I Forget...

I've done So. Much. the last few weeks that my time line is all screwy.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before, but I was elected in July to be the Committee Chair for the Young Republicans Formal. Luckily, I was saved from doing this task alone because Andy quickly assumed the role of Co-Chair and I probably owe him my life, or first born, or something. Because there is no way I would have been able to do it without him.

On top of that, we had a GREAT bunch of people that helped us with the planning and decorations (Shout-out to Kelly Brown - who is amazing and totally should have been an honorable mention during the event, and Justin Dutra who put forth a ton of effort in selling tickets and being there through pretty much, every step of the way.)

It was especially nice because my "vision" was something that Kelly saw very clearly, and together we worked out the kinks. I explained what I was going for and she made it happen - all on a budget. It was suuuh-weet.

The event was held at Jack Stones Barn, we had a great turn out and I heard so many good things about it. I think it is definitely going to grow over the next five years to be one of the biggest Young Republican events, whether I am a part of it or not.





The tables came out perfectly. It was a great night all around and I can't WAIT for next years!!

My FAVORITE Neice... (for now, anyways)

I really don't even want to be typing this right now. I don't want to acknowledge, again, that its true.

My Emmers has turned 5 years old this year. WOW. Time has just whipped by. Crazy how it does that. Sometimes I can't believe how old I am, how old my friends are, that my sisters are married, that one of my sisters already has two kids, and another precious one of the way. Then Kari and Adam will add to their family, and Alison's kids will have cousins. COUSINS. That is just insane to me. But its also normal. I guess it'll always feel weird because I still see my sisters as they were when we were young. Heck, I still flip out when I look at the mirror. I remember wanting to be older, to be in love, to have long hair and be able to wear make-up. I wanted to be a grown up so badly. Now that I am, I'm like... Whooooa. No way, I'm still just a kid, until I look in the mirror and find that even though I look very similar to 8-year-old me, I have grown and matured. Which is the weirdest thing. Ever.

I digress. Emma wanted to get her ears pierced, badly. She was ready. Alison and Mark told her that for her birthday, if she still wanted to get it done, then that would be her present. Well, if you know anything about Emma, you know that she has a mind like her Mom. As soon as she gets something in her head, she follows through.

So, all of her aunts and her nana (Grandma was out of town that weekend) joined Alison and Emma to watch her experience the right-of-passage of getting her ears pierced at Claires in the local mall.

It was HIGHlarious. Emma was so nervous, but was acting so brave. Then, they marked her ears, and Alison checked, and double checked, and triple checked that they weren't lopsided. The two girls lined up and as soon as they did it, Emma SCREAMED and then burst into tears. She was over it pretty quickly, and she just wanted a mirror to look at her pretty new earrings.

Kari has a video of it, and once I get my hands on it I'll post for your viewing pleasure. (That's right Claires - We took video. So HA to you and your stinking rules.)

Enjoy the photos!

Haha, a classic Emma smile while for the chicks as Claires to come over.


All of us were talking to both Alie and Em to ease their nerves.


Emma hugged that bear so tight, she would have killed it if it had been real.


Getting her ears marked so that they were just right!


Alison encouraged her the entire time.

Emma's tears made her Momma cry!

Both Mom and Daughter survived the piercing!

Emma, cheesing it with her brand new accessories! :)

Many years ago...

A few weeks ago, my Mom and I went searching for the venue for the impending wedding. We went up to Orange Blossom Junction, and although it was quaint, it wasn't "right."

We got all nostalgic on the way there though, because we used to travel that way to church many years ago, when our family was still just the 5 of us. We decided to take the rest of the drive, since it had been years, so we could see what became of our little church nestled in the foothills.

This is what we saw:

This is the front of the church and the main entrance.

This is where the babies and toddlers would go to Sunday School.


Inside this door is where the elementary school children would learn about Jesus and color - cause the two things really go hand in hand at that age.


This is the side view of the main room in the little chapel, and of a bench I remember sitting on after church. It was "the spot" for me and my two friends.

It was a really crazy experience to go back after all these years. My Mom and I were kind of thrown back in time while we reminisced over the old days.

A Simple Mistake

Soo... I went to Applebees for lunch about a month and a half ago and I ordered their yummy Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Bowl (which is one of the very, very few items I like at Applebees) and couldn't finish it, as usual.

I took the rest home, so that I could take it to work. However, the bowl in which to heat it up in was forgotten. Knowing that if I microwaved Styrofoam I'd have a mess on my hands, I went with this:



Seemed like an A-OK thing to do at the time. Until I pulled this out of our dinosaur of a microwave:

. . . Oops. Luckily, no one saw my disaster, and I was able to slip it into another bowl without detection. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die 5 years early for eating melted plastic though. :)

A Lot to Catch Up On

So, planning a wedding in five weeks took up much more time than I thought, so I am radically behind on my postings.

As of right now, I've had a headache for 4 days - tomorrow will make it 5. I'm praying that when I wake up tomorrow, I won't have a headache. Saturday night it peaked to a migraine, but since then, I've been just living will this severe pain that at sometimes, I can work with... Other times, I wince from how much pain.

This has to be bad, right? I mean - A brain can only take so much.

Oh well, enjoy a few of the posts that I should have posted years ago. Hopefully this will make up for my absence.

A New Commitment

Its amazing to me how quickly life spins you into different phases of your life. Lately, I have hardly had time to stop and breathe let alone stop and think about all the things that are happening right now in my life.

I was thinking the other day of how this looks to people on the outside. When I look at it, its hard for even me to discern the catalyst of the past few weeks.

I am getting married.

I am getting married??

Crazy. Insane. Nothing I would ever have predicted a year ago, six months ago, three months ago. This past year and a half has been... indescribable. Its zoomed past me, almost totally on its own. And now, its halted, at this major event and then after? Will it be a slow and peaceful life? Will it be fast paced and full of adventure with my new husband? Will it be hard? Will it be easy? Will we make it?

Those questions have been swirling in my head and all I can come up with is YES. YES. It will be slow and peaceful at times. YES, it'll be filled with new adventures. Yes, it'll be hard at times and easy at times. Will we make it? YES.

Bryan and I have loved each other since I was 14 years old. Fourteen. Years. Old. Of that time we have spent about three years apart. Including the last year and a half. We clicked in a remarkable way when we met in Lemoore so many years ago. We have spent hours upon hours on the phone talking about life, love, family, God - and all of the other run of the mill topics. We have been linked in such a profound way that I am not really all that surprised by this.

But I know some of you are. Which I suppose is a reason for this post.

Three months ago I was dating Michael. I'm sure you remember him. I would usually refer to him as Mike B. but that was 86'd when the other Michael exited from my life (and blog!). So, Michael was amazing. He was a tad bit younger than me, but was unlike anyone I had ever met. I just reread that sentence and I have to amend - Michael IS amazing. He is going to be a catch for a really lucky girl. And I hope that she makes him so happy that he can barely stand it. He deserves it much more than he thinks he does.

Things started to fall apart between us, and in July, some really awful things were happening to me. Personally, professionally, I was taking a hit. It was one thing after another. A rough slope and my body was just bouncing on each event harder and fast than the one before. I couldn't keep up. Things between Michael and I continued to deteriorate and we both just checked out.

Fast forward to August. Bryan moved back from L.A. where he had been attending The Musicians Institute. We hung out one day - purely as friends - to catch up on each others lives. I told him about everything that was going on with me and he filled me in on everything that was going on with him. I told him about how I was involved with the Young Republicans club and how I had been elected to be Chair of the Formal Committee and how Andy saved my life by signing up to be my co-chair. He started to ask questions about my involvement and the things we did as a group. He was interested in the people I had met through the club.

I told him that I had already met so many great people and I hoped that our club would continue to grow and be active. He asked if there were any guys there that I thought were cute. Of COURSE there were guys in there that was cute. And I mentioned one in particular that I had enjoyed conversing with. Then I was quick to amend, "but he doesn't look at me that way." This spiraled a whole bunch of different conversation that on my end, isn't too important to the story.

I had enjoyed talking to Bryan, so we continued to hang out here and there as friends. One night, Bryan mentioned that our relationship had been an either - just commit to it and ride it through, or get away from it completely. Which I agreed with. Because we are So. Incredibly. Different. we are very passionate people about opposite things which in some cases, is an awesome and amazing thing. In other instances, it can be the sources of fighting over stupid things and being controlling over certain situations.

Things started to calm down (in some aspects) of my life and I was getting a handle on things. Michael and I were over completely by now which is something that is hard to adapt to. The end of any relationship fills you with this... What do I do with myself now? complex. I was already SO busy, but it was the nights that were hard...and the weekends. Michael and I hung out so much that there were blocks of time that I'd just be what now? So, luckily, I had projects to stretch out in that time and I had Denise and Anna who filled up the rest.

Then, slowly but surely, Bryan and I spent more time together. As our time together grew, our conversations with each other went to a deeper and more complex place. A while later, I realized that my feelings for Bryan had resurfaced with a vengeance. When I asked him, how did this happen?! He look at me and said, "Well, the first time we hung out made me scared that I was going to lose you forever. That you were going to meet some guy in YR that could sweep you off your feet. So I just waited. I hung out with you more and more. Then at some point I started wooing you and you let me. I couldn't believe you were letting me! And now we're here."

I didn't know he was courting me. Now that I look back, I see that he was slowly and surely moving me into that place, but at the time, I had no clue. And I was scared by my feelings. I was not ready to love Bryan again. Loving Bryan is a full-time job. I'm not trying to be mean, but it is. And I bet he'd say that loving me was a full-time job too. (Although, now I think he sees my independence - something I didn't have when we were together before.)

"...And now we're here." Where? Where EXACTLY were we? And then... In a blink of an eye, were are here. Marriage was thrown around, parents were talked to, a ring was purchased, and at my sisters house, last Friday, Bryan got down on one knee and asked the one question I always dreamed about, and the one I never thought would happen.

If I was reading this blog, I would be thinking that this blog needed to get to the good stuff. The juicy stuff. Unfortunately for anyone that might read this blog, there is no juicy part. Bryan and I have always wanted a fall wedding. Any time we EVER spoke about getting married it was always in the fall. Its our favorite season. So it was either, plan a wedding in 6 weeks or wait 12 months. Neither of us wanted to do that. Especially me. I do NOT want this long and complicated process to be drawn out. I have always wanted a small wedding, and selfishly, I knew that this would be a way to get that.

I'm not pregnant. This isn't a shotgun wedding to cover anything up. It's just a quick wedding. We've made the decision. We've committed to this. So, we've decided on October 25, 2009.

I am so happy and so blessed. :)

Yeah... We know.

A Functional Desk

Something that has happened at work recently, that may not seem like a big deal to you but is to me, is that I talked my boss into letting me extend my desk. The only thing I could come up with were to install shelves, but my boss is amazing and had a better plan. I forgot to take a before picture but I manage to take some after pictures.

I used to have to four drawer file cabinets on the left side of my desk. To extend my desk and give me more space, I replaced one of the four drawers for a two drawer, and it has worked out perfectly.



Here is a better view. The cabinet is almost flush with the desk, so it works out nicely.

Here is a picture of my desk all neat and organized... Using the extra space that I have. It was been WONDERFUL. Oh, are you wondering who the Really Hot Guy is on my computer screen? Let me zoom for you:


This, is Robert Pattinson, in all his yummy, squinty eyed glory. *sigh* Its a nice little pick me up during the day. :)

Fun Times at the Zoo

I would like to start off this blog by saying that July was one of the WORST months for me. It is a true saying when people reference, "when it rains, it pours." I can't believe the goings on of this past month and I am also saddened by the fact that July seems to be seeping into August.

The past month at work has been really difficult. Unfortunately, I can't go into much detail because things aren't resolved and maybe won't ever be. But if you could take a moment to pray for me and the people at work involved with the situation, I would greatly appreciate it.

Anywho, every summer I take a few days off to have a 'vacation' and this year I decided to escape to my sister house. Alison and Mark welcomed me in to their home for 4 whole days and I love spending time with them.

While we hung out and went to Coronado beach which is my FAVORITE beach, the biggest adventure that we had was going to the San Diego Zoo, a place that I had not been for quite some time. Actually, it had been over ten years ago that my Mom and Dad trekked our whole family to visit my Dad's cousin Dorothy who lives in San Diego.

The reason why I wanted to go so badly was because they just opened up the Elephant Odyssey and if you know anything about me you KNOW that I love elephants. Like... some people collect china plates with cat's on them. Some people collect beanie babies... I collect elephants. That's what I do.

Before I get to the pictures that I know you so desperately want to see, I needed to tell you a story and I wish above all other wishes (at the moment) that I had taken pictures. After we left the Elephant Odyssey portion of the zoo we went to see the lions (which is one of Alisons' favorite parts) as we were standing there, looking at the regal animals, Alison points out a sign. The sign warns that we are in a danger zone of BEING SPRAYED and we should keep back 9 feet. Seriously? How many people were at the zoo staring at the awesome power of the lions and then the lion lifted its leg and SPRAYED all over them?

That would be a good story though... to an extent. Maybe not for the person that was sprayed but for the person that is hearing the spraying story. Like... If Denise came to me and told me that she visited the zoo and was sprayed by the lions I would DIE laughing. Literally. And when I got to the pearly gates and Jesus came to see me, I would STILL be laughing. And because God created laughter and humor I think he would laugh a little too. But that's just me.

On to the pictures:

(Alison and I waiting in line so that she could purchase her season pass... I say to this picture, "Hello, Megans' Squished Nose.")

(The cutest Koala... possibly ever.)

(A leopard that was being walked around the park.)

(Me... standing in front of the elephants butts. :) )

(I could hardly contain my excitement.. They are so massive and awesome!)

( The only way this picture would be better is if the elephant was REAL!)

(Oh wait... I guess there is another way for the picture to be better, add Alison and viola!)

(My loves! They were so good all day... Emma loves the zoo! )

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....

Good Times at the KC Fair

It has been too long. I know, I know. I am slacking like crazy. Alas, my life is busy, and when life gets busy blogging is placed on the back-burner. But, what is nice is that I actually have things to write about!

The past two weeks have been Really. Freaking. Crazy. There has been a bunch of stuff going on at work, PLUS getting ready for the new year.. PLUS closing out the old year... PLUS trying to get completely organized so that this year is nothing like last year.

I have also been trying to get the house situated because the owners are coming to visit and I really want them to SEE how much I love their house. Which proves to be difficult when
A.) I am poor.
B.) My roommate is poor.
C.) We both stink at gardening/physical labor for various reasons.

But, we've gotten some things done and we need to do more but all the super hard work is pretty much done.

Luckily, my friend Ryan who came to visit from Kansas, helped us out A LOT with the gardening. (He even cleaned our kitchen.) It was really awesome and helpful considering the fact that I've been so stressed trying to coordinate everything by myself.

Don't worry, I didn't JUST put my friend since 4th grade to work. We had a lot of long conversations about life and about our goals. We caught up as much as week could in the time that we hung out.

This past weekend was the Kings County Fair and Anna, Denise and I carpooled over to it. Here is a SUPER CUTE picture of us waiting in line... (which Anna was TOTALLY not happy about.)


Finally, we made it into the Fair! In true Hanford Fashion, when we walked in, there was an amateur rapping duo that was laying down the.. whatever it is they lay down. I really wish now I had snapped a picture because I think that it was hilarious.

So, we walk the strip and go down to animals. There was nothing too spectacular but Denise held a bunny... which was really nice until it spooked and tried to end it all by jumping like 4 feet away from her and back into the little petting area.

We met up with Ryan and got our over 21 wristbands and decided to go to the Josh Gracin concert which was good but not great.


We stood close to the stage and sang to the songs we knew... but what we were really interested is was the cute guitarist/singer/pianist/violinist. He was soooo cute. Every time he would pick up the violin my heart would melt a little inside. To our dismay, he doesn't photograph all that well, but we tried anyways:


And Anna was definitely enjoying the eye candy:

And in the background Ryan is trying to mess with her ear because that is what he does.

Now... I'd like to take a moment to reflect on our Favorite Fair Moment.

There we were... just minding out own business, when All Of A Sudden a man walked up with his lady. This wasn't just any man. This man had style, this man had class. This man was and is really everything that a woman could desire:

When this guy walked up, He was wearing the boots, wranglers, and a tucked in wife-beater shirt. Which was funny in and of itself... but then, he slipped on his light brown leather vest and he went from funny to DOWNRIGHT AWESOME. In fact, he was so awesome that Denise wanted to take a picture with him:

I wish, beyond wishes, that Anna's hand was just a TAD higher so that it would be right under his butt... Just because it would be hilarious.

After the concert, Denise and I took pictures with the Really Hot Guy.



We took some other pictures but I'll post those in a supplemental blog, since this one is already crazy long.

Oh, by the way. I had one and a half beers and a corn dog which was the Worst Idea Ever and I got totally sick.

But other than that it was a great fair and I can't wait for the next one!

I have tons more to update you with so make sure to check back!

Thought Process

July is going to be SUCH a great month!

-New Fiscal Year

-Ryan is visiting from Kansas

-Fair

-Harry Potter 6

-Visiting Alison and family in San Diego (NEXT WEEK)

-Meeting the owners of the house

-GETTING AN AIR CONDITIONER

I am so blessed!

Matters of the Heart

**This post is totally coming from a disheartened Megan. Just an FYI for you.**

Most of the time I am okay with coming from a broken family. Most of the time I feel like I have overcome a lot of obstacles to get me to where I am today. And I feel like so far, I've succeeded.

Yes, I've made mistakes. Little ones and big ones. But I've learned. I've grown. I've managed to escape huge disasters. A lot of people that know me have said at one point, "I have no clue how you and your sisters turned out the way you did."

But sometimes things happen. Events in a day. Something that triggers a memory. Sometimes I'll look at the picture I have of my Mom and Dad in the mountains with snow surrounding them and I remember the casualties.

I feel the ache in my heart knowing that my future children (if I have any) will never see their grandparents together. And maybe worse, I know that Emma and Brody, who are here now, will never get to go camping with their grandma and grandpa.. something that they loved to do. Or go to the lake and swim. Or swim in the pool with them together. When they are old enough, they might hear my parents love story, but they won't really get it, won't understand it. It'll be foreign.

I know that everything happens for a reason. I know that God has a plan that I am not going to even try to figure out. And I know that the people that my parents are with now are so awesome and I am happy to have them in my life.

But I also mourn the loss for my original family of 5. I get sad at how much the decisions that our parents made has affected not only their lives, but all of ours too. I'm sad that there are all these rivers and valleys between the five of us and we'll never find a bridge or walk the distance to find each other again.

Luckily, humans adapt. Even though part of me will always wish that I could revert time and control every detail to make things happen a different way, I will always reject the idea. I would never want to disrupt what we all have now.

Alison, a woman I admire so much, has a wonderful husband and a beautiful family. I would never risk altering her life.

Kari, my fierce and loving sister is so happy with her life and her hubby and lil Gunther and their new house that they are making a home more and more each day... and to think of doing anything in the past that might change that gets automatically thrown out.

Maybe because I am single and still figuring life out, I have time to think about these things. Maybe because I was the only one left when my family finally cut the ties and I watched it all happen I have a different view. I don't know.

I just know that nights like tonight I wish I could call my parents and get some type of advice. Which I could probably still do, but why bring it up when everyone has moved on?

Q: Is Eating Raw Spaghetti Noodles Bad for My Dog?

Cause if so, Houston... We have a problem.

Rewind to the beginning.

I borrowed The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks from my Mom. I got home and sat down, thinking to myself, "Oh, I'll read for a little bit to unwind, then I'll get some stuff done in the house." (Unwind because on Monday my auditors will be here... and this entire week has been really stressful and trying in order to get ready for that.... Not to mention that the caterer I was going to meet up with my canceled when I was already on my way. Annoying!!!)

Big. Fat. FAIL.

After a hundred pages or so, my stomach starts to ache a bit. Twenty five more pages and my stomach starts to churn. Seventy five more pages and my stomach is screaming - FEED ME NOW OR YOU WILL REALLY REGRET IT. And just to show it Means Business, my head gets a little twinge of a headache.

I concede, set down my book, realize that I have FOUR text messages (which is a lot, trust me.) and its 7:45. Whooooaaaa.. No wonder I am so hungry. I ate at 11:30 today.

I get up, decide to have some s'getti and I go to the pantry to get the noodles. I look in the usual area and there is nothing but a HUGE box of the noodles. I could have sworn that we had more than this box. Well, I quick scan the shelf above that and I see a smaller box of noodles that seems like it was sealed. I was like.. hmm... wrong placement. Oh well. So I grab it, THINKING that it is sealed. Lo and behold it is not sealed. Nosiree. The wonderful part is that the part closest to me was the bottom, and the part farthest from me was the unsealed part. In my raw Wonder Woman power, I yanked the box spilling noodles every where. Don't believe me? Oh, I have proof.

The damage:


Yes. I kid you not. I was like... Oh. My. Word.

I got the camera because I knew you guys wouldn't, couldn't possibly understand what a mess it was.

I'm taking pictures and when finished, I turn around to see this little guy doing a very naughty thing:

It's almost like he is thinking: Don't look at me, Mom. I'm just hanging out, being innocent.

What? I'm sitting here innocently... Can't you SEE?

Well...You are taking pictures so obviously you are not that mad. I'll just continue doing what I'm doing and you go about your business.

It was a pretty eventful start to my dinner preparation. But my food is now finished and my stomach hasn't gotten any fuller. Time to eat!

Looking for a Miracle.. or Two......or Three???

Yesterday, I woke up with the feeling that it was going to be a good day... for the most part, it was. I got to do some reading, visit Anna's new apartment, swim at my Moms and watch a little TV.. Unfortunately, while cuddling with Beanie, I fell asleep. I thought I had just dozed off for a little while and checked my phone to see what time it was.

Was it just a ten minute nap? No. It Wasn't. I fell asleep for an hour and a half. It was 4:57... I had plans at 6:00pm. Needless to say, I was late. Which set the tone for my plans. The night ended up being pretty crappy, despite getting four, really cute/cheap small blue vases from Pier 1. (Love that store.) Did I mention they were cheap? I paid $4.27 for them. Yeah, I know.

So, the night ends up with me in tears. Don't ask how it happened, but it did. I rarely ever cry. I was super frustrated. After that the night got a little better... then it got a lot worse. I had a migraine. My migraines have really been lightening up lately, but every time I am close to my 'time of the month' I will get a migraine. And I did last night. And no, it wasn't just a 'I want to blow my brains migraine'... it wasn't even a 'I want to place my head in a vice and twist the nob until there is enough pressure to stop the pain migraine.' No... it was a 'I want to completely detach my head, sell it on the black market, buy a new head, attach that head, and pray that the person whose head I now have does not suffer from headaches or migraines.' It was one of my epic hallucinatory migraines that I Just Love So Much.

Luckily, I had an (expired) Maxalt.. so I took that with two Aleves. I was in and out of sleep consciousness and then I completely woke up and my migraine turned into the throwing up kind. Ugh. I HATE the throwing up migraines.

Needless to say, I didn't make it to church today. But I did attend home group, so I don't feel too horrible. I also made it to Target to buy some new storage for my laundry room. I was perusing different blogs and one gave me an idea, so we'll see if it works.

After I finished putting everything together, Denise and I headed over to my Moms to go swimming. It was Glorious. We played games, tanned a little, swam a lot. It felt awesome.

We got home, did some cleaning up and Denise made dinner AND dessert. She's like the best popcorn popper ever. If people gave awards for that kind of thing, she would get one. For sure.

This weekend was pretty much a bust. I did have a few good moments. However, I had hoped that this weekend would be refreshing since this week I'm going to be working like a dog to get everything perfect for the auditors that will be coming on July 5 and 6. Please pray that I have the energy to get everything done and that the auditors take it easy on a first year. I'll let you know how it fairs.

Well, a little more laundry to do and I'm done for the day. Hope your weekend was filled with tons of good things.

PS... Please pray that the neighbors that smoke near our swamp cooler decide suddenly to quit for their health. Having cool air that smells like smoke is no bueno. Especially when you are standing right in front of it and it assaults you in the face. Actually, lets pray that the owners of the house decide to go ahead and put an air conditioner on the house. Yes... both of those are long shots... but God can move mountains. I have faith that He'll work it out!

PSS... I just had a two minute rant about how both Family Guy and American Dad had shows about how being gay is normal, natural and is okay. And Denise wonders why we watched part of the Charlies Angels marathon (a Farrah Fawcett tribute, so they were the older ones.) THIS IS WHY. Yes... Gay people, you are loved. Jesus loves you. I love you. But that doesn't make your lifestyle right... and it certainly shouldn't be conveyed to young kids (who have no business watching either of those shows) as okay. It's not okay. I'm sorry. I love you...but it's just not.

PSSS... I think I am super hormonal... *steps off soapbox.*

Commit Random Acts of Awesome

Yesterday, at around 2:00 in the afternoon, I started to feel really weird. My eyes were crossing, my head was aching, I was extremely overheated and I felt like I was going to be sick. So I left work in a panic to get home before Skeeter (my car) had the unpleasant experience of getting up-chucked on.

Luckily, after running to the restroom and sitting on the floor in front of the toilet for about 15 minutes and then lying in front of the toilet for 30 minutes I got up and went to bed. I dragged myself out of bed at like 5:30 and since Denise went up to Fresno to see Danette (who had hip replacement surgery and is doing very well) I decided to text my friend Anna to see what she was up too.

She took pity on me and my loneliness and invited me to a spa party. I stared at the phone for a good.. oh, two minutes trying to decipher what a 'Spa Party' was. Was it a party in which people brought their foot spas and gave themselves pedicures while discussing how husbands and boyfriends are completely clueless? Was it actually a party that was conducted in a spa? I had no clue.

I finally asked and it's like those Mary Kay and Avon parties. So, I went! It was cool. Because I have very sensitive skin and am allergic to multiple skin products, I tried everything on my arms and hands. However, I did get to paint Anna's face with a really think mask that smelled very Italian. I actually painted way too thick and she had a hard time getting it off, which made for a hilarious story that you can read here.

It was a great night. :)

Today was a fairly busy and productive day at work. I had to key our payroll and this entire year I have been 3 cents off. Just three. I couldn't for the life of me find out where and honestly, I just didn't have the time. This year has been so crazy, so much has fallen through the cracks. But I am excited for this year to close and next year to be way more organized on my part. Getting myself organized is the problem. Time is such an issue!

I am also thinking about a lot of projects to do around the house. I DESPERATELY need to clean my room. Its horrendous. I need to go through my clothes, pack away all of my long sleeve items and get rid of my old unused clothing. I am also thinking about sanding and staining a large dresser as well as fixing the hardware inside. The drawers are all jacked up. But as I was telling Denise at lunch, sanding and staining a desk is not something you can start and just NOT finish. So I'm going to have to seriously think and research if that is something I want to do. We'll see.

Tonight, I have a meeting at 6:15 at La Fiesta. The Young Republicans of Kings County are throwing a formal and I am coordinating everything with the help of Andy, my Co-Chair and Aaron, our Co-co-chair. We have a lot of things to discuss tonight but I am excited to get things on the way.

Other than that, I've been having a great start to my summer. It seems like it is going to be a Really Busy summer. My friend, Ryan, whom I have known since 4th grade when he used to walk me home from school (such a gentlemen) is coming for a visit. I haven't seen him in four years, since he lives in Kansas. I am SO excited to see him. It's a reunion that is long overdue.

I am also planning a trip down to see Alison and the family. I'm really looking forward to that and to me making her take me down to Coronado Beach. Which is my FAVORITE beach. Just in case I haven't told you that before.

Alright. I think I have tortured you with my mundane life quite enough for one post. One more word of advice: Enjoy your life. It's the only one you got.

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.