Boo!

My office has a workout room with two single restrooms which each have showers.  I typically use one of these because, let's face it, most people prefer a private restroom to a public one.  

I use the restroom a lot during the day because I have a camelbak water bottle, which I fill up about 3 times a day at work.  I'd say on average 7-8 times during the day.  

Well today was odd.  I'm determined that there's a ghost in the bathroom at work.

 The artist picture above is what the bathroom typically looks like.  The red X indicates where the chair typically is in the bathroom.  No big deal, right?

So today, when I first went in the bathroom, the chair was moved.  No big deal.  I left it where it was because it didn't bother me.

Above is where the chair been moved.  An hour or so later, I returned to the bathroom, and the chair was either still there, or someone had put it back, and then someone else had moved it again.

Baffling!

So I moved it back to its proper location.

This afternoon, I went to use the restroom again and the chair had been moved BACK!

I'm determined there is a ghost in the bathroom, who just made it home today, and who likes the chair slightly askew in front of the toilet.

I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow.

If only I could put a camera in there to capture an image of the ghost....

The Da-Man

We have lots of nicknames for Dad.  He's dad, daddy, popsicle, poparazzi, and the Da-man! 

Lately my parents have been all about the spending time together thing.  What I mean is, instead of just doing dinner or lunch for Mother's Day/Father's Day, they want to do something.  For Mother's Day we cooked breakfast at Chez Elmore and then headed to Cheekwood to see the botanical gardens, art, and trains.  Mom loved it!

When she emailed my brother and I about father's day, she gave us some gift ideas (the Elmores are all about lists.  If you don't make a list, you don't get anything) and asked what we wanted to do for Father's day.

I suggested going to Arrington for an afternoon picnic.  This was a well received and great idea until I looked at the weather and saw that it was supposed to be 96 degrees and scattered thunderstorms.

Sunday morning we woke up to heavy storms and lots of rain, so I figured out plan would be doomed.

Instead, it cleared off, was still quite warm, but still beautiful for an afternoon of wine drinking/tasting in the vineyards with some great cheeses!  I think dad loved it!

When we got back to my parents house, for some reason or other, we started hitting golf balls in the common area behind my parents house.  I hadn't done this in ages (my dad used to go out there and I would bring my wiffle ball golf set to hang out with him.)  I was actually better than M thought I'd be, so I think I've convinced him to take me to the driving range!

It was a great father's day!  I'm so blessed to have a father who was so so involved in my life and supportive of everything I do.  Even though he may drive me crazy at times with his cheesy jokes, he's still my daddy!.

Vegas baby!!!!

M and I went to Vegas last weekend on a trip paid for by his unbelievably amazing boss.  The airfare and our stay at the Cosmopolitan were covered.

I took last Friday off and we met his coworkers at booming Nashville airport.  After we got through security, M and I settled in at the bar at Tootsies, BNA branch.  After about an hour, we had all the seats around the bar stocked with Concept Technology employees and significant others.  Our flight went from Nashville to San Diego (where we stayed on the plane) and then into Las Vegas.  When we landed we checked in and had about 4 hours to kill before a dinner paid for by his boss.  

First of all, when we walked into the hotel (which is the newest hotel on the strip, located directly next to the Bellagio) we were mesmerized.  Our room was unbelievable with a tiled shower, jacuzzi tub, living area, and super comfy king bed.  We also had a balcony because the Cosmopolitan is the only hotel on the strip to have them.  The view was unbelievable.

View from our balcony

  Our flight was at an awkward time so we missed lunch (besides inflight peanuts...) so M and I grabbed an appetizer at a restaurant in the hotel and had a couple beers.  It was very refreshing to have a new list of micro brews to choose from that's different than what's available in Nashville.  I tried several: a Red Fox Stout which is brewed in Vegas.  A brown ale called Bitch Creek from Idaho and the Polygamy Porter, which had a lower percentage of alcohol because it's from Utah.  The bottle had cherubs on it.  I found it amusing.

From getting appetizers, we got ready for dinner, met up with the company at the "Chandelier" for drinks before dinner.  It was called the Chandelier because it looked like this...

Except the beads went all around the entire bar and down to the 1st floor below.  Dinner was at Tao, a fancy restaurant and night club located in the Venetian.  From what I remember the food was great!  There were so many courses with sushi and other Asian fare.  I didn't care for the Sake.

After dinner we all headed back to the hotel where M's boss had rented out a cabana at the hotel night club.  The club was the.place.to.be.  It was packed and damn near impossible to get in.  Luckily we had connections so we bypassed most of the line.  I felt like a rockstar.  

We stayed at the night club until 2:30.  One of M's coworkers, in her 30s, had never been drunk and it was her goal for the night.  Her husband was tired and wanted to leave, so I promised to escort her home.  This generosity resulted in vomit on my feet, but we managed to find the exit (after M asked someone who worked there to escort us out) and we took his coworker to her room.

M and I struggled to get out of bed Saturday morning, but once we finally did we had some breakfast and then hit up the pool.

O em gee the pool was amazing.  I want to put one in.  The deepest spot was in the middle at 3.5 feet.  The middle was stairs so you could sit in the water.  The rest of the pool was about a foot deep for laying in the water and tanning.  Positively divine.  Wasn't bad having margaritas brought to us, either.

 
After the pool we hit up the casino.  I've never gambled with real money (we had a casino night in high school for prizes.)  We played the blackjack tables with a minimum bet of $15.  I walked away when I was up by $300.

My winnings!...temporarily

 We went out to dinner for M's birthday and after dinner hit the tables again.  I lost some of my winnings, but still came out in the positive.  I think I won about $80.  Not too shabby.  Better than loosing.

After dinner we watched the Bellagio fountains and went up to chill in our room where we crashed.

The next morning we had to head out early, but it was just such an amazing trip.  I recommend staying at the Cosmopolitan if you ever make it out to Vegas and happen to have a decent amount of cash to spend on amenities! 

Oh hey, free time...

So far the month of May is off to a great start (even thought it's over halfway over..lol)

M and I took a day trip to Lynchburg, TN to visit the Jack Daniel's distillery.  M had never been and I'd gone when I was really little, like 6 (yeah, my parents were responsible adults who too their children to a whiskey distillery, no biggie.)

M had had a couple rough weeks with work and family life, so I told him to keep his Saturday clear and I would plan something fun.  I intended to keep it a surprise as long as possible (which is hard for me...) and all was going well until he knew which exit to get off at (he wouldn't let me drive) and we saw a billboard for the distillery and the same exit number.

Either way, he was excited.
 
The tour was great!  The only thing I remembered from my childhood visit was that it smelled really, really bad.  But I was a kid.   I thought all alcohol was nasty.  I'm not big on Jack (or any kind of whiskey...bad memories from college) but it was still really neat to see how it's made.  

M and I with Jack on the Rocks!

 
After the tour, we headed to the square in the booming downtown Lynchburg.  They were having some sort of festival with live music and such.  We decided to have lunch at the BBQ Caboose Cafe.  It was a great hole in the wall place with delicious BBQ.  They had a train that went around the entire place and had train lanterns hanging from everything.

After that, we walked around the square, ate ice cream and visited a gift shop where we bought charcoal made from the empty whiskey barrels.

That night was great, too, because met up with Brittany, Jimmy and Louis for the Nashville Sounds' game.  


Last weekend I went to Memphis with several of my sorority sisters.  It was our intention to go to BBQ fest, but it never really worked out.  We walked down by the river to see how flooded the Mississippi was.  We saw the movie Bridesmaids (which was hysterical!) and went out on Beale street.


I've been out on Bourbon street (which in my opinion is way better) but Beale Street was like a different world.  For starters: the security just to walk down the street was worse than the Nashville airport.  I guess Memphis is one of the most dangerous cities in America...oh well!


It was really nice to have some girl time, especially since I rarely get to see those ladies.


Now it's just a countdown for things to look forward to.  First up is our trip to Las Vegas with M's company.  His boss promised to take them all to Vegas if they received a certain award so many times.  We're going June 3-5 with our airfare and hotel paid for.  I've never been and I'm so freaking excited!


In mid summer we're hitting the beach!  I'm very much looking forward to a whole week's vacation.  It's been entirely too long.


So glad Summer's almost here!

Will history repeat itself?

It's been so long since I posted that I really have a lot to say but not enough time to say it all.

It's been a year since Nashville flooded.  My mom puts it best: "I used to watch flooding on the news and wonder why those people lived there if it floods."  This was thought before water surrounded her house.

The first weekend of May last year started like any other weekend.  M and I were hanging out, nothing particularly important planned.  And then it started to rain.  And it rained and rained and rained and rained.  I remember it being a lot of rain, but it really didn't seem like any more rain than we'd gotten other times in my life.

Saturday evening M and I sat down to watch the news because we had nothing better to do.  All the news could talk about was a flood.  Flood here, flood there.  I will always remember watching a classroom portable floating down I-24 and breaking apart.  While it floated down the interstate, cars bobbed here and there like toy ducks.  Water poured over the concrete median on the interstate.  My mind couldn't grasp what was happening.  

I talked to my parents and my dad said the common area behind our house, which for the 20 something years I lived with my parents had only completely covered with water (about an inch) once, was rising.  I figured "ok, no big deal.  It's never been an issue before."

Our power was out for long spurts at a time.  Sunday night we couldn't cook dinner because we had no power.  We opted to go the Asian place down the street.  While we were at dinner I received a phone call from my parents that I'll never forget: "We're evacuating the house."

I'm sorry, come again?

My parents said they were evacuating the house.  The water had come up over the driveway.  Luckily, my parents had been watching the water and moved their cars to higher ground and as the water filled the common area began to move precious valuables and memorable items into the attic.  My parents didn't have flood insurance, just like 90 something percent of Nashvillians.  Because it doesn't flood here.  Or didn't.

The week before my parents had just finished renovating their kitchen.  They spent Saturday, while it rained, moving everything back into the cabinets.  They didn't have flood insurance.  My mom was panicking.  Almost sick.  They went across the street to our neighbors, which is elevated.  

My dad went across the street every hour or so to check if it was receding.  Finally, around 2 in the morning Sunday night my parents went back in the house.  

My parent's house, surrounded by water

The back of my parents' neighborhood was a lake.  See the stop sign?  I used to wait for the school bus, right there.

The common area behind my parents' house.  There's a 7 foot hill behind the dogwood tree.

My parents' driveway.

They were lucky.  The water surrounded my parents house and made it about 3 or 4 inches below the back door.  The only damage they suffered was that their air conditioning unit and duct work under the house were ruined.  A small price to pay considering it needed to be fixed any way, and they got FEMA support. 

Many of their friends and neighbors weren't as lucky.  Many Nashvillians weren't that lucky.

I worked in Metro Center, north of downtown, which borders the Cumberland River (which flooded downtown Nashville.)  They wouldn't let us go to work for a week because they were worried the levee would break.  Many of my coworkers (who hadn't suffered flood damage) sat idle during that time.  I used those "days off" to help those in need. 

On Monday, I went to my parent's neighborhood to volunteer.  The water receded as quickly as it raged in.  I helped people rip out their floors.  It was devastating.  Tuesday I went with Hands on Nashville to help clean up debris that was scattered in yards (not just debris, large pieces of trash and furniture, etc.)  I found 5 dollars (which I sanitized, hardcore!)  Saturday, M and I went and helped a family in Bellevue (one of the hardest hit places) who had to be rescued by boat as their first story (which was already 10 feet off the ground) completely filled with water.  We threw away their memories and many of their dearest possessions.  

It was heart-breaking, but extremely rewarding.  I was blown away by how Nashville came together as a community.  

It's been a year.  One whole year.  Many people haven't moved back into their homes.  Many people straight up abandoned them.  

I will always remember where I was during the May flood.  I will always remember how it devastated a wonderful city.  It hurt the rich and the poor.  People of all races, religions, and ages.  Water is powerful.

I worry now for the rain we've had over the past two weeks.  Here in Nashville and in Memphis.  The Mississippi river threatens to flood again.  People's homes might be destroyed.  People in Alabama, Tuscaloosa especially, mourn for friends and family, homes and jobs.  The South is threatened.  And all I can do it hope and pray that sunny days come our way.

Engagement Chicken and Fanatical Issues

1) Apparently my mom watches the Today Show.  Which is news to me.

2)  While watching the Today Show, my mom saw a segment about "Engagement Chicken."  I came home from work one day to find an email in my inbox from my mother.  She told me that she saw this story about a woman who cooked "Engagement Chicken" for her boyfriend and he proposed.  And then through word of mouth and the recipe being published in Glamour magazine, a grand total of 72 women got engaged after cooking "Engagement Chicken" for their boyfriends.  I suppose she was telling me this because she wants me to make "Engagement Chicken" so M will propose.  She denies this.  She claims she just thought it was funny.  Lies.

For starters, even though the recipe is supposedly easy, I'm sure I would screw it up.  Therefore M wouldn't want to marry me because what guy wants to marry a woman who can't make "Engagement Chicken?"  Secondly, I'm in no hurry to get engaged.  

Mom called me on Saturday to make plans for Sunday night dinner to discuss Easter (we like to plan,  I guess?)  While I was chatting with her on the phone, she mentioned she bought the cookbook that had the "Engagement Chicken" recipe among others like "Get him to clean the apartment burgers" and "Let's make a baby pasta."  She thought it was quite witty.  And then she said she bought two copies.

"Guess who the other one is for?" she chided.  

Guess.  I betcha can't.

But it's all good, because I have this new (not quite so unhealthy) obsession with reading recipes.  For Christmas I got a subscription to Southern Living from my brother and I decided to buy Real Simple (because OMG it's the best magazine.  Ever.)  This has fueled the fire.  This month I also bought the Food Network Magazine and Better Homes and Gardens.  Now, you're probably thinking, "Great!  She's gonna make some really great food!"  I hope you're right, but I have this feeling it'll be like every other time I rip out recipes and then don't ever get around to making any of the recipes.  

I have a recipe binder thing, so I'm hoping that I'll get myself organized, actually punch holes in the recipes I've torn out of the magazine (folks, there's like 75, at least) and sort them in my recipe keeper.  As if I didn't have enough cookbooks already.  I guess we'll see how it goes.

But I'll leave you with the recipe for "Engagement Chicken" in case you are dying to get your boyfriend (or girlfriend) to take the plunge and propose.  Or just in case you wanna know what all the hype is about with this chicken!

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (approximately 4 pounds)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, plus 3 whole lemons-including 1 sliced for garnish
1 tablespoon kosher or coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Fresh herbs for garnish (4 rosemary sprigs, 4 sage sprigs, 8 thyme sprigs, and 1 bunch flat leaf parsley)

1) Position an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Remove the giblets from the chicken, wash the chicken inside and out with cold water, then let the chicken drain, cavity down, in a colander for two minutes.
2) Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.  Place the chicken breast-side down in a medium roasting pan fitted with a rack and pour the lemon juice all over the chicken, both inside and out.  Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper inside and out.
3) Prick 2 whole lemons three times each in three difference places with a fork and place them deep inside the cavity.  Chicken cavity size may vary, so if one lemon is partly sticking out, that's fine.  (Tip: If the lemons are stiff, roll them on the countertop with your palm before pricking to get the juices flowing.)
4) Put the chicken in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and roast, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
5) Remove the roasting pan from the oven.  Using tongs or two wooden spoons, turn the chicken breast-side up.  Insert a meat thermometer in the thigh, and return the chick to the oven and roast for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 180 degrees F and the juices run clear when the thigh is pricked with a fork.  Continue roasting if necessary.  Keep in mind that cooking times in different ovens vary; roasting a chicken at 350 degrees takes approximately 18-20 minutes per pound, plus an additional 15 minutes.
6) Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.  And here's the secret: Pour the juices from the roasting pan on top of the sliced chicken--this is the "marry me juice."  Garnish with fresh herbs and lemon slices.


I think this is just pretty funny in general.  But I don't really get how they judge whether the "Engagement Chicken" resulted in the engagement.  Time is a very important factor here.  Several of the success stories in the cookbook indicate that the couple got engaged that very night, which seems that he was planning it all along, because clearly the ring was already there.  But what about the cases where they got engaged a month and a half later.  I really don't think it was because of the chicken, folks.  The most promising evidence would be a resulting engagement the following day or next weekend.  Obviously.
 

It's been a while

Sorry I've been so distant lately.  Life seems to be getting away from me. 

Last Friday M went to Chicago for the Cubs' opener.  It snowed and was frigid, but he had a great time and claims he was in heaven.  In the meantime, his college friend Curt came in town to visit, so we went out with their friends to dinner and this bar in Nashville called the Greenhouse, which was a blast.  It's nice to be the sober one when everyone else is smashed because you can help them recall what happened the night before.  Needless to say, Curt didn't feel so great Saturday morning :)

We spent a great weekend with their group of friends.  M came back late Friday night and we had everyone over for a bonfire and snacks to watch the Final Four basketball games Saturday night.  After Curt left on Sunday, M and I headed to Lowes to get some veggies and herbs.  In addition to our rosemary, bell peppers, broccoli and what we thought was cucumbers (really tomatoes in the wrong place) we bought some azaleas which are starting to bloom!  I'm really excited to have home grown veggies!

Work's been busy, but good.  I finally have friends to hang out with outside of work.  I've been watching American Idol (which I've never watched before) on Wednesday nights so that I can bond  with them.

I wish I still had time to blog at work, it would make it so much easier to keep up on here.  But alas, it's not that easy.

I'll try to update again soon.

Family "Heirlooms"

I'm a big fan of heirlooms.  I think it's special to have pieces of furniture and other things, jewelry, china, etc. that were worn or utilized by family members, whether it be only one general ago, or many.  I have my eye on many items my parents have.  Some they purchased through the years and others have been passed down.

One item I especially want is this old nightstand/chest thing in my mom's room.  It's not very fancy or nice quality, it's actually quite beaten up, but the story behind it is wonderful.  When my mom was a teenager, her grandfater decided to get remarried or something along those lines and her mother (my grandmother) was so mad she wouldn't talk to him.  He had some stuff in his house that she wanted, so she loaded my mom and my uncle (who was about 8, I think) into the car and drove over there when she knew the house was vacant.  My conservative, straight laced grandmother kicked in the window of the basement, dropped my uncle down in there and ordered him to come upstairs and unlock the door.  They entered the house and my grandmother stole the things she wanted out of the house, including the chest which has since had a new top put on it because the other one rotted.

The whole time they were breaking, entering, and robbing, my mom was thinking "my mom's gonna get arrested, I've got homework to do and I can't drive a car."  

So I want the chest because of the awesome fact that mom helped loot it from my great grandparents.

M and I went to dinner at my parents house on Sunday.  My parents have decided to spend 2 hours every Saturday purging their attic and cleaning it until it's in decent shape.  This started this past weekend and during dinner my parents asked me if I wanted an "heirloom" punchbowl.  

I say "heirloom" because it was passed down from my grandmother to my mom, but that's about the extent of it.  My grandmother had a neighbor who got too old to run errands and such so their children were going to put them in a nursing home.  My grandmother offered to take their grocery list once a week, buy their groceries and the could reimburse her when she returned.

One day, when Sisi (my grandmother) came to get the grocery list, the lady asked her to pick out punch bowl.  Sisi asked what kind, and I was secretly thinking the lady was waaaaay to old to be entertaining and had no use for a punch bowl.  

The old lady told Sisi to pick out one that she thought looked nice and gave her some money.

Sisi returned to the old lady's home with the punch bowl.  She (the old lady) handed it right back to my grandmother and told her it was a thank you gift for being so sweet and buying their groceries every week.

So when Sisi passed away, my mom couldn't part with the punch bowl, not because it had any sentimental value, but because of the sweet story behind it.  So now I have the same dilemma before myself.  Do I just let my parents donate this punch bowl to Goodwill or let it be sold at a garage sale, or do I take it because of the nice story behind it and let it gather dust in my shit cabinet in the kitchen?  I mean, I don't have a punch bowl, but I generally don't have a use for one.  Maybe if I were throwing lots of showers and such.

 Thoughts?  Do I let it go or take it?

Beautiful

So I don't know what the weather is like where you live, but I'm writing this while sitting in my backyard.  It's a perfect 78 or so degrees, the sun's still up and shining, and there's the slightest breeze.  It could not be more perfect!  This winter was particularly rough.  Excessive amounts of snow and down right frigidness.  It was also a very emotional winter.  I don't do well with cold and darkness in general, but added to unhappiness at work, I was just straight up unpleasant to be around most days.  

I am so grateful for such a beautiful day/week.  It's nice to be able to enjoy the earth rather than being cooped up at a desk or bundled up inside.  

I hope that each of you gets to enjoy the sun this weekend if you aren't already!

Wee Bit Wednesdays

I've been such an awful, awful blogger lately, but I'm just so exhausted that I don't have the energy to put forth an effort.  I will tell you that M and I toured the Belle Meade Plantation on Sunday.  I thought I had been there on a field trip in elementary school, but during the tour nothing looked or sounded familiar, so I'm going to guess either a) we did and I tuned the whole thing out because I was busy chatting with my besties, or b) we never went.  I thought it was interesting and the old Antebellum style house was beautiful.  After the tour, which I had bought a groupon for, we did the wine tasting at their winery.  I had a great time, and I think M actually enjoyed it, too.  I'll leave you with some pictures before Wee Bits.

 

{one} scruffy or clean shaven?

Depends, on myself-clean shaven.  If we're talking about a guy, some scruff or a beard is hot, but being clean shaven can be, too.

{two} what’s your favorite sundae topping?

Too hard to pick just one, so either chocolate sauce, whipped cream or a cherry

{three} do you own slippers?

Yep.  We have hardwoods and it's approximately -239408 degrees in our house all times.  I have two pairs.

{four} did you ever have a tree house?

Unfortunately, no.  But I often climbed the tree in our front yard.

{five} how you do relieve stress?

Umm...watching tv, drinking, listening to music.

{six} what’s your favorite dr. seuss book?

Hands down The Lorax

{seven} have you ever taken dance classes?

No.

{eight} which do you use more: the thesaurus or the dictionary?

hmm, neither?  I have a pretty expansive vocabulary.  But if I have to pick one, probably the thesaurus (which makes me laugh and think of FRIENDS.  Joey sends a letter to the adoption agency for Monica and Chandler, but tries to sound smart by using a thesaurus to change a bunch of the words, he ends up signing the letter "baby kangaroo tribiani" lolllllll.

{nine} what’s your favorite form of exercise?

Used to be running in college, but when I do exercise, I guess the elliptical machine

{ten} what’s the longest you’ve ever waited in line?

Not entirely sure, but I've waited at least an hour and a half for several different roller coasters.  All totally worth it :) 

 

Trashy TV

In general I'm not a huge TV watcher.  My old job was 8-4:30 so when I would get home and wait for M,  I would usually watch Without a Trace because we don't have cable and there's hardly anything but news on basic TV around that time.  Since this week's orientation at my new job, we've gotten done at all sorts of different times.  Today I left work about 3pm.  This gave me time to run to Target (ahh, love) and to get gas.  I still got home super early.  Earlier than usual so I have no idea what's on TV at 4.  I'm purusing the chanels and have these options: Nancy Grace, the news, America's funniest home videos, Ghost Whisperer (which I like, but I missed the beginning so no thanks), and Maury.  I opted for Maury.

Today's episode is about older men who are dating younger women.  The drama comes in to play with whether one party is cheating on the other.  

So I'm sitting here watching these classy, fine-upstanding, Americans and wondering to myself if there are genuinely people like this in the world.  And since I assume the answer is yes, I have to wonder how people can be like this.  

And on top of that, if these people are truly experiencing all this classy drama, I wonder why in the hell they would go on national television and air their dirty laundry for the world to see.  It just genuinely amazes me.  I know many people liked watching Jerry Springer because it was fake and who doesn't like staged violence and cursing?  But if something could be real and you're willing to show everyone, that's pretty sad, don't you think?  I kinda want to make up a fake story and write to Maury just to see if he'll have me on the show!

Does anyone know anyone who's been on a show like this or Rikki Lake?  I think that'd be interesting.

Wee Bit Wednesdays

{one} do you wear holey jeans? if so, do you buy them that way?

I have recently worn a hole in one of my favorite pairs of jeans, so currently yes.  I do not buy them this way, though.

 

{two} do you get a full 8 hours of sleep per night?

Sometimes.  I get up at 6:45 every morning and I'm usually in bed no later than 10.

{three} what’s your favorite way to eat an oreo?

As the crust to a cheesecake.  I hate oreos by themselves.

{four} do you wear shoes in your house?

Sometimes.  I typically wear slippers because we have cold hardwood floors.

{five} who would you call first if you won the lottery?

M.  Then probably my parents

{six} have you ever been in a food fight?

Not really.  At my friend's high school graduation party my friends got into a cake fight, but I only semi-participated.

{seven} do you snore?

Evidently I have on occasion.  Most commonly when I'm drunk.  I do talk in my sleep pretty regularly, though.

{eight} do you know how fast you type?

Very.  I don't know the number since I haven't taken a typing speed test since I was a sophomore in high school.

{nine} can you do a headstand (without using a wall)?

No.  I can only do headstands in the pool, and then it's a handstand.

{ten} how do you like your popcorn?

Ever so slightly burnt with lots of butter and salt.

Need more hours in the day

Sorry I haven't posted in ages.  I took my netbook with me to Louisiana hoping that I would have some down time to blog during the wedding festivities, but I hardly had time to breathe.

 I won't get into too much detail about the wedding, just because there was so much in such a short amount of time.  We drove down Thursday, partied it up that night (I had a liiiiiiiittle too much to drink) and crashed.  Friday we woke up, did Bridesmaids luncheon festivities, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and all the bridesmaids + KJ and I crashed a hotel suite in Baton Rouge.  Saturday we woke up, got ready, went to the wedding, then the dessert reception followed by clean-up, a dinner break, and the after party, which was a blast! 

There just wasn't time to squeeze in anything else.  I didn't even take my netbook out of my bag to check my email or facebook. 

Turns out on Thursday night there were some pretty bad storms in Nashville.  M said he'd never experienced such high winds and there were confirmed tornado touch downs in the area.  Our trashcans blew into the neighbor's yard and several of our shutters fell of the house and broke in half.  The neighbors down the street lost their trampoline to the ditch on the side of the road, which has yet to be cleaned up (which doesn't surprise me at all considering their Christmas inflatables were up well past Christmas.)  The Captain D's a few blocks down lost it's sign.  All-in-all, I'm very grateful a) I wasn't here and b) that M and Sally were ok.  We wanted to repaint the shutters anyway, so the winds just helped us out!

I also got a phone call Thursday from a fruit basket delivery company double checking my address.  Turns out my new employer had mailed me a fruit basket.  Isn't that so sweet?  It had fruit and chocolates and popcorn!  

Yesterday was day one at the new job.  So far I love it!  Everyone is so friendly and welcoming.  The orientation at my last job was so generic and brief.  Orientation with Aegis is in depth and really explains how every part of the company works together and includes in depth tours of the drug testing labs.  I've now seen more urine that I wanted to.  I had lunch with my manager today, which was nice.  We got to know each other a little bit.  He's really nice and I love the two other girls I'll be working with.  Their super friendly and helpful.  I also met the president of the company today, which was a bit intimidating, but he's exceptionally friendly as well.  I have a cubicle that has a computer with two monitors, so that'll take some getting used to.  So far I'm extremely glad I decided to leave my job at the state and pursue this opportunity.  

I'll try to get back into posting regularly once things calm down.  Our security at work is pretty top notch, especially over the internet, so I doubt I'll be able to blog at work, yet again.  I'll figure something out! 

Lust

I've been lusting lately.  After my dream car.

 

I'm a Honda junkie.  When I turned 16, my parents were generous and gave me a car under the stipulation that I had to get a job to put gas in it.  This was not the nicest car.  It was a 1995 white Ford Taurus.  It was ugly, but it ran and I was grateful.

 

A little under a year after my parents gave it to me, the transmission died.  Because it was a Ford.  We like to play musical cars in my family, so as a result of my dead car, I got my dad's car and he bought a new car.  Not too long after that, my brother's car died, so he got my dad's car and my dad bought a new used car.  The car I inherited at this point was a 1998 gold Ford Taurus.  It was ugly, and it ran, and I was semi-grateful.  It had even more issues than the taurus whose transmission died.  It needed a new radiator and a new alternator.  It got some work and I took it off to college.

 

Around Thanksgiving of my freshman year, my brother totaled his car.  We played musical cars again.  This time, my brother got my car, I got my dad's car, my dad got my mom's car and my mom got a new car.  I was ecstatic because I got The Purple Putter.  She's a 1999 purple Honda Accord.  She has been the greatest car.  She's got 200K+ miles, an oil leak, and several love dents, but she's been a great car.  She's been to Baton Rouge, Tuscaloosa and Panama City.  She has had many different passengers and has provided a great time for all. 

 

Unfortunately over the last year and a half or so, she's needed a lot of TLC.  The window broke and wouldn't roll up.  Fixed it.  The wiper motor went out and my wipers would get stuck in the rain (no bueno).  Fixed it.  The oil leaked.  "Fixed it" (it still leaks, no bueno.)  I've loved her.  M endearingly named her the Purple Putter. 

 

She's been reliable.  I love that she's purple because very few people have a purple car.  I love her.  But I've been lusting after a new car.

 

I know Hondas are fairly indestructable, but at 200K+ miles with an oil leak and other minor repairs looming, I know she won't last forever.  Eventually I'm going to get to the point where it's not worth putting more money into her. 

 

Several weeks ago, M and I went to test drive cars, for him.  He test drove my dream car.  Yes, I know I'm sad, my dream car is not a hot sports car or souped up luxury sedan.  My dream car is a brand new Honda Civic Hybrid.  Light blue with leather interior, heated seats, power everything, 6 CD changer, and ipod jack. 

 

Isn't she puuuuuurty?

 

 

How lame am I?  But I don't currently have heated seats, so that'll be a major bonus.  I can only play 1 CD at a time, which I realize isn't that miserable, but I get sick of a CD after two times through, and it's dangerous to be flipping through CDs to change it while I'm driving.  I want and ipod jack so I can listen to my ipod on shuffle.  Solves the 1 CD at a time problem. 

 

Plus, a hybrid would a) perpetuate my wanna-be hippie-ness, b) be environmentally friendly, and c) save me money on gas.  I live in a suburb south of Nashville and I work north of downtown.  With a hybrid that gets 43 mpg highway, I'd save a lot on gas money.  Nashville have HOV lanes which require 2 passengers in the car between 7-9am and 4-6pm, OR a hybrid (yay, faster commute!)

 

It's just a win-win. 

 

As I'm driving to and from work, I pass my dream car all the time, and I pout because I'm stuck in my still decent car.  So I'm saving.  I'm going to save my tax return, and as much of my new paychecks as possible (still living on what I was making at my old job) to have enough for a down payment by the end of the year.  I will succeed.  I deserve a brand new car.  I've never had one and I think I would take better care of my car if I'm the one paying for it.

 

What's your dream car?  Have you ever owned it, or at least test driven one?

Belated Wee Bit Wednesday

{one} what is your favorite breakfast food?

bacon, of course.

{two} how many pairs of shoes do you currently own?

 

Not sure, 15-20?

{three} city or country?

Both have their pros and cons.  I guess I'll say the country because you can actually see the stars.

{four} what is your favorite part of your job?

I don't have a favorite part, because I don't like my job, but hopefully my new job will give me some favorite things.

{five} what is your favorite junk food to snack on?

Ice cream

{six} have you ever been mentioned in the newspaper?

Yeah, a couple times, but most memorably, while I was rock climbing with my girl scout troop.

{seven} do you use post-it notes?

Yes, they are awesome

{eight} do you have freckles?

Yes, but I'm not super freckly. 

{nine} is it okay for men to wear pink?

Depends on the man.  It doesn't look good on most guys

{ten} when was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?

I actually wrote a letter to my friend Ashleigh who lives in Berlin last week, but I forgot to mail it. :\  so before that, several months.