Weekend Recap

A couple of nights ago, Bryan told me that one of the guys from the band he has been playing with lately invited us to go out to Jimbo's with all of them and their wives on Saturday. I'd never been and I figured it would be fun. It would also give me a chance to get to know the guys since Bryan has been and will be spending so much time with them. We accepted the invitation and looked forward to it.

When Saturday came around, Bryan worked and I fixed up my blog. (Did you notice?) I decided that I needed a change. I'd really like to dedicate more time to SSMM but its hard. I often think to myself that I should take pictures of whatever we happen to be doing at the time, but then I chastise myself. I have to remember to LIVE my life... not just capture it. It's a tight rope, but I hope to do a better job of balancing the two. I would love to be able to look back on this little diary of mine, and revert back to these moments.

Anywho, my sister, Kari and her husband, Adam, came by the house to bring my wedding bins, a end table and a few other things. Bryan arrived home a few minutes after we were done looking at everything and we decided to play a few rounds of Mario Kart on the Wii. SO MUCH FUN. It was nice being able to hang out with them... They are hilarious. After they took off, I went to shower and ready myself and we ended up leaving the house around 6:45. I begged Bryan to stop by Starbucks. I am loving those Christmas gift cards! It was a nice little treat to keep the chills away - not to mention it pepped me up for what I knew would be a late night.

I haven't had In-N-Out in forever so that is where Bryan and I decided to eat. When we were done, the VZ Navigator took us out to Timbuktu instead of where we wanted to go. It was kind of hilarious... We ended up WAAAAY out in the country on East Bullard where there was no 'night life' in sight... besides the coyotes that were hanging around, I'm sure.

We finally arrived at our destination. Jimbo's is a pretty cool place... With a lot of different characters. The band ended up being pretty good and one of the wives we were with managed to get Bryan on stage.

It was a great time and even better was the fact that we had made plans to go Garage sale shopping when we woke up on Sunday. Except that we didn't. We made it home late, and by the time we were up and around it was too late. Instead, I threw all the fixings into the crock pot for Taco Soup and we went out on the town.

We drove around a bunch of local neighborhoods that we would want to live in. Our lease is ending at the end of this month, so we'll be moving. Its stressful and exciting all at once. Then, we went to return Christmas stuff at Target and FYE. Bryan had gotten me hot rollers, which I wanted super badly) but they didn't work on my hair. He also bought me Bones: Season 3 and 4 for Christmas, except I already had season 3... and one of the discs for season 4 didn't work! We exchanged the season 4 for a new one,

and I chose Dollhouse: Season 1 instead. LOVE. THAT. SHOW. I was really happy.

We spent some time in Game Stop and Borders since we both had gift cards but we left empty handed. They didn't have the book that I wanted and Bryan couldn't find anything he wanted so we decided to wait. I succeeded in getting Bryan to let me go to Ross because I've been looking for filler for a vase that I bought at Big Lots (for ten dollars! Love that place.) and I found some that matched perfectly! It was a successful outing!

Rick, Bryan's Dad, came over for some Mario Kart and dinner. We decided at the last minute to go see Up in the Air, the new movie with George Clooney. Folks, it's a dud. Totally not a good movie to pay for. At the end, you feel empty. It gives you no feelings of happiness, sadness, retribution, excitement, mystery.... absolutely nothing. Its not horrible... its just a flop. Anna Kendrick (known recently for her part in Twilight and New Moon) did a pretty great job though. She's a promising little actress.

Today marks the end of a four and a half day weekend for me, so its off to bed so I can work tomorrow. Hopefully the day flies by and I'll be on my way to the gym for Yoga and then off to Kari and Adam's for dinner. Seems to me like it'll be a great day tomorrow!

Confusing Directions

This might seem random, but I find that I am a tad more honest and open when I blog at night. Is that weird? I mean... I generally think of myself as a very honest and straight forward person. But even I have my moments when I am guarded... although I try not to be on here.

Last Tuesday night, Ryan, Denise, Andy, Anna, Anna's sister Sarah, their friend Erin and myself went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

I liked it a lot, obviously. But I felt that the book had a great line up for a screenplay. As much as I understand that the book will always have more details, I feel that the lines of the movie should parallel to the book. I think that the Half-Blood Prince was one such book that could have been translated into the theater without risking too much of the meat.

I was pretty disappointed. There were little things that were changed for seemingly no reason at all. Anna also made a great point: The movie focused so much on the relationships of the characters. But not on the most important one - the love story between Harry and Jenny. This story was all about building our knowledge of Voldemort. And yet we didn't learn very much about him. We didn't learn about Merope or what happened to Voldemorts father. We don't see what happens to Voldemorts grandfather. The whole thing really saddened me. The entire premise of the Half Blood Prince is to learn how to defeat the Dark Lord - and yet we hardly learned anything at all.

Anywho, I am still happy with the books and still an avid fan. Hopefully the next two movies will be worth the craziness in this one.

Early Wednesday morning I got up and loaded the Vdub. I made great time to Alisons' house where I am spending my vacation.

It has been so nice playing with Emma and Brody. They are so cute. Impossibly so. Last night, Alison and Mark went out on a date and Emma and I had a date of our own. We had dessert which consisted of a freshly cut pineapple that was delicious. We played Crainium's Hullabaloo and we watched Pinocchio... Which I haven't seen in years.

Okay... so maybe I am extremely lame for not knowing this, but does anyone else realize the similarities between Pinocchio's Hi-Diddelee-Dee (An Actors Life For Me), Snow White's Yo Ho, Yo Ho, It's off to Work We Go and Pirates of the Caribbeans A Pirates Life For Me?

I just put that together. Here are the links:

Pinocchio
Pirates of The Caribbean
Snow White

Moving on from that distraction...

I've been stressed lately. All this life stuff. When did things get so complicated? It feels like my life as 360ed in the past few weeks. The beginning of July set off a course of events and now I'm left with the remnants and I have no clue what to do with them. It's like I am trying to deal with it but I really don't know where to begin the process.

So, I do what I can.. I pray. Last night after the kids went to bed and I went out on the balcony and watched the cars pass. I had a long talk with God. I went through all the emotions... sadness, anger, confusion and then by the end of course, I apologized. I forgot that He has a plan. And right now His plan is changing MY plan and it completely frustrated me. Even though I shouldn't I felt like he was scolding me.

"Do you think you know more than I? Do you think you can plan your life better than I can?"

And of course, I know that I cannot. How could I? Against the one who knows every hair on my head... every desire of my heart.

Again, I am in the position of letting him take the reins. Which is hard for me to do. I feel like my heart is changing and I'm kind of scared what that brings. I've always known that I wanted to be a wife. I've always known that I wanted to be a mother and maybe even a stay at home mother. I mourned for a while when I learned that none of those things may be in the cards for me. I might not ever get married or find 'the one'. I might never get to experience motherhood.. and that saddens me to the highest degree.

Such is life. I just have to learn that things will come when they are meant to. And not when I desire them to be so. I have to keep my head straight and do what I can.

Hmm... off subject... the window is open in Alison's living room and the neighbors are smoking and its wafting in here. SERIOUSLY? Does this follow me every where I go?

The neighbors to the left of us at home smoke on their back porch... our swamp cooler sucks it in and blows it right into our living room. Geez.

Moving on. Tomorrow, I make the trek back to Hanford. I'm excited to go home and see my bestie and my babies, Duey and Danny. I guess I should be going off to bed to get some rest.

Until the next time....

July 15, Not Soon Enough.

So, as we all know from this post, you know I am very excited about the sixth movie installment of the Harry Potter series.

If you don't FULLY understand how excited I am, let me help you.

1) Last week during work I was alone a lot. Usually, I would put on a Pandora station and get to work. On Monday night, I laid in bed to go to sleep and all I could do was think about this movie. I told my Mom and Larry at Figueros on Friday that I literally could NOT fall asleep because I made myself SO excited for the movie... So on Tuesday, instead of my beloved Pandora, I went here and let the trailer play over and over (and over and over and over) again.

2) My new friend Anna shares my love for Harry Potter, (as well as books, libraries, movies and hong kong... Yeah, she basically rocks.) SO...we decided to get together (and drag Denise along, hehe) yesterday to have a HARRY POTTER MOVIE MARATHON. And eat junk food. After getting food at the always DE-FREAKING-LICIOUS Port-Of-Subs we started our marathon right around 12:40. We watched, we ate, we ALL fell asleep during HP and the Chamber of Secrets, and it was a blast! We watched until 11:00 at night and Still Didn't Finish. So...

3) Since we are getting tickets on pre-sale (I've already emailed Lemoore Cinemas to get info cause I'm crazy) and going to the midnight showing (if not at Lemoore then Fresno) we decided that we'd get together before hand to eat dinner and watch the fifth movie, so that we can be FRESHLY reminded of it for this movie.

If those three things don't show you how excited I am, I don't know what will... maybe that I am contemplating purchasing a Entire Outfit from WBshop.com?

I know. I know. But you have to admit... better that I am into a book/movie series than into drinking and drugs... Am I right or am I right? :)

On another front, today is Fathers Day, and I'd like to shout out a big THANK YOU to all the Daddy's out there, especially my own and the father figures God has placed in my life. I appreciate and love you so much.

Have a wonderful day.

A Weekend Update

Today is the last day of my three day weekend, and I'm both happy and sad to go back to work. I'll be working a lot over the next couple of days, to make some extra money.

Right now, I'm watching Chuck and Denise is making me dinner. (Actually, I stopped blogging to eat it while it was hot.) So now, I'm fed and happy.

This weekend went really well. Michael and I got to spend some quality time together and it was definitely needed. On Friday, we went to The Cellar Door with Denise, Brian and his co-worker, Leigh. Then we went to Visalia Brewing Company where Denise, Michael and Leigh sang Karaoke. Denise and Leigh did it willingly, while Denise submitted Boston's "More Than a Feeling" for Michael to sing. It was pretty hilarious. Poor guy. That is a hard song to sing. But he was a good sport.

Saturday was Valentine's Day and it was a pretty perfect day. We were basically lazy all day, watching TV and hanging out. Michael left around three to run errands while I cleaned up and got ready. He came back and I opened the door, and there he stood looking completely cute all dressed up. He brought his Mom's china, candles and food. He downloaded some Kenny G, cooked me dinner, and it was amazing. It was really low-key and thoughtful. I'm a total hopeless romantic so that kind of stuff seriously makes me melt. (That makes me think of Darla in The Little Rascals.)

Anyways, after dinner, we went to Kari and Adam's. We hung out there and then decided to go watch "He's Just Not That Into You." Which was pretty good. It also put a pretty horrible depiction of women. I don't know many women actually do the things that one character did in that movie. It was pretty dramatic.

Sunday, Michael and I went to church and then ran errands. We went to dinner at Nashville Bar and Grill that evening. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but I think that with time they will get better and it'll be a good place to go.

Today Michael left and its always sad when that happens. But we have a lot of things to look forward to in the next coming months.

It's always nice to spend time with Michael. Long distance relationships can be really hard. I know I get really frustrated with having an internet/text only relationship. It doesn't seem to phase Michael very much, which probably just shows the difference between a girl and a guy.

Well, Heroes is on, better get going.

Tuesday Musings

Right now I'm sitting on the porch of my house watching Duey run around in circles. The sun is warm and the air is cold, just how I like it.

The past couple of days have been pretty interesting. On Sunday, I did manage to make it over to Brad's house to ride horses with his family. Horses are such peaceful creatures. I hope that one day I'll have horses in my backyard and I'll go on long rides in the country. That would be pretty awesome. Although, I expect my butt will really, really hurt. But that's okay.

Yesterday, I woke up and immediately felt in influx of emotions. They were around, 2 seconds apart. This is seriously my thought process:

8:59:42 OH MY GOD. I'M GOING TO BE LATE FOR WORK.
8:59:44 Wait, It's a holiday. *sighs, lays down*
8:59:45 Yay! I have the whole day to...
8:59:47 Oh wow. Denise is gone. I have nothing to do today. Man! I'm going to be alone all day.
8:59:52 OH! Dad and I are hanging out today. AWESOME!

So, in the matter of mere seconds, I felt scared, relieved, reflective, sad, and happy. If anyone ever dares say that I am not a woman, I will point them to this blog entry.

After forcing myself to get up, I got dressed and headed to Starbucks. Elena works there and I got to talk to her for a little while. I really like that girl. She's crazy. It seems she is the opposite of who I am. She's bold and colorful, and a bit of a hippie, which I know she won't mind me saying. She's definitely not a shy person, which proves even more that she is my opposite. I really have enjoyed talking to her the few times we have. Hopefully we'll grab a drink or something some time soon.

I got back home around 11:30 and my Dad called. I had just started to do dishes. He came over and we headed to Ryan's Place (a favorite of ours) and talked. It was awesome. We just talked. Not about our family drama. Not about his issues. We actually talked a lot more about mine. I told him how starved I was for friendship. He asked me what I was looking for in a friend. I've thought about that a lot. For a while, I considered that I was being too picky, but after talking to Dad I know I haven't been. When I finished describing the group of girl friends that I wanted, he said after a pause, "So, basically you want friends that are like your sisters." I never even thought about that. But the relationship I was describing was that of me and my sisters. We laugh, we talk girl talk, we're honest with each other, we're different and yet we accept each other. The whole thing doesn't sound far-fetched. Why wouldn't I want my friends to be just like sisters?

Anyway, this realization really made me miss having all three of us girls together. I can't wait for the time that Alison and her family live here and us girls can get together and play cards and drink Bloody Mary's. (How to Make An American Quilt, anyone?) I hope that day is soon. Like... in 3 months. :) Ok, okay. Just soon.

Dad was also telling me stories about my mom. After they got married, they had a solid four years to spend with each other before they had Alison. And did you know, that I hadn't heard about pretty much everything they did during that time? For instance, I didn't know that they would load up the pinto, attach a trailer and go to the coast all the time. That seems like so much fun. Can you just picture it?

It's the late 70s, early 80s. My Mom is rail-thin, and looks almost exactly like Alison, but with no make-up (my Mom didn't wear a lot of make up, still doesn't) and is sitting in the front seat of the pinto with her bare feet on the dashboard (like I am famous for). My Dad is driving and he looks over at my Mom, with his blue-green eyes and long light brown hair (exactly Kari's color) and smiles, as they listen to their favorite songs. It's so perfect.

My Dad said, "Well, I had already gone and seen a lot. But your Mom, she hadn't. Grandma and Grandpa were too strict. So those first four years, we did everything. We tried to go anywhere we could. I wanted her to see and experience everything."

He told me about the parties they used to go to, the friends they'd hang out with. All the things a parent should tell their child, so that they remember that they were once young, too.

After lunch, we went to a thrift store, and I bought us a couple of books and a old school black clutch. I bought my Dad, "Walking through Romans with Paul." He's reading Romans right now, so I was stoked to get it for him.

It was a really nice time. I really wish it was like that all the time. I love my Dad so much. Probably more than he realizes. He's actually pretty hilarious. :)

A quick update before I go, the house is really coming along. I've been able to unpack quite a few boxes in my boredom, and my room is almost finished. I'm trying to focus more on the front of the house, but I get so excited about how my room is going to look that I always end up back in my room, organizing and cleaning.

I'm hoping that everything is all ready when Michael comes on Friday evening.

BTW - Here is a picture of me and my new friend, Chief.

A Good and Unproductive Weekend.

I am completely and utterly in love... With my house. I love the smell, the sounds, how it settles at night. I walked out this morning and stood the porch and just looked. I stretched. I seriously cannot wait to get a little bench so I can take my coffee out there in the mornings and just relax.

Last night I had the privilege of hanging out with Tanner Mathews, my best friend in high school. We were inseparable our senior year. One thing is true, I absolutely adore that boy. He is amazing. I was laughing my butt off ALL night. He's a riot.

He came over around 6, and we went to watch Push. (Click here for the review.)

Then we went to La Fiesta to grab some food and a beer. It was delicious. My new guilty pleasure is a number 13, (Enchilada and Taco) with a Bud Light Lime. By the time we got there, it was like 9:15 and we start to walk up to the bar door. As soon as I reach out for it, the mariachi band start to play. It was the long drawl of the trumpet. The trumpet that has no filter, so it is very, very loud. I turn to look at Tanner and he looks at me and says, "Oh, hell no, Megan." I start laughing so hard. The look on his face was precious! Needless to say, we went into another room. OMG. It was amazing. Good movie, good food, good company equals a perfect evening in my book!

Today I have managed to get absolutely nothing done. Which is both awesome and embarrassing. There is so much to be done in this house! Boxes and cleaning, cleaning and boxes. But no. I chatted online with Michael all day, playing poker and webcaming. Then, out of no where, I fall asleep. I got off the internet to take a shower, and I just laid on my bed for a while, and then all of a sudden I wake up and an hour or so has passed by. It was crazy. Well that nap made me more lazy, so got back onto the internet and chatted away.

I talked to Brad on Facebook for a while, he invited me to his casa tomorrow. Him and Elaine have a couple of horses and after verbally abusing me for being such a loser because I was at home alone on a Saturday, he said that I should come over after church tomorrow to ride one of their horses, Chief. It is amazing how excited I am about this! I haven't been on a horse since I was like 7 or 8, when my Grandpa took us around the dairy on Lady. Sooo, I'm stoked. Hopefully the weather is good and he really texts me. He said he'd take pictures to which I replied, "Oh, that'll be great. So that when I fall off the horse you'll have photographic evidence. AWESOME." But nonetheless, if there are pictures I will post them for your viewing pleasures.

Mmm, the house smells so amazing right now. After my long, hot shower, I felt the need to bake. So I made a peanut butter bars with chocolate on top, and while that was in the oven I made a few chocolate covered pretzels. :) So now, the house smells like a home.

The good part is that I don't actually feel like eating anything that I baked. So maybe I'll cut them up and take them to church tomorrow! We'll just have to see! Makes me kind of nervous because you never know if someone is allergic to peanut butter.

Alright, well. Time to brush the teeth and get the animals settled for bed.