Quantum of Solace

To continue our tradition of competition, Marcel and I each filled out a bracket for the NCAA March Madness tournament. As always, Marcel followed all the teams the whole season and MaryBeth simply waited to complete the bracket when it became available and simply went based on seeding and if she had heard of the teams or not--it was enough for her to win the last 2 years! However this year, it wasn't. Marcel won the bet this year, and marked the first bet he's won on a sporting event. I am now 6-2, still something I think is worth bragging about! Last year, going into the championship game, I was down by 9 points and if Kansas won it all I'd get 10 points and end up winning (I only picked Kansas to win the whole thing because Hannah had just moved there!) and they did so I won too! This year I was up by 3 but Marcel had a chance to get 10 points if UNC won, which they did ;( I decided it was pretty cool that for the last 2 years one of us had correctly picked the champion!

We decided we were going to win a movie of our choice for winning. I wanted him to buy me Marley & Me, and he picked:

Quantum of Solace (007)

I'm gladly buying it to fulfill the bet but am very disappointed to be adding a "boy" movie to our movie collection. Marley & Me would have fit in much better!

There's always next year :)

6-1

Today, Marcel and I were lucky enough to watch the Super Bowl with some of his closest friends (who have a very nice new house that I'd love to have when I have a family with lots of kids and its my own house). We had a great time and it was nice for him to be able to catch up with old friends.

The main reason for this post though is not for rekindling friendships, but to let it be known that my winning streak is back on! 6-1 and counting! I got a phone call early one morning (maybe afternoon, but it was early for me) and on the other end was Marcel claiming the Arizona Cardinals as his pick for Super Bowl XLIII, leaving me with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I at first didn't want to take the bet, but decided that wasn't in the spirit of our betting history. Normally the prize is something related to the bet (SYTYCD tour tickets for the winner of our SYTYCD bet) or planning a surprise date but this time we each picked a date we wanted to go on. Marcel picked to go to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) to see the Da Vinci exhibit. I picked ice cream, ice skating and a night at the soaking pool.

I'm sure Marcel will be very grateful for his warm hat and gloves from Christmas on an upcoming day at the ice rink.

SYTYCD Tour Stop in Portland, Oregon

Last night, I was able to come clean on my latest bet with Marcel Drew: So You Think You Can Dance. As you all know (if not, see previous post "You Gotta Lose Every Once in Awhile"), I lost a bet with Marcel for the first time out of 6. Back in early August, I bought us tickets to their tour stop in Portland and the night finally came. We had never been before and didn't really know what to expect but it turned out to be just the best dances from the season, and very few new dances. We had great seats for me being poor and buying the cheapest tickets possible! We happened to be in the front row of the "bad" section so we were able to see everything perfectly(I did wear my glasses just to help that much more!).

Marcel again was the photographer so I had 130 pictures to go through but I think I found some of the best ones to show!






And during the very last dance I remembered to tell Marcel that my camera has a video camera on it so he got the end of one of the winner's dances, but then he recorded their new dance that was sort of like an encore. Don't mind the little bit of the video he took of me in the middle of the dance. Enjoy!

You Gotta Lose Every Once in a While, Right?

It seems like me and Marcel always have a bet of some sort going on. Most of the time it is on normal stuff, March Madness and the Super Bowl, and we've adapted things to our own way of determining a winner, but in addition we also place bets on "So You Think You Can Dance?". For this show, after the Top 20 is announced, we each pick our favorite girl and favorite guy dancer and whoever has the last dancer standing wins (regardless of that dancer actually winning the competition). I decided just a few weeks ago that I owe our relationship to this show. For those of you who may not know, me and Marcel started dating after just a few weeks of REALLY knowing each other and for only a week before we were forced into a long-distance relationship; school was out and he returned home to Washington. We had yet to realize all the things we have in common (trust me, it took some time for that to happen between 2 pretty different people) but we did know that we both loved the show SYTYCD. It seems that no matter how often we talked, we only talked about what happened on the show, what was going to happen, who we liked, who we didn't, etc, so it helped form the foundation of our relationship from the very beginning. Before this season of SYTYCD, I was 5-0 (2 dance seasons, 2 basketball tournaments, and the latest Super Bowl) in our bets, but as of last night both of my dancers, Will and Kherrington, have been eliminated and Marcel has one (Josh) left, making him the winner. Its funny, though, because I originally picked his remaining dancer and after him complaining I picked someone else, so I should have won again, but life will go on and its something pretty easy for me to sacrifice for the benefit of our amazing relationship. So for losing, I'm buying 2 tickets to their tour stop in Portland, OR. Normally the prize is just a date of any kind that you decide, but we decided the tour tickets were fitting, since it was what we bet on, so we will be attending their Sept. 21 show at the Rose Garden, my treat!The dancers we'll be seeing