I have cleansed my soul...

or at least my inbox.

I just did a major cleaning of my gmail inbox. I had over 500 messages in there! I've started to streamline everything since next week it becomes my main lifeline to work.

I will start work at the print shop around the 4 or 5th of Jan. Meanwhile, I'm working on getting everything worked out to make it as easy as possible to work from home when the need arises. This means clearing off the laptop, streamlining and forwarding my email accounts to one account. I created a new account for my design company (name - Zenbot Design) and I'm working on figuring out what exactly it is that I need. I'm currently salivating over this little gem, but it's not something I need right now... but damn I do want it. Okay, so it's somewhat expensive... but I do get student discounts! (And here's hoping I can write off at least part of it at the end of the year.)

I'm in a cleansing mood, actually. I don't know if it's because of my inner-mom kicking in due to Rob being sick, or what... but I'm not arguing! I'm looking forward to working at home on learning my new software and getting everything ready for my new job.

Wish me luck!

Hey interwebz!

Opinions needed - Do you think that these are full size brushes? I love the brand, the price is right, but I don't like using travel sized brushes.

I've been busy!

Since Monday, I haven't eaten all that much because I haven't been feeling well. Oddly enough, while the thought of ingesting food made me queasy, the thought of making/baking it made me happy. So during the time when I couldn't eat what I was making, I did a great deal of baking... and other things that rhyme as well!

These are the chocolate crinkles I made. Not to toot my own horn, but they're a favorite of just about everyone who tries them. This year, I made a double batch, and after spending a number of hours by my oven, I'm still only halfway done. More for later, I suppose.



Then we have the fiberglass chair that Peekaboo is modeling. This was picked up during our weekend of hitting the antique stores. While not a pedigree, it's still a great addition to our house. Peek, if you can't tell, is sporting her new haircut. Every time we shave her down we realize how tiny she actually is! She's a 7 year old cat!

Finally, we have the bag I added a design to for my sister-in-law. Rob's stepsister, Sara, has been wanting to learn how to knit, so I decided to give her a skein of yarn, some needles and this nifty bag to carry it all in. I'm pleased with the design, but was disappointed with the transfer. My iron sucks, apparently.

I'm leaving work today at 4pm so Rob and I can load up my car and head for Fisher. This weekend will be a flurry of activity including Lammle Family Christmas (with cookie decorating!), new haircut for moi, and hosting Christmas dinner with my mom & brother.

Somehow during all of this, I also need to finish shopping for my mom & dad, as well as wrap everything that is going to be given this weekend.

I suck, btw. Sorry to everyone for the lack of Christmas cards. This semester was brutal.

Everyone travel safe and have a great holiday weekend!

C is for cookie... that's good enough for me.

Growing up, my grandparents would visit from Arizona every Christmas and stay for a month. I'd come home from school each day and help her bake cookies for the rest of the afternoon. Now that I'm older, it seems that the first snowfall or cold days of the winter season triggers something inside of me and I'm compelled to bake. I love baking. It relaxes me.

This year, our first Christmas in the condo, I have a large selection of cookies I plan on making. I now have the space to do so and an oven that is worth a damn. I am planning on making chocolate crinkles, chocolate chip cookies, spritz cookies, peanut butter cookies, gingerbread men, and cut-out sugar cookies.

The last two are for decorating with Rob's family. Last year, I brought dough back with me and baked the cookies at his Grandparents' house. We spend the evening portion of Christmas Day decorating the cookies with the kids. We figured it'd be a good tradition to start, so this year, I'll be better prepared.

Baking cookies during the holidays will allow me to still feel very connected to my grandma. This is the first Christmas that she won't be around and I know that it's going to be difficult for myself, my brother, and my mom.

At least we can drown our sorrows in cookies. It's what Grandma would have wanted.

I think my head is going to explode.

List format. Deal with it.

1. Missed work Fri, Mon & Tues.

2. Rocked my Math Final on Monday. Passing grade, please.

3. Purchased a few of our spice jars. They're so cute in person, I can't stand it.

4. Borrowed the West Wing Season1 from Jason. Loving it.

5. Wood for our home-made platform bed has been purchased and is currently awaiting sanding at home. Rob says that the air in his workroom got pretty darn thick while he was sanding, and he worries about me having breathing issues if I start to sand. My head hurts so bad that I'm agreeing with him currently and going to let him work on it. (But prepping and staining are all mine!)

6. Went to Dr. today to ask about my headaches I've been waking up with. Have to have an xray of my face, or more specifically, my sinuses. My head hurts right now, infact.

7. Ordered Rob's Christmas presents today. I certainly hope he likes them.

8. I have eleventy-billion thank-you cards to write. And then I get to start on Christmas cards.

9. My house is a mess.

10. I also have eleventy-billion dozen cookies to bake, but that's the fun stuff.

11. I really want to go home, put my head down, and weep because my face hurts.

12. Instead I will do laundry while in my pjs and watch The West Wing.

I hope you have a relaxing evening as well.

"Say it! Say it!"

Words can't really begin to describe the love I have for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip...Last night's episode was so wonderful! I love when I can get fully engrossed in a character and his or her development, and with this show, there's a whole cast of characters that I'm completely enamored with. If you haven't started watching this show, you're missing out. Head over to iTunes and start downloading.

Yesterday I left work early to get some financial aid stuff worked out. I'm very happy to report that everything has gone smoothly and I'll be taking Intermediate Algebra and Drawing I next semester. I did, unfortunately, discover that I have 55 hours left before getting my degree. At my current schedule, I take 12 hours a year (6 hours each spring & summer). This means in 4.5 years, I'll be done with my 2 year degree... Can I get a phooey? Phooey!

Needless to say, I'll be stepping things up a little and trying to take a summer course or two and maybe take 9 hours next fall. Anything to get finished a little quicker and move on to a different college and get myself one step closer to fulfilling my dream of working from home while taking care of my children-to-be-conceived-later.

After taking care of my school obligations, I headed to a nearby plaza and had a yummy mexican gumbo at Qdoba then wandered around Barnes & Noble. I have discovered many new crafty/arty projects that I'd like to work on, so look for photos in the near future as I try to up my creative time.

Hit the knit!

I spent most of the weekend with my face leaking in various ways. I seem to have a cold that I simply can not shake.

I finished Rob's new scarf this weekend (or so I thought) using up one skein of Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Charcoal. After completing it, I'm looking at it and have decided to add some length. As in, I've decided to almost double the length.

I've decided that I really like working with thicker yarns, and may try to order something nicer (or finally head to my local yarn shop) and try my hand at a blanket. (more flat things...) I plan on hitting the knitting pretty hard and figuring out how to make something that isn't flat. A hat perhaps! And other things that rhyme as well!

I only have 15 days left at my current job. 15 days! You have no idea how happy this makes me. The light at the end of the tunnel is shining brighter and brighter each day. I had a training session this past weekend, with another scheduled for this Sunday. Customized apparel will soon own my wardrobe. I even ordered a kick ass track jacket which will soon be customized with either a smx logo or a robot drawn by yours truly. I'll post pictures of it when it's done.

I'm really excited about this job. I feel like I'm picking up on the digitizing fairly well, and I'm looking forward to learning more.

Holidaze....

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! I know that we did. We spent it in Rock Island with Rob's family.

The thrift store gods smiled upon Rock Island when they gave them Fred & Ethel's. Fred & Ethel's is a small thrift shop that is PACKED with awesomeness. If I lived in Rock Island, it would surely be the death of my bank account. LOVED IT.

Across the street is another great place called DooDads. At DooDad's we found a kick ass Noguchi inspired coffee table. It's not exactly like this one, but you can definitely see that someone admired the guy. It will fit in nicely in the new and improved living room...once that's done.

We visited DWR this weekend in the Central West End. It was a bittersweet visit for me as I realized that DWR is heaven on earth, but was sad to discover that The Grind was gone. While the area looks like it's getting a pretty cool modern face lift, I was in love with the Grind, but had not been down to see it recently. I was very sad to discover it was completely gone.

I've registered for my Spring courses today, so Drawing I, here I come! Yet another semester of learning 2 pt perspective and drawing a city block or floating cubes. Phooey. I'm hoping that it will a.) be an easy A. b.) be a class I enjoy and c.) get me thinking creatively and working again.

I'm also taking Intermediate Algebra... which will make my head hurt and therefore make my drawings turn out angry. Yay. Me.

Tonight I head on back to the gym! That's something I can be excited about! If anyone out there owns and Ipod, can you recommend a good arm band?

Great Strides

I've just registered to walk the Great Strides: Taking Steps to Cure Cystic Fibrosis walk on May 5, 2007.

As some of you may know, my brother was born with CF and 4 years ago on Halloween, he had surgery for a double lung transplant. That's right, they took the lungs he was born with and replaced them with someone else's. It's an amazing procedure.

At 14, my brother was considered middle-aged for a person with CF. Before the transplant, at 17, my brother's health was rapidly declining. He was on oxygen all the time, and not just a little O2, but A LOT. We put a fridge in his room because he was too weak to walk to the main refrigerator... in the next room. He used a feeding tube every night to pump 1200 calories into him so he could gain weight. One of his larger health accomplishments was breaking 100 lbs when he was 16.

My brother was fortunate enough to receive lungs at 17. Since that time he's gotten his GED, his drivers license, and attended college. While this disease is not well known to most people, it's been a part of my life since I was three. The CF foundation does great things for CF research. Please help support me by going here and making a donation.

Via Text

Kim: K. Sigh. I feel like a stupid 16 year old. Again. Sheesh.

Me: Maybe that is because you texted "sigh" to your bff4e?

Kim: lol. rotfl, btw. nasa

Me: Nasa? That's a new one.

Kim: Not really. It's the National Aeronautic and Space Administration. It was the only other acronym I could think of real quick.

Jealous?

This is my new t-shirt. It's from an art show called, "What the deuce are you staring at!?!"

It's Brian as done by Luke Chueh. He's an artist I've admired for a while now and I was as happy as could be to have a piece of his work in some way, shape, or form.

Jealous? You should be.

One day I'll fly away...

A while back, I posted that I would have big news. The big news is that I'm quitting my current job and starting to work as an artist for an embroidery and print shop. Now, because this is a small business I will be working for, they do not offer benefits or take out taxes from my paycheck. This has started me thinking about setting up my own business.

I know nothing about setting up and running a business, but that's where my husband comes in. He knows plenty, and I'm ready to learn. As of right now, he's thinking I'll need to form an LLC. It's all new to me, so I'm sure I'll be posting all about it here.

Currently, I'm taking suggestions for a business name.

This crazy little thing called blog.

This Friday we're having a gathering of friends at our home for a Thanksgiving-ish dinner. If you don't know me, I love the holidays. There is something about cold weather that brings out my inner-baker, inner-martha (stewart, that is), and my inner-domestic goddess. My plans for the coming weeks include purchasing a tree, decorating the house, baking TONS of cookies, and knitting. Could I be any happier?

Of course life, school, homework, work and other things will get in the way, but I'm going to try to make the best of my blustery days. I'm thinking that my house will be decorated in this color scheme for the holidays. It fits with my style and existing colors in the house.

You will also notice that I've added a new item to the right side of the page. This is a list of selected posts from sites I subscribe to via RSS. Using Google Reader I can choose to share certain ones and they'll be posted here. Look for mostly holiday recipes and other assorted holiday fun.

Itchin' for a knittin'

Recently, I've been drooling over various knitting patterns I've found on the web. The problem? None of them are flat. Why must they be flat? Because I'm lame. I still haven't learned how to knit anything but flat items - scarves, blankets, iPod cozies, etc. Amber over at My Aim is True was kind enough to link me to this site for assistance. She was not kind enough to wave some sort of magic wand and give me time to look it over. (Stupid school/work/house/life)

I've decided that I need to come up with a plan for stupid school/work/house/life. I'm sick of not having enough time to think much less do anything else. The first step is for me to actually get my homework done ahead of time. How do I plan on doing this? I really don't know. I'm hoping to get caught up today, but it'll be next Monday that will be the challenge. If I can start getting my math homework done ahead of time, then I can start going back to the gym after work. This will make Andrea very happy.

As a part of this planning, I also plan on finally working in the Couch to 5K program. I've talked about it before, but I'm ready to buckle down and do it. I almost think that these past few weeks and the past few days when I've really been wanting to go to the gym have helped my motivation. It's making me want it more.

All I need to do is come up with a meal/diet plan for the coming weeks, and I will be set to go!

Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Meyer weiner...

Yeah. That's running through my head. Don't you wish you were me?

Last night I did not sleep well at all. I tossed and turned all night, couldn't get comfortable and was too damn hot. For those of you who don't know me, I get these sort of hot flashes where my body temperature will suddenly rise and I'll be sweaty and red. It's hot, trust me. (Hot! Get it! HA!) These don't just happen overnight. They happen all. the. time. Let me tell you, a 25 year old with hot flashes = not fun. I swear I'm going to be one of those people who spontaneously combusts. All you'll find left of me is a shin and my wee little skull.

But I have about 40 years before that happens so until then, it's causing me to be functioning at about 40% today. (This post is brought to you by the number 40.) As a result of my not getting enough sleep, I have a headache that seems to lay docile and just throb every once in a while. (Usually about the time I think it has gone away...) and a mild stomach ache.

While I wish I could go home and sleep on my lunch break, I don't know if that would actually help me or not. Instead, my plans are to head to the local Social Security office to get my name officially changed over to Lammle. After that, I'm going to grab lunch and the world's largest cup of coffee and head back to work. We'll see, though. They are having my favorite soup at Panera, so soup and nap might prevail. (I'll keep everyone posted... I'm sure this is a saga that you'll want to follow.)

Tonight I have my web design class. I have started over on my site and now I'm trying to choose content. I'm taking this rather seriously, because I'm thinking about actually creating and maintaining the site, not just doing it for a project. The domain of NerdyArtist is available, so it might be mine in a week or so. I have to say, I'm torn on the whole thing. I don't know if NerdyArtist is something I want to keep using or if I should find another way to refer to myself. At least a new name for a site. I'm open to suggestions, so send them my way.

I suppose that I should get back to "work" now, and by work, I mean staring at the screen willing this caffeine to kick in.

It's not working.

Packing my polynomials and going home!

Bloody hell. Does anyone hate math more than me? Rob might. Might. I'm an art kid. Art kids don't do math! A few other things we don't do are team sports, grunting, frat parties or allow Freddy Prinze Jr to make the "art-kid" trendy.

I have a math test tonight. I'm currently deciding whether or not I want to a.) curl up under my desk and weep softly or b.) begin repeating "Math + Me = Mediocrity!"

I'm also trying to decide what I'm taking next semester. What do you think, internet? Drawing I or Design I?

The other class I'm taking next semester? More freakin' math. I must hate myself.

Cosmetichat

Soniya, Liz, anyone else (ha! Like anyone else reads this!)... our cosmetic discussions go here.

I'm opening up discussion by responding to the comments from my makeup brush post -

I just washed my brushes last night with a little shampoo. Most of them turned out fantastico, but I'll probably invest in a the MAC brush wash, since it's not that expensive. My eye shadow brushes were able to regain a shape that I only vaguely remember them having. My blush brush is continuing to fall apart and my powder brush continues to be pointy, fake, and awful.

I'm trying to come up with a good list of brushes that the average girl can't live without. So far, I'm up to smudge, concealer, blush, powder, and blending. Eyebrow maybe once I have something to actually put on my eyebrows.

Throw in your two rusty coppers on what brushes you love.

Soniya - I love applying my foundation with a brush. It takes a little longer, but I like the look of it once it's applied. If I'm in a hurry, I'll use that sponge. I didn't get the MAC brush tho, I bought the Sonia Kashuk one from Target and am very pleased with it.

Question for the Internet!

Ladies, what makeup brushes do you use and love? I'm looking to start collecting some decent ones and stop using these things that shed all over my face. (No, that's NOT a mustache...)

Has anyone tried to use just good quality artist brushes for this?

Of course, in a perfect world, I'd have this in a heartbeat, with a few additional brushes to round things out, but we don't live in a perfect world, do we?

On a random sidenote, I really hate to sit back and watch bad things happen to what seems to be good people. There are two parents here to bail out their kid, and they were prepared to pay $300 for his bond... they were informed that he was charged with a few additional things while he was here. I think the mother is just heartbroken. I feel bad for them.

Sardines! Sardines!

It's a play weekend.

I certainly wish that I meant that this was a weekend for me to run around and have fun, but alas, it is not. It is a weekend of working Friday and Saturday evening, and Sunday afternoon. It's a weekend of not having a real weekend. Aren't you jealous? I'd be willing to bet you're more jealous of the fact that I'm sitting near the police department entrance and get to assist a rather colorful cast of characters as they mistake me for a receptionist.

Starring (in order of appearance)
Underage Drinking Kid!
My-Shit-Got-Stolen Lady!
Mr. No-Really-This-Is-A-Misunderstanding!
Bailing-Out-My-Baby-Daddy chic!

I'm sure you can guess how the list goes on and on.

But the real highlight of the weekend will be the volunteers that feel the need to tell me how wrong I'm doing everything. No, really... i love my job.

And then you have the downtime. Like now... I'm sure this weekend will be filled with pointless posts (example - see this post) that I write in order to fill the time and ignore my math homework/studying.

Does the fun ever stop?

I must kill Frank Drebin.

I suppose it is Friday, now isn't it? It doesn't seem like it to me, but that's because I have to work all freakin' weekend because the community theatre is having a production and everyone's favorite assistant has to sell tickets and concessions. Fun times!

Other plans for the weekend?
-Try my hand at home screen printing a shirt or two
-Clean! Clean! Clean!
-The great clothing overhaul starring Andrea with Rob in a supporting role.
-Organize the closet!
-Put away laundry!
-Kill a drifter!

As you can see, my weekend is action-freakin' packed. I really am not sure how I will contain my excitement.

And speaking of excitement - big news to come in future weeks. (No. I'm not pregnant.) Don't touch that dial!

I <3 Halloween

When else is the following perfectly acceptable?

1. A woman at Target in a poodle skirt, striped shirt, and a "visitor" tag.
2. A girl dressed like a slutty cowboy. (Okay...so you can see this one pretty frequently if you're at a club, bar, high school or retirement home.)
3. A guy dressed like a pirate, driving a Jeep Cherokee with a black ribbon sticker that says, "Support Lap Dancing."

I have a problem.

And the first step is admitting it.

I'm addicted to celeb gossip.

BUT!

I don't expect great things from the pages that I visit. I do, however, expect the writers of these pages to have passed their 4th grade english class.

"A source tells TMZ that during the skit, "Bush" asked Babs if they could sing a solo together to which Streisand replied "How about "Enough is Enough?" (A reference to Babs' 70s disco duet with Donna Summer) At that point a disgruntled fan through ice at the 64-year-old diva. Barbra kept her cool, opted against using her now infamous retort of "Shut the F**k Up!," and simply said "It's ok, it's ok.""

itty bitty sugar sock

Octoberfest is done!

I'm a Lammle and Cari is a Basler. Yay!

Speaking of becoming a Lammle, I just requested our official marriage certificate today, so I can get moving on the name change process. Fun times!

Today is my brother's 4 year anniversary. It was 4 years ago today that I was laying on the floor of a hospital waiting room and my brother wouldn't be out of surgery for 2.5 more hours. He went into surgery around 12:30am and came out around 11.

Speaking of my brother, I'm currently struggling with what to do about him. He's having ALOT of trouble in school (he's in college) and I know a good portion of that is apathy and some depression. I really want to help him, but I know that if I assist too much, I'm going to feel responsible if it doesn't work.

My mom talks to me about him as well. He and she butt heads constantly and they both turn to me for venting. I want to help them both, but at the same time, don't want to get involved.

Regardless of what I do, it makes me feel bad to some degree. I get sad about the whole thing and wish I could help. I don't want to see potential fall by the wayside, but at what point do you say, "I can't help you, I need to concentrate on my own life?"

Either way, it makes my heart heavy.

The honeymoon in Chicago was a lot of fun. Just being together without worrying about work, school, or our home was nice enough for me.

I suppose I should get back to work. I've rambled enough.

Wedding Photo

This is my favorite pic from the wedding so far. We don't have the professional ones yet. This was taken by Rob's dad.

If you mess with Gunn, you get shot.

Show us your Gunn.

Gangs shooting others for colors, things that we wear for fashion...

Friday - Headed down to the Arms with friends for yummy lamb burger and beer. Headed to the City Museum next because two of our friends had never been there. Discovered that they've taken away our yummy cider and hot chocolate (with alcohol added, of course) and replaced it with a juice bar (not that kind..) and ice cream. Oh, and you can't smoke outside anymore either. (But you can smoke inside at Beatnik Bob's... makes TONS of sense.) Headed home entirely too late and crashed.

Saturday - Woke up wanting a substancial breakfast so we headed to Burkemper's for a fairly good breakfast. It's a tiny diner that is always packed. Food was better than Denny's but not as good as the Village Garden (otherwise known to locals as "The Diner" in Fisher.) Ran errands and went back to the condo because I felt craptastic. Cleaned. Rob headed out with the boys and I headed to the Mills with Kim. We were on a quest for awesomeness. Finding it in the form of a cornrow'd young man with an airbrush in his hand and tolerence in his heart - our quest for cheesy shirts had found a destination. Photos of the airbrushed awesomeness to come at a later time. Headed home to clean and hang out with Kim and Rob.

Sunday - Woke up and made cinn. rolls for Rob and I. Kim came over and we headed to the Mills for our airbrushed fun and studying. After spending entirely too much time at the mall, and only one shirt completed, I'm picking up the remaining shirts this evening when I head to class. We headed down to the Arms with the one completed shirt to drop off with Mike. Then we made the drive back to St. Peters where Rob was slaving over a hot stove making yummy lasagna. We ate yummy lasagna, studied, watched TV, and did laundry for the rest of the night.

My week looks like this:
Today - work (suckage), study, class, pick up dad from airport, then sleep.
Tomorrow - work (suckage), get nails done, study, pack, sleep.
Wednesday - work (suckage), get mystic tan, class, home to load car, drive to Fisher, sleep.
Thursday - drive to chicago, check in, CB2, nice dinner, drinks, newlywed things.
Friday - Museums!
Saturday - burbs! cousins! Ikea! MAC!
Sunday - C&B! Joliet! Chris & Cari! Married!
Monday - drive home! (Suck!)

Your quote for tomorrow....

"Angie Dickinson could suck the sorrow off a recent widow."

Indeed, Patton Oswalt, indeed.

Best thing I've read in a while.

"I would smile all day long, every day, if it guaranteed a unicorn getting punched in the face. I find them really annoying."

So do I, Rachel Ray. So do I.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Rehearsal day!

Earlier in the day, the ladies (and Mike & Jason) had their nails done at a nail salon in Mahomet. We then headed back to the hotel to relax for a little bit before heading to the rehearsal.

The rehearsal was at 4:30-5ish so the photographer could see the lighting in the church. The light came in at just the right angle so that it was golden and beautiful! On with the rehearsal.








We're waiting....








This is Caleb. He played Collide at our ceremony.








Rehearsing...


More to come... 

High School kids will make you looney. I have proof.

From the talented, creative, poetic mind of my maid of honor:

Ode to Grading

Like a thunder cloud pierces the heart of a sunny day,

my Fall Break is marred by the journals I slay.

Here and there, scattered on my classroom floor,

the papers are the carnage of my waging war

on grammar and literature and things of that sort,

things my kids think are of no import.

My rallying cries of "Steinbeck!" and "Douglass!"

are answered by shouts of "We couldn't care less!"

Now, the kids and their drama are nowhere near school,

but their papers and projects make me feel like a fool

to be here grading while Dawn is in Cabo...

I'd have to get married to go there like her though.

So perhaps I'm not a fool after all,

even though I've lost my break in the Fall.

One class set of journals is almost finished,

but my entire grading pile is hardly diminished.

I may bring it all to Champaign for the wedding,

(not mine, of course) and use it as bedding.

But as uncomfortable as grading might be,

I'm sure that would keep me from sleeping soundly.

So here it sit and listen to my iPod way loud,

and having the new Beck album makes me feel proud.

At least I've got good music and sounds

even though the grading still abounds.
-K. Rast

Doodletastic

i just drew him. I kinda like him.

I'm an on-air personality.

My brain is certainly not here today. I’m 10 days away from the wedding, and my brain is content to be sitting at home and worrying about everything that needs to get done for the 14^th.

I still have quite a bit to do, including getting a mystic tan or two. I don’t know what that’s going to cost me or where I need to go, but that’s some information that I need to get figured out today. Anyone have any ideas?

I spent most of the morning out of the office and on an impossible mission for water-soluble oil pastels. After hitting Hobby Lobby, and Michaels, I realized that we desperately need an art supply store in the suburbs. We have to settle for “arts and crafts” stores, which translates to “place over-run by fake flowers and the smell of eucalyptus mixed with middle-aged white housewives with minivans, the same haircut, and a desire to scrapbook little Timmy’s first bowel movement.” Go ahead. Walk into your local hobbyist Mega-Mart and have a look around. Tell me what you see. I’ll wait.

While I’m on the subject, this place could also use a few other specialty stores. How about a decent place to buy yarn? I have yet to find a good natural-fiber yarn at a Mega-Mart. It’s all synthetics.

All of this looking at various art supplies has me wanting to do some work of my own again. I have this great plan for a huge painting/drawing for the kitchen, but I don’t have the time or resources currently to get it done. Maybe this is what I’ll focus on for Christmas break. We’ll see, tho.

While driving around, I did get to listen to my new iPod. Rob allowed me (have to say it that way, because that’s how it went down…) to get a new 30 GB video iPod. The iPod mini we have has a funky battery or battery gauge and doesn’t like to hold a charge. Now, I have 30 GB of storage to be filled with my pop-tart music, my singer-songwriters, my funk, my hip-hop, my electronic, and my soul. Oh, and also (so far) 5 episodes of The State. (“Hairdryers are good. They don’t use a lot of energy and they keep food warm. Keep hairdryers on all the time.”)

I need to fill up the iPod before next Wednesday when I’m driving the 3 hours to Champaign by myself. If anyone is listening to anything fun lately, throw the suggestions my way. I’m looking for new music.

I just realized I didn’t do a weekend wrap-up. On Friday I headed down to the Scottish Arms with Piper and Zac for some fish n’ chips lovin’, along with some Strongbow lovin’, as well as some Cline in a Kilt lovin’. Poor Mike had been there since about 8am that morning, and didn’t get off work until 11. Ugh. This is exactly why I never worked as a server or any other part of the restaurant business.

We stayed down there just long enough for Zac to drink anyone within shouting distance under the table, and Piper and I to get to hang out and have a wonderful time. It was nice to sit and have a drink with her again. It’s been way too long since she and I have done that. It was also nice to have a conversation with Zac. (Zac & Piper are a new thing.) He’s absolutely crazy about her. They’re cute.

I got home entirely too late, and hit the sack after watching half of an episode of the State. Woke up at about 10 am the next morning and texted Beth, Helen, and Ellen to see if I could find a shopping buddy. Beth called to say she was at work, Helen said she was going four wheelin’, and Ellen asked me if I wanted to go to Eckert’s Orchard first with her and Ann. I quickly got ready and headed out to Collinsville to get Ellen and go pick up Ann from Erin’s. We went to the Orchard, bought appley goodies and went to Fairview Heights Mall where the most that was purchased was an order of Chinese food and a few pretzel dogs. Headed to Old Navy for new clothes and then headed back to Ellen’s to get ready for the party we were heading to that night. Helen came over, did a little talking about the reception setup, and we were off.

Got to the party at about 8:30 where I proceeded to drink entirely too much beer while admiring the lovely house. Helen took me back to Ellen’s at about 1am where I passed out and woke up at 5am. Sober and ready to go, I headed back to MO to finish my slumber in my own bed.

Rob was home early the next day, so we headed out together for various errands. We had a really nice day together. I felt like we escaped from the world around us and reconnected for a day. It was a needed thing, because these next 10 days are going to be filled with high-stress and tension.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

Chicken sandwich, CAAARRRRLLLL!

Stupidity runds rampant

If I have one more person either be too retarded to understand when I repeat myself a bajillion times or someone yell at me for disagreeing with policy... I'm going to fucking snap.

I'm under enough stress here, people without you fucknuts coming in here and getting in my shit because you think that a city government will accept liability for people drinking at YOUR event.

God damn mother fucking shit!

In other news, wedding stress/nervousness has set in completely, so that's fun. This weekend, as Rob said, we'll go back to Fisher/Champaign and proceed to bleed money to get everything finalized.

This week or next I will be getting the following: Waxings. Mystic Tans. Massage.

I'm in need of all three.

Have a stroke!

You can thank me later.

I've got your HTML right here.

Sweet jesus. I'm in my web class, and I can not focus right now. Can it be nine already?

It's Rex Manning Day!

I've spend my day surounded by the sweet sounds of bad pop music and good electronic music. All while catching up on work that I missed while out with the plague.


Spent two days hacking up crap and sleeping alot (not to mention a little arts & crafts project that can be found here.) And now I'm back at work for the final two days of the work week, before spending a relaxing weekend at home. The next two weekends are going to be pure chaos! (but good chaos!)

Hrm... let's see... my weekend plans so far:

Friday: Get off work go home, relax for a little bit, and then head to the Scottish Arms for drinks with Piper. And because I'm out with Piper, this will probably mean trouble of some sort. Drinking at several places, late night coffee, and buying stupid shit at some 24 hour establishment. EH... it's what we do.

Saturday: Putter around the house, maybe hit the gym, and then meet up with Helen at some point to go over the details of the reception as she is in charge of rallying the troops and making the place fabulous. After that, I'll see where the night takes me.

Sunday: More puttering and relaxing. Laundry will be done. Food will be cooked. And dinner will be ready for when Rob arrives back from his time in the wilderness.

AHhh... a relaxing weekend. What a concept?

I totally have the munchies.

Mobile Blogging makes me lame on the go!

Don't confuse the kitchen.

Friday - Got off work early to run some errands and meet everyone at my house. After some slight confusion and a large burger at Sonic, we hit the road.

Made it down there in record time to meet the Illinois kids. Sat by the lake drinking warm beer for about 20 minutes until Kim got there. Went inside and was amazed by the awesomeness of the condo. Piper took inventory of how much booze was there. We estimate there was about 850 ounces total. Started drinking, did presents and hung out. Went to bed at about 1am.

Saturday - Woke up before everyone else and sat in the screened in porch and read. Puttered around until everyone else got up. Sat and had breakfast, then loosely planned our day. We got ready and headed out to this massive outlet mall. Made awesome purchases at a cosmetics hodge-podge store (yay MAC!), Gap Outlet, and Harry & David. Ate pretzels and then headed back to the condo for some boating fun.

Drank on the boat, road fast, bruised my knee, but alot of fun was had. The water was COLD as it splashed on us, but it was alot of fun. We spent about an hour and a half on the boat and the came back to get ready to go out. My stomach was bothering me on the boat, off of the boat and this continued over the remainder of the evening, so I wasn't wild and crazy, but I had a good time. Learned that you should just take the burger as ordered at the Horny Toad, because asking for it without lettuce may confuse the kitchen.

Headed back after listening to a crappy cover band butcher Prince, Santana, and Cream. Stayed up way to late talking about way too little. Hit the sack.

Sunday - Woke up with a start around 9am. Puttered around. Sat outside on the porch talking while eating a nutritious breakfast of Oreos and Starbucks. IL-side people took off early, so the four remaining (Mike, Piper, Kim and myself) sat around talking about what to do. Cleaned up the condo, did all the laundry, and cleaned the place from head to toe. Decided to hit "the strip" which consisted of touristy-trappy places that were alot of scary/oddball fun. Bought shirts for Rob and I (way cheesy) from a kind old man named Paw-paw. Then headed back towards the outlet mall to hit some places we missed. I had a bomb-ass personal Hawaiian pizza at this place called Lil' Rizzo's. We then went back to the outlet mall for Extreme Christian Clothing and a Borders Outlet. We all purchased books and then hit Target for ipod chargers.

Headed for home after target. Got home, switched stuff and cars around. Rob and I took Mike home and then picked up some drive-thru dinner. Watched Sunday night cartoons. I crashed early while Rob read next to me.

Fun weekend with good friends, good scenery, and a relaxed time. Today I'm going home at the half day because it hurts to breathe. I think I have a head/chest cold. FUN!

When the wasps hit the fan...

Seriously... once is freaky.

Twice is disturbing.

Yah Toast!

Today, I work without a lunch break so I may leave at 3 and start my weekend. Woo!

On a slightly related note - Starbucks Doubleshot + Excited about weekend = Jittery as HELL Andrea. I can't concentrate on any one thing for very long and I'm having trouble...Oooh... a quarter...



And, I'm back. Sorry, I just took a trip to the bahamas there for a minute. (bonus points if you can name that comedian and skit) I'm hoping the weather cooperates tonight so that the boat may be taken out on the lake for some drinking-on-water action. Tomorrow it will be outlet-mall shopping and then going out for dinner and drinking. Sunday will be waking up, having lunch and then driving home. That's my weekend in a nutshell. (No, this is me in a nutshell... what am I doing in this giant nutshell? What sort of nut should require this large shell?)

I'm in a special mood right now. I blame this on the aforementioned starbucks and the fact that today is the debut of my boots for the winter. I'm still pretty happy with my brown pair, but I think that a new pair of black boots (or other fun color.... green maybe?) is due. Rob refers to my black boots as my frankenstien boots, and I can't really argue with him. They're knee high black boots with a stacked heel and a slight platform on the toe. These boots were made for ass-kicking, my friend. Some say they look like hitler boots. They stand on their own, seriously. They're hardcore.

It's supposed to rain this afternoon, and this is one of those times where I really hope the weather channel is wrong. Right now it's absolutely beautiful outside, and it's making me very happy. (Or maybe that's the caffiene talking...)

Next weekend is Rob's Batch party, and a dress fitting for me. The following weekend it sounds like we'll be going home to finalize, and then it's wedding day! 22 days to go!

22 days, and I STILL haven't ordered my linens. Bloody hell. I'm going to get that done TODAY.

Okay, that's all I've got. Oh! One question for you MAC users (makeup not computer), what type of foundation do you use?

Here comes the fuckin' bride...

**Warning: The following post contains moments of Bridezilla (Did I really just type that?) fury, which may or may not result in embarassment of the poster.**


Days to wedding: 24

I could be happier. I'm trying to nail down the final arrangements for the wedding weekend. Come to find out, one of my bridesmaids won't be rolling in until right before the rehearsal (which I know, and understand), but what has irked me is the fact that neither one of my parents will be arriving until just hours before the rehearsal either.

Why the hell am I going up there 2.5 days before the wedding? Am I the only one who wants to get there, get settled, and not feel like I'm doing nothing but running around for 2 days? My plan is to head up there Wednesday night after I get off work, stay at Lammle-ville for Wednesday night, and then (hopefully) stay at the hotel from Thursday night on. This will put me in the area to take care of any last minute arrangements, make sure everything is in order for Saturday, so the biggest decision I have to make on Friday night is whether or not to have a second mango margarita.

Excuse me for being selfish, but at what point will our wedding become a big deal? I think 24 days beforehand might be a good place to start. This is somewhat beginning to feel like people are treating it like just another day. Excuse me for being somewhat offended!

I'm the first born in the family. I'm the only girl. I'm the first wedding. Am I really all that fucked up for wanting something resembling enthusiasm from my parents?! How about at least making me feel like a priority, because as of right now, I feel like I have to practically BEG anyone to do anything.

I'm frustrated. Has anyone else picked up on that?

So I suppose that instead of spending time with my family the Thursday before the wedding, I'll be toolin' around Champaign alone and relaxing. I'm not complaining about having to spend the day alone. Hell, it might be nice, but c'mon!

Maaaannn.... Fuck yo' mama! Thank you very much!

Wedding countdown: 25 days

It's getting to the point where I'm seriously considering washing down my vitamins in the morning with champagne. Today I received an email from my mother asking if she thought she could get a hotel room for my brother for the wedding. You had how long to do this?

After slapping my father and mother on the wrist for not being able to get this crap organized between the two of them. And let's not get into the fact that my brother is 21...

This past weekend was filled with several wedding related activities, and two trips to one awesome adult beverage store. Loaded up with goodies for the coming weekends, so the bottle of Sophia will be lucky to make it to the lake.

I'm contemplating a new diet to lose some of this jiggly ass I have. Anyone want to eat nothing but fresh spinach (preferably bagged) with me? I figure this will accomplish 2 things. 1.) Weight loss through explosive diarrhea and 2.) Turn that 19 states into 20 featuring the travelling show, E-Coli!

In other self-improvement news, I've started a few new routines this week in preparation for the wedding, and hopefully in preparation for LIFE!

The first and most droolingly disgusting is I'm using Crest Whitestrips Premium this week in an attempt to have a blinding smile for the wedding (and beyond!) Because I have to wear the strips twice a day for 7 days, it requires me to keep my mouth shut (or else suffer Rob laughing at my lisp). This has caused me to get up a little earlier in the morning, and because I want to distract myself while doing so, I've started to do my hair. (ok, this only applied to this morning, but I hope to do it again tomorrow.)

I'm going to get it cut this week sometime hopefully. I don't know when I'm going to have the time, but dammit, I'll do my best to find some. I am in desprate need of losing about 3 inches of hair, as it's driving me batty.

I was supposed to start the next new routine item today, but upon discovering I didn't have my wallet, I had to go home on my lunch. New Routine item #2: Hit the gym on my lunch break. I'm gonig to start to pack my lunch (saves money!) and work out on my lunch break on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This will make it so I can work out 4 days a week instead of two. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I'm still bringing my lunch (saves money!) but I'm going to be studying and doing homework during that time. Even if this means shutting myself in the empty office downstairs to do so, I will do it! I will then hit the gym after work and before class.

And... because I'm going to be able to hit the gym more often, I'm going to start the Couch to 5K running program. I've kicked this idea around for a while, and have finally decided to get the balls up to do it. Part of my inspiration has come from Amber over at My Aim Is True. She started the program and just completed her first 5K this summer. I don't know if I'll be doing that anytime soon, but at least I can say that I could if I wanted.

She also has a bigger set of cajones than I do, because she runs outside... where people can see her. I just don't have the confidence to do that, but hopefully, I will soon.

In other news, I'm offically addicted to MAC's Pro Longwear Lipcolor. I currently own it in Totally Boss, but plan on purchasing other colors as soon as I can. This stuff lasts FOREVER! I love it!

I can't explain how much I'm looking forward to being pampered the day of and the days leading up to the wedding. Things are especially looking up since I have cancelled my inital hair and makeup appointments, because as I posted before, Agata will be doing my makeup. I have scheduled the hair with a different salon all together, because they will come to the hotel to do the hair, they'll be there at 9am. I don't have to leave my hotel room until it's time to head to the church! Heaven! Pamper me!

I've purchased cans of Sofia for the morning of the wedding, and am trying to think of what else we can have for breakfast to make the morning special. I want to live that morning like a freakin' rock star. Soak it up.

Anyhow, I suppose I should get back to work. These tickets are going to tear themselves apart.

I'm looking for suggestions on everything - from outfits for my weekend outing, to wedding day pampering, and anything else you can throw my way. Post 'em up.

And so it begins....

Tomorrow marks 30 days until wedding day.

I can't decide if my oddball psyche is going to cause me to become overwhelmingly calm or overwhelmingly nervous.

Either way, it should be fun. I'll either be Garfield or a coked-up, A.D.D. version of Calvin.

Stay tuned...

Autumn is wonderful....

It is currently overcast and 65 degrees with wind coming out of the west at about 13 mph. I'm sitting next to an open window with a mug of hot apple cider.

The high for today is overcast and 71 degrees. By combining the weather, the wind, the cider and the fact that I will get to wear a hoodie and jeans to class and not be sweltering...Today is going to be a fantastic day.

I love fall, don't you?

Stuck inside of yesterday, everything is giving way...

I've got... well, not much today.

Wasn't at work yesterday, so that will explain the lack of update. You saw the weekend via Rob. While I was out with my mom on Sunday, I made her hip to MAC, where she was made over and spent about 200 bucks on makeup. This included some fluidline eyeliner for moi in ultraviolet. Love this stuff.

I also spent $60 at The Body Shop which was 5 times what I was intending on spending. They currently have their Camomile Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover on sale for half price, so I purchased 2 bottles. I love this stuff. I was told about the free gift for that day. If I spent $39 in the store, I would get the gift. I kindly told the sales girl, "Oh no... I don't think I'll be spending that much..."

HA!

I started to think about my skin prep for the wedding and quickly changed my tune. I ended up purchasing a Papaya Body Scrub to prep my skin, and then an Olive Body Butter to make me soft and smooth. The most important thing I got, in my opinion, is the Lavender Essential Oil. This will be combined with water to spray on the hankerchief I'm carrying on my wedding day, not to mention to spray on my pillow to help me sleep.

The body scrub smells good enough to eat, and the body butter has a surprisingly clean scent to it.

I get married in 32 days. I'm going to be a complete wreck in 31 days. You've been warned.

Oh, the things we can find on the interwebs.

I've discovered some great new (to me) sites this week. Several of these sites I found from my favorite-blog-of-the-moment, My Aim Is True. This blog is run by a funny designer chica named Amber. If you dig me, but wish I wrote better, was maybe more clever, and had already finished obtaining my degree and had a kick ass job... then you'll love her blog. She's cool girl v. 5.1, where as I'm still on the beta release.

From her site, I've found Finslippy, Poundy, and Tickytacky. Now I haven't been able to devote real time to exploring these sites, but I figured I'd share them anyhow.

Other fun discoveries include Kurt Hasley's webiste, Adam Rex - writer and illustrator of Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, and this awesome pattern that was featured on Craftzine :blog.

Another couple of places of note would be this article on I Watch Stuff! and Radio.Blog.Club.

There. I've just sucked away the remaineder of your morning. Enjoy!

hallelujah it's raining..... wasps?

A wasp just hit the fan over my head and was rocketed onto my desk.

It freaks me out each time it happens.

And it freaks me out that it's happened more than once.

I'll take the plastic Spiderman tablecloth and the matching napkins.

Why do linens have to be so damn confusing? Why do I have to be so damn picky?

I'm looking at linens at BBJ Linens. This company was recommended to us by our caterer, because it is a nationwide company that ships your linen order to you. Lucky for me, there is an office here in St. Louis. Double-lucky for me, it's the very same office that takes care of the Champaign orders. (Even tho there is one in Chicago, but whatev.)

So, I'm looking at the site and know what type of linens I would like, but I have no idea what size. The tables at Refinery are 10 person rounds. The linens that the event coordinator usually orders are waaaay short. If you look at the banquet pictures, you can see the legs of the table, and it will bother me all freakin' night.

So I want linens that come down closer to the floor. Should I be looking for ones that puddle or or where the points drop? Well, why don't I just head on down to their showroom.

Because they're only freakin' open from 9-5 during the week. No weekend hours. So, if you work full time, fuck off. These are not the linens you're looking for.

On top of all of this, I'm feeling a little stressed because I don't know what the caterer will require since we're doing stations. If they need smaller tables, then I need to get my butt on the phone and rent 4 or 5 smaller rounds. Oh, and then I need some sort of linens for those!

This blows. BUT! If I get the look I'd like, and the cost isn't that bad, it's going to be awesome.

Let's clear up some confusion....

Soniya....

You can now migrate your blog to blogger beta. Do it! That way, Rob can comment on your blog, as can JK and Lizzle. Until you do this, I don't think they can.

The Girl Scouts of America? Of America, Chuck? You make me sick. I wash my hands and feet of you.

Bonus points if you know what that's from.

On a completly unrelated note, today is Thursday, September 7, 2006. I just had someone come into my office to schedule an event and rent a facility for Saturday, October 21, 2006. That they've already planned. For 150 children.

I'm not a professional party planner by any means, but shouldn't you reserve the location you want before planning the event? Rather than, I don't know, assuming you have it?

Fuckity fuck.

Tough shit.

Could someone explain to me why "Tough shit" can't be a proper reply in a business setting?

One of the coaches has something to pick up and was asking if we could leave it outside of the building because they couldn't get here before we closed. Why? Because they didn't want to leave this early.

The first response that came to mind was, "Tough shit."

Of course, this isn't what I said. Instead I said, "Well, we can't really do that because we're across the street from a public park, blah blah blah... "

I'm sorry if the coaching program you volunteered for is interfering with your life.



Tough shit.

I wish I was a little bit shorter....

I really do. If I was just a little shorter, wearing these would be more acceptable. Amazon has 40% a good chunk of their shoes, and those caught my eye.

I'm in need of a day of retail-therapy. Not to mention a few new items for fall. Now, all I need to do is find the time and money.

Operation: Organization

Today begins my attempt at re-organizing my life, and getting the most out of my gadgets to boot.

I have a Palm Z22. I need to better utilize the thing and actually rely on it. I rely on my cell phone an awful lot, so why not my palm? The best way to do this?

I'm going to remove the vast majority of phone numbers from my phone and put them in my palm pilot. That will get me used to looking at the damn thing more often.

I have entirely too much going on in my life to NOT be organized. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get better organized... throw them my way!

My kind of town, Chicago is.

This weekend was purely chaotic as we were lucky enough to be let out early on Friday for the holiday weekend. Rob and I proceeded to meet at home and get on the road for Fisher. We arrived in town at about 8pm after making a few stops in Champaign. We relaxed with his parents for about an hour, after they went to bed, we watched a little Arrested Development and then headed to bed.

The next morning we woke at 7am to get on the road for Chicago. I had an appointment with my cousin's girlfriend, Agata, for my makeup trial. She works for MAC, is awesome, and did a fantastic job. See:
Pretty awesome, eh? I felt extremely overdone for walking around the mall in a t-shirt and jeans, but after purchasing a new top, I felt better. Had some lunch, Rob bought a few cigars, and then we then headed over to Ikea for some unfinished swedish goodness. I was excited because this was the first time I was able to go to Ikea and actually spend money. We got many great things for very little money and left the store quite pleased.

We killed some time at Borders and then went back over to the mall to meet Agata and my cousin, Leigh for drinks at Stir Crazy. My dad joined us after he got off work and family stories were told and a good time was had by all. We left them at about 11:30 and headed back to Fisher. Arrived at the farm at about 2 am, where I promptly fell asleep.

Sunday we woke up and ran out to meet the florist to re-vamp the floral selections for the wedding. After this meeting we headed back to the farm and relaxed with Lesa, talking about the wedding until about 3. Lesa and I began cooking side-dishes for the fish fry that evening. Rob relaxed and I have no idea where his dad was through all of this.

Yummy fish were fried in an ENORMOUS skillet. A billion and a half side-dishes were present and we filled our tummies. Stories were told about people I don't know. We headed home to relax infront of the TV.

After his parents went to bed, we went outside to enjoy the weather and so Rob could enjoy a cigar. His stomach started to do flips so after 2 episodes of AD, one upchuck of fish, and a AD blooper reel, we went to bed.

Monday, we got up and came home to this.

I wanna see some popozao.

Do yourself a favor.

Watch this.

Ding Dong the dingbat's gone!

Angela got kicked off Project Runway! Yay! And you know what? She was booted in the best way possible - flew her ass to Paris, was there all of about an hour, and then told she had to get back on a plane and fly her ass back home. Ta-Da! Gone, beyotch!

While Jeffery doesn't exactly rock my world, I liked him better than Angela. There was just something about her that I didin't trust. Jeffery did look like a rockstar in his jet-setting outfit, but I feel there was too much emphasis on his junk.

Also in Project Runway news, I just stumbled upon this site. Good bye, freetime!

I'm going to punch out street lights with a bat.

Music can transport you. Funny, I'm listening to "Shannon" by Henry Gross. This song (besides being incredibly lame) is featured on the Anchorman soundtrack. Will ferrell introduces the song by stating, "I'm not sure if I want to play this next song. It gets me very emotional. Oh the blazes with it! Just play it Ronnie, just play it."

We get 17 seconds into the song and Ron Burgundy begins to cry. He sobs throughout the song and tells us all the memories he has attached to it. ("I was born without a spleen! How's that make you feel?")

What's ironic about this song playing now is that this whole album brings back many memories for me. I can remember this song playing on the overhead in the eraly mornings at Borders when I was working on IPT. (Inventory Processing Team for those of you not down with the Borders lingo.)

This was after a considerably rough time in my life. I had ended an eight year relationship. Needless to say the transition was less than easy. (Contrary to popular belief...)

It took a strong man by my side, a few true friends and a little Lexipro to get me through it. But here I am. Marrying said strong man witha bullshit tolerance that has been severely lowered. I'm happy, and I'll be the first to admit that it's a concept I still struggle with. Is happiness really this easy?

What does this have to do with this strange news anchor sobbing in my ear? It's one of the first memories I have of being happy that doesn't directly involve Rob. It means I can be happy without relying on someone else's assistance.

And for me, that's HUGE.

"You gotta live life, eh? That sound good? Great."

Abs Diet for Women

I found an issue of Prevention Magazine that featured the Abs Diet, but for women. The difference? It was all women demonstrating the exercises.

Either way, The Abs Diet is a book that I've been reading for the past month or so. It's not telling me a whole lot new, but it's putting it in a way that I can understand.

Now I just need to do the abs excercises. This is a challenge for me, because I don't like to do these at the gym. I need to do them at home, but remembering once I get home is the other trick. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas on what has worked for them, throw them my way.

I'm trying to watch what I eat, and will hopefully begin working with weights again in the near future. I'm trying to be realistic in regards to the wedding, but it's difficult. I know I'm not going to miraculously drop 60 lbs, but I at least want to look glowing and firm.

That's not too much to ask for, is it?

New discoveries

Today I discovered a new blog I'll be frequenting - Elyse Sewell's LJ.

Remember her? She was runner up on the first season of America's Next Top Model. According to what I remember about the show, she basicly joined as a joke. She's wickedly intelligent and bitched about 90% of the other models the entire time she was on there. She made the show entertaining.

Check out her LJ. I'm entertanied already.

I wonder...

Why I'm feeling woozy and my head kinda hurts after drinking 4 ounces of smoothie.

Could my aches and pains be related to the smoothie?

Group Blog?

For those of you hesitant to make the jump from CL to Blogger, what if we did a "group-blog?"

One person sets it up, and we add Authors. This way, we can have one group blog for discussions and the like, and if we still choose, we can have individual blogs.

Awaiting your replies.

Weekend of the sneaky drunk

On Friday, we hit a bar called "Hurricanes" in Collinsville. Cheap drinks and a kind bartender resulted in the ninja of inhebreation. I had one too many and didn't realize it until I was in the car on the way home, begging Rob to get a bag from the convience store so I didn't decorate the interior of his new truck with my drunken version of a Jackson Pollock. Luckily, I didn't need the sack.

The next morning I woke up feeling like poo. I grabbed a glass of water and headed downstairs to watch TV and be miserable. I ended up watching about 4 too many episodes of "Real High School Stories" on MTV. These were all about pranks. The pranks made me realize a.) MTV does craptastic reinactments and b.) some administrations are way uptight.

Rob saved the day with some McDonalds. A double cheeseburger will cure anything. Well, except for the clap. I think you have to eat a Big Mac to beat the clap.

We spend the rest of the weekend continuing with wedding plans, including buying Rob's wedding band. The wedding related nightmares are coming more frequently now. Adding to my paranoia about having everything done. Fun times.

Sucka fo' da' news!

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I've been sucked into the JonBenet Ramsey/John Mark Karr news stories. Something still doesn't add up, so I find myself reading many articles on this.

The same question comes to mind each time: Does every article have to featurea photo of Creepy McCreeperson? Oh? Wanna read this article? Wanna sleep at night? Well, too bad!

I'm not so sure it's the content of the articles that makes him so creepy. He's just a creepy looking guy.

An open letter to crazylife.org

Dear CL,

We've had some good times over the past few years. You helped me meet several new people, heck you even assisted me in getting to know better the man who is now my fiance. I've opened up to you about the passing of my grandparents, the drama and turmoil I faced while finding a new job. You were always there for me to talk to, to pass the time, or to find out what city I'd be if I were a city in Michigan.

But it's time for me to move on, CL. I hope you understand. Technology is changing so rapidly, and my opinions are changing as well. I crave user-friendly screens, drag and drop, and RSS feeds. I desire macaroni pictures. You can't provide that, can you CL?

No, CL. I've outgrown you. I've moved along with the times and headed for blogger-town. So what if no one reads, I'm still here. Please. Stop crying. C'mon... you're making a scene. People are staring.

Here I am!

I've moved from Blogger to Blogger-Beta.

I have to say, Blogger-Beta kicks much ass.

And really, right now, that's all I have to say.