watching our first kentucky derby.

it's our first weekend home together in almost a month & we we're perfectly happy being complete bums today. 

last week we saw this 60 Minutes feature about Rosie, the female jockey riding in this year's derby, which piqued my interest in watching the race. to be honest, i didn't find her likable at all, so my money was on #12, it's my lucky day, and ting was rooting for Kevin Krigger. good thing we didn't bet anything more than a back scratch. 

had to wear a hat.

 his little legs like he's a running horse.

ting's hat choice would not be acceptable at churchill downs. 

super bowl sunday is coming...

did you know they're fan-made? and did you know that you have a say in which one will be aired during the big game? danny and i watched this year's five finalists and there were two commercials that made us laugh so much, we watched them twice. can you guess which ones?

doritos crash the super bowl commercials: watch & vote here.

this promotion is extra cool to me because my fellow advertising girl, carlye, managed this account and promotion at her ad agency in texas, which landed her an awesome trip to the Super Bowl last year! 

watching these proves the old marketing theory... babies and animals reign king.

hooray! HBO's GIRLS is back starting tonight.

we love us some sunday night TV watching.

but since Showtime's Homeland and Dexter ended a couple of weeks ago, 

we haven't had much to watch except for our beloved 60 minutes (we're devoted watchers). 

well tonight that all changes since HBO's GIRLS is back!

we absolutely fell in love with the premier season and can't wait for more.

 it's smart. it's funny. it's real. it's a little raunchy. lena dunham is basically a genius.

happy sunday.

homeland :: my favorite show on television.

that, my friends, says Season Finale of Showtime's Homeland. boy oh boy do i love that show. do you watch? we just watched the finale of season two and it did not disappoint. just when you think you have things figured out... eeeek!

the show is about a US Marine who becomes a prisoner of war in Iraq for eight years, and then returns to the US as a war hero. a female CIA agent, played phenomenally by Claire Danes, suspects he may have been turned into a terrorist and is back in the US with ill intentions. twists. turns. smart story line. amazing acting. i highly recommend you watch Season 1 this holiday break. and yes, you must start from the beginning. 

hunter was super into the finale, too. 

and the oscar goes to...

I love the Academy Awards. I love awards shows in general but the Oscars take the cake for me with the Grammys a close second. I that these shows are always on a Sunday... it's the perfect day to make snacks, lounge on the couch, watch E!'s red carpet special and battle with Ting as we guess in each category. It should be extra fun this year since we've seen a lot of the movies - 8/10 for Best Picture along with a handful of other nominees (we added Exit Through The Gift Shop to our list last night). We def have our favorites (King's Speech, True Grit, Social Network, Black Swan & The Kids Are All Right) and least favorite (Animal Kingdom - sorry Aussie friends).

This year, I organized my company's Oscar Pool. Here's the nifty guessing sheet... I have everyone's guesses and will be scoring throughout the show to see who will take home the $50 pot. An extra bit of fun for tonight.

happy sunday & happy academy awards watching.

don't be a gloria.

Modern Family is a favorite TV show of ours. It's relatable and laugh out loud funny. If you don't currently watch, do yourself a favor and go rent or download Season 1 and get hooked. Wednesdays on ABC.

Last night one of the characters, Gloria, was fretting over accidentally sending an e-mail. You've probably done it before, right? The "swoosh" sound as it sends followed by that drop in your stomach realizing it's already landed in an inbox... typos galore and to the wrong recipient.

Well, fret no more. Did you know Gmail has a feature that allows you to un-send an e-mail within 30 seconds of sending it? Yup! It's call The Undo Button. In the past, the lesser-known Gmail feature only gave you 5 seconds to un-send, but a few months ago, the service extended that limit to 30 seconds. (yes, this is similar to Outlook's recall button but who knew Gmail had such a thing? I didn't until very recently.)

To unlock this ability:
1. Click the little green icon on the top right of your inbox, which will take you to Google Labs.
2. Find "Enable Undo Send" (you'll need to scroll down a bit).
3. After enabling it, you still have to go up to "settings" to change the duration.
4. Choose from 10-30 seconds.

Just for fun... another Gmail feature, "Mail Goggles," can prevent drunk e-mailing during any window of time you assign (say, 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.). If you should try to send a note during this time, Gmail will ask you to complete a few simple math problems before you proceed with the emailing. (Go to Google Lab to set-up)

tgif.

I really try to avoid using the term "TGIF" but I can't help it this week. It's exactly how I (we) feel today. 

But, instead of recapping and documenting all of this week's moments that have made me want to scream "TGIF" from the rooftops today, let's focus on the things we did "TG" for this week...

good friends who always have your back - you know who you are. 

a surprise package in the mail. 

alex randomly stopping by for a glass of wine. 

a new, yummy & healthy chicken taco recipe.

the iPhone 4 (thanks, love).

a lifelong mentor and their advice. 

a sweet e-mail from carlye that came at just the right moment.

parents who love watching our Hunterman for us.

hearing that a favorite band of ours is coming to town this month.

discovering dad's leftover ice cream bars in the freezer.

sushi happy hour & the morning dew roll.

jared telling us he's coming to visit sometime soon.

seeing our wedding video clips for the first time.

compassion and hugs.

funny TV shows like Modern Family & Glee. 

...happy friday...

love, the tings 

super sunny california.

The Arizona sun followed The Tings to Southern California this weekend. The entire state saw record breaking heat ... similar to when we visited NYC & Washington, D.C. earlier this summer. Although I have to say that 90+ degrees and breezy on the beach isn't so bad.  

Quick recap of our weekend. On Saturday, we did lunch at Summer House in Corona Del Mar before Colbs and I headed to downtown San Diego to look at wedding venue options (and I think we have a winner!). Danny and Jake spent the day beach cruising around Newport Beach and making friends at the local beach bars - well, that's what they tell us.

By Saturday night, we were all worn out from the big wedding the night before plus a full day in the sun. So Tone and Brian came over for pizza, wine, Jeopardy and a few rounds of Catch Phrase... the Two Tings + Jake won (just saying). 

The weekend ended with a leisurely Sunday Funday champagne brunch at Woody's Wharf in Newport Beach.

D and I took an evening flight home, grabbed dinner to-go and were on the couch for the anticipated return of Dexter, our favorite TV series on Showtime. Do you watch? If not, rent Season 1 on DVD asap.

Jam-packed, perfect California weekend getaway.