Under the Arch

2009-11-30T11:01:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to drop a little line for anyone still checking this blog...to let you know that I am officially checking out. I feel like this blog is over for me, mostly because too many people I know IRL are aware of it, but also because I am leaving St. Louis.

The boyfriend and I are moving to Chicago. He was offered an awesome job, so we are starting our life together there...the place I said I would never move because it was far too cold. ;)

Goodbye, everyone...it was nice knowing you.

My cat is an escape artist

2009-09-02T00:33:00.001-05:00

I had a bad feeling in the middle of the afternoon, but shook it off as pms induced paranoia. When I returned home, however, there were no meows at the door that demanded attention, and no curious creature came when I called. Hello, panic.

My cat is an escape artist. She regularly demands the freedom of my balcony for the stalking of birdies and lording her magnificence over the neighbors. Though I usually keep the screen door to the balcony securely latched, I must have , in my hurry to get out the door that day, forgotten to check it, and my curious and quite fearless kitty pushed it open so that she could sun herself.

As clever as she thinks she is, returning to the safety of the apartment is not something she has mastered. (There is nothing funnier than a quiet “mew” and a lone feline leg streeeetching through the crack left by a partially open door that won’t quite open wide enough for said cat’s head.) So, I can imagine the hours stretched on as I refused to return to open the stubborn door that came between her and her food bowl, and the mounting frustration as no one came to her rescue. What I’m NOT sure of, is how she managed to get down from a second story balcony with nothing more to show for it than a scratch on her nose.

After a fruitless search of the immediate neighborhood, and questioning of two neighbors too drunk to remember the conversation later, my housemate spotted her crouched in some brush in the backyard, which I had to crawl into and drag her back out. An hour later, we were still ignoring each other, both steamed at the worry we had caused each other.

Damn cat.

doings

2009-08-20T01:40:00.001-05:00

I’ve been on a creative kick lately…drawing, painting, knitting, cooking, you name it, I’m obsessed. I have a story in my head that I think could actually go somewhere but I’m very much out of the narrative habit and then I had this sudden urge to paint a seascape and yet while looking through google image search for inspiration, all I could find seemed very cheap hotel to me. I love the ocean, but representing it in an artistic way seems difficult…at least in my mind. So, I’m itching to create something, to DO, and yet I keep stalling in some way.. it’s like writer’s block for every other pursuit I have. I know, I know, I’m getting in my own way, just as I did on this blog, thinking about it too much. MUST STOP THINKING AND JUST DO Easier said than done. (welcome to my brain by the way, stream of consciousness blogging at it’s finest) I’ve always wanted to write a romance novel and I have this idea that could actually fill the required plot- line(two people meet, they like each other, conflict, maybe a surprising element or protagonist, and then happily ever after) Tada! Fairy tales for grown up women. Maybe maybe maybe…makes me nervous, not sure why. ;)

Why I love the Soulard neighborhood so much

2009-08-01T22:00:00.001-05:00

I can’t decide which one I like better, color or black and white. Hmmm…

Sunday Night Dinner (The one in which I steal a baby)

2009-07-21T15:57:00.001-05:00

What can I say? I fell in love with that face…

Breaking in my Six Flags pass

2009-07-06T23:53:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday (Zoo edition)

2009-07-01T12:15:00.002-05:00

trying to get back in the writing habit

2009-05-28T22:57:00.001-05:00

Since you heard from me last, I’ve moved in to the new apartment, bought a new computer…now if I could just find my lightroom software. ;)

This is what I’ve been doing mostly, experimenting with my camera…this lovely lady popped up in my backyard. I love extreme close-ups. ;)

This is Will, my best friend/housemate. He would KILL me if he knew I posted this, so it of course gives me great pleasure to know that he doesn’t read my blog.

This little guy flirted shamelessly with me for most of a baseball game I went to with my friend, Johnna.

I don’t know what this is, a plant of some sort that caught my eye at the zoo.

The fence around Missouri Botanical Gardens… which reminds me.

List of all the places around St. Louis that I HAVE to visit this summer

Botanical Gardens
City Museum
Meramec Caverns
some sort of floating, canoeing campground
Sculpture park that I can’t remember the name of
Six Flags
Art Museum
History Museum

I'm still around

2009-04-24T02:17:00.001-05:00

Hi! I've been busy but I'm getting closer to normal and quiet. (yay!) I'm officially moving this weekend, so I'm pretty much covered in paint in my free time. I took a couple of photos the other night of my progress and am sharing with you now. (Don't you feel special?)

As you can see, I kind of have a thing for color. ;)

This one is from the opposite direction so you can see the far wall. No, it's not black, that is chalkboard paint, which I am unbelievably excited about. By the time I'm done, the walls through the apartment with be blue, pink, yellow, and green. ;) More coming soon!

2009-03-29T18:16:00.001-05:00

First, I would like to say if you've sent me an email or other such internet based message and I haven't responded, I apologize. I can't remember the last time I checked my email and I haven't been on twitter in weeks. I've hit a point where my real life is more interesting than my internet one, and I've spent all my spare time playing with friends and enjoying the sunshine when it graces me with its presence.

Because of this, I won't be going to BlogHer this year, even though it's only a few hours away. I will probably go to Chicago this summer (IKEA is calling my name) and my friend Will and I are tentatively planning a road trip to California at some point, where he has promised to teach me how to surf.

I had jury duty last week, but I'm all talked out about it, so I won't say anything more than it sucks ass, and if I ever get it again, it better be a civil case this time. (Oh, and if you were as dismayed as I was to find out that knitting needles aren't allowed, I found that no one says anything if they're plastic.)

I had to finally get mean with the jealous ex-boyfriend. A couple of days ago, he essentially said that he thought something would happen between us further down the line. I as bluntly as possible told him that wasn't going to happen. He didn't take it well and spouted the bullshit that guys say when their pride is wounded. I'm beginning to realize that this is a typical reaction and after I stopped laughing, I was just relieved that it was over and I don't have to placate him anymore. (Lies said to hurt or undermine someone's confidence piss me off like you wouldn't believe.) I decided to be the better person and not tell him what I really think. ;)

I also forgot to tell you that I'm moving, which is something else that has kept me busy. My friend Will lives on the next street over and his building is cheaper than mine, so he talked me into moving into the apartment above him. No more ghetto neighbors with a crying baby below me using my washing machine! It's actually a slightly bigger apartment with a different set-up, which will work well with my furniture. We already have big plans to build raised garden beds in the backyard for flowers and veggies. I spent most of the day today sorting and packing, I should be in the new digs by the end of April.

You probably noticed that I haven't posted any photos for a long time. It's not that I don't have photos to share, it's just that my computer won't let me show them. Trying to work with photos, even uploading them slows my laptop down so much I can't do anything. So, I'm computer shopping with my tax refund and I'm hoping to remedy that soon. ;)

Awesome, now I don't have to do it

2009-03-14T16:12:00.001-05:00

I am a puzzle solver. I want to know the answers and I can wait, but I prefer right now, please. I keep word finds in my purse and in various places in my apartment for those times when a quiet moment would bring your mind around to the things that you'd rather not think about right now, thanks. (By the way, is anyone else bothered by finding words in a word find that aren't on the list? Do they do that on purpose just to make my head explode? No one else finds this bothersome? Really?)

I am the go-to girl for advice at work with everything from how to tell if a boy likes you (remember, I work in retail, half of these girls are practically babies) to what to do if you are making out with a guy and he starts masturbating in front of you. (I swear, this was a real concern. I told her my first thought would be awesome, now I don't have to do it.) Half of the time, I wonder why anyone would possibly want me to tell them what to do and the other half I figure it's my lot in life and maybe I should just surrender and do it for a living. (Anyone want to pay me to give them advice? MY life is sort of a mess, but I can fix yours. lol) I am never happier than with a problem to solve, preferably someone ELSE'S problem.

Meanwhile, there's this guy that sort of popped back into my life, and I have no idea what to do with him. I don't know why, but he sort of intimidates me, which makes me the quiet standoffish version of myself. I can't even explain to you how annoying I find that. I can't seem to stop myself, though. I'm mysterious girl around him, and I'm beginning to think that he reacts by being equally mysterious. Which, of course, is even more annoying. lol Oy, here's hoping that I can figure him out soon and stop turning the problem of him around and around in my head. I'm a puzzle solver, you know I can't stand it to have a problem I can't solve. ;)

Random Happenings (with bullets)

2009-03-07T00:18:00.000-06:00

I went to Novaks again last night. I tried to explain to Will about how a lesbian bar and say a bar on the landing are a completely difference experience for a girl and so next week we are going to attempt a little social experiment to prove my point.;)

The weather has been amazing the last few days and I'm sorry to see it go again, I can't wait for spring to truly get here.

I'm finding myself more and more annoyed by the ex-boyfriend, though I'm trying really hard to bite my tongue so I don't ruin him even more for the next girl. I'm afraid that anything I say at this point would just be mean rather than helpful.

I'm being promoted at work, but I'm not supposed to know and have to act surprised when it happens. ;) The new position is full time, more creative and should give me most weekends off. Keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes according to plan.

I went to a craft fair today and bought a pair of earrings from a glass artist. She was explaining to me the process and I think I can make them myself, so I'll have to dig my supplies out of the basement soon and give it a try.

Though something else is going on, I've written and deleted several sentences to say that I have no idea what that something is or if it is a something at all and rather than be upset, I'm mostly amused and curious to see what happens next. How's that for cryptic?

A wrap up of the weekend and a jumble of other things that don't make sense

2009-03-03T23:48:00.000-06:00

In the same night we found a doctorate of bats, Will and I also met a man we called "mysterious man" who was flitting about the bar, wearing a fabulous hat. We did eventually pin him down to ask about the hat and talked for a while about hats and Frank Sinatra. He invited us to another bar this week for karaoke. I love making new friends.

Some of the night is rather fuzzy, but I remember taking off my shoes several times, and I think I may have asked Will to hold them for me, poor man. On or off, they got many compliments. Here they are, on one of my favorite sites for shoes.

I met a volleyball player from New Jersey, with the accent and all. He was also an excellent dancer. He insisted that I MUST see New York, which then , of course turned into me giggling over Will and I living in New York ala "Will and Grace". This is the ridiculous stuff that pops into my head, people.

Anyway, a great time was had by all and I'm looking forward to many more nights dancing my ass off there.

Other things I've been up to...knitting. I'm in the middle of 3 projects, cuz it's next to impossible for me to just work on one at a time....a sleeveless shell, a hat, and arm warmers.

I watched last week's LOST on saturday (I know, I know, I was busy) and HELLO this season is screwed up! Ben kills Locke and makes it look like a suicide?! And then Locke comes back to life?! Then the other plane crashes on the island?! WHA?! Can't wait to see what happens next....

Friends, shoes, doctors, and dancing, oh my!

2009-03-02T01:46:00.001-06:00

So, it's been an interesting week. I was contacted by an old friend out of the blue early last week. (friend? man that I briefly dated? friend? not really sure on that one) He was the first match.com date that I, you know, dated, so I was hardly surprised that he just wanted to be friends after 3 weeks. What a difference a few months make, I had no idea what I was doing and I'm sure I confused the crap out of the poor guy, I was impossible to read. He wants to hang out again, which is nice, since he lives within walking distance. The timing is fortunate, spending time with him wouldn't have been possible even a week ago due to the ex-boyfriend's jealousy issues.

I was up for something Wednesday night, but he was studying for his boards, so I called my friend Johnna to see if she wanted to go to the bar. She did, of course, and we drowned our mutual annoyance with the men in our lives in cherry bombs, tequila sunrises, and laughter. I woke up the next morning feeling more positive about the state of the world, but not the state of my head. So, Thursday was hangover day, and other than a trip outside to have lunch at a little place called Biggies which oh my god, has an excellent burger, I spent most of the day in bed.

Friday, I was sure that I was going to stay home...but then my new friend Will called to ask me if I wanted to go dancing. And I have a weakness for dancing. We went to Novaks, which is one of the bars on Manchester in south city and danced our little hearts out.

Will and I have this running joke about doctors and how the only way I'll ever be able to afford these Chanel shoes we both covet will be by sleeping with a rich man who will buy me presents. Now, this is a JOKE, mind you, I would never sleep with someone in order to coerce expensive shoes from them. That would, of course, be wrong. Ahem.

Aaaanyway, we were trying to pick out a doctor in the crowd, and one guy in particular was eying me and attempting to work up the courage to come over and talk to me when Will got in his head that this guy must be a doctor. I said there was no possible way that a doctor would come to a bar trolling for women dressed like that. We bet a shot on it and I...went to the dance floor, but I can't remember why at the moment. The tequila insisted that I shake my ass, I guess. Will found me a couple of minutes later triumphant.

"He's a doctor! I TOLD you!"

"What the hell is he a doctor of, exactly?"

"Bats!"

"That doesn't count! Has to be a MEDICAL doctor! No shot for you!"

Poor guy, he must have been so confused.

I'm going to leave you with this much of my weekend cuz I'm going to bed now, but there's more to come....

Now That I Have You Intrigued

2009-02-24T23:51:00.001-06:00

Here's how it all happened....

First, came the jury duty summons in the mail. That's. just. fabulous. I've never had jury duty before and all I could think about was the weird fruit guy from the episode of Sex and the City when Carrie had jury duty and sat in the courthouse all day waiting for something to happen. So the good news is I would get some knitting done, right? Except on the list of prohibited items next to guns, knives, and chemical weapons is...you know, knitting needles. I'm sorry, what?! The FAA allows knitting needles onto airplanes, but I can't knit at the courthouse, makes perfect sense.

I made a new friend at work. He loves fashion and knows way more about it than I do. We crack each other up and make Mean Girl comments about customers together. His dream car is a Jeep Wrangler. When I found this out I insisted we must have been separated at birth. He's the perfect guy friend, fun, sarcastic and gay. Oh, and he lives less than a block away and has a doctor friend that he thinks I might like. ;) We have plans to drink wine and paint my apartment now that I've finally decided on colors.

Okay, the left boob thing....I started taking birth control since I had a real live boyfriend again. It had been a year since I was taking the bc and it sort of screws with my system the first month. PMS has been FUN!! In a surge of hormones, my boob swelled, which ok isn't that unusual but the fact that only ONE of them did, is. Oy.

The hours available at work have been sort of ridiculous, so I told my manager that I would need a full time position at the new store or at my current one, or I'm going on a job hunt. Since I'm awesome, she agreed that I deserve the opportunity, and she's going to talk to the district manager. Go me for being proactive!

I know, I know enough about all this trivial shit, what about the boyfriend?! Well, poor boyfriend, it was a case of nice guy that you really wanted to see a future with, but just didn't. Frankly, he was too nice for me. I'm a nice person, and an excellent friend, but as you may have noticed here, I'm also sarcastic and I have a bit of a temper. Plus, he had been kind of recently divorced from a woman who cheated. I think he TRIED not to be a jealous guy, but he just couldn't help it and I don't have the sort of patience to constantly reassure someone going through that. So, to make a long story short, it had to end and I had to end it. Have I told you how much I hate confrontation? Let's just say a lot. That wasn't fun. I am now on hiatus. I'm going to go out with friends, dance, sing, paint my apartment, and celebrate my birthday, then I'll think about men again. That is the plan.

So, what have you been up to?

2009-02-22T00:22:00.003-06:00

I have lots of things to share, including but not limited to:

making a new friend

my crazy left boob

my decision to get a new job

being summoned for jury duty

oh

and breaking up with my boyfriend.

It's been an interesting week. ;)

Live Blog LOST:316

2009-02-18T20:00:00.018-06:00

Starting a bit late....
Jack wakes up on his back in the jungle, mirroring the 1st episode

after a few moments, he and we can hear Hurley shouting for help

Jack runs thru the jungle to a waterfall and finds Hurley treading water in a pool, holding some sort of case

Jack jumps in and helps Hurley only to see Kate on the side of the pool, unconscious

oh, she's fine

not sure whether to relieved or annoyed...wait...did I say that out loud?

_____________________________________________

46 hours earlier

where we left off last week with faraday's creepy mummy

she leads them into a basement, with a door and more ancient computers like the islands

the Lampost station allowed them to find the island

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a map on the floor with a creepy giant pendulum

the island is apparently ALWAYS moving, which is why it is so hard to find and so hard to leave

they basically locate a window in time and space, where the island is SUPPOSED to be

she finds them a plane flying directly over the window, the space where the island will be at that time

my head hurts ;)

creepy lady has further plans for Jack...oh lovely
_______________________________________________

ooooh, she has a letter!

Locke's suicide note?!

that makes no sense! Give something to Locke that belonged to Jack's father? I don't get it.

Leap of faith my ass
more like being beaten by the expectations of faith
freaking weird

oh gag me and save me from Ben's ridiculous lectures that serve no one but him

so Jack has a decision to make....but he gets a phone call

about someone in a nursing home......who? Am i supposed to ...oh, his grandad?

have we seen him before?

Grandad is an escape artist and he has a packed suitcase with Jack's father's shoes in the bottom of it...duh duh DUH!

Jack takes the shoes and goes home to...pour a drink, nothing like being predictable Jack.

Someone is already there, in his bed.

It's kate and she looks like shit

Where's Aaron?

Kate doesn't want to talk about Aaron, but she's going with him.....but first she wants to get it on

wha?
____________________________________________________

Ahhh, it's like retarded domestic bliss! Awk-WARD!!

Kate is making no sense right now

ooooh, someone beat the crap out of Ben, LOVING that!

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap laptop decided to die on me!!!

I'm back but I missed a bunch
_______________________________________________________

Ok, someone explain to me why Jack is the only one who isn't sqirrelly??

And, yes, I'm a little weirded out by the disappearance of Aaron and the way Kate is acting. I just can't see her leaving him, and she looks like someone close to her died, yet Jack keeps smiling at her like he doesn't notice.

________________________________________________________
So, this is where we are, the only people missing from the helicopter are Aaron and Desmond, but we've added Locke, Jack's Dad's shoes, and Ben.

Jack gets his letter back and he's resisting the urge to read it

Ben is such an asshole

We're waiting Jack, get on with it.

Oh, for fuck's sake! "I wish you had believed me."?!!? Are you serious?!

Here we go, the turbulance starts and the island takes them back

I love when the episodes fold back on themselves

ok, that's 3, where is everyone else?

Um, ok. Wha?

Oh, yay, it's Jin!!

___________________________________________________

Next week, we find out what happened to Locke.

Can't wait!

An Old Nickname

2009-02-09T21:21:00.001-06:00

Years and years ago, I was going through a break-up while working at a pizza place. I didn't want to be at home, so I spent most of my waking hours at work. A couple of my co-workers were joking around one day, making up a song about my name, something along the lines of "Bri oh Bri, as tall as a tree" that sort of thing. The BriohBri part sort of stuck, and there are people who still know me that way. Except for the guy I dated at the time who misheard what they called me and still refers to me as "ovaries".

Naked Mondays # 34: Bring on the Crazy Ex's

2009-02-09T01:08:00.002-06:00

Whether it's your crazy ex-boyfriend, his crazy ex-girlfriend, or the toxic ex-friend who just won't leave you alone, I think it's safe to say that we all have people in our lives we would like to forget, or at least we wish they would forget US.

For instance, I once dated a guy, we were introduced by a mutual friend. He was a social butterfly and I was tired of staying at home all the time. He was exactly what I needed then, but being the life of the party got old after a while and, well, there was this, so I broke it off as kindly as I knew how. He pretended to take it well and then called me twice a week, leaving messages on my machine, wanting me to give him another chance. He continued this for 3 months. Just so you know, this is NOT the way to endear yourself to a girl. He recently sent me an email through match.com asking me how I was doing. Needless to say, I didn't respond.

I'm now having a problem with a more recent ex. We've been broken up for 2 years now, but he had a bad habit of popping back into my life when.....who knows really. He was lonely? His girlfriend was being annoying? It never amounted to anything, for the things that broke us up in the first place didn't exactly fix themselves and he had a charming way of digging himself in an even deeper hole(exhibit A) I finally realized that in order to remove him from my life, I would have to tell him not to contact me again. So I did. In fact, I asked him not to read my blog or myspace page anymore, either. He agreed, vehemently.

I thought it was over. And it was, for me. And then, an IP address started popping up regularly in my stat counter. You see, I get readers from all over the world, but rarely do I get readers from the metro east. So, when one number shows up regularly, I'm bound to get a little curious. The IP popped up more and more often and I got really nosy. Imagine my surprise when I realized where it originated. Denny's, my ex's favorite hangout. Sadly, I could clearly picture it. Sitting in a booth, drinking coffee and looking at my Naked Monday posts when his girlfriend had already gone home for the night. It's what he did for months at a time while we were broken up, though using the wifi at Denny's is new.

I lost my temper at first. The idea that he was still hanging on to this little piece of me after all the mean and awful things he said was a bit more than I could take. I've calmed down a bit and this is my solution. After all, if you can't call out an ex-boyfriend for thinking he's outsmarted you, what else is a blog good for?

Now, on to a funnier story. Well, funny for me anyway. My friend, we'll call her Sarah, since that's her name, has a habit of dating guys with crazy exs. One such time, she stayed over at her new guy's house and the next morning, while they were still sleeping, his ex-fiance burst into the house, mother in tow, screaming and cursing, calling Sarah any number of foul names, all while a lit cigarette dangled dangerously from her lip. If that wasn't enough of a picture for you, the ex-fiance then ripped the comforter off the bed where Sarah and her guy were still lying in shock and embarrassment. I'm pretty sure she is still traumatized to this day, wouldn't you be?

So, I have an assignment for you....tell me your most embarrassing crazy ex story, leave it in the comments, or link to your own blog post. Mine are kind of pathetic and my friend needs to read about something worse than her experience. Help me out?

Grace in Small Things 1

2009-01-30T01:26:00.001-06:00

I'm not really sure how this works, so I'm going to go with things that make me happy today. Trying to stay positive. Staying positive while WINTER IS TAKING OVER is important. I hate winter and so I'm trying to find grace in small things is what I'm saying. This wasn't my idea. I'm a joiner. It was Schumtzie's idea. She even started a social network here. Join if you'd like and we can all practice being more positive finding grace in the small things.

1. Winter doesn't last forever.

2. This is the first winter in years that I haven't felt the need to be medicated. (yet. keeping my fingers crossed.)

3. My AT&T UVerse and DVR

4. Forgotten tax return money that will arrive just in time to buy me a new computer to replace my 5 yr old laptop which is about one blue screen of death away from a meltdown.

5. Having a boy in my life that I feel comfortable enough with to show him my apartment

6. spiced tea

7. an unlimited number of recipes to try and the confidence to try them

8. grocery shopping from my couch

9. steak and roasted potatoes with Country Bob's sauce for dinner

10. Trivia nights with the boyfriend and MP

11. Impressing people with my cupcake baking skillz

12. laughing so hard at work that I fall down

13. a boyfriend that finds it charming that I fall down a lot

14. filling a wall with my photography

LOST live blog "Jughead"

2009-01-28T19:40:00.012-06:00

7:59 Ok, here we go, here begins my first attempt at a live blog.
I'm sure it will suck ;)
recap, recap, recap

erm, where the hell is this?
why hellllooo des! ;)
Penny's having a baby? All this flashing about is confusing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm really craving cookies right now, which has nothing to do with LOST and everything to do with me being hormonal.

Ah, back on the island.

Red is in trouble. (can't remember her name)

they are trying to meet up with everyone who survived at the creek

The dharma project, I presume? Holy hell, how do they know daniel?

MUST TYPE FASTER

LOST theme....and commercial
--------------------------------------------------------
Des and Penny again...they're arguing about him going back to Oxford

Hmm, so who planted the land mines, if the dharma people didn't?

Wait, they're other?! New others, or old others? I truly suck at this. ;)

Miles walked across a grave with US soldiers in it on the way to the others camp and I'm still trying to figure out WHEN it is. Dude, what the hell is Daniel up to? Richard just asked him if he would like his bomb back....I'm thinking no.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Aaaand des again at oxford, wearing a man scarf. I LIKE. There's no record of Faraday, but then who knows WHEN he was there really.

Oatmeal creme pies are AWESOME

Oxford would like to pretend that Faraday was never there. WHAT GIRL?!

Back to the Others camp
holy crap, who would leave a hydrogen bomb on the island?

Juliet tried to reason with the others they had captured but the 2nd other broke his neck to stop him from talking to her. That's just not right.

Locke needs to get a grip. (sigh)

Also, awww Daniel declared his love for Red. (Damnit! why can't I remember her name!?)
_______________________________________________________________

Des is walking down a street, trying to find an address....looking for Teresa Spencer...who is in a veg state. Widmore is paying for her upkeep. That's fucking creepy.

Daniel, Miles, and Red discuss the bomb and Red tries to let Daniel off the hook for what he said. He assures her he meant it. Richard explains the situation. Cocky little creep, isn't he? Not Richard, the other that killed his comrade. Locke wants to have a chat with Richard and Sawyer thinks he's crazy. Which he is. Duh. I love Sawyer, seriously.

Daniel is in WAY over his head.

Fuck. That is a big bomb. WHEN ARE THEY!!???
------------------------------------------------------------

I can't believe people are reading this in real time.

I may be showing my ignorance, but are hydrogen bombs supposed to be that big?

It's leaking

scary OK, I get it now

They were 50 years ago. That big, I mean. That feels like some sort of opening to a joke.

Des busts in on Widmore. Looking for answers, Des? Somehow I don't think he'll be very cooperative. Daniel's mum is in LA. Widmore wants to know if Penny is ok, which would be sweet, but probably isn't.

Crap, what did he just say? I missed it.
I love DVRs. Best invention EVAH.
Ok, Widmore told him to go back to whereever he'd been hiding. Not bad assvice, really, but I doubt he'll listen.

Locke walks into the Other camp and introduces himself to Richard, tells him that Jacob sent him.
OMFG the cocky little shit is WIDMORE!!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

That is AWESOME!! And I have NO IDEA what that means but I DID NOT see that coming! Did you?!

Penny and Des, together again. Now he just has to explain what he found out. Oooh he's lying!!
She knows, that's awesome. He admits that Daniel's mum is in LA. He just wants to forget the whole thing. (Awww, Charlie!? Tears and sniffles here.)

They're all going to LA to find Mum.

Richard and Locke are having a heart to heart. He doesn't get the info he needs, though before the island flashes again. Oh CHARLOTTE!! Why is that so hard to remember?

Oh damn that is not good.

--------------------------------------

So what did you think? Do I suck at this or what? ;)

Things That SHOULDN'T be Overheard at Work

2009-01-26T13:35:00.002-06:00

Erica, please stop humping the ladder, you're freaking me out!

You realize, of course, from now on you'll be known as the rug doctor.

Seriously, Erica, stop humping things!

Are you drunk?

We can't take her to the club, look at her!! A couple of drinks, she'll be taking her clothes off.

That's no big deal, hell, if I get drunk enough I do too. I'm all "Look at my penis!!"

I'm all right, I'm just over here plotting the easiest way to kill myself, no biggie.

My Interviewees ;) (or, better late than never)

2009-01-21T23:02:00.003-06:00

Why, yes, I did eventually get around to putting together interview questions for my lucky, lucky volunteers. (I had a bit of a typo there and typed licky on the second one. Freudian slip? You decide! lol) Questions have been emailed, watch for answers soon!

Nathan's questions
1. If you found yourself, entirely by accident, on a nudist beach, would you go native?

2. Would you rather see only in black & white or only see the colors green & orange?

3. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

4. This is a multiple choice question. You must choose one of the provided answers. Like it. Or not.
When you're driving down the highway and someone catches you catching them picking their nose, what do you do?
A.) Point and laugh.
B.) Pick your nose too so they don't feel so awkward.
C.) Start honking to get other drivers' attention so they can watch the nose picking display themselves.

5. What is your best memory?

KBO's questions
1. What’s the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made?

2. Where is your favorite travel destination?

3. What is your strangest habit?

4. Describe the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten.

5. If you had to choose between being covered with ants from head to toe or being stuck in an elevator for three hours, which would you choose?

Heather's questions
1. As a teenager, what was your ultimate fantasy?

2. If human life on earth were about to end and you had to choose two people to re-populate the earth for a fresh start at humanity, who would you choose? (Or if you would like to be the female in this equation, who would be the male?)

3. Which type of natural disaster are you most afraid of?

4. How much money would it take for you go to a crowded restaurant at lunchtime, stand on a table and take off all of your clothes?

5. If you could go to the mall and buy a new person to replace someone that is already in your life, who would you replace?

mommymae's questions:

1. Would you rather walk naked through the grocery store or lick all the meat at the butcher counter?

2. What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?

3. What are the contents of your purse at this moment?

4. What is the naughtiest thing you've ever done?

5. What is your favorite restaurant and why?

Most (ok, all) questions were compiled (ok, stolen) from others who were gracious enough to submit questions. You can find the whole list for ideas (or stealing) here.

Isolation

2009-01-21T21:45:00.001-06:00

The only time I would consider where my parents live as quiet is when the fog rolls in and insulates the house from the rest of the world . Even the birds seem confused by the suddenly smaller world they are inhabiting and take a break from carrying on.

The air seems heavier and a walk through the yard will cover you in a light mist, eyelashes blinking against the wet. For once, this house in the middle of no where seems truly isolated and lonely. Hushed and waiting.

The quiet doesn't last, though. The sun will come out of hiding and burn off the fog. The birds will wake up from their naps and once again dive bomb each other in competition for the feeders making more racket than anything that small has a right to.

Nothing lasts forever. Life gets in the way. The sun comes out and the real world intrudes on my weather induced peace and quiet.

Want to be interviewed?

2009-01-15T18:30:00.002-06:00

Jason from The Jason Show asked last week if anyone would like to be interviewed and started a 5 question chain of silliness! Follow the directions below to join in!

1. What do you like the most and the least about living in St. Louis?

My favorite thing about living in this city is the freedom I feel to express myself. I can wear just about anything and no one blinks an eye. Coming from a small town in the bible belt, I appreciate this!

The worst thing about living here, in this region really, is the weather. We get both extreme cold and heat and the weather changes on a dime, in the 50's one day, 20's the next, you never really know what's going to happen next.

2. Would you rather streak naked through your neighborhood at noon or accidentally throw up on the queen of England?

I hate to throw up. HATE it. And I don't really have too much trouble with nudity, so streaking through my neighborhood at noon is really a no brainer. ;) With a little friendly supervision for safety, I'd do it.

3. If you could be any famous person, who would you be and why?

I don't know that I would want to be famous. I think it would be interesting to be a touring singer for a day, can we do that? ;) Otherwise, I prefer my anonymous existence, thanks.

4. What would you do if you had a billion dollars?

I would have to assume that I won a billion dollars, since the chances of me earning that amount of money is....not good. The biggest thing would be travel, after paying off all my debt and that of my family I would travel, travel, travel. I think I would donate a ton to charity and maybe create some sort of foundation to provide scholarships for education students. WE NEED MORE TEACHERS WITH PASSION!! After that, who knows!

5. If you had to choose between cuddling with an eel or a cuddling with a piranha, which would you choose?

Oh please, neither!! The thought of getting close to either one gives me the shudders!! (To prove that I'm not a complete ninny, I have no problem with mice or bats!)

Want to be part of it? Follow these instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will get to ask them five questions.

Run away while you still can (Seriously. RUN.)

2009-01-13T14:48:00.001-06:00

You may have noticed my lack of writing lately. I have some serious writer's block, it's just as annoying for me as it is for you. Since I can't seem to write in a narrative way, I'm just going to do a stream of consciousness thing today and we're all just going to have to deal. Hopefully soon, I'll figure out how to write while twitterpated.

The thing is, I'm like any other girl in the beginning of a relationship. All I want to talk about is the relationship. And no one wants to hear about how sweet he is or how much fun I'm having. Frankly, all the sighing and grinning at nothing is making ME want to throw up. I'm really overwhelmed, because this last match.com match-up has moved along rather fast in the emotion department. It makes me nervous, but I'm not shutting down or wanting to run so I'm looking at this as personal growth no matter how the relationship turns out.

I went with my friend Jessica to see a show at the Pageant last week and had a great time, but I've discovered that I am not meant for mosh pits. The show was a guy, a DJ, I guess who called himself Girl Talk, which was a giant dance party of sorts. My friend wanted to get up on stage to dance, unfortunately, so did every other underage idiot in the place. (My friend is not an idiot, she's a brilliant writer who asked me the other day if she could write a book about me one day. Why she would want to write a book about me is beyond my comprehension, but I'm sure if she wrote it, it would be amazing.) Anyway, the floor near the stage suddenly resembled a cattle chute and it was all I could do to keep upright. Madness ensued and I was seriously pissed off, elbowing anyone who dared to shove me and pulling a girl out from under the trampling herd when she reached down by my feet to get her cell phone. Other than a wrenched knee, I was fine, but I've discovered I'm too old for that sort of insanity and I'll go back to the sort of concerts I usually enjoy, which are generally more adult. After it calmed down a little and the crowd realized that security wouldn't allow anymore people on the stage, we had a little room to maneuver and Jess and I danced until I couldn't breathe, occasionally shaking my head at the combination of music. (He mixed Kelly Clarkson and Nine Inch Nails together, then Journey and Lil Wayne, or vice-versa, I can't remember now. Reading this, you would think it was awful, but it wasn't.)

The new guy, S, took me to dinner and a movie Friday night, we went to see Clint Eastwood's new movie, Gran Torino. It was really good. Sunday was spent at his place watching football. (I know, I actually watched football on tv, on purpose. Granted, I had a Glamour magazine in my lap, but still, football.) And I had fun. We ate pizza and watched football and I had a great time. Twitterpated. It's the only explanation.

Oh, and the new camera is a Nikon D40. Photos coming soon, I promise.

Oh Hai, I Have a Blog and Stuff

2009-01-04T02:16:00.001-06:00

Guess who got a new camera for Christmas? Guess who hasn't completely figured out how to use it?

As far as New Years goes, I don't really do resolutions. (I think last year I called them self-delusions, though I did manage to follow through on a couple.) I do have the new camera that needs to be broken in and Moosh in Indy mentioned a 365 project she will be participating in, so I thought I'd give that a try.

I do have some ideas for things I'd like to try this year, but I think I'm going to keep those secret a bit longer til I figure out if I can. ;)

I did volunteer to write about my online dating experience and to round that out a bit, I'd love to hear stories from others, blogger or not, especially guys. Email me, k?

Yes, I did start dating someone new since Christmas and we are getting along swimmingly. My head is sort of spinning actually and I'm not sure whether to be thrilled or terrified. ;) (He's not a blog reader, isn't that nice? lol)

Until, I can get the photos I've already taken uploaded, here are a few posts from last year that I especially liked.

My resolution to keep knitting is off to a roaring start

Making fun of my brother

Enjoying the weather

Where I first talk about my issues with food

Taking a walk in the park

One of my more popular Naked Monday posts that was discussed over drinks

Bossy's visit

The first time I was mistaken for a hooker

Meeting a Cardinal's baseball player

My cat goes crazy

The post with the most hits (it's the bikini post, are you surprised?)

The ones about my car accident

The BlogHer posts, plus the hostel and my first troll

Exposing my messy side

Blogging while online dating can be hard

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night

2008-12-24T01:45:00.004-06:00

It's Christmas Eve and I leave tomorrow for the land that time forgot, where I have to fight my little brother for access to a computer with dial-up. I was truly freaking out today when I heard that they had shut down part of the interstate where my parents live due to ice and snow. I called around and found someone to take part of my shift tomorrow so that I can leave before dark. Here's hoping the weather holds on rain. ;) I hope everyone has a lovely holiday without any unnecessary drama and that travel is safe if you have to travel.

p.s. I somehow managed to get a paper cut on a plastic bag tonight, which of course started bleeding everywhere.

p.p.s. I started talking to a new guy on Match, completely by happenstance and I have a date with him saturday. We've talked for HOURS on the phone, which is completely unlike me.

p.p.p.s. I usually pack xmas presents and such in these huge IKEA shopping bags that I have, but I can't find them anywhere. Hmmm.

p.p.p.p.s Oh, and I should be back sometime on friday. ;)

Someone Forgot to Save a Draft (oops!)

2008-12-20T01:25:00.001-06:00

Yeah, that was me. ;) Here's a jumble of things that are too much for Twitter and not enough for a full post....

Thing #1: Thanks to Crystal, I found these truly hysterical handmade cards for the snark in all of you. ;) This one and this one are particular favorites. This one made me laugh so hard I almost peed myself. Her descriptions are just as funny as the cards.

Thing #2: I am officially single again. Ok, I was never officially un-single, but I'm not dating anyone in particular at the moment. ;) I've made a couple of good friends so far, that's pretty good, huh? lol

Thing #3: One of the girls I work with wants to set me up with her brother. I've never been set up before, so I thought, what the hell? I told her to go ahead if it makes her happy. I think he finds the idea of his little sister setting him up on a date as amusing as I do. ;)

Thing #4: I've bought all of 2 Christmas presents as of today. I suck at Christmas. lol

Thing #5: I went to Goodwill tonight to find some wool sweaters to felt. I have an idea for a present for my Grandma that I'll use them for, I'll post pictures when it comes together.

Thing #6: My camera pooped out on me, which is why there haven't been many photos lately. A new one is on my Christmas list, though the one I want is really too expensive for a present. We'll see what happens. ;)

Thing #7: A couple of movies came out today that I really want to see, Seven Pounds and Yes Man, but I couldn't find one person available to go with me. Boo :(

Thing #8: I am going to a Tweetup in St. Charles tomorrow. I wanted my friend Jessica to go with me cuz I'm determined to get her on Twitter, but she is going to the symphony instead. Now I kinda wish I was going with her. ;)

Thing #9: If you are not Twittering already, you really should! Peer Pressure! Ahhh!

Thing #10: I decided last week that I wanted to chop all my hair off. If you've seen the Naked Monday about my hair, you'd know that this isn't exactly a new thing. My friend, A, cuts my hair for me and she told me yesterday that she won't be cutting my hair as short as I'd like. She flat out refused. lol We renegotiated today for a longer style that will still eliminate a significant amount of length. It's just pissing me off right now. It's too long and heavy and it's takes too long to dry when it's freezing outside. It will almost be this long again by summer.

Thing #11: You know that movie eye flirting thing where a guy and girl meet eyes across the room and smile for what seems like forever? That totally happened to me today at work. One of the cute kiosk guys was walking in as I was walking out and he totally eye-flirted with me. And I started to smile back cuz he's cute, even if he's a lotion guy* and then I realized what I was doing and panicked. Ahhhh! So, I looked away and probably blushed. One of these days, I swear I'll get the hang of this. lol

Thing #12: It took me 45 minutes to leave work today...just to leave the parking lot! Damn holiday shoppers!! Weird thing? The parking lot wasn't even full, didn't make any kind of sense. I needed to go to the wal marts too, but was so frustrated by the time I made it to an actual ROAD, that I went home instead.

Thing #13: I decided to take my semi regular waxing further south. ;) Casey convinced me. lol

Thing #14: I can guarantee that I'm forgetting something. ;)

* One of the kiosks at every mall, they have a bottle of lotion that they smooth onto your hands. I walk by the same damn one EVERY DAY and they still try to sell me their stupid hand stuff. EVERY FUCKING DAY!! (Ok, not every day, but still, 5 days a week. I recognize THEM!)

Naked Mondays # 33 Because Surviving Isn't Enough

2008-12-15T00:47:00.001-06:00

This is as naked as it gets. I'm going to tell my story and then I will never mention it again. Comments will be closed on this post.

I've been sad today. I'm not sure what triggered it exactly. No, that's a lie. One of the bloggers I know in the way you know someone on the internet though you never met suffered a personal tragedy last week. And instead of rushing to support her, I pulled away because it was too painful for ME, which leaves me feeling guilty and raw, which is why I drank WAY more than was healthy for me Saturday night and had to have my hair held back by a friend for the very first time. I HATE that he saw me in pain like that, even if he had no idea what it was that he was seeing.

So, here we go. I've been in love twice in my lifetime. Once was with my high school sweetheart. He was my best friend for nine years and I was his. After some time had passed, we were able to be friends again after the break-up. The second was shorter and more complicated, but he taught me things about myself that I was grateful to learn. (But, yes, if I had the opportunity, I would happily kick him in the head.) Though we have tried, there is a very basic reason he and I can never be friends.

A few weeks after this break-up, I realized something was going on with my body. I was pregnant. The tiny bundle of cells lasted 8 weeks before my body rejected it. Long enough for the ex-boyfriend to tell me to end it, long enough for him to change his mind, long enough for me to tell him to go fuck himself, long enough for me to make a plan, long enough to picture a little face to go with the morning sickness and the "oh my god, I can smell EVERYTHING!". I wasn't ready and I wasn't prepared, but I was determined to make it work, to make a life for myself and a faceless little someone. And, then I didn't have to. And my heart just broke into a million pieces.

I thought that it would be like getting over a break-up, that over time, I would just go back to being myself. It didn't work like that. I spent months picking up the pieces of my life, pretending like everything was normal since only a handful of people had any idea what I'd gone through. I was TERRIFIED of accidentally getting pregnant again. I avoided men like the plague and retreated into the life I had created in my apartment, the life I was living here. I got up, I moved around, I breathed in and out. For a time, it was enough. I was surviving and it was enough.

If you've been here for a while, you know that I woke up from my half-life this summer and decided to date again. Breathing in and out wasn't enough anymore, there was less pretending and though I'll never be the person I was before, I wanted more than surviving. So I tried for a normal life. It hasn't always gone smoothly, but I'm getting there and I'm ready to fall in love again. I'm ready to take that risk again. So, that's what I'm looking for, romance and a life. I think it's time. That is all. Today I am sad, but tomorrow will be better and at the next party I will politely decline the jello shots. I promise. ;)

What kind of music do YOU like?

2008-12-09T03:52:00.003-06:00

Every social situation I get this question,.... make a new friend, getting to know a romantic interest, small talk at a party, it always comes up....

T and I went to a concert last week for one of his favorite groups at the Lucas School House. Loved the venue, loved the band, if the weather had been a little more cooperative, it would have been the perfect night. After the show, when everyone was mingling, one of T's friends inevitably asked me about my music taste. I HATE HATE HATE this question because try as I might, I can not adequately answer. There IS no easy answer here, at least not for me. I really do like just about everything. It would be easier to make a list of music I DON'T like.

My home as a child was always full of music. Though none of us had any particular musical talent, we were always singing and bopping about uncoordinatedly to whatever album my mom was currently obsessed with. There is a particular video of my sister and I dancing around the dining room in our ballet leotards to Kids Incorporated that I won't be showing to anyone. Ever. (Remember them? Bwahahaha!)

This is from the 85/86 season, which is the one I think I watched, at least these kids look vaguely familiar. The Martika girl had an album which I MIGHT still have...somewhere. lol

Ahhh, memories! ;)

So, anyway, musical taste! After thinking about it for a few days, if I had to pick one thing to say it would be that I am drawn to female singer/songwriters. There, post done.

Just kidding. Clarify that statement, you say? Well, of course, I've been cruising youtube, and here are some of my favorites....

Brandi Carlile

Brandi sings from the gut. She just grabs my insides, rips them out and then very sweetly pats them back into place. There's another of her songs from The Story album called Late Morning Lullaby that really speaks to me, but I couldn't find an official video. :( Sadly, my album was stolen along with my car stereo last winter, and I haven't gotten around to replacing it. Bastard car stereo thieves messing with my music!

Ingrid Michaelson, who I've mentioned before, is also a particular favorite. She and Sara Bareilles (another talented songwriter) have teamed up for this song on a new album of Christmas/winter songs, which I am eagerly anticipating.

Sara has a single out now called Bottle It Up that I'm really enjoying and this next one is my favorite Ingrid song...

A Fine Frenzy

Ali has a sort of otherworldy beauty that comes across in her haunting melodies. She also has a way of cutting right down to the truth of a matter while still sounding sweet and innocent that I find inspiring. ;) One of my favorites is a song called The Minnow and the Trout, which , of course, doesn't have a true video.

Sarah McLachlan has been on my music list since high school. This one is from that time, a song she wrote with the help of a stalker's letters.

I think I have all her albums but the most recent one...

Bonnie Raitt is another old favorite that always makes for good karaoke. :)

These are just a handful of the women on heavy rotation on my zune and the only things they have in common are being female and writing their own songs...I ran out of patience before I got to Alanis Morrisette, Avril Lavigne, or Gwen Stefani.

And then every once in a while, I throw in something like this...

Eclectic is putting it mildly. ;)

I'm Alive...sort of ;)

2008-12-06T17:27:00.003-06:00

I've tried several times to write an entry about my music taste, you will soon see why this is so difficult. ;)

I've spent the last two days deathly ill....ok, not really, but I tend to get overly-dramatic about such things. I've had the flu and missed 2 days of work, which I HATE. I'm the dependable one, who always shows up and always gets things done, but I'm sure there will be a discussion about why I don't have a doctor's note. I've never gone to the doctor for the flu, ever. I mean, come on, it's the flu, not scarlet fever. It's not like they can do anything other than waste their time telling me to drink plenty of fluids and get some rest. Done and done. Sorry, that just irritates me. As soon as someone would like to pay for me to see a doctor for an everyday illness just so I can hand them a piece of paper verifying said illness, I would be happy to go. Until then, I'd be happy to let you come over and take my temperature. ;) I need to get out of retail. le sigh

2008-11-27T10:54:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

There is Something Baking in My Oven and I Can Smell the Butter

2008-11-26T23:52:00.002-06:00

I ran into my friend Jessica tonight, which is why it's midnight and I'm just now baking my desserts to take to Thanksgiving dinner. We spent a ridiculous amount of time talking at Noodles and catching up on what had been happening in each others' lives.

She's been dating too and I wish I wrote down how she phrased her relationship status, cuz it had something to do with Facebook. She did say that Facebook was going to be her downfall. (Sound familiar, MP? ;>)

At one point, we were comparing the size of our clothing collections....

Me: Did I tell you about the time when I did a bunch of laundry and had to buy more hangers? I didn't even FINISH my laundry.

Her: You win.

Me: Is it bad that the idea of getting serious with someone means that I'll have to share a closet?

Her: What if he complains about how many pairs of shoes I have?

Me: It's like my worst nightmare!

Her: We are so sad.

Me: Yeah. Probably.

(I hope I don't have to explain that we were joking. Mostly.)

Naked Mondays # 32 Channeling My Inner Carrie

2008-11-24T23:58:00.001-06:00

So, yeah, I've been sucking with the whole blogging thing lately all around. Blogger girl has been asleep at the wheel. It's a combination of things, really. I started working days at my job, which unlike some of your places of employment, does not have internet access. And I went WAAAAY over on my text message allotment last month, so I had to stop getting twitter updates sent to my phone, which makes me feel woefully out of touch. ;(

The time change has confused the crap out of me, too. I find myself thinking it's time for bed until I glance at a clock and see that it's barely 8 o'clock! I've been too busy to get in a funk about it, but I'm sleepier than normal, which I've decided to blame on the sun rather than laziness. lol

Naked Mondays are much harder while dating, I've found. I can't seem to find the right words to say what I'm trying to say while only exposing myself and no one else. How does Carrie do it? (Yes, I know, fictional character, but come on, use your imagination here.)

It's been brought to my attention recently and not so recently that I seem mysterious to guys. On one hand, this always takes me by surprise. On the other hand, I see what they're saying, I'm just not sure what to do about it. For most of my life, I haven't made friends very easily. If a job or a class ended, there were people I spoke with everyday that I never saw again. I've had friends for different phases of my life, friends for boyfriends, friends that seemed to be tied to a location, but I've rarely had more than one or two close friends at a time, friends who knew me all the way down to my toes, you know? I didn't let people get close enough, why, I'm not sure. Maybe it's residual shyness or just a learned defense mechanism, but that part is hardly new.

I decided to text an ex-boyfriend today to see if I could get to the root of the problem. He didn't remember my 18 year old self being very mysterious, but then he admitted that his 18 year old self was kind of oblivious. (Basically, he was no help. ;>) The ex is probably right in that my 18 year old self hadn't acquired this skill, but my 31 year old self is a master at it. Moral of the story? Dating is hard. ;>

Apparently, this is a more recent thing, but somehow I doubt it's just me. Don't we all hold parts of ourselves back for protection?

What do you think? How much of yourself do you hold apart from others? How would a mysterious person become less mysterious?

Lost Time

2008-11-24T00:12:00.002-06:00

Have you ever started a project or just read something and you wake up from the trance that you were in with no recollection of how much time has passed? Yeah, I did that tonight with a blog. Yes, really.

Start at the beginning here, and prepare to lose some time. ;)

Also, there's been a link floating about twitter for a while now that is really entertaining. If your black heart goes all soft and mushy at the sight of puppies, go here.

That is all.

True Story

2008-11-23T17:50:00.001-06:00

So, as anyone with any sort of customer service experience knows, you are required to ask every customer how they are doing. For the most part, unless it DIRECTLY has to do with your job, you don't care, no matter how nice of a person you are. It's just something you say, to be polite, over and over and over and over again until you forget that sometimes, people think you're serious. This happened to me the other day and it is too delicious not to share.

I was having one of my usual days of boring monotony of "Hello, theres" and "How are you todays" when a young girl brought a long sleeved t-shirt to my register and in response to my only trying to be polite and fulfill my duties question replied, "Not so good, really, my boyfriend cheated on me last night." I, of course, snorted out a laugh. When I had myself under control again, I asked her if she was for real, or if she was just messing with me cuz I'm sensitive like that. ;) She assured me that she was for real, and actually her friend and her were both cheated on, on the same night. They were buying the t-shirts to decorate for school the next day with the words, "No, it is not OK!" lol

I assured myself that the boyfriends were now ex-boyfriends and wished them a better day today than yesterday.

"Oh! And may they both be hit by a bus!!"

(Well, at least I gave them a laugh. lol)

I'm With The Band (or my weekend update)

2008-11-17T01:14:00.001-06:00

It's so funny to me to say that phrase. All the silly adolescent fantasies of the rock and roll boyfriend that now make me roll my eyes with embarrassment. It's ridiculous the things we think are cool way back when. Now, when I actually get to say it out loud, I felt like an idiot. ;) I was sitting on a barstool and a guy asked me what I was doing there, alone in a bar and out it came. "I'm with the band." Inside my head, I'm giggling as I explain to total strangers why that is so funny to me. Then, of course, I'm trying to quietly and unobtrusively listen to the music, when the band raises their glasses to toast my Saturday off work. As the room's eyes switch to me (ok, so maybe it only felt like it) I'm sure my face turned ten shades of red. (Thanks guys!) As I listened to music and sipped my spiked cider, I was also wishing I had an ink pen, for I was once again itching to record my surroundings here, in this place. ;)

There was the couple to my right, who lived next door and were shocked to see a man taking photos of two very naked women in another apartment across the street. Apparently, they stumbled onto porn production in our fair city. If that wasn't enough, a guy at the table to my left was shouting about republicans in strip clubs. (Nope. No idea what that was about.)

I dedicated my Saturday to being as lazy as humanly possible with T. (The guy with the cute dog now has a letter, he's moving up in the world. lol) We watched TV and cooked dinner and....that's pretty much it. I succeeded at my goal. ;) Oh, I did finish a new hat that I was knitting, so, you know, there's that. lol

Sunday, I spent chasing down a pair of shoes I wanted and making the changes you can see here. I'm still working out the bugs and fitting in all the bits of things I had before, bear with me, even starting with a ready made template I still made changes that I had to figure out as I went. Which means, I was working on it all afternoon and evening and I'm still not satisfied. There's an "about me" that's new and I updated the Naked Monday page to include all the posts.

Ok, that's all for now, I have work in the morning and should already be in bed. ;)

Shaddup, Both Of You ;)

2008-11-12T19:07:00.001-06:00

Why yes, I did fail spectacularly at NaBloPoMo this year, thank you for asking. :)
Let's just say I haven't been home much and when I am, I haven't felt like writing. I've been cooking a lot, made a turkey pie, a pumpkin cheesecake, and my cheesy enchiladas. The grocery delivery was a rousing success, I recommend it for all the lazy out there who hate grocery shopping. They even offered to carry it up the stairs to my apartment for me, but with my curious cat, I didn't think it was a good idea. The website saves my list, so I can add things as I think of them and make an order when I have enough to make the fee worth it. Enough talking about food, I'm getting hungry. Thanks for caring enough to give me shit about it you guys, love you too. ;)

Halloweenie: A Tale of Two Parties Part 2

2008-11-07T21:29:00.001-06:00

Like I said before, I was invited to a costume house party by a couple that I knew vaguely from the bar I visit occasionally. I wasn't sure that there would be anyone there that I knew at the party other than the hosts, nor did I know how big the party would be. (Would I be standing around trying to look comfortable with the fact that no one was talking to me? These are the things that I think about.) I had another engagement later that I didn't want to show up too early for, because I was, again, going alone. (Timing is everything, people! lol) Everything worked out in the end, I called just before leaving my apartment to get directions, (right down the street! Score!) the party ended up being smaller than I expected and filled with interesting people to chat with, though at one point, I thought about telling one guy that just because I expressed interest in his costume did not mean that I was flirting with him. (It's just friendly conversation dude! Chill!) But, all in all, I had a great time and I was actually bummed to leave. I made my goodbyes and thank yous and headed downtown for my next stop...which I've run out of time to write about. ;)

to be continued and stuff

Links For the Funny

2008-11-05T23:50:00.000-06:00

I think NaBloPoMo is an excellent time to find new writers and if you are looking for funny today, I've got a couple of posts you might enjoy.

If you aren't reading Jenny, who has to be the funniest person I've ever met, you should. She is laugh out loud funny, not just lol, but funny enough to type it all out. This is just one of her posts that had me giggling hysterically, but try this and this and this one too. ;) Really, they're all funny, I promise.

Read. Enjoy. ;)

To make this post a little more substantial, here's a photo for your trouble that I took outside my apartment. ;)

I Voted!!

2008-11-04T18:27:00.001-06:00

My left boob is very proud. ;)

I went to my polling place this afternoon after waking up (I was at work last night until 3:30am) and managed to time my arrival just right. Though the women manning the lists told me there had been lines out to the parking lot off and on all day, I was able to walk right in and cast my vote. It's kind of silly, but I was sort of disappointed that my mp3 player, novel, and bottled drink weren't necessary. ;) I'm off to work again for another late night, but I hope everyone had as easy an experience as I did, or at least if you had to wait in line, you were as prepared. ;)

2008-11-03T22:12:00.002-06:00

I know, I know, I've already messed it up. On the second day even. Why? Cause I'm a flipping GENIUS I tell you! *rolling eyes* there will be no naked Mondays this week cause I'm crazy busy, but I still want to tell you about halloween and DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!! (I know, like that's even possible) *rolling eyes again* ;-)

Halloweenie: A Tale of Two Parties Part One

2008-11-01T13:19:00.002-05:00

I had, quite honestly, the best Halloween in recent memory last night. I was invited to an actual costume party near my house. There are photos on my phone of the Ghostbusters, Beer Man, Michael Myers, The Queen of Hearts, and a homeless man, but I can't find the cord that makes posting those gems possible, so maybe later. ;)

In the meantime, here's a photo of my costume, which turned out just as I pictured....

Please ignore the clothes on the floor, I was in a hurry. ;) The stockings were a last minute addition, but they really made the outfit. Anyway, I had two engagements last night, which I will tell you about later, I have to go to work with a vague vodka headache right now, and I wanted to get this entry up for the first day of NaPoBloMo, National Blog Posting Month, 30 posts in 30 days. I did it last year and had fun, let me know if you're playing too, so I can friend you on the site. ;)

What I've Been Up To

2008-10-30T01:54:00.003-05:00

I've been seeing a guy with a dog (a different guy than from before, I sort of didn't mention that, huh?) The dog is adorable, but my cat has been PISSED at me and has done little more than grumble or mew pitifully at me for days. She finally seems to have gotten over it and let me rub her ears tonight. ;)
I ordered groceries from Schnucks' delivery service. We could pretend that I don't have time for grocery shopping, but really, I just hate it and a $5 delivery charge is worth the reduced aggravation. I'm willing to give it a try anyway, consider me your guinea pig. ;)
The holiday season is upon us, bringing with it all the stress, but also all the yummy FOOD! I was skimming my newest issue of Woman's Day (Do you have magazines showing up in your mailbox that you never actually subscribed for? No? Just me?) and tearing out recipes that I have to try and now I'm craving pumpkin cupcakes and turkey pie. NomNomNom
The 2 above points mean that there will probably be extra treats, I'll twitter about anything that needs a home. ;)
I've picked up a couple of new commenters, there is a man from Indonesia with an interesting take on our election. I don't know about you, but I think it's interesting to see what bloggers from other countries think about our government. Check it out if you are so inclined. ;)

Naked Mondays # 31 What Would The Neighbors Think?

2008-10-27T23:41:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, my sister called me with a question. She was putting her affairs in order and making out a will. She asked me if I would be my nephew's guardian in case something happened to her. Not because I was the most logical choice, but because I have a couple of personality traits that make me perfect for the job.

I come from a small town and one of the very CHARMING traits of small town life is the WWTNT disorder or "What Will The Neighbors Think?". I can't count the number of times I heard that question or something to that effect throughout my childhood and I grew to hate the idea of allowing the possibility of what people may think to dictate my actions. (Typical teenager. "But MOOoom!") The difference between then and now is an even stronger sense of self, which includes an independent streak and a deep well of stubbornness. The stubbornness is what comes in handy in this case. As awesome as my parents are, they suffer from WWTNT and in my nephew's situation, that could be troublesome. My sister knows that she can count on me to do what I think is right, not just seek to make everyone happy. Being a stubborn bitch when needed can come in handy. ;) Basically I would fight anyone who stood in my way to keep the little brat safe and happy....

just the way we like him. ;)

Untitled Because It Doesn't Need a Title

2008-10-26T01:28:00.001-05:00

I almost hesitate to write this, but it's funny, sooo I was talking on the phone with my friend, Sarah and we were just chatting about normal stuff, work, my date the night before when suddenly she said:

"I can hear you smiling. Did you do something slutty?"

"Um. Yes."

"Yay, you! You totally deserve it."

And then I died. You can die from blushing, right?

Naked Mondays #30 The One Where I Duck and Cover

2008-10-20T23:58:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was perusing a set of photos on a friend's myspace page and talking on the phone at the same time. The photos were from the night I went bowling with friends, and one of the girls caught me from the side in mid-hurl. (I suck at bowling. I pretty much suck at all sports. They always picked me last and I didn't blame them. Beside the point.)

Me: "Oh my god, is that what I look like?!"

Her: "What?"

Me: "Are my legs really that small? That's what I look like?"

Her: "It's about damn time you noticed!"

I was talking to an Aunt at my recent family reunion and she asked how I got so thin and I told her the truth, that I've had a lot of stress in my life recently and I've been forgetting to eat. "Well, that doesn't sound like something I could do."

"No, I wouldn't recommend it, really."

I put my body type on my match.com profile as about average even though a more accurate description would be slender or too fucking skinny because I still see myself as the self I was 20 pounds ago and even occasionally get startled by a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

When I saw that photo, though, I knew I had to do something.

Me: "I'm going to gain 15 pounds."

Her: "Thank God, you were starting to freak me out."

And this is the part where I want to throw my arms over my head and ask people not to throw anything at my head. I feel bad saying I need to gain weight, like I've broken some sort of sacred woman code, like I should be happy to watch my boobs shrink and my hipbones stick further out. After all, if the fashion magazines that I like to read are to be believed, I've reached some sort of pinnacle of weight to height ratio. That's ridiculous. I learned very young that thin does not equal happy. At this point in my life, I'm just working on maintaining my weight because if I have to buy one more fracking pair of jeans, I'm going to completely lose my shit. ;) This is how my body reacts to stress, which isn't the worst thing, I guess, but it sure is a pain in the ass.

I'm 5' 8" and weigh as of a few minutes ago 125, 5 pounds from my goal. How's that for Naked? ;)

BlogHer asked me to write about Tinker Bell for a promotion they are doing and since I'm a big fan, I happily agreed. You can find my story about looking for fairies in my mother's garden over here.

NO on Prop 8

2008-10-20T16:07:00.003-05:00

You know I don't get political here, I save that for comments and support for others braver than I, but I have to say something about this 'cause I'm hormonal and in tears over Prop 8 in California. My blogging friend, Jason, recently got married to his husband after being together for 14 years. Their happiness was short-lived, however, because of this ridiculous attempt to overturn the rights of same sex couples to get married. If you live in California, and I know that I have a few regular readers there, please, please, please vote NO on Prop 8! Don't let the religious nutjobs win. Ok, rant over, thank you. ;)

The Queen of Spain says it more eloquently than I do. :)

Hesta Pesta

2008-10-19T19:41:00.004-05:00

New neighbors moved into my building about a month ago, and though we had waved at each other, I hadn't met or talked to them though their dog had introduced herself as only a dog can...with a nose in the crotch. ;) I love dogs, but I wasn't exactly thrilled that another dog was moving into the building. The girl who lived in the apartment before them also had a dog, and though she was sweet, she was dumb as hell and barked at me every time she heard me, no matter how long I lived there or how many times we saw each other. That got a little old.
The new puppy, Hesta, is a lab/springer spaniel mix and as soon as she sits still long enough, I'll take her picture. ;) She's already provided me with a couple of funny stories. Saturday, I was going down to the basement to take clothes out of the dryer when her door popped open and out bounded Hesta all "Are we going outside? Cool!" (Why yes, dogs do talk like teenagers. Shuddup.) She ran downstairs and I went after her, expecting one of the girls to yell her name. Apparently they weren't home and Hesta has decided that I am one of her people. So, I let her out to pee, making sure the gates were closed and took my clothes out of the dryer, came back up to the back door and she was sitting there waiting for me to open it. When I did, she bounded up the stairs, waiting for me on the landing before bounding up to our apartments on the top floor. lol We had a moment of confusion when I tried to explain that she had to go into HER home and not mine (I'm sure my cat would LOVE that!) and I made sure her door was latched securely this time.
Then, tonight, I was watching tv and I could hear her whining on the balcony, so I went to investigate and found that she had managed to knock a tennis ball into the rain gutter. Like a giant dork, I climbed over the railing that seperates the balconies and fished the ball out while Hesta watched intently. I've fallen in love with my neighbor's dog. All it took was a doggy grin around a tennis ball that I rescued from the gutter. That is so pathetic. ;)

Funny Photo Friday! 10/17/08

2008-10-17T01:16:00.001-05:00

Hayden tries to squirt me with the hose

Ahhh! I'm Falling! (not really) ;)

Naked Mondays #29 Making Room for More Shoes

2008-10-13T23:50:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while I get a wild hair to move furniture and completely rearrange my apartment. And since doing such makes everything worse before it gets better, my apartment is messier than normal, war zone comes to mind. ;) The vacuum has been running, the cat is traumatized, and my bed is now on the other side of the room. (The same place I put it when I moved into the apartment last summer.*rolling eyes*) Why do I do this? It's like I'm nesting or something, but I've done it countless times since childhood, like if I move this piece of furniture or maybe that one, the room will suddenly seem bigger or flow better. Or maybe I really am just trying to make room for my shoes. ;) Since you saw my kitchen a couple of weeks ago, and I spent all that time arranging and rearranging furniture today, and y'all are nosy, I thought I'd show you what my bedroom looks like.

From the doorway...

From sitting on the bed.....

Most of my heels.....

Flats hanging on the back of my closet door. (It's a teeny tiny closet, which is why I have a clothing rack for dresses and pants.)

I'm still not completely done, there are photos that have been sitting in a box that need to be hung on the wall and two more of those frames for my jewelry. (I'll tell you about those later.) Oh, and the other window needs curtains now that the bed isn't up against it. A few odds and ends though, and I can move on to the living room, I have this really neat idea for the coffee table, but I'm making myself finish cleaning up the mess I made before I do that. My life. Fascinating, isn't it? ;)

The Family Grapevine

2008-10-10T03:44:00.002-05:00

A couple of days ago, my favorite aunt called and because I love her to pieces and she loves me to pieces right back, I answered the phone even though I hate talking on the phone except in rare instances. Anyway, I answered it and let her yell at me for not returning her calls and then I did something incredibly stupid. She asked me what I was so busy doing that I couldn't answer the phone and I lost my mind and told her I'd been dating someone new. Now, you see, that should have been that, but my aunt goes from zero to gossip in 3.4 seconds, so I shouldn't have been surprised to find an email in my inbox from my mother the next morning asking what was going on, and I wasn't but I did laugh for a really long time.

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I get another call with pointed questions, I come from a very nosy people. ;)

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-08T11:59:00.001-05:00

Naked Mondays # 28 Soooo, I Have This Thing For Socks

2008-10-06T23:05:00.000-05:00

I've spent the last few months barefoot or in sandals, but it's time for socks again and pretty, pretty boots.

I have a weakness.

A weakness for bright colored socks, especially knee highs.

A relatively innocent weakness, I know, but a costly one.

Now I've added brightly colored tights to the mix.

I'm totally enamored of these.

So what's a silly thing you buy compulsively? Magazines? Books? CDs? Postcards? Gum? Cheese? This list is only going to get more ridiculous....;)

Funny Photo Friday 10/3/08

2008-10-03T02:16:00.001-05:00

Look, it's Funny Photo Friday again! Join in the fun! Click on the button below and link to your post....

An Update on the Whole Internet Dating Thing

2008-09-30T23:39:00.004-05:00

Ok, I know I haven't been very forthcoming with the whole internet dating thing, but the truth is, there haven't been any crazy stories to tell. The few guys I've gone on dates with have all been perfectly nice, not a weird one in the bunch. Even the guys I've emailed have been nice and interesting. I'm telling you, there are a surprising number of guys in St. Louis looking for dates online, whether they are tired of the bar scene or just shy. I've tried to keep everything friendly until I could wrap my mind around the whole idea of dating someone again. Not because I'm afraid of getting hurt, but because it is just in my nature to sort of step back, observe, weigh and measure until I've figured out what I'd like to have happen. I've been stuck in this holding pattern of being by myself and thinking only of myself for so long, the entire life on this blog, actually. I thought of the whole match.com thing as a lark, I REALLY did not think anything would come of it. REALLY. So, I've been completely blindsided to meet someone I like, who seems to like me back. I won't say any more than that, cause I don't want to jinx it, but I just wanted y'all to know that the whole thing is going well.

I had a date tonight and came home with my head all in the clouds and went to go lay down with a book when it occurred to me that I hadn't seen my cat since I came home. Yes, I locked her out on the balcony, again. le sigh She was not pleased. ;) Here's a photo of her I took a few days ago, wearing one of those buff things they wear on Survivor.

Naked Mondays # 27 Where the Magic Happens

2008-09-29T23:50:00.000-05:00

Heh. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Pervs. (And can someone explain why I always want to spell magic with a J?)

As promised, I'm going to show you my kitchen. Brace yourselves.

My stove...EXCITING! The white counter type thing next to the stove I made myself...which is why it wobbles. I would never make it as a carpenter, basically. ;) Yes, that is a grill pan, which I LOVE. The kitchen doodads, including the magnetic knife thingy, I bought at IKEA, of course. This is my attempt at organization..here's the other.

Spices, salt and pepper shakers, my cute little diner sugar dispenser, and more spoons. SPOOONS!! Yeah...I don't know either. ;)

So, this is why I have to be sort of organized...

Cause these are the only cabinets I have, aaannnnd a sink full of dishes. You do remember THIS post, don't you? Messy. I hate doing dishes. Ugh. But, the point is, there are 2 tiny bits of counter top and that's it. Which would be great if I didn't, you know, cook. So, the wobbly counter bit is born. ;)

Ok, look away from the dishes. Look in my fridge. Come on...stop looking already, geesh!

Fascinating isn't it? Geesh, I should throw out that pizza box. I can see bacon and icing, cream cheese, butter, eggs, cheese, sliced ham, and some left over chicken, which now that I think about it, should be thrown out too. Ok, another angle.

Um, bacon grease, garlic, spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, bbq sauce, catalina dressing, which is a really excellent marinade for chicken....basically I need to go to the grocery store, I'm out of milk and juice and potatoes.

I'm feeling really naked now, I hope you're happy. ;) So share, what's in your fridge? What's your favorite thing in your kitchen? (LOVE that grill pan!)

Apparently I'm a Goth Chick in Disguise

2008-09-27T15:07:00.002-05:00

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret....I love Vampire books, movies too, of course but if there is a vampire book out there I'm not reading, I want to know about it. (Except Anne Rice, because seriously? after living for centuries, you love way too much and feel too much. ick.) I've read all of Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books, even after she went through her nasty divorce and they became basically porn, but most of the books I read are more light-hearted. There's danger and intrigue, but at the heart of them all, they are about the search for the one person that makes you feel alive, even though you're dead. ;)

I read the Twilight books, devoured the story of Edward and Bella, and even though I wanted to smack Bella a few times, I remember what that's like, to be 17 and so certain about the world and your decisions.

If you are looking for more to read, Lynsay Sands has an interesting take on the world of vampires, think Atlantis and nano-technology.

Michelle Bardsley's vampires are descended from fairie and infect an entire town.

Mary Janice Davidson's series is laugh out loud hilarious. Betsy is the reluctant Queen of the vampires with a deep love for shoes that puts mine to shame and the uncanny ability to surround herself with the most interesting people.

And then there's the world of Sookie Stackhouse. If you've been watching True Blood, you are seeing a tiny glimpse into that world. (It's been so hard not to say anything to give away more of the story! SO HARD!) I love Sookie, and I'm still having a hard time with Anna Paquin as this roll, but I think by the end of the 3rd episode she was getting better. Bill is nice to look at, but I can't wait to see who they cast as Eric. Mmmmm, Eric. And Pam, I can't WAIT to see Pam!

I will say that I forgot about this part in the book, but when Bill asked Sookie if he could call on her, I was little more than a puddle on the floor. No one talks like that any more, but they SHOULD! (What am I saying? If a guy said that to me, accent or no, I would probably laugh nervously and wonder what the hell he's getting at. I'm a walking, talking contradiction. lol)

And the SEX! Holy crap! Erm, I forgot about HBO, I've been watching Sex and the City on TBS for way too long. ;) I lent the first book to a friend at work and we were talking about how as a romance reader you sort of stop reading the sex scenes, or least you just skim them. There's only so many times you can read the words thrusting member before it gets old...and sort of boring. So, um, I'm not sure if the sex in the book was quite so graphic, or if it was sexed up for HBO, maybe I'll reread the 2nd book and update this post later. I'm no where near a prude, but damn is every sexual encounter that Jason has really necessary, cuz, um that's gonna be a lot, and it only gets more adventurous from here, the man is a whore.

Anyway, I'm interested and I'll be watching...I'd be interested to know what you thought of Sookie and her world, or any vampire books/series I didn't mention here. ;)

Post not sponsored by HBO

I don't have HBO and they aren't interested in my thoughts (though they should be! email me, HBO!! I'll watch things and talk about them! And free stuff! I really like free stuff!) Heh. Yeah, I'm sure that will work. ;)

Naked Mondays # 26 Six Unremarkable Things

2008-09-22T23:59:00.000-05:00

This is a meme, I was tagged by Sonrie at 1017.

Why, yes, I AM cheating and you will be shutting up now.

1. There will be a new post up today at Photo Bliss authored by little ol' me. I figured out how to put photos in blogger posts without losing your mind.

2. Speaking of photos, I had my hair cut again.

3. Speaking of hair, I color my hair several times a year, lighter in the summer, darker in winter. It's time to make it darker.

4. I also have something interesting in mind if I can find the stuff I need. It's a surprise, you'll have to wait. ;)

5. I use laundry detergent that is dye and fragrance free. If I can remember without going down to the basement, I think it's ALL. (the brand)

6. I ordered some yarn to make a baby hat and booties for a girl at work. She's having a boy. She almost cried when I asked if that was ok, but I just have to have someone in mind when I knit, I don't know why.

Rules for this meme are simple, link to the person who tagged you, list your 6 things and link to 6 people. Not sure if all of these people will play along, but what the hell...

Roseyland

Mocha Momma becuz she's on a hiatus, but she might want something mindless to do

Kendra of A Thousand Words

Heather of Desperately Seeking Sanity

Jason of The Jason Show

Whitney of The Ugly Green Chair

Funny Photo Friday! 9/19/08

2008-09-19T16:35:00.003-05:00

We are starting something new at our channel of Blissfully Domestic, Photo Bliss. Every Friday, there will be a funny photo and a call for participation. Post a funny photo on your own blog and link that post to the post on Photo Bliss. Every week, someone will win a prize! Instructions and buttons are here and have fun!

Here's mine this week from Tuesday night bowling with friends (I think you're supposed to pick one, but I've never been one to follow the rules):

True Love

Is it Over?

You, my friend, are an ASS!

Update!! Hmm, looking at the comments, maybe I should explain? Just before leaving the bowling alley, C asked Dan if she could bowl between his legs. Considering she had already accidently hit him with her purse, I can't really blame him for being a little...cautious. ;) The 2nd photo is right after and you can almost see the relief. The 3rd photo is me, my friend caught me making a face at Dan. I'm sure he made some smart ass comment. ;) We're all a bunch of goofballs, which is why we get along so well. ;)

It's Because I Talk About Being Naked All the Time, Isn't It?

2008-09-18T02:54:00.004-05:00

I made a little trip to the east side (Illinois for all of those following along at home) Tuesday night to meet some friends for dinner and trade cars with my parents who were about to go on a trip and needed their minivan back. After crossing the Mississippi into Illinois you have to pick a highway to follow, either I64 or I55/I70. Since my normal route to Edwardsville, IL to hang out with friends means I take the I55/I70 way, I wasn't paying as close of attention as I should have and automatically went that way, even though I needed to take I64 to Fairview Heights. (I know this is terribly boring, but there is a point to this, I promise.) Realizing immediately that I was going the wrong direction, I got off the highway at the next available exit and followed signs to get me to the right highway...which of course took me through East St. Louis (duh duh duuuuh!). Now, I'm not scerred and, frankly, I've spent time hanging out in East St. Louis back when I was living with a photographer who paid the bills working at the Casino Queen, but this was a detour I'll never forget cause what I saw there will be burned into my mind for all time and not in a good way. I was coming up on a stop sign and I could see the truck in front of me swerve to avoid hitting what looked like a woman running down the middle of the road. I was of course concerned until I got a little closer and could see her more clearly...."Oh my god, is she NAKED?!" Yep. Wearing shoes and a bright white bra and NOTHING else!! Other than making sure I didn't hit her I tried very hard not to see anything else because OH MY GOD THERE IS A NAKED WOMAN RUNNING!! RUNNING DOWN THE ROAD AND SHE IS NAKED!! AND WHAT I CAN SEE IS JIGGLING ABOUT AND MY EYES!! I have no idea what she was doing or why she was naked and I DON'T WANT TO KNOW. Whew! But Then!!!
Last night at work, a girl walked up the cash counter and asked for an application. This is a regular occurance, and I thought nothing of it until I realized that though I thought she was wearing a tube top over jeans or some other bottoms, she was in fact wearing a tube top as a dress and her bare ass cheeks were hanging out the bottom. Yes. she. DID! I watched in horror as she walked out of the store and hitched up the toddler on her hip at which point I saw entirely too much of her anatomy. I'm telling you, I'm scarred for life. FOR LIFE. She couldn't feel a draft? Did she just forget about pants, or you know, underwear? REALLY? AND THEN YOU ASK FOR AN APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT? I've seen everything now and it just boggles the mind, seriously.

Naked Mondays # 25 Matchmaker, Matchmaker

2008-09-15T23:49:00.000-05:00

I still like the kitchen idea and was going to write about it this week, but something sort of fell into my lap.

You may remember that I talked about deciding to date again when I got back from San Francisco. Well, one night when I was sitting in front of the computer unable to sleep, I decided to be a little more proactive than asking my work friends if they have any available brothers and signed up for Match.com. And then, of course my browser froze halfway through writing my profile. Ugh! Talking about myself! So hard!! Wait.. ;)

Sooo, I forgot about it for awhile and then I went out with my friend J Saturday night to a local bar and whew! The pickins' they are slim!! Ok, there was one cute guy but then when I was walking out to my car he said something really inappropriate about a part of my anatomy that I won't be repeating here. And, really, it's not like I'm that picky, attraction and some mutual interests, that's it. I'm not a high maintenance kind of girl and I don't like the high maintenance Abercrombie sort of guy. So, yeah, I was sort of disappointed in my options. And I decided to give Match a real try, thinking, frankly, that little would come of it. I finished the profile and uploaded a picture before going to bed last night.

And then when I logged on to Hotmail today, I had 4 emails. Wha? Then, of course, I panic, because Ahhh! what am I supposed to do with THIS!? A couple of guys I found interesting and emailed them back, now we just wait to see what happens. Fascinating, isn't it? ;)

My biggest problem is I'm not sure what the etiquette is here, do you email back everyone who contacts you, or just the ones you are interested in from looking at their profile? And then, how do you choose which profiles to be interested in? I mean, I'm the girl who dated the guy who didn't know he was gay and who's last boyfriend wanted to get married then panicked and is now dating a 22 year old because there's no future in it!! I really know how to pick em, is what I'm saying. ;) (hmm, may have forgotten to tell you about that one)

I did put on the profile that I write on the internet, though not where, but, really, if they're interested I won't be hard to find. I did want them to know that up front, because though I won't be talking any specifics here, I'm sure there will be plenty of blog fodder to be had and I wouldn't want anyone to be blindsided if I mention our date. ;) I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about cuz dating is a crap shoot, and sure to be humorous where I'm concerned. Stay tuned to watch the drama unfold!! lol

A couple of small things before I wrap this up...my other best friend, Sarah, got a big promotion tonight, I just wanted to congratulate her....and please join me this weekend here, the St. Louis Interactive Conference. The St. Louis Bloggers Guild put this together and I'm really excited. If you are a St. Louis blogger or just a local music lover, please come. It's $15 for the whole event and should be tons of fun!

I've been Blissful, but Domestic? Updated!!

2008-09-12T02:34:00.001-05:00

If you read my post last Friday, you may remember that I said I will be writing for the lovely ladies at Blissfully Domestic (and, really, I still can't type that without snorting). The site had been up and running all week and I've been meaning to write a post here pimping the site and me writing there because I have had a chance to check out not only some of the other women on the photography channel, Photo Bliss, but all the other women who write there and all the truly interesting ideas I've run across (including a truly amazing-looking sugar cookie recipe that I'm dying to try...well hell, at least I SOUND domestic) but I guess I was afraid to say anything for sure until there was something that I could point to and say, "See, I wrote that!", because, you know, what if they changed their mind or decided to vote me off the island or something because my photos weren't as nice as theirs and then it was all oy, the humanity, I'm inadequate!! (And Hello run-on sentence!! Say all that without taking a breath, why don't ya!!) Neurotic much? ((rolling my eyes))

But!! And then!! There was an email in my box tonight from Lotus of Sarcastic Mom saying that one of my posts was going live tomorrow (today, since it's 2am!!)and since Lotus wouldn't lie to me (you wouldn't do that, would you, Lotus? No, she wouldn't.), I'm now letting YOU know so that you can take your happy ass over there and read it. And then bookmark our channel Photo Bliss, cuz I have and I'm already learning tons of things I didn't know. When the post goes live, I'll add a link here, but until then, you can check out our channel by clicking on the button below.

From now on, I'll put the links to my posts in the side bar with the buttons and pimp it up on twitter. Things here on the blog should go back to normal soon and there's still time to suggest a post for Naked Mondays, I'd like to have a pool of ideas to choose from! So don't be shy, but don't be a perv, k? ;)

Just for fun, here's a photo I took in my front yard of some mushrooms that we get every year.

The post went live this afternoon....you can find it here:
http://blissfullydomestic.com/photo-bliss/photographs-can-tell-your-story/

Craig Ferguson on the Late Late Show

2008-09-11T00:27:00.004-05:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this guy. Not kidding. In fact, is he single? Anyone know? Watch this and then share in my massive crush.

Naked Mondays # 24 Please Halp.....

2008-09-08T23:45:00.001-05:00

I skipped Naked Mondays last week and I'm sitting here in front of my computer and. I've. got. NOTHIN'!! Please Halp!! Suggestions are appreciated, nothing dirty of course, just you know, naked figuratively. Read the past posts and leave a suggestion in the comments. And YOU! Yes, you, the lurkers! Feel free to chime in here!! Help a girl get Naked, people!! ;)

Yeah. I Don't Know Either.

2008-09-06T03:42:00.006-05:00

Well...ok, I'd like to say that I've been terribly busy this past week and just didn't have time to write...but, yeah, that would be a lie. I'd like to say that I had writer's block, but no, that wasn't it either. The truth? I was thinking. Sometimes that just happens. I sort of step away for a bit a just think things over. Sometimes it helps...and sometimes it doesn't. Not sure yet if it did.

I do have some news. My best friend Dan is on his way here from Afghanistan as I type this and I am greatly looking forward to giving him a great big hug.

I am again with wheels. I am temporarily driving my mom's minivan (and, wow, do I look like a soccer mom, it's hilarious) while my parents work out the legalities of me buying my grandma's car from her. (She had a stroke a couple of years ago and can't drive anymore.)Believe me, I'm mentally kissing the fucking bus goodbye and good riddance.

The website I mentioned that I would be writing for is on a little button to the left. They are still working out some bugs still, so I won't be talking about it until next week, which I think is going to be our official launch. More details coming soon. ;)

Um, I think there was something else, but I'll leave you with a photo or two I took in San Francisco. (Now I remember, all of the photos from my trip have finally been uploaded to flickr.)

Whoa! Where Did The Week Go?

2008-08-30T03:20:00.001-05:00

There were posts...here..somewhere. I'm sure of it! No Fashion Forward Fridays this week. ;( What I had planned didn't work out and I volunteered/was asked to write some stuff for the lovely ladies at Blissfully Domestic. (Don't worry, it's about photography, the idea of me and the words "blissfully domestic" together cracks me up, you have no idea.) I'll let you know when that happens, they are planning a big relaunch soon. (I also promise that I won't fill my posts with "go here, I'm over here".K?) I'm excited, though, it's a new adventure and I DO hope that you'll check it out, you might find some other people you like. (We already know you like ME!)

Another thing happening this weekend is that I volunteered for Her Bad Mother's Bitchfest, which is a sort of blog post exchange over the holiday weekend so that some bloggers can get anything they might be feeling off their chest in an anonymous way. I knew y'all would be supportive, so I told Catherine I would be happy to host someone here. Her post should be up sometime this weekend, I'll twitter when it's ready.

Lastly, I hope everyone has a nice long weekend, this last official weekend of summer! I'm going to visit family for a family reunion, going to snuggle a baby and harass my nephew with a camera. (I may be coming back home with a car! Not sure yet, fingers crossed! I'm sure everyone will be relieved that I'll stop bitching about the bus.)

I'll leave you with some of the photos I uploaded this week from San Francisco:

Naked Mondays # 23: Where I Would Be If...

2008-08-25T23:25:00.001-05:00

I went to a community college near my hometown. I graduated with an Associates Degree and was supposed to go to Eastern Illinois University. I can't remember what happened exactly, though if I had to guess, I would say that there was a paper I forgot to fill out, I'm notorious for that sort of thing, but I couldn't go to Eastern, because their education program was full and I would have to wait a semester before I could go. My mom was not at all thrilled and she said that I was going to Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. I can point to that one decision for changing the course of my life. I can tell you where I would be now if I had waited the semester and gone to Eastern. I would probably be married to my high school sweetheart, the first great love of my life. I would also be absolutely. fucking. MISERABLE. I would already be a teacher for 6 years, but I would probably be contemplating divorce and have children. I would have the life I thought I wanted but I would be unhappy. I was already unhappy and dissatisfied with my choices, I just didn't know it yet. If I had stayed at Eastern, I would have never met my 2 best friends, Dan and Sarah, or my second great love, J. I wouldn't be the same person I am today. I wouldn't have had any reason to explore myself and discover my love for fashion or photography. I would still be the girl who had never had her own room or her own apartment. I would have never lived, not really. One choice and it completely changed the direction of my life. Thank God.

(And, thank you, R, for breaking up with me and allowing me to be free to discover myself and what I want out of my life. I'm still figuring that out but I'm also honestly enjoying the journey. I don't regret either our relationship or it's end.)

Can you point to any one decision, either one you made or one that was made for you that changed the course of your life? Share in the comments!

Fashion Forward Fridays: Online Shopping

2008-08-23T01:18:00.003-05:00

I had this post planned, but didn't have time to write it before going to work and then realized at 1am, that oops! I still hadn't written it. I have two things for you today. A really awesome site for shoe searching and a fashion poll.

First up, shopstyle.com

Oh my shopping god! How did I not know about this?! And if you knew, why didn't you tell me?!

EASIEST WAY TO SEARCH FOR SHOES ON THE INTERNETS EVAH!!!!!

go to the site. Go on. Well, wait I have to tell you about it first. WAIT!! Whew!! Ok. The above link will take you to the main page. Now, if you are a boot junkie like I am, hover over shoes and scroll down to boots. Now click. You now have 441 some odd pages of boots. But, lets say you have a budget and you can only spend $150 or less on your next fabulous pair. On the left side you'll see refine by and several options. Click on price. Now click on 0-$25, $25-$50, AND, $50-$150. Click ok. Now you should have about 205 pages. This site gives you all the best items from all your favorite places; piperlime, target, zappos, dillard's, nordstroms, and many , many more! If you hover over a shoe you like, it will give you some details from the outside source, sizes available, and get this! It will even allow you to set a sale alert. The site will send you an email when the price goes down!! I am in love. Another thing I really like is how it scrolls between pages, you don't have to click through pages, just hit the right arrow on your keyboard and it scrolls across. Once you set the search parameters, you don't have to leave the page until you find that perfect item. If you click on an item, it takes you the original site. I've only looked so far, not ready to buy yet, and I haven't looked at anything besides shoes, but it was enough. shopstyle.com sits very prominently in my bookmarks. Go check it out!!

Next! I have a question. I don't know if you remember when I said that I lost a ton of weight over the past year and a half or so. Well , I did. And now I'm left with all the pants that haven't fit since last fall. I kept them in the top of my closet, thinking that I would gain most of the weight back, but I haven't. It's stayed off for more than 8 months now and I need to decide what to do with all of them. Do I pack them away in the basement storage room just in case or do I give them away? Opinions? Take the poll in the left sidebar, please. Thank you !!
(In case you are curious, I have 12's, 13's, and 14's in the pile.)

It's Tough Being Bri. I Don't Know How People Do It.

2008-08-22T02:31:00.002-05:00

Updated below!

(Title is ~~stolen from~~ inspired by something Heather B. said and I think Susan quoted. It's been stuck in my head ever since.)

You may remember my previous rant about this, what I haven't told you is that it happened again...and again...and again. Over and over and over....

It's enough to make anyone lose their shit, seriously. One night, while waiting at the bus stop with a friend from work, a guy on a motorcycle went by THREE TIMES to look me over. At the BUS STOP with OTHER PEOPLE STANDING ABOUT!! Luckily, he didn't say anything, because I've lost all patience with this nonsense and...well, hold on, we'll get to that. My work friend asked me what I was so upset about and so I told her that when I am out walking about, guys assume I'm a hooker and I don't understand why or what to do about it! She looked at me and shook her head sadly, "Oh, sweetie, it's cuz you're white." Wha? "In the city, the only white women walking are hookers or crackheads" "Well that's. just. great!" Wait!! It gets better!!

On another night, we were both standing at the same bus stop again, but near the corner so we could watch for our separate buses. I had my back to traffic and we were talking about something when she said, "Uh, oh. Here we go again." "Don't tell me, they're checking me out" "Uh, huh." And then I heard it. "Hey, baby, need a ride?" Fuck. Boy, were they surprised when I whipped around and said, "NO, I DON'T need a RIDE!!" And then, of course, the guy in the passenger seat tossed out, "Well it's looks like you need a ride since you're waiting for the bus!!" Brilliant come back, buddy. As the light turned green, and they started to pull away, though, my friend had a much better one, "She doesn't need a ride from your ugly ass in the PASSENGER SEAT!!"** I laughed so hard, I was crying. Wait!! It still gets better!!

A couple of nights ago, I was waiting at the bus stop alone and in the 45 minutes I had to sit there, one guy honked at me, another stopped WAY before the intersection so that he could leer at me, another guy walking on the opposite side of the street made kissy noises at me and then not one, but two cars pulled over to the curb where I was sitting, on a bench, in the inclosure that was clearly a bus stop. The first one was a little car with 2 hispanic guys in it. They pulled right up to the curb, stared at me and then HONKED THE HORN!!! Yeah. I was talking on my cell phone, but paused long enough to tell them that I was waiting for a bus and made the shoo motion with my hand, then as they pulled away I shouted, "BY THE WAY I'M NOT A FUCKING WHORE!!!" At this point, I'm thinking, please, enough, I can't take much more of this. But no, the second vehicle, a truck this time pulled up, once again, right to the curb and the hispanic guy inside grinned at me. Once again, I had to tell him I'm waiting for the bus and he grinned some more and chirped, "Ok!" (Yes, chirped.) Yeah, yeah, yeah, go away!! I could tell you more, but really, the whole thing is exhausting and I can't get a car fast enough. Really. My life, ladies and gentlemen. I couldn't make this shit up. ((le sigh))

**Remember that song "No Scrubs" by TLC? I totally get that song now! It's always the asshole in the passenger seat with the worst nonsense to say.

Update: It doesn't seem to have anything to do with me, it doesn't matter what I'm wearing, it just seems to have to do with the part of the city I live in. I look around and see a great mix of people, but maybe I'm the only one, I don't know. There's just something about alone+white+female in my part of the city that says hooker to those that patron that sort of thing. My mom told me a few days ago that I'll be able to borrow a family car soon, so my public transportation days are numbered.

Fajita Chicken Roll-ups (or how I fed myself today)

2008-08-20T22:47:00.001-05:00

I was going to go out for dinner. I didn't really feel like cooking and I would have to thaw something out, blah blah blah LAZY! But, then I remembered the cans of crescent roll dough in the fridge and thought, "What can I wrap that around that would taste good?" Mmmm, chicken! Just like that, Fajita Chicken Wraps are born! I knew it could be horrible, but I photographed everything anyway and intended to blog whatever happened. Just my luck, they tasted good, huh? First, as PW always does, the cast of characters:

Ortega taco sauce (which I decided to just use after cooking if it needed a kick), pepper, salt, fajita seasoning packet, olive oil (which I keep in squeeze bottles, an idea I saw on the food network), shredded cheese, crescent roll dough, and chicken(I buy meat in bulk and divide into individual freezer bags for meals)

Start with your chicken: I just turned the burner on medium and squirted out enough oil to keep the chicken from sticking.

Brown your chicken(whatever you have),and season with salt and pepper.

When the chicken is cooked through, lower the heat and tear apart with a fork.

Add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan and sprinkle the fajita seasoning in(I used about a 1/3 of the packet, the packet is enough for 1 pound of chicken) Stir until the seasoning is dissolved and simmer until it thickens to a sauce. Turn off heat.

Open the can of dough and unroll. Tear off a triangle.

Place a bite or two of chicken and a pinch of shredded cheese in each one and roll up.

Like this. If I had had some veggies, peppers and onions, I would have used them, being careful to cook the veggies down to get as much water out as possible. But, this was a spur of the moment dish and this is what I had.

When you have them all rolled up, arrange in a greased baking dish and sprinkle some more cheese. (If you use a full pound of chicken, you'll need 2 cans of crescent rolls and a 9x13 baking dish.) Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until the crescents are golden brown. Mine took about 20 minutes.

Almost done

Yum!! Served with some canned sweet corn and a smidge of tace sauce that I didn't even need. These little babies were super easy and would make good party food I think. Once they cooled some, I could pick them up and eat them like a homemade hot pocket. lol Makes me feel all domestic!

Now I'm thinking all kinds of things that would be good in there; bacon, bbq pork, pepperoni...the possibilities are endless!

My Unhealthy Addition to a Facebook Application

2008-08-19T14:55:00.000-05:00

I hate Facebook. As social media goes, it's not very...social. But you have to have a profile for all those people who hate Myspace and wouldn't know a blog if it smacked them in the face. (And can someone explain to me why a person from high school that you never talked to IN high school or since would seek you out and friend you? I have no idea either.) I hate all the notifications and applications and the superpokes and the zombie requests.....shoot me now. BUT. (You knew there was a but coming, didn't you?) I am addicted to the Pieces of Flair application. It's a real time suck and I'll spend ~~hours~~ quite some time looking at silly buttons and sending them on to unsuspecting friends. Here are some of my favorites:

Naked Mondays # 22: My Best Friend Dan

2008-08-18T23:06:00.001-05:00

This is Dan. He is currently in Afghanistan. He's deployed with the Army to...do

something, I'm sure. (He told me about it but there were acronyms involved and I can never remember that shit.) He's also a giant pain in the ass. By giant, I mean he's really tall. And by pain in the ass I mean...he's a pain in the ass. A lovable ass, but still....

You may be wondering right now what Dan has to do with Naked Mondays. That is a very good question and here's the answer. I don't talk about relationships, but I had a wild hair last week and decided to start. The Naked part comes in when you consider HOW we became best friends.

Dan and I dated for a bit. Well, ok, we started out with a friends with benefits arrangement and when he pushed for more, I went along with it rather than run the other direction, which is my normal M.O. He was home from basic training and spent most of his weekends holed up with me in my apartment where he marveled at my ability to wander around naked without a care. (Heh. I'm like Redneck Mommy in that.) I was surprised. I mean he lived with a girl for a few months. I'm not alone there, right? Help me out ladies! When we weren't making fun of each other, we went to the zoo and drove to his hometown of Chicago for the weekend. (He only complained a little when I conned him into spending an afternoon at IKEA.)

But. Anyway, it didn't take long before I realized I had made a mistake and we were better off as friends. Lucky for me, he agreed and after a little time for adjustment and getting drunk together at his brother's wedding, we've been best friends ever since. I can tell this guy ANYTHING, and pretty much have. He's seen me at my absolute worst, held my hand while I ugly cried, and even took care of me when I was sick. I helped him build up his confidence after it had been smothered by a girl, held his hand as he struggled with big decisions and told him point blank when he was being an ass. He's my best friend. The ass.

He would want me to tell you that he's quite the lady's man, but he's married to the love of his life and it tickles me to see him so happy. He would also want you to know that he's proud of the work he is doing, but he's really looking forward to being home again. He'll be home next month sometime for mid-tour leave and I can't wait to see him safe, at least for a little while.

So there I am, Naked. Well, at least my relationships are laid out for the internets to see. ;)

Fashion Forward Fridays: What's in Your Closet?

2008-08-15T00:54:00.000-05:00

(updated below!)

If you've read this blog for any amount of time you know that I, uh, really like clothes. Since we talked about pieces for a Fall wardrobe, I've been thinking about pieces that stay in my closet season to season. These wardrobe staples are versatile and stylish, but not trendy, so they can hang around for a while without making you look like a fashion no-no. Let's do this in list form, shall we?

1. Jeans

Jeans are a very important part of every man's and woman's wardrobe. They can be trendy, but I think the most important thing is to buy jeans that make you look good and that fit comfortably, especially on the bum. :) I don't believe in spending a ton of money here because I still haven't found a $100 pair that fits any better on my bottom than a $20-$30 pair. I'm willing to be wrong here, but if I'm going to spend that kind of cash on one article of clothing, there had better be fairy dust included, that's all I'm saying. (or a pair of shoes)

2. T-Shirts

No cartoon characters or pithy sayings, just plain, fitted, and flattering in a variety of colors. This is one of the items that you should buy multiples of when you find one that works. (I do have plenty of "fun" t-shirts and concert t's, but a plain fitted shirt can be used a business casual environment over slacks, under a blazer or paired with a cute skirt for dinner.)

3. Camis/Tanks

Styles, shapes and colors abound in this little item. Under a jacket or sweater, layered over a skirt, or just paired with jeans to get your dance on, it's my philosophy that you can't have too many, and my closet reflects that. ;) They can be plain, ribbed, edged with lace or sheer. A cute little jacket, jeans, and a bright cami or tank peaking out is a no-fail outfit.

4. LBD

Last, but certainly not least is the little black dress. Being a little obsessive, I, ahem, have several that can be used for many occasions, but every woman should have one black dress in her closet that makes here feel like a million bucks. Finding that baby can be a chore, but when you do, special occasions are covered year round. ;)

5. Cardigans/Light jackets

(updated to add these, which Patrice reminded me about) Of course, how could I forget cardis?! I have tons that I wear year round, because I am one of those people who gets cold easily. I have tons of cardis, in various colors, styles and lengths. Thick, thin, argyle, loose knit, dressy, sporty, every day, bright colors, pastels, and of course lot and lots of black. As Ali mentioned in the comments, a cardigan can take a summer dress into a fall outfit. Or it can take a dress that is a little...ahem, racy and make it demure.

What do you have in your closet that doesn't get rotated when the seasons change? Have I forgotten any?

disclaimer: I in no way consider myself to be a fashion expert in any way, shape, or form. Please take this post as it was intended, sharing with the interwebs only. Thanks. ;)

There is something seriously wrong with you

2008-08-13T20:46:00.003-05:00

I dated a guy a few years ago that I'm pretty sure was gay. He didn't know and I didn't want to think about it, becuz by date, I mean that we had a friends with benefits arrangement. Those things never work, eventually someone becomes dissatisfied with the status quo, though that person has never been me. (for my next Naked Monday, I'll tell you about the ONLY time one of those arrangements fell apart on me, but worked out better in the end than it should have) Anyway, he decided he wanted to be my boyfriend and I decided we needed to break it off. Now, of course, I realize that I probably dated him BECAUSE I suspected he was gay. Healthy, I know. ;)
Oh well, live and learn, right? This is an excerpt from a conversation with a friend about the situation last night.

Her: I TOLD you he was gay, you just got mad at me.

Me: Well, when you're sleeping with a guy, the last thing you want to hear is that he's gay!

Her: True.

Me: Thank god he decided he wanted to be my boyfriend so that I could break it off with him, otherwise I might have stayed with him even longer.

Her: Yeah, because it's perfectly ok to have sex with a guy that might be gay, but you can't very well DATE him!

Me: Exactly.

Her: There is something seriously wrong with you.

A Real Life LOLcat!!!

2008-08-13T00:05:00.002-05:00

I forgot I had this pic until I left a comment on Regan's blog about seeing it in San Francisco and she emailed me asking if I had a photo. OF COURSE I have a photo what kind of blogger would I be if there was no photo?! So here it is, ladies and gentlemen, an LOLcat found on the side of a building in San Francisco.

Naked Mondays # 21: The Ugly Truth

2008-08-11T23:54:00.000-05:00

I have a Naked Monday for you today, that I have to admit, may scare some of you. The ugly truth...is that I'm a slob. I'll admit it. I am incredibly absent minded and the more stressed I get, the messier my apartment gets. I've been pretty stressed lately. The totaled car, school starting up again, my big trip, a change in regime at work, and waiting for a new job to start has put me on edge lately and my home suffers for it. Prepare yourself, people, here is my living room.

This was taken tonight, from the vantage point of my kitchen. What you can't see to the right is the door that leads downstairs and out, to the left is the TV. That's my couch that my best friend, Dan gave me when he joined the Army. It has a slipcover to protect it from my cat, the rest of it is the ugly blue plaid of those cushions. I've always intended to make some slipcovers for the cushions to match the curtains, but haven't gotten around to it. The curtains in the background are from IKEA. I love them and would like to paint the walls the same color as the blue stripe, the bright colors and modern print make me happy. The coffee table in front is also from IKEA. The top is decoupaged with a world map, an idea I saw on the internet somewhere. The coffee table is covered in various papers, and most of my jewelry that never made it back to the bedroom after my trip. That's my laptop on the couch, which should be on the little desk right behind it, but the only chair that I have that works with the desk is quite hard and all the time I spend with the interwebs makes it too hard on the bum. ;) I can see the phone book I was using earlier, a couple of magazines, some books and the chocolate I bought in Ghirardelli Square. Under the throw blanket on the couch are some more books, yarn and probably some mail that should be opened. Scared yet? ;) I'm off work the next two days, maybe I'll have the energy to tackle this mess...or maybe not. ;) So, here's my question for you this week....are you a neat freak? A slob? Or somewhere in between?

Fashion Forward Fridays: Fall Shoe Trends

2008-08-08T23:10:00.001-05:00

Did a little online shopping tonight and I'm bringing you some of my favorites. Men's wear and vintage feel seem to influence what I'm seeing so far and I must say, I LIKE! I picked up these little lovelies at Payless last week, they look great with the shirt dress from last week's Naked Monday post. Green Mary Janes with a stacked heel. Makes me want to dance to big band music. :) LOVE them! I love clothing inspired by 40's and 50's style. Red lipstick, full skirts and tailored shoes.

American Eagle Latte Mary Janes

If heels scare the bejesus out of you, try these fun flats. I don't think you have to worry about horizontal stripes on your feet, do you?

American Eagle Culprit Stripe (hee. reminds me of San Francisco!)

One more from Payless, the Men's wear inspired ankle boots. I'm in love with the button detail.

Madison Button Ankle Boot

Target has some great styles in too....

Xhilaration Sydney Mary Jane Pumps

I love these sweet turquoise pumps, which my neighborhood store was of course out of when I saw them. Well, they had 6's and 9's, but that doesn't do me any good. ;) If turquoise is a bit much for you, they come in a range of colors, including black and brown.

Mossimo Velda Patent Oxford Pumps (in Red!!)

One more, a pair of flats for you no heel wearing girls or guys, hell, what ever makes you happy.

Merona Micaela Moccasins

Cute, huh? Target and Payless are my go-to places for fashionable shoes that I can afford. I have a Carrie appetite on a Payless budget, which is how I've collected so many options in footwear. ;) So, which are your favorites? And what trend are you digging this fall?

Note: You can click on any of the pictures and it will take you to the site I found them on.

My Very First Troll

2008-08-06T12:16:00.001-05:00

I've had a couple of BlogHer posts in my draft file for days now but I can't seem to get anywhere with them, so I'm going to a share a little self-contained story with you from that weekend. The Shutter Sisters sponsored a photo walk after the Photography session and I went, hoping to see a little more of this city that I was visiting. I spotted a few people I knew in the crowd, Bossy and Y among them, but most of the women were strangers to me. We split into groups and descended on the city like a flock of very strange looking birds, cameras attached to our faces. My group voted to head for Chinatown and we wandered, shooting as we walked, though it wasn't long before I lost most of the group. I found myself wandering with two lovely women that I'd never met before, Megan and Jennifer, and we decided to head downhill to the financial district and then back up to Union Square. We were having a great time snapping away when we came upon a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk. He asked us to take his photo and though we weren't supposed to take pictures of people for the photo walk, it seemed easier to take a quick photo to make him happy than to argue and explain what we were doing. (The purpose of the photo walk was to compile a collection of photos to be used later in a book. Without a photo release from the man, we couldn't submit his photo for the book.) The three of us took his photo and started to walk on when another man passed us by on the sidewalk and almost immediately started yelling at us for taking advantage of a homeless man, taking his photo without paying him, then proceeded to very loudly call us any number of foul names, including worthless whores and tramps. I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly used to hostility from complete strangers, but after the initial shock I got really angry and informed the loud-mouthed moron that the man had asked us to take his picture and I was hardly going to worry about what some idiot carrying a boom box (!) thought of me. (Ok, I said the first part, not the second, but I did say it after he stomped off.) We kept walking and after about half a block I turned to Megan and Jennifer and said, "Hey guys. You know what just happened? We just got trolled! In person!" So, now, every time a troll bothers you on the internet, just picture a badly dressed, psychotic homeless man carrying a boom box on his shoulder ala 1984, and remember, his opinion doesn't matter. ;)

He made us wait for him to put on the hat and sunglasses, then posed before he asked us to go ahead and shoot.

Vote!!!!! : Where should BlogHer 09 be held (July 17-19, 2009)

2008-08-05T20:03:00.003-05:00

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My Blogroll

2008-08-04T17:57:00.005-05:00

I think I gave myself carpal tunnel with all the copying and pasting, but I now have a blogroll, which you can find on the left side of your screen. I visit all of these blogs and I also decided today to do away with my reader, because the blue number at the top of the screen telling me how many posts still needed to be read was stressing me out and making me feel guilty. (Neurotic much?) So, I put all of the links in my browser bookmarks and will visit everyone, but I won't know how much I'm missing if I get really busy and am away for a couple of days. (Saving my sanity is important here, is what I'm saying.) Please visit any blogs you aren't familiar with, and I will be adding more as I go through my BlogHer business cards. (Yes, I'm still not done with that, shuddup!)

Up next is a About me section for all the new visitors. (Regular readers! any suggestions for that?! I have more trouble describing myself than I do describing my blog!)

Also! If I've forgotten anyone for any reason, or you'd like to be added, please let me know and I will!

The True Test for a Mascara

2008-08-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

I was channel surfing a couple of days ago, and I saw a commercial for a new mascara. Now, usually, I snicker at the claims, (Curl activating! No clumps! Won't smudge! Lifts and Separates! Er, wait.) but I was intrigued by this idea. Mascara made with natural ingredients. Hmmm, ok, I'll give it a shot. So, I went to my neighborhood Target and picked one up.

Something you should understand up front is that I wear mascara every day. Other than some concealer and the occasional lip gloss, it's the only thing I put on my face. My requirements for a good mascara: stays put when my allergy eyes act up, doesn't irritate my contacts, will stay put all day, yet come off when I ask nicely, and inexpensive. (I spend my money on books and clothes, not makeup.) I can usually get one or two of those, but never all of them. So, I'm willing to give a new product a try, but I'm pretty skeptical to their claims, especially if there are "sciency" words involved that make little to no sense.

Intrigued? I bought Loreal Bare Naturale Mascara.

The verdict? Awesome! I expected it to be a nice color and I even thought it would leave my lashes soft and natural feeling, but I was sure I would be wearing it on my cheekbones by the end of the day, if it didn't rub off altogether. I was wrong.

I put it on this morning at 9:30am when I got to work. (I slept late and didn't have time for much of anything this morning.) What sort of test did it pass? My allergies were acting up something fierce, I had itchy eyes and throat all day. I had 2 hormone-induced crying jags, and it was so hot, at one point I was afraid my shoes would melt. Let's just say that there was a lot of sweating and leave it at that, shall we? When I finally got home at 8pm, (yes, 12 hours after I left), it was still there and where I left it. Touching my lashes, I can hardly tell it's there, and it only cost me $7.99. All requirements met, can't beat that. So, here's what I say....if you like the natural makeup look, this one is for you. It's my new favorite for every day wear. No kidding.

This is my first attempt at Fashion Friday, what do you think? I'm also cross posting this at BlogHer's BeautyHacks. Every day women, talking about their favorite products and tips, the brain child of the lovely Susan, who I had the delight to meet at Blogher '08.

Blogher: The Hostel

2008-08-01T20:24:00.000-05:00

I wrote this on the bus a couple of days ago, I thought you might be interested in how the hostel worked.

Day two of my adventure dawned and the first thing I had to navigate is how to shower at the hostel. Each floor had 2 toilets and 2 showers in its own little room. Each shared, dorm style room had 2 sets of bunk beds, a sink, a mirror, and a set of 4 lockers. I bought a padlock at the front desk when I first got there and kept the camera and all my makeup and jewelry in there, the things I was most worried about getting up and walking away. I kept shoes and non-essentials under my bunk. (I was assigned a bottom and I'm 12, cause that made me laugh) The shower had plenty of hot water and water pressure, was easy to operate, and there were hooks on the wall for towels and clean clothes. The hostel provided a towel and clean bedding,(I'm pretty sure I recognized the duvet cover from IKEA), but I also brought a beach towel and I'm glad I did cause the one they gave me was on the small side. I've been camping before at a lake campground where you walk to the bathroom and shower building. This wasn't much different, though more private. That first morning, I brought clean clothes to change into, but it was so wet in there, I just brought clean underwear and wrapped myself in a towel for the walk down the hall. When in Rome and all that. Breakfast at the hostel was free. I was startled the 1st morning with this one. I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly, I guess more like a continental breakfast at a discount hotel, various things set out with disposable utensils and tableware, serve yourself and throw everything away. The hostel was more like making yourself breakfast at someone's house, with a ton of other people in the kitchen. When you finish eating here, you wash your own dishes. After a moment of panic, (Ah! What do I doooo!?) I grabbed a slice of bread, stuck it in the toaster, slathered it with butter and poured myself some juice in a disposable coffee cup I found. Then, I washed my knife, wrapped my toast in a napkin and set off. I forgot that San Francisco is famous for its sourdough bread until I took a bite of my toast and my mouth sent up a prayer of thanks. In other words, bread in San Francisco = GOOD! Munching my toast and sipping my juice, I walked to the Westin

and found the ballroom where the the opening ceremonies had already begun.

Naked Mondays # 20 Let's Talk About a Fall Wardrobe, Shall We?

2008-07-28T23:52:00.001-05:00

Saturday, it suddenly occurred to me that the Fall semester is only 2 weeks away and I don't have any pants that fit. Well, I didn't have any. I went on a little shopping spree at work. I've been gathering a few things here and there when something not to be missed was heavily discounted, but I needed some things that were student teacher appropriate and still me. And then, I took pictures, so I could share it all with you all. Yeah, I know, you're thrilled, aren't ya? But, here's the thing...at Blogher, everyone asks you what your blog is about, and other than saying it was about me, I didn't really have an answer. So. I'm going to try a few things here and there to see what sticks. I have tons of interests, but I have no idea if I want to talk about anything in particular or just flounder about as usual. I hope you will bear with me. ;) I'm going to try fashion first, so we'll talk about clothes today, cool?

First up is not teacher appropriate, but I fell in love with the design on what I thought was a shirt til I put it on. Holy cow! Need some leggings for when it gets cooler, but it will make a fun outfit for karaoke.

Next up is a shirt dress with a cute ruffled bottom, it needs a slip, but I know it will look adorable under a jacket, I have the perfect one....around here somewhere. ;)

Then, my cat decided to get in on the act. She just couldn't understand why I was standing by the door, but not going outside. Can I tell you how much I love this top? Comfortable, flattering, and $6.50! I bought two, but I think I'll probably buy all the other colors, too. Hmm, need some heels here, too.

I don't know what's up with that look on my face, but it probably had something to do with the cat. Damn crazy cat. She's staring at the door again.

Same shirt, in an olive green and a brown coat I quietly spirited off the clearance rack before a customer saw it.

The olive shirt again with skinny black cords and the cutest gray flannel vest. I love corderoy. It's unhealthy. I may have squealed when I opened the box with these babies in it. Please don't tell anyone. (I bought gray ones, too.)

Switched the vest out for a gray jacket
On special for $13.50. I was talking to one of the supervisors, and he was catching me up on all the special buys, in case a customer asks and when he said $13.50 jackets, I said, Where?! And why didn't you tell me sooner?!
So, there you go, not so much Naked this time as clothed, but you're still seeing more of the contents of my closet than you probably want or is healthy for any of us. ;)

(The photos were kinda grainy from the low light and, er, something that I should have done with the camera, so I amped up the grainy, which turned out pretty interesting.)

Hello Everyone!

2008-07-28T01:13:00.003-05:00

I've been working my little butt off, a week's worth of hours in a weekend and I have some school work to finish up tomorrow, but the Blogher story will continue, I've barely started, just haven't had time to write like I want. I have managed to upload more photos and if you've left questions in the comments, I will be getting to those and finishing my story this week. There will be a Naked Monday tomorrow, I've just about finished my school shopping and I have an idea I want to share. ;)

My photos are on flickr, which you can find here.

More About Blogher

2008-07-24T23:16:00.003-05:00

I'm going to share more about Blogher, but first I wanted to tell you a couple of things that happened since I came home.
My car is in fact totaled, I found out for sure a couple of days ago, so I'm trying to figure out how to live my everyday life without a car, something I've never had to do before. It's interesting how incredibly LONG it takes to get anywhere now. Ugh. Other than that, it's not so bad. I'm fixing up my bike so that I can take quick jaunts to Target and the grocery and if I start this new job soon, (fingers crossed) riding my bike to work will be possible. So, basically, I've suddenly become very green. ;)
The other thing I wanted to mention is a sort of epiphany that I had. That guy at Walgreen's really made an impression....I think I'd like to start dating again. I'm ready. Sort of. I'm sort of ready. I'm interested in being ready. Something like that. ;)

So, these are the things that I remember from the first night:

I arrived in San Francisco on the BART from the airport(thank you, thank you, thank you to Blogher for the specific instructions on how to get from the airport to the hotel!) and as I stepped off the escalator onto Powell Street, I looked up to see a giant mall and a giant Forever 21 (everything's bigger in SF! Like Texas! Only cool and humid!) The cable car line was right there, but I needed to find the hostel and I knew it would only be a short walk. I found the hostel with little trouble, checked in, and found my room, where I changed for the parties that night. Deep breath and walk to the Westin. Wandering around the lobby (helllloooo, did not fit in there AT ALL!), wearing my favorite Forever 21 dress, skinny jeans, and chucks, I spotted bloggers that I recognized in the bar, but couldn't tell if that was really a party or just where people were congregating. As I struggled to scrape up the courage to make a decision about where to go, I noticed two girls(women? females about my age?) wandering around too. Without even thinking about it, I went up and asked them if they had any idea where to go. They didn't either. We decided to go to the Newbie party and see if anyone knew where the People's party was located. Up we went in the tower elevator (where I saw Ali Martel! And freaked her out with the staring! because I wasn't completely certain it was her! I LOVE name badges!!!) got our badges from the Blogher peeps that we would need for the rest of the weekend and attempted to mingle. There were servers wandering around with fancy appetizers on fancy platters and I didn't recognize ANYONE. Dammit. After a few minutes standing there awkwardly, I spotted Kelley walking across the room. Ok, I know her. Sort of. Well, ok, I've met her. And we've spoken. So I should be able to just walk right up to her, right? I'm not sure if this was all said internally, or if it all just spilled out as I thought it, but after another deep breath, I walked over and acted like I should be there and should have no problem speaking to someone I barely know and well, of course she'll remember who I am, because I am just. that. fabulous. Kelley was her gracious, lovely self and told me how to get to the People's Party. I went back over, grabbed Whitney and Regan and dragged them downstairs to the other party. Here's where it gets fuzzy. There was drinking involved (tequila sunrise! yum!) and swag, and again standing about somewhat awkwardly, but easier with lubrication. I met the Bloggess in the bathroom, apparently before she started holding court in there. I had my picture taken with her in front of the urinals. (most of the men's rooms were renamed ladies, or something) Yes, she really is that funny in person. Times 10. LOVE HER. At some point, we went back upstairs to the Newbie party, muuuuch easier drunk. I was introduced to Stephanie, who works for Blogher. She gave me her card, and I OF COURSE shouted, "Oh my gawd, you're the crockpot lady?!! That's awesome!!" Because I am a dumbass. And there was TEQUILA! And it was FREE! She (Stephanie) was hilarious and I love her to pieces. She's the bestest. (She introduced me to another Missouri blogger. From Kansas City. Not realizing that they are hours apart. She apologized for her lack of geography knowledge. lol) And then I filled out a mommy survey to get a free flash drive. I'm not a mommy. They didn't know that. I hope I didn't ruin their survey. I don't remember what it was about. ;) I saw Crystal outside the People's party at one point and I wanted to go up to her, but she was talking to someone and I thought I would see her again. And then didn't. Boo. I introduced myself to Heather B. I don't remember what we talked about. I saw Megan for about 30 seconds, introduced myself, we agreed to talk later when she wasn't trying to host a kick ass party and....never saw her again. Boo. I got a swag bag....and a free tshirt and talked to many other people, but I'm still sorting through my cards. (Did anyone else think they had a ton of those things and then realized when they were laid out at home that you really didn't have that many? Just me?)(Also, I made them all into magnets. Cuz I am crafty. And a giant dork.) When I get it all sorted and have a chance to go visit everyone, I'll link to all of them in a post. Most of the people I met at Blogher, I had never read, which I think is great, but I can see that my Google reader will be less than thrilled. ;) More Blogher to come, feel free to tell me when you're tired of hearing about it, I won't care, but I encourage everyone to share their feelings. (ok, I'll care, but not enough to stop talking as any of my co-workers can now tell you lol)

I Know, I Know, It's Killing You That I Haven't Updated

2008-07-23T00:42:00.006-05:00

The thing is, I took over 300 photos this past weekend and if you haven't already heard, I won the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom program in one of my sessions. I've spent most of the day learning how to use it and tweaking photos. Between that and catching up on the internets and scattered napping(yes, I'm still jet-lagged), actually writing a post has been on the back-burner. It doesn't help that I feel like I have a ton to say, but can't quite figure out where to start. Here's what I'm thinking...the photos that have been uploaded to flickr are here, and to start, here's a list of thank yous.

Thank you to my friend's Dad who took me to the airport. He was going anyway, but he didn't have to drop off a stranger at the Southwest check-in and I appreciate it.
Thank you security guy at Lambert Airport who had a sense of humor about the pocket knife that he found in my bag. I really did forget it was in there. I had thought about sticking it in my checked bag for all the walking I was going to be doing. I wish I had.
Thank you for the older gentleman at the SF airport who offered to catch me when my suitcase tried to pitch me onto his head.
Thank you to the staff of the hostel. I was a newbie and they were all kinds of helpful and answered all my questions.
Thank you to Whitney and Regan, who let me hang out with them all weekend.
Thank you to Dana for getting me into a swell party, the Nintendo people were super nice.
Thank you to the waitresses at Lori's Diner who let me hang out there and made me feel at home. ;)
Thank you to the guy at Walgreen's who asked me out. You are cute as can be and if I hadn't been so freaked out at everything, I would have taken you up on your offer. Though I wouldn't have moved to San Francisco for you, you were the first guy in a long time that I was even remotely interested in. Also, hugs from handsome men are always appreciated, I can't believe I didn't think to give you my card. I am a dumbass.
Thank you to the cable car driver who was freaking hilarious and the guy who stood and blocked me from the wind.
Thank you to the gentlemen who answered my questions about the bus routes.
Thank you to the woman that I was talking to a the Macy's party who told me that she would have never guessed I live in the midwest. (I can't remember your name, there was champagne involved.)
Thank you to the really nice gentleman who helped me get my suitcase down the stairs to the BART, when I realized that the escalators don't run at 4:30am.
Thank you to the other really nice gentleman that helped me get my suitcase onto the bus.

All of you people rock! And even though most of you will never read this, I'm sending all of you good thoughts and thank yous!

More BlogHer coming up!!

Update: I had my picture taken with the red stapler! You can find it here!

A Whole Day of Travelling

2008-07-22T00:25:00.002-05:00

I have so much to tell you all, but I just woke up from a nap on the couch, and jet lag, she is a bitch, so tomorrow! Or today, since it's 12:30am!! With pictures!! And links!!

Update from BlogHer!

2008-07-18T16:27:00.003-05:00

I am writing this on a computer terminal at the hostel and I realized yesterday that with all I have to talk about, you all are going to get so sick of hearing about it before I run out of steam. Sorry? ;)

A couple of things that are too long for twitter:

I met two women in the lobby last night looking for the People's Party. I noticed that they looked as confused as I did and asked them if they knew where they were going. We've been hanging out ever since. I haven't been to their blogs yet, but if their personalities are any indication, I will be a loyal reader from now on. I'll link to all the blogs I've discovered when I get home, cuz I've met some kickass women, and the weekend has just started.

Dana from Mamalogues was invited to an event by Nintendo and graciously offered to take me along, so that's where I'm going tonight as soon as I go to the BlogHer party to get autographs for MP. (MP, it IS people from The Closer and Saving Grace! How much do you love me right now?!)

I had a bit of a crazy moment this morning when it all just became too much, but I'm feeling much better now. The whole thing feels sort of surreal, like I shouldn't be here, like it couldn't really be ME doing all this, but it IS, which kinda blows my mind.

There's a picture of me and The Bloggess in front of some urinals floating about out there and I want a copy!!

I discovered that planes and I do not get along. Apparently my allergy/sinus issues make the pressure feeling you get when a plane is descending much worse than it should be cuz it feels like someone is shoving a sharp pencil in my ear. It's not supposed to feel like that, apparently, so my plan is to get the strongest decongestant known to man and take it monday for each flight. Keep your fingers crossed, I'd really like to avoid curling up in a fetal position in my seat this time. ;)

I'll try to stop again for a bit, but right now I want to get back outside while it's still nice. See you later!

Outta Here!

2008-07-16T21:58:00.002-05:00

See you on Monday!!!!

Naked Monday Link

2008-07-15T12:19:00.003-05:00

Y twittered this and I think it's appropriate (or not, depending on how you look at it) Enjoy!

Update:

2008-07-15T11:19:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm still moving around, just slowly. No Naked Monday this week, sorry. Between working, laundry for BlogHer, and my discomfort, I wasn't inspired to share this week. Next week, though, will be Naked BlogHer! Hee.

I am doing well, no lasting damage to anything but my car. She wasn't much to look at and I guess I can be thankful that at least the car wasn't a great financial loss, just really bad timing. I've never been one of those people who thinks, if I hadn't gone to McDonald's to get a breakfast sandwich and a sweet ice tea, I wouldn't be in this situation. But when I stumbled out of my crumpled car, wearing that sweet tea, it was hard not to, especially as the green light was still staring right at me.

I've never had an accident like this before and I found that it was harder to recover from mentally than physically. I am starting to get my head back on straight, though, and thank god I live in an urban environment with public transportation. A bus and an mp3 player is all I need. ;) I should have a car of some sort next week, if nothing else, it seems I will be borrowing a family vehicle until I figure out a more permanent solution. Right now, I'm dealing with the lovely hassles of insurance companies and towing a car. Here's hoping the bruising on my ribs fades by thursday, cuz laughing, one of my very favorite activities, is painful at the moment. ;)

Thank you everyone, for the well wishes, I appreciate it more than you know. :)

Bruised and Battered

2008-07-13T13:17:00.003-05:00

I was in a car accident this morning. Some idiot in a borrowed car without a license or the English to communicate ran a red light, and though I tried to stop, I hit him. I'm fine, bruised but fine. My car, though, she is fucked. Of course, all this happens 4 days before getting on a plane. Fuck. Just fuck. I'm completely exhausted and uncomfortable and fully expect to be wearing nasty bruises from my seat belt to BlogHer. More later, I'm going back to bed.

Details Details

2008-07-11T17:54:00.004-05:00

KBO: This is where I'm staying while in San Francisco, the San Francisco Downtown Hostel, which oops, has lockers, so that alleviates one of my concerns. It's about a block away from the Westin, which is where the conference is being held. It looks pretty nice from the pictures on the website, but I'm prepared for much worse. As long as there is something semi-soft to sleep on and a shower, I'm good.

In the pre-conference info they sent us was precise instructions on how to get from the airport to the hotel, including photos of the signs to follow, so I'm good there, that was one of the things I was concerned about.

MP: You can follow my Twitters on your cell phone, but if you don't have a text message plan, I wouldn't recommend it. ;)

I'll arrive in SF after five on thursday and be back in STL at 3pm on Monday. Anything else you want to know, just ask.

This is the time.....

2008-07-10T14:07:00.002-05:00

when I'm so excited that I'm probably going to have something to say everyday.

I decided last night not to take my laptop to BlogHer. Here's why:

That fucker is heavy.
And old. The battery is useless, so if I needed to use it, it has to be plugged in.
I really don't think I'll actually have time to use it. 4 days, new friends, drinking=lack of blogging time
I can twitter without it
Since I'm staying at the hostel, I won't really have somewhere to leave it behind.
I'm going to be carrying a camera plus an extra lens and I only have two hands
I bought a 2nd sd card for the camera, which doubles the number of photos I can take.
If I do need to empty one of the cards (and frankly, I probably will) I can always borrow someone's laptop momentarily to send the pics to my yahoo briefcase or flickr (can I get the photos to my computer from flickr? Anyone know?)
San Francisco will be a lot of walking, do I really want to carry one more thing? I vote no.

So, here's what I'm thinking...there are a couple of ways that I can send updates here and I already know that I'll be twittering like mad, so if you want to follow me on my trip, now's the time. My Twitter page is here and I'll see what I can set up for the blog.

p.s. One more thing, we were given an opportunity to have a lunch demonstration with Rocco Dispirito (one of those celebrity chefs who is quite nice to look at) There was limiting seating, so we had to email to get in and it was a first come, first serve kind of thing. I received an email today that said that I got in, so that will be fun.

This made me laugh so hard I cried

2008-07-10T00:00:00.002-05:00

Dear Delta,

Please don’t lose my suitcase. My boobs are in there.

Thanks,
Mir

(click to read the whole post, this was just the last bit)

Quick and Dirty BlogHer post

2008-07-09T15:42:00.002-05:00

(This one's for you , Megan! Hee.)

I'm stealing this idea from Sparks and Butterflies for a BlogHer disclaimer. I've had the great fortune to meet a group of bloggers already on my home turf and I have been able to start friendships with an amazing group of women. BlogHer is my opportunity to do this again on a higher scale. That being said, I've already shown you mah bewbs and mah shoes, but here are some not-so nice-things to know.

1. Blogher parties = free drinks
free drinks = drunk Bri
sober Bri = sweet, kind Bri
drunk = funny, honest, snarky Bri (emphasis on snarky)
Please for the sake of all that you consider holy, DON'T let me drink vodka!!

2. I find many things funny that, um, others don't. I have unintentionally pissed people off by giggling inappropriately at something they said. I NEVER mean to offend, but, uh, it happens.

3. I have grown from a painfully shy adolescent to a shy adult who fakes social confidence really well. I'm also a listener and observer first, then a talker.

4. I like hugging. I may hug you. I don't bite, though, so that's a plus. I'll only lick if you ask.

5. I am extremely picky about food, so an unfamiliar eating environment makes me more nervous than the socializing.

6. I'm probably what you would call skinny, but I wasn't anywhere close to that a year and a half ago, so it's really hard to think of myself that way. I say this because if I say something about food or weight and you say something like, whatever you're skinny, like you ever had to worry about food, I'm likely to get pissy about it. Not your fault, totally mine, but there it is.

7. I'm about to start my period (wow, oversharing), so at least I won't be hormonal there. (though I am hormonal here. Can you tell?)

8. I'm not the best commenter, but I read tons of blogs, so if you give me your blog card, I will go and read, but I don't always know what to say, so I lurk a lot.

Pretty sure that's the worst of it, blech, let's talk about clothes next, k?

Naked Mondays # 19 A Lifelong Dream Realized?

2008-07-08T01:33:00.004-05:00

I had another Naked Monday post up here last night and...well...I hated it. It sucked and I apologize to the 3 of you who read it since I couldn't in all conscience announce it on Twitter. This is the post I should have done all along.

Last week, I went to see Ingrid Michaelson at The Pageant on the Loop. I love the Pageant. I know many people here in St. Louis hate the venue, but I love how it feels like a club and even though the drinks are expensive, the tickets are not and if you pay with cash, they waive the fee that every concert venue charges you for nothing, as far as I can tell. I've been to several shows at the Pageant and they always put on a good show and that's the important thing. I was there with my friend A, who I met through an ex and though we aren't close, I can always count on her for a concert buddy, cause we like similar music and she's always up for a show. We had great fun as usual and she was mesmerized by the opening act. (ok, I'll admit it, his singing voice was pretty sexy and you can hear for yourself on his myspace page here For Ingrid's myspace page go here Check them out, you'll like them. well, I do and taste is of course relative, but I recommend both)

The photos aren't the point of this post, mostly because I took them with my camera phone and camera phone=suck. But just to illustrate the night, here is a pic of Ingrid who was unexpectedly funny in that at one point she yelled into the crowd, "Come on, people, let me feel you up!!!!" The story of how she discovered the Arch had stairs and a museum and a "TRAM!" was hilarious too. What made the night for me was what happened in my head while I listened to her sing.

The girl on the left is the back up singer and, don't laugh, I've always wanted to do this. There's no reason you should know this, but I can sing. Like I used to sing, in front of others, and even competed in high school. Granted, that was...many years ago, but the point is I can sing. I don't have any interest in fame and fortune, I don't want my name in lights, but I think it would be amazing to tour with a band and sing back up. Small ambitions, but ones I never did anything about. Why? Well, I never had the balls. And now I do...have the balls, er, or something. So, I started thinking and I thought, what's stopping me from trying? Nothing really, and did you know that there are bands on craigslist looking for singers? There are!! So, here's what I'm thinking...any of you St. Louis readers up for Karaoke? It's been a while since I sang for anyone but friends and I need the practice before I audition for anything at all. Sound good? Who's with me? ;)

4th of July Photography

2008-07-06T20:23:00.008-05:00

My friend asked me to take pictures of her cousin's children at the BBQ and since I am the camera junky, I happily agreed. By the end of the afternoon, everyone was looking at me funny...it could have been the growth coming out of my face. ;)
These are some of my favorites that I brightened up a bit with photoshop, I finally getting the hang of sharpening the eyes. ;)

This is Taylor, the baby, and her baby. She is quite possibly the cutest thing ever.

This is Christi, another cousin, and Michael, one of the children I was trying to pin down. He wasn't exactly helpful. Cute, but not helpful. ;)

Taylor again. Remember what I said about the cutest thing ever?

Taylor and Michael, splashing

She's a ham, that one.

Her sister Chloe, having a swim

The oldest sibling, Riley
I had to specifically ask for a smile with teeth.
He was a good sport, though.

Chloe again

Nonnie and her patriotic hair.
She starts high school in the fall and can't wait.

This is Nina.
A sweet dog owned by the most obnoxious person I know.
I'm not exaggerating. At all.

Susie and Eric

Michael again
Most of the pics I was able to get of him were with a long range lens. He wasn't looking in my direction so I asked for someone to call his name. Doesn't look too happy, does he? ;)

He still has no idea I'm taking his photo.

Clothespins
They look like little army men on a zip line, don't they?

The other Chloe
Not sure how two cousins managed to both name their daughters Chloe

Nonnie makes a great older cousin,
jokingly feeding Michael his mac and cheese

farm stand I spotted while sitting in the car