Anne Stefl, Artist Extraordinaire

As the holiday season continues on, Eric and I hit up Christmas Gathering #4 this past Saturday. It was at a friend’s house and part of the festivities later in the evening involved game of Cranium. Mind you, the one and only other time I played this game was a few years back and at the time, I thought it was awful - boring and just plain dumb. Maybe I just sucked at it, though? I never considered that option before. Huh.

Naturally, when it was busted out on Saturday, I was hoping I just had a bad past experience and this time would be better. And it was!

And while I royally suck at Pictionary, I seemed to have the Gods of drawing looking down on me because I dominated the sketching challenges! I was like a modern day freaking Van Gogh. Okay, that’s probably taking it too far.

Anyway, usually my drawing resembles something a 4 year old would muster up, but for some oddball reason, my drawings actually looked at least like a 10 year old’s and miraculously got the job done. AND THAT’S NOT ALL, FOLKS! I apparently have also discovered an unknown talent of drawing with my eyes closed as the “Sensosketch” challenges required.

And for me, apparently all it takes is one good experience with a game before it finds itself as a last minute add to my Christmas list. Score! :)

Speaking of Christmas lists, for Wii owners and lovers out there – the Wii Resort Sports game should be a must-have on your Christmas list this year! It has a ton of island-themed sports, such as:

Wakeboarding
Canoeing
Table Tennis
Sword fighting - WTF?!? Not sure who actually sword fights while on an island vacation…hmmm...

There are about eight other sports on the game as well that I’m completely forgetting at the moment.

Although an interesting choice of resort games, it’s especially fun to watch the sword fighting game. It’s probably even more fun to play, but I wasn’t in the mood to leave my comfy spot on the couch, so I relegated to just watching. Oh, and a certain select friend of ours really gets into it... We’re talking flailing arms that even the most agile of people would have a hard time dodging.

~as

Party on, Wayne.

Every holiday season, all of my close girlfriends and I have an annual Christmas party where we all get together, eat and drink too much, and exchange gifts.

We’ve been doing this for several years now and each year we have an absolute blast!

...minus that one year where I had too much fun with red wine and….you can imagine what happened next all over my light beige winter coat.

RIP beige winter coat.

Rest assured, no coats were harmed in this year’s festivities. I did; however, learn some valuable lessons:

1. Cranking up the heat too high on a chocolate fondue warmer will never end well…will usually result in smoke and burning chocolate.

2. Socializing for too long while opening gifts may result in others not waiting their turn before opening their gifts. We had two creepers this year that had to be stopped before opening out of turn! The nerve. ;)

3. Accidentally “competing” with another girlfriend in the dessert category will result in her threatening her sister’s life if she eats my dessert over hers. HA!

4. Drinks mixed with a fast-moving game of Catch Phrase will always result in a full beer being spilled on new carpet.

5. Drinking mixed with a fast-moving game of Catch Phrase will also result in select team members thinking it is okay to give a clue for “Jeepers Creepers” as “It rhymes with eepers eepers!” Really?!? NOT okay. :)

Happy Holidays to all!

~as

It’s a Chrismukkah Miracle!

Every year before Christmas rolls around, I always swear I’m going to be more organized and on top of things in terms of shopping for gifts. And year after year, it never seems to happen. I always have good intentions, but things seem to come up and before you know it, it’s the week of Christmas. Well, no more, folks!

That’s right – you heard it here first – I’m 95% complete with my shopping!! WOO HOO!!

I just have a few little things to pick up (which I even already know what they are – just need to make it to the store) and then I’ll be done. It’s a miracle!

And I’m super excited to give Eric his gift/s, too. I think he’s going to love it/them. Sorry, I have to use single and plural so he has ZERO clue and can’t try to guess!

Speaking of gifts…is it just me, or is there always a bit of apprehension present (ha…pun totally intended!) when opening presents on Christmas morning???

Don’t get my wrong…I LOVE gifts (I’m a woman, afterall!), but I’m also pretty certain we’ve all been there…opening up what looks to be an awesome gift given the nicely wrapped box just to find it’s contents are less than desirable. Ugh.

And because I never want to hurt anyone’s feelings, I always give my best Oscar-worthy performance and exclaim how much I love whatever it is that I can’t understand why in the world someone would give me.

I know I’m partially enabling these oddball gifts by not saying anything, and letting whomever continue to think I like receiving gifts such as a leopard print purse or Christmas themed thongs, but oh well. It’s about being together and the holiday spirit, right?

That’s what I keep telling myself, at least. ;)

~as

Happy Slapsgiving!! (ala Barney Stinson style)

FINALLY. My second favorite holiday is upon us. This year we’re headed up to beautiful Door County to celebrate Thanksgiving. Regrettably, I’m one of three people in the whole state of WI that hasn’t been to Door County before, so I’m definitely excited to take a load off and nosh on way too much food for my own good.

The downside of going to Door County, you ask? I will sadly miss Black Friday shopping. GASP!

Let’s all take a moment of silence, please…..

Black Friday is like a holiday in it of itself. Any reader of this blog knows I love shopping. And any good shopper knows that Black Friday is like the Olympics of shopping. It’s all about powering through and coming out victorious with oodles of gifts at phenomenal prices.

Yes, I’m THAT GIRL that’s up and at ‘em by 3:30am to hit up the shops that open their doors at 4am. It’s pretty ridiculous. And by pretty ridiculous, I mean totally AWESOME!!!

So you see my pain when I came the realization that our Door County trip would result in me missing out on Black Friday. I’m pretty sure shortly thereafter I told Eric that this would be the first and last time we traveled over Thanksgiving. I’m pretty sure it’s written in the bylaws of the “Olympics of Shopping” that prohibiting Black Friday shopping is grounds for divorce. Instead of irreconcilable differences listed on the court papers, it would read: “DUDE! He tried to prohibit Black Friday shopping!”

And the judge would totally side with me and say, "Enough said!"

P.S. – My one saving grace this year is my laptop with wireless internet. Eric’s lucky he got that sucker for me for my birthday. Looks like someone WAS thinking ahead afterall…ha!  Select retailers are also offering online sales, but it's just not the same. Boo.

P.P.S. – I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday! Eat and drink WAY too much – it’s the American way! :)

~as

“Anne’s Plan for Soldier Return”

I know I’m a day late on thanking all of our wonderful and brave veterans...sorry about that, guys and gals! I did think about y’all yesterday, though. Somewhere in between my drowsy state of chugging orange juice and falling asleep on the couch, I gave a shout out to all of you!

I hate being sick. I don’t get sick often – once a year, if that – but when I do, I feel like I’m about to keel over and die. After spending my life savings on over the counter medicine, I hope I’m on the mend.

Enough about me; back to the Veterans.

I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to be away from your family, friends, and loved ones for such extended periods of time while serving our country.

With that said, I’m going to do my small part to try to get you all back on American soil…for good!

You ready to hear my plan? (Brace yourselves)

Please see my flowchart below. I like to call this “Anne’s Plan for Soldier Return”:

 
 
I just got a 30% off Kohls coupon, too.  Dangerous.  Start packing, soldiers!!!
 
And yes, I DO know how riduculous I am.  And yes, this plan is ludicrous.  :)
 
~as

Spooktacular findings

Kids may have candy-filled Halloweens to look forward to, but from now on I plan on getting mentally prepared for the ghoulish day by having seasonally appropriate martinis. Pumpkin Spice Martinis, to be exact. Yum. Take one look at this bad boy and just TRY to deny the urge to run out and make one of your own. I dare you.

Eric whipped one of these bad boys up for me the other night and let me just say – yowza!! This is one of those dangerous types of drinks, though. They taste oh so delicious and go down way too easily. Too many of these puppies and I’ll probably be a bit too jovial and hand out full bags of candy to trick-or-treaters.

If you, too, were drooling like I was when I first saw a picture of this piece of art, here’s the recipe:

 

PS – I suppose Ray’s is back on my good side now. The Pumpkin Spirit that makes this drink so delicious is sold by very few distributors. Of course, Ray’s is one of them. Yet another reason for Eric to love them even more. Damn you, Ray’s. Damn you.  You’ve won again.

~as

Modern day MacGyver, I am

As a child, I was fascinated with MacGyver. Who am I kidding? I’m STILL fascinated.

My grandma watched the show incessantly and as such, whenever I visited her over my summer breaks I would always get sucked in as well. After all, the man epitomized genius. He could take a shoe string, bubblegum, and a paper clip and rig up the most amazing contraption to get him out of any scenario imaginable. Brilliant!

Nothing ever stopped that crazy cat.

Today, I would have made MacGyver proud.

For the last few weeks I’ve really been digging hot tea at work. I'm still loyal to my faithful coffee in the mornings, but I’m flirting with tea to break up the boring afternoon bottled water monotony. Bueller…Bueller…

Anyway, select brands of tea don’t have strings attached to the bags to easily dip them into the hot water. (Side note: what weenie made that decision??) Usually, that means I burn my fingers reaching into the cup of hot water after I’ve let it float around in the water for a bit. Other times I’ll use a plastic spoon to retrieve it, but who wants to waste a perfectly good spoon just to retrieve a tea bag?

So what’s a girl to do? Make like MacGyver and use what’s readily available at my desk!

 

As you’ll notice, I’ve used a standard office clip that I’ve clamped to my tea bag. Along with an assist from my trusty ballpoint pen…BAM! I’m good to go.

No big deal. Please call me MacGyver, Jr. from here on out.

Now if only I could use my covert ops/MacGyver skills to devise a way to NOT spill nail polish and hand lotion all over the inside of my purse…in the same weekend. Doh! Not only was it a nice purse, but it was also OPI nail polish! OPI is like the crack of nail polish. It’s expensive and ridiculously addictive.

~as