The Boys of Summer are Back

Yeah, it's finally baseball season. It only took forever to get here! Mr. Grandin and I are HUGE baseball fans, so we have been anxiously awaiting this week since the World Series. (Actually, since before the World Series because our teams all had an off year!)

Although I love baseball quite a bit, I don't think I am anywhere near the level of fan that my husband has achieved. Why, you ask? I was getting ready for bed the other night and went into the bathroom to find this:


Why yes, he is brushing his teeth wearing batting gloves.

The main point of contention in our marriage is that I am a huge Braves and Rangers fan. A girl has to have her NL and AL teams, after all! Matt is such a big Indians fan that it borders on obsession. No, really. He not only turned our front closet into his "Locker Room" for his Tribe gear, but he is also saving an Indians Logo History blanket that we got on free blanket night in Cleveland to bring our firstborn home in.

Be afraid, be very afraid...

The Perfect Weekend

What's the recipe for a perfect weekend? I think we found it. Just mix together:

• 1 hilarious trip to the grocery store
• 1 amazing meal: Kalamata Lemon Chicken with Orzo and broiled portobello mushrooms
• 1 close call with a pan not meant to go in the broiler
• 10 minutes of trying to get the funky smell out of the apartment
• 6 additional hours of sleep than the typical evening
• 3 hours of reading cookbooks and watching SportsCenter in our PJs
• 2 W-2s along with 1 Greek Salad and 1 large pizza to motivate us to do our taxes
• 15 miles of driving around Grapevine looking for house-friendly neighborhoods
• 1 hour at Academy looking at baseball gear
• 4 episodes of American Idol from our DVR
• 1 funky Night Hawk frozen dinner--a product of the afore-mentioned hilarious trip to the grocery store. Matt just couldn't remember why they weren't as good as he remembered from childhood.
• 60 amazing minutes of church (the late service) combined into one challenging, thought-provoking sermon
• 2 amazing sandwiches at Which Wich
• 18 file folders to set up our organization system for 2010
• 1 awesome text message from our awesome friend Russ that he was home
• 3 out-of-shape former athletes pretending like they could still play baseball in the park by our place
• 4 dinners cooked for the rest of the week
• 23,012 compliments from Matt and Russ on my new chicken dish and homemade mac 'n cheese
• 1 fascinating TV show about the AirFlorida crash in the 1980s with 2 quirky pilots
• an undisclosed amount of reduced-fat Oreos

Combine and commit to memory as amazing!

Our Battle Cry

Wow. I can't believe our new commercials are finally out. I hope you all enjoy the new spots you'll see on March Madness these next few weeks. I'll post some pictures of the behind the scenes of these particular commercial shoots. But for now, please just click on the link below and enjoy!

Ramp Agents Reveal Our Bag Policy

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My Team

All of you probably hear a lot about my crazy job, so I thought you might like to see the Team that I work with every day. Although we are crazy, we work together really well. You may notice one glaring trend in the photo below... No men. We tend to run them off as soon as they step foot on our floor. I guess it's just too much estrogen to take!


Top row, from L to R: Beth Anne, Rhonda, Barri, Sandra, Katie, Vanessa, Jena (pronounced Gina)
Bottom row, from L to R: Kathryn, Sally, Alice, Ashley and yours truly

Can you believe that this is where all of Southwest Airlines' advertising comes from? We're small but mighty!

Poor Attempt at an Update

I keep telling myself that I’m going to be better about posting, but it looks like I took another looooooong hiatus. Apologies, few followers!

Matt and I had an amazing first Christmas together with so many amazing experiences. I can’t tell you how special it was to have our very first Christmas tree with our own decorations. (A big thank you to everyone that helped up our ornament count this year—our five were looking pretty puny!)

We had a great opportunity to kick off the holiday season with my Florida family coming for a visit. We had a fun-filled, Christmas-themed weekend. I forgot how much fun it is to see Christmas through the eyes of a child—Miss Rachel kept us all very excited! Here are a few pictures:

Little Munchkin sleeping in Matt's beanbag. Rachel's thoughts? "It's just so cozy!"


Seeing the snow fall at Great Wolf Lodge. It was actually rather impressive!


Playing at the Reindeer Games in Downtown Grapevine


The family seeing ICE!


This was hilarious. Rachel went down the ice slide by herself and proclaimed, "I did not like that! I am too dizzy!"


"I think I found the North Pole!"


Seeing Santa for the first time on the Polar Express--Sissy, Rachel and "Katie."


Dad and Vanessa on the train. They were not as outwardly excited about Ol' St. Nick, but I know inside they were just as amazed.


My Sweet Rachel

Work has been incredibly busy, but great. My Team shot a few more commercials last week in Houston, which was a really neat experience. Look for the new Southwest Airlines ads beginning March 15^th!

It seems like all Matt and I do now is work and sleep, so we’re trying to be much better about spending time with friends. So dear friends, we are sorry if we have neglected you!

Sorry for the short and sweet update. Here’s to more consistent updates in 2010!

Down for the Count

I had my tonsils removed last Thursday. For the past week, the most exciting thing I've done is move from the couch to the bed. This has been the most miserable week of my life by far. Today marks day eight and truthfully it's the first time I've felt half-way human since the surgery. Don't get me wrong, I still feel like an evil gnome took a garden rake to the inside of my throat, but I at least feel like breathing. Here are some random musings from the last few days.

• Flowers really can brighten your day.
• This is the quietest I’ve ever been in my life.
• I want a pizza. With lots of cheese. And some stuffed mushrooms, also with lots of cheese.
• This time off was my first absence from work since Drew took over the Price is Right. I really miss Bob Barker.
  
  


• After watching a LOT of home improvement shows, I’ve decided that I hate wallpaper border. With a passion.
• To make myself feel better during the day, I’ve been watching “A Baby Story” on TLC. When those women start screaming I think, “Whoa, at least I don’t hurt that bad.”
• I’ve decided that I’m going to make a conscious effort to look awesome every day if my throat ever feels better. It’s sort of like a New Throat’s Resolution.
• During the worst part of my pain, I would just lie in bed like a stiff board. Matt said I looked like I was training for the Olympic Luge. Here I come, 2010 Games, I’m even lighter without my tonsils!
  



• I’ve had two dreams about barbeque sauce.
• Who created Slurpees? If I ever meet them, I will kiss them.
• I’m tired of soup.
• Talking on the phone has never been less appealing.
• When I get into awkward situations from now on, I’m going to take off my glasses and stare at people just like Horatio on CSI: Miami. I like his style.




• I’ve decided that Matt and I really need to get a puppy. Let’s see if Matt’s on board.
• I’m even better at Jeopardy on hydrocodone—at least I think I am. Watch out, Trebeck.
• Supernanny and Clean House are fabulous shows. I just can’t get enough.
• I’ve never been so afraid of brushing my teeth.
• For the first time in my life, I couldn’t finish a Pei Wei kids meal.
• I like the new IKEA and Pampers commercials. On the other hand, I can’t believe Jon D’Angelo is running the same commercial in the same midday programming that he ran when I was in high school. I want to have a meeting with him to discuss creative rotation.

Thank you to all of my friends and family that have checked on me and taken care of me in the past few days. Although this has been a terrible experience, one thing's for sure: I've never felt more loved.

Goodbye 20s!

It's official. My sweet husband turned 30 this month. We had a fabulous celebratory weekend full of fun, friends, and family. On Friday evening, I somehow managed a surprise party with some of our favorite people. I reserved the second floor of Snuffer's so we could all hang out and take part in their amazing cheese fries. Seriously, they're the best you will ever have. I learned that it's hard enough to plan a surprise party for a close friend, but it's nearly impossible for your husband. I mean, I live with the guy, carpool with the guy, and work with him -- it was almost impossible. Luckily, he had no idea and we had a fabulous time. Here are a few pictures from the memorable evening.


The One-and-Only Torti, Heather and Gwen


Jackson and John


Cooper and his adorable aunt, Ann


Catherine, Matt and Pam


A Matt-Bobby-Matt Sandwich




Happy Birthday, My Sweet Love!


The next day, we slept in and lounged around for the entire day. You just can't rush into your 30s, you know... For dinner, we went to Matt's favorite restaurant, Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazillian Churiscarra, which I'm pretty sure is directly translated as "Men in funny gaucho pants entice you to stuff as much red meat in your stomach as possible." It was absolutely delicious.


Notice the meat spinning in the background?

Afterwards, we walked over to Addison's Oktoberfest and went through all of the amazing craft booths. To celebrate Matty's big day, we decided to go sky diving.

Just kidding! Matt likes airplanes way too much to ever jump out of one unnecessarily. We walked... excuse me, waddled around the fair until we worked off enough of our meal to actually bend at the waist again and went home.

The next day we went to Grapefest, which was a blast, and then over to my parents' house for a lovely birthday celebration. Matt got lots of Tribe gear, iTunes gift certificates, and workout stuff, so he is a happy, happy 30-year-old. Stay tuned for the fourth and final weekend of birth month!