Monday, June 30, 2008

Tootsie Rolls taste like Halloween.

Its pretty amazing actually.

Songs definitely have the ability to turn back time (and yes, I just did the Cher hair flip with my nonexistent long hair), but wow. Halloween is my favorite holiday, closely followed by July 4th, which is this week!!! And guess where I'll be??

FLORIDA!!! I am counting down the hours (right now it's about 81). I'll know in a few hours how many of us for sure are going, but right now it's looking like 5. We'll swing through Houston and pick up Rab and then head on to Ft Walton Beach, FL. Josh lives there, and Kristie will be driving up from Palm Beach. I'm so excited!! I'd love to be about 10 pounds thinner, well, if we're wishing I'd go for about 30 pounds, but I'm pretty stinking happy with my progress. I've lost 19 pounds so far, and this morning I hit a personal goal, so that's fantastic.

I had a great weekend, Sabrina and I went to DFW on Saturday. She had a few girls that she's interested in for the HSU volleyball team, so we stopped by the Dallas Convention Center to watch them play. I have never seen so many barely dressed teenage girls with moms, dads, brothers/sisters in tow in one place, in my life. Volleyballs flying every which way, whistles blowing, parents screaming (think stage moms but with sports)—it was intense. The Antiques Road Show was also at the DCC, but sadly we didn't bring any old crap with us. =)

Despite the torrential downpour and impending storm of doom, we managed to make it to dinner and then to Billy Bob's to see Hootie & the Blowfish. I freakin LOVE them. The Drew Davis Band opened the show, and they were really good, and Hootie was amazing, as always. They did 2 encores! If I was going to be a groupie, it'd either be for them or Maroon 5. Adam Levine is just so darn yummy. Speaking of which…I'm going to see them with the Counting Crows in September. I'm definitely looking forward to that!!

Well.

Back to work!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Fancy Technology

Ok, so last week at work my boss called me into her office (dun dun duuuuuun) and asked me the following question:

"So. How much time do you spend on the internet?"

That's a loaded question. There are some things I do for work on the web—not a lot, but some. So I told her that it really depends on the day. There are some days when I'm busy all day long (few and far between lately), but there are other days, much like today, when it is barely 9am and I have nothing to do. Some of you are thinking 'wow I wish my job was like that.' Yeah, maybe for a week or two. There are days when I get bored with the internet. Yep. Sad, isn't it?

I would MUCH rather be busy than bored. I do, however, need the occasional few minutes to check my email or see what's going on in the news, but if other people can take 10 minute smoke breaks 4 times a day, shouldn't I be able to check my freakin email?

Yes, I should. Which brings me to my post for today. I decided that in order to appear like I'm working and staying busy, without being on the internet as much, that I'd type my emails and blogs into Word, and then move them over. When I went to open a new document in Word 2007, I had the choice of 'new blank page' or 'new blog.' New blog?!?!

So not only can I type my blogs in, but I can totally post them from Word to blogger. That's completely awesome.

Look at me! I'm working!

Muahahahaha (evil laugh).

Monday, June 23, 2008

sigh

You ever have those days at work where you keep hitting the 'check mail' button to see if anyone loves you enough to break the monotony of your day with a few kind words?

Yeah.

Today's one of those.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Rant

The top 10 things that annoy the crap out of me, in no particular order:

1. When people say 'next weekend' when they actually mean 'this weekend.' If its Saturday, then yes, say next weekend. If its Sunday, its this weekend. If you say next weekend on a Sunday, I will assume you are referring to the weekend that is 13 days away.

2. People who can't turn into their own lanes. Yes, I too am guilty of this occasionally, but only in circumstances when another turn must be made quickly. Your car is capable of staying in your lane. Try it. Its awesome.

3. Popcorn chompers and package rattlers at the movie. Seriously? Open your stupid candy wrappers before the movie starts, and if you can't eat popcorn quietly in public, don't do it. Its not becoming, and it really makes me want to grab your popcorn and dump it on your head.

4. Cell phone texters or talkers in movies. If it cannot wait, take it outside. Don't annoy me by opening your glowing cell phone 40 times in a movie. And if you insist on commenting on the movie, whisper damnit!

5. The misuse or incorrect pronunciation of words. We're adults. You should know how to say these things correctly by now. If you're in doubt, look it up.

6. Work people who depend on me to do every little thing for them. I need you to mail this (no problem, that's part of my job) and make 3 copies for me. The copy machine is 10 feet away. Do it yourself. Its not that hard.

7. People who call you to see what you're doing, and then when you tell them and say they can join you if they want to, they say 'well, i'm not sure. don't hold your breath or anything. i might.' You called me. You don't have to apologize. I'm perfectly OK getting back to doing whatever I was doing before you called me.

8. Bloggers who don't update their blog on any sort of regular basis. Don't you know that I get bored at work? I mean, don't you know that I care about what's going on with you?

9. People who call my office and say, "Somebody called me from this number." Yeah. There are 35 people who could have called you from this number. I don't know who it was, nor do I care to guess. If it was important, they'll call you back.

10. People who blame the quality of a movie on the person that chose it. I didn't write the damn thing, and I'm not on screen. I didn't drag you to it and force you to buy a ticket. Not my fault.

What are your pet peeves/annoyances/things that make you want to pull your hair out?

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Artwalk tonight!

I'm the featured artist again this month, and I've got 10 new photos added to my 'Live Music Series' exhibit. I also have a few new pottery pieces.

I'm excited about tonight's festivities, because its CarWalk! Dozens of classic cars will line Cypress street. Classic cars will forever hold a place in my heart (I miss you Tina--my 67 Cougar)! I love the smell of them, the sound of them, the sexy lines, the ever-present lack of air conditioning...it all adds up to wonderful.

There are TONS of things going on tonight, with the cars, the return of Dino Bob and his Volkswagen, the cars, live music, the new exhibits at the Grace and CCA, the cars, my continued featured-ness at the Cockerell Gallery, the street vendors, and oh--don't forget the cars!

Check out CCA's page on this month's Artwalk here.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Group shot!

Gary, me and Alex right after we landed.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Skydiving photos!

Here's the plane, its a Cessna-182. Its tiny.



Alex packing his parachute.



Its a bird, its a plane, its Alex!



I think this is my favorite shot.



Alex's smooth landing.



Look!! Its ME!! (and Gary)

I am SO ready to go again. Gas up the plane.

whew, what a weekend

SKI had the most fantastic weekend! Started off with a 3 hour jaunt to Belton (just outside of Temple) to see my friend and former roomie Annie get married. It was a sweet wedding, with all of the music recorded by Jim (the hubby), Annie, and both of their families. He recorded Annie's Song (by John Denver--you know the one in My Best Friend's Wedding where the kids are sucking the helium and singing? I love that!), it was so incredibly sweet. I got to see Larinda, Loza, and Emily and her little boy Jacob. It was good getting to hang out with them for awhile.

After the wedding, I drove another hour south to a little town--population 1200--called Lexington. Just down a little road from the highway is a place called Texas Skydiving. Alex lives in Round Rock, and goes there every other weekend or so to jump. He has 42 jumps now, which is incredible! I got to watch him make 3 or 4 jumps on Saturday. It looked so freakin awesome. I got lots of good shots with my new camera. I wanted to go, but I wasn't feeling well, and I certainly didn't want to make my first jump feeling super nauseous. We went out to dinner with the skydiving people on Saturday night at a place called Seafood and Donuts. Weird name--good food.

Sunday morning, around 11am, I got suited up and climbed into the smallest plane I've ever been in, a Cessna 182. It was me, Gary--my tandem instructor--Alex, and the pilot. Alex is training to run camera, so he got to go up with us, which was really awesome. I was fine the entire way up to altitude in the plane. No nervousness or anxiety at all. Gary had me turn around and get on my knees so he could buckle me in, and then Alex opened the plane door. I immediately freaked. The only words that managed to escape my mouth were: "Oh God. Oh God. Oh God." Alex climbed out on the struts and I scooted up to the edge of the plane and put my feet out. They immediately started flying all over the place, so Alex helped me put them on the step. He told me later that the look on my face was priceless. Yeah! I like to call that 'Sheer Terror!' I heard Gary say, 1-2-3!! and we were flying. I could see Alex below us soaring around, which was totally awesome. Once we left the plane I was completely at ease, enjoying the ride. It didn't really feel like falling, it felt more like, well, I don't know how to explain it. We did a freefall for probably 30 seconds or so, and then Gary deployed his parachute. Let me tell ya, that harness is NOT comfortable. He made a few adjustments to the straps and it was a lot better. We could carry on a normal conversation under the canopy, so cool! I wish I had been able to have my camera up there, it was absolutely amazing. It probably took us 5 minutes or so to land--both of us on our feet. The most incredible experience I've ever had. I reeeeaaally want to take the AFF course, its super expensive though. We shall see. I'll post more photos later!

I WENT SKYDIVING!! I'm crazy/awesome. Its official.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

NKOTB



They're baaaaa-aaaaack!!

And they're coming to Dallas. And I'm going.

I. CANNOT. WAIT.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

stupid yogurt

Every time I open up a yogurt container (or one of those heat in the microwave soup containers) I manage to get it all over me. I hate that! HATE IT!

Last Friday I went back to Kuk Sool Won, my martial arts class. I took classes for about 2 years, and then got kind of burned out on it. Its been over a year since I quit, and I've been itching to get back into it. I go to the Abilene Martial Art Center on 7th. Its an amazing workout, you learn all kinds of self defense tactics, you get personal attention from the instructors, and its so much more satisfying than running on a treadmill. I got all the way up to brown belt before I quit. I've got a lot of re-learning to do in the next few weeks, but I am very excited to be back in class. Friday's class wasn't too bad, but last night really kicked my butt. Which is awesome. I'm a little stiff and sore today, but its a good sore.

Hoping to spend some time in the studio tonight, its been almost a month since I was last in there. I've got several pieces to finish, and a few I want to start. I've been spending my time outside of work trying to finish up a website I'm building. I'm almost done with it, check it out if you have a few minutes. I'm really proud of the design!

Cassandras And Company. Its a boutique in downtown Abilene. They have an amazing selection of designer clothes, mainly denim, Vera Bradley, and some other gift-type things. One of my best-good-friends works there. I can't wait to get a pair of their jeans!