not quite THE park... [UPDATED]

...but it's a lot closer and provides me with just the right amount of 'outdoors' that I need.  It's practically my 'front yard', I don't have to bust out my not-so-green thumb, and it's always open.  I'm lucky.

I just go out to sit on my bench, I look to my left...
I look to my right...

then I take a stroll around to admire our own tulip patch...and stroll a little more...stop to admire the lonely tulip...

then go on home because I'm sufficiently 'outdoored' as much as I needed on this working saturday.  Hope you are all enjoying your weekend  :)

next weekend, the REAL tulip patches at THE park.  stay tuned  ;)

-------------

[UPDATE]

I realized I did not make good on my promise to the contest winner in the last post.  Congratulations, Sarah!  You're the winner!  Don't worry, you'll be receiving some other type of recognition for putting up with me being a dork and not being able to follow my own rules.  

in my hotel, there's always somebody watching.

name that movie.

the winner gets.... um... a shout out on my next post for being the first to answer correctly.

sorry it's not a great prize.  but i don't have any sponsors yet.  working on it.  well, working on other stuff first... THEN i'm totally working on it.

ANYHOO, back to the post's title.  i should have known that a certain someone would have seen my comment on this lovely gal's post and reacted.  had i known he would react in THIS way.... 

i would have been leaving comments on people's blogs about all the neat stuff i want FOREVER ago.

i have a thing for cookie jars.  i also have a thing for frogs.  so someone thought that i would have a thing for this froggish-looking cookie jar.  

he was loving the camera. ;)

someone was right.

Triumph [re-crafting old, tired legislation]

...(emphasis on "tired")...


After a long and arduous battle over the past 10 years, the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill was passed in the NYS Legislature. Yep, just last Friday. The Assembly passes it every year. But THIS year, the Senate passed it too. Which means that THEY are the REAL heroes.

Obviously, that's absurd. The real heroes are my colleagues who have fought tooth and nail the past 10 years for NY to put a nickel deposit on bottles that are EXACTLY the same as those already requiring a deposit. For instance, can you tell me what the difference is between a Aquafina water bottle and a Pepsi cola bottle ? (Coke went up and changed its bottle so that it was different from Dasani... you can't fool me, Coca-Cola.)

Seriously, this amendment to the bottle deposit law was so contested... bottling industries spent millions of dollars on lobbyists and paid millions in campaign contributions to block it. My faith in NY government has been restored.

Moral of the story, water and "enhanced water" (figure that one out) are going to be on sale across the state until June 1st, 2009. Don't forget to recycle.

new do... [UPDATED]

I was recently informed that I would miss out on having a January post if I did not post something TODAY. Thanks for the LAST MINUTE warning.

Anyhoo, I figured this would be a good way to show everyone my new do. That way, the people I don't see me everyday/very often will see the drastic change... so, when I see them (you people who read my blog) in a few weeks or longer and am already tired of the "OH MY GAAWWWD!!!" reaction that I have been getting lately, they (you) won't get the eye-roll. Anysecondhoo, here it is:

12 inches, baby. I consider donating hair to be one of the most selfless acts that I've ever done and here's why:

a. taking care of 12+ inches of hair is seriously time consuming.

2. taking care of 12+ inches of hair costs a lot of money in shampoo/conditioner/hot water usage.

and d. I became somewhat fond of my long hair so, giving it up was a bit sad.

HOWEVER, it was NOT totally selfless. It feels good to give to a good cause. It always does. No matter what Pheobe says.

So, there ya go.

*UPDATE: A big shout-out to my good friend over at unspeakablevisions.com for making my January post possible. Thanks for interrupting the evening to take pictures, upload pictures, edit pictures, and let me blog. I'm always meeting deadlines at the last minute....