Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

Which is precisely why I cannot tell you all what my new thing for today was. This is because a loyal reader of mine would have a Christmas surprise ruined if I posted about what I did. Just know that I have made a note to come back after December 25th and post about it! :-)

The gingerbread latte substitute...

... except not?

A few weeks ago, I spotted all kinds of egg nog goodness in the store: Pumpkin spice nog, sugar cookie egg nog, and (best of all) gingerbread egg nog. I was so excited, as eggnog and gingerbread lattes are my favorite holiday treats, and now I could combine the two!

So, last night, I drank a glass of gingerbread egg nog. It was... good, I guess. But not egg noggy enough and not thick enough. Oh, sad day. I'll certainly finish off the carton over the next week or so, but it wasn't what I was expecting!

Oh, well. Not all new things can be great things, right?

Orange you excited for me?

Who knew I'd get to start a blog title with "Orange" twice in a month? Exciting stuff.

Anyway, for months I have had my eye on the enV phone by LG. This is because this is the only cell phone I have ever seen that is orange. Anyone who knows me knows that I must have as many orange things as I can. So this was the next logical step!

Sadly, the phone was too stinking expensive, even with my $100 "New every 2" discount applied... until this weekend! I saw it was on sale and was able to order it FOR FREEEEEE!!! Sooo, so, so exciting.

Anyway, so today the nice FedEx man (or woman, I didn't see) dropped off my phone, and I eagerly charged it so I could use it! So here are the new things that came from this purchase:

(1) I deactivated an old cell phone without taking it to the store.
(2) I activated my new cell phone without taking it to the store.
(3) I sent a text message from my phone using a little keyboard with actual letters.
(4) I now own an orange cell phone.

That has indeed been the excitement of the day for me! Now I am playing around on a website to get real (truly) free ringtones so I can give everyone a new song. Yay for not paying $2.99 per ringtone! :-)

They say you can't take it with you...

But I say: Oh yes, you can!!

I did 2 kind of silly (but still new) things today.

First of all, I took leftovers from Ohio and ate them at work in Virginia. This was all made possible by my food carrier that can be plugged into the car charger and will keep food and drink either warm or cold. So that was exciting. I've never been able to eat my mom's pepper steak anywhere that wasn't Ohio.

Secondly, I went through a drive-through at a Starbucks. I've SEEN them before, but never had the opportunity to actually utilize this (all-too-rare) feature. It may sound a little lazy of me, but I appreciated not having to actively turn down any of the food or other treats that I'm tempted by as I stand in line inside. Oh, and in keeping with the "let's try iced holiday drinks" train of thought, I ordered an iced pumpkin spice latte. It was okay, but I'd really just rather have the pumpkin spice frappucino if I feel like I need cold pumpkin spice.

The WVU Un-Marching Band?

Today was a very bizarre day in that it was absolutely NOTHING like I had planned or expected it to be, except that it did involve about 6 hours of driving!

My sister had planned a visit to West Virginia University to see the campus, visit some friends, and go to a marching band performance. My parents were supposed to take her, and I was supposed to head back to VA, but they ended up needing to go be with my grandparents instead. So I did some quick thinking and schedule rearranging and offered to take her so she wouldn't miss out on her plans.

So I guess the first new thing was that I drove to Morgantown, West Virginia. Then I went to the campus of West Virginia University.

But the biggest new thing for me was that I attended a marching band performance... INDOORS. My sister's high school does this crazy thing, and I'd never heard of it before--a marching band performance in an auditorium? WTFBBQ? Now, I marched in high school and have attended countless marching band performances--both college and high school--and have never heard of performances inside. It sounded like a deafening alternative to an enjoyable experience!

Well, it kind of was (deafening), but it was also enjoyable. Their drum line was excellent, and so were their twirlers. I say "twirlers" because one of them was a boy and he was actually outstanding! Anyway, it was a cool experience to hear a 300-piece marching band playing inside (though I would have also liked to hear them on the field to have a comparison).

And that was my crazy, unplanned day. :)

Iced gingerbread?

I've certainly had my share of iced gingerbread cookies in the past. But I'd never thought to modify my VERY FAVORITE holiday treat--the Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks.

Srsly.

I love my gingerbread lattes. I have traditions that involve them, one being that I can never ever EVER have one before Thanksgiving Eve each year. I love them so very much, but they must only be consumed after the Christmas season has officially kicked in.

But sometimes a hot drink is boring in that I feel like I have to sip it and that I have to take a really long time to drink it all. I've tried some of my other favorite drinks iced and have had mixed feelings about them.

Nevertheless, I took a chance and I drank an iced gingerbread latte. Oh my goodness, it was so good. I still got the whipped cream on top and mixed it all in and it was delicious.

I won't give up my hot gingerbread lattes for the iced--December is usually cold enough to warrant the hot drinks--but it was a good alternative!

Oui, Wii!

This may not sound terribly exciting or new to anyone else in the world, but I did something today that I have been trying to do for almost a full year:

I knocked down all 91 pins in one throw of the ball in the final bowling training round on the Wii.

I have been trying to do this for a very long time. My stinker of a father (who, by the way, has never enjoyed or begged to play video games of any kind until I brought home the Wii last Christmas) managed to do it on his FIRST TRY on the training round last year. And we were all very mad at him. He also knocked down all 91 pins twice this time around before I did.

ANYHOW! I wish I'd had my camera to capture this feat, but one never knows when one is going to do amazing, astounding, unbelievable things.

I also watched my sister cut down a Christmas tree today--alas, I cut down my own tree when I lived in Raleigh, so that was not an option for a new thing for me today. But it was fun watching her try to saw through the trunk. :)