Blood Drive Saturday

Today I went with Heidi to a blood drive! I've been to a blood drive once in college, but I didn't get very far in the process. Today, I did a little better... I ate breakfast before I went. I got a sticker that said "BE NICE TO ME, It's my First Blood Donation". I filled out a form for a donor card. A nurse took my temperature and blood pressure, then he poked my finger with a needle! Then he squoze my blood outa my finger to test it for iron. This was as far as I got. My iron was too low, and I therefore was not allowed to give blood.

Heidi, on the other hand, was a champ! Her blood was good to go!After the blood draw, we made sure to get her some snacks so she wouldn't pass out. :) THE END!

Fish with Transparent Head

Check out this crazy fish! It's not a new species, but it's the first time they've taken a picture of a living one. It's called a Pacific Barreleye Fish and it lives about 2,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. It's kinda cute and strange looking, and those 2 green globes inside it's head are actually it's eyes! (the things that look like eyes on the front of it's face are the fish's equivalent to a nose). It's about 6 inches in length, and the eyes point upward but can rotate forward as well. It's so strange and interesting! Check out this video:

My SoHo Palace!

So... as I mentioned, I moved to a new office! It is a wonderful place, I love it (my co-workers can attest! I tell them every few hours...)

Lets start with the Nat Geo waiting room! Special thanks to Mark who modeled in all my photos (to show the human/surroundings size ratio, of course!) Here is what my office looks like! Large, spacious, big windows, I sit around the corner to the right.
I have no idea what this room is for, but it's connected to the kitchen, and I love it's enormity! Talk about cool, you can kick back during your break and watch TV or check your email! OR cozy up on the couch for an afternoon meeting! OR watch a screening of your show!My last office did not have a place to sit and eat lunch. THIS office has a DINING ROOM and a Kitchen! Here is Mark showing the splendor. Classy chandeliers and all!
The kitchen isn't just huge and beautiful... it has amenities! FREE ones!

Every day, free bagels! We even have a snazzy bagel toaster






At my old office, you could never find a fork. The first drawer I opened? <--- Is the office reading my mind?! Loves it!


The best part?? I opened up something that looked like a dishwasher, and THIS was what was inside! ALL the ice I could ever want/need/desire. :)

I have a new home!

Well, for about 25% of my weekly life, that is... Nat Geo moved offices! And my new home? SoHo! Today I spent most of my time here, at my new desk... how quaint, you say... yes, but I love it. I have a wall (see wall)... while to my left, the same continuous desk goes around the entire room. I am very happy with my space. I even got slightly more organized as the day went on (and ate my apple- see apple)SoHo is a magical place. Not so many tourists. Only 1.5 blocks to the subway. Only 1.5 blocks in the opposite direction to a Sandwich Subway (my mom's mouth is watering...) I'll take more pics of my new digs soon. Stay tuned!

Party time

A2H got with JMort and C-Bass for PIZZA and CARDS and FUN. Holla!
Heidi was surprised by the photo!

This photo Heidi thought we were going "funny" and I thought we were going "smiles" hence the outcome. :) Gotta love it.

Ice Skating

A bunch of us went ice skating in Central Park!
Here's Emily, Kyle, Lyndee and Heidi
Here's John, Heidi, me and John (apparently every boy I know is named John!)After ice skating we ran into this fellow... the crazy thing started walking toward me! (maybe I shouldn't have been standing so close to his trash can!)
Look at his devil eyes

I'm sick... AGAIN.

This is my FOURTH head cold of the season. Blah.

Sleepies

Couch Potatoes

Shelby is a couch potato. That makes Stella a pooch potato. :)

Star Wars and me

I gotta tell you, I was a little skeptical at first. I hadn't watched the entire Star Wars double-trilogy (is there a term for 6 movies in a series??) since ever, actually, and so this weekend when I decided to take on the task I didn't really know what to expect. I always remember liking the original trilogy, but then I also remember falling asleep in Episode 1: The Phantom Menace at the movie theatre... not a good sign. So last weekend when I caught the end of Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back, I was totally hooked, loved it, and just had to watch the rest of the story. So this weekend I put in Episode 6: Return of the Jedi. I thought it was fine, and that's when I was worried!! Do I actually like Star Wars?!?! Growing up, the Ewok/Jabba episode was my fave! And this time I was left with a ho-hum kinda feeling. Okay, okay... I thought it might be a good idea if I started from the very beginning... get the whole story, not just the end of it... so that's what I did. And let me tell you, by the end of Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith, I was in tears. What a SAD story!! And what a MARVELOUS set up to the Episode 4: A New Hope and the beginning of Episode 5. WOW. Turns out, I do love Star Wars. Revenge of the Sith restored my faith in it all. What a powerful movie! Is there a worse bad guy than Darth Sidious/Senator Palpatine?! NO! Holy crap, that dude is evil. And smart. Convincing the senate to give him control of the Galactic Republic while secretly orchestrating an attack against the Republic, creating a war and having both entities destroy themselves, with HIMSELF coming out on top of a newly formed Empire, AND killing everyone who stood in his way along with almost every chance they could possibly have at redeeming themselves! SO crazy. And can you believe what Anakin did in a stupid attempt to save Padme?! It was just a power hungry excuse! And then he lost it ALL. Padme died of a broken heart cause crazy powerful Anakin was seduced by the dark side/aka Palpatine... he was so cunning! And can we mention Yoda and Obi-Won, the lone Jedi survivors after that scene where the clones and Jedi's are fighting against the robot army bad guys, and Palpatine tells the clones (who are on the Jedi's side) to KILL ALL the Jedi's! Crazy! And SAD. Tears, people. All I can say is bravo, Star Wars, bra-vo.

Bangs and Valentines...

My V-Day flowers from Dave
Stella likes to "sit" on me
I'm trying a little bit of some side sweepage.....
Does anyone know of a good/natural looking eyebrow filler? I think I am in need....

Saturday morning

Today I feel so accomplished (so far)! I woke up at 9:00am, yes, 9:00am (on a SATURDAY!) dropped off a couple HUGE bags of clothes for donation (my Mom would be so proud of me, going through my clothes and getting rid of everything I no longer wear)... THEN we headed out to clean the church! Where it turned out lots of our friends were too... so a group of us ended up going out to "Brunch" (which is Totally a NY thing... in CA we call it Breakfast, even at noon!)
Above is Lanae (Lyndee's sis), Lyndee and Thomas at Kitchenette, a little place on Chambers Street.
Below is Jeff, me and Brittany.Don't worry about it, Jeff's hot chocolate had a chocolately face drawn in the foam! cool, right? When he started drinking near it's eyebrows, it's expression changed from happy to nervous (as you can see below... so funny)

And the Winner is....!!!

Stump!
A ten year old Sussex Spaniel! Stump became the oldest Best in Show winner ever at the 133rd Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show! Never before had a Sussex spaniel won the nation's top pooch show.
My personal fave, who gets an award of merit in my opinion, is Lincoln! The Brussels Griffon! Isn't he CUTE? Looks like a freakin Ewok (from Star Wars!)
This is an Ewok...:)

Welcome to the Garden!

While filming at the Westminster Dog Show today (the event was being held at Madison Square Garden) I was relieved of my "guarding the gear" post to go get a bottle of water, and when I got over there, the guy in front of me in line said "do you sell any other kind of water than this?" and the cashier said "no." The guy walked away, and I said to the cashier, "one bottle of water, please," and he said, "that will be $4.75," and I said, "$4.75 for a bottle of water??! You've got to be kidding me!" to which he replied, "Welcome to the Garden!" Needless to say, I asked for a receipt... (work expense). I found the name of the water brand funny, never heard of "Jana" water before... (and the fact that it's named after my sister is pretty fun too).

Research confirms: Jana is European water bottled at the source, at an underground depth of 2500 feet in the picturesque Croatian village of, you guessed it, Saint Jana. Yes, Jana water comes from an Artesian well close to the Adriatic Sea. Very pure. Very tasty. Nothing but the best for patrons of Madison Square Garden. Nothing but the best.

Westminster for the Day!

Took this pic on my camera phone... my crew was filming Rescue Ink (the animal welfare guys from the series I work on) at the Westminster Dog Show today. They needed some extra help, so I went along too, and snapped this photo of the Mastiff breed being judged. Those dogs are huge! And smelly! I hung out with them in the hallway for about an hour... oh, and did I mention slobbery? All their handlers had towels and kept wiping their jowls!

Friday at Nat Geo

We got a little carried away sifting through swag. :)
Ashley, Isaac, James

It's cold outside!

Other Notable Temps:
San Francisco, California- 55°
Granite Bay, California- 56°
San Diego, California- 61° (light rain)
Las Vegas, Nevada- 67°
Ponhpei, Micronesia- 81° (feels like 89° with rain showers)

He's Not as Smart as He Thinks

A British researcher reports that the male ego is often larger than his actual IQ. But you might be surprised by what women think of men's intellect.


This is a very interesting article. Check it out by clicking here.

Kendall Tenney's 8th Annual 5K "Run For a Wish"!

We survived the 5K! It was a blast, here are the highlights...
Here we are getting ready for the race!
Stella was one of the hundreds of dogs at the event! Kendall was in charge! Here he is on the stage making an anouncement. There were a TON of people there, it was so fun!Here's a bunch from our group, Mom, Dad, Savannah, Shelby, Angie, Ashley, Dave, Colton, Lindsay, Talia and Buster.Here is Talia with Buster, he was wearing his numbered shirt, too!Along with the human attendees, we ran into a Wookie. Here is Savvy, Grandpa and Chewbacca.I said to Colton, "oh my gosh, do you want to go get your picture taken with a Wookie?" And Colton said, "no, that's okay." And I was like... "um, well I want my picture taken with a Wookie!" and I dragged him along... :)
Here are two of my sisters and Mom! And Buster!Here's cute little Maverick... he slept the whole morning away! Even on the one mile walk!Savvy spent the whole morning on Grandpa's shoulders.
Me and Shelby right before the run! I shocked myself by crossing the finish line around the 34 minute mark! When I actually checked my time from the chip on my shoe (that measured when I crossed the start line to when I crossed the finish line) it said I completed the run in 32:40!
Here is Jackson crossing the finish line! He was so speedy!Shelby and Talia crossing the finish line!
Yeah, way to go, girls!Kendall and Colton also ran!And don't worry about it, Dad walked almost 2 miles with Savvy on his shoulders... talk about tough! Jackson, Angie, Lindsay, Talia and Buster sitting at the finish line! They all did a great job running! (except Buster, he just watched!)There were several celebrities in attendance, including Sponge Bob Square Pants. The entire event was super fun! Thanks to Kendall for putting it on! We all had a blast! :)