I can’t believe I’m about to do this
I’m not sure if I’m going to survive this plan or not, but here goes… For the entire month of August I am giving up TV during the week and limiting myself to 4 hours total on the weekends.
I’m going to give you a second to absorb what I just wrote. For some people this probably sounds like an easy task, but for me it is going to be really really hard. I’m not doing this for any purpose other than I have stuff I want to get done and I’d like to maybe try some new things.
August is a good month because all my favorite shows won’t start up until September and I have no plans to actually miss anything I want to watch. I like TV too much to go that far. In fact I’m allowing myself 4 hours on the weekends because that will give me some leeway to watch some of the movies on my DVR, Royal Pains, Mad Men (which starts up again on 8/16), and Secret Life of the American Teenager.
I’m not going to go into much about what I want to get done/work on, because the stuff on the list so far is all pretty boring and lame. However, this weekend I’m going to start trying to come up with some new things to try out around town – restaurants, exhibits, events, hobbies, etc. If anyone has any ideas feel free to share them with me. I feel like my life is just kind of sitting in neutral right now, so I’m going to try and shake it up a bit, try some new stuff, see if any of it sticks.
Here are a few of the things that I want to do:
*Finish reading Catch 22 – I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far and I’m getting really tired of having to log onto the library web site to renew it.
*Go through some boxes in my attic and get rid of stuff – also go through all my clothes and donate some of them. I’m running out of closet space.
*Take a good look at my budget and try to figure out how to pay for the girls trip to the beach, my trip to Kansas for my 10 year reunion, and the trip to Hawaii that will all take place in September.
Anyways, wish me luck.
How to make a normal situation a little awkward…
We don’t have designated parking at our office building, but a lot of people in my office all park on the same floor out of habit so I see my boss a lot in the mornings in the parking deck.
So now picture this situation based on a bumper sticker I saw on my way to work today. You pull into the parking deck and park your car. Then your boss gets out of the car next to you. You chat for a minute and then your boss starts to read the bumper stickers on your car. You desperately try to distract her before she gets to this one -
“I’d tell you to go to Hell, but I work there and I don’t want to see you everyday”
You’re too late. The damage is done. Your conversations with your boss will now always be a little more awkward.
Yes, I thought this sticker was funny (I still do), but then the logical/practical side of my brain took over and thought “seriously, you’re going to drive your car to work with that on it”
A weekend in Chucktown
The highlight of the weekend was definitely getting to see the bride and groom getting hitched, but here are some other great memories from my weekend in Charleston…
* On the drive down there, ECW was giving me a hard time because I said I probably wouldn’t get married in a church because it would be too formal for what I want, but then later in the trip was talking about the Chris Brown song church entrance video and then gave me a hard time because I said that it was stupid.
Let’s get things straight here – it’s kind of not ok if I don’t get married in a church, but if I do, it is ok if I do something completely and utterly ridiculous like this. For the record, if I do end up getting married in a church, I will not be entering to a Chris Brown song. I don’t think it would ever be an issue though because I’m pretty sure Peachtree’s rules do not allow for this sort of thing…
* This picture of MF and her boyfriend EC Friday night. When first posing for the picture, he was being silly and ignoring her with his pose so then when he tried to get serious and kiss her cheek she timed it perfectly with the picture to dodge his kiss. I was greatly amused…
* Everything KA and JLaw said on Saturday night.
* Sitting in a bar with everyone after the reception and making videos including one of all of us girls doing our window washing dance, but while sitting at the table because our feet were killing us. If I ever get a copy of this video I might add it below, but for now, just imagine the most awesome dance ever done by the coolest girls ever.
* After having the rickshaw driver stop for us to get pizza on the way home from the bar, JLaw, her husband SLaw and I sat in the hotel bar and ate our slices so I wouldn’t have to share mine with my roommates. It was closed, but we were thirsty so JLaw went behind the bar to get some water from the fountain. SLaw kept trying to get her to see if the beer taps worked, but we stuck with water. While refilling our waters I made some comment about being surprised no ones come over to see what we are doing since we are probably being kind of loud and going behind the bar. JLaw then says, “Whatever, we are the most honest people ever. I mean we’re only stealing water”
* In the morning while dividing up the hotel bar this exchange took place. For as tired as KA was Sunday morning, this was very funny.
Me: Ok, so it’s going to be $120 each, well I guess if you want to get technical, it would be $121.10 each. I can cover the extra two cents.
KA: Good, then I don’t have to give you mine.
Adventures at the nail salon
Today during my lunch break, I decided to hit up the nearest nail place and get a pedicure. This isn’t hard since there are at least 8 within a 10 minute drive from my office. I chose the one that is 2 minutes away so I could get there and not have to wait. This is how I make decisions.
I love getting pedicures, but I am the worst pedicure receiver. I thought taking a book to read would help distract me from the 20 minutes of tickling, but I was wrong. I had to use all my concentration to keep from kicking the girl in the face. The effort this requires is why I don’t get them more often, but I’m going to a wedding this weekend so I wanted my toes to look pretty. Plus the nail polish I have at home is getting old which means I need to go pick out a new one – which is a daunting task. It’s one thing to pick out a color at the salon that will be on my toes for about two weeks, but it’s a bigger to deal to pick out the polish I’ll use myself for the next 1-2 years.
Anyways, back to the main reason for this post – so I’m sitting there trying not to laugh and kick my feet and this woman comes in who is probably about 50. She starts walking around the place and then began yelling at the man who runs it – who’s name at this point I find out is Daniel. She is mad because none of the girls who have “done” her before are there and repeats the following rant about 4-5 times while walking around looking at all the girls, “I don’t mean to be rude Daniel, but these are all new girls. I don’t want some girl who doesn’t know what she’s doing. Where are all the girls who have done me before. They don’t need to practice on me”
Thoughts that ran through my mind while pretending to read my book, but really listening to this crazy lady”
1. What kind of nail salon is this?
2. Just because most of the nail artists (I don’t really know what you call them) don’t speak English to each other when they are working doesn’t mean they don’t understand what you are saying and how rude you are being.
3. If you’re that picky about who “does” you, then maybe you should go somewhere that charges more than $18 for a pedicure.
She continued on like this until FINALLY someone came out of the back that she recognized. I couldn’t believe this lady. It took all my concentration not to kick HER in the face.
I can almost remember the smell…
We had all kinds of things we could have been doing, but it was the beginning of the morning, so we were discussing long lost flavors of Extra gum instead.
“Before introducing the mentholated “Cool Green Apple” and “Wildberry Frost”, Extra had an “Original” flavour, which came in a bright magenta coloured package (as opposed to “Classic” in standard pink). This flavour was a unique blend of strawberry, bubblegum, and raspberry flavours. Consumer interest in this flavour diminished, and Wrigley’s discontinued the product based on low consumer demand.” – Wikipedia
I used to love this flavor – but I don’t think I ever really knew what it was. Now that I know, I’m a little tempted to buy the three flavors and come up with my own unique blend.
My mom absolutely hated the strong scent of this gum and would cringe every time I wanted to buy it. I however thought the smell added to the deliciousness of the gum. There were even a few times that I negotiated with my mom about what I could get/do if I didn’t buy the gum – she hated it so much that I believe it worked.
My mom and I may have had different tastes for gum, much like everything else, but it is a really nice feeling when a simple conversation like this unlocks memories I didn’t even know I still had.
I totally underestimated her description.
Last night I was talking on the phone with my friend JLaw and she began describing a mushroom in her yard that was huge. I’m pretty sure she said it was bigger than a cabbage. I totally underestimated the size of it from her description, but then she sent me this picture. I’m pretty sure she wears a size 7.5 or 8 shoe so it’s not like she has super small feet. Look at that thing – It’s freaking huge.
Her yard is just full of mysteriously big things. Last year shortly after they moved in, we came across a slug that was 8-9″ long and probably at least half an inch wide. I’m not sure I’ll hang out in their yard anymore…
I LOVE IMDb.com,
but I bet movie editors/directors hate it. I know I wouldn’t like it if there was a Web site out there that pointed out my errors (not that I make any, but you know what I mean) I don’t spend as much time on there as my friend KA, but I do check it out occasionally when I can’t figure out what else someone has been in. Then, I almost always end up looking at the “goofs” section, and I am usually amazed at how many mistakes there are in the movie I’m looking at.
I never notice these things as I’m watching a movie, but I guess there are people out there that do – “Hey Bob, did you see that, it looks like the boom mic came into the shot a little bit”
My question is this – where does IMDb.com get their info – do they pay someone to catch these mistakes so they can put them on the Web site? If so, how is it that these people can catch these mistakes, but the person editing the movie misses them? Do you think it is a big deal in the movie editing world because I don’t know if I’ve ever come across a movie without something listed in this section.
One of my favorite IMDb finds – The girl that played the teenage Jenny (Jennifer Garner’s character) in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is the same girl that played young Jenna (Jennifer Garner’s character) in 13 Going on Thirty.
Words cannot express…
How much I am digging Derek Webb’s new CD Stockholm Syndrome. You can get it here.
Because I’m on a budget I went for the simple $7.99 option, but I’m kind of wishing I had paid the extra $2 so I could get a copy of the clean version. I’d really be interested to see how many songs are actually on it and what he changed.
Playing Dress Up
Some of my friends are having a housewarming party next weekend. I glanced at the evite, checked my calendar, RSVP’d and then went on to the next email. I did not realize it was a theme party until another friend asked me last night what I was going to wear. At which point, I still didn’t get it and said something like, “I don’t know, maybe what I have on right now. Why?”
Anyways, so the theme is “frat-tastic” I think this is a very open ended theme. Last night it led to a discussion about how my Kansas State definition of frat-tastic will be different from a Georgia definition, etc. etc. (Not only a different definition, but I’d also spell it differently – I will now spell it like I would instead of how the invitation reads – fratastic.)
Boys have it pretty easy for this one, especially since most of the guys that will be at the party won’t really need to change their normal outfits at all. I guess they could go with some seersucker or those ugly shorts/pants that have little emblems all over them (that is such a southern thing that I just don’t get and definitely don’t know the correct term for) They can throw some croakies on their sunglasses and keep them around their necks all night, and they are good to go. However this does not help me.
The invitation just says to wear a sundress, which is all fine and good, but not really very “fratastic” if you ask me. Most of our school year was when it is colder so I would say the one of the main styles of my college days was for girls to wear black pants and some kind of top. This won’t work for the party though because it is the middle of July in Georgia and because the only black pants I own now are work slacks. Even picturing football games and tailgating doesn’t work for me because girls dress up down here and in Kansas we just wore shorts and a K-State t-shirt or later in the season – jeans, a sweatshirt, coat, hat, and gloves.
Anyways, I know I’m putting too much thought into this. I could just dig up an old t-shirt and my lavaliere, but then I’ll start trying to figure out what the statute of limitations is on not drinking in your letters.
Side notes
1. I am not a big fan of dressing up and putting this much thought into it.
2. Exactly how old is too old to dress up like you’re in college? 28? Can I use that as an excuse to just wear whatever?
Not today, Jesus
Last night in small group we were discussing the story about the Rich Young Ruler and how Jesus told him he had to give up all his possessions. Most of the study was talking about what it means to follow Jesus and what it means that Jesus loves you from the beginning and not because of actions you take. It also talked about the feeling that there is just one more thing you have to do and then you will have a perfectly spiritual life, and how you should become a nobody and just love Jesus.
Anyways, at the end of the study one of the suggestions was to go out for a day without any money and journal about your experience. I got to thinking, yeah, I could probably do that. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.
Then this morning I remembered I needed to get gas for my car, and I heard myself saying, “Well, not today Jesus, not today” (It’d be a really long walk to work) Then I thought, I bet He really hates hearing that.
