No, I don't live in the deep south or Tennessee. Yet, I definitely sound different than everyone here. When I first met Jan-Michael, I noticed a slight accent and words I had never heard of. But gradually he lost a bunch, except for his infamous accented "hook" which no one will understand unless you hear him say "hook".
Now we are living in world of new words and accents. Very slight accents, but accents all the same. It also varies from person to person. I thought I could tag the older adults in having the strongest accents, but yesterday I listened to a bunch of teenagers who sounded the same. However, those who are in college have lost their accents, while those who never went have kept them.
I am extremely vulnerable in a situation like this. My experience working in Customer Service at Wells Fargo brought to my attention just how susceptible to accents I am. It is only a matter of time before I too will be a bit more twangy.
Already my husband has caught me in the act. At first I laughed at it, and then I began to use it. My new favorite word is "listen". More common among the 20 year olds, "listen" is used to begin a sentence or story. So instead of saying "So my brother met this girl the other night...." or "Oh my gosh, my brother met this girl..." or "Anyway, my brother met this girl...", they say "Listen. My brother met this girl..." So listen is not used to say - hey open your ears and hear what I'm saying, it's used to start a statement. "Listen" is used probably more than any other word. No more do you hear "like" or "you know?" a hundred times in a story... instead it's "listen"! I guess you'd have to hear it to understand. Or maybe the next time you talk to me you will catch it.
Here are a few more examples of how to speak in PA:
"You'ns" pronounced either yinz or youins is a word they use for you in plural form.
To sweep is actually vaccuming.
It's "cut the grass" instead of mow the lawn.
Naturally "pop" is soda.
There are no subs unless you're at Subway, otherwise it's a hoagie.
To iron is to press clothes, but "the press" is actually a closet.
Clicker is the remote control.
Prolly instead of probably
"Patch houses" are what we call "cookie-cutter houses" in AZ, except patch houses were made for coal mine workers.
Steelers are pronounced stillers.
Miles doesn't have an "I" sound but an "a" sound instead so it's mahles. The same with tire and fire.
Creek is pronounced crick.
Sucker bite is a hickey.
Raadiator with a long a sound is radiator.
Cream is lotion.
I guess this "language" is called Pittsburghese because not all of PA sounds like this. I'm sure if we went to Philadelphia, we'd all sound quite a bit different!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
New Favorite Places
No, there may not be a lot of choices, but this is no big city. If you don't like it- too bad because the next store is miles away! So in a small town world, it's good to find some favorite places...
Above is a place called Sheetz. Many East Coasters may laugh that it's apart of my favorites list. That's because it's a gas station. But my husband will testify that he has now spent more money there on food than gas. Yes, this chain gas station is more than just gas. Go inside and it's fast food, mini mart, and coffee bar all in one. Last year when Janelle and I made our first visit to PA, we raved about Sheetz. It's like nothing we've seen before. You go up to a touch screen and order whatever, however, with anything you like. It's just plain brilliant.
My love for coffee turned in to a town wide search. As hard as it was for me to leave a place where there were coffee shops on every block, I've found one in our small town that will satisfy my latte addiction. Their carmel latte may not be as good as Seattle's Best, but their pumpkin spice is better than the rest. Say hello to Panera which is almost exactly like AZ's Wildflower Bread Co with a little Einstein's Bagels flair. MMmm Mmm
Finally, for a little car ride there is a wonderful shopping, dining and entertainment experience: The Waterfront. It takes about
an hour to get there and remember, there is NO traffic. Yes, it's a bit far, but it's our little piece of CA. Outside shopping in twinkling lights, the best AMC theatre I've ever seen, our 
favorite restaurants, and of course, our favorite shops. Thank you Waterfront!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Autism Awareness
Autism: Hope After Diagnosis
A 14 minute video about three families affected by Autism.
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/327416
How This Works
For charity specific donations, whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com will pay $1.00 per view of the designated charity’s videos - until the number of viewings equals the amount donated less .04 per view. The .04 expense is Revver.com's .03/view webhosting charge and California Community Foundation's (CCF) 1% administrative expense. OVER 95% of money donated goes directly to the chosen charity!
Donations to whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com are tax deductible and payable to the California Community Foundation. The foundation's administrative expense is 1% of total donations and paid by whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com
This is my brother C.J. who will be 13 this July. He was not diagnosed until he was half way through kindergarten, even though he showed classic characteristics and symptoms of an Autistic child at the age of 18 months. My Mom and Step-Dad went through a lot of the same things the families in the video did.
C.J. was just recently diagnosed with an allergy to gluten and diary, which is becoming more and more common in Autistic children. Some day I hope they test ALL recently diagnosed Autistic children for these allergies instead of years and years down the road.
A 14 minute video about three families affected by Autism.
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/327416
How This Works
For charity specific donations, whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com will pay $1.00 per view of the designated charity’s videos - until the number of viewings equals the amount donated less .04 per view. The .04 expense is Revver.com's .03/view webhosting charge and California Community Foundation's (CCF) 1% administrative expense. OVER 95% of money donated goes directly to the chosen charity!
Donations to whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com are tax deductible and payable to the California Community Foundation. The foundation's administrative expense is 1% of total donations and paid by whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com
This is my brother C.J. who will be 13 this July. He was not diagnosed until he was half way through kindergarten, even though he showed classic characteristics and symptoms of an Autistic child at the age of 18 months. My Mom and Step-Dad went through a lot of the same things the families in the video did. C.J. was just recently diagnosed with an allergy to gluten and diary, which is becoming more and more common in Autistic children. Some day I hope they test ALL recently diagnosed Autistic children for these allergies instead of years and years down the road.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Gift Confusion...
First of all, my husband MUST love me because he just sat through Hannah Montana followed by High School Musical 2. That is LOVE!
As you know, all our stuff was shipped to Pennsylvania. With us leaving for our honeymoon the day after the wedding and flying directly from Florida to Pennsylvania, we couldn't do much about the gifts that were brought to our reception. Therefore, they were also placed in the shipping container along with shower gifts and all our belongings. This left a very confusing mess once the container got here. I sorted out the shower gifts from the wedding gifts to the best of my memory. Then we went home and opened all our wedding gifts. One bag was full of nothing but cards... wrapped gifts had no tags... and gifts that did not belong in the same bag, ended up in the same bag. So I'm finding now that I have thanked people for the wrong things or have not thanked them at all! What I'm trying to say here is that I'm so sorry if you were not thanked properly. Please let me know if there were any mistakes or you did not receive a card at all. That way I can at least try to write everything correctly in our wedding scrapbook! And again,
As you know, all our stuff was shipped to Pennsylvania. With us leaving for our honeymoon the day after the wedding and flying directly from Florida to Pennsylvania, we couldn't do much about the gifts that were brought to our reception. Therefore, they were also placed in the shipping container along with shower gifts and all our belongings. This left a very confusing mess once the container got here. I sorted out the shower gifts from the wedding gifts to the best of my memory. Then we went home and opened all our wedding gifts. One bag was full of nothing but cards... wrapped gifts had no tags... and gifts that did not belong in the same bag, ended up in the same bag. So I'm finding now that I have thanked people for the wrong things or have not thanked them at all! What I'm trying to say here is that I'm so sorry if you were not thanked properly. Please let me know if there were any mistakes or you did not receive a card at all. That way I can at least try to write everything correctly in our wedding scrapbook! And again,
Thursday, January 17, 2008
PA Reception Date
The date for our Pennsylvania wedding reception has finally been set!
When we were planning our wedding, we automatically knew we'd have another reception for those who lived in PA. Once we moved the wedding from CA to AZ and saved a lot of money, the possibility of having two receptions became real. We left Jan's parents in charge since they were missing out on a lot of the wedding planning process. Originally we wanted to send out wedding invitations to everyone at once- AZ and PA people together. But then we realized that we may have to have them months apart and the PA invitations would get lost with Christmas cards. So I hope all you PA people didn't think you weren't invited to our wedding!! Anyway, I'm happy to announce that a date has been set and a "fire hall" has been booked! March 29th will be our Pennsylvania Reception =) I just hope it's still snowing so we can get pictures like this:
Apparently it snows through April....!! I hope that's true because as a West Coast girl- I think having a winter wonderland reception in the "spring" is a bit far fetched! But I will learn someday soon...
If you want to come, please let us know!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Who knew?!
As you can see, it has snowed again. I'm learning new things about this stuff called snow...
Like that you have to scrape your car because there's ice under all that snow. Here is a car scraper. I'm pretending to use it, as you can see.
But really, Jan is just so much better at it :) Another thing... the doors on cars will freeze shut! Did you know that? Ya, you have to pull a little harder to get them open. Also, power windows- don't try to roll them down! Nothing will happen! And windshield wipers can freeze and get stuck. So, they won't move either when you try to turn them on. Very bad to try. Poor Camry- I would have burned all the tiny little motors out if Jan wasn't around to teach me otherwise! Who knew?!!
Snow falling from the sky is amazing. Who doesn't want to get a bunch of snowflakes in their hair?
Guess what, people?! Snowflakes really look like... well.... snowflakes! haha I know that sounds funny, but the ornaments on your Christmas tree and the paper cut-out snowflakes are really modeled after the real deal. The crazy part is, you don't even need a microscope to see it.
Check these out! They just fell on my jacket/gloves. They're perfect little snowflakes! Click on the pictures to enlarge them- then you can really see the little suckers :) BEAUTIFUL!
My honey loves snow too.
Here's the salt truck putting salt on the road so we don't go slipping and sliding when we drive :) Thanks salt man!
Here's the road a little whiter than usual.
Like that you have to scrape your car because there's ice under all that snow. Here is a car scraper. I'm pretending to use it, as you can see.
But really, Jan is just so much better at it :) Another thing... the doors on cars will freeze shut! Did you know that? Ya, you have to pull a little harder to get them open. Also, power windows- don't try to roll them down! Nothing will happen! And windshield wipers can freeze and get stuck. So, they won't move either when you try to turn them on. Very bad to try. Poor Camry- I would have burned all the tiny little motors out if Jan wasn't around to teach me otherwise! Who knew?!!
Snow falling from the sky is amazing. Who doesn't want to get a bunch of snowflakes in their hair?
Guess what, people?! Snowflakes really look like... well.... snowflakes! haha I know that sounds funny, but the ornaments on your Christmas tree and the paper cut-out snowflakes are really modeled after the real deal. The crazy part is, you don't even need a microscope to see it.
Check these out! They just fell on my jacket/gloves. They're perfect little snowflakes! Click on the pictures to enlarge them- then you can really see the little suckers :) BEAUTIFUL!
My honey loves snow too.
Here's the salt truck putting salt on the road so we don't go slipping and sliding when we drive :) Thanks salt man!
Here's the road a little whiter than usual.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Strike Cancels the Glitz and Glamour
Can I just say, WHAT IS UP WITH THE GOLDEN GLOBES?! My husband and I sat down tonight to watch the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards and came up short handed. Very seldom do I sit down to watch these shows unless they have caught some sort of personal interest. As a child, I always enjoyed award shows to see the glizy and galmourous starlets walk down those red carpets. This year, my interest was caught when Amy Adams was tossed a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy/Musical for her role as Giselle in my new favorite Disney film, "Enchanted". This year, the newbies who were nominated would not get their chance to walk down that red carpet in a new dress/suite, drink free champagne, and have their 2 minutes of endearing acceptance. Nope. This year, the Golden Globes were cancelled because of the writer's strike. So instead, they had a Dateline special about a select few of the nominees and announced the winners Access Hollywood style. LAME. My husband could rightfully not talk to me for making him sit through an hour of boringness. Instead, he kept at my side and, with me, sulked at the most awful version of any award show EVER. Anyway, to wrap it up, all I can say is congrats to Johnny Depp who has finally won a Golden Globe and was unable to give his first acceptance speech.... and to Disney/Pixar for Ratatouille :) haha And I can't wait to see Atonement!
PS To those big shot execs- freaking end the strike and pay those talented writers!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Tour Our Town
Take a tour of our small town through pictures we recently took. Isn't it cute? Now I know you're thinking "what makes a small town infact small?" Well, here are your interesting facts. The population here is at about 12,000. Tempe, AZ is around 169,000. See the difference?!
As with any town on the East Coast, the history in even the smallest of towns is fascinating. This cute little town was founded in 1776, so you can imagine it's history. The French and Indian war started here at Fort Necessity, which I took pictures of at last Christmas. Also, the National Road runs right through town.
As with any town on the East Coast, the history in even the smallest of towns is fascinating. This cute little town was founded in 1776, so you can imagine it's history. The French and Indian war started here at Fort Necessity, which I took pictures of at last Christmas. Also, the National Road runs right through town.
Railroad
Fire Dept.
Cute houses!
University
Downtown
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Our "Unofficial" Wedding Pictures
Thank you to everyone for sending us pictures you had taken at our wedding! And for those of you who didn't send them, I stole them off your various online sites ;p Now everyone can enjoy them by clicking here for the ceremony or here for the reception.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Winter Wonderland Snow- A Gift from 2008
Oh yay, it worked! Good, this will save me a lot of time. Does anyone else have trouble loading photos? I feel like it takes forever- but on this site only. So, I'm going back to my Myspace skills and adding a slideshow. Besides, all pictures of snow are beautiful and I couldn't decide! Anyway, on with the story!
This is Frank, our mini snowman. See, God sent us a wonderful New Year's Day gift late in the afternoon- a soft flow of snowflakes! Suddenly I had the idea that we could make a huge princess snowlady! However, as we got started, I realized, we didn't have quite enough snow. And apparently there is a difference between snowman snow and non-snowman snow. We had non-snowman snow which means it's too light and soft.
Anyway, as the night progressed, so did the snow fall. Soon, Frank was buried beneath the snow.
It snowed all night and into the morning. We woke up to find a winter wonderland. I've never seen nature so amazingly beautiful. To see these huge pine trees full of glistening snow... that was my favorite sight. The road was buried. The Christmas decorations were buried. The roof was covered. The patio was covered. Heck, our cars were covered!
That was the funniest part- seeing my poor AZ Camry buried in the snow!! I know it didn't sign up for this! From AZ to CA to being covered in snowy PA! haha
It was a magical day. We were kids playing in the snow. My husband of course, has seen a lot of snow in his life. But I'm sure this winter wonderland was his favorite, because he shared it with his wife :)
I heart snow!
This is Frank, our mini snowman. See, God sent us a wonderful New Year's Day gift late in the afternoon- a soft flow of snowflakes! Suddenly I had the idea that we could make a huge princess snowlady! However, as we got started, I realized, we didn't have quite enough snow. And apparently there is a difference between snowman snow and non-snowman snow. We had non-snowman snow which means it's too light and soft.
Anyway, as the night progressed, so did the snow fall. Soon, Frank was buried beneath the snow.It snowed all night and into the morning. We woke up to find a winter wonderland. I've never seen nature so amazingly beautiful. To see these huge pine trees full of glistening snow... that was my favorite sight. The road was buried. The Christmas decorations were buried. The roof was covered. The patio was covered. Heck, our cars were covered!
That was the funniest part- seeing my poor AZ Camry buried in the snow!! I know it didn't sign up for this! From AZ to CA to being covered in snowy PA! haha
It was a magical day. We were kids playing in the snow. My husband of course, has seen a lot of snow in his life. But I'm sure this winter wonderland was his favorite, because he shared it with his wife :)
I heart snow!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year
Jan-Michael and I were very excited this new years for the same reason we were excited this Christmas- it would be our first as a married couple!
We drove up to a ski resort nearby called Seven Springs. Twillet and Richard joined us.
Happy 2008!
New year's kiss with the ski slopes behind us!
The best thing about going to Seven Springs is there are quite a few places to go to party! We picked a bar that the ski lifts were near and our table overlooked the slopes! There was a DJ and best of all... it was free!
Happy near year from the East Coast newlyweds!!
We drove up to a ski resort nearby called Seven Springs. Twillet and Richard joined us.
Happy 2008!
New year's kiss with the ski slopes behind us!
The best thing about going to Seven Springs is there are quite a few places to go to party! We picked a bar that the ski lifts were near and our table overlooked the slopes! There was a DJ and best of all... it was free!
Happy near year from the East Coast newlyweds!!
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