For Posterity's Sake

To keep an accurate record of my life I include these two items. Again, no pictures because I'm still at work (shhhh...don't tell that I'm doing personal blogging during working hours) and don't have my USB port thing.

#1: Jeanette is having a baby girl. That brings the Baker family total to Girls: 12 and Boys: 8. Well done sisters. Her name is Allie Jean Zumwalt. I'm pretty sure that the Allie is short for Alisa. Therefore two of my nieces will be named after me: Allie and Rachel (her middle name is Joy). Actually, I asked Jeanette if Allie was going to be named after me and she said no, I don't believe her. ALIsa and ALLIE--you all see it right? Please also note the names of my nieces: Abbie, Annie, Elizabeth, Addie, Rachel, Allie. I hope the Fizz (that's Elizabeth) and Rachel don't get a complex. My first daughter will be named Aggie--I'm proud of my alma mater. No, that isn't an annoucement that I'm pregnant because I'm not.

#2: While waiting for my lunch, my friend Nancy looked at my shirt and asked what I got on it. I looked down knowing I hadn't spilled anything and there it was. Bird poop. Seriously. I was outside for 1/2 second. I have now been bird pooped on twice. The first was while running across the street. A bird pooped on my hand, and I ran to Whitney's house for soap and water. Now, I got pooped on walking to lunch. I scrubbed it off with a Clorox wipe. So nasty. I hate being pooped on. I'm not happy about it at all.

Bag Tagging

Luckily one of the things in my bag was my camera so I took a picture. Unluckily, my handy little flash drive thingy isn't--I wonder where it is. Therefore, I'm going to have to remember to upload the picture later when I find it.

My dear friend Mackenzie bag tagged me. I have to expose the contents of my bag to the world.

Last week Courtney and I were grocery shopping. While at the store she needed to get into my bag for a pen or some other writing instrument and commented on the disgraceful situation that is my bag. I admit that I treat my bag like a portable garbage can. There's always random stuff in there and it takes a long time to get it cleaned out. Courtney's comments prompted one such clean up so there isn't anything too embarrassing in the bag today--which is surprising considering the fact that I traveled this week. Sorry dear readers. You'll have to tag me again in a couple of weeks, and I'm sure it will be full of trash.

Today's Contents:
1 book--I started reading this book a really long time ago on the commute. I don't really like it but haven't taken the time to find something else to read.
1 checkbook
1 pair of sunglasses
1 cell phone
1 binder clip
1 pack of gum with 9 pieces of gum in it--must be a new pack. I admit that I don't go through gum nearly as much as I used to before Whitney moved to Alameda, Gnu loves gum!
1 hair elastic
1 elastic headband thing that never really stays on that well because my hair is silky smooth
1 key--I don't know what it goes to. This may be the key my dad gave me last time I was home since they changed the locks. Must remember to test it out when I'm there.
1 frequent buyer card from Ralph's. I had to buy some stuff in LA and the lady made me take it even though I didn't want it.
1 camera memory card
my keys
1 chapstick
1 lip gloss
1 lip shimmer
1 cap to a lipstick liner--I've been looking for that
$4.54 in change in addition to the huge amount in the change pocket
3 tampons that have been in there for a really long time and should probably be thrown away
2 feathers--left over from the pillow fight
Piece of paper with grad school interview schedule and information
3 strands of stray hair--kind of disgusting but not as bad as Chris' fashions with human hair, still gagging
5 bobby pins
1 wallet
1 camera--obviously not pictured

I view tagging as a slightly elevated form of forward messages and only send on the absolutely most hilarious ones when it comes to forwards. Plus, Mackenzie tagged most of the ladies. Therefore, I tag you only if there is something scandalous in your bag right now...tell me what it is!

This is Our Time to Dance

It must be said that I love Kevin Bacon. And how could a true fan of the 80s not love Footloose? How wonderful is the part where Kevin Bacon is talking to the city council trying to convince them to change the law and allow a senior dance? What did David say? Leaping and dancing....leaping and dancing before the Lord. Anyway, it is a cinematic masterpiece.

Now I did recently watch this movie with Amy, but that is not why I bring it up now. Courtney and I splurged and subscribe to basic cable. This means we get the typical channels (fox, abc, nbc, cbs, cw, pbs, etc), two bonus channels (tnt, tbs), several sport channels (espn, espn, espn--in fact we have two of the same channel--I'm not sure how many of them are all espn, but espn has like a million channels), a handful of Spanish stations, the Chinese station, a few others in the middle that I'm not sure what they are, and the Alameda channel. I often watch the Alameda channel when it is showing the bridges and Alameda point in rotation. No words or music or news or anything worthwhile happens, just the same three shots of Alameda rotating. Well, tonight I discovered that they sometimes have actual programming on the Alameda channel. Tonight was the city council meeting. I stopped on the channel just long enough to hear this: "Closing the swimming pools at Encinal high would literally make us an island with no swimmers." A young high school student was passionately making his argument for funding and support to keep the swimming pools open. I was intrigued and had to watch. It was just like Footloose. Only this time it was swimming instead of dancing. Let the children swim. It was wonderful.

Reason #1558 Why I Love Alameda!

My Half-Birthday

Happy Half-Birthday to me.
Happy Half-Brithday to me.
Happy Half-Brithday Alisa.
Happy Half-Birthday to me.

Hurray! What kind of cupcakes should I make for my half-birthday?

Keeping up with the Jones'

I saw this on Courtney's blog and got worried:

Movie Reviews

Of course, there was nothing to worry about--I'm just as smart as she is. Happy reading.

My 15 Seconds of Fame

Thank you Whitney for discovering me. Here's the story as it was told to me:

Whitney was traveling home to Alameda from Houston on Friday, February 1. While flying back she began to browse Spirit, the Southwest Airlines complimentary in-flight magazine. As she wandered upon page 24, she thought to herself, "That looks like Alisa."



Upon further investigation she read the by line and confirmed that it was in fact Alisa right next to a kid dressed as Elvis and a giant dog. Check me out:



A big thank you goes out to Courtney, the artistic genious behind this shot, and 63, my partner in crime and a great high-fiver. Thank you to my parents and family who have always supported me and encouraged me to dream big. And thank you Whitney for being the sister-in-law I never had.