone through that crazy teen-heart throb stage... oops! Then it happened. We were ONE block away. $1300 in the bank, and all we had to do was answer one simple question. "What do you call the Outback of Alaska not accessible by car?" Umm what? We have no shout outs left. Hurry make something up. So I did it. What every good Public Affairs person (and President GW Bush) would do. I made up a word. "Alleghanquey" I screamed. Umm no. Turns out that is not even a real word/region. Ben Bailey was so funny though because you could just tell he wanted to crack up laughing. He just turned and looked at me and said afterwards, "Really? That is not even a word." lol.

So I didn't win. But I did walk away with a really great memory, and the one thing I always wanted when I came to NYC... a ride in the Cash Cab. (and a hug from Ben Bailey...I got one of those too!) :D

My little garden

Like most DC residents, I don't have a yard. But unlike my NYC apartment, I do have windows and a small balcony patio, so I am very greatful for that much! I know my mother and grandmother will laugh, but I've taken up gardening. I think this is much in part becasue I have been watching too much "Beekman Boys" (LOVE), and I enjoy waking up and seeing how my lil' garden has bloomed overnight.

As you can see, my small patio has been taken over by a cucmber vine and tomato tree. Neither, might I remind you, have yielded any fruit...

That's okay. They still look pretty, and I think my good intentions of being more "green" are really paying off. Despite my somewhat fruitless efforts, my one strawberry plant has been yielding many strawberries... although one at a time.

Note to my fellow gardeners: Watch out for pests in your garden. They can really slow down the process! :D

Dog Park Happy Hour

That's right people. I said it. Beagles and booze. Wine and weinerdogs. If there are two things that I never thought would go together it's gotta be dogs and Happy Hour.

One day after a long week of work while gathered around with other dog owners at the neighborhood dog park, we had an idea. Why not do this... but with drinks? The dogs have been couped up all week, and all they wanna do is play, and yes, we could use a drink after all of those TPS reports we did this week.

So the Dog Park Happy Hour was born unto us. Now, all of our friends head out to the doggie hangout at 5pm on Fridays, and bring snacks and drinks and let loose a little. It has truly become a great way to make friends, and allow the pups to play leash-free. I can honestly say that "dog park" is right up there with "pool" when it comes to future apartment searches.
Big shout out to Sadie, the border collie-spaniel mix, without you I'd have very few friends.

You have been de-friended.

A really scary thing happened the other day. My roommate came home, and she told me she had gotten annoyed with Facebook, and how some really random people were her friends. She went on a Facebook cleansing, and deleted a dozen people that she really didn't know that well.

So knowing that I knew all of my FB friends, and that this was going to be a very short cleansing exercise, I sat down and went through the list. Of this list of all of my FBBFFs (Facebook Best Friends Forever) I ended up deleting 38 people from my friend list. Granted I had multiple friends in common with all of them, but once I clicked their profile picture, I was looking at a complete stranger. There were a few that were friends of friends of friends that I had met long ago and OF COURSE we friended each other afterwards because a fun night out once means you should be FB friends. Others were people that were friends with people on FB that I knew, so of course they couldn't be too bad.

One was really scary though. When I clicked on my "friend"'s profile, it was this guy who I had never seen in my life. I had 13 friends in common with him, all pretty females, and ALL of his friends on FB were females my age. I think we call that a creeper... It was incredibly disturbing. At some point I had friended this guy thinking that no harm could come from it, and that since he was friends with my friends he couldn't be too bad. Come to find out, now my friends were adding him because they saw he was friends with me and accepted his friend request. So THIS is what my mom was telling me about Internet predators for! I thought about this, and how for some people, Facebook friend numbers really were a bragging right. Not accepting a friend request could mean you (gasp) fall behind!

Bottom line: Go through your online social media "friend" list, and make sure these people have some real connection with you. Is it worth having 1,245 friends when 58 of them are sexual predators preying on you and your friends? Not really. I think you will be surprised how many people you really don't know from Adam. Do you really want complete strangers knowing your life details? Well, after my Facebook cleansing, I know who is keeping up with me...

Happy belated Birthday America!

Ok so I made the cheater version... but it was still delicious!