Saturday, February 28, 2009

a daffodil legacy

About 5 years ago I was living in a townhouse about 200 yards away from where I live now. I actually lived there for 3 years before moving down the street to where I live now, but that is irrelevant to this story. We had a lot of fun in our house on Jolly Lane, and one day in early 2004 my roommates and I, on a whim, decided to plant some daffodil bulbs along the sidewalk in front of our front porch. I don't remember where we got the bulbs, probably from my mother, but it was just one of those random things we decided to do on a lazy Saturday. I remember that we didn't even have any proper gardening tools (I mean, why would we)...we dug up the hard Georgia red clay with our kitchen spoons and forks. So we planted our bulbs, knowing next to nothing about gardening, and when they actually bloomed a month or two later, we were delighted with the pretty yellow flowers growing alongside our sidewalk. They lasted a few weeks and then went away (except for that one time the kids I was babysitting "picked" one for me...that one lasted a much shorter time). Out of sight, out of mind.
It was rainy when I took these pictures today, so the flowers don't look as beautiful as they usually are!



The next year we still lived there. One springy February day I was surprised and thrilled to see that the flowers were back! Not being a very garden-y person, I wasn't aware that daffodils were the type of flower that would come back year after year. But they did and it was so exciting.


So here I am 5 or so Februarys later, still living on the same street, and every year I see those daffodils spring back to life. A little burst of yellow prettiness on an otherwise unnotable street...and no one has lived in "our" townhouse for the 3 years we've been out of it, but still those daffodils come up every spring to brighten up the yard. I drive past them at least twice a day and they always bring a smile to my face. What was really only a whim of ours one random day has turned into a tiny legacy of beauty in my neighborhood. You see, it's a rental neighborhood...no one stays for long (except me, apparently). People don't bother planting flowers and beautifying their property because no one sees it as their real home. It's just a stop along the way to bigger and better things, a temporary fix. And I'm no different-- I really do not plan on living here forever. But I'm so glad we planted those daffodils. Because someone will always live here. And they no doubt can use a little beauty in their surroundings.


And I guess it's just made me a little nostalgic. I hope that I can use this perspective in the rest of my life. Wherever I am...in terms of career, or city, or church, or whatever...however temporary it may be, I hope that I leave it a little more beautiful. I hope I take advantage of every opportunity to brighten up the environment. This world is not my eternal home, but it is my home for now. I don't want to miss a chance to make it better.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Bathroom Makeover

A few months ago, the State Health Benefits Dept (where I get my health, etc benefits through) sent out a memo to all state employees informing us that the first 5000 people to fill out an online health survey on January 10 would receive a $50 gift card and also be eligible for more prizes to be given out over the year (ie: a Wii, spa vacation, years worth of groceries, year-long gym membership-- GOOD prizes!!). That was enough for me-- Jan 10 was a Saturday and I decided that I'd ensure I was one of the first 5000 by just staying up til midnight on Friday and filling out the survey at the stroke of 12:01am! I told my co-workers about this-- they laughed, saying that since they didn't specify where the gift card would be for, it would probably be something lame. I am of the persuasion that a free $50 gift card for anywhere is better than no $50 gift card, and so I did exactly as I planned. The survey took about 15 minutes and, as an added bonus, informed me that health-risk wise, I was doing quite well! Anyway, that was that and time went on. A few weeks ago I got an envelope in the mail. Inside was my "reward certificate" and a pamplet that instructed me that I would need to choose where I wanted my gift card from...and here's a list of about a million stores, restaurants, online retailers, hotels, airlines, etc., for you to choose from!!! It was the most amazing thing ever. I spent days just debating where to get my beautiful $50 card from. After much hemming and hawing I decided on T.J. Maxx-- depending on my mood, I could blow my money on clothes, shoes, or home decorating...and there was very little chance I would spend it on something practical, like groceries or other boring things like that.
So this weekend I decided to take care of something that had been bothering me for quite awhile-- the guest bathroom. It was decorated with leftover remnants of past decorating schemes, it didn't coordinate with the rest of my house, and I didn't like it! It was therefore the perfect candidate for receiving the bounty of my $50 gift card. And may I report that after only maybe an hour in T.J. Maxx I emerged with everything I needed to make my bathroom an altogether different place-- and got $5 cash back from my card!! An hour of work later (how incredibly annoying is it to change shower curtains??? Ugh!) and I have a lovely little room that actually coordinates with the rest of my house! Yippee!! Guests, you are welcome to use the restroom next time you're over. :) I present you with: Before and After shots.
Before: View from the hallway-- as much as I love the Bulldogs, they are no longer the inspiration for my decorating. The rest of my house is shades of brown with touches of green and blue. Black and red? Not so much.

After: Now the shower curtain is green (not quite as light as it looks in the picture) and the rug is brown. Much more "me"!

Before: Red towels, a random poster that didn't match.


After: Green/tan/brown/white striped towels, paintings Matt and I painted awhile back that I've had nowhere to hang!


Before: Boring!!!


After: Exciting! More striped towels, plus this random $2 faux-snakeskin placemat that I thought would make a nice wall decoration.

So there you have my amazing $45 (free) bathroom makeover. Oh you doubting co-workers, I laugh in your faces!!

(another new post below!)




Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)

Our weekend started off in the best way possible: a phone call from a friend with an invitation to dinner. Is there truly anything better than someone else offering to cook, asking only for your presence at the dinner table? I think that there is not. So Matt, Lola, and I trucked over (or Civic-ed over, as it were) to The Gurleys for a night of poppyseed chicken and dominoes. As I told the cashier at Target (when I bought the dominoes)...there's nothing quite like playing dominoes for fun to convince you that you're ready for retirement. I mean, seriously. It's impossible to feel young and hip when you're busting out the dominoes on a Friday night. But anyway, I digress. To accompany our rockin' game of dominoes, Jonathon and Mollyanne located an all 90s music channel on TV (you know, those stations that play music...how high tech). So it was great fun hearing all these songs from middle and high school. Lots of them I recognized, many I did not...but by far the WORST song with the BEST title was "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)," by Crystal Waters. Horribly annoying song....but great title for a blog post, no? Anyway, while the grown-ups played dominoes our children rekindled their friendship by sharing water, playing outside, and sniffing lots of butts (let's just be honest). Lola and Scarlett are super cute because they look like a mother and daughter...both black lab mixes with purple collars. Scarlett is definitely the motherly figure, though, being the larger of the two and much more cautious than that silly puppy Lola. She warmed up to Lola, though, and they had a good time.


Here's my "artistic" shot of my dominoes/Jonathon plotting our demise.

Mollyanne is also quite a serious player. Nothing short of her A-game will do!

So anyway, we had a good time Friday night. We can't be that old and boring because we did play dominoes until well after 11pm-- who do you know at the retirement home that can stay awake THAT late?! Saturday morning we slept in, then embarked upon the Great Bathroom Makeover of 2009-- more details and photos to come on that in a future post. It warmed up somewhat during the afternoon so we took Lola to the I-fields dogpark (our favorite). She played SO hard that she's been asleep pretty much ever since then (we're going on 24 hours here)! Although it just occured to me that everyone else in the world might not like picture of my dog as much as I do...I'm posting them anyway. You can always scroll past them and not admire every single teeny cute detail, I'll never know the difference!



This is how every interaction with other dogs begins: with Lola proving that she is THE most submissive dog on the planet!


Mom and Dad look on proudly as their daughter plays like a champ.

And just FYI...if you think I'm lame now, with my daily updates and photo shoots of my DOG... you have no idea what you're in for when I am with (human) child. You will discover new depths of lamesness you never thought possible. And I'm not even saying once the child gets here. This is going to start the minute I see a positive sign on the pregnancy test. Prepare yourself for an information and picture overload. :) You can consider yourself warned!!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

marriage questionnaire

So some of these "marriage questionnaires" have been floating around Facebook...hey, it's my blog, I can post whatever I want!! And I'll admit it-- ever since my OpenDiary days (high school thru early college) I have really loved filling out surveys about myself. Call me vain if you want...

(Right before the garter toss at our wedding: 6/30/07)


♥ What are your middle names? David & Renee (haha, what if that's what we went by?)
♥ How long have you been together? 3 years and 6 days
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? about 6 months
♥ Who asked who out? Matt asked me out. In the Cingular parking lot. :)
♥ How old are each of you? me- 26; Matt- 25
♥ Whose siblings do you see the most? his. 2/3 of them live in Athens.
♥ Do you have any children together? not yet. only furry children.
♥ What about pets? ah yes. Lola the Lab is ours. I believe Aidan the Cat is "mine". (Matt is still consistently unsure whether Aidan is a "him" or a "her"so he clearly feels no ownership towards him.)
♥ Which situation was/is the hardest on you as a couple? (was) Matt's trip to Europe
♥ Did you go to the same school? college, yes. UGA.
♥ Are you from the same home town? Nope
♥ Who is the most intelligent? Hmmm...intelligence is hard to measure, so we'll go with college GPAs and that would make me the smarty pants of the relationship!!
♥ Who is the most sensitive? Probably me.
♥Where do you eat out most as a couple? We loooove eating out. Probably Brett's, Doc Cheys, and Little Caesars (don't hate!)
♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? The Caribbean (on a cruise)
♥ Who has the craziest exes? Matt, by default. I don't have any exes. But to his credit, I don't really think any of his are crazy.
♥ Who has the worst temper? Neither of us has a temper. We're the passive-aggressive type.
♥ Who does the cooking? Both. We share breakfast duties, Matt fixes our lunches, and I usually head up dinner while Matt assists.
♥ Who is more social? We're about the same.
♥ Who is the neat-freak? most definitely ME.
♥ Who is the more stubborn? Hmmm...maybe Matt. It's close though.
♥ Who hogs the bed? We share the middle. If Lola's in the bed, though, she DEFINITELY hogs it.
♥ Who wakes up earlier? We wake up at the same time.
♥ Where was your first date? Don't remember. We mostly just hung out at each other's houses.
♥ Who has the bigger family? Immediate family- Matt (he has 1 more sibling than me). Extended family- me
♥ Do you get flowers often? a few times a year, maybe.
♥ How do you spend the holidays? Thanksgiving and Christmas alternate between our 2 families. Easter is usually with my family. Most other holidays (Mother's and Father's Day, etc.) go to his family, since they live right here in town.
♥ Who is more jealous? I don't think either of us is the jealous type.
♥ How long did it take to get serious? We were pretty serious from the get-go.
♥ Who eats more? Eek. We'll say Matt, for the sake of my self-esteem!
♥ Who does the laundry? Usually me, but Matt often helps fold.
♥ Who’s better with the computer? Me.
♥ Who drives when you are together? Always, always, always Matt. I hate driving.

So there you have it. I really wanted to "blog" but couldn't think of anything to talk about...so this was a fun and easy cop out!!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

l.o.v.e.

My sister and I have a very special talent we developed after years of repeated Parent Trap viewings (Lindsay Lohan version, not Hayley Mills version, sadly). We do a fantastic version of Nat King Cole's "L-O-V-E"...you know, "L...is for the way you look at me...O...is for the only one I see..." Anyway, we enjoy busting it out at any appropriate (or inappropriate) occasion. It's awesome. And that is what the title of this blog reminded me of. But this was a weekend of love, so it's appropriate.

I've never been a huge Valentine's day celebrant. I'm not in the anti-V-day crowd...I guess I'm just a moderate. Granted, 90% or so of my Valentine's days I've had no Valentine (I didn't actually calculate that, just a ballpark guesstimate)...but I do enjoy pink and red and candy and flowers as much as the next girl, so it wasn't ever a holiday that I found insulting or anything. I am a big fan of all kinds of love, not just the Hollywood romance type. And my life hasn't been short on love. So anyway.

Matt and I like to celebrate love all the time, not just on Hallmark-endorsed days. But in the spirit of consumerism, we did partake in a few traditional Valentine'sey things. We ate at my favorite pasta place, Mirko, on Friday night. It's a locally owned restaurant and they make their pasta fresh...it's divine. Just FYI...both crowds and prices are much better the day before Valentine's! On Saturday morning Matt had to work so I kept myself entertained by watching Gilmore Girls and doing some light housework. I've been sick all week, so no need to overexert myself with excessive cleaning, right?? Right. :) Matt & I'd decided not to do V-day presents, but I did say that flowers would be completely acceptable if the mood struck him. Anyway, when he came home from work, what was he carrying??












Oh yes that IS an Edible Arrangement!! I was so excited!! In case you're not in the know, Edible Arrangements are beautiful "flower" arrangements made entirely out of FRUIT!!! They're amazing! I have been lusting over their brochures and webpage for the last few months...my dear sweet husband took note of this and delivered me a beautiful, completely healthy (save a few chocolate covered strawberries) Valentine's bouquet. I was so happy. Anyway, it's definitely the tastiest bouquet I've ever received! So that was my fun Valentine's treat. Later that afternoon we went to the movies (cheap seats) with friends. We went with the goal of seeing Marley & Me, but it was all sold out so we ended up seeing Seven Pounds, which I really enjoyed. We finished off the night by making some homemade enchiladas and watching The Office from Thursday night.

Today has been a wonderful day full of friends and family. After church we went to some friends' house where they made delicious homemade pizza for us and some other friends. We had a great time hanging out and chatting about top-secret topics. The girls spent some time trying to justify to the boys the greatness of reading/stalking random peoples' blogs. I'm not sure we got any converts. We all went to the boys' basketball game at 3:00. After a losing season (we won only 2 games out of...not sure...10? 12?) today was the first game of the tournament and we were the second-to-last seed. But guess what...we WON! So that means we have another game Tuesday night. I really enjoy basketball season because it gives Matt a chance for some manly competition and lets me hang out with the other ladies and babies in the bleachers. Post-game, we rushed back home, showered, and met Matt's family for dinner. Today is Matt's younger brother's birthday, so it was cause for celebration. We had a good time hanging out, then hit Kroger before coming back home to tend to our neglected daughter Lola. She forgave us for leaving her alone all day since we came home bearing gifts of bones from Kroger.

Anyway...it's been a good weekend. I'm feeling much better, although my cough isn't completely gone. Matt gets tomorrow off (lucky bankers), but I will be stuck in Professional Learning at school all day. That's a fancy term for "boring meetings". It's a time I like to dedicate to brushing up on my doodling and practicing writing/deciding on my future childrens' names. All the important things.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

sick, part II

Haha...when I just typed in the title of the blog, for some reason I did a Shift-1 1 for the "II" part so it said 'sick, part !!' Like being sick is so very exciting. Bleh. In all honesty, I have pretty much enjoyed my part-time work status this week, but I still don't like being sick. I went back to work yesterday, but spending the whole day teaching and talking caused endless coughing fits and also decimated what was left of my voice. So there was no point in going back today...plus I coughed all night and got no sleep again. Anyway, I went to the doctor today and got new asthma medicine and antibiotics and hopefully will be feeling better soon.

On Tuesday, when both Matt and I stayed home, we got a lot accomplished: namely, watching the first 7 episodes of Amazing Race Season 13 (last season). I need to applaud and congratulate CBS for finally getting with the program and posting full episodes of AR online. It's been a long time coming. Now we only have 4 left and I'm willing to bet we'll knock them out before V-Day. So while today was really an ideal situation in terms of finishing up that season...I just couldn't do it to my poor (at work) husband. It would be so wrong to spend the day watching it without him. So I didn't. Luckily, I had a fresh DVD (4 episodes) of Gilmore Girls to help pass the time. That and a doctor's appointment that took an HOUR AND A HALF. Oh yeah, and Lola, who entertained herself while I slept in this morning. By chewing a bone or playing with one of her many toys? you may ask. Oh no. By getting into my gift-wrapping supplies in the guest room closet (???? how she found this ????) and strewing raffia (that decorative, crafty twine stuff) all over the house. It was truly lovely. She's really artistic sometimes.

Although I've had 2 whole days off this week, I still haven't made Valentines for my students. Darnit. Now I want to stay home tomorrow just so I don't feel like a jerk. :) Oh well...the night is still young, perhaps I'll be productive later.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

home sick

I'm finally taking a day off. I've had this cough/congestion thing going on for almost a month and it gets better, then worse, then better, then worse. But for the last few nights my coughing at night has been so bad I can't sleep, which only makes me feel miserable the next day. I finally decided to stay home and spend the whole day resting and taking meds. I haven't really taken anything at all, but today we're throwing all that to the wind and taking everything Kroger has to offer a person with a cold. Matt hasn't been feeling well either, so he stayed home, too. So we're two sickies...with one hyperactive, VERY-happy-her-owners-are-home Lab to dote on all day. In between naps and cups of tea, I plan on trying to figure out how to spruce up this ol' blog. Plain green is so last year.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

dog parks and fried bananas

This weekend was the kind of weekend God had in mind when he created weekends (I was going for a world record there...). I'm serious. The weather was phenomenal. Our "things to do" list was minimal. Our "eating out" envelope (Dave Ramsey devotees, remember?) was full of moneys. I think the orbit of the moon was optimal too, or something...because this weekend was excellent.

To start with, we visited all 3 of the major Athens dog parks. Our beautiful love Lola gets a big old lack of dog interaction during the week, so we try to give her lots of chances to play on the weekends. This weekend she got super lucky. Just in case you're wondering about the happenin' Athens dog park scene, here's a quick re-cap: Memorial Park Dog Park: (Friday afternoon) Although this park is walking distance from our house, we rarely go there because it's rather small. I went, though, because I had an hour and a half to kill before Matt got home and I wanted to get some exercise and enjoy the weather. Anyway, as it turns out, it's for good reason we avoid this dogpark. It's for snobby people with snobby dogs. Seriously. One of my favorite things about the park we usually go to is how friendly people are and how everyone socializes while their dogs socialize. Not so much here. Not only is the park small and mostly dirt (which means it's dusty and the dogs get filthy), but no one talks to you! They talk on their phones or to their sorority sisters they came with (hate to throw out a stereotype, but...well, no I don't.) I even tried to talk to a few people (not in a creepy way, just in the regular way I'm used to people talking in dog parks) and got SHOT DOWN! What is this, middle school? Come on Lola, we're outta here. So we jogged around the pond and chased ducks instead. Perhaps we'd have better luck Saturday. UGA Intramural Fields Dog Park: (Saturday afternoon) This is where we usually go, and for good reason. An absolutely huge off-leash area complete with leash-free trails and multiple open grassy fields for people and dogs to congregate. Here Matt and I sat in the sun and chatted with other Athenians for 2 hours while all the dogs chased and played. This is the epitome of the Athens dog scene, in my opinion. Everyone playing with each others' dogs and chatting as the mood strikes. Perfect. Lola goes home absolutely exhausted, barely able to climb up the steps to the front door. Mission: accomplished. Southeast Athens Park (Wiggly Field): (Sunday afternoon) This was our first trip to Wiggly Field and although it was much much smaller than I'd imagined, it was pretty decent. Again, it was very sandy and dusty, but at least there were water spouts for the dogs to drink from, and a separate place for very small dogs/puppies. I liked that because often times I worry Lola will run all over or eat the small dogs...and if that happens at Wiggly Field, it's not my fault that the owners chose to put their small dog in the Big Dawg playpen! The coolest thing at Wiggly Field is that there is an agility course section, which is where there are the cool obstacle things that the dogs on Animal Planet do. We took Lola over there and discovered that she doesn't have much agility. Big surprise. Next time we will be more prepared and take treats and toys to lure her up onto the bridges and seesaws. This could be our ticket to fame and fortune.

Anyway...so we spent much of our weekend outside, which suits me just fine. I also got in a good dose of Gilmore Girls, Matt caught a few episodes of Band of Brothers, and we spent lots of time with both friends and family (and by ourselves). I didn't get as much laundry or housecleaning done as I'd hoped, but I'm sure there will be cold or rainy days this week to catch up on! Perhaps the most productive thing we did was PREPARE AND FILE OUR TAXES!! Wahoo!! And-- wait for it-- this is the first year ever that I not only don't owe the IRS lots of money (I've always had to claim lots of self-employment income)... but WE GET MONEY BACK!!!! It's a miracle. It's only like $250...but hey, that's $250!!! So we're done and filed federal, now just have to figure out a free way to do state (one advantage to being poor: we qualified to have our federal taxes prepared and e-filed for free!). I'm from a family that has never ever filed taxes a day before April 15...and even since I've been on my own, I've always owed so much money that I wait until the last minute to gather it/mail it in...well, this was just a happy milestone for me.

We finished off the weekend by eating at a Chinese buffet with Matt's parents. Sometimes you're just in the mood for Chinese, and lots of it...and man was it good. Best thing ever: they had fried bananas. Don't knock it til you try it, okay? I think I ate a good banana tree's worth. I should be turning into a monkey any minute now. And I will most definitely not be getting any leg cramps for the rest of my life. You think I exaggerate-- I assure you, I do not. I ate like a mad dog. If I had thought about it, I would have written a letter-- maybe even poetry-- to the chef, thanking him/her for them personally.

I believe that is all. Time to get ready for another long (but hopefully good) work week. I need to make Valentines for my students. As much as my job stresses me out, I really do love my kids. And I really do hope that the work my co-interventionists, teachers, and teaching assistants are doing is making a difference in their lives, because those babies are so incredibly special...my heart breaks to think what many of their lives could become. They were created for so much more than what this world has to offer...

Goodnight.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

stripped and fried.

So all afternoon I had this intense craving for fast food. More specifically, for fast food fries. Come on-- is there really anything better than some fresh, hot, salty, crispy-on-the-outside but melty-on-the-inside fast food fries?? I submit that there is not. Anyway, as it often happens when I find myself craving something, I convinced Matt that it was absolutely imperative we find ourselves some fast food for dinner. It was doubly convenient that I also had absolutely no desire to cook and was exhausted from work. So, Chick-fil-a it was. I love CFA (like any God-fearing person should) and was in the mood for some chicken strips (to accompany my fries). I've only had the "new" chicken strips once, a few months ago, but I had really liked them...and I was just in the mood tonight! Anyway, once we got there and I got my food, the saddest thing happened. I didn't like the chicken. There wasn't anything wrong with it...except that with every bite I wanted to vomit. I would swallow as fast as I could and chase it with 2 fries and half a cup of water. After a few torturous bites, I came to terms with the fact that it is okay to not like and not eat your chicken strips...after all, it's not like they're particularly nutritious or anything. So Matt ate them (and his 2 sandwiches) and I ate our fries. I'm still confused, though. Why the sudden aversion? Does this mean I will no longer like chicken biscuits, too? What will come next, pizza? Please no. I really could not survive without pizza.

I'm blogging as Matt watches Band of Brothers. We've been Netflixing for over a year now and our Netflix queue has always been a matter of much compromise and mutual consent. We choose the movies/shows to rent knowing that we watch everything together, so we only get things that we both want to watch (or that at least one person isn't violently opposed to watching.) Well, a few weeks ago Matt kept whining and complaining about wanting to watch Band of Brothers. I mean, seriously. If you're not 'in the know' (haha) like I am, then let me educate you: Band of Brothers is a reallllllyyyy long, reallllllyyyyy boring "mini" series (although there's nothing mini about it) that came on on HBO a few years ago. It won tons of awards. It's about World War 2 and some soldiers or something. If you're not already sold, let me entice you even more by telling you that there is not even a love story to redeem the 200 hours you will spend watching this nail-biter!!! Anyway...if you're a person of great discernment, you may have picked up on the fact that I am not a huge fan of watching Band of Brothers. Not really my thing. But it's totally a man-thing, so who am I to deny my husband the joys(?) of watching BoB? So I said with all my wife-ly cheerfulness, "why don't you just add it to our queue?! I'll blog while you watch it!" (Side note: it really does have a good soundtrack, so I don't mind listening to it passively while I do something else.) It seemed like a win-win situation...until one day I looked at our Netflix queue and the WHOLE THING WAS FILLED UP WITH BAND OF BROTHERS!!! I mean seriously-- the next 5 discs. Ummm...wow. My movie-watching-future was looking bleak. There was only one thing that could be done. My sanity was on the line. I decided there was one thing still lingering on my own personal "things to watch" list that really should be checked off-- stat. And it wasn't the kinda thing that Matt was going to relish sitting through. And it wasn't just a quick 1.5 hour chick flick, either. It was an entire season (24ish wonderful hours) of witty, quick-talking, beautifully-dressed Rory and Lorelei Gilmore-- yes, the seventh and final season of Gilmore Girls in all its glory. (Can't you hear the herald angels singing?) So I added that to the queue, and in an act of marital-compromise ingenuity, rearranged it so that the queue went BoB Disc 1, GG Disc 1, BoB Disc 2, GG Disc 2, etc...right on down to BoB Disc 5and GG Discs 5 & 6 (haha, I get one more!!). That way no matter how dismal what you're currently watching is...something better is on the way. I should probably start hosting marriage seminars or something, because that move was GENIUS.

Anyway....something magical is happening-- mournful and depressing music is playing as the credits roll across the screen, meaning that BoB is over and it's time for some GG!!! Time to cuddle into some blankets, tear my pup away from her bone, and lose myself in Star's Hollow for some quality drama and wit. Love it.