For those of you who don't know what this is, I will tell you. It is a water cooler water bottle. An empty bottle, to be exact. It seems that I am always having to change the bottle when I go to get water. In fact, I sometimes feel like I am the only one who replaces the empty bottle on the water cooler? Everyone in the office drinks the water; at almost any time of day, one of my coworkers can be seen getting water from the water cooler. Not when it's empty, though. At these times, they avoid it like the plague... Maybe I should follow their example.

Well, it looks like I didn't have to wait too long. They've bloomed!! was right; they are daffodils. Aren't they beautiful?

The bulbs that Adina and Steph sent us are about to flower. I can't wait. They look like they may be daffodils. I'll guess we'll find out in a few days. I will post a new picture once they fully bloom. :-D


Sorry about the bad quality of the photo. There just isn't enough light in the guest room at night...

This is Harvey, my little sister's guinea pig. Isn't he the cutest little thing you've every seen?! I love guinea pigs!! I really want to get one or two. Harvey was very cute tonight. He was very energetic. It was kind of hard to take pictures of him, though, because he was moving so much.

Yes, I am aware that this is almost exactly the same picture that Andrew posted for the day. What can I say? I took this picture myself and it's better. Obviously!! Just kidding... Anyway, this is one of the many signs on the building that houses the barber shop that Andrew and I go to to get our hair cuts. We don't go there often enough. We have decided that we are going to start going more often. That way our hair doesn't look like crap most of the time.

*This is my post from Saturday, January 17, 2007. This post is late. Andrew and I watched a movie together last night. By the time it was done after midnight, I just couldn't muster the energy to do anything but get into bed. Even that was a chore...

Our neighbors invited us to go with them to a television preview thing tonight. This is the line that we were faced with when we got to the hotel in which it was taking place. It looks like there were a lot of excited people. They really shouldn't have been so excited. The whole experience really sucked. We sat in a room with about 200 people for two and a half hours and watched tiny TV screens that were on the other side of the room. The shows were crappy and there were more questions about the commercials than there were about the shows. Makes me suspect that the real goal was to collect data for advertisers (mostly of toilet paper, acid reflux medicines and frequent urination problems) not about the shows. To top it all off there was no compensation. We weren't even provided with water. So, if ever invited to go to a Television Preview event, don't go!!

It's Girl Scout cookie season again. Andrew is trying to make me fatter by brining me cookies... Joy!!

One of my coworkers who traveled to Germany brought in presents today. I really love presents!! This is a photo of what I got. It is a mug from one of the Christmas shops that she visited during her trip. I really like it. It is a very simple design and I like the stamped images. It doesn't have a handle so it reminds me of Japanese tea cups. The stamp that can be seen in the photo says "Esslingen am Neckar", the name of the town in which she purchased this mug. The front has an impression of a guy and a dog. I can't wait to use it!!

Last week my boss decided to bring into the office all of the teas that he received as part of Teavana's Tea of the Month Club. As a result, I have had the opportunity to sample many of the tasty Teavana teas. This morning I tried one called Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls. It is a green tea where all the leaves are rolled into little balls. As they steep, the balls pop open and the leaves unfurl like they are in this picture. Cool!!

I finally go it today - my free iPod!! I got this iPod for being part of a School of Education program at my university. It is part of an initiative called iPods in Education. You can read an article about the program here. I can't wait to fill up all 30 wonderful gigabites, or rather what is left after the software is updated. Oh yeah, don't steal music!! It could be bad for your health...

It's moss!!! And I love it!!!!! Andrew and I went to the Morris Arboretum today. It was very, very cold, but I still managed to take over 200 pictures. There is always so much to see there, no matter what season it is; it is very surprising. The reason that we went today was to see the witch-hazels that we really love. Witch-hazel usually bloom in January; however, it looks like they bloomed earlier this year because of the unseasonably warm weather. The blossoms on all the trees we found were dying and starting to shrivel. Witch-hazel is great because the flowers bloom in the winter and they smell great. The flowers are generally made up of some combination of yellow, orange, red and deep purples. They really are beautiful. I also really like moss and this really cool moss was growing on one of the walls at the arboretum. No, the white stuff is not snow. It is some sort of moss or fungus; I'm not really sure.

Today was a very busy day!! One of the places we went to was Maido!, a very tiny Japanese market in Narberth, PA. Although it was very small, it had quite a few good products. They had several Japanese products that we don't usually see in the Korean market near our house. They also have a lunch counter where one of the owners makes a few typically Japanese dishes. We had a very, very tasty lunch - yakisoba, gyuudon, miso soup and onigiri. I definitely want to go back often. Luckily, it is right next to the train station :-)

This is a picture of a cookbook that Andrew's mom had out when we were at his parents' house. Andrew's mom said that I could borrow it and so I did. I can't wait to try some of the recipes.

This is the pathetic amount of snow that actually stuck to the ground after hours of snow flurries. Not quite the three foot snow drifts I was hoping for... Oh well...

That's right; can you feel the fire?! This sign is up in the lobby of our main administrative building on campus. It used to be a holiday message spelled out in tiny blue and gold holiday lights. Now, it is this. Same type of construction; different message. I am assuming this is referring to our current upward swing in men's basketball. I could be wrong, though... Maybe it is an advertisement for a new culinary arts program, specializing in outdoor cooking techniques... Like that would happen!! I guess without a football team, we have to have something to get fired up about. GO DRAGONS!!

The bulbs that Adina and Steph sent are really starting to take off!! Thank you so much for the wonderful present!!! I love plants :-) I don't know what they are; it'll be a surprise.

The time has finally come to take down all of the holiday decorations :-( We took out the tree last night and now I am left with taking down and putting away the rest of the decorations. The worst part about the holiday un-decorating is the mess that it makes before it is all put away. I hate this part!!! Grrr... (can you hear me roaring?!) This is only a small part of the mess that will ensue over the next week or so.

I must confess that I think that I might have a small obsession with eggs. I really love the way they taste and I am fascinated by the way that they look, both inside and out. While I was cracking eggs to make cookies today, I thought: "I should take a picture of these and see how they come out." This is what I got. Ok; I did adjust the midtones and contrast a smidgen, but this is almost exactly how one of the series of pictures I took turned out. I just love it!! You should click on it to see the full-sized version. Go ahead... You won't be disappointed.

So, Andrew's parents and Andrew and I were playing cards tonight. I always have fun playing cards with Andrew and his family!! On this particular night, we were playing Euchre. What is pictured above is one of the hands that I had last night. For those of you know Euchre, clubs was trump. For those of you who don't play Euchre, this is the best hand that you can have!! For the hand that we were playing, the cards pictured here are the top five cards in the deck. Needless to say, Andrew was upset that I got this hand. Andrew thinks that he can't win anything that takes luck; only things that require only skill, with absolutely no chance involved. When he was trying to explain this concept, however, he kind of made it seem that I could only win things that require luck. Does this mean that he thinks I don't have any skills? Hmmm......

*This is my post from Saturday, January 13, 2007. This post is late because, by the time we got home last night, it was already today... I think that Saturdays might become a problem for me and these photo-a-day blog projects. Oh well...

So, I'm not alone!!! And it's not my fault... All the more reason to stick with my New Year's resolutions to stop being lazy.

This is a view from inside my office plant. It is miniature palm of some sort. I'm not really sure what kind it is exactly; it came from Ikea. I really love having a plant in my cube because it makes it feel a little more like home. I'm still in he process of coming up with a name for him. I want it to be a really cool name. Hopefully it lives long enough for me to decide on a name; I'm so indecisive. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Today started my two week Special K kick-off to my diet. I'm going to do two weeks of Special K for breakfast and dinner. Then I'm going to switch to salad for dinner for three weeks. I plan on following a pattern of one week of Special K followed by three weeks of salad. Sounds yummy, doesn't it?

For those of you who do not know what this is, meet a US Postal Service (USPS) bin. If, for the moment, we ignore the fact that these are, in fact, the property of USPS, they are one of the most sought after commodities at my place of employment, which is not USPS. Vicious fights have been known to break out over these bins, especially over the more pristine examples such as the one pictured here. Unlike the pristine bins, there are quite a few bins here at work that have seen much better days; imagine one of these bins after it has been used by a 400 pound gorilla as a stool to avoid sitting directly in the mud. Sadly, there is constant arguing over to whom each bin belongs, when, in fact, they don’t belong to anyone here. Bins have even been known to be stockpiled away in secretive hiding places for those possible lean days when USPS decides it wants its property returned. I would hate to see what would happen to our operation if USPS suddenly decided to raid our office and remove all the bins. There would be no where left to store the endless amounts of paper that haven’t been scanned or data entered or filed or even looked at…

I thought about being able to play Final Fantasy XII tonight all day long. The time is finally here!! I love FF :-D

Today we went to Longwood Gardens to see the holiday display before it was over for the season. It was my first time there and I really loved it. There weren't a whole lot of plants to see outside but there were a lot of lights. Thankfully, they also have extensive greenhouses and conservatories!! While I enjoyed the lights, I really enjoyed seeing all the plants inside. This place was great because it had lots of ferns and a whole room dedicated to orchids!! I took way to many pictures there: 166 stills and two 30 second movies!! :-) Most of the pictures didn't turn out well though because it was a very low light situation and I didn't have a tripod with me. I think that this was my favorite picture of the night, though. It is picture of a hybrid lily from Korea. I don't remember the name but it was beautiful. Orchids and lilies are my favorite kinds of flowers. I can't wait to go back in the springtime so that I can explore the grounds and the greenhouses in the daylight and maybe take a lot more pictures...

I shot this photo out the window on our way to see Eragon today. Talk about global warming!!! It is January 6th and we are driving around with the windows rolled down!!! That's just wrong...

*This is my post from Saturday, January 6, 2007. This post is late because, by the time I was finished playing Final Fantasy XII last night, it was already today... hehe...

We received these paper whites as a gift from a friend. They started out as just bulbs a few weeks ago but they bloomed extremely quickly!! They are really beautiful; their petals shimmer. They make the entire second floor of the house smelly flowery!!

This is the key that gave me trouble today. It kept evading my finger. It's not a good thing when you're trying to do data entry...of Chinese applications!!!

Andrew bought me these hoops&yoyo plushies for the holidays. I really love hoops&yoyo!!!! Now, these plushies watch me all day at work. Creepy, huh?! This afternoon hoops&yoyo watched me almost fall asleep during file review. Oops...

This is just what I needed to start my first day back at work in the new year. I forgot to bring my keys with me. I showed up at the office at 7:30am and no one was there. I had to wait outside the office for about half an hour until someone finally showed up to let me in. If you look closely at the left window, you can see my reflection.

Yes; I do realize that I am a day late starting this. This is my picture for January 1st.

Yes; I am aware that this is the same picture that appears for January 1st on my other photo blog project but what can I say; honey citron tea is the best.

This stuff is really great and it's my new favorite food stuffs!! This is honey citron tea from the local Korean market. This stuff comes in a jar and it looks a lot like orange marmalade. All you have to do is put some in a cup and mix it with water, either hot or cold. So far I have only tried it with hot water as a hot tea and it is great. I can't wait to try the honey black raspberry tea that I got today. It looks more like syrup than the honey citron tea does, maybe that means it has more sugar... :-)

So, I have an overarching theme to my resolutions for this coming year, 2007: Stop being lazy!! To this end I am starting several projects. I really want to do things that will give me something to look back on and remember the year. To accomplish this, I have decided to start two separate photo blogs. This is one of those blogs. Each day, I will post This is the second half of my photo-a-day project for the new year. This blog will be dedicated to posting a photo every day that kind of summarizes my entire day or highlights something I found exciting or interesting during my day.