Whrrl: Christmas Day

A few highlights from our Christmas day as documented on my Whrrl story. It was my first one so give me a break.

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Merry Christmas

Dear Family & Friends,

2009 has been a wonderful year for the Randle family. We’ve grown a lot as Nancy and I are approaching five years of marriage and Derek is nearly three years old. We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs, but we have been blessed so much throughout the year. Hey, we even got two In-N-Out Burgers within 10 miles of our condo!

I’ve been busy with the usual: editing, playing hockey and pressuring Derek into liking what I like (it isn’t too hard.) I’ve had a great experience working this year and look forward to improving that much more in 2010. One of the highlights of my year was going to see the Anaheim Ducks beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Game 6 of the 2009 playoffs. Nancy got me a ticket while I was in California by myself on business. What a great anniversary present!

Nancy stays busy and she is very helpful. She’s always looking to help our friends and family and is a great example of love and service to Derek and me. I would say a highlight of Nancy’s year was going to see The Killers concert in Salt Lake City. Her younger brother came home from his LDS mission to Taiwan and we had the whole family together for the first time in two years. It was awesome (just imagine the shopping with her sisters!)

Derek is the one we like to talk about most. If you asked Derek what he would like to do today he would respond, “Go to Disneyland and see Bu-Buzz Lightyear and Zurg.” The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it? Derek gave us quite the scare by needing hernia surgery, but everything went really well. We’ve stopped making him move furniture around so he won’t strain himself again. Haha. Derek also loves baseball. I took Derek to an Angels game with my dad and brothers. We sat in the nosebleeds in far right field. Being so far away from the action, Derek looked at me, about two innings into the game, and said “Dad, look,” as he pointed to the infield, “there is a baseball game... over there!” He’s hilarious.

You can catch up with us throughout the year on our blog at randlereruns.blogspot.com. We look forward to 2010 and wish you all a very happy holiday season.

With love,

Bryce, Nancy and Derek

Merry Christmas

and a happy New Year!

More than a top ten list

A couple of weeks ago, James, my brother-in-law who is married to Nikki, e-mailed me about a sort of top ten list of reasons you can tell you are married to a Knight. After a couple of e-mails back and forth between James, Mike (Heidi's husband) and me, we came up with the list below. Some of them will seem kind of odd, but that's probably because you aren't married to a Knight.

"So Bryce, Mike, and I are so glad we married into the Knight family. We are especially thankful for the Knight women in our lives. While musing upon our gratitude for this particular blessing during this Thanksgiving season, we discovered a few commonalities between these special Knight women… :)

You might be married to a Knight if…

1. You own more than one of the following red items: couch, curtains, walls, doors, dishes…

2. Your wife knows where the nearest five Target locations are and the fastest routes to them, between them, during rush hour, on Saturdays at 1pm…

3. Your wife sends you to Walmart when she is compelled to purchase items there because they are currently out of stock at the nearest five Targets.

4. Your wife calls her sisters to notify them of Target sales locally and to see if the same sale is going on in their end of the US, and asks them to purchase things on sale there and ship them to her (even though this may actually end up costing more (not including time)… that’s not the point, the point is, “I got such a good deal on it!”)

5. Your wife has recently composed a sonnet, blog, or ode to Target. http://randlereruns.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-may-have-mentioned-it-before-but-i.html

6. Your wife can't manage to write a blog without including (have I mentioned I LOVE Target?!)

7. As a last tribute to Target related humor… “We believe that Target is the only place to shop; we believe in all that Target has released on clearance, all that is now on clearance, and we believe Target will yet release on clearance many great and important things pertaining to my house decor; Perdition, thy name be Wal Mart, Amen.”

8. Everything is SOooooo cute! especially baby clothes from Gymboree or amazing deals from a craft store.

9. Your wife buys things she already has because they’ve gone more on sale and she can now return them to get an additional 25 cents off (notice this one may happen multiple times for the same item, for example, if it continues to decrease in price over a one year period)

10. …if you’ve ever heard your wife say, “Oh my Heck!” when frustrated.

11. Your wife secretly wants to name your next kid Bono or Edge (maybe just as a middle name) (and in the case of Natalie – Bowser)

12. Waking your wife up from a nap necessitates wearing a facemask, cup, defensive attack dog training gloves and steel-toed boots. Not to mention an up-to-date last will and testament

13. If you happen to have strawberries in your fridge, regardless of the season, price of the strawberries, or quality

14. If the only thing colder than your wife's hands are her feet, and the only thing colder than your wife's feet is liquid nitrogen or perhaps the dark side of the moon.

15. If you have an entire cupboard set apart for chocolate chips; alternately, your food storage might consist primarily of chocolate chips.

16. If you've received the evil eye for teasing…

17. "Yous guys" come up now and then.

18. If 'Quest Voice' means something to you (a special tone of voice reserved for the damned)

19. There is only one word for how food tastes when it is good "Tasty"

20. Your mother-in-law often uses the phrase give me peace! in a her best Minnie mouse voice.

21. Your wife purses her lips and has a very serious stare while fixing her hair or applying makeup in the mirror

22. You’re the luckiest guy on earth

We realize that we haven’t even considered all the shoe-related indicators, but the list was already getting pretty long, so we’ve decided to reserve shoe-humor for later."

I may have mentioned it before, but I love Target

Well, they got me again. I love Target. Oh, passionately love. The sales, the clearance, the totally-cool-looking-things-that-look-like-Pottery-Barn-for-a-fraction-of-the-price, the clearance, the prices, the many checkout lanes, the red logo, the open aisles, the lack of lame music playing, the fact that nothing is stacked on the top shelf (except toys at Christmas), the cool phones that make people come to you in 30 seconds (or the voice record lady will get mad), the clean bathrooms, the cheap food, the clearance, the lighting, the selection, and, well, I could go ON AND ON AND ON AND ON. I LOOOOOOVE Target.

Then they put out this totally cool and awesome Thanksgiving commercial staring another Nancy. I love my name and I love Target. Could I POSSIBLY be their TARGET audience? Good thing I studied advertising in school or they may have got me. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: I love Target advertising too.

Here is the commercial:

I can't decide if the cut-out paper turkey leg or answering the door with a bowl and a whisk it my favorite part. Hahaha.

On a side note, when I was in school I did some Comms research paper and read a book about Target and why they are so successful. I only read about half of it due to my amount of procrastination and it not being the true subject of my assigned topic and luck in library due dates (yes, I know about renewing. I did it twice.) So I told myself I would read it when I have more time. Hummm. If only I had more time AND could remember the name of the book. I guess I could read through my research papers from college and see if I referenced it correctly. But man, I need time for that too. Anyway.

So dear Target: I love you. Happy Thanksgiving. I'll see you several times next week, as always.

XOXO, Nancy

ps: there is a total ban on anyone making a comment here about their dislike of Target. This is my blog and I say so. Plus I always protect what I love.

pps: this post is dedicated to Nikki, Heidi, Melanie and Bryce (He has to go there a lot. At least he can get a dedication. Think of it like the beginning of a children's book. Doncha ever wish that was you?)

My Red Dyson = Love

My friend was asking what kind of vacuum to buy on Facebook with a $300 budget. I raved about my Dyson and felt like I needed to post it on some forum or something. Then I remembered I have a blog and can post my opinions to it whenever I want... and I haven't done so in quite some time... Anyway, the post:

My Dyson is seriously one of my ultimate, TOTALLY worth it purchases. I love it - especially how unbelievably satisfying it is to vacuum and see how much stuff you pull up. The cord is long, the bag-less feature is easy to use, you can switch it to a canister-type style (for hard floors) with an attachment, the hose is like 17 feet long, there is a lifetime filter, 5 year warranty, it is light and it hasn't ever given me a problem.

The best way to get a deal on a Dyson is search online for a store front that has a sale going on -- then take it to Bed Bath and Beyond to price match. My sister got her $500 version (DC 24) for $320! But there is usually a good one with attachments and an extra filter at Costco. I actually sold some extra attachments mine came with on eBay for $10-$20 too... but they do have some pretty cool attachments I love...

Mine is the regular (DC 07) version, but I am jealous of the new(er) Ball addition and the quick-draw hose feature.

I have heard mixed reviews from other people of the Dyson, but I have been nothing but totally satisfied (OBVIOUSLY!) I threw my $150 Dirt Devil away after 18 months with a newer $30 filter. What a waste!

Some bonus Derek pictures

I think my sisters would kill me unless I posted some pictures of Derek too. I'll choose a few here and put the rest on Flickr.

At the Owlz game.
Eating his cute cookie at Disneyland.
Exhausted after Disneyland day #1.

Projects and over-run budgets.

TA-DA! A blog post! I know, I know, how exciting.

I just finished my latest project for my living room. The South end has been redone and I thought I would share the progress.

The family pictures: Family pictures are always an ordeal, even when you don't want them to be. When my sister Nikki was in town, we went shopping for clothes. 17 outfits later (okay, maybe there were only 15), we decided on what I should wear. Then Bryce and Derek's outfits were easy to find. I then decided to take the pictures at Wadley Farms in Lindon. Clay came with us to make Derek smile -- somehow a grown man with a light saber always does the trick! (Thanks again, Clay.)

We did Rick Nye's new website and left some cash at the end for an updated family picture. I did take the picture of Derek on the right -- he wouldn't cooperate long enough for Rick to take a picture, so Mike and Claire let us use their backyard as a backdrop a few days later.

The coffee/end tables & frames: I went in to Four Chairs to order some frames for our family pictures and I saw the tables. I knew I had to have them! They came in a set, so I decided I needed both end and the coffee table. That meant we had to rearrange the living room, moving the entertainment center and rearranging the media stuff. That was quite the project. I also had a hard time deciding on a frame color, but I think black will be traditional enough throughout the years. (I do Four Chairs' website too. But don't look at it now. It's in the middle of being revamped.)

The lamps: I got a black lamp base and pretty red lamp shade for our wedding. I realized a little while later that I should have two -- one for my side of the bed and one for Bryce -- but Target decided to no longer carry the shade. A few years later I noticed the base on clearance, so I bought it. A short while after that, we moved and one of the bases was dropped and broken (the guilty person will remain nameless).

Now fast-forward to the present. I had two new black end tables, one functioning black base, one broken black base and one red shade. I went to Lowe's and (all by myself) found the necessary pieces to fix the broken base. I then browsed online and found a darling lamp shade for $250. I then kept looking for lamp shades and found one at Target.

I then decided that I wanted something more unique for my totally-awesome-and-totally-unique end tables. So I went to six stores and then decided that the Target lamp shades were totally-awesome-and-totally-unique-especially-for-their-price. I then went to JoAnn's and bought beads and trim to spice them up. An hour later with the hot hot glue gun, they look pretty dang good. (And no, I didn't make a mistake. I meant to say hot twice. Just ask my right thumb.)

I also spent an evening with my Lowe's fix-it parts and my broken lamp base. I was only electrocuted once (and tripped the power twice), but I fixed my broken base for a little less than $10. It was so worth it.

The couch and accessories: the same ol' red couch. In my wildest dreams I will get a new one someday. I have fabric left over from the curtains for toss pillows. What a concept. So for today, just let the couch be. The throw has been at Target for months and it finally went on clearance, which means I have no restraint. Hooray for Target clearance.

I want something else for the East wall and some sort of finishing touch with the picture frames. Maybe someday we'll decide what to do with our lives, we'll own something and I will be able to paint too.

But hey, several projects and several over-run budgets later, I couldn't be happier about my new South-end in my living room. And my cute family hanging on the wall.