Expansion in the Blogosphere!

I told you I was back to blogging! Well, not only am I aiming to keep this blog regularly updated, but I've also (finally) launched another blog at Kaboodle, the awesome social shopping site where I work.

Since Kaboodle is all about shopping, my Kaboodle blog is mostly product and shopping focused. We have a really fun area called "What I'm Wearing Today", so I'm also trying to post the occasional entry there.

Check it out here. Happy Kaboodling!

Mawwied?? Yes, Mawwied!!

As I mentioned, on June 6 Special K and I pledged we'd love each other for eternity (or at least until football season starts -- just kidding, you can't really be a "football widow" when you love it, too!) The wedding was hosted at the lovely home of our very dear friends, Craig and Dannie, in Encinitas, CA. We had a very small, intimate ceremony and dinner with our families and a few friends -- the day was absolutely perfect and a couple of days later, we were off to Ireland for our honeymoon. Spectacular.

Now, I know this is kind of cheating, but Special K wrote a great email to our wedding guests to recap some of the highlights of the day and of our trip to the Emerald Isle. So, I hereby annoint Special K as my guest blogger and invite you to enjoy his marvelous way with words and sense of humour. (I just may turn the whole blog over to him!)

Here goes:

“Hey, we just flew in from Dublin and – boy - our arms are tired!”
(bah-dah-bing!)

Wanted to send one final note to our wedding posse and share some quick post-ceremony behind the scenes tid-bits and honeymoon highlights:

Betcha didn’t know that Shari’s Dad and Craig had to make two runs to the store to pick up some ice minutes before the party bus pulled into the circular driveway!

Father Peter is actually the Bishop of California’s Catholic Ecumenical Church – and no, he is not one of the co-stars of the current box office hit “The Hangover.”

Pittsburgh Johnny was warming up in the bullpen with his Internet-certified minister certificate in case Father Peter got stuck on the 5 freeway.

In a close vote, Aunt Kathy’s cookies edged out the custom cupcakes and pudding to win the “best dessert” award.

Cincy Bob had a beautiful speech prepared about the bride and groom but was wise enough to recognize that NO ONE – not even Elvis-back-from-the-grave! - could follow Shari’s “red nose” improvisation.

Special thanks to Craig and Dannie McLaughlin for opening their home to us for our special night! As Aunt Audrey said, “This is like one of those places you see on those fancy home and garden cable TV shows!”

IRELAND Honeymoon facts:

Over / under on how long it takes an Irishman to praise Obama as “the second coming”: 47 seconds.

Would you believe: There are more cabs in Dublin than NYC! (look it up!)

What is on TV in Ireland as the Penguins were hoisting the Stanley Cup and the Lakers winning the NBA Championship?...Hurling! (seriously…)

Special K scorecard from piloting a right-hand-drive Hyundai across Ireland?
-1 popped curb speeding thru a roundabout
-2 pissed-off Irishmen from driving head-on into the wrong lane
-3 attempts to enter the car from the wrong side
-4 bruises on his left arm from his wife’s “encouragement” from the passenger seat
-5 maps used navigate across Ireland but – when we pulled back into Dublin we spent an hour trying to find our rental car return location – gave up – and paid $10 Euro to a cab driver to let us follow him there.

Average time the sun would set during our trip: 10pm!

Zero! (the number of clock radios found in our 6 different hotel rooms.)

True or False: The green card bride spent some time in jail during her honeymoon.

TRUE: http://www.kilmainham-gaol.com/

True or False: Special K enjoyed a Galway Hooker during his honeymoon!

TRUE! http://www.galwayhooker.ie/
(it’s a beer, people!)

Thanks again, everyone! And to those who have shared their photos, thank you & stand by – Shari will create “something” with the official wedding and honeymoon photos and forward a link.

Love & Laughs-
-K&S

Did Ya Miss Me??

Didn't even know I was gone, did ya? Well, after an extremely prolonged absence, I am indeed back! Special K and I got hitched on Saturday, June 6 -- if you didn't know, we only set the date in May, so we were busy bees for most of May, juggling crazy work schedules, wedding planning and of course, HONEYMOON planning!

We just got back from our honeymoon in Ireland a few days ago, and now that we're back and life is back to its only semi-frenetic pace, consider Signature Shari officially resurrected!

Ah, it's good to be back!

Alive and Kicking!

No, I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth... and no, I haven't run off and joined the circus (unless you're speaking about my day-to-day job).... and no, I haven't suddenly lost my interest in writing and forgotten how to type....

No, the reason for my absence is MUCH more exciting, wonderful and silly smile-inducing! Ready for the big news?

Special K and I have decided to make it official and tie the knot! We decided just a few short weeks ago and we are getting hitched in ten days. TEN DAYS. WHOOOOOO!!!

So, as you can appreciate, I've been quite occupied with planning fun details for our very small and intimate ceremony and wedding dinner.

I have definitely been missing my blog and I will aim to post a couple of updates between now and the big day, but I promise I'll get back on track once we are blissfully wed. (I get butterflies every time I think about it!)

It's Not Kidnapping if He Comes Along Willingly

A while back, I introduced my team at work to Wahoo's, bringing a little slice of one of my fave SoCal institutions up here to the land of granola, Priuses and organic ... everything. It was an immediate hit with the girls and so we will occasionally make the trek (all 10 minutes of it) to Cupertino where the closest Wahoo's is located. (As an aside, I think Wahoo's makes the best quick-serve cheese enchiladas EVER.)

As we gathered our wallets and sunglasses, we polled the rest of the office to see if anyone else wanted to join us... but alas, no takers. Down in the parking lot, as I backed out of my spot, I spied our principal scientist coming out the front door of the office building and I rolled down the window, leaning across Jessica in the passenger seat to yell "Hey, Magnus! Get in the car!"

The girls giggled. And Magnus squinted to see who it was and then did come over and get in the car. (Brave guy!)

With our hijacked scientist in the backseat, we were off in pursuit of mexi-goods. When Magnus found out there would be fish tacos at our destination, he relaxed.

And yes, we brought him back safely, although in retrospect, I'm sure we could have commanded a pretty decent ransom.

The Opposite of Lent

Big congratulations to all my wonderful Catholic friends who made commitments to give up certain habits, vices, food and various other things for Lent. I always find it fascinating to hear what folks have decided to forego for that 40 day period preceding Easter.

I know at least a couple of people who have committed to staying off Facebook for Lent. (Is that really a sacrifice?) One of my co-workers gave up shopping... but just for clothes and shoes. (What a glorious loophole allowing you to carve out your own Lenten parameters. Clothes and shoes may be off the list, but handbags and jewelry are totally fair game!) Another friend of mine gave up meat for all of Lent (not just on Fridays) a few years ago and she hasn't actually eaten meat since. Impressive!

This year, my former altar boy, Special K, gave up sweets for the holy fasting period. And he took it really seriously, not even having regular soda nor his regular morning mochaccino nor sugar in a cup of tea. In a moment of solidarity (or insanity), I actually thought, "You know, I'll give up sweets, too. It will be healthier, it will be supportive and it will be something we can do together!"

Yeah, that lasted about 6 hours.

What Special K accomplished in his pious efforts to make a meaningful sacrifice, I MORE than made up for on the other side. I went straight for gluttony, swinging around a full 180 degrees as if a meeting between Lent and my personal willpower was like trying to push together the North ends of two magnets. Not gonna happen.

They say timing is everything and it just so happened that during those 40 days at the office, we had cupcakes (multiple times, thanks to all the March/April birthdays), donuts, an ice cream social and pounds of chocolate and other goodies delivered from Costco. Not even a fair fight.

Now that Lent is over, however, I am back to yogurt, bananas, granola bars and carrot sticks.

Final score:
Lent: 40
Shari: 0 (but with a couple of darn good red velvet cupcakes!)

That ain't so bad!

I'm Sorry, But I Just Don't Care

Am I the only one who thinks that the whole concept of "defensive indifference" in baseball is ridiculous? I just learned about this notion the other day when Special K and I were watching a game and as a runner stole a base, the announcer said that it wouldn't count in that player's stats and he noted "defensive indifference" as the reason.

Special K explained that if the defense (ie. the pitcher and the catcher) make no attempt to put the baserunner out, then that play is scored as "defensive indifference" and no stolen base is credited to the runner.


Excuse me?


Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the pitcher and the catcher aren't even paying attention, isn't that even more reason to credit a stolen base to the runner? Heck, if he can make that move without attracting the offense's attention, perhaps he should even get twice the credit. I don't know of any other sport where the defense can just sit back and say that a play or scoring doesn't count just simply because they weren't paying attention.


I wish I had known about that rule when playing sports in high school.


"Oh, that goal doesn't count because frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."


Perhaps I'll adopt this philosophy in my day-to-day life now. Imagine:


In business (to my boss): "Oh, I'm sorry that I totally missed my revenue numbers this quarter. Since I wasn't even really paying attention to the business, I'm allowed to claim 'professional indifference.'"


To my friends: "Yeah, I'm sorry I missed your birthday, but because of "personal indifference", your birthday didn't even really exist for me."


To the cashier at the movie theatre: "I'm not planning to actually pay attention to the movie, so I shouldn't have to pay for my ticket. It's called "Hollywood indifference". Thanks for understanding."