Blaze - like fire

I need your feedback!

2010-11-08T12:24:00.000-06:00

Well, its been a while. I know. I didn't think you guys wanted an update on no changes. So instead of boring you with my networking and job hunting, I have a question. We haven't had too much luck on our house, I truly believe it has more to do with out of season than the state of the house. So now what? Stay in T-town until I get a job and see my beau on the weekend? Rent the house? Anyone else have experience with this? What did you do? Any thoughts even if you haven't been through it? I've made my own positive and negative list about being a landlord. Have any items that you think I should consider?

Here's Hoping

2010-10-11T00:24:00.000-05:00

It's been a difficult week. emotionally. Dave started his new job and even though things are going well, it wasn't pitch perfect. I spent the week getting the house together, applying for jobs, and starting my course work. This whole process has really taken a toll on me. I really expected that we would be receiving calls about the house and I would be getting call backs on the jobs I'm applying for. While everyone says it's only been a week, it's been a week that I don't know how to define myself. I'm in a house with two dogs cleaning, I no longer have a job and this is a tough concept for me to handle. I get that it was our decision to leave, and I still think its the right one, I just wish everything was falling into place. I wish I had a job, I wish I wasn't stressing out about everything. I break down crying daily. I feel lost on this path. We had an open house on Sunday and had 4 groups and no offers. I'm hoping next Sunday will be a better showing. Its been really tough and I'm hoping this week brings much more hope.

Home Repair Take 1

2010-09-21T10:33:00.000-05:00

Expectations:

Scene 1: A boy and a girl sitting a dark living room. A ceiling fan has been removed leaving a gaping hole in the ceiling. Between the boy and girl sits a disassembled fan and a flash light.

Boy
This should be easy. We already have the old fan down, and this fan says it should only take 5 minutes. We'll have this up in time to watch the football game.

Girl
Great! Let's hop to it honey! I'm so excited that in 5 minutes we'll have a new ceiling fan!

Scene 2: 2 hours later. Both the boy and girl have sore shoulders from holding the fan for hours. Both are arguing at each other. Both are in the dark with a light from the iphone flashlight app.

Girl
(After the 100th time of dropping a black screw) I quit. Leave the damn hole. I'm over the 5 minute fan. (Stomps away)

Boy
Please don't leave me here to hold up a none working fan while you throw a fit.

Scene 3: An hour later. Boy and girl cuddling on couch and enjoying their new ceiling fan and watching the last 3 minutes of the game.

Big Announcement!

2010-09-20T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is the hardest post I've ever written. I don't typically write about my feelings and this subject has a lot of feelings involved. *sigh.* So, here goes.

We're moving. To Dallas. I know so many of you have moved away from home. That this isn't a big deal, but it's a really big deal for me. I've lived in T-town my entire life. I went to college here. And even though I've talked about moving and starting a life in another city, it's very overwhelming to actually do it. I'm freaking out and a big ball of emotions. I cry, I'm happy, I try to convince myself that it's all going to be ok even though I don't have a job. It will be ok. I know that and I truly believe we're making the right move for us at the right time. But it doesn't make it any easier. Does that make sense?

Any ways, I'm hoping to see a lot of people that I take for granted that I'll see whenever. I'm working on getting my house on the market and I'm unemployed come after Friday.

A Church Brewery, a Wedding, & a Keg

2010-09-15T15:40:00.001-05:00

The whole reason Dave and I opted to go on vacation was because we were invited to a wedding in Pittsburgh. I'd never been Pennsylvania and had the wonderful idea of just making a vacation trip out of it. On the last leg of our trip was Pittsburgh and the wedding. We didn't get to do a whole lot of sight seeing but still had an awesome time. The bride was beautiful, the groom handsome, and lots of dancing and laughter.

We found an old Catholic church that was converted into a brewery. The atmosphere was awesome. Back when the steel industry collapsed, Pittsburgh became almost deserted. They found this abandoned church and turned into a brewery.

Dave with his tall friends. This is what the groom's side of our wedding part looked like.

On our way to the rehearsal dinner we got lost. Shocking right?! I blame this one of technology since the iPhone kept telling me to go the wrong way on a one way street. It took an extra hour to get there. And we got to cross the bridge, go through the tunnel, and see the ball park and football stadium twice! The rehearsal dinner was at an amazing vegan restaurant. The restaurant was also a thrift store. So we got browse and eat!

And finally here's the bride and groom!

During the reception I dropped my camera and it no longer worked. So you'll just have to imagine everyone dancing and having fun!

The next morning, Dave and I were to fly home. We had secured a ride from Mich. However, the night before Mich decided to drink a little. He created a drink that we all named the Meeche. Which was vodka on the rocks with a lemon wedge. Somehow Mich ended up with the reception keg. He also didn't drive his rental car back from the reception, so it took 15 minutes the next morning to find it. After we found the car, disposed of the keg and picked up two extra people we were ready to hit the airport. Only it was 45 minutes till the flight took off and it was a 15 minute drive to the airport. I was freaking out, but we made it in time. Only to sit on a plan for hours because I didn't realize I booked the flight that went from Pittsburgh to Orlando to Houston. OMG! It was a long flight! We made it home early evening and all and all we had a great time.

Fun Stay in the Big Apple

2010-09-13T08:42:00.000-05:00

Vacation Day 2 in Philly started off better than Day 1. We got a ride to the train station, we saw more of Philly. We saw Betsy Ross' house. Which by the way she was married three times. Ross is her first married name, yet she made the flag during her third marriage. Yet, they're not sure she actually made the flag because she didn't tell anyone until she was like 80. It was her son who petitioned for her to get recognition, so there's still a bit of mystery in regards to who made the first flag. So there's a bit history for you! We then found a bar and watched more of the LLWS. Ohio was in the elimination game, so of course we cheered them on again. And again they lost.

Day 3 we went to NYC! I love New York. We took a train from Philly to NYC. So easy. We got a cab that took us to the Amtrack station and we bought our ticket and got on the train. It was an hour and half. So much more room than an airplane and they have plug-ins for your phone and computers. If you haven't taken a train, I highly recommend it.

Once we got to Penn Station, we had to maneuver over to Time Square. We needed to get to Queens to drop our bags off at the hotel so we weren't walking around Manhattan with luggage behind us. We easily found our train, it was of course the stop that would give us issues. As you know from the previous post we have issues getting lost at train stops. Our train decided to drop us off at Citi Field. Which would've been fine if it were 6 at night and we were going to the game. Not ok when we want to get to our hotel which is not at Citi Field. Turns out we got on an express train which means they skipped our stop.

So we followed the crowd off the train station and low and behold we end up at the US Open. We were the only people at the US Open with bags. We didn't go inside, but we did see some practice courts. From there we finally got on the right track and found a Holiday Inn and took a cab to our hotel. I make this sound like we took a 15 minute detour. It was more like an hour to an hour and a half. We looked ridiculous walking around in Queens with luggage behind us.

We get back to Manhattan and have lunch with another of Dave's cousin. I'm so proud of Devin. He's working for NASDAQ and has really tackled living in NY.

Here's a view from his building. Awesome right?

After we congratulate Devin on his awesome job and awesome view of the city, Dave and I wander around. We end up in Bryant Park (wishing it was fashion week!). We chilled there for a bit as I discussed Project Runway and Dave politely tuned me out. Then we found the Brooklyn Bridge. Even though I'd been to New York a few times, I never walked the bridge. That was a long walk to view point. We didn't make it all the way across to Brooklyn. But it would've been fun to ride a bike across, so maybe next time! The day was beautiful and there were tons of people outdoor biking, skating, and walking. I loved it!

From there we went straight to Citi Field where we saw this guy!

We saw the Mets play the Marlins. David Wright got a 2 run home run in the first inning. Dave was ecstatic. Even though the Mets didn't win, we had a blast!

The Day Rite-Aid Saved My Life - Vacation Day 1

2010-09-09T11:50:00.000-05:00

Dave and I flew into Sunny Philadelphia. Actually, it was 11pm so there was no sun. We stayed outside of Philly in a lovey town called Havertown. His cousin graciously offered up his home even though they went to the Jersey Shore. We already asked for autographs, videos, and reenactments. They assured us that it was nothing like TV and sounded a bit offended that we were disappointed.

I had already decided that unlike previous beach vacations where we grab a book, trashy magazine, and towel and lay around all day, that we're going to site see and be tourists and do really fun stuff. So that morning at 8am Eastern time I tried to wake up my husband who refused to get up. At 10:30 we were finally ready to leave and be big kids and take the train to the 69th Street Station. Havertown has their own station, which according to the cousin is less than a mile from where we stayed. Instead of finding that station, Dave and I walked almost 3 miles directly to the 69th Street Station. That was fun. And we were hungry and I thanked Jesus that I thought to not only pack tennis shoes, but actually put them on my feet that morning.

Once we caught the train we easily found the Independence Hall stop. We saw history. We learned history. We saw Benjamin Franklin's grave. I thought it was creepy that people paid tickets to walk around a graveyard. We did not do that. Instead, I stuck my arm through the fence and snapped the pictures.

After our site seeing we found a cute little bar and watched the Little League World Series (LLWS). We decided to cheer on Ohio, mainly because their cute little 13 year old pitcher wasn't having a good pitching day and we really wanted to see a come back. *Spoiler Alert* Ohio lost. We left the bar. It was around 8:30pm when left.

On our way home we decided that we were going to get off at the Havertown stop so that we didn't walk 3 miles in the dark in the outskirts of Philly. On our way back both our phones ran out juice. We felt like big kids, in a big city, taking a big train. We exited our train at the Haverford stop. One thing I forgot to mention is that we didn't actually know our stops name. We assumed that Haverford is directly related to Havertown and it must be close to where we're staying. WRONG!

Instead we wandered around suburbs for hours. If this was a TV show and Dave and I were contestants, we would've been the couple arguing and snipping at each other about being lost. Our relationship would've been on tabloids and we would've had to go on a talk show circuit to defend it.

One cute thing about Haverford is that they don't believe in sidewalks. They also don't believe in putting a the train station near lights or stores. So when we exited the train station and didn't have a working phone to use google maps or call someone, we just picked a direction. We walked through neighborhoods without sidewalks. We walked by Havertown College which gave me the false hope that we were going in the right direction. We eventually found stop lights and businesses. We walked into a gas station and they didn't have maps or phone chargers. We couldn't get a cab because we didn't know where to tell them we needed to go. Didn't have an address or phone number because they were in the phone. Side note: After telling this story to someone they asked why we didn't look up the cousin's name in a phone book. That never occurred to us. We're too dependent on technology. Same deal in the CVS. Only several people were trying to help us, but since we couldn't give clear directions it was hard tell us anything than, no this isn't have Havertown.

We eventually found a Rite-Aid in Ardmore. I love Rite-Aid. It saved my life and marriage. They had maps and chargers!! I went to the maps and Dave headed for the chargers. I bought two chocolate bars and opened the map in the middle of Rite-Aid and sat on the floor to try to figure out where we were and where we need to be. Dave bought a battery powered iPod charger. It was the only Apple charger they had. It of course didn't work on Dave's phone. However, it did with mine. Only you had to position the batteries just right in order for it charge the phone.

Here's a map. I encourage you to pull up the larger version so you know how incredibly far off we truly were.

View Larger Map

We finally got it juiced up enough so that it would turn on. We called one of his cousins who lives next door to where we're staying. He of course needed better location points than the Rite-Aid in Ardmore. So we left Rite-Aid and thanked them profusely for carrying maps and charges and chocolate. We came to a nice little corner which was housing a homeless man. Dave's cousin was on his way. I was therefore in charge of holding the phone while it was charging. Turns out I suck at that job. I dropped the phone along with the charger. The phone immediately died and we couldn't get the charger to work with the phone again. I was desperately hoping that Dave's cousin did not need more directions to find us.

He didn't. We survived and made it home at 11. Thankfully, the Phillies were in the 16th inning and that's why his cousin was up late. Otherwise, his phone would've been turned off and we would've lived in Rite-Aid to never blog again.

A pinch of crazy

2010-08-31T20:11:00.000-05:00

I had an amazing time travelling last week. I have lots of stories to tell and photos to share. However, on my last day during the wedding reception I dropped my brand new Sony camera and it broke. Stopped working completely. I'm a bit pissed that it took a small spill and just won't work. Not sure if this camera will be able to handle me. My point is that I have photos, but no camera to help upload them. I know what you're thinking, just stick the memory card in the laptop and load them that way. No go. I lost my laptop charger adapter during the trip and therefore cannot use it until I get another HP adapter. Which you think would be easy, but no. Best Buy insists they do not have it and I haven't had time to check other places.

Bottom line, no pics yet. I'll figure out a way I promise.

So instead I'm going to tell you about a dreamish experience I had. On Sunday, we got home from our vacation around 5:30pm. My homework was due that night at midnight. And as luck would have it, the work I did was all on the laptop. Which meant, I had to redo everything on the desktop. Not fun and a lot of stress. It ended up taking till two in the morning before I submitted everything. The assignments were late, but turned in and that was good enough. Cut to me going to bed exhausted.

I wake up around 2:30am. I hadn't been asleep that long, but long enough to know I fell asleep. I wasn't sure why I woke up. As my eyes adjusted to being awake I saw a misty white, translucent thing to my right. Above me I saw a floating black v shape thing. It scared the bejesus out me. I immediately throw myself close to my husband and simutalanously throw the sheets over my head. Because obivisouly ghost, spirits, or whatever they were, wouldn't be able to reach under a thin sheet. Rational, I know. I start hitting my husband asking him if hears anything. I was trying to stay calm, but I could still clearly see these two separate things when I poked my head up from the sheets. I was trying to get my husband to pop up and start listening and then I could ask him if he sees what I'm seeing. He didn't really bite into the plan. Instead, he moaned and pushed me off him and told me without opening his eyes he doesn't hear anything. So with my heart pounding I take a deep breathe and reach through the misty white thing to reach my night table lamp. I turn on the lamp and nothing is there. My heart was still races. This whole scene took maybe two minutes. I didn't fall asleep until well after 3am. I had a book light by my bed so when I turned off my lamp I kept my booklight on. Finally, I got brave enough to turnoff my nightlight and try sleep. I didn't see the things again.

My thinking, I was properly so exhausted that I hallucinated these things. They never made a move for me, but just floated there. Even though this is what I think, it's burned in my memory and I'm still on the look out for them.

A Post Without a Point

2010-08-16T16:35:00.000-05:00

I have done something to my shoulder and it really hurts. What did I do to make it hurt you ask? I stretched. And now I'm in serious pain. I'm pretty sure I need a nice hour long massage to make this go away.

I go on vacation next week!! I need a camera badly. The last time I took pictures was for the KC pub crawl. My goal is to take as many pictures as Jax. Then maybe I'll actually take some rather than none. So any camera suggestions to someone who doesn't want to spend gobs of money and it needs to be super user friendly.

I have hit the point of my graduate school courses where I lose all motivation. Each course is 11 weeks long and apparently, I only have stamina for 5 weeks. This has happened every single time. Not good. Must. Push. Through. *sigh

Random story: Started my day by my co-worker discussing how regular his bowel movements are. TMI!!

Gross, not gross, gross. It's that type of blog day.

2010-08-05T12:18:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up to the smell of a bonfire. Only it was garbage burning from one of our landfills. Fun. People were complaining of the smell, which if I lived closer to the source of the fire, it might have smelled disgusting.

In other non-disgusting news, I'm in graduate school hell. Accounting and Finance should never be taken at the same time. Especially, when my last class was a finance class. Ug. I better be able to understand these damn profit and loss statements now.

Even though I haven't been blogging, I feel like I've been busy. Work, school, floating the river twice in three weekends kind of busy.

Have you seen this story? Gross. And desperate. How sick do you have to be to drive 24 hours to have se.x with an underage boy? Gross. Doubly gross because she was seducing him.

Weekend and Football

2010-07-26T16:21:00.000-05:00

I had this weird box saying photo not available pop up on my blog, so I got a new template and took down my header. I think it's fixed, but we'll see.

This weekend was super busy. I went to OKC to see a dear friend of mine. I finally got to see Eclipse. It was ok, I think I expect the movie to be too much like the book and it can never reach that expectation. But I got to analyze the crap out of it with a friend who enjoyed doing the same thing.

This was also a weekend for a wedding shower and my husband's 10 year high school reunion. He keeps up with five friends from high school. They had a great time. T-town is so small that I knew a lot of people he went to school with.

Sunday I got some exercise by playing softball. We're terrible. It's almost comedy to watch us play. We have 2-3 guys that are decent players and 2 girls that know how to catch the ball. The rest of us just stand around and chase a softball when it comes our way. We over throw, under throw, throw way off course which results in home runs for the other team. My batting strategy is stand there and hope they walk me. We're 12th out of 12 teams. We're solidly holding that position.

I'm really looking forward to football. October is going to be crazy. We're flying to Chicago at the end of October to stay with friends and go the TU vs Notre Dame game. We're going to Texas to watch the TU vs SMU game and then go to Houston for the Giants vs Texans game. Somewhere in the mix we're going to the TU vs OSU game. Can't wait for football!

5 Weeks

2010-07-14T11:47:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited! Dave and I finally planned our vacation. We're going to Philadelphia, New York City, and Pittsburgh late August. We have a wedding we're attending in Pittsburgh so we thought we'd just make a whole vacation of it. I can't wait. I really need a vacation and while I've been to the Big Apple a few times I've never been to Pennsylvania.

So we're going to fly on planes, ride some trains, and stay with family and see great friends. So excited!

Monday = New Week

2010-07-12T09:35:00.000-05:00

Last week was a really rough week in regards of my career. I felt backstabbed, not supported, and a subordinate yelled at me. I'll admit it, I cried. Looking back, I would of course have handled things differently. Such as politely asking my coworker to leave my office and return when she felt she could calmly discuss things with me. Instead, I took the abuse and it took its toll on me. I don't do well in aggressive situations. I typically clam up and try to make myself as small as possible to disappear. Once, someone described me as aggressive. I don't believe this is an accurate description of me. I may be black and white, to the point and assertive. However, aggressive is forceful, hostile, and violent. I don't believe that describes me.

Anyways, it's a new week. A new outlook. I'm trying to remember that it's not the struggles that make us who we are, but how we handle them. I'm trying very hard to forgive, forget and accept.

Cash only?

2010-07-02T11:14:00.001-05:00

Dave and I set forth a challenge for ourselves at the beginning of June. For one month we were going to use cash only. Now I pay all of our bills online so we kept that method. However, we did set a budget for groceries, gas, entertainment, beer, and misc. We had separate envelopes for each item. We were not allowed to use the credit or debit card to supplement the money.

So how did do?

We'll after analyzing our finances, I was shocked that were over spending every month by $200.00. We didn't notice because items were put on the credit card and then paid for later. Let me state this, we don't have a credit card balance. We pay it off every month. We assumed we were well within our means. We never went without and we always put money into our savings and Roth IRA accounts.

For the month of June, we ended up having a positive balance number at the end of the month. We did end up putting some items on the credit card. They weren't necessities or emergencies, but we did discuss the purchases prior to making them. I, for one, quickly realized how a dollar drink here or there adds up by the end of two weeks.

Overall, it was a challenge. We're going to continue with the cash method and see how we do. I don't know if we'll keep it up forever, but it was the most beneficial with the miscellaneous purchases. Those will zap your wallet faster than you think!

Editor's Note: Also, if you're looking for a great way to track your expenses and set budgets, I highly recommend Mint.com. It's free and very easy to setup.

Babe Ruth, I am not

2010-06-28T20:37:00.000-05:00

Did I tell you I joined an adult softball team? No? That's probably because I stopped blogging. Anyways, I did and we suck. I, personally suck at softball, but we also suck as team. As in we hadn't won a game. We play Sunday nights with each night a double-header. So far, we've stopped one game early because the other team got so far ahead of us. Yet, yesterday we started our first round in the loser's bracket and won our first game! Against Channel 2 no less! They might not of had their whole team there because of news stories, but it doesn't change the fact we got a win! And by a run rule no less, 1 - 21. Impressive I know. I also hit the ball. Typically, my strategy is just stand there and hope they walk me. So I'm proud of my crappy softball team.

Please help

2010-06-14T12:22:00.000-05:00

Hi bloggers. My friend Leslie needs some serious prayers right now. Her son Jace was shaken so hard that he has brain injuries. Please visit this site and leave your prayers. This little 3 year old has already had a rough life and needs all the support we can give.

Thank you.

I'm sorry

2010-04-27T23:45:00.000-05:00

I've noticed lately that I substitute "excuse me" with "I'm sorry." I'm not sure when this started, but I do this quite a bit throughout the day. It's not even an appropriate saying for what I'm meaning. This is a habit I'm determined to break, there's no need for me to say "I'm sorry" when I'm reaching over someone to grab a straw.

I also noticed other women doing this. There’s no reason for us to be apologetic for trying to get somewhere or something. Is this something we’re taught? To apologize for no reason?

Weekend Recaps

2010-04-26T09:46:00.000-05:00

I had a very random weekend. It started with happy hour with a few coworkers. I had to leave early because I promised Rachel that I would babysit some adults and chaperone the sorority formal. Last time we chaperoned together, we got to kick out three couples and see the DJ get tackled by an overly intoxicated date. This time the group just had several dance offs which in comparison is boring. So afterwards, around 11:00ish I rejoined my co-workers. The group slightly changed and you could definitely tell who had been there since 5:30pm. One co-worker kindly started kneading me with her head like a cat. I wasn’t sure how to react so I just petted her head told her she was a good kitty. The night progressed into karaoke version of baby got back where my co-worker who acted like a cat was stumbling into all the booty dancing female patrons. It was quite comical seeing her bounce between people rears like a pinball. As the night continued the group decided shots was obliviously a good idea. I ended up with a regurgitation of a jack shot from the same kitty/pinball coworker. That’s when my Friday night ended and I took her and my husband home.

Saturday started slow since we had a late night. I got my hair done and decided since its Spring I should go dark. I love it! I also booked a hair cut with my stylist who moved to Denver but comes back about once a month. Dave and I ended up going out for a low-key night of coffee with friends that turned into drinking games and riding in a van with shag carpeting, no seats and a small television in the back. It’s for sale if anyone needs a creepy kidnapping van.

I have a coworker who speaks Spanish and very little English. We try to have conversations, but they usually turn out with both of saying “Como se dice…” and since she doesn’t know English her word is in Spanish and I can’t help her and vice versa for me. Pretty hysterical if you’re eavesdropping on the conversation.

Happy Monday!

At least have tinted windows

2010-04-22T22:02:00.000-05:00

I know you've missed my work stories. This happened several weeks ago, but it was too funny not share. Fair warning you might find this vulgar.

It was a bright sunny day. I thought I had the chance to leave work relatively on time. It was a little after 5pm and our evening students were beginning to arrive for their classes. With my purse in hand I get up to head home. I get stopped by the stairs by two employees who were mumbling that they needed to tell me something. Both of their faces turn bright red and they won't look me in the eyes. Finally, one of them blurts out "a student is getting a bj in the parking lot." I naturally ask, "how do you know this?"

Apparently, this student was receiving his afternoon delight in his car without tinted windows. Another student called an instructor to report what he saw. The instructor was off campus so he called another instructor who was at the school. The instructor peeked out a window and confirmed what the student reported. The off campus instructor returned and pulled his car right up next to the love car. The girl jumps up so quickly that she bumps her head on the ceiling and the student is buttoning his pants as quickly as possible.

I got the pleasure of calling my very conservative Mormon male President and explain the situation. So of course using my most professional tact, I blurt out "a student is having oral sex in the parking lot.". This followed by a long awkward silence. He then tells me he's on the way over.

We met with the student and immediately expelled him. The student did not take this well. He stated that while it may have looked bad, his girlfriend was actually kissing his stomach. Then on the way out the door he turned to his instructor and said, "I hope you watch the ten o'clock news. That's where you'll see the report that my dad's killed me."

We have an appeal process and let the student back into school. And obiviously his dad didn't kill him. Lesson learned? Get tinted windows.

Why Get Married?

2010-04-18T23:18:00.000-05:00

I had an interesting conversation last night. A co-worker and I started having a heated discussion about why people get married. I have learned from this discussion that this should be one of those topics people stay away from at parties, like politics and religion.

I don't remember how the conversation got started. What I do remember is her saying "Why get married when 50% get divorced and the other 50% are unhappy." This is about the time where I blew a gasket because I felt my relationship was being scrutinized. Had we both been sober, I think we could've had a calm conversation.

So, I'm going to give my reasons for why I think people get married.

1. Her argument was that 50% of marriages end in divorce, so why get married with a high failure rate.

I can't find actual data on this statistic, but I know this number is generally accepted among the public. I'm going to accept this number for simplicity reasons. I'm also going to assume that even though we do not have to register for every romantic relationship we have, more non-martial relationships end versus marriages ending in divorce. So if we're going to go with her argument of why get married if you have a 50% chance of getting divorce, why enter a relationship if you have a higher chance of it ending?

2. I want to wake up every day and have a choice with whom I’m with.

Let’s go back to the 50% of marriages ending in divorce. Doesn’t that mean that the other 50% are choosing to stay married? It’s still a choice regardless of the legal document or not. I know there out there who feel trapped in a relationship, married or not. Every day is a choice when you’re a relationship and both parties choose to stay together. That’s what makes a relationship.

3. I asked her why wouldn’t you get married? She responded why would I?

Because marriage is a ceremony where you stand up in front God, family and friends and make a verbal commitment to your partner. You become accountable for your relationship and the actions you take towards your partner. By making public vows, you’re saying you will respect and work with your partner. This is a public way of saying you're in a long-term committed relationship. If this is what you're seeking from your partner why wouldn't you get married?

Lent

2010-02-17T17:53:00.000-06:00

I'm giving up social media for Lent. I'll post my experience after Easter. Happy blogging and I'll see you in 40 days.

Name conversation

2010-02-16T19:41:00.000-06:00

This is a typical conversation that I have with just about any new person I meet. In one form or another they ask about my name. Some are more polite than this guy.

Me: Hi, I'm Blaze. How can I help you?
Guy: Blaze? Really? Why?
Me: Why?
Guy: Yea, why Blaze?
Stare at Guy as if I don't comprehend his question
Guy: slowly as if I'm idiot Why are you named Blaze?
Me: Sir, I think Sara may be more capable of helping you at this time. And walk away.

Lover's Day and Sushi

2010-02-12T10:43:00.000-06:00

Tis the weekend for love. My husband and I don't really celebrate in this holiday. Too much pressure and setup for disappointment. He did however buy me a box of chocolates. But before he could give it to me the dog got into and ate the whole box!

Last night I needed to relieve some stress. So a small group of us went to a local sushi restaurant. Turns out Maria and Jackie were there with their own separate groups. Also, Maria was with a friend who used to lifeguard with Jackie and I. T-town only allows 2 degrees of separation at the most. It cool to see so many people you know in a small restaurant. I guess sushi was the it thing last night.

I'm reading The Chronicles of Narnia. I know the basic story line, but I never read it as a kid. My husband insisted that I read these books. So the last time I ventured to the book store I picked up the whole collection. They're really good.

Oh and I'm seriously trying to plan a vacation. Just knowing that I'm going somewhere, sometime is really helping the February blues.

I'm alive

2010-02-08T11:28:00.000-06:00

I think I might ban blogging until T-town decides it’s no longer Green Bay. Monday became crazy for me last night at about 11pm. I received an email from my boss that caused me not to sleep until well past 1am. I don't want to go into detail. But it had me stating why I should be allowed to handle certain situations without bringing in other people.

It's been very cold here. Too cold. I want a warm vacation, like now. I'm thinking St. Lucia, Belize, or Cabo. Suggestions?

This weekend was random. I saw a dodge ball tournament. Seriously! And there were some pretty serious teams. Each game was 5 minutes with 2.5 minute halves. Dave's team didn't last through the first half before they were eliminated. Pretty entertaining nonetheless.

Saturday, I celebrated a friend’s birthday by riding in a 15-passenger van to Eischen’s which is the oldest bar in Oklahoma. This happens to be next to the oldest bank. It’s in a little town outside of OKC and it was packed! We waited an hour to find a table big enough for our group. One interesting social experiment – each person in our group was assigned an area to be on the lookout for a table. One member decided he was going to form a line and so he did. He just told everyone looking at tables that he was next and they stood behind him. They were all guys. All the females were still scouring tables and not being aggressive. Guess where we got our table? In the room with the line. Little fact Eischen’s was on the food network for Dive, Drives and Dinners. It was good food and something different.

I hope everyone's Monday is better than mine. And that you're staying warm. I'm so over winter, seriously we've never received this much snow before. I miss those days...

Chasing my own tail

2010-01-26T10:57:00.000-06:00

I feel like this:

I hope I don't end up like this:

Yesterday, I felt like I was just trying to catch up with myself. Today I feel so far behind and my to-do list just keeps growing. Along with that is school and getting an email from my professor saying, "I'm guessing this paper was written quickly." It was because I didn't think it was due till this Sunday and it was due last Sunday. I received an email from her yesterday asking for the paper so I typed it out and hit submit. Apparently that's not acceptable and I have to make some adjustments. *sigh*

I'm hosting bookclub tonight. If I don't get my act together everyone will be sitting in my dirty house and helping me fold laundry instead of eating and discussing the book.

Have you ever had one thing that consumed your every thought?

2010-01-21T10:36:00.000-06:00

That happened to me yesterday. Every thought I had was around pop and how much I wish I could taste its deliciousness.

I gave up pop. I don't know why. It’s definitely not a health kick since I’m consuming more calories now than I did drinking pop. For some unknown reason, I just decided yesterday that instead of grabbing my normal diet Dr. Pepper that I would go for juice. I gave up pop cold turkey.

I swear I was crack addict coming down from a high. I had a huge headache that wouldn’t go away and I couldn’t stop thinking about my believed DP. Last night my temperature dropped way down and I was freezing in my warm house. It was sad people, sad. I snapped at my husband for every little thing that he did or didn’t do. Sorry babe!

I’m back to being sane. I don’t have a headache today. I haven’t craved for a pop yet either. I think I’m just glad I survived. I’m restarting the couch to 5K tonight. So hopefully I’ll still be able to reach my goal of running a 5K in March.

Random Post

2010-01-15T23:40:00.000-06:00

What the hell is wrong with Facebook? I guess I'm not cool enough for the inside joke of blah blah blah because that's how I roll. Or misspelling tomorrow. Seriously people! That word reuses the same vowel, I promise. Rant over.

I've been having writer's block in almost every aspect of my life. Even my facebook statuses have been haulted by the block. I've had ideas for posts and I can't seem to conceptualize them. I blame grad school, work, and Pat Robertson.

This week I worked like crazy, tried to stay on top of my school work and pretended to workout. My pretend workout consisted of walking at a local park but it was so muddy from all the snow that my workout partner and I just went for beers. I think I mentally benefited from the talk more than the walk. However, my couch to 5K challenge has resulted in more couch activity than anything else. I need to get back into that groove, especially since people keep reminding me that I’m running a 5K in March. Sometimes I need to learn to not tell people my goals.

I’ll leave you with a typical conversation of introducing myself to someone.

Me: “Hi. I’m Blaze, it’s nice to meet you.”
Someone: “Blaze huh? Were you born in a blaze of glory?”
Me: trying not to roll my eyes “No, but why don’t you tell me why you’ve applied for a position at this company?”

Grad School + Blaze =

2010-01-08T16:15:00.000-06:00

I'm overwhelmed. As you may know, I'm taking two graduate courses this semester. I seriously feel like the dumbest person to enter grad school. All we had to do day 1 was post a bio about ourselves. I posted the damn thing in the wrong spot. And of course, once you post you can't take it away. When I finally figured out where all my assignments are located, it appears that my entire class has already fulfilled the assignment. How is that possible?? It's day one! Aren't we supposed to just get used to being in class? I seriously didn't think being out of school for *gasp* 7 years would make a difference, but I think it has.

In other news, I no longer have a life, so I'm sure my posts will be boring. I understand if you no longer want to read.

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T15:51:00.000-06:00

Things I've already learned in 2010:

Toasti Toes do not actually work on your feet, but are excellent thigh warmers.
I will not die at a freezing cold football as long as I have long johns, jeans, two pair of socks, two tank tops, long sleeve shirt, two sweatshirts, two gloves, two hats, thermal back warmer, Toasti Toes.
I will however, still be cold, but not dead.
Memphis Domino's will give you free pizza without you complaining, if the box looks smashed.
I love my snow boots that I bought in Houston. So much so this is the first day in a week that I haven't worn them. I'll probably put them on after work.
I'm horrible at chess
I'm descent at scrabble.
I start school today. I'm nervous and excited and I already feel behind.

Happy 2010! Oh and what is everyone calling the year? I've been saying twenty-ten, but have heard oh ten, aught ten, and two thousand and ten.

I might be in love

2009-12-21T09:11:00.000-06:00

Sigh. I think it's meant to be. Thanks to my boss for truly knowing what a girl wants.

A Big FU Gift Goes to:

2009-12-18T09:51:00.000-06:00

The guy that was offered a raise after only working here 90 days and still asked for more money.
The same guy for threatening to quit if doesn't get more money. You know what? I didn't make your poor financial decisions, why do I have to get you out of it? You knew how much you'd be making when you took the job. That wasn't a secret!
The ungrateful student who tore up his award right in front of the President because he didn't think it "was good enough." FU you little sh*t head.
The insurance company for raising my premiums $50 a month (which makes it over $200/month) and then offering a 2% discount for not smoking. Gee thanks.

Blog Award - Honest Scrap

2009-12-17T09:22:00.000-06:00

Here are the Rules:

Must thank the person who gave you the award and list their blog and link it. Thank you Andrea at The Snorthing Gigglesaurus! I've known Andrea pretty much the majority of my life and am amazed at how she's grown into a beautiful mature woman and mommy!
Share "10 Honest things" about yourself.
Present this award to 7 others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged you.
Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.

So here goes:

I have no idea what I want from Christmas. I know I spent a whole post complaining about what to get people and how I'm out of ideas. I believe my stumped gift giving stems from the fact I have no clue what I want. I think it's because, wait for it...I'm satisfied; which is a very bizarre feeling for me. (At least in regards to material things) Weird.
I ordered all my gifts online this year. I've received two so far. I'M FREAKING OUT!! Please UPS deliver the gifts so I don't have to go to the dreaded mall.
The general public annoys the piss out of me. I try to avoid places like movie theaters on opening night, malls during the holiday season, etc. However, I love concerts and the people do not bother me. Maybe because we're all singing?
I'm allergic to the cold. I break out in hives and get all itchy. I typically hate cold weather. Yet, I've been "running" in freezing temperatures.
My outfit to run in freezing temperatures consists of: two pair of socks, long johns, running pants, tank top, long john top, short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt (yes, twice), two pairs of gloves, ear warmers, and knitted hat. I may or may not look similar to this.

This is the first Christmas that I will not be spending with my family. Typically I see my parents at some point and this year it just wasn't possible to see both families on Christmas. So my family is getting together on Sunday. It’s just not the same.
I have been at work before 7:00am twice this week. That deserves some kind of award right?
Growing up I always opened my stocking gifts first. Dave always did his last. We argue every year which way to do it and have always stuck with our own traditions so far.

I'm really looking forward to a few days off and getting out of town. However, I really want a big trip. One that requires a passport and 7 days off.
I'm going to break rules 3 & 4 and let those that want to join the fun do it.

Top 6 Company Christmas Party No-No's

2009-12-15T06:43:00.003-06:00

So I went in with a group gift and we're getting our boss a Kindle. It became a reasonable gift and I think she'll really like it. The mom and in law gifts are still to be determined. But you've given me some great ideas that I'm going to see if they'll work for my family.

We had our Company Christmas Party on Saturday. It was fun, but there were some things that probably shouldn't happen in front of your boss:

When the dance floor is practically empty, it’s not appropriate to run up behind someone and hump them.
Passing out on the table.
Giving a lap dance to your significant other.
Getting so drunk that you fall down, puke, and twist your knee.
So drunk that you hurt your knee and have to be carted off in a wheel chair.
Starting a fight in the elevator with the CEO.

Ahh the holidays, they're magical right? Thankfully, I was only the victim of #1.

I received a blog award that I promise I'll post. Soon.

Gift Ideas??

2009-12-11T08:36:00.003-06:00

What do you get your boss who has everything? One year I got her a photo book of Oklahoma signed by the author. Another year I got her Oklahoma wine. Any ideas?

What do you get a mother who's not going to like anything you get her, but refuses to give you clues for something she might actually like? I'm thinking about giving a best buy gift card. I know its impersonal, but she's not giving me anything to go on!

Also, we're doing stocking stuffers for the hubs family. WTH! Three men and two women and a 3 year old. We already got the three year old a gift, but guess what? Same gift bought by the grandma.

Shouldn't Christmas be about the holidays? Family time? Not expressing your love through gifts? Ideas for gifts welcome.

I feel like a bad ass

2009-12-10T16:22:00.003-06:00

As always, in no particular order:

I pull my welders, also known as 3rd grade little girls, into my office and told them that I expected them to communicate to each other, work together, and get over this squabble. If they didn't feel they could do this then some adjustments to the team were going to be made. They're now working together and talking.
I got my hair done! I love hair did days. It always puts a little pep in my step.
I did my own banner. Did you see it? You probably can't miss it since its a picture of a flame. It's not special or cool like most of yours, but its better than nothing right?
My company Christmas party is tomorrow. I'm trying to decide if I want to wear the same dress I wore last year or get a new dress. I'm leaning towards new dress that I could also wear out for New Year's Eve.

Welders = 3rd Graders

2009-12-09T12:20:00.003-06:00

I honest to God have two welding instructors who will not speak to each other. They are being like two little girls in a fight. They gossip behind each others back and literally refuse to say anything to other.

Actual email sent from employee:
Blaze, I just wanted you to know that the shop looked awesome. :) it was super clean and my students and I greatly appreciate it ,since the other welder acting like a little girl and I are not talking I was wondering if you could pass a thank you on.

Thanks !
Welder who won't talk to coworker therefore is acting like a 3rd grader

Seriously? This is management?

In lieu of Christmas Cards

2009-12-08T11:24:00.006-06:00

We adopted an Angel from the Salvation Army Angel Tree. There were so many pieces of papers representing kids and families wanting to have a Christmas. It was heart wrenching. I just looked at the table and grabbed the first one. This was my first year and I wasn't sure what to do. It was so easy, you pick your angel, they give you a bag, then you return the bag with the present(s) and the paper and it goes to the family.

After I picked out Stephanie, the 20 month little girl, I went shopping. I may have gone a touch over board. She likes Dora the Explorer, so I got her a cute little Dora shirt, Dora fleece blanket, Dora talking backpack play kit, and a Dora doll. I also picked up clothes and shoes. Not having any kids, the picking out clothes part was a bit of a challenge. Is 24 months the same at 2T? It should be. Makes sense right? Because the Target clothes are more 2T than 24 months and I hope this 20 month little girl can wear them for awhile.

My parents always came through for Christmas. Every year they made sure it was big deal and these are some of my happiest memories; being excited for Santa and waking up the parents so they could see what Santa brought me. Anyways, if you're able, I encourage everyone to adopt an Angel. The program ends this Saturday.

Accreditation Visit

2009-12-04T15:07:00.002-06:00

It went great. We kicked ass and took names. I'm flying high right now. In preparation for this visit I felt like I was back in college. On Tuesday night I was up until 1am working on it and then Wednesday night until 3am. It was ridiculous. So far my accreditation visits have been perfect with no violations.

This visit was different since I had to deal with one man who didn't think he should talk to me since I didn't have a penis. Seriously, he would barely speak to me even when I asked him a direct question. Either I charmed him or he decided I wasn't so incompetent that I could read and that I did know what was going on at the school. Surprisingly, he warmed up to me, realized I am capable of understanding policies (regardless if they're automotive related or not).

I'm tired, but I think I'm going to celebrate with an adult beverage.

"The Greatest Barrier to Success is the Fear of Failure"

2009-11-30T11:19:00.005-06:00

-Sven Goran Eriksson

I hate the fear of failing. The anxiety of whether or not you’re good enough for something; its heart wrenching. Granted, while I don’t like it, I’ve never died from failing. Embarrassing? Yes. But, I can look back at all my failures and see exactly what I could have done better.

My earliest failures have to do with cheerleading. For those that don't know, I cheered for 10 years. I failed several times at cheerleading. I almost didn't became a cheerleader. I originally tried out my 7th grade year. All you had to do was go out in front of judges by yourself and do the cheer. I cried and said I didn't want to do it. Eventually, I was talked into it and pushed out in front of the judges. I cried myself through the cheer. I bolted out the door the moment I was done. I repeated this event my 9th grade year when trying out for the JV squad in high school. Our tryouts were open to the public and anyone could watch. I, of course, drew number one. I did it and survived and even made the squad, but not without the tears.

My senior year I lost the votes for cheer captain. That one was a blow to the ego. I had assumed I would be the natural leader. I cried and eventually quit the squad to focus solely on my all-star squad. It was immature and unsupportive. I wasn't a good leader since I assumed it was my role and expected others to follow. It took several years to see that I wasn’t chosen because of my assumption. My last semester of high school I was invited and tried out to be on cheer staff for a cheerleading organization. I didn't make staff. It probably had something to do with the fact that I had no idea what to expect and I was a nervous wreck. I dressed like I was going to practice, I barely talked during the interview, and displayed little confidence.

Also, in high school I ran for Vice-President of Student Council and lost. That stung, but looking back I was the underdog the whole time. I was just too blind and confident to notice. Again, the leadership qualities come back. I didn't know what it was that made someone a leader.

College brought on a whole other round of failures. Realizing that my brain is not as smart as classmates. Having to retake chemistry not twice, but three times. Getting fired from a job because I felt I was smarter than the boss. (Smarter? Maybe. Power over the boss? Definitely not.) Learning you truly get out what you put into, therefore if you put nothing in you get nothing in return. While some of these lessons only took once to learn, others like Chemistry took a couple more attempts.

I’m not sure what prompted a blog about my failures. Maybe the fact that I have an accreditation visit I feel that I’m under prepared for. Maybe because I’m itching for something new but scared I’ll fail. Maybe to reflect back and realize that learning from these only made me stronger.

Blogging when I should be working

2009-11-24T10:19:00.005-06:00

I have so much to do. And I decided to take tomorrow off to prepare for Thanksgiving by cleaning my house and making whatever I can make ahead of time. Turns out I'm only going to have my parents over and I'm really excited about it. We don't see them often enough, even though they live just a few miles us.

Did I tell you I have so much to do? I was motivated until the project I picked to do turned out to already be done. (I'm so efficient I forgot that I did work.) Then my motivation went to crap and I'm thinking about other stuff, like what wine I want to stock my wine cooler with. Or how I could use tomorrow to find another pair of cute shoes that I'm sure I'm going to need in the very near future. Or find a purse since I haven't purchased a purse in what feels like a decade.

Alas, I have deadlines that should be able to wait till after the holidays, but my dumbass decided to book an accreditation visit for the WEEK AFTER THANKSGIVING! I suck and need an assistant who plans better than this crap.

Public Speaking

2009-11-23T08:37:00.003-06:00

Saturday was graduation for my school. It was the first one in which we actually had graduates; combine all three schools into one graduation. Typically, we have a student speaker from each college. Well, none of my students wanted to speak. None. So guess who got to step up and speak in front of 1,100 people? This girl. It was scary. I was intimidated. But it went great. People, laughed at the right spots, I didn't speak too fast, and it was over before I knew it. Whew.

Oh and my mom dropped a bombshell on me last night. The hubs and I may or may not be hosting my side of the family for Thanksgiving. How do I prepare for that?

Random

2009-11-18T11:37:00.002-06:00

I'm enrolled for graduate courses. It's been 7 years since I've been in school and I'm 100% sure I'm dumber for being in the real world. I hope I can hang with scholars again.
The Internet has diagnosed me with Seasonal Affective Disorder.
I got to use my power of authority today by denying a student readmission into school. Take that asswipe for blatantly not likely me for being a women in an authoritative position.
I bought a sweater dress and love it!! It's fuchsia, my favorite color word.
Sarah Palin is doing interviews again. Why? She's obviously had better coaching, but I don't understand the motives? I can't stand to watch the interviews so I haven't done enough research to figure out why she's back in the spot light.

WARNING: This is a Cranky Post

2009-11-16T10:51:00.005-06:00

I'm not sure why I'm in a foul mood. Maybe because it went from a lovely 70 degrees to a cloudy and ugly 42 degrees. Maybe because I'm playing receptionist, even though I'm the f'ing Campus Director (never too important for any job right?) since the receptionist felt ill with a sore throat and what not. Maybe because my other coworkers are being imbeciles and are out to just piss me off. Whatever.

I had a great weekend in St. Louis. Maybe that's why I'm cranky? Since I spent all day driving back to T-town in the rain. Regardless, the weekend was great. The wedding was everything the bride wanted it to be. And even better, it was the last one of the year!!

It was a catholic ceremony and during the homily the Priest discussed a passage in Tobit about Sara and Tobias. It was Sara's 7th marriage because all of her previous husbands were killed by demons on the wedding night. So the Priest talks about other demons that can kill the marriage, like demon of laziness, demon of busyness, and demon of CONTRACEPTION. I swear he yelled it. He then went off about how contraception puts material walls between the marriages. It was just a touch over the top for a wedding ceremony.

I think today I just don't like people. Do you ever get that way? I feel like this is an only child syndrome. Growing up I spent a lot of time by myself. I was able to decompress and be alone without someone asking me my every thought. I don't think I was able to do that this weekend and therefore, everyone is pissing me off. This is one of the hardest parts about marriage for me. There are just times I need to be alone and he really doesn't get it. He takes it personally and tries even harder to spend time with me, i.e. actually laying on me. Then I get pissed off that he's laying on me and not leaving me alone. Sigh. Hopefully this mood will pass quickly.

Wishful Wednesday/Bedroom Reveal

2009-11-11T10:53:00.004-06:00

'I wish' .... I never had to vacuum/sweep again!

We have two pups and while I love them dearly, they shed like its nobodies business. That and my shedding, there's a lot of vacuuming and sweeping going on in our household. I can seriously vacuum/sweep and the next day it looks like I didn't even touch the floors. Clumps of dog hair piled together in corners, white hair covering the rugs. Its frustrating and I need a roomba!

To check out other Wishful Wednesday posts or to link your post go to Kelsey's blog.

Here is my the semi-reveal to the bedroom. Its not done, but if I wait to post pics till its done no one will ever see the room.

Remember the before?

Now the After!! I even made the headboard myself. Super easy project.

Now I just need night stands, a fan, and other decorative items...

Blog Award

2009-11-09T09:58:00.004-06:00

Thank you Joy at emotionaldiva.

The rules for this one are simple; just share five things you are obsessed with, and then pass the award on to five of the most fabulous blogs you read!

Decorating my bedroom. It's been painted and its VERY blue. I hung curtains and I'm working on the head. Will post pics hopefully later this week.
My iPhone. This piece of technology amazes and entertains me daily.
Fantasy Football. I was doing so well and now all my players are hurt.
Reality TV - especially Biggest Loser, RR/WR The Ruins, The FoodNetwork Challenges
Not eating pizza. Dave and I eat pizza probably 3 times a week with the ready made dough that you just have to top and put in the oven for 7 minutes. Its quick and easy and we eat it way too often. So far, we've gone one full week without any pizza.

Five Fabulous Bloggers

I love Guiness - when she blogs!
Joyfully Gray - who isn't more fabulous then Lucia?
A Little of What you Fancy Does you Good - did you see the great cake for CJ? That's deserves an award of its own!
Adventures in Mommyhood - because Parker got his dancing skills from his mama
Miss Priss Does a Blog - have you seen Sir Henry - too cute!

Designers - Tim Gunn

2009-11-05T18:13:00.004-06:00

I heart Tim.

I need help. So I'm calling all my creative home decorators. I want to decorate my master bedroom. We've lived here over a year and it looks like we just moved in. As you can see I can't seem to decide on a color scheme. Anyone have some fabulous ideas they would like to share? I like the bedspread, but I can persuaded to do something else. It's a small room, 14' x 16'? I like clean lines and a casual feel. I don't the hubby would take too kindly to floral or girly colors.

Here's two other bedrooms that I like.

The extra hour did not provide me with more time

2009-11-03T16:20:00.004-06:00

This week has been crazy! I thought I would be all on top of my game with the extra hour and it has totally threw me off. I stay up way too late and its hard to get up the next day. On Sunday I became overly productive with laundry and cleaning the neglected house. Monday I decided not only did we need groceries, but I needed to cook dinner and something for the next night. I never do that!

Halloween was so much fun! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I have more to blog about but I'll have to do it at another time. So I'll leave you with you with this.

Thursday's Random Events in Bulletpoint

2009-10-29T20:15:00.005-05:00

I had one my employees tell me that his goal was to have my job.
I have a Halloween costume!! If my camera is working I promise to post pics.
It was discovered that two school owned property items were vandalized. I'm pissed off!
I've already had one St@rbucks apple cider and I'm trying really hard to convince myself that two in one day is excessive.
I've applied to a Master's program. I'm a bit freaked out, but much more excited. If everything goes according to plan then I'll start classes in January!
OMG I have to fill out the FAFSA again!

What to be for Halloween?

2009-10-27T13:04:00.003-05:00

Ever have one of those weekends that are just amazing but not for any particular reason? It was just a great weekend. That was mine.

A great friend got married on Saturday. She'll amazing beautiful and in love and I'm so excited for her! I took few pictures so I'll try to grab some off of facebook once their posted. The bridesmaids made these super cute t-shirts that we wore to the after party. Several of us went to Oktoberfest before hand and kept getting ask where the bachelorette party was. Their faces were so disappointed when we told them it was wedding. However having a bachelorette party could be the best or worst idea ever.

Sunday was super chill. However, I discovered St@rbucks hot apple cider. I know I'm behind the times; I just didn't realize what I was missing. Seriously, its heaven in my mouth and I don't know how I survived without it.

Halloween this weekend...what to be, what to be?? I was this 2 years ago and let's be honest, that's a bit hard to top...

Wishful Wednesday

2009-10-21T10:32:00.005-05:00

'I wish"...I was going on vacation tomorrow, and I would want to go to St. Lucia, Europe, or Australia.

St. Lucia because I'm owed a trip. Here's why.

Europe because I can't just pick one country I want to see.

Australia because Aussies are so sexy and the land is beautiful and I really really want to go.

Now I really want a vacation. A vacation that requires a passport. Hmm...I think I'm going to go do some vacation research.

I Planned...

2009-10-19T10:23:00.003-05:00

On deep cleaning the house. Especially since two weekends in a row we went out of town and I didn't have anything special planned this weekend. Instead, I had a date with my husband Friday night. Got to catch up with Jackie on a lunch date Saturday. Went to ITR Saturday with the hubs, Rachel, Matt, and Kelly. It was an impromptu get together to wait for Matt's parents to come into town around 10pm and to celebrate Kelly's last Saturday as a Single Lady (please tell me you started singing the song). Dave actually said "I really like ITR. We should go there once a month." My mouth hit the floor. This coming from the guy who hates sushi. We'll see if he keeps his word. Sunday was spent watching football and being forced to root for the Giants (boo!). My husband and I were matched up this weekend in fantasy football and I had both Eli Manning and Drew Brees as quarterbacks. Unfortunately, I went against my better judgment and instinct and played Manning. I kept telling myself its good for the marriage because if I was dancing around while the Giants were receiving their first lost of the season he wouldn't have been talking to me today.

The sun is out in T-town and it's supposed to be above 70! Have a great Monday.

Wishful Wednesday

2009-10-14T11:40:00.002-05:00

"I wish"... I had one particular talent, and it would be a photographic memory!

Seriously, I'm so jealous of people who can perfectly recall items, quotes, sentences, what they did last night without hesitation. I feel like I'm always riffling through my mind files just trying to find the right one which was probably mislabeled leading me in another direction entirely and by that time I've forgotten what I was even looking for. It's pathetic and I wish I had a better memory.

Drinking for Charity

2009-10-13T09:39:00.005-05:00

Crawl for Cancer in KC is huge! It was fun and it started at 1pm. We hit 5 different bars and went to an after party where all the teams met up. My team was a lot of fun and I must say we did very well during our flip cup challenges.

It was freezing in KC. So I wore my Atlanta sweatshirt and was called Hotlanta all night. Even by strangers. They would just walk up, "hey Hotlanta."

If you want a fun way to support cancer research, I highly suggest this.
First bar. We've gotta pace ourselves.

This is on our way to the second bar. Buff (bottom) did demand that this guy sit on his lap. It made for a funny bus ride and loads of jokes for the rest of the evening.

Wedding Advice from the Non-Expert

2009-10-06T18:55:00.005-05:00

For the Mother-in-Laws:

Grabbing guests and demanding that they stand during the first dance is not appropriate. If you want something to happen, kindly request it, most guests will gladly oblige.
Telling the guests they are not important is not nice. We get it; we're not the bride or the groom, but we are here to support them and they thought we were important enough to be invited.
Telling the bride to cut her pictures short so the cocktail hour can be cut short is not ok. Believe it or not, the pictures are quite important since they'll represent the memories that are being created that day.

For the Mother of the Brides:

Telling the guests to go ahead and eat without the bride and groom arriving makes for a very awkward situation when you're the guest in line at the buffet as the couple makes their first entrance as Mr. and Mrs.
It is indeed the bride's day. The couple's day. That's why this whole get together is happening. Everyone that day wants to make her and him happy. Don't tell the bride on her wedding day that its not her day.

For the Aunts:

It's never appropriate to yell at a guest or bridesmaid. If it doesn't envolve the bride being on fire you don't need to yell.

For the Guests:

Never, never ask the bride to find you a ride home. You may be drunk, but she doesn't need to be worrying about your drunkass.
If you wear a lace top without a bra everyone will see your nipples. Therefore, you will be nicknamed Nipples all night. Cover them up please.

Krativ Blogger Award

2009-10-04T23:46:00.004-05:00

This award came from Jax at The Roaring Twenties. We're friends in real life and I love the fact that she blogs almost daily. If you haven't read her blog, check it out. Thanks Jax for the nomination. And since it came with an award I figured I better do it! Here are the rules:

Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.
Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they've been nominated.

Here we go!

I love marathons. Love them! TV shows, books, whatever. This is probably the reason why I watch so many reality shows; most networks replay the shows as a marathon and then I get hooked. If I start it I have to finish it. It becomes an obsession. About a month ago I discovered Janet Evanovich's the Stephanie Plum novels. There's 15 of them and I finished them in about a week and half.
I like going to the dentist. That feeling of having your teeth newly cleaned is one of my favorite things.
If you know me in real life, you know that I hate bugs. I'm scared of them. Especially flying or jumping ones. I swear they're out to attack me.
I've joined a fantasy football team. Dave is definitely helping me, but so far I'm doing pretty good and its fun!
I hate handling things over phone. It seriously frustrates the hell out of me. I think I speak better in person and make my point more clearly when I do it face to face rather than on the phone.
I love old shows like I Dream of Jeannie and I love Lucy.
I kill all house plants. Including a bamboo plant. Granted it took me 5 years to officially kill, but I finally did.

Now my nominees!

Andrea at Miss Priss Does a Blog. She just had baby Henry, so she probably has other things she wants to blog about, but I still think she deserves the award.
Bethany at Adventures in Mommyhood.
Joy at Emotional Diva.
Jessie at I Love Guiness.
Carrie at After All the Folderol.
Rachel at Yes, I have a blog.
Kat at Team Hills.

Grasshopper

2009-09-29T20:36:00.001-05:00

Has somehow made it up to my second story window and won't stop staring at me. Seriously, it's been two days. I'm starting to think he's a spy for my boss to see if I'm really working...

Random thoughts

2009-09-17T10:25:00.003-05:00

Bootcamp plug: Come out to bootcamp! It's Monday and Wednesday at 6pm and Saturday at 10am at Zink Park at 31st and Trenton. It's $10/session. Most of us are out of shape and complain throughout the workout. We have all sizes. If you want a great workout come out and join us!

Work is crazy busy which is why I haven't had a chance to blog. One cool thing that's going on right now is we're showcasing one of Darryl Starbird's custom car. Its a '51 Mercury that he did custom fabrication on. It's pretty sweet, even if you're not into cars. Here's a pic and that's Darryl Starbird himself. If you don't know who Darryl Starbird is, he's famous for making custom cars. He has a muesum at Grand Lake.

The Britney concert was amazing! If you get an opportunity to go, go. Seriously, she knows how to put on a show. My camera did not take good pics so I'm not even going to post them. The lights really messed with my camera and I couldn't find a good setting. We did see several tranny's. One had on a nice ring leader out fit that cut off at the midriff and was all sequins. It was awesome.

Kelly's shower is this weekend!! I'm excited. I'm hosting so hopefully, things go smoothly. We're going shopping for food and stuff tonight. And between now and 8pm tomorrow I need to clean my house.

I'm running the fun run at the Race for the Cure on Saturday morning. Let's hope I don't die. We did a little bit of running during bootcamp and I my sides started cramping after 5 steps. So, dying really is a possibility. But if Matt can do a 10 min mile drunk, I think I can survive a fun run.

Bootcamp Booty

2009-09-14T10:46:00.002-05:00

This was a great weekend. TU football and we were victorious over New Mexico University.

My weekend began with a few of my friends and hubby deciding to do a bootcamp. I was forced to participate because my husband is heading it up and it would look like I wasn't supporting him sitting at home on the couch while he was working out my friends. So for the first time in about a year I got dressed and worked out. I'm in so much pain its not even funny. We worked out with probably 8 other people and I think they were expecting more out of me then what I could give. Apparently being the wife of trainer implies that I too enjoy working out. Which is the opposite. There was another wife of a trainer there and she definitely gave me a bad name since she was all in shape and acted like the workouts were doing were not a big deal. The whole time I thought I was going to throw-up or die. Though neither happened.

So after bootcamp and laying on the couch for a few hours I went to the TU watch party. It was fun. Very crowded, but it was exciting to be around genuine TU fans. I was with the group that was the last to leave. We looked up and everyone was gone, including the wait staff. The security guard came over and said they wanted to lock up. We were like, "oh ok, we're not sure how we missed everyone leaving." Eh, it happens right?

Sunday was a lazy day. Mainly because I couldn't move due to bootcamp. I'm still in pain and some how I'm supposed to show back up and do more workouts. We'll see. I may not want to be in too much pain for the Britney Concert which is tomorrow!!

Labor Day Weekend in Bullet Point Form

2009-09-09T16:38:00.004-05:00

Drinking with 5 hour energy drink will cause you to stay up way too late, i.e. 4am.
I'm too old to remember the rules to asshole.
I'm not too old to find asshole funny.
Drinking Project Runway is hilarious. We used the words design, style, bitches, and Ra'mon's interviews.
It takes me days to recover from binge drinking.
I'm in love with the Biscuit Acres, the dog park. I feel like I'm doing something with the dogs only I'm not the one running around and wearing myself out. It's amazing.
Watching Glee, the new Fox show, is hilarious. Either because it really is that funny or because I was still hyper from the 5 hour energy drink.
I did not have a hangover from the binge drinking which I believe is due to the 5 hour energy drink and it's million percent serving size of vitamin B.

Do you follow it?

2009-08-27T15:40:00.002-05:00

Do you ever give someone advise and when the exact same situation arises you do not follow it? Say when your husband has a mysterious rash appear on his arm that spreads to his chest and you tell him over and over again to see a dermatologist. Especially when he keeps saying how it’s spreading and you tell him you're grossed out and won't touch him and his feelings get hurt because he can't understand why. And then you wake up one day with the tiniest of a bump, but it itches and it doesn't appear to be spreading so you assume it’s a bug bite. And then the back of your legs start itching and again you assume its bug bites only when you look at the area it appears to be something resembling a rash? You can rationalize that you don't need to see a dermatologist because unlike your husband, you took years of chemistry and biology even though its been almost six years ago and you watch Grey's Anatomy as well as Plastic Surgery Before and After and clearly you're closer to understanding the dynamics of your skin then your husband who only holds a Business degree and hates any surgery shows. And you go and buy the generic cortisone cream and you impress yourself because it actually cures the mystery rash. You would be totally justified in not following your own advise.

Ahh Wednesday

2009-08-26T09:01:00.003-05:00

Do you ever have one of those mornings where you stop and think this isn't working, I need to regroup or go drink? Typically I would like to regroup with a nice beer or a drink with a high level of vodka, but that's not appropriate today. So instead I'm going to QT and getting pretzels and Diet DP. I consider both items staples for breakfast.

Because curious minds want to know why my morning is falling into the disaster category:

Receptionist out sick again today so I get to play her role along with running the school.
Female student claims a male student is sexually harassing her.
Expel male student for sexual harassment.
Students in an uproar because they found out they must pay off their school account in order to receive their graduation items.

Arizona Trip

2009-08-24T11:27:00.004-05:00

The hubs and I had a great weekend. We went to Glendale, AZ for his brother's MBA graduation. His school is really cool. It only offers graduate programs and they recruit internationally. They had a student representative from each of the countries present to briefly speak about their country. I was trying to convince Dave for us to go back to school. Don't you wish you could relive some of your college experiences? And here's a schools that offers that with people going for their MBA and they have an on campus bar. Seriously, I'm thinking this could be my next move.

Arizona is hot. And they say its not that bad because its a dry heat, but that doesn't take away from the fact that its hot! We flew in at dusk and it was 108. I don't care where you live or who you are, you're going to think that's hot!

One of my favorite things about flying into a new city is that I'm no longer responsible for driving. Nobody expects you to know your way around, they make the plans for you, and you can go drink without wondering who's driving the responsibility bus. I love it!

Cear Millan and the 8 minute Mile

2009-08-17T11:34:00.003-05:00

I have decided that when I win the lottery I'm going to hire a photographer to follow me around and take party pics. I never have my camera when the opportunity arises that I MUST have a camera. Case in point: Friday Night.

My work week was from hell. And when Friday rolled around and I didn't get out of work until after 5 I was ready to unwind. So I crashed Matt and Rachel's date at ITR. I had a beer and crab dip and then we decided to drink back at their place. I showed Matt how to hook up his Wii to the Internet (you're welcome Rachel) and Matt and I played Mario Kart through Nintendo World on a Friday night. Yes we're that cool. Dave showed up by this point and we decided to play a drinking game. This of course lead to Drinking Cesar Millan. Which by the way will get you f-ed. Try the words dog, Cesar, pack, dominate, ssstttt, and rehabilitate. I finished three beers during one show and we watched two shows.

So after Cesar we discussed the bet that Rachel and Matt have going. I'm not going into details but if Matt runs and finishes a 5K race he gets a well deserved month long reward. This bet has been in place for about 6 months and he has yet to attempt to achieve it. So that night Matt some how got it in his head that he could make the same bet, only if he ran an 8 minute mile that night. So Dave and I cheered this idea on. Matt got dressed, I cursed at myself for not having a camera and we loaded into the car. This is where Rachel smacks her head as she's getting into the car and knocks herself out for a few seconds. She laid herself out in the yard. I don't think she was seriously hurt, because when she got up she still wanted to see Matt run his 8 minute. Matt ran his mile in 10 min 5 sec. I was 1) impressed he actually did it and 2) surprised he didn't throw up on himself.

Friday night wore me out so I didn't do anything on Sat and Sun.

Thankful Thursday

2009-08-13T19:20:00.004-05:00

I'm thankful for:

That I haven't killed myself this week. It's been tempting since work has been hell with Monday's shenanigans and an employee quitting without notice on Wednesday, and the students being their super fun grumpy selves.
Nala, who decided to jump the fence and tear her dewclaw. It only cost me $230 to get it clipped. Because of this the vet tech informed me of the no jump harness. It looks like a torture device, but its suppose to keep them from fully extending their legs, thus not allowing them to jump as high. I'm pretty tempted to order one and see if it'll work. It's cheaper than the static mat, so that's a plus. Knowing Nala, she'll still make it over the fence.
My husband. We had a conversation last night about what the most annoying thing is about each other and whether or not we thought we could live the rest of our lives with this. Of course this conversation lead to our favorite sports team before either of us good divulge the most annoying thing.
Hyperlinks.

Keith Urban & Hula Hoops

2009-08-11T21:56:00.004-05:00

I had an awesome weekend. I wish my Monday had been mundane so that I would've posted about my fabulous weekend rather than the craptastic Monday. So in light that's Tuesday and it didn't suck I'm posting about my weekend.

Friday: Kelly surprised me with tickets to the Sugarland/Keith Urban concert. Her fiance bailed and I was glad to step in as her date. It was a blast. We danced and sang and drank and ohh'd and ahh'd at hunky Keith. We had awesome seats too!

When I got home from the concert I woke up my husband who fell asleep right after I left. My living had been trashed. I seriously thought we got robbed while he was sleeping. But after the initial shock that we didn't actually get robbed, we realized that the dogs decided they wanted to haul everything out of a Goodwill bag and chew it up. They also chewed up my UTI medicine. They left a nice yellow stain on the carpet and both dogs have yellow stains on their fur. I was tipsy enough to not care and I think hubby cleaned up the mess.

Saturday: Hubby and I cleaned house. We did laundry AND put it away. We've gotten into the habit of doing the laundry and not folding it and then somehow it ends up back on the bedroom floor and we couldn't tell if had been worn or not and then we just assumed it was all dirty because it had been sitting on the floor.

That night we went out with Rachel and Matt with their Arkansas friends. I was crabby because the hubby woke me up from my nap and talked me into going out. I'm glad he did. Because if I would've stayed home I would not have seen people hula hooping in front of me at dive bar. That was entertaining, annoying, and funny all rolled into one. It was past one when this started and it only got annoying when one girl did it and kept bragging about her hula hooping skills while saying she's never hula hooped before. I called BS and grabbed the hula hoop and made the little not-yet-twenty-one-year-old stop hula hooping so she would move along and try other attempts at flirting with some douche bag. She gave me an annoyed look and I shrugged and told her that only the first minute was free.

Sunday: I slept, read, and watched my hubby play NCAA '10.

Good morning Monday, let me introduce you to my friend Tuesday

2009-08-10T08:48:00.003-05:00

Right now, I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not completely inadequate at my job. That while my employees are calling in and asking absurd things like if I'll teach their class while they run off to sign an insurance form and that the students are trying to create a mutiny against wearing their very nice uniform shirt "because its hot." I'm trying very hard to keep my cool. But I've only been at work for 50 minutes and I can feel my hair turning gray strand by strand, and I feel the pressure on my 28 year old heart and I think to myself, is this worth it? Because right now, I'm not finding the voice that tells me that this is just Monday and that there are more important things to worry about than late employees, and an employee who gives me guilt trip because I won't let him leave in the middle of their class to sign a form, and students who haven't paid a dime towards their tuition saying they can do what they want because they pay good money here. There must be more important things. Things like...like how I haven't read the news in well over 3 three months so I don't have a clue what is more important then my world.

Dialogue: Not Teresa's Assistant

2009-07-22T11:17:00.004-05:00

Scene: Car show held at the school that I run.

Me: Welcome crazy car lady! We're so glad you and your cars are here!

Crazy Car Lady (CCL): Why thank you Teresa's assistant! I want to introduce you to my 10 assistants.

Me: Well, it was certainly nice to meet all of your assistants. As you know, I'm the director of the campus and we're just so excited to have you here with us today.

CCL: Oh, Teresa's assistant you're too kind. My assistants are like what you are to Teresa, they assist me.

Me: That's great Crazy Car Lady. I'm glad you have your 10 assistants to help you. Teresa only has one assistant and it's not me. Because as you know I run this school.

CCL: I'm so lucky to have my 10 assistants. I'm sure Teresa feels the same way about you since you assist her so much!

Me: Yep, that's why I have Campus Director on my name badge!

Weekend & Prom

2009-07-16T12:51:00.002-05:00

Its so hard to start blogging when I've been MIA for so long. So this will probably be worthless. I'm going to OKC this weekend. I get to see my dear friend Melanie. We're going to watch Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. I can't wait. I leave tonight and will come back Sat in time to see Wicked with my mom. It was a birthday gift that I gave her. Then that night is a pool party with one of my co-workers. Should be a fun weekend! Oh and my sister-in-law comes into town tomorrow. I'm so glad its summer. It feels like you can do some much more when its warm and sunny.

I read all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels. These are the books that the series True Blood is based off. They're good, but you have to just accept the novel as is. Which is awesome when you just want to escape reality.

I want to host Prom. Seriously. Where people come in Prom dresses and dance. I just don't know where to begin. I know my living room is big enough for a dance floor. I think I need to get a Prom planning committee together. The theme is Under the Sea. I can't remember what my high school prom theme was, but the colors were silver and black. I'm thinking these prom colors should be pool blue and fuchsia. What do you think? What other prom theme things can I do?? Do you want to come?

My Morning

2009-06-22T13:03:00.004-05:00

Happy Monday! So far I've been told that I'm practicing medicine without a license because I denied a prospect from being accepted to our non-medical school. He said this several times as well as telling me I was using his honesty against him. He wants to go into welding but can not hold his hands out long enough to scrub them.

I also had a student come to school drunk. Mind you I might have done this in college too, but I also did not start classes at 7:00am nor did I choose a field that required heavy machinery, nor did I drive to school. He assured me it was from what he drank last night and did not have time to change clothes. I really wanted to tell him that I've been to college and there is no masking the smell of drunkenness. He also drove his daughter to daycare. We held him until 12pm and since his blood alcohol level was below the legal limit this morning we could not contain him this afternoon.

How's your Monday going?

Oh! I got Britney tickets!! So excited!!

How many BBQ's can one person go to in a weekend?

2009-06-21T23:09:00.004-05:00

I went to three BBQ's this weekend. We had one at the school where the students hosted it. One at one of the OTC employee's house out in BFE, OK. Seriously we went off the main street and drove on a gravel road which felt like forever. It took probably an hour and half to get there. I don't think I can drive that every morning to be at work by 6:30am. I'll stick with the city, thanks. Then today I had my third BBQ at my grandpa's house where I got to see the family. I found out one of my cousins is moving to outside of Denver. I also found out that my entire extended family is on facebook. They have convinced my father to join, so now I'm facebook friends with my dad. He's listed me as his child. I didn't even know you could tag your child in your facebook profile. This is getting ridiculous.

In other news, I don't really have other news. July should be very exciting. Going to Norman to see Harry Potter, lake (hopefully twice), and maybe a wedding. The wedding is out of town and the hubby keeps flipping back and forth between going and not going. If we decide on not going then I'm going to my high school reunion. So, we'll see.

It's not much but it's a blog

2009-06-08T20:20:00.003-05:00

It's been so long since I've blogged it makes it harder to blog something. Do I update? Do I act like it hasn't been almost a month and just blog about something? What to do?

For starters I'm not going to my high school reunion. Dave and I have a wedding that we must go and show our support and it's out of state. So that was resolved rather easily.

I just saw a commercial for Latisse. The one where Brooke Shields is the spokesperson. Well Latisse happens to grow eyelashes. I knew a girl in middle school who plucked all of her eyelashes and they didn't grow back until after high school. They were never the same. I'm curious if Latisse would've worked for her. I always wanted thicker lashes, but is it worth it for the side effects of skin darkening, eye irritation, dryness of the eyes, and redness of the eyelids? I think I'll just stick with the mascara.

That is all.

10 Years

2009-05-14T15:54:00.003-05:00

The time has come where my 10 year high school reunion is upon us. To go or to not go? I just can't decide if $50 bucks is worth remembering high school and all its awkwardness. It's not like I haven't seen several of my classmates and they're obviously not all horrible like GFHS. But even looking at the form to fill out was "who do you want to see the most." I don't know and I don't care. I don't want to relive high school. To go or not to go??

In other news, yesterday sucked. But was brightened by the fact that I'm going to see Kathy Griffin Live this summer!! So excited! Rachel and I are already plotting how we can meet her and make her our friend. All suggestions are welcome.

ANTM finale? Anyone watch it? I can't believe awkward can't walk if her life depended on it Allison made the final two. It made it a very predicable winner. Oh well, can't wait till cycle 13 where the shorties get a chance to show they can handle Tyra's criticism about light hating their face and how if they can't smile with their eyes they'll never take a good picture.

And Biggest Loser! I'm so glad Tara did NOT win. She looked good, but I mean hasn't she won enough with winning all but one challenge? And what a surprise about Jerry! So happy! Poor Bob, he'll get a winner eventually. Maybe?

Social Networking is not for Families

2009-05-11T11:33:00.004-05:00

My entire family is now on facebook. It's really annoying. I don't feel like I can update statuses without thinking twice about what I'm saying. My mom is now on there and I really don't want a phone call about why I'm depressed about the weather or why I feel its appropriate to let every know about blah. It’s not like I hide anything from my parents, but I feel more watched. That's the super annoying part. I know I can limit my profile and things from them, but then it really does feel like I'm hiding stuff and I'm really not. I think I'm just annoyed. I'm sure I'll get over it until I get a phone call about something stupid.

GFHS is still facebook messaging me. It's lost all of its entertainment.

Mother's day was hectic. I hope all the momma's had a great day! I sent my mom purple tulips and Dave and I took her and my dad to lunch. We then came home and cleaned the house and had his parents over for dinner. It was fun family time but I was wiped out by 9pm.

So I need suggestions for reading material.

Facebook Messaging about Religion Part Deux

2009-05-07T14:51:00.003-05:00

Ok. I have no response to his response. If you do, please leave it in the comments and I'll choose one.

GFHS: U see the HOLY BIBLE says that religion defiles a man. that means that it is bad. Look I care because JESUS cares. Iam worred about u and your soul. And your husands. Have u ever bin to a spirit filled church. Iwant to challege u and go to one and tell me what u thank. TRhe frist time went. It cared the daylights out of me. but the morte Iread the bilbe the more Iunderstand it. And now Iam filled with and LET me tell u nit is the best thing that ever happen to me. Ihave go back to work WHEN i get back I will explain to u. PLEACE DON'T LET THIS STOP FROM TALKING TO ME.

Facebook Messaging about Religion

2009-05-06T20:32:00.004-05:00

This is a correspondence from a guy I went to high school with. I didn't make this up, nor did I adjust any of his spelling or capitalization.

Guy from high school: This Nick S____ WAS U ON THE SWIMM TEAM AT EASTCENRAL. If so do u remamber me.

Me: Yes I do! How are you?

GRHS: I am sooo BLESS that is page can not hold the blessing. I have a great wife and three boys that GOD has BLESS me with. I have miss death this year i got poison form a forcklift and a other guy did too and he is steal alive. The nurse told me that Iam not supose to be here. But the LORD has a plan for my wife and me . we are going to become missionary's.If u have a myspace page .Here is my url http: // www.myspace.com?christcustoms. Go here and I will except u and go to my pics and look at them there are some of are frist missionary trip. To malaysie. How have are u doing.

GFHS: So don't take this the rong way. i have never herd of a cathlic CHRISTAIN. How do they worship marry or JESUSCHRIST. DO u belive in the HOLYSPIRIT.

Me: We don't worship Mary. When we pray to her or the other Saints it basically asking for their help with the prayer. Like asking mom to talk to dad for you, or asking them for the added strength. We don't believe their Gods just someone else that's up there to help us. Of course we believe in the Holy Spirit. The reason we cross ourselves before prayer is the reminder of our Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Does that help answer your question?

GFHS: Why do u pray to marry.

Me: We ask her to pray for us. Similar to asking a loved one to pray for us.

GFHS: Do u belive in getting filled with the spirit.

Me: Are you curious about my choice of religion or are you worried about my soul?

Updates in bullet form

2009-05-04T14:03:00.003-05:00

In no particular order:

I have read the Twilight saga twice in a little over a week. I don't know what's wrong with me. But I have officially put them down and no longer want to be a vampire.
I was sick. I thought I had the Swine flu because I was just on a plane with gross air and nobody really knows where the plane had be flying, but lucky for me I had already gotten my flu shot and survived whatever it was I had.
My mother in law is on my nerves. She'll be in town for Mother's Day and told Dave and I that she expects a big to do. I held my tongue on wanting to say "yes, I'm sure my own mother would appreciate me spending all Mother's day with you and not her."
I'm back to working 8-5. Sorta, I have one day where I work 1pm -10pm. I'll let you know how it goes.
I want my new fence. Please stop raining long enough for my new fence to go up. It's really really bad and my dogs have ran away (they're back safe and sound), gotten into all the surrounding neighbors' yards, and I think my neighbors really hate us, or at least our dogs.
Someone at work is gunning for me. I'll blog about it later and hope that my super human powers do not fail me and she'll get canned (or at least reprimanded to the point she'll back the f*ck off my ass and worry about her own).

Woman's Logic

2009-04-20T08:43:00.004-05:00

Scene: Lying in bed with my husband when we hear a strange sound outside. The mystery noise sounds like a baby crying.

Me: (in my head) Is that a baby crying? Why can I hear my neighbors' baby cry? When did my neighbors have a baby? Oh my god, it's the serial killer who makes baby cries to lure women to open up their door.

Husband: "Damn Cat."

Me: "Of course."

Blog

2009-04-16T06:47:00.002-05:00

I want to overhaul my blog. I want a different look and a directional purpose for it. I tried to change the template and it isn't working. Apparently I need Blogger Templates for Dummies.

Bar Story

2009-04-14T11:24:00.005-05:00

This weekend at the bar, with a table of five girls, we got hit on. Not only was this an ego boost, but how brave were those guys? Most of us had our husbands/fiances present, but they decided they were back in middle school and wanted a guys only table. So as we sat around and drank when Rachel noticed that the table directly beside us with three guys were very interested in her breasts. So much so that she pulled up her top (which wasn't really reveling any cleavage) and flipped them off. They didn't get the message. So one brave soul got up from his table and came over to ask us "if anyone graduated from localoverpricedprivate high school." Um no. And I'm ten years removed from high school. Does that mean he thinks I'm young enough to be right out of high school? I'll go with that. Back to story, we of course reply with whyareyouaskingusastupidquestion look when Rachel immediately starts yelling she's married and holds up her ring finger for all to see the bling. She also points at her husband who just looks up and nods and goes back to his conversation. The brave soul tucked his tail and went back to the table of booby-lookers. Then another member of I have no tact when looking at breasts club comes up and asks us if we're all married. We replied yes and then held out our ring fingers for them. We also pointed out our husbands/fiances at the next table who continued to be blatantly unaware of what just occurred.

Note to self

2009-04-11T22:28:00.001-05:00

Do not celebrate with boss on a Wednesday at noon. Getting home smashed at 6pm is never a good thing.

That's why you get paid the big bucks

2009-03-29T16:54:00.002-05:00

Last week consisted of:

6 evaluations
1 person actually not showing up for his/her evaluation
Planning on firing that person that did not show up for his/her evaluation
Having one of my employees accused of sexual harassment
Turning over one entire department which happen to consist of the no show and the sexual harasser

This week has consisted of:

Training two new employees to fill the spots of the previous empty spots
Dealing with students that are unhappy about the turnover
Trying to prepare for an accreditation visit that is scheduled for next week

There are stories within this, but I'm too tired to write about them. I hope everyone else is having a fabulous April Fool's Day. I love April for several reasons, which includes my birthday, but mainly because it leads to Spring!

Hello Friday

2009-03-20T13:05:00.000-05:00

How I wish you would come sooner and stay longer.

Thirsty Thursday

2009-03-19T13:21:00.003-05:00

I'm actually used to getting to work at 6:30am. However, I'm not use to my body wanting to go to sleep at like 8pm. Not cool, especially when you're out with a group of people and can barely keep your eyes open.

Did I tell you I paid off my car? So excited. Thank you tax refund.

Work is kicking my ass. So much stuff and definitely not enough time to do it. We have an auto show we're representing at. These things take up too much time, but hopefully they'll back with students.

I have not had a chance to watch the latest episode of ANTM. I know Tyra wants out, but she does not disappoint. Her Charlie Angels acting is too funny. And she picked some f*cked up young ladies. Like the one that is fascinated with blood and she looks like a lemur. No joke, she does.

I'm ready for Spring and really wish I got a Spring Break again. I thought back about what I did for Spring Break during college and realized my Spring Breaks were spent traveling to basketball tournaments. That's when we were good and trips were really fun. I went to the TU game last night. Not as much fun since I was tired from my early morning work hours, but we won and that is fantastic! I hope we do really well in this tournament.

Hangin' Tough

2009-03-10T08:02:00.002-05:00

I might be sore from waving my arms from side to side from the New Kids on the Block concert! It was awesome and well worth the money. I laughed. A lot. At the NKOTB and concert goers. I don't think I've ever seen that many women in clothing so not appropriate for a reunion tour. I did enjoy the ladies in the suite next to us in the full 80's gear, even though NKOTB was circuit 1992. I felt very sorry for the 3 straight men that somehow ended up at the concert. All the ones I saw looked very pissed off and probably demanded their favorite sex position that night to prove they do not like the NKOTB.

We bought tickets, ended up with few upgraded tickets because Rachel's work gave her four tix right at 5 o'clock yesterday. Then we ended up in Tracy's mom's suite. It was fabulous. All the way around. I also fully enjoyed Jabbawockeez. Although it was really creepy when the mask starting coming apart, not on purpose.

Anyways, great concert last night. Very tired this morning. Step 1...

Monday

2009-03-02T15:09:00.003-06:00

Hello second Monday where I had to greet you at work by 6:30am. I'm still not quite used to the 6:30 thing but it's definitely a little easier. Did I tell you got my blackberry back? I did. I really didn't think I was going to survive without it.

I slept Saturday away. Seriously. I woke up at 8:00 and let the dogs out. I left the couch once to take a shower and then immediately put my PJ's back on and slept until 6:00pm. I desperately needed it and feel revived!

I get my hair colored today!! What color shall I do this go around???

Oh! Today was a very successful Monday. We had our first class at the new college and things went pretty smoothly. So yeah to that!

Congratulations to Miss Kelly for getting engaged over the weekend! I'm so excited for you and as my engagement gift to you I will do your taxes for free!

What 6:30 am looks like

2009-02-23T08:57:00.003-06:00

I was at work at the ungodly hour of 6:30. The sun was not up, there was no traffic and I'm on my second Dr. Pepper before 9:00am. Of all things that are ridiculous, this one takes the cake.

I also worked all weekend. I was at a custom car show all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I crashed at 7 on Sunday. I'm tired. I'm cranky. I'm unproductive.

This morning, before 8, I found out two of my co-workers hate cheese. I was shocked by this. I had no idea that people could hate cheese. I love cheese and put it on almost everything. Who knew I was so close-minded about cheese?

Hump Day

2009-02-18T09:36:00.006-06:00

I was on the radio this morning. I'll check that one off my bucket list. Before the 2 minute interview I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest or I was going to vomit in the tiny control room. Neither happened and everyone said I sounded good. I also learn that DJing is a dying trade.

Update: Because you're dying to hear my interview... http://www.oklahomatechnicalcollege.com/DidYouKnow.aspx
And there is a picture of my new hair cut, not the best picture though.

Last night I got my hair cut. I love it. It's not a true bob but looks chic just what I asked for. The issue I have is that my stylist is Rachel's old stylist. And every time I go in she of course asks about Rachel. I act like Rachel and I aren't really friends anymore and that my new marriage and job takes up all my time. Which isn't true in the least bit. So I need to know, should I officially tell the stylist that her and Rachel are broken up? One side of me thinks that I need to let the cat out of the bag and tell the stylist that Rachel has moved on and isn't going around with horrid non-cut non-died hair. But the other part thinks, who cares, it only lasts a few minutes of our initial conversation and then we move on to other things. What do you think?

RIP Blackberry

2009-02-15T22:10:00.002-06:00

My blackberry died. I'm using a Razor in the mean time and I honestly am having a horrible time with it. I also have no numbers programed in it so if you call me, I don't know who you are. And this is also my excuse for not calling anyone. Sorry. Hopefully I'll get a new phone soon? Maybe?

Weekend was good and low key. We celebrated love day with flowers delivered to me on Friday. I gave Dave the ShamWow - which he loves! On Saturday we bought Boulevard Wheat, made dinner, and played Wii. Good times.

I need a hair cut. Seriously, I'm about to pull a Brit Brit and shave my head. I put on my outlook calendar to make a hair appointment tomorrow, I have to make this priority! And since its been so long since I've cut my hair, I of course want to do something drastic. What shall I do? I'm open to suggestions...

This made my Monday!

2009-02-09T17:59:00.001-06:00

Please watch this video.

Back from Vegas

2009-02-02T12:30:00.005-06:00

I'm back! And no travel catastrophes! Maybe, just maybe, my bad luck travel spells are over. It was an awesome trip. I had a lot of fun. Learned how to play craps, learned why its called craps, learned that the slot machines love me more than the craps tables. Lost money only to gain it back the last night, so as a Vegas Virgin I didn't come out too bad.

My camera battery died and I didn't bring my charger so there are no pictures. But it was fun and not really educational, which is ok by me.

I've got a lot on my plate this week, which always seems to happen when coming back to work after a trip. We have our advisory board meeting tomorrow which I need to prepare for and we moving into the building today! Finally! It seems to be somewhat coming together which will be nice to actually have students and do the job we were hired to do.

Oh and my boss gave me Celine Dion tickets. Box tickets and I'm excited because I didn't think I was going to go.

Travel

2009-01-26T08:44:00.002-06:00

We all know my travel history. I used to have a great travel record. The plane was never late, I could get on with standby, and then this happened. And of course this happened. Oh and most recently the Vegas trip. So why is it that Dave gets to forget his passport, cause us to go on an entirely different trip and I get the bad travel karma?

I'm supposed to go to Vegas on Wednesday. Yet, tonight and tomorrow we're supposed to get another ice storm. I really hope I get to go to Vegas because my work already considers me a bad luck charm with travel and if I don't get to go to Vegas, I may not be invited to another work trip. Sigh.

Excuses

2009-01-23T12:07:00.005-06:00

Let's just say I now understand the term busy. I thought I knew it in high school when I would go to school then swim practice then cheerleading practice and repeat. Then I thought I understood it in College when I was so busy I couldn't get my nap in. But as an actual adult with an adult job, I now understand busy.

So, with that, this is my excuse for not calling, emailing, texting. I'm busy. I'm busy trying to keep this new huge project that I'm in charge of to open. I'm busy trying to not take away too much of my time from my new marriage. And I'm busy being a sorority advisor. And some how I've let my friendships take a back burner. So, while I can't promise that I'll put them on top priority, I'm definitely going to make it an effort to make them a priority. Because in the end, I don't want to be that person who doesn't have any friends. That would be so sad.

Oh, and I still can't find my right black heel. This is really frustrating and I've been wearing too much brown.

Things I'm going to complain about:

2009-01-12T08:51:00.004-06:00

I can't find my black heel. This is really bothering me and making me late to work every morning I try to find it. It's not in my closet even though I pull out every pair of shoes and dig for it. This is driving me nuts that I can only find one heel.
The Biggest Loser's twist this season. I believe kicking off 9 very obese people when they're so excited about attempting to lose weight is very cruel. Plus that means less reveals. This is disappointing.
I've had two non work related meetings this weekend. One on Saturday night that lasted two hours. It started at 7pm. One Sunday this lasted 4 hours. (Technically, they were 2 separate meetings lasting about 2 hours a piece). And I have another tonight. I'm over meetings.
I haven't worked out in two weeks.
It's Monday.

I'm Back!

2009-01-07T09:54:00.007-06:00

I went to Houston for Christmas. I was lucky enough to have a brother-in-law who is a local celebrity, so we got a special, behind the scenes tour of the Aquarium. Strangely, we didn't see any fish except the shark tank that you take on a train ride. Below are some pictures of the animals we did see.

Two Toed Sloth
It really wasn't that cute in person.

Serval
This is an African Cat. It growls like a dog and jumps very high. I did go into the catch and feed it, but I really didn't want to hang out too long. Strangely enough, I had watch Cats 101 on TLC before the trip and they talked about how they are breeding these cats with domestic cats. They go for about $2500 and several states had made them illegal. I definitely wouldn't want one of those running around my house. It would probably eat my dogs!

Me feeding the tiger. This was the "small" one.

Dave feeding the same "small" tiger.

After we finished feeding her, she growled and jumped at the cage door like she was going to attack us. It was scary! And the precautions these trainers take, I can't imagine how someone feels comfortable enough to roam around with them with no protection. The trainers never enter their cage, all the tigers are kept in separate cages unless they are in the display room. Then they only showcase two at a time.

While in Houston I also got to go a Rockets game and a Texans game. Both teams won and it was so much fun! We got to see Yao play. Very exciting. Houston loves him!

New Year's was so mellow. It was strange. Normally, Dave and I party it up and go out of town, but this year we went out to dinner and came home at 10:30 and rang in the New Year there.

Work has been crazy. I'm so thinly stretched. Basically I've been training three people, working on my position, working with my faculty, and training to get everything lined up so we can open up our doors in February.

I have no resolutions. I should. I know. The only one I can think of right now is that I want to be friendlier to people. I hardly ever go up to someone and say hi when I'm out if I'm not supposed to meet them. Even if I know them. Its weird. Maybe I'm scared of rejection or something. But that's one I want to work on. I know several friends who are so good at doing this and it would be a great networking ability to have.

Oh, because my work isn't really complete without embarrassing myself, on the first day of training my new predecessor, I hit her in the head with my chair.

Dear Blog,

2009-01-05T12:07:00.002-06:00

I promise I'm not trying to ignore you. In fact, I probably check every work day. I just haven't seemed to find the time to update you. I will, I promise. Soon. I even brought my camera to put pictures up so everyone can see the tiger I feed in Houston. Be patient and I'll be back to update.

Much love,

Blaze

Good Morning to You Too

2008-12-19T11:39:00.004-06:00

I got new boots yesterday. I love my new, black, soft leather, Steve Madden boots. I was so excited to wear them today that I chose a particular outfit so that all of the gloriousness of my new boots could be seen. I wore a button down fun pattern dress. It's a little dressy for a casual Friday, but again, I really wanted to wear my boots.

This morning, as I'm running late and needed to be early because I of course forgot to prepare for my 8am meeting, I throw on my boots and my dress. My meeting included all of my admission team (10ish people) my entire new faculty (5 people) and the CEO and President. I sit down in the chair and since everyone is waiting on me, all eyes are on me. That is when the first two buttons on my dress pop open and my chest is exposed. Awesome.

Random Thoughts

2008-12-16T08:21:00.002-06:00

The poor Hills. Last night's episode was all about prepping for Whitney's new show The City and Speidi's "secret" wedding. How is it that Lauren who is the main starlet is now support cast for everyone else? I find Whitney too boring to maintain her own show, but maybe her entourage can carry her through a season or two. Or maybe she's just been shadowed by LC and is really a camera hog. I don't think it'll last and I'll try my damnest to not watch it. And a note to Spencer, a wedding can't be "secret" if cameras are following you around you A-hole. But I guess Speidi beat LC in the war since they got their wedding and The Hills has turned into a show about Heidi and Spencer and not Lauren. Did anyone else love how MTV made Audrina tell LC and Lo that Heidi and Spencer are missing? It looked like she was really debating in her head whether or not to take the bonus check for making that statement. But in the end, needing to support her man won out.

Brody Jenner's Bromance is retarded. I can not believe how low MTV has gotten that they'll accept a competition show called Bromance. Wait, I retract that. They did have Paris Hilton's New BFF. Did anyone see the picture of Paris and her new BFF? Don't care? Got it.

This weather is crappy. Anyone else excited about The Biggest Loser Finale? You should be! Go Michelle!

At least there wasn't snow

2008-12-10T08:25:00.002-06:00

No snow, but man is it bitter cold! My sweet husband reorganized the garage (i.e. pushed everything to the front) so we could park our cars in it! I've never had a garage before, talk about a nice treat in the morning. Your car isn't freezing cold and there isn't anything to scrape off. So nice!

I would like to take a moment to discuss the corruptness of the Biggest Loser. What a big f-ing waste for Ed to come back only to sabotage himself for Heba. I think that if a contestant gains weight they should be immediately kicked off and replaced with a previous contestant. No questions asked. So since Ed decided to gain weight to get his wife into the finals and she couldn't lose enough weight to follow through with the plan, I voted for Ed. I voted for Ed because I really want Michelle to win. I will be so disappointed if anyone from the blue team pulls a victory. Also, I was shocked to learn that season 1 winner, Ryan, gained all of his weight back!

Off to work I go!

Please Don't Snow

2008-12-08T20:16:00.002-06:00

It's supposed to snow. I really really hope it doesn't. I'm not ready for cold and slush and ice and yuck. Plus there is so much at work that needs to get done. Trying to open a school for February is really demanding. And time consuming and draining.

This weekend was horrible for football. TU lost, Dallas lost, Giants lost (but I'm not upset that only Dave is). So no bowl game for New Year's for me. Anyone doing anything in town for New Year's? Anyone going anywhere afford for New Year's??

I played Wii Mario Kart this weekend. I now not only want one, but I need one. I've told Dave that I want a Wii for Christmas and I'm serious. So here's hoping I get a Wii!

Have a great week and hopefully we won't wake up with snow or something worse.

Thanksgiving Hangover

2008-12-02T11:25:00.004-06:00

Pumpkin Pie was a success. The Turkey was a success. Everything came out great. One minor fire in the oven that was not my fault. I know you were dying for an update. A friend brought me cornbread stuffing at work since I had to eat herb stuffing on Thanksgiving. It's funny how little things like stuffing brings you back to your roots.

Work is kicking my butt. Too much going on with not enough people cooperating.

I don't think its a good sign that I'm already tired of the cold weather. I seriously want my house checked for drafts because it is freaking cold when I get up in the morning.

Enjoy your Tuesday!