Dear Michael Scott...

Today is hard.  I'm losing a friend.
And by friend, I mean character from a TV show. 
We all know I have a TV watching problem.**

Dear Michael Scott,
I will miss you sooo much.  Yes, sometimes you are annoying and slightly ignorant.  But you are also awesome and hilarious and kind.  After tonight, watching The Office just won't be the same anymore.  I mean, yes, I love Jim, Pam, Dwight, Darryl, Andy, Kelly, Angela and everyone else but something will be missing.  I will have to think of it as The Office 2.0....or something.  You have given me so much joy over the past 6 years.  But all I ever wanted was for you to find happiness, so I can't be too upset to see you go.  But seriously, I'm going to cry tonight.

Love,
Jane-Marie

Here are 6 7 of my favorite very random Michael Scott Moments.

1-Chunky-Michael is the only one to support Pam at her Art Show. 


Michael: ...Chunky. Do you want half?
Pam: No thank you.
Michael: Okay.

2-Pretzel Day Sugar High-Micheal eats a pretzel with all the sugary topping available in Initiation and then does some weird moves on his desk chair in his office.  I always loved that scene.  Then he takes a nap.

3-Michael Hits Meredith With his Car aka Best Season Opener Ever
Michael: Gah. Kind of a good news bad news there. I was able to be on the scene so quickly because I was in the car that hit her.
Jim: Who was driving?
Pam: Oh, Michael.



4-Lady Pants-Michael accidentally buys lady pants and Darryl calls him out in The Negotiation.
Darryl: Are you wearin' lady clothes?

Michael: What?
Darryl: Are you wearin' lady clothes? Those look like lady... pants.
Michael: No, this is a power suit.
Darryl: That there's a woman's suit.

Michael: There were these huge bins of clothes, and everybody was rifling through them like crazy, and I grabbed one. And it fit! So I don't think that this is totally just a woman's suit. At the very least it's bisexual.

5-Sharpie Arm-In Benihana Christmas, Michael cannot remember which of the Asian girls is his new girlfriend so he comes up with a simple solution.


6-"Engaged Ain't Married"-Is this why Jim and Pam actually ended up getting together?  I love this scene in Booze Cruise where Jim tells Michael he has a thing for Pam.

Michael: Is somebody there?
Jim: What happened to you?
Michael: Captain Jack has a problem with authority.
Jim: Oh, right, because you announced that his ship was sinking?
Michael: He just totally lost it. If you ask me, he caused the panic.
Jim: What a night.
Michael: Well, it's nice for you. Your friend got engaged.
Jim: She was always engaged.
Michael: Roy said the first one didn't count.
Jim: That's... great. You know, to tell the truth, I used to have a big thing for Pam, so...
Michael: Really? You're kidding me. You and Pam? Wow. I would have never have put you two together. You really hid it well. God! I usually have a radar for stuff like that. You know, I made outwith Jan...
Jim: Yeah, I know.
Michael: Yeah? Yep. Well, Pam is cute.
Jim: Yeah. She's really funny, and she's warm. And she's just... well, anyway.
Michael: Well, if you like her so much, don't give up.
Jim: She's engaged.
Michael: BFD. Engaged ain't married.
Jim: Huh.
Michael: Never, ever, ever give up.


7-Jim and Pam's Wedding-I love the look of pride and joy on Michael's face at the end of the episode right after Jim and Pam get married. 

This just barely scratches the surface but these were the ones that first came to my head.

So will you watch Michael's last episode tonight?
What are some of your favorite Michael Scott moments?

***In case you don't know or care, Steve Carell's last episode of The Office is tonight and I'm a bit sad about it.  Please bear with me if you hate the Office or don't know what I'm talking about because this kind of took me a long time to write.

****Thanks to this Office Quote Website for helping me on the quotes above.

Wordless-ish Wednesday

Sometimes is pays to have a blog.  Look what I got! 

My mom reads my blog and therefore knew that I was highly interested in a certain new book.  She picked up a copy at her favorite store, Costco, as a surprise for me for being such an outstanding daughter.  Holla!

Hobie got away from it as fast as possible.  He hates reading.

Hobie and JM's Crafternoon

I had many crafting projects to catch up on yesterday.  There were wine charm orders, 5K t-shirts, and bridesmaid jewelry to be made.  So I asked Hobie to lend me a paw (I am hilarious).

He was worried about accidentally dyeing his fur (like I dyed my hands) so he didn't really help with the t-shirts but he did come sit outside with me for awhile so I could try to get a little tan while beading some wine charms.  I don't want to be the palest bridesmaid in Curly J's wedding.

After going to the beach for a few days followed by binge eating 2 kinds of ham at my Aunt's house, I spent the rest of my Easter break on crafts and reading.  After much thought, I decided to go ahead and finish out the Hunger Games Trilogy this weekend.  I'm almost done with the third book.  I'm still planning on getting the Tina Fey book soon though.  I have also convinced B to read them, which is kind of hard because they are all downloaded on my iPad and I'm not that good at sharing.  He has to steal it from me when I'm napping and read what he can as fast as possible (but he's a speed reader so that works out for him).

What did you guys do for Easter?

JM's Book Corner-I Need Your Help

In my attempts to become smarter I have been trying to read more this year. It has been going okay so far.  However, I'm having a hard time selecting my next book and I need to figure it out ASAP so I can read  it over the long weekend.  So, I thought you guys could help me choose.  Over there -------> is a lovely book poll I have made, so please vote and in the comments below tell me what I should read and why.  Then we will all be best friends.  I don't really feel like being depressed this weekend so let's steer clear of super sadness.  The last two books I read are One Day (David Nicholls) and before that The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins).  I might be weird for not just reading the whole Hunger Games Trilogy in one sitting but I just decided to switch it up.

So what should I read?  Here are some that I'm thinking about.

***All pictures from Amazon.com
Is there something else that's way better than I should dive in to?

Bachelorette Party T-Shirts Round 2

If you make your friend T-shirts for her bachelorette party, she will love you.  And it's not that hard.  Come on people, let's do this.

1-Buy some t-shirts when they go on sale.  (This time I bought mine from AC Moore and they were on sale 4 for $10).
2-Then con your friends/co-bridesmaids into t-shirt making craft day. 
3-Bring some puffy paint and anything else you have on hand.
4-One of your friends will have much better handwriting than the other two.  Get her to write the theme or slogan on all of the shirts.  Go for something simple, like Team (insert Bride's Nickname).  The other two bad handwriters will then decorate the shirt with drawings, quotes, and designs.  Be sure to draw a life-like picture of the bride on her t-shirt.  Include any accessories that the bride can't live with out.  For example if she is really into texting, then include a drawing of her cell phone.

5-If the bride's sister is prego and will be attending the shower be sure to make her t-shirt say something like 'Baby Mama' with an arrow pointing to the belly area.  Very classy.

6-If your friend lives in Las Vegas and can't attend, then make her a shirt too, but make it more inappropriate than the others since she won't actually be wearing it out with you to the nail salon.  I "lost" the pics I had of Mo Young's T-shirt.   Ooops.

So that's pretty much it.  You can make the bride put on her shirt as soon as you arrive at her house to kidnap her for the evening (that's what everyone does, right?)

JM's TV Recap

The title of this post was going to be 'I hate Paul Reiser but I love Happy Ending' but that just sounded weird.  Anyways, it will make more sense if you read on.  OK Go....

How I Met Your Mother-"I will remember you..shoobeedoodoodoo.  Will you remember me...shoobeebopbopbop?"  That song was all up in my head after this week's installment of How I Met Your Mother.  I get the goggles sometimes.  I was about to be super mad at Lily.  She already ran off to California that time.  I'm not sure heading out to Spain was the best plan.  I'm also back to not liking Zooey.  I briefly liked her for about 4 episodes.  Barney, "what IS wrong with you?"  Do you guys get graduation or any other sort of goggles?

Modern Family-WE LOVE THE F WORD.  Cam's play had its problems but it was still way more high tech than any middle school plays I ever attended.  I really enjoyed the middle of the play when Mitchell had to go outside to calm himself down.  "No intermission—what are we, animals?"   And then of course we had Phil realize that he's been pimping out his wife and daughter. "I guess I'll being seeing you Wednesdays and every other weekend."   I love him trying to rip the ad off the side of the car. And my favorite Luke line of the night..."I can feel my heartbeat in my eyes."

Wednesday night might become a new Comedy Night done Right on ABC because to tell you the truth, I kind of liked the new comedy Happy Endings.  Yes, Elisha Cuthbert has annoyed me since the 3rd season of 24 (I think it has something to do with her eyebrows) but I thought it was pretty good.  And I like the girl from the last season of Scrubs and the girl from SNL.  So I think I will give it a shot.  Plus Cougar Town is coming back next week and I was really starting to like that show before it went on hiatus.   Did anyone else watch Happy Ending?  Am I just a sucker for shows about people in their lower 30s?

Thursday Comedy Night Done Right on NBC...
The New Paul Reiser Show-I hated it.  I don't know if it's because I was just missing Perfect Couples or excited about the Office coming on but I thought it sucked.  It was a like a terrible mixture of Entourage and Curb You Enthusiasm.  I mean it even featured Larry David.  Ok. Onward.
The Office-Will Ferrell was funny but most of the episode I was just depressed that Steve Carell only has 2 more episode left.  My fave Will Ferrell line was "What is the native American girl's name?"  For some reason I laughed out loud at that.  Next week is called "Michael's Last Dundies."  I.  CANNOT.  WAIT.  But I will also be sad.  So many emotions, guys.
Parks and Rec-My husband busted out laughing when Ron Swanson pulled out his own tooth and then smiled at the camera.  I was really surprised by April and Andy.  I did not see that coming but I like them as a couple so I hope they make it.  I really like the requests they made for their dinner party which included....forks, cooked steak, Avatar, 3D glasses, and a 3D capable TV.  I also love Ben.  And Jerry's shirt.
30 Rock-I really want Liz Lemon's striped cardigan.  I also really want Tina Fey's new book, BossyPants.  Yay, they found Tracy.  I loved the scene where he sleep-questions Liz Lemon about her selections of mustard and then adds a bunch to her shopping list.  “It’s red, and it says ‘ketchup.’ Uhh I hear it. That’s on me.”  Jenna's movie was extremely scary.  I'm now too focused on trying to see if I can tell that Jane Krakowski and Tina Fey are pregnant in real life while watching the show.

Oh and Fringe comes on tonight.  And it has been awesome.  And John Noble is an amazing actor and then the other day I was watching this interview with him and realized he's Australian so that makes him even more amazing.  Anna Torv also.  Yay.  Go Fringe!

OK, that it.  What did you watch this week?

Dear College-I Do and Don't Miss You...

As you know, last week I went to visit my sister in College to help her with a bake sale fundraiser for Cancer.  She rocked it by the way and ended up raising over $1200 (that includes about $400 or so from the bake sale) for Relay for Life. 

It was weird to be on a college campus with college students (although I work at college, I don't actually interact with students or really see them as we are in an off-campus building).  I remember when I was 23 and out of college working my first job and missing my college lifestyle.  I do not really miss it now.

Things I do miss about college...

1-A weekday that consists of getting up at 10:30 AM and going to 1-2 classes and then being done for the day
2-Friends, constant entertainment, things to do, people to hang with that live down the hall, shenanigans-I mean yes, I still have all these things but not in such a constant quantity.  Although B and Hobie do get involved in some Ca-RAZY shenanigans quite frequently.
3-Jeans/t-shirts/hoodies-My job would be so much better if I could wear jeans and a hooded sweatshirt as opposed to black pants and cardigans.  It would take me way less time to get ready in the morning.
4-Spring Break-I basically have to schedule my own spring break now and then use Vacation time to take it.
5-That little card I could swipe that would give me free food and free access to the gym.

Things I don't miss about college...

1-Dorms-no kitchen, shared showers, general constant dirtiness, a tiny living space and tiny closet.

The tiniest dorm room ever.  Trust me.

2-Staying up until 2, 3, 4 AM every night-I see nothing wrong with watching a nice rerun of Frasier and being asleep by 11 pm.  Plus I like getting up early on the weekends, now.  Lots of good stuff can happen between 8 AM and Noon on Saturdays.

3-Homework-hate it.  It really cuts into TV time and is the main reason I don't want to go to grad school

4-Working at a Salad Bar-I couldn't listen to my headphones, I had to wear a visor, and I always had to work on the weekends.  Not awesome.

5-Spring Break-Staying in hotel room with just B and eating at nice restaurants (as opposed to Denny's-one spring break our hotel was attached to a Denny's and I think we ate all our meals there) is a lot funner than staying in a terrible hotel room with 12 other people.

Being at L-Fab's college was interesting.  Everyone was wearing jeans and t-shirts and saying "like" a whole lot.  I would say about 79% of them were hungover and not many seemed to have too many classes to attend.  Plus there was a performance by an a capella group.

L-Fab went from being asleep when I arrived and greeting us in PJ's and no shoes...

To fully dressed and running a bake sale in about 15 minutes flat...

I was way over-dressed in my cardigan.

So anyways...what do you miss about college?  What do you not miss about college?

You know what I don't miss at all?  High School!

The Classy Trashy Fiesta of Curly J...

Once upon a time, some of my friends and I decided to have a surprise birthday party for our friend Curly J.  It was a huge failure because she is a super sleuth.  So when we began discussing her bachelorette party, we decided to make it a secret.  We gave her the date and she eventually weaseled out the general location (I gave her a 3 city radius, I tried my hardest to convince her it was in K-Vegas-(you Greensboroians know what I'm talking about)) but she had no idea what we were doing (well we think).

I can't tell you everything that happened at Curly J's Bachelorette party because "what happens at bachelorette parties, stays at bachelorette parties (unless you post a bunch of pics of it on facebook-oops)"  but here are a few tidbits...

It all started with a kidnapping that included a little sensory deprivation.  The Bride's mom really enjoyed seeing her daughter carried away with a blindfold and iPod...

There was a hotel and a man who carried our two carts full of stuff upstairs (although it was only 3 of us who checked in and set up and it was for one night and we all actually live in that same city-but hey we had a lot of decorations and food)

There was a trip to the nail salon.

Some games... (that's the portable groom I brought with me)...

A pinata...

Pinatas are normal for bachelorette parties, right?

A wardrobe change....

And dancing...

We also had dinner at some point but I guess I forgot to take pictures of that.  The specifics will have to remain secret including who took the top award.  PS-It wasn't me.  PPS-My feet and legs were sore the next day from walking around in my new heels.

So how was your weekend?

Are my friends and I weird for going to a nail salon in matching t-shirts and for really enjoying a good pinata?

Sororities and Baked Goods!

When I was in college, the closest I came to joining a Sorority was watching the hit MTV series, Sorority Life with my senior year roomie Mo.  ("Who wants to be ordinary in a crazy mixed up world."  I still remember the theme song like it was yesterday).  There was also that one sorority party I went to Freshman year.  I have nothing against sororities especially since today I'm joining one.  Ok well not really, but I am going to College today to help my sister's sorority with their fundraiser bake sale.  My sister organized her Sorority's Relay for Life team and they are trying to earn a few extra bucks to donate by selling baked goods during lunch on campus and tonight at their Relay for Life event.

B and I will be delivering baked goods made by both my mom and I (mostly my mom, who went crazy with the baking) to add to the baked goods that the sistas are already making.  (Side Note-I get a little mad when my sister refers to her sorority Big Sister as her Big Sister.  I'm like, "uh I'm your big sister, hello?") 

Here are some pics of the baked deliciousness that my mom and I made....

 My favorites are the mini pies...

 And here is my attempt to bake in my new shoes so I can get used to them...

OK.

So, sororities?   Yay or Nay?
MTV's hit reality show Sorority Life?  Yay or Nay?
Baked Goods?  Yay or Nay?

Wordless-ish Wednesday...Miracle and Weekend Preview

When I walked into the den the other day, this is how my computer and glass of water were situated.  How did this not fall over?  Miracle.  Luckily it did not end up like the great Hawaiian Punch Laptop spill of 2000.

Miracle!

An unnamed Las Vegas resident (ok it was Mo Young) mailed me this trophy to give out this weekend during Curly J's pre-wedding festivities since she is unable to attend...

Where does one get such a thing?

Hopefully I will not win, as I have purchased the shoes below to wear during the festivities.  I do not think drunkest bachelorette party attendee and these shoes go together very well.  I decided to go out of my comfort zone and get heels that were higher than 2.5 inches.  I'm not really sure what I was thinking.  We'll see how that goes.

Danger.

Mom-I will not drunk high heel.  I am way more responsible than I was 5 years ago when I took second place at Mo's bachelorette party.

But the great news is that there is a bachelorette party this weekend, as well as a shower, and a bake sale, so I will be making a lot of stuff and have a lot of stuff to talk about on here next week.  So I won't just have to post pictures of my shoes.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Pasta (bread, salad, beer, and handmade craftery) for Breast Cancer!

I signed up for my next 5K!  It's the Komen Race for the Cure which benefits Breast Cancer.  Several people I know have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer in the past year, including my mom (she is doing well though-thumbs up), so I thought this would be a good one to do.  As the captain of my team, I started receiving tons of emails and even a personalized letter about how important fundraising for this event is.  I am pretty much the worst person at sales and fundraising.  I hate asking people for money.  I sucked at selling Girl Scout Cookies.  When I worked at the salad bar in college, I was always in trouble for not up selling enough fountain beverages as opposed to the free water. Anyways, I decided this was worthwhile, so I decided to have a fundraiser at my house as opposed to just asking for money.

I have been doing some crazy couponing for the past couples months and have managed to stock up hardcore on pasta noodles and spaghetti sauce so I decided that would be a nice cheap meal to make for my friends and then ask for $5-$10 donations for the Race.  I also decided to give away some of the earrings I've made.  I was hoping to raise $100 at the most.  But guess what.....I made over $300.  I was amazed.  When I went to tally up the money there were a bunch of $20s in my jar and some people who couldn't make it sent me checks in the mail.  So, yeah I guess I'm pretty good at fundraising after all.  Plus my sister came with two of her friends from Kollege and they sent me an Edible Arrangement.  It was awesome.  And Beezus5 made a stellar Banana Pudding Pie.  Plus people brought handmade items like headbands and mittens for me to giveaway as door prizes. 

And since this blog is about Making Stuff, here is a quick recipe for dinner parties that's usually a hit.  Buy one of those refrigerated packages of tortellini or ravioli and cook it per the directions.  Then mix it with marinara sauce, top it with cheese and bake it until the cheese is melted.  People like it and it's easy.

I forgot to take a lot of pics but here are a few.

Baked Spaghetti with Pepperoni for the non-vegetarians
before I added the cheese

B and Hobie were in charge of bread and beer.

An Edible Arrangement=Awesome.

Banana Pudding Pie!

Headband door prize.  This is my look after I went running
so I may not be showing the headband in the best light
because it's a pretty awesome headband.  (Yeah I'm
wearing my Bayside High T again; it's my current inspirational
running t-shirt.)

In conclusion, people are nice.  Sometimes I forget that (like when I'm complaining about people chewing too loudly or clipping their nails in meetings).

And if you want to check out my team page or info on the Race for the Cure, you can click that big pink square on the top right of this blog.

The ABC's of Me!

Ok, TV was pretty much not new this week.  I did watch an awesomely terrible episode of The Event (awesome because my husband came up with a new found talent of predicting everything that would happen) and a new episode of Perfect Couples.  Perfect Couples is funny.  So anyway I decided to do the ABC's of me which I have seen featured on multiple other blogs.  So here is some extremely interesting information about me.....

{a} age-30!
{b} bed size-King (my husband is really tall, it's the only bed that fits him)
{c} chore you hate-um all of them, dusting, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, cleaning the shower, cleaning the microwave, sorting the mail, washing dishes...stuff like that
{d} dogs-Hobie Buddy Bear

{e} essential start to your day-a shower
{f} favorite color-Purple!
{g} gold or silver-Silver unless it is an athletic competition, then obviously Gold.
{h} height-5'7.75", I could never quite reach 5'8"
{i} instruments you play-I played the piano for many years as a child and now I can still play approximately half of one song.  I tried to learn the guitar in college but I just was too impatient.  I think I can still play like 3 chords and I have 2 guitars.
{j} job title-I just looked at my last review and it said Accounting Technician.  Neat.
{k} kids...are expensive and stuff.  J/K.  I might have zero to two some day in the not near future.  Hobie is a wonderful kid as of right now.
{l} live-North Carolina
{m} mom's name-Jane
{n} nicknames-J-M, Jelly Donut, JuanaMa, Jamboree
{o} overnight hospital stays-I had my tonsils out when I was 8.  I think I spent the night in the hospital
{p} pet peeve-Any annoying or repetitive noise that anyone makes ever.  Ok, not really but kind of.  But let's see...people who clip their nails at work (specifically during meetings).  Also people who eat oatmeal in meetings.  People who give the whole plot to TV show episodes in meetings.  Also just meetings in general.
{q} quote from a movie-let's see, I'm more of a TV girl but I will give you some selected quotes from some of my favorite movies......Semi Serious Quote from Chasing Amy-"Even if we never talk again after tonight, please know that I am forever changed because of who you are and what you've meant to me, which - while I do appreciate it - I'd never need a painting of birds bought at a diner to remind me of."  I still love you Ben Affleck.  Not serious at all but pretty much everything that comes out of Paul Rudd's mouth in I Love You, Man is hilarious to me- "Catch you later, Joben!" or "I will see you there, or I will see you on another time!" or "Alright. Laters on the menjay." or "Totes Magotes"  or "City Slacka".  Stuff like that.
{r} right or left handed-right
{s} siblings-brother who is one year younger, sister who is 9 years younger and we all have the same parents

{t} time you wake up-6:21
{u} underwear-is a good thing to wear everyday
{v} vegetables you dislike-olives!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am passionate in my hatred of olives.
{w} what makes you run late-not being able to find my glasses, shoes, socks, cell phone, iPad, purse, breakfast food, etc.  or having ice on my car.
{x} x-rays you've had-I broke my collar bone when I was little and I'm pretty sure they sometimes x-ray my teeth when I go to the dentist
{y} yummy food you make-according to my husband.....chicken salad, peanut butter pie
{z} zoo, favorite animal-I'm not a huge fan of zoos.  I think I saw a panda in one, one time.  That was probably cool.

Ok so that's the ABC's of me.  Feel free to do this on your blog or in the comments.

Happy Friday!