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.