I'm a Homeowner!

I've been a homeowner for all of two days and yet I still can't wipe the perpetual grin off my face.

I'm happy because this is a goal I've accomplished. I mean, we all set goals, but how often are they actually achieved?

The day of closing my realtor and I did a final walkthrough. Luckily no major appliances went missing and everything was intact. Then we headed to the title office to sign a huge stack of papers.

I am all about nice pens, and the company did not disappoint. Plus, they gave us freshly baked cookies.

The seller and his agent showed up late, but were pretty friendly. I learned he had been a nurse in the Army and that his family owns a small island in the Caribbean. Apparently his ancestors were pirates and to keep their families safe they would put them on this island. It was pretty interesting.

After closing, the seller offered to show me around the place. I had questions for him such as where my mailbox is (because it just said mail key, nothing else) and how I receive packages.

Turns out my mailbox had been labeled with my unit # and if I have a package, they leave a specific package key in my box. Pretty easy.

Then we headed into my place, which the seller said he was going to miss. He warned me about the bad draft that I may get in the winter time due to the lack of weather stripping on the door. He told me he didn't have a key to the storage closet off of my balcony and how the door doesn't actually latch for some reason. However, he figured it out. All you have to is pull up on the door and it will slide into the latch. But I still can't lock anything in there because there's no key, so it looks like I'll need a new lock.

I noticed one window screen was missing and another halfway off. He offered to fix that for me but couldn't right then because he was wearing sandals. Apparently to pop the screen in, you need one person on the outside of the window (basically standing on the roof which is completely UNSAFE) and then another person to push on the other side. I think I'll just call maintenance....

It was after the window scenario that he asked me if I was single and then proceeded to tell me he'd be more than happy to come over and get rid of the old carpet, since some carpet guys don't like doing that part of the job. I politely told him that I had a carpet guy already in mind (my neighbor) and that I'm pretty sure he didn't mind that part of the job.

Then he suggested I take the carpet out first so I can paint the baseboards. The next minute I knew, he was actually ripping up the carpet--apparently he was curious to find out what was in a certain spot. Turns out it was just a piece of foam from the carpet pad.

Awkward.


Time to go. While we were leaving, he offered to help me move in. Apparently he lives with a bunch of other guys who would be willing to help as well. We exchanged numbers (because I won't really turn down free movers) and then he left. I waited till he was gone and then went back into my place and put the carpet back where it belongs.

Then yesterday I took both locks to Lowes to have them rekeyed. Turns out since the deadbolt had no key and wasn't a certain type of lock, I couldn't get it rekeyed. But thankfully, the new lock only cost $12.97 and the bottom lock was able to be rekeyed.

I even helped put the locks in. The only mistake I made was putting in the deadbolt latch upside down.

I have a feeling I have a lot to learn but I am ready for the challenge.

A "fun" update

Here's an update on my goal to have more fun this year:

So far I've done painting again...this time an African sunset.

 Spent a weekend in the mountains...

Where I went snowshoeing for the first time.

And recently went to one of those paint your own pottery places, where I painted a pretty princess mug.

What types of fun things have you been up to?

Busy Busy Bee

I love having time to hang out with friends, and basically do whatever I want now that my seasonal job at the mall is over.

Well, now I have a (good) dilemma, and I need your input.

Here's the situation. I basically have three invitations for the weekend of February 5 & 6.


Option #1: A women's retreat. I've gone to this retreat for two or three years now and each year I've had a great time. This retreat is only held once a year, and the reason why I like it so much is because I feel like I can just be myself. That, and it's in the mountains, and it's only $89 total, which includes meals and lodging for both days.

Option #2:Celebrate a friend's birthday. I actually invited my friend Kristen to the women's retreat, and via text message, she told me that weekend is her birthday. Eeeks! I didn't know that. Obviously, I can celebrate with her on that Friday night before the retreat (if I go) or after the retreat, but if I didn't go on the retreat, I could take her out.

Option #3: Go to a baby shower. Yesterday I received an invitiation to a baby shower for another friend, whom I have known since I was 16. We aren't bffs, but we do see each other like twice a year. She's expecting her first child, and it'd be super awesome to be apart of her baby shower. I've been meaning to make plans with her, so this would be good timing.

If I don't attend, I could make plans to give her/the baby a gift, but I kinda hate to miss her baby shower. I've thought about going to the shower and coming to the retreat late, but I'd still miss most of the day, because the shower isn't till 1:30. Then let's say it lasts two hours...that's 3:30, plus an hour to drive to the mountains...that's already 4:30, and the retreat ends around noon I think on Sunday.


So, what should I do? What would you do? How do you handle it when you have too many invites?

2011: Bring on the fun!

I don't do new year's resolutions because I think they are all a load of crap. Personally, for me, if I want to achieve or accomplish something, I call it a goal.

That being said, a few of my "goals" for the year include:

• Gettin' crafty. 
• Watching what I spend (i.e., trying to eat more at home and not waste food)
• Have fun!

I'm already off to a great start!

During the summer last year I had to attend a conference for work. Well, one of my sessions was canceled, so I walked to a B&N, and grabbed some magazines, one of which was Real Simple. I saw the coolest idea for organizing your jewelry. It was called a jewelry board. Ever since the summer, I've wanted to make one, and one the first day of the new year, I did just that.

Waaaala!

So pretty!

I'm really proud of how this turned out. My next project that I want to do is create a scrapbook. I'm still unsure if I want to do one devoted to my trip to China or one of college memories. It's a toss up, but I'm looking forward to it!

Speaking of having fun, I attended my first ever painting and wine class this week and had SO.MUCH.FUN. Seriously, I can't wait to go back. Here's my interpretation of a dandelion:

The first week of the year has certainly been off to a great start...happy new year!!

Christmas is coming!

Today is the first time this entire month that I have felt like excited about Christmas. CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Maybe this mood has to do with me listening to Pandora's White Christmas station, featuring some of my favorite songs by Mariah Carey, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, and other old people. (For the record, Mariah is not old)

In light of my spectacular mood, because Christmas is coming (!), and the fact that I don't work retail tonight and that I have most of my Christmas shopping done, I'm giving away something pretty awesome.

You can win this book that I picked up from the infamous STRAND store in Manhattan when I was in NYC a few months ago. The book is about this photojournalist named Alison Wright who has traveled the world. In particular, she loves Thailand and Laos (is that in Thailand?) and some other exotic countries. Oh, and she's personally talked with and met the Dalai Lama, which makes her even more awesome in my book.

The book is a super easy read and it definitely kept my attention. It centers around a horrific accident she was in and how meditation kept her alive. Then it chronicles her journey to recovery and how she dealt with everyday life. It's an amazing story, and I'm glad I happened to randomly buy it.

Anyone can win, even if you don't live in the U.S. Because I hate it when people say, "tweet this" or "facebook that" for more entries, I'm keeping it simple kids. All you gotta do is comment. It can be something about meditating, about Christmas, or about what you ate today. I could care less. Just comment. I'll have my dog choose the winner.



Provided I actually get comments, this giveaway will end at midnight on the first day of winter, aka December 21. So get crackin'!

Happy.

I've had a lot going on lately....

....my mom went to Spain for two weeks, leaving me in a house full of boys. Surprisingly, my dad has stepped up to the plate and has made dinner (courtesy of Costco) and even cleaned the kitchen!

....I magically was approached with a potential new job. This lady found me via one of my profiles online, and before you know it, I had a phone interview with her, followed by a real interview with the editor in chief of a magazine yesterday. I think the interview went well, minus the fact that he asked for my references and writing samples and I didn't have them. It's between me and two other people for the position and I don't have a clue what it pays, but it makes me feel good to be wanted (professionally).

....For the other job that I really want, I'm in the second round, waiting to hear if I made the third round. Apparently they aren't even looking at my writing sample until next week, so I won't know till the week after that if I made the cut. But, it makes me feel good that they only asked 10 people to submit a writing sample, and from there they are narrowing it down to 3-5 people to interview. So I'm crossing my fingers that I get an interview.

....I've been looking around for a second job. Obviously, if I get either of the new positions above, I probably won't need a second job...but I'm really far behind on my whole plan to move out and buy my own place. This girl needs to save more money for a downpayment, and a second job would be the best option. Plus, when it gets cold here, my social life drastically diminishes, so why not work instead?

....Over the weekend, I went shopping & bought a new dress at Forever 21 similar to this one and had a lovely outing with M to see the changing colors of the Aspen leaves. It still doesn't feel like Fall here yet, but once it does, I'm going to revel in all of its gloriousness because it's my favorite season of the year.


What makes you happy? Or, what's something that you'd like to share?

An Indian Wedding

Over the weekend, I attended my first Indian wedding. Just so we are clear, I mean the kinda Indian from like India--not the Native American kind. Anyways, I flew in to New York on Friday and proceeded to take the airtran, subway, and Long Island Railroad out to the hotel.

The first night's festivities included a huge buffet of all vegetarian food--tacos, pasta, vegetables, etc. Then the party started. Basically, it was a huge dance party all night, complete with an awesome dessert table filled with cheesecake, carrot cake, banana cream pie, chocolate torte, and this amazing lemon cake. It was awesome.

I didn't know the dances at all, but the family of the bride and groom helped teach the newbies. By the middle of the night, I was a dancing fool. It was so cool.

The next day was the ceremony, complete with a fancy procession with more dancing. I also learned that Indians don't take the ceremonies seriously. They'll get up and go to the bathroom or get a drink from the bar, or just start talking. Or they will play scrabble on their iphone, like the guy next to me did.

The ceremony took place outside

It was beautiful

I, on the other hand, was like all into the ceremony. I think my inner anthropologist came out because I wanted to know the significance of everything that was happening. I even noticed that they skipped some of the parts that were listed in the wedding program.

After the ceremony, it was cocktail hour complete with an open bar and authentic Indian food appetizers. I had samosas, and these good wrap things with green chutney sauce in them. It was yummy. I also didn't think any of the food was too spicy, which surprised some of the people I was talking to at the wedding.

Until this weekend, I had never tried Indian food. It just always looked unappealing, but I was a brave foodie and tried everything. And I honestly loved it all. My favorite was the naan and some of the bean dishes. I don't remember names, I just remember what it all looked like.

This is where the bride & groom sat. The purple box is for cards and money. It's tradition to give them an amount of money ending in 1, i.e., $51, $101. It's supposed to bring good luck.

I loved how they had so many playful moments within the ceremony and at the reception. And they had more dancing, which was awesome. And the dessert bar was alright. I wasn't a fan of the desserts--they had this one that was like carrot cake that was super sweet, this one that my new friend called milky balls, which was cheese I guess, and mango ice cream.

The cake was awesome

 After this weekend, I wish I had more Indian friends so I can go to more Indian weddings. And maybe next time I get invited to one, I'll even show up in a sari. ;)


Have you ever been to an Indian wedding?

Where I've been and more mundane details

Life has completely taken over. That's a good excuse for not blogging, not commenting on other blogs, and basically just hiding in my own superficial cave, right? Right.

So I've been enjoying the last few weeks of summer. I finally made it to the annual peach festival. The past three years I've missed it. One year it was due to picking the wrong day and another year it was pouring rain and I abandoned the idea. But the peach festival was fun. Ironically enough, I didn't buy any peaches because I already had bought some with my mom from the farmers market the weekend before. But M got a really cool hat & I tried on one too. And we had delicious peach dessert pizza, peach cobbler with ice cream, and hot dogs. We also got our faces painted. It was awesome.

We also got our faces painted. It was awesome.

Then all last week I celebrated my birthday in style.

I baked fresh peach/raspberry crisp on Monday.

On Tuesday, I went out to dinner with my family and attended the Rockies game, where the guy right beside me almost caught a home run ball. It was both scary and exciting all at the same time. 

Holding my cousin at the game. The tiara is compliments of my brother's dentist office--my mom got me that for my birthday complete with a star wand. 

On Wednesday night, I went out for Italian food with some of my bffs. We totally had a great girls night out, complete with wine and dessert. Oh, and funny story, before dinner I totally locked my keys in my car. Deja vu, anyone?

 The girls

Thursday and Friday were down time to run errands and basically catch up with life, and then Saturday was the main event: my birthday picnic. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from that day, but imagine 8 people sitting under trees on picnic blankets with a smorgishboard of food. We're talkin' cherry cheesecake for dessert, brownies, sweet tea vodka, beer, crossiant BLTA sandwiches, watermelon, chips...and the list could go on. It was a great time (albeit a bit stressful) but totally worth it. It was a great way to celebrate, that's for sure. 

So now that you know what I've been up to, what's new with all of you?

Being single is awkward

The aforementioned title of this blog post was my the status message I posted on Facebook over the weekend. Specifically on Friday night after I had consumed about six beers, which is totally unusual for me. It's probably because I was playing the role of "wing woman" for one of my close friends.

I'm not used to playing wing woman. And this particular friend had been with her significant other for almost two years until they recently called it quits. Now she's in her rebound phase, which she recognizes. Honestly, I have no problem with that at all because I benefit from it. I've gotten a single friend willing to go out on the weekend and someone to talk boytalk with.

She met this guy at the dog park and found out he's in a band and had a gig that night. He invited her to come by and of course she wasn't about to go alone, so she called me. After almost hitting a deer, we finally found the place. And let me tell you--this place screamed sketchy right from the start.

First off, the name of the bar is called "In the Zone." Make what you will with that. Then we walk in, and we literally were the youngest ones there. And overdressed might I add. My friend even threw on a button up shirt over her fancy top so she wouldn't attract attention.

We ordered drinks and then got a table near the stage and waited. Finally my friend saw her guy and said hi to him. I had my eye on the saxophone player but turns out he's married. My friend thought the keyboard player was cute until he came by our table and we noticed up close he wasn't so hot.

So of course to get through all the cover songs they played, I drank. Finally during a break, her guy came over and talked with us a bit--made the usual small talk and then left. I told my friend I don't think he's boyfriend material, and to "proceed with caution." I mean, this guy is 35, has roommates, and basically didn't really give her any sort of special attention that night, which I could tell she was wanting.

Her guy invited us to have a drink with the band after they were done playing for the night. At that point, I had already had my two tall beers and was thinking of switching to water, but my friend insisted that we should get one more drink and then we'd leave.

Well, I got my beer, and the band finished playing but then they had to break down the stage and equipment which was gonna take another 45 minutes. At this point, most of the people in the bar had left, and it wasn't even 1 a.m.

So my friend and I talked and killed some time. Here comes in the awkwardness. While we were talking with two single guys, this old guy wearing a red hat who had been staring at my friend throughout the night, came by our table, interrupted the conversation and said, "You're cute," to my friend. She replied, "I know I am," and he said, "Wow you're full of yourself," and walked away. AWKWARD!

Not only was that awkward, but right after the red hat guy left, my friend knocked over her beer, sending it all over our table and pretty much down the leg of my jeans. Awesome, right? The hammered dude came back with some napkins, while the blonde guy brought over a wet rag.

Turns out the blonde guy was totally a regular at that bar, which says a lot. And he admitted he's an "engi-nerd," which in some dorky way was cute. But he definitely was desperate. He kept saying "you've got to come back," and pretty much begging us to stay. We stayed long enough for him to replace my friend's split beer and then got the heck out of there.

The night definitely had its awkward moments, but it made for a great story.

The time gnats attacked me and my friends signed me up for online dating

Normally I don't bore you with the details of my weekend, but these past few days require a blog post.

On Friday I got off of work early and headed to the pool, where I swam and played kid's games like tea party underwater. Then I headed to my friend's house for an all-girls sleepover! We played all 16 or 18 rounds of Scattergories, where I put down some random and made up things...like tiger bass. Turns out there's no such thing as a tiger bass. Either way, we had a blast while drinking beer I had brought that was brewed in Chippewa Falls, WI. It tasted like a lemony-beer. Oh, and I won at Scattergories.

We also ate brownies and lugged a loveseat from her cute neighbor's apartment. At one point M had stepped outside to talk with her boytoy, leaving me and my friend, who recently broke up with her boyfriend. Of course you know where this is going--we had boytalk. I told her how the next boy I do date, I want to be Catholic, and actually go to church, and be a gentleman, and be able to hold a good conversation but not be too stuck up and also have a sense of humor, and oh, be college educated.

At some point during that long description of my next boyfriend, I let it slip about an online dating website that my friend from highschool emailed me about in April. Apparently she met her current boyfriend on there and they are still dating. At the time though, I didn't want anything to do with dating, much less online dating, so I promptly chucked that e-mail into my trash bin.

Fast forward to M coming back into the room, and whattya know--my friends signed me up for an online dating site specifically for Catholics. Yea, and this was at like 1:30 a.m. We had to fill out an obnoxiously long profile, complete with questions such as, "How often do you attend mass?" "How many children do you want?" "What forms of prayer do you like most" "Any favorite saints?"

Yea. I have to admit I was mildly entertained by this whole thing, and promptly said to M, that this deserved a blog post. Once we jumped through all the hoops, we finally got to my "matches." We went through about 12 pages and only sent an "emotigram" to three or four boys, all of whom are local and fit my criteria.

Since then, I've had several view my profile, and two boys have sent me "emotigrams," both of whom I didn't like during my initial screening.

I definitely have to say that while this is random--having your friends sign you up for an online dating site in the middle of the night--it fits my life. You can't make this stuff up.

Speaking of making stuff up, you also won't believe what happened to me yesterday.

Yesterday I argued with my mom all day about the money she owes me, but wouldn't give to me, unless I cleaned the house. So I did laundry, organized stuff, and basically sweat off a lot of calories. During said cleaning spree, my brother complained about a zit on his back. Of course my mom and I took a look, and it was definitely not a zit.

Queue my mother taking him to the Urgent Care place near our house, where they suspected it might be a black widow. Queue my mother calling me at home asking me to look for said spider. Queue me finding nothing. Queue my mother calling again to say that the Urgent Care place can't do anything for him--he has to go to the ER, and did they want an ambulance? Um no. Brother went to the ER with my parents where he got some IV filled with stuff to flush out the "venom," and a double dose of Valium for the pain.

Finally my brother gets home, and he's high as a kite on those drugs. He's not making any sense at all. It was really entertaining. Oh and they basically concluded that he has an "insect bite," but definitely not a black widow bite, although my brother is now telling all his friends on facebook that he almost died because he got bit by a brown recluse spider.

After all that craziness, fast forward to 11:30p.m. when I'm about to go to sleep for the night when I notice there's all these little black bugs on my ceiling. Of course I blame my mother for opening my window, and wake her up. She comes into my room and tells me they are just "gnats," and to "vacuum them up."

*So I was that crazy cat lady only with bugs, standing on my bed with the vacuum hose in one hand and the other hand on the ceiling for balance, sucking up all the bugs. At 11:30 at night. WHO DOES THIS??

Welcome to my life.


*So funny story, or not, but three years ago M and I were hosting a sleepover and before our friend came over, we had an invasion of these huge flies in our apartment. Naturally, I thought we should just vacuum them up, only that failed the next day when we realized that a) they were still alive and b) they were flying out of the hose.

No, I'm not a lesbian

Yesterday I went to Lilith Fair and man what a day it was.

I arrived with a few friends around 2, after getting lost a bazillion times. But that's just how I roll.

We got through security, and then hit up all the white tents for some free swag. We came away with a bunch of OB tampons, Stayfree pads, some scented cooling towels, and how could we forget the misting tent complete with a photo booth? Pretty awesome. We also got a bunch of samples of cooling mist by Degree and a free tote bag from the Chevrolet booth.

After winning some lemon lip balm from the Luna bar tent, we sat down and listened to Anya Marina and Rosie Thomas play. Both were great, but Rosie was seriously hilarious. She kept talking about how many gin and tonics she had had and her voice reminded me of someone who was high on helium. Very entertaining to say the least. 

After roasting in the sun for too long we headed over to grab a seat on the lawn, where we observed many lesbians wearing plaid shorts. We listened to Anjulie, who had a bunch of energy on stage, and Metric, who sang really loudly.

Then there was my favorite of the night, Ingrid Michaelson, who was full of sass and sarcasm! I loved her last song by Britney Spears. Her entire band danced and sang. It was awesome.

Emmylou Harris (who's that?) performed next. I had no idea who she was, but she sang country songs. While she was good--she definitely was a pro on stage in her glittery pants and platform heels--she should've performed earlier in the day because her voice just about lulled me to sleep.

But I stayed awake for the best act of the night--Sarah McLachlan, who helped start Lilith about 10 years ago. She was freakin' awesome. She played a ton of her old songs, but also some of the songs off her new album, which took her seven years to make. She was simply fabulous and her encore was seriously the best of the day.

Even though by the end of the day I was sweaty, tired, and a bit tanned, it was worth my $10 ticket and the memories that were made with my friends.

Just a quick update: my mom is out of the hospital! Surgery went well and now she is at home recovering. Thanks for all the sincere comments!

You don't eat meat? That's okay, I make lamb

This weekend is the Greek Festival. I am a big festival type person and Denver seems to have a ton of them during the summers. I believe this might be my third year going, but every year it's guaranteed to be a good time. I still have yet to actually attend Greek church, but I will someday. My plan is to meet a handsome, single, Greek boy and live happily ever after. What?

Anyways, usually my friends and I drink a shot or two of ouzo, which tastes like black licorice which I hate, but somehow the thought of having ouzo is just worth it. After all, it's the once-a-year Greek Festival, how can I say no??

 Opa!

 Greek beer

In addition to the ouzo, there's usually Greek beer and wine to be drunk, and the meeting of random men.

The man in the middle was actually with his wife, but they still bought us wine and dessert

What I haven't experienced thus far is actually meeting a real Greek man nor have I won the raffle for a trip for two to Greece. But...but...maybe this is my year!

And who can forget about the live entertainment aka my time to scope out the hot Greek men?  Apparently last year at the end of the night, M got onto the stage and danced. But I have no recollection of that (perhaps I might have had too much ouzo) but this year, I am determined to document this and possibly join her on stage.

 They are so flexible...and hot...and Greek...and did I mention hot?

And it never fails that there is baklava, spanakopita, and gyros to be eaten. Not to mention, in our drunken states, we always are tempted to buy one of these:

Not sure if I'd ever really wear this but it's so appealing when you've been drinking.

What are you all up to this weekend? Doing anything fun?

Bake or Broil?

Yesterday I listened to my Self Absorbed friend talk about how she made Funfetti cookies and oh my gosh, they were so good, and you have to make some, and I can't eat them all, I'll get so fat...blah blah blah blah. But somewhere in the middle of her ranting about getting fat, I actually went to Walmart after work and bought Funfetti cake mix and chocolate fudge frosting. Now, normally I'm a vanilla frosting type of girl with Funfetti cake. To me it just tastes better, but yesterday I wanted chocolate.

Fast forward to about 8:30 p.m. last night. My little brother offers to help me make the cupcakes (mainly because he wanted to eat them). I think it's so cute that he wants to help for once. I let him measure out the ingredients, and even crack the eggs! He even mixes the whole thing together. Then I do the hard part, and spoon all the stuff into two muffin tins. Now, I read the directions carefully, to only fill 1/3 of the way full. But I had so much left over, and I didn't want to dirty another pan, and so I just topped them off.

Meanwhile, I asked my brother to set the oven to 350 degrees. He proceeds to tell me he doesn't know how to do that, and I help him with that. I also ask him to put it on bake. I go on my way, put the cupcakes in the oven, set the timer, and go upstairs to lounge in my comfy bed and read Confessions of a Shopaholic. I'm about halfway through the chapter, when my brother runs upstairs and interrupts my reading time, saying "I think something's burning!"

I roll my eyes and hop out of bed, and check on the timer. It still says it has 13 minutes to go. So, I open the oven and look at them. The ones on the top rack are browned at the top, but the ones on the bottom look like dough. Then I realized what all the burning smell was about. My brother set the oven to BROIL, not bake.

I was really tempted to google "help, I broiled the cupcakes!" but I didn't want him to feel bad. After all, I rarely ever get his help in the kitchen. I just turned the browned cupcakes around, set the oven to bake, and reset the timer.

The broiled cupcakes were still moist in the middle, but were more or less crunchy on the top and the bottom, which actually makes for a tasty cupcake sandwich. I didn't bring them into work today because I didn't want people thinking I don't know how to make Funfetti cupcakes out of a box!


What's your worst kitchen mishap?

Hey there social butterfly...

This weekend, I was abnormally social. On Friday I went to a bachelorette party for M's coworker, whom I've met like twice. We made a jungle juice concoction, took funny pictures, and waited for her friends to show up. The party got started when her friends showed up complete with inappropriate nametags, a wedding veil covered with blinking penises, pink tiaras, and a pinata in a phallic shape with the words "beat it."

Once we were all decked out in our party gear, we headed down to a very naughty place where the bride was the center of attention. Needless to say, there are no pictures of that part of the night.

Then we headed downtown to dance the night away. And it was fun. I got talked into dancing with the bride to be on the stage where the dj was playing music, and M joined us. The night ended there, and I was miraculously sober. Guess I figured since I hadn't really drank in awhile, I'd take it easy.

I spent the night at M's, and then on Saturday we went to lunch at Tony's Meat Market downtown. It was a nice day out. Then I went home and lazied around the house before getting ready for bachelorette party #2, which ended up being drama central.

First of all, this party was making me anxious all week because plans kept changing, and the bride to be insisted we wear all black. So I ended up borrowing a black dress to wear. The girls who were planning this shindig, Desiree, and Elisa, had originally planned for us to go to an optional dinner with the bride at the cheesecake factory. Well, the day before the event, I get a text from Desiree saying that dinner isn't there anymore and it's at this other restaurant. Then she texts me again later on saying that not enough girls are staying at a hotel, so would I mind staying with her? I didn't mind. I wasn't sure if I would be sober or not, and I didn't want to take any chances, so I told her I'd stay with her.

So I get to her apartment, all ready for a night out. Only I notice that she's not dressed up. She had jeans and a t-shirt on, and had packed what looked like an overnight bag. I asked her if I was still staying with her and she said yes. Well, I ride downtown with her and this girl Amber. But the car ride was so awkward. First off, Desiree called the bride to be a bridezilla and complained about planning this whole party. Then she proceeds to talk about all of the three men she's currently sleeping with. AWKWARD. I was thankful I was sitting in the backseat.

I had assumed that Desiree would be attending dinner since she helped plan the entire thing. But nope. Amber dropped me off, saying that they needed "to check into the hotel and get ready." Then Desiree tells me to tell all the girls at dinner to meet at the hotel. This is the same hotel that not enough people wanted to stay at. So I get to dinner early, but eventually everyone shows up. I got to sit next to the bride to be, which was awesome. I even ordered her one of her favorite drinks, with Malibu rum and pineapple juice.

Then somehow, it comes out that Desiree told one of the bride's coworkers that she's a bridezilla. And I of course had to tell her about what she said in the car on the way down, and ended up telling her about the hotel. And of course she got upset because Desiree apparently told her that she CANCELLED the hotel. Turns out she didn't, and then wanted her to pay for it! I couldn't believe that.

So by the end of dinner, all 12 girls that were there decide that we need to do our own thing, and not listen to Desiree's original plans of which clubs to go to. So we end up going to the first club, which was kinda fancy, but it wasn't crowded at all because at this point it was only 9 p.m. The bride danced with Desiree and Amber and a few others. But a group of girls decided to run out to another bar nearby and get cheaper drinks, so I followed them. We went to the bar and got two shots each, and then ran back to the club.

After awhile, we decided to go to the next venue, another fancy club. We got there and noticed that Desiree and Amber weren't there. But I ended up seeing them in the bathroom, and the first thing out of Desiree's mouth is "Oh hey, there's my girl. You're totally staying with us tonight!"

Yeah, that's not reassuring at all. I got myself a $10 drink, and tried to dance and have fun, but I was so worried about where I was staying that night and about my stuff that was at Desiree's. And I was kicking myself for not checking with the bride first, because I should've known there was drama and sketchiness happening all around.

But I did dance until my feet hurt so bad from my stupid high heels, and my camera battery died. But the bride had so much fun. But most of the night Desiree and Amber were no where to be seen, which I didn't mind too much except I didn't know what the plan was for the end of the night. I tried to text Desiree but her phone "died" but I got Amber's number.

So I finish my expensive drink, and it's a bit after midnight, when all of a sudden, I just worry about being left behind and not getting my stuff and I just want to go home. Only then I freaked out because even my car and my keys are at Desiree's and I kept thinking, if everyone hates her and she's a liar, and she's irresponsible (she lost her i.d.) and she's been drinking, how am I gonna get home?? How am I gonna get my stuff?? And then I started to cry. In the middle of the dance floor. I became THAT girl.

I of course tried to wipe my tears away and put on a happy face--because I didn't want the bride's night to be ruined. But one of the other girls, who had too much to drink, looks over at me and asks me if I'm crying, to which I said no, but continued to cry. And then soon enough she's like screaming, WHY ARE YOU CRYING? I was so embarrassed. I didn't want the attention. I just wanted to go home.

Well, the bride ended up finding out about how I was upset about my stuff and everything, and she found Desiree and asked her for her key. Desiree didn't want to give us her key, because it was in Amber's car. Meanwhile, Amber's making out with some dude. Desiree's complaining about how she "does this all the time!" Seriously, not two minutes later, the guy was making out with BOTH of them. At the same time.

We ended up convincing Desiree and Amber to drive back to Desiree's place and either meet us there or leave a key under the doormat. The sober bride to be drove me over there. I didn't see anyone, but she suggested we look for the key. Turns out the DOOR WAS UNLOCKED. Which makes me think that it was like that the entire night. But honestly, I was just happy to get my stuff back and go home.

Now I know why I stay away from drama.

The things I do for family...

Since my office for work is moving, I've been working from home this week. Which is great, unless your dad works from home and is constantly tying up the phone line, or unless your little brother is home as well, which is what the case was on Monday. Apparently he had no school due to "Easter break." Um, what? No fair.

He can only watch so much tv. I let him watch Spy Kids 3, while I worked and got alot of stuff done. After that, he begged me to put in the password (my mom locks everything around this house, including the tv) and I told him no. I thought he didn't need to watch anymore tv for the day. "Go outside, or draw or something," I said. But if course he didn't want to do that. And I couldn't do any of those things with him, because I actually had work to get done.

So naturally, a fight ensued. He ran upstairs to my parents bedroom to watch tv (which doesn't have any locks on it). I kicked him out of their room, but not without him pushing me into their dresser and me tackling him on their bed. I finally threw him into his room, where I maturely shut the door and held it so he couldn't get out. All this took place while he was throwing things at the closed door and at one point he threatened to jump out the window, to which I replied "Don't break any bones."

The above scene was in motion when my dad got home. After he lectured him, he let him watch tv. Which basically ruined all the hard work I had just done. But after work, and after he apologized to me for being a jerk, I decided we should spend some quality time together. I played basketball with him, we chased after the dog in the backyard, and played Go Fish and Crazy 8's.

Then we decided to color. We drew pictures to send my brother with the wrong school mascot colors and even signed them by people he dislikes--i.e. his ex-girlfriend. We're classy like that. And then I decided we should each draw a picture to give to our dog.

His picture:

This is of a baseball diamond, and the gray part is a tornado coming. My brother is terrified of tornadoes. And clearly the yellow part that is labeled Hailey is an accurate depiction of our dog.

My picture:

So, a long time ago when I was laying down with my brother to get him to sleep, I told him a story about our dog and during the story, he decided she needed to have a boyfriend. So he named her boyfriend Prancer (inspired by one of Santa's reindeers. Obviously). That's who's shown in this picture. He's woofing at Hailey (our dog) because Hailey is escaping in a hot air balloon because she has just found out that Prancer has a new girlfriend. The inside of the basket is full of doggie bones for her journey. The volcano is about to erupt, and there's a tornado (courtesy of my brother) chasing the new girlfriend.

Bon Voyage!

Come on and fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away...

Yessssss, it's finally Friday, it's finally the weekend!!!

Since it's such a fun day, I have a fun question to ask you.

If you could go anywhere for a day, where would you go and why?

Personally, I'd want to go to Philly, just because I want a really philly cheesesteak with whiz. (TWSS.)

Have a good weekend!

I feel the love, do you?

Can't every weekend be three days long? I definitely made the most of my long weekend.

On Friday after work I just relaxed and hung out with my family. Then I slept in on Saturday. I love love love sleeping in. It's the best thing. After breakfast, I hung out with family and talked with friends. Then I went to the outdoor mall with my brother and got some exercise. Later that night I was invited to an anti-valentine's day party. I'm glad that I went because it was so much fun to a) get out of the house and b) to laugh and enjoy people's company. We had girl talk, a homemade dinner complete with lasagna, spinach salad and cheesecake for dessert, and we watched He's Just Not That Into You. It was definitely fun. Not to mention that a girl at the party offered to look over my cover letter. Turns out she's in communications too! So I'm excited about that potential networking opportunity!

On Sunday I slept in again and had really bizarre dreams. Then I talked with friends, hung out with family, and went to church. I even received a valentine from a college friend. I realized that while Valentine's Day might be a huge thing to some, to me, it was just a day to spend it with the people I actually like being around. I don't think I've ever had this perspective before, but I hope to keep it for many more v-days. Later that night, as a family, we watched the premiere of the Amazing Race and Undercover Boss. I had never seen Undercover Boss before but I'm not sure if I liked it enough to watch it again. This week's episode followed the CEO of Hooters. I couldn't believe he said that he'd let his girls work at Hooters someday. But I guess to each their own, right? After all that TV watching, I watched pair figure skating while I painted my nails. I really had this urge to paint them dark blue, but I didn't have any dark colors. Apparently I like pink. A lot.

I also was lucky enough to have yesterday off and I would say I definitely made the most of it. I slept till 11, grabbed Qdoba for lunch (I had a buy one, get one free coupon), and lounged around the house. I was originally supposed to have lunch with my cousin but a last minute death in the family caused us to reschedule. My 'lil brother and I played Twister in which I learned that I just can't bend the way that I used to. We took the dog for a walk, and then I made him a deal. I told him I would take him bowling if we walked there and back. I google mapped it, and it was only a mile each way. Plus, after being lazy all weekend, I really wanted to get in my steps. He obviously agreed, and we made it there alive.

Let me just tell you that we both suck at bowling. Like, I have no form whatsoever. I just try not get gutter balls. I think our first game we had a score of like 130 combined. I also thought it would be hilarious to put in secret joke names as our titles on the scoreboard when my brother wasn't looking. Yes, I am like 9. We have this insider joke that started one day when I was probably talking to the dog. But needless to say, now I always say to my brother, "Love your face!" whenever I'm leaving the house, and he thought it would be funny to say to me, "Love your butt!" Yeah, we're reallllly mature, can't you tell?

Anyways, the funniest part about bowling yesterday was our nicknames. Oh, and of course, this old guy helping us out. He saw my brother throwing the ball wrong, and was explaining to him how to do it correctly. Apparently he had gotten like 7 strikes that day. And yes, he was in a league. But at one point he looked at the screen and said, I couldn't call ya'll that! It was really funny and only mildly embarrassing. And my brother's technique (if you can call it that) improved. We only played two games, which took us an hour, but the manager did give us a bunch of buy one game, get one game free coupons. Guess we'll just have to go back.

On the way back home we laughed and chased each other and ate an apple. It was good times, and I got in a bunch of steps, like 10,000+. Yeah, it was awesome. I felt so accomplished. We ate dinner and then I had the urge to go buy blue nail polish at Ulta. I didn't really want to pay $8.50 for the OPI color I wanted, so I went with a $1 glittery polish by N.Y.C., and this dark blue insta-dry color by Sally Hansen. I'm excited to paint them dark for once. And I joked to my dad that this is my way of acting out--by not having my normal pink nails, but instead a very dark and moody color. He thought it was funny and called me goth.


All in all, it was a great weekend. How was yours?

Singin' in the Rain

Yesterday I went into work early via the bus of course and so of course I didn't really do anything to my hair let alone my clothes. It always happens on days like those that I get invited out to do something before I can change and make myself presentable. But it was worth it. I got an impromptu invite to go see Singin' In The Rain at the Boulder Dinner Theater with my cousin and my aunt and uncle. I have actually never been to a dinner theater at all but have heard some great things about them.

 

My view of the stage

The only thing I knew about the play was the actual chorus to the song, Singin' in the Rain. We arrived on time, were seated on the second level but had a great view of the stage. For dinner my cousin and I ordered the chicken cordon bleu that came with a tossed side salad, fresh bread, and veggies. It was decent, but not my favorite thing. My aunt and uncle ordered the beef pot pie, which was really like a beef stew topped with a puff pastry. For dessert we split the apple cake ala mode style, but by that time, I was so stuffed. The portions of food, especially the desserts, are HUGE.

 

One of the main characters in the play--she was hilarious! 

 

A scene from the first act

Apparently I wasn't supposed to take any photos, but I did anyways without the flash of course. It was funny because during the scene when the main character actually sings in the rain, the guests seated right by the stage get to wear complimentary rain jackets. I tried to get a picture of someone wearing one but it didn't come out well enough to post.

 

Singin' in the Rain

It was a great evening out, and I had a blast. I really should see plays more often. As for this weekend, I am going to hang out with some friends tomorrow night and play board games and be super cool like that. And then on Sunday, I am going to hopefully treat myself to a massage, relax, and go to church. Should be a great weekend, especially since I get Monday off!! Yea, I'm pretty excited.


What are your weekend plans?

OMG we should totally be friends

Remember how I gushed about going on that young adult retreat awhile back? And how I was SO excited to meet people my own age that were so cool??

Well, I ended up emailing a couple of the people to keep in touch with them. One happened to be a boy named Sean. We hadn't really talked much throughout the weekend, but on the last night, we hit it off, and figured we should hang out sometime. So I eventually e-mailed him and we exchanged numbers.

Then nothing happened for awhile. Until right after New Years. He formally invited me to the white elephant party. On the day that the retreat ended, a group of us went to lunch at Oskar Blues in Lyons, and that's where I heard about the white elephant party, and of course they were all like, yea, if you and M want to come, we'll let you know! So I kept that in mind, and then during an email exchange with Sean, he forwarded a couple of e-mails from this girl Wendy, who organized the party, asking me if I wanted to attend.

I did go, and it was okay. I mean, I wasn't entirely comfortable with everyone--even though most of the people there were I had met before on the retreat--but I still went. We went out to mexican food, and then went back to Sean's apartment to have cake and exchange white elephant gifts. No big deal, right? Right. And at the end of the night, it was kind of like, "thanks for coming/good to see you/if I don't see you for a long time that's okay with me." At least that's how I felt.

Since then, I haven't had anything particularly exciting coming up, so I haven't returned the favor and invited Sean to anything. Until last week, when I read that one of the local cafe's was going to host a game nite on Friday. This Friday mind you. So I emailed Sean last week giving a quick explanation about the cafe's mission (they are one of those that are pay-what-you-can) and invited him. I even emailed him the link to register for game nite.

And then I waited, and waited, and waited. Last night over dinner with M, I told her how I haven't heard from him at all. We agreed that it wouldn't hurt to email him again to see if he was interested in going. So I did that, I simply asked, "hey, did you have a chance to decide if you wanna go to game nite on Friday?" And he just responded:

Wonderful,

I'm sorry that I didn't get back to you earlier.  I had made plans to go to a fondue dipping party with the same group of people as before at the Mexican place we went to.  You are more that welcome to join us at my buddies place.

Let me know if your interested, I will give you the address.

Thanks,

Sean

Did he really just write "the same group of people as before?" It's not like I haven't met THOSE people. I freakin' spent hours with them the day of the white elephant party. But what gets me is that a) Wendy can send me tons of generic "oh I'm so super catholic" e-mails, but she can't invite me to their fondue party. I know she is organizing it due to Facebook. b) If he had other plans, why didn't he say something? c) This just reinforces my opinion that THESE people are seriously in a clique. And frankly, I'm disappointed that they aren't open to new members.

I am so not that person that sticks to just one set of friends. I have friends in all different circles, and even when I'm going to something cool, I usually extend the invite, even if I know that person won't come. I do it because I like my friends, and more importantly, I enjoy meeting new people. I know, what a concept!!!!

Am I overreacting? Or can you all relate?