We hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter! We ran across a site where you can see baby Bald Eagles hatch and then be cared for by their parents. Pretty neat stuff - right up there with the PG&E Falcon camera. Click the link above for a peek!
Today's post will be primarily about MeLissa, but hang on until the end because we have a fun message for you!
MeLissa had some wonderful news today. There was a misunderstanding recently with her wedding and event planning educational institution regarding whether or not she could actually do her hands-on training. Today,though, the misunderstanding was rectified and so, MeLissa will be receiving her first assignment within the next month! She is very excited!
She is also excited because her wonderful mentor, Helen, generously offered to provide additional training if MeLissa was willing to come to Richmond, Virginia, through her consulting firm. MeLissa is excited to take advantage of this opportunity as well where she will shadow Helen on the day of an event and make sure that a lucky couple has the day of their dreams!
MeLissa has been busy lately with interviewing graphic and website designers to determine which of them will be able to help her create a logo, stationary and website for Winsome Events. She's received a few quotes and is just waiting for a few more to come in before she decides who she'll ultimately go with. At this point, there is a clear winner (a company in the Bay Area), but as she receives more information, this may change!
We don't have a lot planned for this weekend. We're going to put the Ikea storage shelves we purchased last weekend together and then we'll see if we can arrange everything and make the guest room look pleasant.
We'll also be looking for little bunnies like this one who is here to wish you all a Very Happy Easter! Perhaps we'll have to see if we can find some bunny ears for Miss Pixie.
This picture was taken from here
Other than things related to MeLissa's new business venture, Winsome Events, which we'll touch on toward the end of this post, there isn't a lot of excitement to speak of in the Rocco household.
Mark is on track to finish up his previous quarter - just one more test on Wednesday. He was able to get one grade that was below passing changed to passing once discussing it with his instructor. Apparently, most of the test questions he missed on the final were things that he wouldn't have known since he isn't required to take the x-ray lab class. So that was definitely a highlight of our week. Mark is currently enjoying tagging along some of the school's current interns in preparation for his shot at entering the clinic next quarter - can you believe he's already so close to treating patients? Wow!
We also made our follow up trip to Ikea with our buddies Lisa and Rob. We enjoyed lunch at Red Robin first where MeLissa attempted to reintroduce onions into her diet. They failed with flying colors which wasn't a huge surprise... We picked up the storage solution we'd picked out at Ikea previously as well as some very nice tealight holders MeLissa thinks will make excellent table decorations for either our parties or one of her clients' when the business is up and running.
So, speaking of the business, MeLissa has created another blog where she plans to keep people updated (once she's up and running) about the weddings and events she's planned as well as provide answers to questions regarding weddings and events. She also plans to give information about weddings, consulting services and products that she comes across that she believes would make a real statement at your events (or to help you preserve your memories after in the case of her first recommendation). She's currently writing short articles regarding the myths surrounding wedding and event consultants which you might find interesting. She'd love it if you'd stop by and ask her a question at the Winsome Events Blog.
In other news, she's been actively searching for just the right company/person to create her logo, stationary and website and so far, she has some good prospects. One in particular is right in line with her budget and offers all these services for a reasonable investment. She's been busily writing the text for her site and is really pleased with how it is going so far. We'll let you know once it is up and running.
We just returned from our latest adventure to Mendocino on the Northern Coast of California. Technically, we stayed in Elk, California...a mighty metropolis of 250 people! There's not a whole lot going on in Elk, folks, but that is exactly what we needed. Here's the detail of our adventure:
We started out on Thursday morning *after* doing something which MeLissa is terribly excited about! She is now, officially, the proud owner of a business! Yes, she obtained her business license for her wedding and event coordination business that morning! Since she also reserved the website address last night, we're pleased to announce that Winsome Events will soon be open for business! MeLissa was pretty giddy on the drive to our destination because it just felt so cool to say she now owns her own business. :)
At any rate, on our way up to Elk, we fell victim to sometimes confusing road signage and exited when we shouldn't have. We decided to ask directions (which is a big thing - MeLissa *hates* asking for directions! And, yes, you read that right - MeLissa not Mark has an "issue" with asking for directions - you've always known we were a unique couple!) We discovered that we
had exited to soon, but that there was a lovely scenic drive if we just kept going on the road we were travelling on. Since our kind direction guy indicated that the drive wasn't too much longer than heading back to the 101, we decided to be rebels and take the backroads so that we could experience the breath-taking views it was supposed to provide. Um, not so much as you can see from the pictures here, but we did get to see a vulture eating what appeared to be a dead cow (we didn't get close enough to verify this). Sorry for the blurriness of the photo, but you get the idea (or you will if you click on it - it's a wee bit small).
At any rate, we finally made it out of the foresty area (after what seemed like 3 or 4 hours - way longer than the 101 route!) and found "civilization." Well, sort of, there were a lot of teensy weensy albeit charming towns. In one, Point Arena, we stopped to see the lighthouse and snap a couple of pictures.
We continued on down the road to Elk where our first night's room was waiting at the Griffin House. We stayed in the Gunderson room. It had a charming wood fireplace that we enjoyed very much. This was our "reasonable" room for the weekend, and for the price, it was a nice room. It was nice, too, that it didn't have a TV and our cell phones could not get a signal. It was a great way to force us to relax! This is definitley a benefit of Elk, in general!
We should mention that we truly appreciated the innkeepers' efforts to ensure that MeLissa could actually eat something for breakfast (which they deliver to the room each morning!). That evening, for dinner, we ventured to the Little River Inn where we enjoyed a lovely dining experience. Our server and the manager of the restaurant, took great care to ensure that
MeLissa's food was allergy-free as well - we noted that they really are customer-service oriented in this region of California. It was a great meal - MeLissa still thinks of the brussels sprouts she had - they were the tastiest she's had in her lifetime (yes, she actually likes brussels sprouts) and they had the most mellow balsamic vinegar she's ever had also.
The next morning, we had our breakfast and then packed up the car and headed to Mendocino where we hoped to see a whale. We
didn't have much luck, but we did catch a glimpse of this adorable seagull (yes, it's the requisite bird picture, folks...you will get used to them!). We also saw (in our rearview mirror) a couple of lovebirds! We even saw an elk (the only elk we saw during our entire trip, in fact!) that looked very much like our dear Mark. This elk came with us to lunch in Ft. Bragg!
We headed back that evening to Elk to check into our posh second 
room at The Elk Cove Inn & Spa. We madea quick stop at Navarro Point to catch a picture of the sun shining on the water and Mark doing his best J Crew (per Mark) pose.
We were in the lap of luxury in our second room, the Lumbar Baron's room where we slept in the bed that the lumbar company executives would stay in when they came to Elk. Outside of our room was this gorgeous calla lily which MeLissa just had to take a snap shot of. 
We took a stroll to the beach to catch some sunset views before returning to the inn for a fabulous dinner which we're still dreaming about at night! Here are a few of the views we
captured:
And here is a view of MeLissa demonstrating the Karate Kid Crane at Mark's request (we couldn't let him have all the silly pictures after all!):
We even have another picture of those lovebirds (and in this one you can kinda sorta see Mark's pupil in his right eye (which is on your left!):
they work around MeLissa's allergies, but they did it with flair. We enjoyed an appetizer of shrimp wrapped in prosciutto followed by dinner salads in the best seat in the house. Then, Mark enjoyed sea bass with a cajun creole sauce and these absolutely wonderful polenta frites (which MeLissa has determined to replicate in an 
allergy free way at home) and MeLissa enjoyed a tender filet mignon with freshly sauteed spinach, these to-die-for mushrooms and smoky baby artichokes. We didn't leave anything on our plates! We finished up with pineapple sorbet for MeLissa and Bailey's Irish Cream ice cream for Mark - both were yummy! Back in our room, we enjoyed a taste of port with chocolates - it was good, but Mark thinks he'll stick with just the chocolate by itself. :) MeLissa also snapped a shot of the shell pendants she'd found in Ft. Bragg at a shell 
shop for $2 each - what a steal!
the chocolate backfired. It apparently had soy in it. Oops. At least it was worth the slightly "out of it" feeling that ensued. :) We packed up and started for home. On our way, we visited a rock shop where we found many treasures (MeLissa purchased her jewelry quota for the year) and a redwood forest where we snapped some shots of the wildlife that was around and some pretty lovely clover patches - just the thing to make an Irish girl feel welcome! After this adventure, we headed home, but we made sure to stop at the snoopy store in Santa Rosa (across from the Charles Schulz Museum) where we picked up some more "loot."
We returned home to a very needy kitty who has been whining and acting neurotic pretty much non-stop. We figure Pixie will calm down in a couple of days when she figures out we're not going anywhere for too long for a while. Until then, we're not guessing we'll be getting too much sleep around here. So much for the lasting effects of our vacation!
MeLissa found an awesome tool for those who want to keep up with what we're up to today! Rather than having to check periodically to see if we've posted something, wouldn't it be nice to just be notified that we have? Look now further...
MeLissa has discovered a service called Bloglines. This site is AWESOME. Now, instead of having to click on her favorite blogs several times every day to see if somene has posted some wonderful words of wisdom or hilarity, she simply goes into her bloglines account and it shows her who has posted since she last checked. She can even set up a notification service on her desktop!
Then, she can read all of the posts from her favorite blogs right there in bloglines! It seems that she'll still have to visit their sites when she wishes to comment on something, but at least this will cut down on some of her mindless surfing at work to just see if there's new "stuff" to be read! It's easy to set up an account and add your favorite blogs - MeLissa especially likes the fact that she can visit a blog and add it to her subscription list with a link in her favorites.
We hope you'll all sign up and add our site so you can keep up to date on our posts!
We had a pretty nice weekend! Mark has bounced back pretty quickly from this last surgery (not having to be face-down all the time probably helps!) and so we were able to do a little more than hang around the house (though, we did plenty of that as well!).
Here's a quick run down of our weekend activities:
1. We went to Ikea. We try to avoid Ikea as much as possible because it is just a bit too crazy for our liking, but we need something to organize and store all of MeLissa's craft, quilting and entertaining supplies and Ikea has a lot of affordable options so off we went. By the end of our shopping expedition, we had found what we were looking for, but MeLissa was feeling kind of "out of it" (one of the many reasons we tend to avoid Ikea!) and Mark isn't supposed to be lifting anything heavy so we'll have to return at some other time to pick it up.
2. We watched a lot of X-files episodes. We enjoyed just sitting together and being couch potatoes on a few occasions this weekend. We're about finished with season 3 and then we'll move on to season 4. We haven't been watching these things in order so we'll have watched all the episodes by the time we finish seaon 4. Crazy wacky stuff.
Aside from these things, MeLissa worked on our taxes (which are pretty much done and just need to be filed.) and finished up her Event Planning course. She passed her final exam with flying colors! Now it is on to a real world training experience where she will help someone plan their very special event on a pro bono basis. Once she's completed this task, she'll be one step closer to opening her own wedding coordination business in July 2006 (Yes, we have a tentative date!). With any luck, MeLissa will have time this week to go pick up her business license...
If you know any good graphic designers who can help her with her logo and website design, please let us know! :)
We thought everyone might enjoy this recipe which MeLissa's Nest Friend, Erin, graciously shared with us:
Erin's All-Time Favorite Chocolate Cake
aka “Dad's (Erin's) Favorite Chocolate Cake”
3 C. flour
2 C. sugar
6 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 C. oil (vegetable)
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 C. water
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour cake pan. Put dry ingredients into mixing bowl and combine. Add: oil, vinegar, vanilla and water. Beat till smooth and pour into pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Cool and frost.
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And, now, for the "silly goose" part. MeLissa's mom called today and mentioned that she saw Erin's promise of an eggless chocolate cake recipe and told MeLissa it sounded like her Grandmother Naomi's Wacky Cake recipe. So, erhem, yeah, MeLissa has had an egg free recipe all this time...and simply didn't remember it! The Wacky Cake recipe in MeLissa's stash is essentially a mirror image of Erin's cut in half. *sigh* At least we've finally been enlightened!
So, we visited Mark's doctor today for his post-op appointment. Looks like everything went very well. The coolest thing, though, is Mark actually has a pupil in his right eye now! It looks pretty neat! It is from the hole that the doctor put in the membrane that formed behind his eye. So, it is all very encouraging. If possible, once Mark has recovered and is a little less sensitive to light, we'll try to get a picture so you can see how his right eye looks now.
Of course, Mark has already determined that this is great material to tease classmates (and whomever else) that he has one cyborg eye now. He's such a silly goose that you just can't help but adore him....
For those of you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering how Mark's surgery went - according to the doctor it went very well!
His retina is still attached (Praise the Lord!) which is super since that means it's not detached in about 9 months! Woo hoo!
So anyhow, the doctor took out the silicon oil in the back of his eye and then cut a hole with the laser through a membrane that had grown in the front part of the eye. This will serve as an artificial iris for Mark - regulating the amount of light that goes into the eye. He then put a shot of steroids in Mark's eye to discourage the membrane from growing back in. Thank you all for your prayers - please keep praying that everything heals up nicely. :)
Oh, and the best thing about how things went today? Mark gets to sleep face up. He just has to use a couple of pillows. This is way better than face down, don't you think?
In other news, Pixie has adopted a new hobby. She's decided that it is tons of fun to pull our dirty laundry (primarily socks, but there have been underthings and even a pair of pants!) from our room into the living room. We believe this confirms that she's neurotic which is good because so are we! ;) At any rate, should any of you come to visit us and see Pixie's handy work (which is bound to happen unless we remember to shut the bedroom door!), please forgive us...and her!
So, yesterday, we went to the city for MeLissa's chiropractic appointment. Everything went pretty well....and given the small quake we had today, that's probably a very good thing! :) She felt a little queasy after the rockin' and rollin' but nothing terribly bad.
Anyhow, all that aside, once we got me straightened out (ha!), we passed some time looking in Williams-Sonoma in the Embarcadero Center. While there, we found a great book on making chocolates. MeLissa is looking forward to trying it out!
After shopping, we went to visit our friend Alisa at her hotel. She's been in town for a convention for Pharmacists and Pharmacy students. Alisa, her classmate/friend, Denise and we ventured to Starbucks where we enjoyed each other's company. MeLissa enjoyed a fabulous apple cider drink with whipped cream (we thought it was crazy, too!) and caramel in it. After our brief interlude, Alisa and Denise went to their evening function and we headed home. :)
A calm, but enjoyable venture....
Well, Mark finished his tests around 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon. He's not feeling real confident that he even passed 4 (which would mean, if he didn't pass all the sections, he'd only have to retake those he didn't pass). MeLissa reminded him this morning that not everybody can tell when they've passed a test and with that wretched scoring system that we keep referring to, anything is possible so we're keeping our fingers and toes crossed. We should receive the testing results in a couple of months and we'll of course let you know what the final verdict is!
Mark now is fully focused on passing his final exams. Due to surgery, he's taking incompletes on two of them. He has two tests today, one tomorrow and then it's time for surgery.
MeLissa spent her weekend attending a little baby shower for a friend and doing other things around the house including making a rather interesting ice cream flavor. Ever have raspberry with a hint of chocolate? It makes a great ice cream flavor. :)
Finally, we thought we'd pass a little tip on to anyone who is interested. We've heard a couple of people mention that they'd like to learn a little more about HTML. Now, MeLissa is by *no* means, an HTML guru at this point, but she's definitely learned enough to be dangerous. Some of what she learned was through trial an error, but she's recently found a really great resource. If you, too, want a little more HTML experience, have a look at W3 Schools. They have really helpful tutorials in HTML (including an awesome color list!) and other "stuff" like SQL which MeLissa is trying to figure out for her job (and let us say she totally is not happy about that one!). Happy learning...
So, Mark completed two of his tests today - General Anatomy and Spinal Anatomy. His assessment of his testing success is that he aced General and probably failed Spinal, but given that whole curving thing, maybe he didn't do as poorly on Spinal Anatomy as he thinks.
At any rate, he has four more tests tomorrow. Please keep him in your prayers! He works so hard it would be nice if he could just pass the first time! We won't actually know his "official" scores for a bit longer, though.
We'll keep you posted.
Today is the big day!! Mark will start his first big board test a little after noon! Keep your fingers crossed that he at least passes 4 sections (we'd prefer he pass them all, but we don't want to be greedy!) because then he will at least not have to take the whole thing over. We're hoping that the bizarre grading method they use will be to his advantage rather than his disadvantage.
A short overview of that grading is that they throw out all the questions that everyone gets wrong (sounds good, doesn't it?!?) and all the questions that everyone gets right (that pretty much sucks, eh?!?) and then they take the top person's score and curve it based on that from our understanding so hopefully Mark will know a lot of things that some other people don't!
In other news, MeLissa's started work on another baby blankie...and we're not telling who this one is for either. It is a lovely mint green in the same pattern as the recent patriotic offering. This and finishing up last week's quilt block (as well as the standard weekend errands) should keep her occupied during Mark's testing period. MeLissa also is going to a baby shower for one of her former coworkers and hopes to catch a glimpse of her buddy Alisa who is visiting San Francisco as well.
Today is a pretty special day and this is a pretty special post - it is our 100th!! How exciting, huh?
Not too much to speak of other than the fact that Mark begins his board exams tomorrow at noon, but there's still reason to celebrate! Yes, dear friends, today is a day that makes MeLissa's hair seem redder and her heart turn green! Well, maybe that's exaggerating a little, but as a primarily Irish Lass, she wants to wish you a very
Jumping out of 3rd person for a bit - you know, I may even give this whole "make it sound like a storybook" thing up sooner or later). Anybody want to voice an opinion on that? I actually have to concentrate pretty hard to say stuff like "MeLissa is such a dork she started typing the entry about our weekend on Monday but decided to give Pixie the full spotlight so she held it until yesterday, but then forgot to change the date so it actually showed up before Pixie's post and so she wished her mom a happy birthday on the wrong day - sort of." Seriously, it gets a bit tedious at times. But, I keep at it...and wonder if the world thinks I'm a dork.
So, anyhow, the purpose of this whole message was to clear up the fact that yes, I made a mistake and I posted birthday wishes for my mom as of 3/12. Her birthday was yesterday (i.e., March 14).
To make this worth reading, I was just posting a comment on a friend's blog (Hi Kat!) and mentioned one of the sweet things Mark does for me. Since I'm jumping out of 3rd person today, let me just say that it is the sweetest thing. Every night (well, there are a few exceptions but *very* few), my dear Mark brings me 2 squares of chocolate to enjoy. It's become one of the little traditions we enjoy in our household. Perhaps I'll think about more of these things and then share them here...stay tuned for that!
First of all, here's a big Happy Birthday wish to MeLissa's mom. We hope she has a year full of happiness, health, and God-willing, wealth! :)
Now....on to the weekend wrap-up:
As we mentioned previously, we had a rather busy weekend! We started out on Friday night with a little informal (but fun!) birthday celebration for our friend Lisa who is still enjoying the ripe old age of 25 (and hopefully will for many more years)! MeLissa made some virgin margaritas to celebrate the occasion (and to try out our new spiffy blender!) and we enjoyed a tasty meal from O'Hana Hawaiian grill.
After dinner we chatted and let Lisa open her birthday presents - she loved them all! :) And, of course, we had some pretty yummy strawberry ice cream (homemade!) to celebrate - we didn't feel like trying for another "caketastrophe" so ice cream's the deal around here for birthdays until Martha Stewart comes to the rescue (seriously, we've written to see if she can come up with a suitable eggless recipe).
On Saturday, MeLissa finished up the baby blanket she made for a friend's little one and we'll be mailing it out (hopefully) this week. We hope they find it helpful in keeping the little tyke warm! Meanwhile, Mark studied....and studied....and studied some more. His board exam is next weekend so he's pretty much spending all his "free" time with his nose in a book!
MeLissa also spent some time quilting Saturday and Sunday. She's actually close to finishing the Drunkard's Path block. She just has 3 seams to go...but due to Sunday's activities taking precedence (and a little project for Mark which we'll discuss shortly), she expects to finish it later during the week. So far, the block is looking very bright and cheery!
Instead of finishing her block, she and Mark spent a fair amount of time on Sunday recording a video (which MeLissa will try to piece together over the next few days) for Mark's physical therapy class on various excercises, stretches and assessment techniques for those who sit behind desks all day to fix them right up when they start having problems. Apparently this malady is referred to as "Upper Cross Syndrome" in chiropractic circles. MeLissa is now privvy to the why it is Mark keeps making her do all these exercises and stretches she isn't terribly fond of. :)
Finally, we wrapped the weekend up by doing a little experimental cookin'. This week's foray was into the realm of bread making...specifically, spelt bread. MeLissa decided to try because she was craving a hamburger and really wanted to have it on a hamburger buns. Since she can't buy hamburger buns that she can actually eat, she decided to make her own. All things considered, they turned out pretty decent and worked well for last night's dinner, but we do have a couple of modifications in mind for the next attempt! Alternatively, MeLissa may start using a little low-carb eating trick and just ditch the bun since she's pretty picky - two lettuce leaves seemed to work pretty well at the hospital cafeteria the last time Mark had surgery. As for the bread itself, it also turned out pretty decent, however, due to a good portion of the batter going to the buns, it was pretty flat. Mark was certainly grumbling about his "toast sticks" while eating breakfast this morning.
MeLissa also did some grumbling because it appears that one of her favorite foods is just not going to cooperate. Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any pictures of evil pineapples. What a shame. At any rate, this pretty much leaves us at a 100% fail rate as far as MeLissa's food reintroduction attempts. We may give the pineapple one more chance later today, but we're not terribly hopeful...
Today is our little Pixie Cat's Birthday! She's a spry 2 years old...and looking just as cute as when she was a kitten.
In other news, we had a pretty busy weekend, but we're letting Pixie have her spotlight so we'll get more into that later! Besides, posts with pictures are much more fun and the pictures we have for you aren't accessible at this very moment!
What? You didn't know that carrots were evil? Well, we have verified it. Last night we tried to reintroduce them into MeLissa's diet and man was that a mistake.
The first sign that there was probably a problem should have been that when MeLissa tried them alone, they didn't taste nearly as good as she remembers them tasting. We later determined, though that it was because we didn't have onions cooking with them in the roast pot. So, she persisted, ate a few more with dinner and went about the rest of the evening's activities (which included finishing the stitching on the blankie, though, we're now at the point of yarn weaving which always seems to take much too long!).
About 2 hours after dinner, MeLissa all of the sudden started experiencing the following:
So, apparently, Mark's surgeon (and Mark) felt that the operation on his left eye the other day to remove the silicon oil and repair his retina were so much fun they want to go and do it again in a couple of weeks to the right eye! How exciting! :)
Well, okay, actually the real reason is that it is past time. We were supposed to have had the oil removed from the right eye in January, but due to the left eye not behaving so well, it was postponed. Now, though, the doctor is having a difficult time seeing in Mark's eye and so he's unable to really see if everything is behaving and what not so it's time. That coupled with the fact that Mark has a break the last week of March led to the surgery being tentatively scheduled for March 22. Keep him in your prayers, please.
At least with this timing, he shouldn't have to miss too much school for his next quarter, but he will probably have to retake or at least take an incomplete on a few classes from this quarter...which is fine - it just means he'll be even more prepared when he takes his next board exam, right?
Speaking of board exams, Mark will be taking his first round on March 18 and 19. Last night, we did a little practice exam and it was really hard (even though it was the exam Mark figured he was the most prepared for!) so now we're both a bit scared for him. At least if he doesn't pass this time, he can always retake it, but please pray that he's a first timer! :)
As for MeLissa, nothing nearly as exciting. She has 5 rows left of the little blankie she's been crocheting. That's pretty exciting! She also joined a quilting site last night that has quilting lessons over the internet. She's looking forward to seeing how a different teacher does things as well in getting copies of all the nifty patterns that the site gives out for free. Total cost of membership...$15. Having an invaluable quilting resource available 24/7 and getting a lot of cute patterns for free...priceless. The site is called Victoriana Quilt Designs if you're interested in checking them out. They do have a free block pattern every month as well as a wealth of free quilt information suitable for beginners on up.
Here's an interesting article detailing various scientific findings about love we thought you'd find amusing - we've linked it above as well.
Love: 10 crazy scientific facts
By Laura Schaefer
1. It’s like looking in a mirror! It turns out we all have a little something in common with Narcissus—the mythical fellow who fell in love with his own reflection. Scientists at the University of Liverpool recently concluded that our brains favor people with familiar faces. The research team asked over 200 participants to view a number of digitally altered human faces. They found that subjects preferred the features they found the most familiar—whether that means his or her own visage or that of a family member. This may explain that common phenomenon of couples looking like they could be siblings.
2. Manner, schmanners: Go ahead and stare. Another new study says that when a woman walks into a room, she is considered more attractive if she turns her eyes directly toward a certain man. Men would rate the same woman as less desirable if she doesn’t make strong eye contact. In this study, conducted at Dartmouth University, lead researcher Malia Mason had male participants sit and view a series of faces of fashion models, digitally enhanced to either be gazing toward or away from the participant. The study authors asked the viewer to rate the likeability of each model and found that those who turned away were seen as less agreeable. The study’s researchers went on to suggest that a woman’s gaze can be a powerful arousal cue and that our impressions are largely formed by nonverbal communications such as eye contact. So start locking eyes, ladies!
3. You’ll know it when you see it. A recent study at the University of Pennsylvania reveals that regardless of what people say they are looking for in a dating situation, they don’t need a lot of time with or information about a person to tell if they’re interested. Single people’s behavior suggests that individuals know “it” (a person who appeals to them) when they see it—almost instantly. Lead researcher Robert Kurzban and his colleagues studied data from 10,000+ daters. They found that men and women assessed potential compatibility within moments of meeting, using primarily visual cues such as age, height, and attractiveness. Says Kurzban, “Somewhat surprisingly, factors that you might think would be really important to people — like religion, education, and income — played very little roles in their choices.”
4. Listen up. The next time you call up a potential love match, pay special attention to how they sound. Researchers at the University of Albany had 149 men and women rate the attractiveness of a series of recorded voices on a scale from 1 to 10. The researchers also gathered information about the sexual histories of the people whose voices they recorded. They found that the voices found to be the most appealing belonged to people who had sex at an earlier age, had more sexual partners, and were more prone to infidelity than those rated as having less appealing voices. So know that what’s a seductive voice to you may be linked to a person with a bit of a past…
5. I couldn’t help it baby, it’s in my genes. There may be a genetic component to infidelity, says a professor at the Twin Research Unit at St. Thomas’ Hospital, London. This is based on the fact that if one twin exhibits infidelity, the other twin strays 55% of the time. In the general population, the number is 23%. The tendency to remain faithful is a component of personality, the scientist elaborates, which is governed both by a number of genes and societal factors.
6. It’s official. Love makes us crazy. For one, it causes serotonin levels in the brain to drop, which may lead people to obsess about their lover. (The levels of serotonin, a chemical produced by the body, are also low in people who have obsessive-compulsive disorder.) Next, it ramps up production of the stress hormone cortisol, leading to slightly higher blood pressure and possible loss of sleep. Finally, a scientist at the University of London has found that when people look at their new loves, the neural circuits that are usually in charge of social judgment are suppressed. All in all, love kind of leaves you obsessive, stressed, and blind. And we love it.
7. Why broken hearts hurt... A recent UCLA study suggests the psychological hurt of a break-up is just as real as a physical injury. Two areas of the brain that respond to physical pain also become activated when a person is dealing with social pain, such as being dumped. The study’s authors used an MRI to monitor brain activity in participants while they played a game simulating social rejection. The researchers believe that the pain of being rejected may have evolved as a motivating force that led humans to seek out social interaction, which is crucial for the survival of most mammals.
8. Blushing is best. If we take our cue from apes, rosy cheeks are crucial in the dating game, says a new study. Scientists at Stirling University in Great Britain have found that primates prefer mates with red faces. A rosy glow might also act as a similar cue in humans, say the British researchers, sending a message of good health. They speculate that it could explain why women use blusher.
9. Kiss this way. Did you know there is a “right” way to kiss? People are more likely to tilt their heads to the right when kissing instead of left, says a report published recently in the journal Nature. A scientist from Ruhr University in Germany analyzed 124 pairs of smoochers and found that 65 percent go toward the right.
10. Meet for drinks before dinner. Researchers at NYU and Stanford have discovered that hungry men prefer heavier women. By staking out a dining hall, scientists had hundreds of students fill out questionnaires about their preferences in a mate. Men who filled out the questionnaire just before they entered the hall described their ideal woman as an average of three or four pounds heavier than men interviewed after they ate. Incidentally, researchers did not find the same change in women’s preferences, so guys: Go ahead and schedule that drinks date for before or after dinnertime.
Laura Schaefer is the author of Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor: The Best and Worst Personal Ads of All Time.
Wow. We just had chocolate mousse. Or should we say MOUSSE? For those of you who know MeLissa well, you know she can really put away the chocolate, but she may have met her match. Yes, she's sitting here typing this (oh, come on you all know it's MeLissa typing here, don't you?) looking at an unfinished bowl of mousse seriously contemplating whether or not she's going to finish it. It is actually making her head swim. *That* is unheard of, but that is what a good mousse is like! If you'd like to try this delectable treat, please have a look at the recipe here- you might just want to invite a bunch of friends over to share it with.
Other than this little bit of sweet excitement, the Rocco house has been pretty quiet. MeLissa has been busy crocheting (the finished product will be showcased in future post!) while Mark has been studying chiropractic and laying face-down. We have another appointment for Mark tomorrow with the doctor. Hopefully, we won't have too much to talk about after that either! :)
Pixie hasn't posted anything for a while, but has decided to grace us with a better understanding of herself.
ABC Survey
A is for age: 2
B is for booze of choice: Milk, if I can get it.
C is for career: Professional Whiner
D is for your Dad's name: Mark
E is for essential items to bring to a party: Catnip
F is for favorite song at the moment: What's New Pixie Cat
G is for favorite game: Chase the Laser
H is for hometown: Castro Valley, CA
I is for instruments you play: I meow. That's it.
J is for jam or jelly you like: Tuna
K is for kids: Not gonna happen, folks.
L is for living arrangements: with my typing and food slave and the enforcer in a 2 bedroom condo
M is for Mom's name: MeLissa
N is for name of your crush: The enforcer...but since he's being a pest and won't pet me enough, my typing and food slave.
O is for overnight hospital stays: None
P is for phobias: Vaccuums
Q is for quotes you like: "Meow."
R is for relationship that lasted the longest: With the typing slave.
S is for soda preference: Tuna flavored if they have it.
T is for tasty desserts: Ice Cream
U is for underwear: I go commando.
V is for vegetables you love: Yuck.
W is for weekend plans: Sleep, eat, terrorize, be pet.
X is for x-rays you've had: None.
Y is for year you graduated from high school: Cats are too smart for school.
Z is for zodiac sign: Pices
Well, it was quite a day in the operating room yesterday from the sound (and look) of it. Mark's retinal surgeon came out to speak to MeLissa after the procedure was complete yesterday. He looked like he'd been in quite a battle. So far, it looks like he won....again. :)
He said that when he got his first look in Mark's eye, he wasn't sure he'd actually be able to do anything, but he made an attempt and with a lot of patience and perseverance, he reached a point where he was satisfied. The procedure included clearing fibrous material from both sides of Mark's lens (which is no easy task since he didn't want to scratch the lens. He contemplated pretty seriously whehter to actually take the lens out - apparently, it is more of a hinderance than a help, but it was pretty well situated in there with scar tissue and it would have been difficult to accomplish successfully. So, for now, he's leaving it in.
Apparently, one this that was a little disappointing to see was that the fibrous membrane that had formed has become vascularized (i.e., there are blood vessels running through it) and had actually filled the front of Mark's eye with blood (probably due to the drop in eye pressure that occurs with anethesia) so he had to cauterize those after removing the membrane. He also gave Mark a little shot of steroids outside of his eye to hopefully control their growth in the future months.
Once that was taken care of, he moved on to the retina which he had seen was detached once he got in there. He removed the scar tissue without too much trouble in one piece, cut the retina off about 270 degrees around the eye with the laser and then smoothed it out and reattached it. He filled the eye with gas to keep the retina in place and then patched Mark up.
We finally left the hospital at about 7:45 p.m. last night (we arrived at around 9:30 a.m.) and headed home. As usual, we made our "traditional" stop at Jamba juice on the way home. This pretty much served as supper until about midnight when Mark enjoyed some leftover soup and MeLissa had some very tasty toast.
So, now, Mark is back to his favorite (or so it would seem) position - face-down. It will be the same drill as before only with a twist. This time, since Mark has the gas bubble in his eye, we have to make sure that we don't go anywhere with significantly higher (or lower) altitude - this includes, of course, flying. Breaking this "rule" would essentially guarantee blindness in his eye. So, it looks like we'll definitely not be travelling to Hawaii or the Tahoe/Reno area (a recently considered Hawaii substitute - if you can't have Maui, snow is the next best thing, right?) anytime soon.
Please continue to pray for Mark's complete recovery. :)
For those who might be curious, MeLissa passed her day yesterday rather "eventfully." By this we mean, she read the text for her event planning course. She's almost finished - just about 50 pages to go which she should be able to finish up today. We're moving right along here....
So Mark has surgery today. He'll be going in around 11:20 a.m. The doctor plans to remove some fibrous material that has grown in his eye which is obstructing the view of the retina. As part of the surgery, he'll have a look to make sure that Mark's retina is doing okay. If so, he'll patch him up and we'll soon be on our way. If not, the doctor will make repairs and then we'll be back to the same ol' same ol' face down sentence.
We'll give you an update on how things went soon. Until then, please keep Mark in your prayers.
We don't post a lot of "heavy" stuff on our blog usually, but MeLissa contributed this comment to a discussion on MC Hammer's Blog. She really wanted to put it here as well since it is just a great program and she really feels that it deserves a wider audience. We hope you'll go check out some of the materials available (including the video program) at the site linked to the post title or at the bottom of the post.
I'll apologize up front because this is gonna be a long one...
Has anyone seen the PBS documentary called "A Class Divided" or read the book?
I was introduced to this program in a diversity workshop I attended for my company. Until I saw this short film and then read the related text, I had always sort of had a thought in the back of my head that African-Americans, Hispanics, and others who were discriminated against acted in certain ways that "brought on" discrimination. Sounds, strange, right? Why would anyone act in such a way as to encourage others to discriminate against them? And, yet it is a view I've heard from others as well.
I have to say this short documentary and book really gave me a new perspective. It's not as simple as I once thought. This documentary followed an experiment done by Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small all-white Iowa town in 1968 (interesting that it coincides with Mr. Hammer's date, hmmm? It is because she implemented this lesson the day after MLK, Jr. was assassinated. She wanted to help her children understand what it was he died for). Ms. Elliott divided her class into two groups based soley upon an arbitrary trait: eye color - the blue-eyed people and the brown-eyed people.
She had the brown-eyed people put on collars so they could be easily identified. Then, she proceed to tell them that for the first day, the blue-eyed (I think) people were better than the brown-eyed people. They were cleaner, smarter, more respectful, etc. Basically, if there was a positive trait...it was attached to the blue-eyed children. During that day, anything that a blue-eyed child did that was even remotely good was lauded and applauded. Everything remotely "bad" that a brown-eyed child did was scoffed at and made fun of. You would be shocked to see what happened. I really think everyone should check this out if you can find it (and I'll provide a link to a site at the end of my commentary).
Essentially, the end result was this - a class full of happy, kind, caring and well-bonded children turned into two opposing groups. The blue-eyed children tormented the brown-eyed children, acted as though they were superior and actually did better than ever at their studies - and this occured even between classmates who were easily categorized as inseparable best friends just the day before. On the other side, the brown-eyed children who also were usually happy, joyful souls became sullen and withdrawn and actually exhibited less academic prowess than they had the day before.
On the second day, the roles were switched. And, despite Ms. Elliott's believing that the same thing couldn't happen two days in a row since they had already done the experiment, it did. The only difference? The brown-eyed children who had been given a pretty nasty taste of how it felt to be discriminated against were a little less harsh than their blue-eyed classmates had been before. Still, though, the brown-eyed children excelled while the blue-eyed children's academic skill dropped below even pre-experiment levels.
For me, this was a real eye-opener. I can now see that certain minority groups act in ways that are less than becoming and perpetuate the belief that they are inferior, but I also understand that their experiences in life which have conciously or subconciously suggested this to their psyche plays a part. It is really a nasty vicious circle that could potentially never be resolved unless we're all willing to look beyond skin color, eye-color or any other arbitrary trait and see the person and the *soul* that is inside and value that.
I personally believe we have a long row to hoe here since our society is so focused on exteriors anyhow...but with materials and excercises like these, I think we can at least begin to see put ourselves in another's shoes and see things from a different perspective...which ultimately is what it's all about in every conflict known to man.
Thanks for "listening." Have a look at the site below (or click the post title above) for more information on this insightful program.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/
We figured we'd keep tabs on what Christopher's old shipmates have been up to since he jumped ship for the recruiting stint (which seems to be going well so far, we've heard). It looks like they've been very busy!
There are some great photos (including the one you see here) of the crew available on the Reagan's website. Click on the post title above to go there.
We also really enjoyed looking at the ship's newsletter - especially the caption contest winners in the February 24 issue (see page 4). The winning caption is a hoot!
We figured since we don't have any terribly exciting news to share, we'd show what our little darling Pixie looked like when she came to live with us. Wasn't she just a doll? Thankfully, she's calmed down quite a bit...she was quite the little bundle of energy!!!
Sending happy thoughts to all far and near!
So, we had more excitement in our household this morning. Nothing too critical - no wedding rings down the sink. *phew!* But, it is rather entertaining (to us if no one else!).
It all started last night. MeLissa arrived home from quilting class and proceeded to tell Mark that Chicken Marsala was just not happening. Cooking at 9 o'clock at night - not MeLissa's idea of a good time. Anyhow, she set Mark up with lasagna leftovers and decided she would make herself a very healthy dinner of bacon and toast. Too bad she can't eat eggs - they would have been a nice addition...as would have hashed browns!
While she was cooking "supper," Mark grilled up a chicken breast for her lunch - what a sweet guy, huh? MeLissa also prepped breakfast - rice pudding made with coconut milk (yeah, yeah...it's a strange breakfast, but when you have to rotate foods and you have a lot of allergies and you have used the last of the bacon for your supper, you get creative folks!) and put it in the oven. Once we were finished eating, we cleaned up and went to bed. In that order.
So, we got up this morning to a wonderful scent wafting through the house. Yep, the lovely scent of rice pudding greeted us....which, although it was pleasant, was not a good thing. No breakfast...oops. So, we invoked the "Let her eat toast" rule and breakfast happened as usual.
Nothing too exciting, but definitely amusing...especially since we left the lunch chicken breast out, too. :)
Oh my goodness do we have a treat for you today! MC Hammer's back baby!!!
Thanks to the folks at Blogger who put The Hammer's blog on the front page for MeLissa to find! Yeah, folks, MC Hammer is bloggin' and though we've not had a chance to read everything he's said to date (he just recently started blogging folks so you can get in early!), it looks like it will be an interesting site to keep tabs on. :)
Just wanted to give you the heads up since we know you're in your office today just looking for something other than work to do!!
To visit MC Hammer's blog, click the post title above...
Update from MeLissa specifically: Oh my goodnesss! I am so flattered at this very moment. I left a little comment for MC Hammer on his blog and he replied with a thank you and that our wedding picture that we use for our profile (look right) was a nice picture. Wow. I'm hooked. :)
See:
Mark and MeLissa said...
Wow. MC Hammer. Blogging. Very cool. I'm glad that I came across your site and look forward to hearing what you have to say. My little brothers and I really enjoyed your music when we were growing up (and still even do that Hammer walk every-so-often!)Glad to see they still "Can't Touch This!" :) (sorry, I'm corny...can't help myself sometimes!)MeLissa of "MeLissa and Mark"
10:27 AM
MC Hammer said...
Thanks and great photo.
10:33 AM
He's saved us all! Prince Mark saved us all! Long live Prince Mark! He has conquered the sink dragon!!
What? Your sink doesn't have a dragon that tries to hoard your most precious possessions? Lucky you! We in magical Roccoland are not so fortunate.
Seriously, though, we had some excitement in the Rocco household this morning. And, for those of you who know us well, if we *mention* that there was excitement, that means there was *bad* excitement (there's always excitment afterall!)...like, perhaps, a certain person's wedding ring flying off her hand and into the sink as she prepared for the shower! "Princess" MeLissa, to say the least, was a bit upset.
Now, thankfully (?), Princess MeLissa has had this happen before - in college her favorite snoopy pendant went for a swim and was, happily, recovered. So, she knew what had to be done and under most circumstances, she would have had it taken care of before Prince Mark even exited the shower, but this morning's "dragon" was much too strong for her so she called on her handsome prince to rescue the precious crown jewel!
With the help of a pipe wrench from Home Depot (who knew they'd be open at 6 AM?), our handsome prince rescued the crown jewel and returned it to the princess who promptly soaked it in peroxide and then cleaned it.
And so they lived happily ever after, finished getting ready and ventured to chiropractic school and the office to conquer poor posture, subluxations and to keep the IRS at bay...
Picture: Saint George slays the dragon.
Believe it or not, we try not to post more than once per day, but sometimes, we just get so excited or are so moved, that we can't help ourselves. This is definitely one of the most moving things we've ever heard and seen and we want to share it with everyone. It's absolutely beautiful. Click the link in the post title or continue on to find the link.
Here's the story behind it:
The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood! Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach , Fla. , eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event. He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.
At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you." Then the old soldier began to cry.
"That really got to me," Bierstock says.
Cut to today.
Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.
"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says
Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."
The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web http://www.beforeyougo.us/ , the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren.
"It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss "the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."
Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web. They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington. Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in
America gets a chance to hear it.
God bless the veterans of World War II and Korea. As Douglas MacArthur said, "Old soldiers never die. They just fade away." They'll be with us always in spirit.
CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR THE SONG AND SEE THE PICTURES:
Looks like Mark will be having another one next Wednesday. The purpose is to see what exactly is going on with his retina. There is some fibrous material that is obstructing the retinal doctor's view. So, he'll go in and see if the retina is okay. If so, he'll patch Mark back up and we'll be on our way. If not, he'll fix the retina and Mark will have to endure another bout of face down time.
MeLissa's doing a little internal surgery as well. She's had a couple of interactions with her bio-family over the past week and she's currently working on disconnecting. Although we're not going to go into detail (there's some in existence if you're willing to dig in the right places), this is a pretty significant thing in our lives and we believe it is due to Dr. Laura's indirect guidance that MeLissa is ready to take this step. It has been a long road, but MeLissa is really making progress toward letting the past stay in the past rather than letting it influence her life.
Keep us both in your prayers while we tackle these issues.
Also, many thanks to a blog friend of ours for posting the following very timely inspiration:
'Choose now'
Just because you experienced anxiety a moment ago does not mean that you must continue to hold on to it.
Choose now to let it go.
You may have recently been angry about one thing or another, yet that destructive anger does not have to continue.
Choose now to transform the energy of that anger into positive, healing, productive thoughts and actions.
Whatever the past may have held, this moment can be filled with what you choose right now.
Peace, acceptance, joy, forgiveness, and positive purpose are all as close as your decision to choose them.
Think of the most joyful and fulfilling times you've ever known. Allow yourself to feel the way it feels when you're at your very best.
The world is as it is, the people around you are as they are, and this moment is here.
You can choose now to face it all with the best you have to give.
Life is ever filled with all kinds of possibilities, and this moment is no exception.
Choose now to make the most positive of those possibilities a part of who you are.
-- Ralph Marston--
This particular cat from MeLissa's page-a-day Bad Cat calendar (generously given by Diane for her birthday!) has continued to bemuse and intrigue her. She figured it was time to share it with the world. The expression on this cat's face is just plain bizarre...and pretty much fits perfectly with the caption they gave it.
We'll share other "bad cats" if they fascinate us as time goes on, but it's going to be pretty hard to top Mr. Chicken (for that is what Monsieur Poussin translates to folks). How a cat makes such a face is well beyond our understanding.
Well, this is just awesome news! MeLissa was having a little look around the Peanuts Collector's Club site and found out that Santa Rosa (home of the Charles Schulz Museum) plans to have The Summer of Woodstock! The city is hoping to have 70 Woodstocks (Snoopy's best friend!) gracing its streets beginning at the end of May and continuing through September 24, 2006. MeLissa and Mark will definitely be visiting Santa Rosa this summer! For more information on this exciting development, check out the link to the Collector's Club or visit Peanuts on Parade.
As if that weren't enough to make any Peanuts lover go absolutely bonkers, there is also word that Beaglefest IV (who knew there was a Beaglefest and didn't tell MeLissa?!?) will take place from June 1 to June 4! To attend, you have to be a member of The Peanuts Collectors Club. We're guessing MeLissa will be signing up!
It's official - Valentine's Day is over! We finally received MeLissa's last "package" last night. Boy oh boy did Mark do a great job!!! But then, Mark is rarely a blockhead. :)
Some of the movies are brand new while others are to replace VHS copies so that we don't have to worry about them wearing out over time. MeLissa was very surprised and very pleased with Mark's thoughtful gifts! We enjoyed each other's company while watching the Valentine's Day special - it seemed appropriate!
In addition, MeLissa *finally* received her books for her Event Planning course so she'll be doing a bit of studying this weekend (which will be good since it will keep her out of Mark's hair!) in addition to watching all her new Snoopy movies!
Finally, we have one more picture for your enjoyment. As promised, here is a picture of the Cake that Couldn't. Perhaps MeLissa will try cupcakes next time...maybe even this weekend.
In other "baked good" news, MeLissa has agreed to enter a bake-off at Mark's school. She's going to see if she can make a cake to wow them...and she's using eggs and normal flour so it should go well. We'll let you know when the judges have had their say!
Just something MeLissa has come across the past few days that she thought you might find amusing! (Which should tell you that we don't have a whole heck of a lot going on here in the Rocco household at the moment. MeLissa did go in and act as a "model" for Mark's Activator II class last night, but beyond that it's been pretty quiet - which is probably a good thing!)
The "site of the day" is Dogpile. MeLissa has been doing a few of her searches on this site which claims to (and seems to) pull its results from all of the top search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Could it be that she likes this site so much because when she typed in "Mark and MeLissa Rocco" our blog and our recipe site were listed in the results? Maybe. :) She also likes the cute Doggie icon, though. Check it out.
Happy Birthday Laelle!!! We hope you have a fun-filled night to celebrate your entry into a new decade! Congratulations!
Not a lot else to write about today here. We're just plugging along with school and work. MeLissa is excited that she'll soon be able to get back into her Event Planning studies, though! She *finally* received notification last night that her books have been shipped. She was going a bit nuts waiting!
And, tonight, she'll be skipping quilting class (she hasn't quilted anything for a little over a week anyhow - just not in the mood lately) to go to Mark's Activator II class at school so that Mark's instructor can show him what to do with her adjustment wise. We're hoping that this combined with Mark's recent tissue work on MeLissa will eventually lead to a pain-free life. Now wouldn't that be nice?
First off today is a very special day! We're sending birthday wishes out to Rob! And, a Happy Anniversary wish out to Brad and Sarah as well! We hope the next year will be full of happy memories for all of you!
We also want to give a "shout out" to MeLissa's mom whom we're very proud of. She has embarked on another segment of her journey to health and fitness! Today was her first day of water aerobics with the folks at Physcial Therapy Plus in Lamar, Colorado. Way to go Mom!
Valentine's Day is not yet over at our house (as the song says, each day is Valentine's Day for us!) - we're still waiting for one more giftie for MeLissa to arrive. She can't wait to see what it will be!
Mark did give her something to tide her over, though - a sweet little pink locket style picture frame and a lovely card. Now she just has to decide what picture of Mark gets the special honors!
Mark received a pretty nice selection of gifts as well. MeLissa was able to procure a copy of a software program Mark's been wanting and also treated him to a pair of Valentine Snoopy Boxers (there's always going to be something about Snoopy it seems when we talk gifts around here!), a pair of silk boxers with hearts and martini glasses and a cute (yet masculine!) pair of lounging pants with candy hearts on them. MeLissa has to admit that she may be "borrowing" the candy heart pants some time. :)
Mark's favorite gift from MeLissa,
though, was his annual hand made card. It's become a well-loved tradition for MeLissa to make a little hand-made Valentine for Mark! This year's valentine was pretty fun to make and included a poem which MeLissa wrote for Mark. We may post it (as well as previous valentines!) at some point, but for right now, you'll just have to be happy with front and back views of this year's special valentine!
In other news, we tried spelt pasta last night and it was great! We definitely think we'll be eating that again soon. It basically was just like "normal" spaghetti only it doesn't have wheat so MeLissa's not allergic to it! It was a nice change from corn and quinoa pasta which we've been using for a while and which we've found to be slightly annoying because it isn't as "stable" when cooked as typical pasta. It also tends to absorb sauces which can be rather frustrating at times. At any rate, we're pretty pleased to have found an alternative which will allow us to have pasta a little more often!
Thanks to Lisa for sending me this lovely valentine so I can share it with the world!!
Here's a peak at what a few (very few, unfortunately) lucky close friends and our immediate family members should have found in their mailboxes by now!:
Innocent little wrappings
with Bears and Flowers on the back...
Soon they'll find...
A soothing treat inside the flap!
It's not much, but we did want to send out a little something this Valentine's Day...not saying we'll do it every year, but we know how much we enjoy getting a little surprise in the mail so we figured we would pass that joy onto others even though it isn't Christmas!!
Believe it or not, though, during her college years, despite a rather heavy work load, MeLissa did send out greeting cards for most major "Hallmark" holidays...and even some not-so-Hallmark ones. Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving - they were all an excuse to tell friends and family how much she adored them. It's kind of fun to do it again!
MeLissa tried to conquer new territory this weekend in the world of allergy-free baking. Let's just say, she's going to have to make a few more attempts. She tried to make a chocolate cake without eggs and without "normal" flour - a daunting task to be sure!
Despite our past successes in the realm of brownies and cookies, we have been a little skittish about trying a cake. Cakes are a little more "touchy," shall we say, than cookies and brownies. There are lots of little chemistry-like things that have to happen for that favorite birthday confection to turn out in edible form. MeLissa knew this going into her experiement and was not terribly surprised (though, admittedly, she was disappointed) to learn that her fears were well placed.
We took a picture of the "carnage" before we threw it out which we'll share (as usual) later! MeLissa thinks one thing she'll have to modify is the baking time next time around - it looked like it could use another hour or two!
At any rate, it looks like our newest nemesis (since the triangles seem to be, if not vanquished, at least under control), is "The Cake." We'll keep you posted as the story unfolds...
Okay so one of MeLissa's favorite bloggers is participating in The Knitting Olympics and that gave her the idea that we should do something for the recipe exchange. So, she devised the following events not only to increase our membership, but to get all of our members to participate! Here's a list of the events our members will be participating in over the next two weeks:
Event 1 - Recipe Groups Aren't Built in a Day - In this event, every member who gets another person to join the group gets a point. The person who gets the most points wins!
Event 2 - Snow Bunny Beverages - In this event, group members will be submitting their all-time favorite hot beverage recipe for Mark and MeLissa to judge.
Event 3 - Olympic Fare - In this event, group members will compete to earn the most points by posting unique recipes. Additional points will be awarded for posting recipes which exclude all of MeLissa's allergy foods (no small feat!).
All of our contests have officially begun and will run through 11:59p.m. Pacific Time on Feburary 26, 2006. If you're one of our friends (blogging buddies count!) and you'd like to get in on the action, click on the purple box on the left and sign up for the group!
Oh, by the way, we should mention that MeLissa plans to devise some sort of award for our Olympic Champions - she just doensn't know what yet so you'll have trust that you efforts will be worthwhile. :) Also, MeLissa is not participating in any of the events to keep things fair so the playing field is level! We hope you'll join us! Once the games are over, we'll post the winners here and in the recipe group!
This is a picture of a beautiful, though small, bloom on our hibiscus plant. It has been contemplating whether it would open for a few weeks now and finally decided to share its beauty with the world. A hard decision even for a flower...
We come across so many people who are scared to share their true selves with the world - how unfortunate. This flower looks like no other bloom we've seen from this plant and that makes it all the more beautiful. It is the same with human beings.
There are so many who aspire to be like Britney, Jessica, Ashley...or another superstar athlete, vocalist, etc. Role models are great (though some of the aforementioned celebrities are probably not ideal), but we should approach modeling ourselves after them or anyone else with caution. Can you imagine a world made up entirely of Paris Hiltons? Kind of scary... Thus endeth the philosophical ponderings for today.
Interesting that a post about Valentine's Day comes after a post about the Death Calculator, don't you think? For our single readers who are gnashing their teeth that V-Day (short for "I think I'm gonna vomit day" in MeLissa's single days) is fast approaching and for those married husbands and wives who are perplexed as to whether they should just go with "tradition" and bring home a dozen roses, a box of chocolates and a cheesy Hallmark card (and we all know that Hallmark is one of the biggest beneficiaries when it comes to this holiday, don't we?), we've found a couple of articles to make February 14 a bit more palatable and to help you get out of the gift giving rut...or at least provide comfort that you're not alone in your sentiments.
The first - "Why I Hate Valentine's Day" pretty much hits the bulls-eye as far as the single (and even some couple) sentiments regarding good ol' Heart Day. There's definitely a few stories that will make staying at home with a pint of Ben and Jerry's sound like the best time in the world! Our favorite part? The one where the girlie says that impromptu surprises are worth way more than roses and chocolates. There's something magical about a sweet little gift for no particular reason.
The second - "The 10 Worst V-Day Gifts" provides some great pointers regarding what not to give. Good information for singles and marrieds alike. MeLissa would just like to add for all the guys out there that Number 3 is definitely something to be followed at all times not just Valentine's Day if you're in a committed relationship but not married! The reaction that a beautiful necklace or pair of earrings should bring will be muted by the disappointment that the hopeful girlie will be feeling if she thought you were about to make a bigger statement!
One thing we think they forgot to mention, though, is giving hand made gifts such as cookies and cards. These are always a big hit with the guys, and show that you like 'em so much you're willing to make time to make something special just for them. That can definitely make a big hit without you having to drop anything more than a lot of cookie dough. Get creative! If you need a little inspiration, have a look at Martha Stewart's site - she has several innovative ideas to wow your sweetie! Finally, remember - there's no rule, guys and gals, that says you can't be your own valentine - make or buy yourself something if you're single. The ultimate payoff? You know whatever you choose, your recipient will love it!
Wishing you all a pleasant Valentine's Day regardless of your relationship status!
Well, here's a cheery bit of fun for today. While listening to the radio on the way to work, MeLissa learned about this site where you can learn how long you'll live based upon your current lifestyle. The calculator was developed by a gerontologist (you know, the doctors who study the elderly). He has determined that several factors add or subtract from your life span and decided to put the information out there to help everyone improve their health and extend their longevity. Not a bad bit of information...
May you all live long and prosper!
Her name is officially "MeLissa Rocco." Yep, that's right. MeLissa finally decided that managing two names for a second time in her life (long story short, she wasn't officially adopted by her papa until 1997) was too much effort and submitted her name change to the Social Security Administration today.
She figured it was an excellent early Valentine's Day gift for Mark. :) Unfortunately, now she has to complete the task of changing all their many accounts, utilities, etc. to reflect her new legal name. She thinks the trouble will be worth it since she can forego any further explainations as to why she didn't change her name immediately after she and Mark married. She had her reasons - one of which was dread due to the sheer number of accounts she'll have to update; another was that it was just hard to give up a name she'd only had legally for a few years! And, of course, name recognition in the business world was a concern (though ever so small) - but old-fashioned values finally won and the name change is underway.
Now she just has to figure out when exactly she has time to visit the DMV (which is no small undertaking as those of you in California are well-aware!).
Today is the birthday of Ronald Reagan the man voted the Greatest American of all time. He brought about so many beneficial changes to not only the United States, but in the world including bringing about the demise of the "Iron Curtain."
The post link above takes you to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library site which has information about President Reagan's life and times. www.ronaldreagan.com also appears to be a valuable site in reminding ourselves about one of the United States' greatest personages. We hope you'll take a little time today to refresh your memory of Reagan's greatness and we ask the question - When will this day be a national holiday? It should be given the profound influence he had on our country and the world which continues into today.
Progress! Happy Progress! We've knocked the list of MeLissa's 25 allergy foods down to 24 this past week. It appears that tomatoes are back in good graces. We've had them two nights and there seemed to be no adverse effects. Yea!
We had another fun experience with Martinis on Friday night as well. MeLissa can now make yummy Sour Apple and Watermelon (2 different types there...not a combo, though, that might be a future attempt) Martinis!
In other happy news, MeLissa finished yet another quilt block. The Card Trick was a bit tricky, but she managed to complete it . The next block to be attempted will be "Drunkard's Path." Perhaps we'll have to break out the Martini glasses for that one. No? Well, yeah, it might not be a good thing to stitch under the influence...
We also did a little house cleaning and in the process MeLissa found a number of recipes she'll be sharing with the recipe group just as soon as she finishes with bridal shower recipes. Be sure to join the group if you haven't already - there are some super treats on the way!
Now we're off for a bit of grocery shopping and supply gathering for some Valentine surprises we have in store for a few people...
Yesterday, MeLissa's friend Lisa told her that Rob (Lisa's husband) had visited the Hayward Animal Shelter looking for their errant kitty, Simba, and saw a kitty that looked like Banshee. MeLissa left work early hoping to have a little black friend with her on the way home.
Unfortunately, though two kitties looked very much like Banshee, they didn't appear to be her. It's so difficult to tell with black kitties sometimes, but both of these kitties were a little too loud and didn't purr like motors when pet. So, we're still hoping she's safe and warm and enjoying her trip into the wild outdoors.
On a very happy note, Simba was spotted by Rob later in the day yesterday! Apparently, he's just avoiding the house when Minnie Mouse, the newest addition to Lisa and Rob's menagerie is out and about. She's apparently a bit too bossy and agressive for sweet Simba's liking...
If you missed the State of the Union address given by President George W. Bush last night, you can read the speech by clicking on the post link above. This address is a blueprint for where our President plans to lead our country in the coming year. Last night's speech addressed many issues important to our country's future including the War on Iraq and terroists in general, Social Security and Tax Reform, Immigration and the Economy, etc.
We are behind President Bush in the Rocco household! To show our support, we have signed a petition to Senators Boxer and Feinstein requesting that they join President Bush in his efforts. We encourage you to do the same by on "Help Pass the President's Agenda" on the GOP's website. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal, hate George W. Bush or love him, our country needs you to stand strong and fight against those who would destroy us. As President Lincoln said, a house divided can not stand.
As a lighter-hearted side note, yesterday was our 1.5 year anniversary and the state of our "union" is also very very strong!
