Friday, April 28, 2006
Do they pass out programs when you get to Heaven?
So, when you get to Heaven, find your program in the Orientation pack, and look for the Celestial Choir, under the direction of the AMAZING Zachary Novak.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Thought of the day
aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! AND ggggggrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Look, 2 thoughts for the price of one, aren't you people lucky?!
Monday, April 17, 2006
The Boat
So after the wedding we all headed over to the Casino Aztar. I was pretty exhausted, but it seemed like it would be fun. We got there and wondered around the boat for a while trying to decide what we wanted to play. I should preface this with the story of the boyfriend's first trip to the Aztar. The way he tells it, he walked into the Casino, pulled out a one dollar bill, shoved it into a dollar slot machine, hit the button, and it spit out $43.
So i decide to try his technique. I shove a dollar in a slot machine....nothing. I shove another one in... nothing. Stupid slot machines! I head over to the ATM to get some cash (this is a game i KNOW i can win, slide card, punch in numbers, it spits out cash! AWESOME), thinking I'll play some blackjack. Come to find out, blackjack table minimums are $10 instead of $5. I'm not really feeling like losing that much money. So i decide, I'll go sit at the nickel slots for a while. I sit down at the nickel slots and start playing. Have you ever played those things? It's so confusing. There are 5 columns instead of 3. There are weird things on the screen, not just the traditional bars and 7's and stuff. There were frogs and castles. It was just weird. i didn't understand it. Slots shouldn't be that hard! So, i was up fifty cents and decided to cash out. I'd rather lose a quarter at a time and know why i lost it than lose a nickel at a time and not know why.
I actually decided i was about done. The boyfriend said he was ok with leaving too. He had lost enough already. I told him it was probably better for me to go while i was up, even if it was only fifty cents. Then he brought up those pesky $2 that i popped into that first slot machine. I was down $1.50, not up $.50. Dang it!! Well that was just unacceptable. I was absolutely positive that i could win back my $1.50 on a slot machine.
We started walking around and I looked at a slot machine and told the boyfriend, "that's the one." He laughed and walked away as i sat down ready to win back my $1.50. I stuck a $20 in the machine and hit the button. NOTHING! I hit the button again.............................. spin spin spin spin, stop stop stop...... dingdingdingdingdingdingdingding......... I won $150!!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!! I hit the cash out button, took my payout ticket up to get my cash, said goodbye to the bride and groom and the rest of the group (after telling them my fabulous story of course), and headed home! YEA!
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Wedding bells
NO NOT FOR ME!!!! For my friends (ok these are lame nicknames, but they'll have to work for now) the Bride and Groom, collectively the happy couple. Last weekend they got married. (For those of you keeping track this is the Third couple that started dating after me and the boyfriend that has gotten married before us... the 4th will be this October) It was for lack of a better word, an interesting wedding. So many things went wrong (or rather, just not quite right) but it was still great. Most importantly, they didn't seem upset by any of it. But let's back up....
The night before the wedding i realize that i don't have anything to wear. So i recruit the Quitter to come shopping with me. BTW... this girl totally ROCKS when it comes to shopping (and many other things too, but let's try to stay focused here) Many many many outfits later, i finally decided on a pair of gouchos with a cute greenish colored shirt. Best of all, i never thought gouchos would be my thing, but i tried them (at the suggestion of the Quitter) and I LOVE THEM! Again... She ROCKS!
So I get home and eventually go bed. My plan for the next morning is to get up, go to kickboxing, take a shower, get a manicure and pedicure, do the hair-make-up-dressing thing, and head out for the wedding. Well, around 4am or so the boyfriend finally crawls into bed (this is actually going to bed early for him) I woke up enough for him to inform me that the wedding was not an hour to an hour and half away like we thought, but rather a FOUR HOUR DRIVE!!! I grunted, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
The next morning my alarm went off at what was FAAAAAR too early for a Saturday morning. Armed with the knowledge that we would now need to leave the house around 11am instead of 1:30pm I jumped into the shower (that's right - no kickboxing for me - got a wedding to go to), got dressed, did my new cute hair, put on make-up and headed to get the nails done. The boyfriend met me at the nail place and we started our 4 hour treck to Tobinsport (yes that's really the name of the city).
Our drive proved to beneficial for multiple reasons. 1) It was a GORGEOUS day and had it not been for the wedding i would have probably spent most of it inside cleaning my house. 2) The boyfriend and I had time to talk, with our current schedules that doesn't happen nearly as much as i would like. 3) The scenery. It's not every day you get cows, horses, llama, and emu all in the same day without having to pay zoo admission.
Needless to say, Tobinsport was in the sticks, hence the emu. We finally arrive at an adorable, tiny, little church which we later learn is the church that the Groom grew up in.
Most of the guests (primarily family) were mingling outside while pictures were being taken in the sanctuary. We found that a couple of our friends whom we hadn't seen in a while were there and aptly stood around having the "their getting married/where the hell are we conversation?"Finally the wedding started. The Bride's brother was the "person of honor" and the Groom's sister was the "Best Person" which i thought was really sweet. The Bride forgot her bouquet and laughed all the way down aisle because her dad didn't quite get the whole "walk slow to the beat of the music" thing. Then we all about fell down when we heard, "The Bride and Groom have already exchanged vows and been married and are here to re-affirm those vows today." WHAT!?!?!? I won't bore you with all the details, but basically the woman performing the ceramony didn't have a high enough rank in her church to perform a wedding in this church, so they had gone to a Justice of the Peace a few days earlier. News to us!
I continued to stifle my giggles through the rest of the wedding as the bride tried to place the ring on the Groom right hand instead of left. And when because of the angle we were sitting at we caught the Bride pulling tissue out of her clevage to wipe her tears. Mind you, i'm not making fun of this wedding at all. It was all just very amusing and honestly quite perfect. They are the type of couple who simply doesn't care about all the little things that went wrong. It was their day and they had a blast (and so did we).
The reception was held in the basement of the church. We ate, danced and had cake. Most importantly they played Metallica's "Nothing else Matters" which was totally perfect as the Groom is a HUGE Metallica fan. The Bride and Groom were nice during the exchage of cake. On the tables they had pictures of the 2 of them, some together and some of when they were kids. It was really sweet.
Afterwards, the whole group (the boyfriend and myself, our friends that were there, the Best person, The person of Honor and yes even the Bride and Groom) made the hour treck to the Casino Aztar.
Ok... this post is really long... I'm going to start a new post for the casino adventures. But just for fun, here's a pic I snapped of the Happy Couple during their first dance. Aren't they cute?!?
Got my hair did
Ok, so i've been sitting here trying to think of some back story for this post, but i can't. So basically i got my cut. This isn't the first time i've done this, nor will it be the last. Though this time it was long enough that i was able to donate it to Locks of Love.
So here's the before shots...
I've had mixed reactions to the after. I'd say the vast majority of people like it (or at least tell me they do). The 1st opposer is the boyfriend, who says he likes it better than the last time i got it cut short, but in general likes my hair long. (This is the only pic i could find. It's not a very good one because it was literally minutes after i had my nose pierced, but this will give you an idea of what it looked like before)
The other opposer is my dad. Oddly enough dad has never been attached to my long hair. In fact it was on his suggestion that in 6th grade i cut it super short (a la soup bowl style) after which I proceeded to cry because i looked like a boy. And NO you don't get to see a pic of that cut!! Anyway, his reaction to this cut was, "I don't know." Since then he has apparently told other members of my family that he likes it, but i haven't heard that myself yet. On the other hand, my mom who has been known (on more than one occasion) to cry when i cut my hair off, has said multiple times that she loves it. Parents are so weird.
Alright already i'll show you the new do. Keep in mind that i forgot to have my hair guy, (is there a greek god of Hair? cuz that should totally be his nickname if there is.... Rica... let me know. Until then he shall be called...) The Hair God take a picture right after he finished, so this is me attempting to style it myself. Why can we never get the same results at home? It's just not fair. Also, an you'll see a small child in my arms. She's adorable. She's not mine. Her name is Baby Jo Jo and you will hear about her later. (And yes, Baby Jo Jo is her nickname, not her real name) Anyway, here it is!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Oscar the Grouch
Ok... so really he's a sweet puppy and i totally adore him. How can you not love this?
But lately he's been a bit crazy. This post was originally going to be title my terrible horrible no good very bad day. But then i realized that the very bad day basically surrounded my pup, with a few other interuptions, so i decided the post should be Oscar focused. So here goes...
Oscar is (if ya can't tell) a golden retriever. He was born in Costa Rica and is named after Oscar Arias (Noble Peace Prize winner, former and current President of Costa Rica). He is a big box of love. He walks like a bear. He barks with things in his mouth so it sounds all muffled and funny. He's a little over a year old and he still chases his tail. He's got the soul of an old man and the energy of a 5 year old who had cotton candy and Mountain Dew for lunch. He is TERRIFIED of the vaccuum cleaner and the hair dryer. If he meets a Chow, German Shepard, Great Dane, Husky, or Malamute he runs up to introduce himself. He sees and miniture pincher, boston terrier, pug, or pekinese - drops to the ground or hides behind me. He weighs about 75 pounds, but if you asked him, he'd swear he was a lap dog. He'll happily be a pillow, foot warmer, or jogging partner, yet pilates is NOT allowed on his floor (the rest of the house may be mine, but the floor belongs to him). He'll eat pine cones and spits out cucumbers. All in all he is an AWESOME dog and has the BEST personality. And most importantly... he's my baby.
So why title this post "Oscar the Grouch" you ask? Well ... the other day, I came home totally exhausted. I let him out as usual, set an alarm, and proceeded to take a nap. My alarm went off and got up to go change clothes and head out to my kickboxing class. I got upstairs and found that my angelic pup had chewed through 2 pairs of workout pants and a sports bra. (guess that's what i get leaving my clothes in a laundry basket instead of folding them and putting them away like a good adult) The only time he'd ever done anything like this before was a couple stray socks that were left on the floor in plain sight. A dog can only restrain himself so much. My lesson, make sure the closet door is completely closed and all should be good.
All is not good, since then my sweet little pup has chewed a hole in the corner of my down comforter and decided that my teddy bear doesn't need a face anymore!!!! What has gotten into him? I don't know what the deal is!! He's really normally a good boy. I'm so frusterated!!! He used to be crate trained but that was really just to get him through potty training and the many moves we had. I don't know what to do. I don't want to pull out the crate again, partially because it take up A LOT of space. But it's really annoying to have to strip the bed and lock the bedding in closet everyday, only to re-make the bed every night. WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!
Sunday, April 09, 2006
I take back all the mean things I said....
... about Nebraska. I don't know that i have ever really said anything mean about Nebraska, except that i thought it would be boring, but i take it all back. Rica and I were there for a conference last weekend and it was awesome! The day started REALLY early. I had just enough time to kiss the boyfriend goodbye before i was off to the airport. I got there, parked the car, hopped on the shuttle, and walked into the airport to see a long winding line to check in. It looked to be pretty average in wait time, but as approached the end of the line a rent-a-cop stopped me and said told me the line for check in started down stairs. DOWNSTAIRS!!!! IN BAGGAGE CLAIM!!! Needless to say, I missed my flight. Grrrr. So i was supposed to arrive about an hour and half before Rica, but ended up arriving an hour after.
We drove to Lincoln and on the way hit a pretty nasty storm. It only lasted about 5 minutes but it was arguably the hardest rain i've seen combined with tiny hail, lightening, and wind. FUN!!! The conference went pretty well. The people there were fantastic. Friday night we went to dinner at a place called Misty's. It's a local steak house. And it was GREAT. We were pretty tired so we called it a night. Saturday night we went to another local place for dinner. This time an Italian place. It was really good too. Very cute. On the way into the restaurant though, we noticed a Russian store across the street. So after dinner we checked it out. It was awesome! Russian stacking dolls, Russian food! AWESOME!!! When we left there, we noticed a store called Ten Thousand Villages. If you click on the link you can find out more about the store and their cause, but basically it's a Fair Trade store that sells merchandise made by artisans from all over the world. Rica and i were in Heaven. We covered every square inch of the place gushing about how incredible everything was, not to mention how reasonably priced. I ended up walking out with a necklace and bracelet made in Kenya. They are just a bit punkish but totally awesome. If you really look at it, you can see that they were made out of tabs from soda cans. Rica found a necklace that was totally awesome too. It's funny how similar the two of us are, but how polar opposite our tastes are in certain areas. I loved her necklace, and she loved mine, though to be completely honest we would probably never trade. I bought something made out of soda tabs and she bought mother of pearl. It was so her though! i wish i had pictures to post. Maybe later. Each of our finds were so perfect that we had them cut the tags so we could where them out.
After that we did some more shopping at less exotic shops. We hit the standards, Old Navy, Victoria's Secret and a few others. Then we headed back downtown to enjoy a cup of coffee from a local coffee shop. That's right i said LOCAL! it was Fantastic!! We grabbed our coffee and walked out onto porch that wrapped around the front. We sat down ready to have a little quiet reading time (yes i still read!) but we ended up chatting with a semi-retired couple who were just awesome. They told us all about the football obsession in Nebraska, the lack of professional sports teams there, the incredible local cuisine, their kids, the moral decline of America, the importance of real commitment in marriage... i could go on and on. It was so much fun. They were so sweet. We eventually had to go because it was pretty late and we had an early flight but we had a fantastic time.
All in all, I have to say Nebraska impressed me. At least Lincoln anyway. The people were great, the food was super yum, they had local coffee shops, and amazing shopping. Yea Lincoln! As the Quitter pointed out in a comment on my last post, it's been a while since i've posted and there is more to come I swear. I've got at least 2 maybe 3 more posts in my head, i just have to manage to pull them out. For now, SLEEP!