We All Scream for Ice Cream!

So this morning, I was reading the news on CNN and was pretty surprised to come across this article: "PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk". OK, so I'm all about preventing cruelty to animals and standing up for animal rights...but this might be taking it a little too far.

Here is the letter that the PETA wrote to the owners of Ben and Jerry's, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield:

September 23, 2008

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Cofounders

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.

Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,

On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's.

Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits.

Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease-America's number one cause of death.

Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.

And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.

The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman

Executive Vice President




Who wants some Chunky Monkey?

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzz

This weekend, Adam and I traveled up to Scranton, Pennsylvania to pick up a bedroom set that belonged to his grandparents. The whole set is cherry and it is both beautiful and in amazing condition. We're excited that this will be one less thing for us to buy when we eventually move in together.


For those of you who know me well, you'll know that I am extremely attached to my bed. In fact, when I was growing up and people would come and visit (even my grandparents), I used to throw a fit if I would have to surrender my bed to someone else. Well, I am still in love with my bed, and crawling under my covers, turning on the TV and unwinding in bed at night is one of my favorite times of the day.

I thought that since this blog is about beds and sleeping, I would fill you in on some of the "40 Facts About Sleep You Probably Didn't Know (Or were too tired to think about....)":

- Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you're sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.

- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year (I left this fact in here specifically for my sister)

- No-one knows for sure if other species dream but some do have sleep cycles similar to humans.

- Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - sleep and consciousness.

- Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock.

- The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.

- Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t wake. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of sleep, has the greatest disruptive effect on the sleep cycle.

- The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.

- Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a "neural switch" in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.

- To drop off we must cool off; body temperature and the brain's sleep-wake cycle are closely linked. That's why hot summer nights can cause a restless sleep. The blood flow mechanism that transfers core body heat to the skin works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in life, the comfort zone shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees - one reason why older people have more sleep disorders.

- After five nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've slept enough.

- Humans sleep on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom sleep for 10 hours.

- Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.

- Ten per cent of snorers have sleep apnoea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke

- Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal

- Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.

- Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of sleep for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.

- Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.

- Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet

Happy Birthday Adam!

Yesterday was Adam's birthday, he turned the big 23! Last night, we went out to an amazing tapas restaurant, Pazo in Baltimore. I would recommend it to anyone! The atmosphere was laid-back and lounge-like, the service was good and the food was unique, healthy and amazing. We had a fun night out, and even got 2 free glasses of champagne to make a birthday toast.

Today, Adam's parents came down for dinner to celebrate his birthday yet again. With a little help from Rachael Ray, I made chicken parmigiana sandwiches. Of course, I also made the cake! Chocolate cake with peanut butter icing (Adam's favorite).

Tobey turned 6 months old today, and to celebrate, he got a new bed and a new rag bone.

Here are some pictures of our celebrations:

HUZZAH!

Today was a beautiful day, so Adam and I decided to head down to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. It was crowded, but we had a good time walking around and seeing all of the various shows. Adam enjoyed the "Ye Olde Ale" and we both enjoyed juggling, jousting and sword swallowing. Here are some pictures from our day:

Morning Coffee

This morning, I got up and drove to the metro station as usual to go to work. For those of you who know me, usually I have metro stories that include people who smell, people who almost sit on top of you trying to squeeze into the small seat next to you, people pushing, shoving and hitting to get out at certain stations and people crammed in like sardines when the train is late. Well, today was a breath of fresh air...today, I have a positive metro story.

I got onto the train this morning, and, per usual, looked for the least threatening person to sit next to, which today, happened to be an old man, who I would estimate was about 90. I was kind of surprised to see someone so elderly on the Baltimore Metro. I went over, sat down, and proceeded to gaze intently out the window, counting down the minutes until I could escape into the outside world again. The man must have seen my Department of Veterans' Affairs badge, because he started talking to me:
Man: "So you work for the VA?"
Me: "Yes, that's where I'm headed right now. Where are you headed?"
Man: "Everyday, I get on this train and come down to Baltimore to visit my wife"
Me: "Oh yeah? where is your wife?"
Man: "She's been in the hospital for 6 months now, I come down every morning around 7:00 and leave every afternoon around 3:30"
Me: "Wow, you must be a very devoted husband"
Man: "After 65 years of being married to someone, I can't imagine having my morning coffee by myself, so I come down here every morning to have my coffee with her"

We continued to talk for the rest of the ride, then I got off at my stop, and he continued on the train.

The whole conversation made me think about something my mom wrote to me in an email the other day:

"It's funny how things come down to those wedding vows you take when you are very young-"For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, til death do us part." When you are young and healthy and everything is looking great, you don't think about that pledge you make. They are just words. But, when you are with someone for 25 or 30 years-they are actions and thoughts and sticking with someone because you promised."

These are the things that I will think about alot over the next year and 3 months...I hope in 65 years, Adam will love me enough to travel every morning to drink his morning cup of coffee with me, no matter where I am....on second thought, Adam doesn't even like coffee.

Back to work

This week has been spent recovering from vacation, getting caught up on work and just getting back into the swing of things. Nothing too exciting going on...but I thought I would share some pictures of Savannah, and Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady and Sons.

I was kind of disappointed, I guess I was expecting Paula to pop out with a huge pad of butter and some homemade biscuits, but really there was just a big buffet and some mediocre peach cobbler. Oh well. I absolutely LOVED Savannah, even though it poured rain the entire time we were there. I hope someday I can go back for a weekend just to wander around and check out all of the amazing old houses.

Savannah's City Hall:


I took this picture after rushing to the restaurant so we could be in line by 9:00 AM to get a reservation:

I made Adam take a picture of the buffet, which really looks like pretty much every other buffet:


Sorry there aren't too many pictures, but as I said...it was pouring the whole time we were there.

In Tobey news, after his week away from us, he has returned and I think he still remembers Adam and me.

In wedding news, Adam, My Mom and I are going to look at the Hershey Country Club this Saturday....keeping my fingers crossed that it is the perfect reception location.

Beach Bound

On Saturday, I woke up at 5:00 AM and Adam and I started the long drive to Hilton Head Island, SC, where his parents had rented a condo for the week. After 10 hours, and a traumatic stick shift driving lesson on my part, we arrived at the beach around 4:00 PM. Since then, we have pretty much been doing nothing, so there really isn't anything exciting write about. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.



It is my new opinion that I really do not want to go to work again next week, but I guess I won't think about that right now.

Tomorrow we're headed to Savannah for the day and I cannot WAIT.

Plan B

So, to make a long story short, we were screwed over by the Hotel Hershey, who apparently double booked the room the wedding was supposed to be in on December 5, 2009. Thus, we have to come up with a Plan B. I thought I would explain the options, and if anyone reads this thing...please comment and let me know what you think....

Option 1.
Place: Hershey Country Club
Date: December 5, 2009

Option 2.
Place: West Shore Country Club
Date: October 3, 10, 17 or 24, 2009 (whatever weekend is available)

Option 3.
Place: New Room in the Hershey Hotel's "Great Expansion" (the room is supposed to be finished in June, 2009, but we have no idea what it will look like or whether it will be ready in time)
Date: December 5, 2009

Option 4.
Place: Hershey Lodge
Date: Sometime in October

Option 5.
Place: Eloping in Las Vegas with an Elvis-Themed Wedding
Date: Next Weekend


There ya go...if you read this, comment and let me know which one has your vote, as I am kind of up in the air and disappointed right now.

The good news is....tomorrow is the last day of work before a wonderful week in Hilton Head, S.C.

Growing Up Puppy

Today Tobey went to the vet and got 4 shots, one in each shoulder. Afterward he seemed fine, but later on tonight, he got really tired and started looking really sad. I feel so bad for him and hope he feels better tomorrow.

Next week he will have a new adventure...when he goes to the kennel!

Receptions and Flowers and Centerpieces...OH MY!

This weekend was one filled with reception-venue hunting. After mapping out all of my options, my mom, Adam, Adam's mom and I went out on Saturday to look at some different places. Needless to say, it was an exhausting day!

After the day however....WE MADE A DECISION!

The winner is: The beautiful Hotel Hershey















We are both very excited about the decision and cannot wait until December 5, 2009.