Happy Pi Day

I think not!

Check Me Out

I know you HAVE to have noticed the new look of my blog.

Right?  Right?

This fab new look was done designed by my buddy Jiza.

I told her what I wanted and she gave me this!  I LOVE it!!

If you want something as fantastic as this (And face it who wouldn't?) you need to visit her site and let her know.  Tell her you loved the look of Navy Wife Life!

Find Your Smile Where You Can

This past week has been rainy and very dreary. So I've been feeling kind of down.

Never a good thing.

So I decided to find my smile where I can. The first photo is a fun picture of Pumpkin. The way he was laying there and looking at me just gave me a huge grin. He's so sweet.

The next one is of my toes. Normally my feet do NOT make me smile, but I really liked how this pedicure turned out. I always have them do a little artwork on my big toes. And really how can you not be happy after a pedicure? Now each time I look at my toes I smile a bit.

The next one is a picture of one of my new favorite coffees at my coffee house. It's chocolate, caramel and spiced brown sugar. It's recently been named the Carm-olate Latte. Very yummy!!

Then there's the Bacon Risotto that I made by myself tonight. My brother taught me how to make it and I'm just pleased that I remembered how to make it. Very tasty!

And it's been a while since I've actually cooked for myself, so that made me even happier. I'd gotten out of the habit of doing this. Which isn't good for me. I need to take better care of myself.

The last picture would be a glass of wine. I'd forgotten how nice it can be to just sip on a glass or two of wine while watching TV. And of course this is one of my favorites.

The MUST Read For The Summer

Those of you who know me may remember me mentioning 'The Hunger Games'. It's a trilogy of books. I was originally introduced to it by a friend who wanted to do it for book club. I grudgingly got it and started reading. I was HOOKED! Finding out there was a second one made me nearly giddy with joy!

I tore through that one. Suzanne Collins had me enthralled. I fell in love with some of the characters and wished the worst upon some of the others. I nearly cried when I got to the end. Cliff hanger!!!! And I had to wait over a month for the next book to come out. I thought I'd have fits.

Today the final book came out! The heavens have opened and angels are singing. I have the book and am on my way. I can't wait to see what happens!

The funny thing? It's written for teens, but in no way is it angsty like so many teen books are. And those I hate. This? I ADORE!!!

I highly recommend you read these. Rumor has it that they'll be making a movie out of it. If so, I'll so be in the theater watching it!

My Sweetie...

Is the best!

We celebrate 17 years together today. And he sent me 18 roses. The note says that they wouldn't let him order 17 roses, so I'd have to make do with 18 and promise to stay the extra year.

Not a problem!

I love him so much!

Now I have something lovely to look at today. That is as long as I can keep my orange kitty away from it. He REALLY loves plants.

Muppets Bohemien Rhapsody

Awesome video!

Words can not describe it. Gotta love the muppets. I would have posted this, but the embedding had been disabled

Damn Cute!

I've learned that I really need to watch what I say around my friend's kids. Over the 4th of July weekend we were able to visit our buddies Steve, Greta and Colten. I'm normally pretty good about watching what I say around the little ones, but this one slipped past me. Colten (The adorable monster that he is.) did something to amuse us and I turned to the hubby and said he was just so damn cute. It's not like I shouted it, but still little pitchers have big ears.

I thought nothing more about it until we went back to Norfolk for a home inspection. We were able to see Greta and Colten again. Greta then asks which one of us taught him 'damn cute'. Uh oh! I raised my hand after a moment of hesitation. I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast. Of course the hubby was laughing his butt off. Apparently while dressing said child one day Greta informed him that he looked cute. He corrected her and told her 'No Mommy I'm damn cute.' Well color me embarrassed. There's no need to worry about his hearing. That's for sure.

So of course I had to share some photos of him so everyone can understand why I would say such a thing in the presence of a child. He's just so damn cute! And by the way, he wasn't that close to me and I said it in a fairly quietly.

Does Anything Really Need To Be Said?

Not really. It just gave me the chuckles and I had to share since just about everyone blogs. Or so it would seem.

How Can You Not Smile?

When you say daffodils? The mere word brings a smile to my face. It's almost comical saying the word. There's just something about them. They are the most cheerful flower ever. So bright and cheery. Peeking through the grass to announce that yes indeed Spring is here! So cheer up.

This bunch appeared in front of our home. I decided that I just had to take a picture of it. It gave me a smile so I thought I would share. Hope it brightens your day like it does mine.

Cheesy Love Songs

So Yahoo just did the world's cheesiest love songs and I had to blog about this. It's just too close to Valentine's Day not to. I know there's more than are listed here, but I'm not devoting my life to finding them. I do have a life you know? Well at least a semblence of one. As long as there's romance there will be cheesy love songs out there. Some are worse than others. So here's Yahoo's list.

You're The Inspiration-Chicago
The One That You Love-Air Supply
Suddenly-Billy Ocean
Wind Beneath My Wings-Bette Midler
Hello-Lionel Ritchie
(Everything I Do) I Do For You-Bryan Adams (Okay I fell for this one. It was my song at my wedding. What can I say? Oops.)
Separate Lives-Phil Collins
Hold On To The Night-Richard Marx
Tonight, I Celebrate My Love-Peabo Bryson
At This Moment-Billy Vera
Always-Atlantic Starr
Islands In The Stream-Dolly Parton
I Honestly Love You-Olivia Newton-John
Almost Paradise-Ann Wilson & Mike Reno
I Want To Know What Love Is-Foreigner
How Am I Supposed To Live Without You-Michael Bolton
Every Rose Has Its Thorn-Poison
Feels Like Heaven-Peter Cetera
I Go Crazy-Paul Davis
I Swear-All-4-One
Every Time You Go Away-Paul Young
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now-Starship
The Lady In Red-Chris De Burgh
Always And Forever-Heatwave
I'll Always Love You-Taylor Dayne
The Power Of Love-Celine Dion
I Need Love-LL Cool J
All Cried Out-Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam
Arthur's Theme-Christopher Cross
Lovin' You-Minnie Riperton
Could It Be Magice-Barry Mannilow
All My Life-K-Ci & Jo Jo
Faithfully-Journey

This list just wouldn't be complete without a video. So enjoy the cheese!

Best Commercial Ever!

So the hubby and I sat and watched Super Bowl's Greatest 2008 Commercials. I normally watch the Super Bowl for the commercial. Okay so I'm not a football fanatic. I don't complain when the hubby wants to watch it though.

The greatest commercial was voted Coke's Mean Joe Green's commercial from the 80's. I have to agree with them. It's a classic! How can you not get a warm fuzzy seeing that commercial? It's been number one something like seven times. Budweiser came in second and third. Not my favorites, but good ones.

Which led the hubby and I to another discussion on how much we enjoyed Budweiser's commercials. Well except for the Whaz Up fad. I always look forward to their commercials. I know many would say I'm biased because we're from the area, but their advertisers are brilliant.

Now the commercial below is the best ever! It was only aired once because they didn't want to get any financial gain off of it. It's an emotional one, so you have been warned.



I get chocked up when they bow.

A Birthday Wish A Bit Late

Okay if I had thought of this sooner I'd have posted it for my own birthday, but I only recently found it. So here you go Phil. And just be thankful that it's not a Budweiser commercial with you favorite song. Happy Birthday and a hundred more.



Sorry this is late. Hope it was a good one.

A Belated Birthday Thought

Yesterday was my birthday. We won't mention how old I am. My buddy Greta and I have a thing that we joke about for birthdays. It's not black crows, it's pink flamingos. They're much more fun. And normally we do something obnoxious to each other involving this poor bird. So I found this video to honor our tradition.



Good Lord they are loud! Greta aren't you glad I never actually got you one of these. Ha. Ha. Ha.

The Grape Stomp

The winery I work at had a harvest celebration on October 13th. There were vendors selling art and crafts. There were even alpacas. They are the cousin of llamas. This leads to the first picture you see. And yes Abby, Noah, JD and Colten, your aunt did pet them. Quite soft, which I guess you would expect. But the noise they make is strange. They do this odd little humming thing. Like a worried hum or the noise you would make in the morning as you're trudging down the hall trying to wake up. The white one is Sir Edward. You can only see the rear end of the brown one and I think his name was something like Masterpiece or something like that. There was also a black one, who was quite camera shy named BT. Don't know what it stood for.

But I digress. We did do tastings. We are a winery after all. Plus we also did a grape stomp. Something we normally don't do. We normally press our grapes in a more modern way. Yes for those two or three of you that actually read this we did the I Love Lucy thing. Well I didn't. I was working. A few brave souls did though and I snapped pictures with my camera phone. I'm told it's better when there's two or more stomping. I guess the adage 'the more the merrier' is true in stomping. Not that I'm going to try it any time soon. I've also been told it was very cold and squishy. Maybe on a warmer day.

This is a picture of some friends of mine. Sarah and Jameson. You know I notice that as I grow older the number of Sarah's in my life is exponentially increasing. I bet I could do a research paper on this one. Hmm... No I don't think the world's ready for that. Much to frightening.

This of course brought to mind the song 'The Monster Mash'by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett. I'm sure everyone's heard it. Most radio stations play it close to Halloween. It's delighful. Of course I had to put my own unique spin on it. I don't own the rights to this and it's just done in fun. So please no anger flung this way. And I realize it's not as good as the original. It's just a bit of silliness. What can I say? Please refer to my blog title.

The Grape Stomp remixed Maniacal Michelle

I was working in the winery late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For the events planner from the pavilion began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

She did the stomp
She did the grape stomp
The grape stomp
It was a vineyard smash
She did the stomp
It caught on in a flash
She did the stomp
She did the grape stomp

From the laboratory in the warehouse to the east
To the pavilion where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a shot of Virginia Gold

They did the stomp
They did the grape stomp
The grape stomp
It was a vineyard smash
They did the stomp
It caught on in a flash
They did the stomp
They did the grape stomp

The GWWs were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolf Man
Dracula and his son

The scene was rockin', all were digging the sounds
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, "The Crypt-Kicker Five"

They played the stomp
They played the grape stomp
The grape stomp
It was a vineyard smash
They played the stomp
It caught on in a flash
They played the stomp
They played the grape stomp

Out from his office, Doug's voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
He opened the door and shook his fist
And said, "Whatever happened to my Sangiovese squish?"

It's now the stomp
It's now the grape stomp
The grape stomp
And it's a vineyard smash
It's now the stomp
It's caught on in a flash
It's now the stomp
It's now the grape stomp

Now everything's cool, Doug's a part of the band
And my grape stomp is the hit of the land
For you, the living, this stomp was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Michelle sent you

Then you can stomp
Then you can grape stomp
The grape stomp
And do my vineyard smash
Then you can stomp
You'll catch on in a flash
Then you can stomp
Then you can grape stomp

Favorite Time of Year

October is here! Which of course means fall is here. This is my favorite time of year. Why you might ask? Well for one, and possibly the most important, Jim and I started dating in October 16 years ago. It seems like only yesterday. Another fact is the change in the weather and the leaves changing color. And one of the best reasons is Halloween is in this month. My most favorite holiday! And that's all I've got to say about that.

Oh yeah one last thing. Leave the Christmas crap where it is until after Thanksgiving! I don't want to see it next to Halloween stuff. For God's sake that's just wrong!