Long Nails and Bites

For some reason (I blame Hollywood) guys with long pinkie nails just freak me out. I'm not talking about "I just need to trim them" nails, I'm talking about the ones that are longer than most girl's and obviously well taken care of. So if you're not in some Chinese gang, why the long nails? Freaky.

Yesterday I was up at a lake for Ben's team's outing. It was a lot of fun! But within the first 5 minutes I got two bites from horse flies. Within inches of each other on my left calf. And they hurt. Seriously. I'm fine when I'm sitting, but if I straighten it out to stand or walk it is incredibly painful. After I study tonight I will take some Benadryl to see if that helps (if I do it now, I'll just fall asleep). I was going to go for a run this afternoon, but I think I'll just sit around with my leg bent instead.

Holding Steady at 25

Last weekend I got my test results. Not good. But not terrible either. I got a 71 and a 72 (75 is passing). So I was oh-so-close! It really stinks to be that close because it means just probably 2 more correct answers and I would have passed. So, instead of ending this study filled life the middle of July, I will still be at it for a while. :(

The current plan is to try and take both sections in August. September is the closed month (no testing available) so I will have my results by the end of that month. The reason being is that my grandfather period expires on Jan 1, Dec is a closed month so if I don't pass again (please no!!!) I will need to take whatever sections by November 30.

Well, off to study for my July 15 test.

Indian fun and the Tooth Fairy

Neetha and Vaishali at El Loro.

About a week after taking Neetha and Vaishali to El Loro so they could try Mexican food, we took them to Vescio's for Italian. That was also an amusing experience! Trying to get spaghetti onto our plates had all four of us laughing really hard! I think the rest of the people there that night probably thought we were crazy! We also had a bit of "lost in translation" when we were explaining the desserts. We told them they should try tiramisu. When I said that it had lady fingers in it, they looked very confused. I asked if they new what lady fingers were and they said yes, so we continued with the description. They were still very confused... turns out that in India lady fingers are some sort of meat thing, not the cake type things that are in the dessert!

Trying to get fettuccine.

Yesterday the plan was for us to go sailing, have a BBQ and then go to the Twins baseball game. Vaishali wasn't feeling well, so it was just Neetha that came with us. It was a beautiful day on the lake. Dave (captain) asked us what else we had planned for the day. We told him, so about 1 1/2 hours out, we turned around and headed back. And it's a good thing we did! We got the boat docked and everything put away minutes before we had a down pour!

Neetha on the boat.

It continued to rain as we headed to Grant's house for the BBQ. Good thing his grill is under an overhang! Dinner was great... well, for everyone except me (more on that later). We had hamburgers and s'mores. Neetha enjoyed everything. S'mores were really fun, because she had never had a marshmallow before!

Then off to the Twins game. We were a little late (got there in the 3rd inning). I am not a huge baseball fan, but this was a very fun game to be at. They played the Milwaukee Brewers. We were surrounded by a bunch of Brewer fans. It was fun to be able to boo the people next to us. The game ended up to be very close, but we won by one run. It was a very exciting game.

Grant, Ben and Neetha at the game.

On Thursday, I had my wisdom teeth pulled. They had come in years ago and weren't really causing any problems, but my dentist was a little concerned that they would in the future (they were waaayyyy in the back, so it was hard to keep them clean). Since they were in and the roots were straight, I just went to my normal dentist for the "extractions." It really wasn't too bad. They gave me Novocaine and then 1/2 later I was on my way home. They gave me my teeth, so on the way home Ben and I were joking about putting them under my pillow to see if the tooth fairy would come. So, when I went to bed, I put them under my pillow. The next morning I was getting ready for work (I really did feel fine so I decided not to "waste" a vacation day), when I decided to check my pillow. I figured that Ben would have either forgotten, or put a $5 under my pillow. I was wrong... I found a box from the Shane Company! Ben (I mean, the tooth fairy) gave me the ring that I was admiring at the store a couple of weeks ago! I almost feel guilty that I'm not in so much pain. Almost.

My tooth fairy present

I do feel pretty good. It hurts to open my mouth too much, so I have been taking it easy eating ice cream, yogurt and spaghetti o's (so while everyone else was enjoying grilled cheeseburgers, I was eating spaghetti o's). I feel hungry almost all the time. And everything sounds so good! Can't wait to eat "real" food again!!!

How do I eat this?!

Last night we took two members of Ben's India team to El Loro. They hadn't had Mexican food before (crazy!). The one lady was super excited to try a taco because she had heard they were really good. We ordered a bunch of different stuff... tacos, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas... When the food came I offered the plate of tacos to the lady. She said, "This I eat with my hands, right?" When we responded in the affirmative, she took one off the plate. Then she held it, looked at it, and with a questioning look in her eyes asked, "How do I eat this?" We all laughed! It had never occurred to me that eating a taco would be an odd thing, but upon thinking about it, it is the only food that you eat with your head turned sideways. It was neat to watch people experience something so different than what they are used to. Oh, and she loved the taco. :)

Pay it Forward

This morning I took my mother-in-law to the airport. Since I wanted to sleep in as much as possible, I had decided to grab some McDonald's for breakfast on my way into work. I go through the drive-thru, place my order and drive ahead to window 1 to pay. The worker said, "The guy in front of you paid so you don't have to." I was so shocked and confused and still half asleep (Zoey kept me awake most of the night) that I just smiled and said thanks. It was after I got my food that I realized that I should have kept paying forward... So I have decided that the next time I am in a drive-thru that I will pay for the person behind me. It's a small thing to do, yet it totally made my morning! I encourage you to do the same.

Thank you random person in front of me!

A Bride, A Prince and A Test

I know, I know. I haven't updated in forever...

Last weekend was my sister's wedding. It was a beautiful day, and she makes a beautiful bride. Everything worked out pretty well. Pictures were delayed a little bit, but in the end all the pictures were taken. The reception was beautiful too. I am still incredibly happy for my sister. Right now she and Pranob are probably on their honeymoon. (They had a reception in India today with Pranob's family and left sometime today for their honeymoon). I really hope that they have a nice and relaxing time. It can't be easy to essentially plan two weddings, one on the other side of the world.

After the wedding we went to see Prince Caspian with some of our friends (for those who don't know, the wedding was in the morning, so we were home and done by 5 pm). The movie was great. I really liked it. But it did make me realize that I really don't remember the books. I will be reading those this summer.

Last Wednesday was test three for the CPA. I think it went pretty well. Still haven't heard on my second test. I'm guessing that both results will be here towards the end of June. Keeping my fingers crossed for good news on both of them.

Fairies Take All

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day for the Run of the Mills 5k. It started off chilly, and it was a bit windy, but the sun was out and the rain/snow stayed away.

Again Team Tortoise was the crowd favorite. We got interviewed for a Fortune 500 movie GMI is putting together, the photographer took a ton of pictures of us, and - the best part - little girls came up and asked to get their pictures with us. It was so sweet.

We finished ahead of our target time of 32 by coming in around 30 minutes exactly.

At the award ceremony we ended up winning the women's team division for time (?!)... And we won best costume! We were so excited. Especially because of the "upset" last year. It was kind of funny... a couple of people recognized our team from last year and let us know they still thought we should have won last year for costumes.

We are taking ideas for next year's costumes. If you have any ideas, let me know!