exit, pursued by bear

it is your patriotic duty ...

... to watch the awesome Muppets:

{"Stars & Stripes FOREVER! (Muppets Variation)" via YouTube}

"You'll still need a tray!"

Found this today while out a-wanderin' on the internet -- in that way you can always find random things. This has probably been out for ages, but what can I say? It's funny, and you know how I love Mr. Izzard ...

{Eddie Izzard- Death Star Canteen, from YouTube, via raincoaster.}

most awesome thing ever.

Jeremy just sent me this link: Cooler on wheels:

As the senior member and de facto bullpen leader, Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen is always trying to make the bullpen better. He was the one who purchased the large industrial fans mounted on each side of the bullpen bench. This year, he has outfitted their usual ice chest with an unusual upgrade.

“My job as the rookie is to carry the drinks out in the cooler, so [Isringhausen] said I got to make sure I’m out there in style,” says rookie reliever Kyle McClellan, who has been driving the cooler out to the bullpen before every home game.

{photo and text from Pictures on STLToday's Blog Zone}

This is why pitchers are always the most awesome players on the team -- they always have the best sense of humor and are usually super goofy. Seriously -- look how cool this thing is:

I think my favorite part, though, is the action shots -- vrooom!!

bachelorette bash!

My darling MOH, who I have praised here before, posted some lovely pics on her blog of the bachelorette party invitations she designed for me. Seriously, she constantly outdoes herself -- there are truly no limits to her creativity. Since I can't get enough of them -- I'll post them again here :o)

{front of invite with awesome pixelated bride & groom. A grommet at the top allows the invite to be "swung" open}

{first interior page}

{third page, with all the details}

Diana and my other MOH Elizabeth hosted my fab bachelorette party a few weeks ago. I had a blast. Dinner, drinks and gaming at Dave and Busters? Clearly my friends know me well. It was also a great chance for all of my different "groups" of friends to meet -- I've been blessed with some truly great friendships, so it was wonderful to see everyone in one place!

After we managed to accrue some 5,250+ little D&B coupons which I was forced to cash in for a HUGE (read: bigger than me) stuffed elephant -- a few of us went and had a mini-sleepover at a hotel. Then, as luck would have it -- I was able to score some baseball tickets for me and Elizabeth to go see our beloved Cardinals. Since she flew in from New York for bachelorette co-hosting duties and festivities, I figured it was the least I could do to thank her. But I truly owe them both, big time. They went above and beyond.

I cannot tell you how much fun I had -- it was a perfect weekend :o)

hint of things to come.

So I've mentioned before that I have a desk calendar from Cranium. Today's little game is a blankout -- these are categories where you are given a hint, and you have to fill in the blanks with the missing letters. The word games are my absolute fave -- especially these fill-in ones, which often stump me.

{Photo from gtilley.co.uk}

Here is today's puzzle:

Hint: exquisite script

__ __ L __ I __ R A __ __ __

Let's just say I didn't spend too much time pondering this one ;o)

Still stumped? Answer after the jump.

fooling.

{I don't get it either. Photo from inspirationonline.com}

Obligatory April Fool's Day post!

Some history of the day, if you're so inclined. More here.

Also, almost fell for this one today.

photo genius.

Saw this on Lifehacker today, Adobe has unveiled its free Photoshop Express web application. I'm really excited about this -- I love web-based applications, especially photo editing ones, like Picnik.

Regular Photoshop is such a big, somewhat unwieldy program -- and I don't like that it's such a space hog on my computer -- I always have felt that it makes my computer cranky. (This is probably my imagination -- I think I may have a problem with anthropomorphism, lol -- I do this a LOT with our two dogs ...).

Anyway! I'm anxious to give this a test drive. There are some examples of some of the "effects" you can use on their site -- the original photo:

And that same photo with the "sketch" effect applied:

{All photos from Adobe's Photoshop Express Web site}

Neat, huh?

giggle.

A friend just sent this to me and I had to share because it just cracked me up:

{photo from ihasahotdog.com}

I think it's the "pug." at the end that really sells this for me. Sort of like, "punk."

punch it out.

At work, I have this little desk calendar from Cranium -- each day has questions or activities, similar to the categories from the board game.

Today's category of questions -- which might be the same for all Thursdays, I need to pay closer attention -- is "punch list." The objective is to come up with a list of things, say -- name as many U.S. presidents as you can with the first name "John."

So - today's punch list is: "There are four state capitals that begin with the same letter as their respective states. How many can you name?"

Nothing like feelings of total intellectual inadequacy first thing in the morning! I hate questions like this, that rely not only on your relative proficiency with say, geography and third grade curriculum - but also your memory and ability to quickly recall things.

Or, if you're like me, you get hung up on something (the capital of Michigan? I could not remember Lansing for the life of me - I was convinced it began with "M."), and it renders you completely incapable of thinking of anything else.

Maybe I need to pick up some of those state capital placemats ...

Although, after the last humiliation Jeremy and I suffered at the hands of Cranium (that time with the Wii game), we decided we needed to boost our world geography knowledge -- which is why I carted home a huge world map from work. I insisted that we hang it up somewhere, in my somewhat futile attempt to improve ourselves ... Currently, it's sitting rolled up next to the bed. How it ended up in the bedroom I will never know.

Note to self - the Mensa calendar? Probably not the best idea for next year's calendar.

Stumped on state capitals? Answers after the jump.

cake or death!

"Uhh, cake please!"

*SO* unbelievably excited! I have been waiting anxiously for Eddie Izzard to come to our fine city -- but his tour always seems to stay on the coasts. But no more!

Yesterday I RANDOMLY ended up on one of his fan sites, cake or death (I cannot even begin to explain the line of reasoning/varied thought processes that went through my mind and led me here -- although I suspect I will indluge my dear readers later ...), and to my absolute delight, saw that Saint Louis had been announced as one of his tour stops for his latest show, Stripped! AND that pre-sale tickets were going on sale today!

{Photo from eddieizzard.com fan e-mail}

Sometimes the cosmos just works in your favor, doesn't it? I mean, I cannot believe the randomness that had to occur for me to stroll over to that site. I have tried to recreate my thought process for you here now:

Jeremy & I were watching American Idol (gag! -- but FI is a fan, so I indulge him periodically if we dine in front of the TV). We discussed Ryan Seacrest's respective love interests/sexuality. In an attempt to distract me from the horror that is American Idol, I looked him up on Wikipedia (uh, he reportedly makes something like $22 million a year.) Then I wandered over to Simon Cowell's entry. His Wikipedia entry references that he participated in BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs program. So then I hopped over to that site and scanned some of the celebs who have also participated, including Nick Hornby and, awesomely, Engelbert Humperdinck. Then I wondered -- did Eddie Izzard do one of these? This led me to HIS Wikipedia entry and his Wikiquote entry. From there, I somehow ended up at cake or death ... and the rest is history ;o) (Admit it -- these little insights into my muddled mind are terrifying, aren't they?)

So today I scurried over to Ticketmaster, after securing the fan club code (check out the aforementioned cake or death site for said code -- I also got it via an e-mail from Eddie's own site) - and snagged two tickets. Can you believe it, Orchestra level!! And he'll be at the Roberts Orpheum Theater (former American Theater), which used to be one of my favorite venues. Could not be more thrilled.

He'll be in town the week before our wedding. I think that's a perfect way to relax, no?