burning some rubber

here's an image of what my parents are doing now that the weather's nicer. if you know my mom, you'll find this extremely funny. i know i did!

if you click on the image it'll show them in action.

on the hunt

we've been in boone, nc the past week looking for a house to move into later this summer. we looked at about 30 houses in 2 days. trekking through high country on windy roads does not make susan a happy camper. i don't think i've ever gotten carsick, but i was on the verge more times than not. there's a few prospects but we haven't committed to anything. we'll probably make a move sometime in the upcoming weeks. gotta sell the home in the patch first.

i've been a little lazy when it comes to blogging. i'll have to get back on board soon, especially when we move. gotta keep the kiddies updated. i'm sitting at nate and katie's computer blogging this. we decided to stop in carbondale on our drive home. had to get the hair fixed. had a very unfortunate run-in with very bad hairdresser. i don't know what i'm going to do when be move 9 hours away!!

funk as druck

above is what you get when you have an open bar at your reception! thanks katie and abby. i've emailed a few people about redoing their pages, mainly because they didn't flip it over to complete the second side. i'll be happy to email anyone that is interested in filling one out, even if you didn't attend. it's always a nice keepsake to have and one can always use advice. i may be able to post it. if not, i'll be happy to email it.

you don't have to turn on the red light

i'm sitting here waiting for 10 a.m. to roll around so i can purchase tickets to the police. yeah, the police are having a reunion tour and aaron is all about it. he called to make sure i was up, to make sure the tickets got bought. i'm up, i'm up already. he could have called me 10 minutes before instead of 30. i was resting so comfortably. i still need to fix my sleep schedule. last night...4 a.m. but that's after trying to go to bed at 1. i tossed and turned for about 2 hours, got up, played a little online gaming and attempted sleep again at 4.

4 dirty birds

for much of the '90s i was consumed with the red hot chili peppers. music, art, correspondence, notebooks, etc. i'd find some way to incorporate them into every aspect of my life. i'd even given serious thought into getting the sprocket tattooed on my wrist. that's how much i loved them.

i remember the first time i saw them in concert. march of 1992. our high school rewarded honor students with cash and prizes, the renaissance program it was called. this year they got 30 or so tickets to the peppers. ohhhh, to win one. that was my ultimate goal that year. luckily i scored one (see my half ticket stub above) along with most, if not all of my close friends.

from here on out the details are sorta sketchy. i remember having to travel to what was once east berlin. to a small club, packed to the gills with people. a majority of us ended up on the second floor on the right hand side of the stage. incredibly close. rollins band opened...no recollection of them at all. fishbone also played and rocked. the main thing i remember with them was the reverb machine they used. finally the peppers took the stage. anthony wearing silver shorts, shirtless, his hair whipping around. they put on one of the best shows i'd ever seen. full of energy. it was amazing. it just clinched my love for them.

why the homage? last night aaron and i went to champaign and i got to relive why i love this band. it's been almost 15 years and it's almost as if time had stood still. they absolutely rocked. they probably have more fans today then they did years ago. my only complaint...they played 4 older songs...(if you have to ask, me and my friends, soul to squeeze and give it away)...i would have loved to hear more.

i'll post pictures and some video tomorrow. if anyone has details they'd like to add about the concert...please do so! i have a very bad memory so i'd love the help.

moley, moley, moley

remember that mole i had aaron shave off. below is the biopsy report he received from dr. semans.

CLINICAL DATA: Recently and finally! married cute female of asian extraction adorned with sexy ink deposits. Lesion recently chewed by horny husband.

CLINICAL IMPRESSION: Ectopic Pregnancy

GROSS DESCRIPTION: Received in a papoose labeled with "I Want A Baby!" is an oval shave 2mm thick, with a round 4mm well circumscribed uniform tan scabbed papule. Inked, quadrisected, totally submitted.

MICROSCOPIC DESCRIPTION: There is a proliferation of goofy-looking cells with slanty eyes running around in the dermis looking for babies, and a thick layer of hairless spermatozoa encrusting the epidermis. The combined genetic potential of these cells is highly debatable and should be illegal.

IMPRESSION: Funky-monkey flesh, labeled "Hunk A Hunk A Burnin Love," chewed off.

North Carolinny, Here We Come!

---

here are the real results: Benign Dermal Malanocytic Nevus (basically nothing but a mole but i liked the first report better so i thought i'd share.)

shopping spree

the contents of a recent online shopping spree. i've decided to try to be a bit more "girly" when it comes to wardrobe. i don't think i've ever just worn a dress for leisure. jeans have become my everyday staple and i definitely need a change. it's gonna be a hard habit to break. i told myself i'd wear the romper today and i changed my mind at the last minute. will this be the great skirt fiasco of 2005? buying and not wearing. maybe i'll revisit all the hardly touched skirts hanging in my closet while turning over this new leaf.

bejeweled

i recently acquired a lot of 14 captive rings via ebay. i had taken out my previous rings when i got x-rayed for my braces and i've lost most, if not all. i needed new ones anyways, most of my old ones didn't match and were in a variety of sizes. yesterday when i got the batch, i was ecstatic about slipping them on. to my surprise, i can't get a single one in any of the 5 holes i have open. it's been a year and a half, the holes are still visible but obviously not capable of handling a 14 gauge hoop. i almost went with the 12 gauges. so glad i decided not to. now i have to figure out how i'm gonna stretch my holes to accommodate my new gems. may have to get out the ice and perform an at-home remedy. or see if the doctor has any fat needles at work and have him perform some minor surgery.

speaking of minor surgery, yesterday i let aaron cut off a mole in the comfort of our living room. wasn't anything big, seemed quite small in fact when i saw it floating in the vial. it's one of those things that looks and feels huge when it's on your own body. can't wait til we move to boone and i have access to laser hair removal. i'm going to go crazy zapping hair left and right. or i should say aaron or jill will go crazy.

jamie just called and wanted to know if i cared if she backed out of working out today. of course not. i'm dying from our workout yesterday. so far so good. out of 7 days we've worked out 6. i may do a little workout at home tonight. that is, if my body permits. right now, it says no-way!

berlin in the 1990s

one of the high school groups i belong to asked alumni to put together slide shows from that era. here's my contribution.

a tobogganing we will go

three days into to working out and so far so good. i think i may change my mind tomorrow. i'm gonna feel the pain, i know it.

monday jamie and i hit fitclub south and did a step aerobics class. how i was a cheerleader i'll never know. i'm so uncoordinated. left, right, over the top, mambo...what?!? right, left...what?!?

today we hit fitclub west and did a powerzone class. have you seen my arms? the ones flimsier than spaghetti? now they'll be flimsy and racked with pangs. so not looking forward to it.

aaron wanted me to get some sleds today for the weekend. tomorrow jamie and i and hopefully jennaya will test them out. i'll try and take a camera to document our tobogganing fun. for those of you from the south, these are the toboggans you ride and not the ones you wear on your head.

i wish we could have the snow without the cold. i can just feel the sickness creeping on. don't be surprised if i start complaining next week about how sick i am. it will be totally worth it.

cabin fever

we woke up this morning with a few inches of snow. now we're completely blizzarded in. aaron just got back from work and decided to shovel the driveway, which he already did this morning. while shoveling, a car traveling down the street got stuck. offering some help they managed to get it going. at least a few feet. they haven't plowed our street at all and from what aaron said they haven't really plowed much outside the neighborhood either. here's a few photos from a few minutes ago. i've had to coax the dogs in and out today. they're a little too prissy when it comes to 12 inches of snow.

siu 72 creighton 68

creighton smashing

we're heading down to carbondale this weekend. not sure if we'll leave tonight or tomorrow morning. aaron's program is meeting today to discuss the match list. (where they rank candidates they've interviewed in order of preference. candidates, in turn, rank schools they've interviewed at and then they match the two) the actual match doesn't occur til march or at least that's when the med students find out where they're headed. apparently it's a long process, especially when different personalities are involved. aaron gets one vote as an attending and each resident gets a half vote but they have to agree on someone to make it a whole vote. sounds confusing. at least this is what i understand.

well they started late, and there could be a chance they won't get done til 9 or 10 this evening. if that's the case then we won't leave til tomorrow. hopefully there won't be too much of a debate. aaron brought home all the paper work last night, including thank you letters and the notes he took on each candidate. it's funny, because he said that most of the people are more than qualified so you have to look elsewhere to find reasons why you ding someone. for instance, someone wrote a thank you letter and instead of writing aaron they wrote anthony. harmless mistake, but it's something that could possibly be a deciding factor. and another girl wrote a thank you letter saying she was going to rank them number one, but forgot to change the school so it was obvious she wrote the same letter to all programs. all petty mistakes but could possibly decide their fates. crazy, to have so much power!

nonetheless, we'll be in the dale tomorrow for sure. hopefully we'll see the salukis smash some crieghton arse!

tanning beds R 4 losers!

the new ad campaign for the aad. i thought it was funny, a little unrealistic and a bit on the cheesy side. click on the print ad to see the 60 second commercial. will update on the rest of the trip when we get home. one more day in the big city!

$5.70

we made it. flew out of bloomington yesterday around 6. made it to detroit with about 20 minutes to catch our connecting flight. ran across the airport, i actually broke out in a sweat, the thought. plus i was wearing compression stockings from a leg vein procedure, so my feet were numb by the time we arrived. the plane had to be de-iced. the first time either one had seen it done. pretty cool.

no time to eat a bite. $2 for a snack size pringles and $2 for trail mix on the plane. hit some turbulance. my fear of flying is getting worse. i'm white-knuckling the arm rests when i hear the little kids behind us yell, "whoa, wh-oa, there's something wrong with the plane, whoa!" i just started smiling. these 3 and 4 year-olds were so fearless, thought it was just a bumpy ride. i turn back a few minutes later and one's fast asleep. i so wish i could do that.

we arrive 25 minutes late. we wait for our bags, i call adrian to find out where everyone is. "club fur" he texts me. "last call at 11." aaron had decided we were going to take the metro instead of a shuttle or cab. $1.35 each. he forgot to print out how to get to christi's apt building after we got off the metro. so we're walking around the downtown area for 30 minutes. it's sleeting, we're lugging around suitcases and i'm starving. we finally make it to the apt where the front desk guy was not so friendly and completely clueless. after another 10 minutes figuring out where our room key was and getting the second key, we finally open the doors and crash. it's a cool little set up we have here. a hotel room but better, we even have a washer/dryer. corporate apartments rule.

i have to meet adrian, jennifer and irina for lunch at union station in a few. i best get my groove on.

d.c. bound

in a matter of hours we're off to d.c. not permanently, sterno! aaron's huge academy of derm. meeting is out there once again. so you know what that means...samples galore! this year we opted not to pay for me to hit up the exhibit booths. thought aaron could handle this one on his own. last year we paid and honestly it wasn't worth it. exhibitors act like you're the plague if you don't have the m.d. to sell or promote their products. little do they know, it's the spouses that know more about the cosmetic part of derm. at least around these parts. aaron could care less about the advances in loreals anti-aging cream or lancomes new juicy tubes. (i probably have that backwards) the newest surgical scissors or histo equipment now you've got his undivided attention.

it is nice to walk away with all that booty. we stock up on lotions, bath gels, shampoo for the year. i can't even remember the last time i actually bought lotion or sunscreen. be ready family, you're in for some skincare treats.

got memories

i had started a memory box for my grandpa soon after he died in 2002. i stuck a few old photos here and there and told myself i'd revisit it later. when brian came to visit last week he saw it and thought it was a great idea. i looked at it again, pretty pathetic. i decided to jazz it up this week and in doing so asked aaron if he'd like one for his mom. of course he said yes. so here are my first attempts at scrapbooking or scrapboxing. for donna's i used buttons and ribbon from her sewing room. for my grandpa's i used old hardware from an old jewelry box my grandma kept that my dad made for her. it's all in the family!

it's like, you know!

a little late but better than never

1. exercise (after we get back from d.c. i'm hitting the gym full force)

2. strike the word "like" and "you know" from my verbal vocabulary (i use it, like, way too much, at least according to my husband. last week i was hanging out with jamie and simon copied something i said. i knew something had to be done.)

3. fix my bad, bad sleeping habits.

4. get pregnant (ha, i thought this would be easy, but it's a little more difficult than i predicted. 28, 26, 31...stupid, irregular numbers)

return of camel toe

i think the photo says it all!

online craziness

www.photoboothstl.com/events

westphal wedding 1/20/07

password: wed20

i noticed not a single one of aaron's aunts or uncles on the westphal side utilized the booth and all of my family abused it. a testament to the origins of our personalities?

whirlwind weekend

yes, it's finally over. yesterday i put brian and irina on a plane back to maryland and today i'm cleaning up the mess left after the whirlwind weekend. i must say, i was very happy with the outcome of the reception. the only thing i probably won't do again is have a plated dinner. it sucks to have payed for meals that weren't eaten. it just seemed so wasteful, but there's always circumstances beyond anyones control.

the photobooth was probably the best idea we had. that and the open bar. i took my copies over to jamie's yesterday and forgot them, otherwise i'd scan them for your viewing pleasure. i just wrote the photobooth guy and asked when the photos would be posted online. i should be getting an answer shortly and i'll let you know when i do. i'll also post the link for everyone when i get it. i can't wait to see the debauchery that occured and am glad it was documented for prosperity.

thanks to everyone who attended. we had a blast and loved having you there! i'm trying to convince aaron we should do it again, maybe for cinco de mayo or veterans day. we don't need no stinking special occassion to rock out, just you!

to the point!

ever gotten an email without a single exclamation mark? especially one that's four to five paragraphs long explaining how excited they are about a certain situation? i don't know why this is bugging me but it is. so much so, that i've brought it up countless times in conversation. (who doesn't use an exclamation point when describing a lottery win?) i know i'm overreacting, reading too much into nothing. (maybe they're not as happy as i thought.) it's just funny the little things i notice.

on the other hand, i probably overuse the sucker and people think i'm ecstatic about everything. i guess it's a give and take relationship. i'll use it excessively and you won't use it at all.

prozac nation

aaron's gone this weekend. in sunny orlando learning the intricacies of cosmetic surgery/procedures. so i've been flying solo this weekend. he's on his way home now, from 75 degrees to 30 degrees. needless to say, i don't feel sorry for him! ;)

friday i hung out with jamie and we watched a little tv. i feel like i'm corroding her mind with the shows i watch. we ended up watching two episodes of what not to wear. i keep telling myself it's somewhat educational, but who am i kidding.

saturday i went over to katie and adrian's and we had a little dinner and watched an episode of the office. we also played a little trivial pursuit. i ended up borrowing 3 movies. prozac nation and darkness. both movies were so-so. nothing really to write about. i did watch donnie darko again, it definitely needed a second viewing. it made much more sense the second time around.

this week i've got to start and finish reception prep. labeling favors, creating placecard settings and guestbook pages. i've been putting it off. i've also got to clean up the guest room so brian and irina have a place to crash when they're here next weekend. i'm excited about the reception, but at the same time i hate being the center of attention. it's a love hate relationship.

quote of the day

"I turned down Harvard to go to University of Illinois just because I'm that cool. And because that's where a lot of my friends are going."

—danny westphal

boney bum

once in a while i help jamie out with the simon and hayden. this week they had to get their second round of the flu shot so she asked if i'd tag along and offer assistance. apparently the receptionists aren't too friendly if you're the least bit late. last time we were 5 minutes late and we were not received well, this time we pulled into the parking garage on time. little simon, as cute as he is, is perhaps the slowest kid i know. (i'm sure all kids are slow but most are on wheels a.k.a. strollers.)

i scoop him up and start crossing the breezeway at a faster pace with him on my hip.

"can you put me higher? it doesn't feel good," he says.

"what? am i too boney?" i ask.

"yeah, you're too boney."

i swing him around to my back.

"still too boney," he says.

i guess i need to put a little more junk in the trunk. at least according to a 3-year-old.

the stealth of meter maids

i had a meeting with the wow lady today in st. louis. i get there and park right beside the building so i can see my automobile from the office. i feed the meter 30 cents for 24 minutes of parking time. last time i was there, i was pretty much in and out. so i'm thinking this should be more than enough. nadia's running behind. she offers me a drink while i wait. 10 minutes pass.

"should i feed the meter?" i ask.

"yeah, probably a good idea." she tells me.

since i can see my car, i chance it. if i see a meter maid coming i'll run out and drop some coin. another 5 minutes and i have her undivided attention. we go over details with me occasionally looking over my shoulder. nothing in sight. get done in 15 minutes and i'm out the door.

as nadia lets me out. (they lock the doors after they let you in or out of the building. another reason why i didn't want to run out there.) two meter maids walk by. did i luck out? i get to my car and i don't see anything under my washer blade. sweet. they must have been metering the main street and not the side streets. i pull out and take off down the street. as soon as i pick up speed, i notice something flapping in the far right corner. damn it!

moral: 5 cents could have saved me $10. and the meter maids of st. louis operate on the sly.

photobooth madness

aaron and i rented a photobooth for the reception and we have the option of choosing one of the following layouts.

we can choose black and white or color, and one, three, or four poses. the one and three pose options leave you with space to customize.

One pose option:

Three pose option:

Four pose option:

i'm partial to the black and white three pose combo. now we have to decide if we want the date of our reception or the date of the actual wedding. decisions, decisions.

never surprised...

...okay, maybe once in a while.

i can't remember how the discussion came about. i brought up the 911 call and how, in my opinion, it's a legitimate phone call. basically i was telling him how any thing you can think of, there's someone out there crazy enough to be doing it.

"look at the dance floor, i bet there's someone out there with some freaky secret going on underneath those fancy clothes. maybe the nipples cut out of their tanktop or a guy wearing a leapord thong."

"next time we go camping i'm going to cut out my nipples and take off my shirt and act like nothings weird," he tells me.

"that would be hilarious, and i'll act like it's totally normal too!"

3 hours go by.

i look back and this is what i see...




what the hell.

did i put my foot in my mouth and mark's really a freak in levis?!? nope, he just wanted to freak me out sooner than later.

keeping mom happy

every time we head east my mother insists we take a family photo. this year was no different. i've already gotten two comments on it. one my brother resembles an asian jimmy fallon and two aaron looks very powder-like. the only complaint i have, for some reason they didn't center the photos. along with the group photos we took individual photos and they cut off someones foot in each of the photos.

we're back home and have a jam packed month ahead of us.

crazy christmas madlibs!

Dear Santa,

I have been a good girl.

It really wasn't my fault what happened at carrie's Christmas party. It was katie who spiked the punch with too much cranberry juice. I can't help it if I drank 4 glasses. It was so good---smelled and tasted just like pine.

I thought it was funny when I put aaron's thong on my head and danced the cha cha on the lazyboy while singing `i hate myself for loving you'. I didn't mean to break carrie's jukebox and don't know why carrie would sue me for mail fraud.

I don't remember calling adrian's wife a supersonic chicken---even though she looked like one with green eye shadow and blue lipstick!

And when I threw up on jamie's husband's finger, it was only because I ate too much of that salsa.

After all that fun, I admit I was a little tired. So I fell asleep on my way home and drove my limo through my neighbor's garage. I don't think that was any reason for my neighbor to call me a shocking camel and have me arrested for assault and battery!

So, Santa...here I sit in my jail cell on Christmas Eve, all rich and crazy. And I'm really not to blame for any of this weird stuff. Please bring me what I want the most---bail money!

Sincerely and hardly yours,
susan (Really a nice girl!)

P.S. It's only 8 bucks!

---

write your letter here!

enjoy.

christmas comes early

since we're heading to maryland, aaron and i exchanged gifts yesterday. everything he got me was pretty much a surprise. all except the long johns i asked for. the shoes (see left) were completely unexpected and he also got us tickets to see the red hot chili peppers in march. a complete and welcome surprise! other misc. items: electronic sudoku, $30 starbucks giftcard, zoolander and a flashlight headlamp. i pretty much made out and it's not even christmas yet!

all hopped up on the "p"

we're officially trying to get preggers. just got back from my annual with prenatal vitamins in hand. we're not hardcore trying at the moment, mainly because we have the reception in january that i'd like to have a little fun at. we'll be sure to let you know if there's anything to report.

boy bonanza
yesterday i found out jennaya is having a boy. already have a named picked out. samuel jamison. cute name. i think the reign of our friends having girls has come to an end. baimas are having a boy. the bakers as well.

matt and kristin announced they were pregnant tuesday. they've opted not to find out the sex of the baby. more power to them, i don't think i could hold out. oh yeah, david also announced they were pregnant. pretty soon we'll be the minority.

we leave for the east coast tomorrow night. need to get a pet-friendly hotel room today. looking forward to spending 12 hours in a car with two squirrelly dogs. fun! we'll be out there til next saturday. then we're back in the patch for the new year's party at syam's. reception in january. academy in february. house-hunting in march. busy, busy, busy!

transfer of thought

a daily blogger i am not, but i have been pretty good using the myspace blog feature. 186 blogs to date. unfortunately i've been neglecting this blogger blog.

since friends and family are using it, i might as well get on board. i just transfered 25 blogs, think i'll stop there. it's a definite chore and most of my posts are not family friendly. we'll call this my g-rated blog.

i think i can type "blog" one more time without it completely dominating my post. too late.

jamaica in pictures

feliz navidad

bosco and marley wish everyone

a joyous holiday season!!

**since we are child-free, i'll post the equivalent.

setting the world on fire....

...or just myself

last week the power went out courtesy of the great snowstorm of 2006. went out thursday evening or i should say early friday morning. just about everything was closed, including aaron's clinic friday. we headed over to the langei's. they still had power. the stealeys met us there. a little "get warm, stay warm" party of sorts. no power all day friday. get home around 4 p.m. and it's already 57 degrees in the house. call up jamie and ask if we can crash at her pad for the night. no problem. next morning, head home, still now power. 45 degrees now. we turn on the gas fireplace and i proceed to hang out directly in front of it. a little while later i reach back and feel the melted nylon/polyester blend. "oh, he's not going to be happy." apparently i was sitting too close and proceeded to melt the sleeping bag and the ski jacket i had on. looks like a shark took a bite out of both. no persons were harmed during the incident. don't you worry.

canopy tour

canopy tour 2006

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status: married

it's official, we're hitched. quick note from jamaica: it's awesome. hotter than hell. we'll be back in the midwest in a week. 10 days in the caribbean rules! just to let you know! tons of photos to come!

bachlorette recap

as always, pictures say it all!

proud owner?

last night when aaron was watching the cardinals spank the tigers in the world series of baseball, i went out with a few of the ladies.

unfortunately i did not come home empty handed. you are now looking at the proud owner of: en-tice formal affair 2 piece tux set (i know for a fact that steve is a proud owner); chocolate flavored edible undies; kamasutra cool mint creme body souffle; the original motion lotion; club jenna scented bubble bath; a pocket size kamasutra royal bengal super-rich silicone lubricant; and 10 penis straws.

i had a blast. hung out at sammy's chatting and watching a little baseball. tonight we'll hopefully see the cardinals clench and tomorrow we'll be rocking st. louis! can't wait!

world series

aaron just called me and said deryk called and offered him a ticket to tonights world series game. he said he turned it down. what?!?

"the weather's shitty, i have to rush to get down there, and i'd have to pay $150 for it."

"if i were you, i'd go. it's the freaking world series and the cardinals are actually doing something this year! you should really think about going!"

he calls me back 3 minutes later...."I'M GOING!"

thank goodness. good thing i'm here to twist his arm!

save the cheerleader, save the world

i am now addicted to heros. i'm a justified sci-fi geek through and through. with my insomnia i've learned they update the webisodes at 4 in the morning. forget tivo, i've found something better.

tomorrow i get waxed and manicured, wednesday: i get braces off, thursday: girls night, saturday: shower and bachlorette party. the wedding is creeping up on me. next tuesday we'll be in jamaica. it's gonna be a whirlwind. didn't think i'd get butterflies, but i'm starting to feel a flutter. i thought about adding a wedding countdown clock, too cheeseburger. instead here it is: your wedding is in less than two weeks.

board certified

The directors of the American Board of Dermatology are please to inform you that you have successfully passed the certifying examination of the Board given on August 13 and 14, 2006. We extend our congratulations to you on becoming a Diplomate of the American Board of Dermatology.

way to go, aaron!!!!! you rocked the boards!

martini

headed down to c'dale for a long overdue visit. last time we were down was may, it's been that long. went out both nights. saturday night we went over to nate's where katie made me martinis. i continued drinking them after we hit the bars. long story short, i got pretty tore up. luckily, not sick. i think i'll have to stick to malt beverages from now on.

aaron told his pops he accepted an offer from boone. i don't know what i was expecting, but he was clearly upset. honestly, i don't know how it could have been much of a surprise. both of us have clearly expressed we don't want to move back to southern illinois. i guess the finality of it all caught him off-guard. so yeah, i'm gonna be a high-country girl this time next year.

last week i went to a boutique in springfield to buy bridesmaids gifts. of course, i wanted to buy everything. i got some cute gifts for the girls. i did come home and search the pages of ebay for a cheaper version of everything. i found a betsey johnson handbag, it arrived today. oh, the smell of real leather. i'm finally gonna retire my studded satchel. it's seen better days.

i have also been on a quest to find a halloween costume. i was gonna try and be some type of bride. i.e. dead bride, redneck bride. but i haven't had too much luck finding a wedding gown or even a white dress. it's so funny, cause my definition of cheesy/gawdy is someone elses idea of beautiful. i refuse to pay $80 for a dress from the thrift store. on ebay i kept getting outbid at the last second. i couldn't believe how in demand these dresses are. i ended up buying a costume online, it's crunch time and i needed something fast. how easy the internet has become my saviour.

right now, i'm in the process of burning our music library. adrian's on a quest to make an uber library. so far, i've burned one drawer full of cds. 1036 songs, 2 days of music. 3 more drawers to go. i gave him the huge binder of music to burn in his spare time. he sent me a list of everything he has so far, 7323 songs. we have entirely too much time on our hands!

i hate plato and uranus too

i took two big bags of clothes up to platos closet today, thinking i'd get a pretty penny for a majority of it. nope. out of the 30 or so pieces, they took two and paid me $4.90. i could see the little notes the girl was writing. basically she wrote that i was out of style. i've come to the conclusion that i have to buy something and take it right over there in order for it to remain in fashion. the funny thing is that i had bought a few of the pieces from there a few weeks ago. a big WHATEVER! i made fun of aaron when he took his clothes over and they told him his clothes were too mature. now look at me, i'm mature and out-of-style. i took my earnings and bought a coffee.

shower me with your love

had the first of two showers this weekend. it's so weird being the center of attention. i guess i need to get used to it since i have at least four more events where i'll be front and center. including the nuptials in less than a month! i've included some of the photos that diane took. wished i would have gotten a group shot with everyone together. it was fun.

afterwards, jamie, jennaya and i, along with the boys, headed out to jim edgar state park for a little camping action. it was COLD! it shouldn't come as a surprise that i just registered for a portable camping heater! so much for roughing it.

sign of your time

signs you've become "responsible" among other things

1. you own and operate a paper shredder
2. you purchase your stamps by the roll
3. you get your car fixed immediately
4. you plan meals
5. when looking for houses you consider school systems
6. new carpet gets you giddy
7. you know merlot, chardonnay, pinot, reisling
8. the shoes you purchase have heels
9. you get clothes tailored
10. the last concert you went to ended at 9:30p

carpet nightmare

thursday and friday i literally spent both days trapped in the house. we decided to go ahead with the new carpet install. i was told they would begin at 9am and complete the two front rooms and the hallway. 11a rolls around and no one shows or calls. i phone to find out what the hold up is and they tell me they're loading up the truck as we speak. cool. 11:30a one of the installer calls and asks where our house is located. ok. 12:48p they show up. not the savoriest of characters. i overheard one conversation, "did you hear about that guy from that trailer park that assaulted someone? he got 4 years, with our records we'd get 12." what the hell. aaron calls and asks if i'm gonna stay home the whole time. hell yes. apparently they didn't bring all the carpet they needed so they only got two rooms done. we ask when they'll get there tomorrow. they tell us nine, we're the first house on the list.

friday morning rolls around, 9a comes and goes. 10:30a aaron calls and starts freaking out. "call them now, they have to be done by 5p so we can get on the road to st. louis." i hang up the phone and it immediately rings. "this is the installer, we're gonna pick up the carpet, pick up some tools and we'll be on our way." okay. 1p and two guys show up. i tell them they have to get done by 5p and they said they would. 3:30p and two more guys show up. apparently they they had to call in the reserves. now they're scrambling to get things done. luckily they got everything done and it looks decent. i did discover i can watch tv on the internet. i caught up on all the shows i had missed the following week. (ugly betty, csi, grey's anatomy) this may not be a good thing.

we made it to the lou in time to meet caraway and jeff to catch a good game. cards actually won! we went out for a few drinks afterwards and got home at 2:30a. long day.

saturday we spent most of the time moving furniture and running errands. we've decided to take the t.v. out of the bedroom. we'll see how long this lasts. we met up with a large group to celebrate katie, aaron and rocki's birthday at pao. sushi galore! headed over to sach and tait's afterwards for a little pre-partying. then headed out to the smoke-free bars. ahhhh! another late night.

two back-to-back softball games today. one win and one lose. weekend turned out pretty good considering how it started.

toots tomorrow

nick asked me to cover for him while he's in colorado for a wedding. luckily we coordinated an "on call" arrangement so i don't have to report to work at 8 a.m. i could tell that might be a problem since i didn't get to work at IT this week before 9.

it's funny how different his job is to the one we left. he's supposed to make things look gawdy to make it appear like dealerships didn't spend money on advertising but instead are passing on the savings to you. hopefully i can manage if need be.

tomorrow night we're headed down to stl for another toots show. i think this may be a yearly ritual. toots and the maytals at harrahs. should be fun. better be fun, jeff!!

the devil

on our trip out west, i bought and read the devil wears prada. partially to help with flying anxiety and to occupy the massive layovers we had. although this trip was by far the worst flying experience i've ever encountered. i don't know how many times my stomach dropped and my heart raced. perhaps a sign/omen that coos bay wasn't for us. they'll send aaron an offer in a few days but our minds are pretty much made up. not that there wasn't a lack of effort, but we both couldn't picture ourselves settling there. settling? can't believe i just typed that.

for some reason about 95% of the books available at the airport have to deal with government, law, espionage or gawdy romance. so i opted to read something a little more fun and upbeat, so prada it is. i haven't seen the movie, but i might after reading the book. i always like to compare books i've read with the theatrical versions. i like to see how much of the story they leave out because of time constraints.

i'm not sure if it's based on fact or if it's entirely ficticious, but if it holds any shread of truth my opinion of the rich and famous is now tainted beyond belief. i've seen too many "how celebrities spend their money" shows that there's no help in mending my thoughts. i did find myself saying "ahn-dre-ah," dragging it out as much as possible every time i read it. funny how that works. it's a good read. i told aaron he should read it...his response...yeah right, it's all about fashion, who cares. it's about 25 percent about fashion (i knew about 50 percent of the designers mentioned which means he'd know none!) the rest is about interpersonal relationships. ha, total chick flick/book, i suppose.

oregon in a nutshell

stees

lori's coming down this weekend to have a make-shift baby shower, dinner and gifts. unfortunately, i'm going to miss it cause we're flying out to oregon again. i'm already not looking forward to this trip. i wonder if it's going to effect how i fly tomorrow.

i did have fun looking at all the outfits when searching for a gift. i've been putting the pressure on old awes. trying to convince him we can be a few months preggers when we get hitched. for some reason he's steadfast against it and always has a reasonable excuse why we shouldn't. first, we're not having a child out of wedlock. 2. you'll be 8 months when we move. finally, do you want to have morning sickness on your honeymoon? of course he's rational about the whole situation. but don't be surprised if we come back from jamaica with baby on board!

i've gotten a few freelance jobs in all the commotion. i really wanted to not worry about working while doing all this interviewing. but i can't really pass up these opportunities. it feels weird to not have any money coming in. aaron and i agreed that i could quit because his income this year would be equivilent to both our incomes the past 4 years. we were living comfortably, so we really didn't think it would be that big of a deal. i don't think he realized that he would have to actually give me money in order to make this work. i still have car payments, braces payments, student loans that still need to paid. i had paid all our home expenses cable, phone, electric, gas, cell phones. he had a rude awakening when he became the primary bread-winner.

so i have been done with the illinois times for almost a month now. i think i worked 45 minutes the last week i said i would work. basically i called in every morning, asked if they needed me. they seemed to have everything under control. they call me occasionally, but for the most part i'm done. big ups to me for finally getting out of there.

nick called me and wants me to work for him later this month. one stipulation: i can't do a better job than him. ha! silly boy.

contender

aaron walked away with a contract in hand. all of a sudden oregon is a strong possibility. now we're pro/con-ing nc vs. or

what a crazy week. attendings pushing aaron to stay here as faculty. karen calling and saying she has a lead in seattle. we fly out thursday to coos bay. wedding, wedding, wedding! ugh! i don't think we have a free weekend from now until mid-november.

kathy griffin is coming to springfield the day after we get back from jamaica. i'm in. there goes another weekend.

salem

we're in salem, oregon right now. aaron's talking shop with the other docs this evening sans me. i did tour the area this afternoon courtesy of the office manager and a few of the wives. it's so uncomfortable for me. i've never been much of a small talker and that is all you do. especially when you don't really have anything in common.

the area is beautiful, the city is perfect. it's crazy how similar it is to springfield size wise and the fact it's the state capital but that's basically where the similarities end. it's a little more alive. lots of hippies and alternative people we noticed walking around. i was telling aaron that over lunch the ladies were discussing al gore's movie about global warming and how it hit a nail on the head. hippies come in all shapes, sizes and apparently monatary status.

i called jeff kehrer to see if we could meet up while we were out here. he was suiting up to fight a fire on the oregon/idaho border. jeff's a fire jumper now, fighting wild fires all over the state. he didn't know how long he would be gone. he could be gone for days sometimes weeks. we may get to see him when we come out here again next week. crazy jeff!

there's so much to do. tomorrow we're heading to one of the thousands of state parks nearby. can't wait. jeff recommended a place called silver falls. a park that has 10 waterfalls and lots of nature trails. i'm sure i'll have pics to post after tomorrow.

i still can't adjust to the time change. i had a hard time on the east coast and now on the west. not really my body adjusting, but when my tv shows are on. my dad and brother got me addicted to big brother again and now i can't figure out what's on when.

random acts of weirdness

today there was a huge, white box on our doorstep from jane. jane is aaron's dad's weird girlfriend. i pick it up and am surprised at how light it is. upon opening it i find three inflated mylar balloons. nothing more. no card, no letter of explanation. one balloon says, "aaron, you're a star. congratulations!" you're thinking -- what a nice gesture. anyone who knows or has met her is thinking -- what a weirdo.

i called aaron to tell him about it. "what are they for?" he asks. "is there a card or something?"

so i'm not alone in my thinking. i could probably write a book about miss jane and the random, stupid things she does. maybe i'll post them and let you be the judge.

mark and jane started dating soon after aaron's mom passed away. so they've been dating about 5 years. they're both in their 50s, but act like they're in a dysfunctional high school relationship. there's so much drama and it's one of the main reasons i refuse to move to carbondale. nate, danny and carrie have had to deal with it on a first-hand basis and we've only heard stories as they trickle up north.

one, for instance. nate calls us and tells us how he just had to pick up mark at dairy queen because jane kicked him out of the car in murphy.

another. she owns a condo in edwardsville that she never stays in. one of danny's friends was getting treated for cancer in st. louis so she offers her condo as a place for his family to stay. of course they accept. little did they know that the place is unliveable. she hasn't unpacked any boxes and there's nothing to really sleep on. i felt embarrassed for danny as well as the rest of the family.

i could go on. it's just a culmination of these little things that make it hard for the family to accept her. if she would show a little sincerity in the things she does, maybe i'd change my opinion of her. but i along with 95 percent of the family thinks she has alterior motives. a black widow of sorts. (i watch too much crime drama)

a stitch or four

i cut my finger today with a pair of gardening shears. yes, gardening shears. a pair that i forgot on the trunk of aaron's car along with a lock and a set of keys. i had to pick him up from work and when i got out of the car, there was the lock still sitting apparently making the entire drive across springfield. the keys and gardening shears, not so lucky. on my way back home, i saw them in the middle of the road, right before turning onto our street. i backtracked, picked up the keys and shears which had been run over a few times. the keychain demolished, the shears damaged as well.

i decide to see if they were still usable by pruning a plant out front. got a little snip-happy and sliced through my index finger. ow. i started dripping blood, aaron pulled in right about this time took a look and said i might need stitches. i applied pressure, put a bandaid on and decided to wait it out. the bleeding stopped, wasn't oozing anymore so i thought it would be okay. aaron wanted to take another look at it to see how deep it actually was. pulled the bandaid off, started bleeding again. trip to clinic, four stitches, couple of tylenol and i'm doing better. the numbing meds have worn off, have a slight throbbing sensation but i think i'll live.

first set of stiches ever, at least that i can recall, my parents might say otherwise. stitch-free till 31.

free shipping

i can't refrain purchasing from any merchant that offers free shipping. i see an item i want, i add said item to shopping cart and presto-chango transaction done. **spend $15 more dollars and you receive free shipping.** wait a second. that's a deal i simply can't pass up. my shipping costs just about equal that amount so why not spend the extra $5 for another unnecessary item.

here's my folly. i buy one particular item i want for say $20. in order to get free shipping, i have to spend another $80 in merchandise. should i pay the $10 in shipping and handling or shoot for the free shipping? i, of course, shoot for free shipping. i am now stockpiled with baby shower gifts galore. inner logic. can't have too many baby gifts nowadays!

she's sew fly

with aaron gone i've decided to make this evening an unofficial girls night. me, marley and bosco! i went and rented mean girls, bought some hair dye and started working on a new skirt. they're both crashed out on me as i type this, completely unaware of all the fun we're going to have! aaron called me with an onofficial "board" update. got through his pathology and was headed back to start the next phase. so far so good. gonna have me a board certified dermatologist shortly. three more days of work and then i'm free! whoopeee!

here's the finished product:



update on aaron. he's back. derm boards were the hardest test he's ever taken in all his years of medicine. at least he was making educated guesses. he said, "everyone walked out a little dumbfounded. no amount of studying could have prepared anyone." i have faith he did well!

i've worked a total of 45 minutes the past 2 days. the process of phasing myself out has begun. tomorrow i'll probably go in for a little while, to make sure the paper gets sent. i set up my flight for maryland tomorrow afternoon to ensure i don't get sucked back in. so long IT!

california roll

i found a blog of a girl i went to high school with. i didn't know her, only that she dated a fellow classmate and we were in a few AP classes together. surprising since our school was so small. i spent most of last night reading what was accessible. holy crap, this girl is/was nothing like i remembered her in high school. i felt like i was reading a bad romance novel, trying to put pieces together i didn't have access to. she's pretty much an open book and i was amazed at how freely she was sharing such personal information. i'm in a great quandry...should i befriend her so she knows i've been reading or should i continue to read anonymously?

aaron left today for chicago. gonna get his board on! i bust out the korean/asian cooking when he's away. gonna make some california rolls tonight, yum!

nate and katie will be here tonight. can't remember why they said they were coming. i've rested up for the occassion. i slept til noon and then proceeded to take a 2 hour nap. well rested! you bet!

real estate game

i've spent the last two days looking up houses in boone, nc and surrounding areas. we haven't officially decided to move there but i'd say our chances are quite high. i just can't believe how expensive houses are. for what we paid for our 3 bedroom, 1700 sq.ft. ranch house here in springfield we can get a glorified trailer in boone. now we have to decide a) do we want an inexpensive house that we'll have to remodel? or b) do we bite the bullet and pay more for move-in ready house? what's sad is most of the expensive houses i've looked out have shitty interiors. i almost feel like screaming, "if i'm gonna pay $800,000 for your house at least have a decent kitchen and put away the deer carcasses. people, get a clue and watch a few home improvement shows." i've been so underwhelmed.

here's my plan and why i've been looking at houses. of course, things may change, you never know what life has in store. according to my calculations, by the time we move, i should be close to 8 months pregnant. yeah, i'm hitting it my wedding night! aaron wishes i'd reconsider, but i'm getting old. and i need to get this baby factory open for business!

flavor of love

when i can't sleep i cruise the tube. last night i found myself watching flavor of love 2 i got sucked in, fast. within the first 10 minutes there was a brawl over the bed situation. knock down, drag out, weave pulling, i mean they were going crazy at it. when all was said and done one got booted, but not before she offered up some "chaps," that's chapstick. bascially it's the normal reality show, girls vying for flavor flav's money, i mean love. let me skip to the whole reason for this post. at the end, when flav gives the girls there oversized clocks to signify they get to continue on, there's a little wine toasting and ba-bam. one of the girls shoots to the floor and then runs up the stairs. everyone looks around and apparently it starts to smell. they start up the stairs and they run across some poop on the stairs. the girl had pooped her panties/thong i'm sure.

flav was all cool about it. poor girl. i did find it funny but i could sympathize at the same time. if you have lactose intolence, you know what i mean. the pain of an irritable bowel. almost unbearable. hyperdermics stabbing you in the gut over and over. sometimes shit happens. ha ha!

buy us stuff

almost forgot. we spent time this weekend actually registering for our wedding.

buy here or if you really want to spend money buy here

for all you midwest peeps. famous is becoming macy's next month so you can find the registry there as well.

week in review.

last wednesday we watched the cardinals lose, in person, to the phillies. joe and kate shared two tickets with us. great seats. hot as hell. 98 degrees at game time. 94 degrees when we left. kate challenged me to a jalepeno-eating contest. she won, i suffered the rest of the night. literally.

thursday night: girls night out. went out with some of the nurses aaron works with along with jamie, christie and satch. frozen lemonades and popcorn, yum. got home by 10:30 and worked on a freelance project til 4:30 a.m. woke up at 7 to finish by 9. got it done and over with to keep my weekend open.

friday: slept til noon, had lunch with jamie and jennaya, hung out with jamie the rest of the afternoon. went out for appetizers and saw the ballad of ricky bobby. had to wait in line for an hour. and i think we were the oldest people there. funny movie. "i'm a winner, i wake up in the morning and i piss excellence." one liners galore.

saturday night: party at syam's. met a surgery resident who was a military brat. crazy, i've rarely met one out and about. she's 5 years older than me and went to university of maryland in munich a year before i went. of course it had moved to augsburg by then, but it was crazy we went to the same undergrad. hit the bars afterwards. for some reason everyone likes to go to floyds. it's fine but i'd rather go somewhere else, perhaps with a beer garden. i can't wait til the no smoking law becomes effective. aaron said before we left he didn't want to go to catch. where did we end up? catch. i can understand why he hates it. the people there are jerks. i felt like everyone was intentionally bumping into us. we met up with nick and brooke and didn't get home til 3. regular party animals.

aaron takes his derm boards sunday and monday. then i fly out next wednesday to maryland. can't wait. i get back the following wednesday, hop in a car and drive out to north carolina for another interview and aaron's grandpa's memorial. come back. have a week of rest and then we head out to salem, oregon for another interview. get back saturday and fly out the next week to coos bay, oregon. insane. we should know afterwards where we'll end up. but right now we're leaning to north carolina. the set up is almost too sweet to pass up. busy, busy, busy.

last day of work. aug. 16. yes.

happiness via particle matter

a couple of months ago i purchased the complete first season of pee-wee's playhouse on dvd. a couple of weeks ago they started airing it on the cartoon network. 11e/10c. a little mental esp with the execs at the network. sure seems like it.

talk radio is now on nick@night. i don't think i'll ever leave the confines of my house. i'm slowly getting sucked into reality television. or should i say "not-so-reality" tv. current must sees: project runway, hells kitchen & big brother 7. speaking of big brother 7, will's back. remember the doctor will i wrote about a few months ago. the one who's a derm d.o. in florida. he's back on the tube. nickname: dr. evil everyone lovingly calls him. more like big prick, but he knows how to play the game. i won't be surprised if he wins this season too.

photo barrage

the haze



early storm warning. unfortunately when i wanted to take another photo we were ushered indoors.



saturday, grants farm with the kiddies. 7 kids and not one of them mine! :(

busch blasted

braves vs. cardinals

last night we headed down to st. louis to see the 3rd game of the series. 7 pm it's 98 degrees and they just get done throwing out the first pitches. yeah, plural. off in the east a wall of darkness approaches. 7:10 they drag out the tarp and have difficulty keeping it down. poor groundskids. they start dragging out every motorized vehicle to hold the tarp down. gusts of wind stir up dust from a nearby construction sites. a haze covers the stadium.

luckily our seats are covered so we're not too worried about anything. we sit for another 10 minutes. the temperature drops 10 degrees. all of a sudden it starts pouring rain. not that big a deal. a little rain never hurt anyone. kids are playing in it, most of the players are still in the dugout, pitchers are signing autographs in the bullpen. all of a sudden the rain starts coming in from the right. yeah, horizontally. so much for the covered seats. everyone starts running for cover. the field starts to flood.

aaron wants to wait it out. ushers start telling us we have to go below, into the galley area. they are making announcements but we can't understand anything. the winds are blowing hard. i'm a little worried. are they announcing a tornado approaching? we head below. cramming in with the thousands of other fans. it's not as bad as we thought. had plenty of room to move around. when the rain dies down around 8 we decide to head home. thinking there's no way they can play with the field as wet as it was.

we drive out and turn on the radio and hear about the traffic problems on the bridges. tractor trailers overturned, bricks flying off buildings onto the eads bridge. we decide to head to mlk. on our way, we see tree branches in the streets, street lights lying in the middle of the road, construction barricades spewed everywhere. a pretty big storm. we get an hour away from st. louis turn 1240 on and awesome the game's in progress! unbelievable, no monsoon is gonna stop baseball. second time we've left a game that they ended up playing 2 to 3 hours later. if we didn't live so far away, we would have stayed. but we're old, we work and driving home at 1 in the morning doesn't sound appealing to either of us.

deryk and melissa were going to the game as well and ended up spending an hour in their car in the parking lot waiting out the storm. deryk wrote us today and said they're still without power. 102 degrees today...i don't know what melissa did with two little ones. we're supposed to head down there this weekend to see all aaron's med school buddies at deryk's. hopefully the power will be back on by then. crazy evening.

$40 tickets
$10 parking
$20 food
$40 gas

cards win 8-3

i took photos but i haven't located that camera cord...goal for tomorrow: find cord.

when you open this valentine...

i've been going through my senior slam book and it's amazing all the crap i saved from high school. yes, a majority of it is crap. for some odd reason, i have taco bell burrito wrapper dana sent me in there. i think it was to remind me of all the things we didn't have living in germany. i also saved receipts where i wrote the name of the movie on the back: candyman, love potion ..9, zebraman. what the hell. it's so funny looking back on the things i thought were important at the time. and you know what, i'm not going to throw any of it away.

when you open this valentine, think of me...
...that way, we'll be thinking about each other!

Happy Valentine's Day Susan,
I hope you have real cool day.
a. What are you doing tonight?
b. Do you want to do something?
Anyways...I"m glad your finally back from Berlin.
I really have missed you while you were there.
I think of you all the time.
Well I'll talk to you more later.
Love Erik

silly boys.

saga continues

here's my letter of resignation:

6/27/06

Sharon,

I am writing to you today to officially tender my resignation from Illinois Times effective Wednesday, July 26, 2006. I no longer have any desire to work at the Illinois Times either on a full-time or part-time basis. I will start working part-time next week to help Joe transition into his new position. I will not need any health insurance while working here part-time.

Susan

---

6/28/06

Susan - I'm very sorry to hear it, as I'm sure others will be.

I would like to sit down for a few minutes this afternoon after the paper gets out - not to change your mind but to hear what's on it. At 2pm? 2:30?
Let me know.

s

---

7/9/06

Ive very pleased to let you know we have a new face joining our production dept Monday morning: Please take a moment to say hello to Kim. Kim recently completed her post baccalaureate study at the Art Institute of Chicago after earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Bradley University in May 2005. Her family lives in Galesburg (convenient for visits to our printer) -- so shes new to Springfield. (She and her dog are still looking for the right place to live if you have any hot tips for her Im sure shed appreciate hearing them.) Kim will be easy to pick out of the crowd since she has a broken foot and comes equipped with crutches!

Everyone already knows Joe but somehow I failed to properly introduce him when he arrived about a month ago. (Im very sorry Joe) Joe is a Springfield native, graduated from Lincoln Land Community College with a liberal arts degree in May 2002 and completed his BA in graphic design at Eastern Illinois University in May 2005. Joe has already done some fine work for the paper now he and Kim will have the chance to work together and do even more.

Of course the sad part about all this is that after nearly 5 years on staff, Susan will be leaving the paper in a few weeks. Last week she officially scaled down to part time (look for Susan Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning) By early August she will fade out of IT altogether to take on freelance assignments and get ready for her wedding this fall. Susan has done wonderful work and been a tremendous asset to the paper sharing her creativity, efficiency at multi-tasking (!) and commitment to always getting the job done. Later in the month well figure out a good time to buy her a few beers and let her know how much she will be missed. In the meantime were very grateful to have her here to show our two new production staff members the ropes.

s

---

TODAY

Susan - when you get a minute this morning would you come up and see me? (I have an 8:30 meeting but it shouldnt take long)

Obviously, despite our very best efforts were back to square one finding the second person for the department so it is critical that I understand what you can / cant do in terms of time as I try to resolve this hiring situation.

Thanks.

s

---

new girl quit after one week.

i had to edit and take out names. i came back monday morning and joe told me kim had quit over the weekend. this was a surprise to me, i thought she was adjusting just fine. apparently she decided to take a scholarship and attend grad school. i don't understand, if this was a possibility, then why did we hire her. my personal opinion, she was completely overwhelmed. apparently sharon took kim and joe out to lunch on friday and soon after she decided to quit. i'm sure she said something that didn't sit right, she always seems to put her foot in her mouth. joe found out kim was making more money, so he's gonna demand more. sharon's in for a rude awakening.

phishing

the past couple of weeks i've been listing items from my grandma's on ebay. first item i listed sold for $686. the whole family watched the auction down to the last second. it literally shot up $100 with 5 seconds to go. we were all amazed and excited. i don't think anything else will fetch as much. what sold? a tin switchboard operator toy. a freaking toy!

in all my excitement with ebay, i let my guard down. today, i have a james bond model kit listed and i got an email asking me if i'd ship to new jersey. hello?? i hit respond, type in my username and password and type: yes, i ship to all 50 states. i'm thinking, "what a moron." it clearly says i ship throughout the united states in the listing. ding! damn it, i quickly backtrack and sure enough i got burned by a phisher. i start freaking out. why? because i'm the moron that uses the same password for everything involving cyberspace. i change my password for ebay, hotmail and attempt to change my paypal account. of course paypal is much more difficult than anticipated and i have to call and sit on the phone for an hour to get this done. i think i'm ok now. hopefully i can remember all my new passwords. so far, so good.

in other news: can we have a moment of silence for aaron spelling.

current 2006

we actually stayed the whole weekend this year! amazing!

so ill

why i decided to share this...i have no idea.

this morning i got up and gussied myself up for work. popped an antibiotic pill on my way out the door. didn't think anything of it. got to work, settled in for the day when nausau set in. i get this immediate urge to vomit. the blood just drains from my head...i run to the bathroom and sit on the toilet with my head between my legs. nothing. i go out to my car and lay down on the back seats. nothing, still feeling super sick. i go back inside and tell everyone i've got to go. grab my keys and head out the door. i get a block down the road and my lips go cold. i pull off into a restaurant parking lot and proceed to puke into a blanket in my car. yeah, i'm that nice. i refrained from grossing out the patrons of the restaurant coming out to their cars after a hearty breakfast. i get home, throw the blanket in the wash and head straight for bed. two hours later, after a nap and a warm shower, i feel 100% better. i can't even remember the last time i puked when alcohol wasn't involved. here's my moral. when something says it may cause nausau, it will cause nausau with me.

i turned in my letter of resignation tonight. no full time, no part time. i'm officially done working at the illinois times, wednesday, july 26. yeah for me. a weight has been lifted for good.

negril

we finally have the wedding booked and payed for. unbelievable, i know. november 4th in negril, jamaica. sorry, you're not invited...unless you are of blood relation and in our immediate family. a super small wedding. i also have my wedding dress bought and hanging in the closet along with the bridesmaids dresses. things are rolling along...

now it's my responsibllity to plan the reception. i have an idea of what i want, making it a reality...that's another story. next friday is my last day working full time. luckily kristin isn't working this summer and said she'd help me out with the reception. i'll have to take her up on it. dad gave me some money to plan this shindig and it's nice to have cash in my account. but i'm sure it'll quickly get drained once i start organizing this thing. weddings have an uncanny way of doing that.

a little birdie told me

doing a few domestic duties today and i come across two baby birds lying in the fresh mulch we layed monday. i'm talking baby, baby...no feathers, eyes still shut, visible veins. i call aaron over and we try and figure out where they came from. there isn't an apparent nest we can visibly see, so returning them isn't an option. aaron tells me there's really nothing we can do for them. of course i'm not going to just leave them as prey for the cats in the neighborhood so i decide to build them a make shift nest. a hanging basket, some twigs and a little mulch and presto - instant nest. aaron puts on some gloves and transports the birdies to their new home. as he's placing the second one in, i look over and see another baby. three of them. crazy. we placed our little bird abode by the window so we could monitor whether or not the mama would return. sure enough, both mama and papa returned to feed their brood. unbelievable, it worked. confident they would be fine we hung the nest in the tree. happy, happy, joy, joy. i almost feel like the dog whisperer...i'm awesome....ha!

the art of being patient

heartbreaker

aaron's graduation was last friday. he's not officially an attending until next monday, but he's pretty darn close. my how time has traveled. i just realized that i've been living in springfield for 7 years now. unbelievable, i know. this, by far, is the longest i've ever lived in one place. thanks military dad.

i stayed up all night thursday night making a video slideshow for his little graduation dinner. i'm compressing the video as i type. it was a hit. i should have had business cards to pass out while there. i need to start networking. i won't talk about work...it just infuriates me.

saturday night we went to st. louis and saw tom petty and the heartbreakers with matt and kristin. i wasn't really looking forward to it. not a humongous fan. but i did have great time. these concerts are the best places to people watch. and believe me there were about 20,000 people to watch. i couldn't believe how many people were there to see him. crazy. matt and kristin had just gone to see poison and cinderella the night before and said it wasn't nearly as crowded. i must admit, tom petty sounds exactly the same live as he does recorded which is great. now i've got tom on the brain. i think it's time to change my myspace song....my favorite tom petty song is...

the video is 20mb. and is taking forever to upload....i'll post a link later

that's sooooo retro

this past weekend i spent in robinson....helping my family clear out my grandparents house in order to put it up for sale. went down with an empty vehicle, came back with a jam-packed one. a majority of the stuff i'm gonna keep, but i do have some toys and golf clubs i'm supposed to put up on ebay. i just did a quick search for the some of the items and i don't think they're gonna fetch as much as my aunts expect. (they had a special ebay pile set up in one of the rooms). it's unbelievable the amount of stuff one accumulates over the years, my grandmother, of course, is no exception. she had gift wrap for just about every occassion and every card her and my grandfather had ever exchanged. i feel weird throwing it out, but i can't take everything.

my family thought it funny, the things i decided to take home. we had a garage sale two of the three days i was there and i was able to go around and pick out anything i wanted. most of the items i got would fetch a far better penny than the vintage toys and so-called ebay items. i picked up a box of paper napkins with cool cardshark illustrations. i could sell a few of them and make some cash. crazy i know.

best item i found was a box my dad made my grandma when he was in scouts. i'll have to take a pic because it's too hard to describe what it looks like and what it contains. it just makes me wonder what it would be like for my future kids/grandkids when they rummage through my life. i did inherit a stripped, high chair my grandmother used and a baby crib i think each of the grandkids used at one time or another. it's so nostalgic, i love it.

so all of my dad's sisters were there, my cousin wynne and my parents. it was a mini reunion of sorts. we camped out in my grandma's old house, she's in an apartment now. luckily they turned on the electricity and believe it or not we were able to get wireless internet. this i found unbelievable considering the only store they have is walmart. apparently the mayor lives across the street and uses the latest in technology. i'm gonna look for wynne now....i have a feeling his browsing myspace now. are you??

wicked burn

worked an extra long day today. shitty scheduling. who schedules one of the biggest issues of the year during a holiday week miss sharon, of course. she also decides to take 2 days off to set up for a fucking garage sale. priorities, gotta love them.

i have to send half the issue tomorrow by 11am. what was really great was none of the ad reps came in today. well i guess i shouldn't say none, tia did pop in for a second, but got nothing done. i guarantee they are gonna be the reason the paper doesn't go out on time. so all the extra time and effort will probably be a waste. i'll take my vacation day next monday which will be convenient for me since my parents will be in state.

watched 4 movies this weekend. 2 in theaters (da vinci code and xmen) and 2 on video (school of rock and the ringer). yeah, i was able to squeeze some movies in between working this weekend. i also messed around with imovie. aaron and christy are having a graduation dinner and want to have a video presentation, so i've been messing around trying to make a kick-ass one. i'll actually have a video to post sooner or later.

i started taking lunesta, in fact just took one half an hour ago. i really can't tell if it's actually making a difference. it doesn't kick in right away, that's for sure. i need to change my sleeping habits, so here's my first attempt.

aaron finds this funny. he read what i wrote...why do you write so everyone can see? did you write that your dog just farted? did you write that your boyfriend just made you laugh...ha, ha. i just did.

my wicked burn...with an iron across my wrist. very wicked!

i just sent back a pair of fake jeans...this is the second pair i've gotten off ebay. damn, i'm gonna have to spend real money for real jeans. damn counterfeits!

very random thoughts...i know. must be the drugs kicking in but probably not.

in god we trust

i'm a godmother now...fancy that!

discuss amongst yourselves

this weekend i had a random, crazy dream. and, yes, i'm gonna write about it, at least a shortened version of it. i was carrie bradshaw and was at a fundraiser with charlotte (i don't know why i'm dreaming about sex in the city characters when i've only seen a few episodes) anyways, i'm at this fundraiser and i'm deep in conversation with charlotte. we both turn our heads when we overhear "myah, myah, myah, myah-myah" (how the adults speak in charlie brown). i, of course, am confused by the conversation but apparently charlotte is some sort of secret agent because she automatically senses something's wrong and tells me to run for cover. right about this time, the "charlie browners" produce automatic weapons and start spraying bullets into the crowd. people fall left and right. and i end up face against the wall shot. charlotte, also shot, lies behind me. one of the terrorists comes up and begins shooting her in the back of the head, over and over again.

i wake up. all this conspiracy talk has got my mind hijacked! matt's influence

when its broke

a few months ago i had blood work done, aaron thought i might be anemic and wanted to double check. results: nothing unusual, maybe a little low on iron, nothing to suggest health problems. but i've progressively been getting worse. thought it could be allergies. thought it could be irritable bowel. thought it was lactose intolerence. now we're thinking it's my sleeping or nonsleeping patterns.

i've always been a night person, staying up late for as long as i can remember. mostly because of my lifestyle/career choices. but i used to sleep in when i stayed up and that's no longer the case. i go to bed at the same time, but wake up 5 or 6 hours later. my body has finally said this has gotta stop. my main problem...how to turn off my brain. lunesta hit it right on the nail, so next week i'm gonna start using a sleep aid and change my behaviorial patterns in order to get a decent night sleep.

i've been laying in the dark for 3 hours now, without any stimuli and i can't freaking fall asleep. i'm completely frustrated. it's suggested you leave your bed if you haven't fallen asleep within 15 minutes and go do something boring...like writing about this. and then try it again. here i go.

suicide watch

yesterday i got home from work and aaron greeted me carrying a cowering marley in his arms. "i think she ate a bottle of advil." what? how? i walked into the living room and there's vomit everywhere. i get to the back bedroom and my backpack and its contents are sprawled all over the floor. she had pulled my backpack off the dresser and proceeded to ransack its contents. lotion everywhere. contact solution emptied. pens chewed. lying in the center, a chewed up bottle of ibuprofen. "how many pills were in the bottle?" i don't have a clue. i'm pretty sure it wasn't full, wishfully thinking it only had a few. but by the way she's acting, i doubted it. quick call to the vet and we're off to the emergency vet clinic. she definetely looks drugged. a little lethargic. we got there, she started to perk up from the new attention she was getting. long story short, we ended up leaving her overnight so they could pump her with i.v. fluids to flush out her system. no clue how many pills she took, she's acting as if nothing ever happened. but we've got a $400 vet bill that says otherwise.

rumpshaker

had a great time in the 'dale. two fabulous shows and i saw a lot of people i hadn't seen in a long time. had two awkward myspace moments. friday i saw a bunch of people i originally had as friends but on my "no comment" rampage deleted. i guess it wasn't too awkward, because they hadn't noticed i was gone. so i've had to backtrack and befriend everyone.

then on saturday, i was getting my hair done and nate wanted to show gabe the funny pictures we had taken with my macbook. there wasn't any easy way to get to the photos...so i suggested going via my blog. so they're reading the titles of my blogs out loud and i don't know why, but i felt a little uncomfortable about it. probably because i'm not meant to be in a room when people are reading my blogs. it was just weird.

carrie decided to tear it up friday night. kept telling everyone that asians can't metabolize alcohol so i was way drunker than her after she did 3 shots of rumplemint. of course i was the one that drove everyone home and wasn't fondled by a hippie. ha! saturday night she took it easy and we had a very mellow evening. i did end up busting my ass on the stairs at the cellar. luckily i was near the bottom and only hit 2 or 3 steps. embarassed?? no, just kept thinking...ew, that's gonna leave a mark.

luke ended up severely spraining his ankle that night and creepy jeff got caught tp'ing carrie's room. liz, gary and i had to school jeff in the fine art of tp'ing. i think we created an intimate love nest for the birthday girl. although i don't think she was too happy about it.

my purses were a hit...got a request for one. new business venture?

i did have a fabulous meal at mrs. trovillion's saturday evening. mozerrella stuffed meatballs...the best, i don't think i can go back to plain ones now, thanks sherry!

aaron and i will be back in carbondale in two weeks for nate's birthday. i think we're gonna do a wine tour...or something along those lines. if you're interested...let me know. actually aaron will be back in carbondale next weekend for caraways graduation. i'm gonna have to pass, 3 weekends in a row is a little too much for me to handle.

bag girl

finished carrie's birthday present and made katie one as well. can you guess who's who?



both bags are reversible. here's the reverse of carrie's.



i'm not too happy with the end result. it wasn't what i pictured in my head at all, mainly because it's difficult to read what it is from a distance. trial and error is all i have to say.

i'll be in the dale for the weekend, so watch out!

my funny friend

email i just received:

Tell BC she needs to turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel and vote republican and she will be just fine.

a little bribe never hurt anyone

lately when i get to work there's been a straw sitting in front of my computer. the first day i was confused until i realized what it was for. "there's something for you in the freezer." awesome. it's always a venti...biggest frappacino made. and this is how gay i am. today, we had a little set back at work. of course it's all on the ad side of things. matt's swamped and i've been picking up the slack so the paper goes out on time. after the paper's sent, he looks at me and asks...are you sure you don't want to work here part-time? i'll buy you a frap every day you come in to work. and i honestly consider this a pro in my decision making. yes, very gay. now you know my guilty pleasure.

"will you take care of my cats...

...if i die?"

clearly this is a joke. her eyes begin to well up. "are you serious?"

what do you say? what can you say?

"you don't mean this?"

"my life is so fucked up right now."

she begins to tell me everything going wrong - job, finances, health, personal life and i start to understand why she's thinking the way she is.

i tell her things will get better. don't take what they say personally. i just keep reassuring her. i don't know what else to say.

clearly this is a cry for help. i've been on the "make her life better" bandwagon since. trying to find someone that knows someone that can help her get out of the job situation, which i think is 75% of the problem. i'm trying to get out of it myself. but she's worse off. if i had to deal with half the shit she deals with i'd have slit my wrists long ago.