10 Inside Jokes

It's natural as you get to know people well to develop inside jokes. It happens even more when you live with people. To honour the inside joke (which is always amusing, at least for someone on the inside), here is my list of 10 inside jokes, 5 from growing up and 5 that have developed in my marriage.

Growing up:

1) Twist that beak–we've got a plethora of dog-related inside jokes including parodies of popular songs. This one is simply grabbing the dog by the nose and twisting. Not hard of course, but it sort of became a thing. Pretty sure both our dogs loved it.

2) Who's kidding who?–we had a few shows that we would always watch as a family, usually on Sunday nights with a box of pizza, one of those being The Practice. They said this line constantly on the show and it became a joke in our family.

3) The pink basket–if we ever couldn't find anything, the response was always to check the pink basket. This was basically our equivalent to the junk drawer. That basket had everything from paper clips to money to phone numbers.

4) What's in the fridge?–I guess this was sort of a spin-off from Cribs since they always look in the fridge. But it more stemmed from the fact that we feel you can tell a lot about people (especially bands, we go to a lot of concerts) by what's in their fridge.

5) Those dumb babies–this sounds awful, but it's not that bad. The line comes from the show Rugrats and we used it to refer to kids who were being either bratty or sickeningly adorable. And you have to say it in a baby voice.  It's funny to us anyway.

Since being married:

1) One-trip Martins–we used to live in a condo, 10 floors up. I hated having to go back downstairs for a second trip of groceries, etc. so I instated the one-trip Martins rule. If you call "one-trip Martins", we have to get everything up in one trip. I think my husband thinks this is ridiculous, but he'll usually play along.

2) The milk bag hole–I really don't know where the rest of the world stands on this, but apparently I cut ginormous holes in the milk bags. I think AJ cuts pinpricks of holes and therefore it takes about 10 minutes to fill up a bowl of cereal. Not sure who is right, but it's a big joke when there's a new bag and the other person discovers the gaping or miniscule hole.

3) The language I was blasting–this is (sort of) from the song Sadie Hawkins Dance by Relient K. AJ was singing this song out and came out with this line for which I will probably always make fun of him. The line is supposed to be "Think I got a tan from the light in which I was basking." Close honey.

4) Philly beef sandwich–I don't eat sandwiches. Don't judge. I just don't like the taste of meat and bread together and I can't explain why. AJ is a lover of sandwiches and therefore has made it his quest to have me eat a Philly Beef Sandwich by our 5th anniversary. 1.5 years to go and I would say I'm not much closer to doing it than when we got married.

5) Sa oled ahv–Estonian for "you're a monkey." A random phrase I asked to be taught while learning Estonian. And now, my permanent comeback that can end any disagreement. Sort of.

30 by 30 Reading List

My latest book perusal was the favourite book, or rather books, of my friend Michelle from work. She chose "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue" by Emily Giffin.

I ended up reading both of these books as they are a set. The first book, "Something Borrowed" is told from the perspective of Rachel, a plain 30-year-old law clerk who has always been in the shadow of her selfish best friend Darcy. Rachel ends up sleeping with Darcy's fiance Dex who she has liked since before he met Darcy, but didn't feel she was worthy of him so never went for it. Most of the book is about their affair and how awful they feel, but how they end up falling in love.

I really enjoyed this book, but I felt like I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, waiting for them to get caught and being tortured with the fact that I think cheating on anyone is wrong and awful, but you still feel for Rachel and want her to be with Dex. Obviously the book made me feel exactly how the writer intended.

"Something Blue" shifts the Darcy's perspective and the aftermath of her finding out about the affair, breaking up with Dex and finding out she's pregnant from a guy she was actually cheating with. She flees her home and all her shallow friends who have turned on her, moving to London where she learns the truth about herself, her attitude and the way she treated her friends. Of course, she does a lot of growing up and I finally liked her character in the end.

These two books were not exactly a stretch for my reading boundaries since I really like chick-lit and the easy reads every now and then. Aside from the scandalous nature of the story-line, there are some great lessons about life and love. Mostly, it was just a fun read and I enjoyed getting caught up in the lives of the characters.

30 by 30 #11 - See the Goo Goo Dolls in concert

Another 30 by 30 item is now complete and it has been by far the best one I've done so far!

A month or two ago I was checking the Goo Goo Dolls site as I do every so often, searching for a nearby show to attend and finally, they were playing within driving distance! Driving distance being within 6 hours–AJ and I love us some road trip.

They were playing in Erie, PA, about a 4 hour drive from us and we decided to make a weekend of it and stay overnight. AJ took this as the perfect time to introduce to couch-surfing, which he's been trying to talk me into for a while now. Basically, you go on the site, look for people in the city you want to stay in and ask them if you can crash on the couch/bed, or in our case, air mattress.

We opted to stay with a couple, rather than a single, feeling slightly safer that way. It turned out...okay. The owner of the house was nice enough. Kind of a new age/hippie-esque woman with a big garden and lots of books on herbs and enlightenment. It was somewhat awkward to be on an air mattress in the middle of their living room. Luckily, we got back from the show when they were already in bed and we decided to get up early enough so we wouldn't be in the way. Overall, I guess it was fine. I wasn't feeling unsafe or anything, though I did make AJ promise never to leave me alone.

Now to the good stuff. The show. The concert was at Penn State Behrend College so it was a very young crowd, which was fine. We got to wait in the shorter line because we were picking up at Will Call, though we still ending up waiting in the snow for about half an hour. So cold. But totally worth it.

The Rocket Summer opened the show. I like his songs, but I didn't really have any expectations for the show. He surprised me though; he was really great! Lots of energy and he did a lot more than just stand there and sing.

Then the main event. The Goo Goo Dolls set was like they went into my iPod favourites playlist and played the whole thing. Every single song I was hoping to hear. They did play a couple extras. 2 or 3 from their upcoming July release and 4 from their secondary lead singer who I'm not a fan of.

The only slightly disappointing thing was that Johnny Rzeznick just doesn't have the pipes he used to. Those incredible high notes that make songs like Iris amazing. But he knows he can't hit them, so he doesn't try. Instead, he changed the melodies to fit his abilities. At first it was a shock to hear the songs so different, but I really appreciate that he didn't either just use tracks or totally butcher the song.

All in all a fantastic show that has just moved to the top of the list of my favourite concerts ever, and that's saying a lot!

30 by 30 #19 - Take Kickboxing

Knocking off items on my 30 by 30 list continues...

I have no idea why kickboxing has interested me for quite a few years. Basically since I realized I had gained some marriage weight and was looking for ways to get it off, kickboxing just automatically jumped to my mind. Get out some aggression, have a fun cardio workout. It sounded good.

I've done a cardio kick class at Goodlife and I have a Biggest Loser workout DVD, but it's just not quite the same. I'm not looking to compete or anything, I just wanted a class to motivate me to work harder and longer and something that wouldn't roundhouse kick my bank account.

When I told my parents about this idea, they generously offered to pay for my class so I Googled kickboxing in my area. I found one place that is on my way home from work and has classes 3 times a week at 5:30. Since I live out of town, I wanted something I could do right after work and not have to go home and come back in. Seemed perfect.

I e-mailed the trainer (sensei?) and asked if I could come for a free session to check it out. The building is in a strip mall/warehouse kind of place and the actual gym is fairly small, but so are the class sizes (after 3 classes, there haven't been more than 5 per class), which I think is great. The trainer was incredibly helpful, especially that first class, showing me how to do the moves properly and lending me some sparring gloves. By the end I was red-faced and dripping sweat and I knew this class would be good for me.

So, now I've joined the class, at least until the end of the month (probably through May as well) and I'm going 3 times a week after work. The types of moves are switched up every class, sometimes using weights or punching bags or just our own weight. It's been really great so far and I'm looking forward to seeing some good results. And being a little less sore every time.

30 by 30 #18 - See Grease the Musical

Strike off another item on my 30 by 30 list!

About a week ago I got an e-mail from Mirvish's mailing list with a special April Fool's day offer. Buy one ticket to any of their musicals and get the second for $1. Being the thrifster that I am and remembering that I so wanted to see Grease play in Toronto while it's on a two-week run, I decided to go ahead and buy two tickets and then worry about finding a date.

No sooner did I mention the idea to my cubicle mate, a Grease lightning dance broke out and I knew I had found the right person. It took us about 2 hours to get our tickets with the phone and website lines totally jammed, but we got some and prepared to go.

The thing about this run of the musical Grease is that it features Taylor Hicks. The radio ads, the posters. Taylor everywhere. And he's not even playing Danny. Or any of the guys. He plays Teen Angel in the dream sequence, a part of the story I think could be cut out without much loss.

When his part came, Taylor descended from a giant ice cream cone wearing a VERY bedazzled suit and sang his little song to Frenchie. It was just okay. I actually thought that most of the other singers were better than he was. Taylor Hicks on Idol was pretty cheesy, putting him in a musical just made his over-the-top. He sang again at the end when they did a medley of songs and then, after it was all over, standing ovation completed, the host comes out and announces that Taylor will be performing his latest hit single. A concert?? After we've already sat for 2 hours. Michelle and I left before he finished the first bar.

Oh, even better than the cheesy, average singing–they were selling Taylor Hicks CDs alongside the Grease ones and you could meet Taylor after the show. But he would only autograph his own CD. If you didn't buy it, you couldn't meet him. That blew my mind. I'm wondering if that was a stipulation by the venue or if Taylor just thinks that much of himself. Hard to say.

Anyway, aside from Mr. Hicks and a couple strange plot changes, Grease was excellent! I love all of the costumes and sets and the fact that the actors don't get do-overs. It's a good atmosphere.

Next play–perhaps Christopher Plummer in The Tempest this summer?

Guest Post From Stuff Christians Like!

Jon Acuff from Stuff Christians Like has agreed to do a guest post on my blog today. And, you know, about 1000 others. But I love this site and I'm very excited to have him on my blog.

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The “Is that contestant on American Idol a Christian? Scorecard"

81. During one of their performances they do the double hand raise, similar to what hand raisers the world over do at church = + 2 points

To add up your score with over a 130 other ideas on this scorecard, visit stuffchristianslike.net.

5 Everyday Things I'm Really Bad At

So List-It Wednesdays haven't been working out so well for me, so I'm moving to Random List day. And today's the day.

At the risk of sounding cocky, I think I'm pretty good at most things I try. I don't know if it's my competitive nature or the fact that I follow instructions to a tee without any improvisation (at least the first time I try something), but things often work for me. This is also why I get super frustrated when I'm not good at things. And this definitely happens. In fact, there are some everyday things that many people can do without working hard that I'm just no good at.

1. Sewing
Okay, so I haven't really tried all that hard to learn, but when I have tried, it's been terrible. I just can't seem to do it without being obvious that I've tried to fixed something. Usually, I'll try to be all careful, but end up just wrapping the thread around and around until the button's pretty much in a straight jacket. Fail.

2. Keeping the clutter at bay
I'm really good at organizing and tidying up the pile of stuff that inevitably finds its way onto my dresser/desk/table, but putting the stuff away before it becomes a pile? Not so much.

3. Getting up on time
I'm ashamed to say it, but I set at least 3 alarms every morning. Usually 4. 1-2 on my actual alarm clock and then several more on my cell phone. I just can't drag myself out of bed in the morning, my body always demands 5 more minutes. I've heard that people whose moms used to always wake them up for school, etc. tend to have this problem, but I don't blame my mom, I just need to get out of bed the first time and wean myself off all those alarms. I'm jealous that AJ can just hop right out of bed after half a second of alarm.

4. Plan-ahead meals
I know that if I just planned out my meals in advance, I would not only eat healthier, but I would probably save on groceries and feel more excited about meals. But I don't. Half the time, I just head home and find whatever's available, which usually isn't very well-rounded. Sometimes I go to the grocery store first, but I just hate going there every day.

5. Directions
I am absolutely hopeless with any kind of inner sense of direction. I need to go somewhere about 4 times before I remember how to get there. And I can only remember that one route to get there. I can go into a mall store, walk out and then be confused as to which way I was going. This is why I will always park directly in front of the door everywhere I go, even if it means having to walk 10 minutes to the door.