Honey, this is what happens when you fall in love.

It's been forever I know...

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:27:05 GMT

And I have no time to play catch-up atm, but I just had to make sure you all saw this. I haven't looked into whether this is a hoax or not, but it is HILARIOUS jus the same! Crazy PETA...

www.wptz.com/foodnews/17539627/detail.html

Work frustrations

Wed, 21 May 2008 02:04:29 GMT

So I have been fighting a small battle at work to get people to respect my workspace. I think I'm loosing. It has been very frustrating to come in to work to find my deska nd drawer trashed. I went through and organized the entire clusterfuck that was my predecessor's desk. I like to keep my portion of the office as organized as possible, as the yin to my boss's messy yang.

This is how I leave my desk on Friday

And this is how I leave my drawer on Friday

And this is how I find my workspace after the weekend

Please note that the office (that I share with the executive chef) is supposed to remain locked at all times. Outside of Chef and I, only the four top managers and security have the key. Chef is not the one making this mess, since he has his own workspace, and a bit of respect for my system, workspace, and person. Yet evey night without fail, locked drawers open themselves (only I have the key to the desk drawer) and pencils, pens, markers and highlighters dissapear. Papers and invoices fly all over the place, tacks and paperclips leap out of their neat compartments in the drawer and strew themselves throughout the drawer. Not to mention the magical migrating tape dispenser.

EVIL HAMBURGER

Wed, 14 May 2008 02:28:35 GMT

A story I've read a million times, and never fails to bring tears-of mirth-to my eyes

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:25:29 GMT

Also, pukey misery-time is pretty much over at this point.

My night began as any other normal weeknight.

Come home, fix dinner,
play with the kids.

I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next
few hours:
"Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet."

So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom.

It was one of those
"cold wax" kits.

No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your
hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg
(or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off.

No muss, no fuss.

How hard can it be?
I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to
figure this out.

(YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out.

Its two strips facing each other
stuck together.

Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the
hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ("Cold wax," yeah...right!) I
lay the strip across my thigh.

Hold the skin around it tight and pull.

It works!
OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad.

I can do this!

Hair removal no longer eludes me!
I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin
extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north.

After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the
ultimate hair fighting championship.

I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet.

Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of
my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretching down
to the inside of my butt cheek (it was a long strip)
I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRRRIIIIPPP!!!!
I'm blind!!!
Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!
Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the
strip.

CRAP!
Another deep breath and RIPP! Everything is spinning and spotted.

I think I may pass out...must stay conscious...must stay conscious.

Do I hear crashing drums???
Breathe, breathe.................OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy -
a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my
hairy pelt sticking to it.

I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair.

I hold up the strip! There's no hair on it.

Where is the hair???
WHERE IS THE WAX???
Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet.

I see the hair.

The hair that should be on the strip...it's not!
I touch.

I am touching wax.

I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now
covered in cold wax and matted hair.

Then I make the next BIG mistake...remember my foot is still propped
upon the toilet?
I know I need to do something.

So I put my foot down.

Sealed shut!
My butt is sealed shut.

Sealed shut!
I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and
think to myself "Please don't let me get the urge to poop.

My head may
pop off!"
What can I do to melt the wax?
Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!!
I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse
the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it
off, right???
*WRONG!!!!!!!*
I get in the tub -
The water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war
or
sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued
together, is
having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the
tub...in
scalding hot water.

Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented
myself
to the porcelain!!

God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone
put
in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some
secret
of how to get me undone.

It's a very good conversation starter "So, my butt and hoo-ha are glued
together to the bottom of the tub!"
There is a slight pause.

She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal
but
she does try to hide her laughter from me.

She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, "Are we talking
cheeks
or hole or hoo-ha?"
She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her.

I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side
of the box.

YEAH!!!!! Right!!
I should be the joke of someone else's night.

While we go through various solutions.

I resort to trying to scrape the
wax off with a razor ..
Nothing feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in hot
wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving
the sticky wax off!!
By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and
I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this
event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving
grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax.

What do I really have to lose at this point?
I rub some on and OH MY GOD!!!!!!!
The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dick ens out of my
friend.

It's sooo painful, but I really don't care.

"IT WORKS!!
It works !!" I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs
up.

I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my
grief
and despair....
THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.......ALL OF IT!
So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now.

Nothing hurts.

I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color......

The sad thing is, I could see this kind of debacle happening in my own bathroom.

I am annoyed

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:02:22 GMT

I am annoyed that just a couple weeks after I go out and buy my copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting they come out with a brand new, heavily revised 4th edition. GRRR! Women have been having babies for how long? And they needed to make major revisions? Well I hope they added a section on home births, because we are seriously considering one. Doesn't matter, I'll probably buy the 4th edition simply because I may feel like I am missing out on something incredibly hip in the mothering world, or some vital piece of information that not knowing will seriously hadicap my ability to be a mother.

I am annoyed that my summer clothes don't fit. Ok, so I put on a few pounds BEFORE the pregnancy...but I already have the beginnings of a belly, and this irritates me. I'm barely at 10 weeks and I am showing? This seems moderately ridiculous to someone who has barely been able to eat for the past 5 weeks or so. If I wasn't being a glorified incubator right now I would have LOST weight with this current diet. Instead I've gained a cup size in my bra and a small protective fat layer on my midsection.

I am annoyed that the motheringdotcommune forums have been down for a whole 5 minutes, and there is no one online.

I am annoyed that I was so sick this morning that I had to leave work early.

I am annoyed that I went to bed at ten last night and still I am exhausted.

I am ANNOYED.

>,<

Look, you can't make me give up cigs, alcohol, caffeine AND sushi. That's just mean.

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:01:41 GMT

So the girls are gone and I am in the recovery process. I had a blast this weekend, but they really wore me out. Friday we walked an obscene amount...due to a mix up on my part (I thought it was the 29th not the 28th) and some misinformation online, we tried to go to the kite festival via the Farragut West stop, but then they had streets blocked off due to a fire so we had to walk the long way and I realized my mix up in dates so we went around the back of the white house, down to the Washington monument, then all the way to the Lincoln memorial, (spent a little time walking through the WW2 memorial before that - beautiful work Jeff!) then to the Vietnam memorial, then all the way (due to more misinformation [I asked the park authority for the closest metro stop, which I was thinking was Smithsonian]) to the Foggy Bottom stop. We went to New Big Wong in Chinatown and then got off at DuPont and walked to Georgetown for some window shopping. Saturday we kept it simple. First we wen to the National Air and Space Museum followed by, of all places (they wanted to go, it wasn't my suggestion), the USHMM (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). We had a good time at both places, they got space ice cream and I gave them a personal tour of the USHMM since I've been there about 8 times plus I took a class on it. It was actually kind of funny, because I was trying to speak very softly (the main exhibit is always eerily quiet) so that only the girls could hear me, but apparently I had a little following of people who were listening to me walk through the exhibit and give them the basics that, had they read it all, would have taken us easily three hours instead of an hour and fifteen minutes. We then went to Matsu and we treated the ladies to their first real sushi. My cousin said she liked sushi, but she'd only had the grocery store kind. Melody liked it (she'd never had it before at all) but the straight raw fish was just too much for her. I think she's more of a CA roll kind of sushi eater. Please, before I get seven comments about how you're not supposed to eat sushi when you're preggers, everything I ate (except for two pieces of John's spicey yellowtail) was fully cooked. It wasn't ealy, but I did it. Look, you can't make me give up cigs, alcohol, caffeine AND sushi. That's just plain mean. By Sunday however, I was so tired that I stayed in bed most of the day, I finally got up at 2pm when we had to go drop the girls off. And inspite of all that sleep, I still was tired last night and couldn't wait to go to bed.

All in all, it was a good weekend, but I really wanted to go to the zoo. I'm going to try to get a couple people together to go to the zoo maybe this coming Saturday. I want to see the Giant Octopus feeding at 11 or 3!

Untitled - a plea

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:27:32 GMT

I need YOUR help. My teenage [female] cousin and my sister (Mel - the 2nd youngest) are coming to stay with me for the weekend, starting tonight. They have been given some cash, and this is what they wanted to do for their birthdays (both in Feb, when I was in bed with hurt neck). I have off tomorrow, and they want to “see” DC. My cousin is from Richmond and my sister is from Fredericksburg, neither have ever really been to DC. My question to you is: what to tourists do in DC? I never really did the tourist thing, but I am supposed to show them a good time this weekend.

So far what I’m thinking we’ll do is:

The cherry blossoms.
The zoo
A highlights tour of the Smithsonians.
Chinese food in Chinatown
Whitehouse tour is out – way to difficult to schedule, and our group is too small.

We are going to be Metroing it, so we’re traveling pretty light. Anything I’m missing? Anything you really enjoyed when you visited DC?

Stopwatch Hearts - Delerium

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:14:27 GMT

Go outside right now. RIGHT NOW

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:52:35 GMT

It smells like spring. It really, really does. And not that fake spring smell that is in detergeant, real, clean, earthy, fresh, slighlty damp, green, tingly, oh-so-close SPRING smell.

In other news, I dreamt that a good friend of mine had a baby. She asked me to babysit the newborn while she supervised the exact placement of the crib (typical behavior for this particular friend). I of course I have no problmes watching after children of any size. Except in this dream, I dropped it. I dropped it. It freaked me out so bad I woke up. I woke up to this wonderful, beautiful spring day. And I still can't shake that horrified feeling. True, it's been a few years since I did more than hold a baby for more than a half hour or so, but still, I somehow don't think I've forgotten how to hold one. geez. I may have to ask K if we can scale back the babytalk when we hang out, because it is apparently beginning to mess with my subconcious!

Holly = full of awesome and win / angel of death / poster of fallacies

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:45:13 GMT

I thought of you, King Nerd. You and your gigantic pile of books, which, when I first saw them strewn about of the floor in heaps, reminded me of Smaug's lair. I suppose felt a bit like Bilbo, peering over the edge, eyes wide. So much treasure!

When did I think of you? When my mother took pity on my carless house-bondage the week before last and picked me up and took me to McKay's Used Books in Manassas. I do not particularly like McKay's, I prefer to drive to Warrenton to B.J.'s Books, which is owned by a couple of very kind, slightly pudgy older women who read waaaay too much. But forgive me, I digress.

My mom needed to trade a huge stack of smut, so I wandered the stacks as she selected a new stack of trashy, ill written romances to take home. (not to knock trashy romances, but the one's that aren't well written...*shudder* I just can't do it. Those western cowboy stories she favors are just too terrible...tooooo terrible!)

I my neck was killing me and I so I made my way towards the mass of pink and red covered paperback where I knew my mother would be. I cut across the Science Fiction / Fantasy section, and to my suprise, saw a book I hadn't read in ages. Anyone here familiar with Redwall ? It was an old copy, before they redid the covers. I started reading it and in a fit of nostalgia decided to buy it. I decided to give the ole SF/F section, which I normally neglect, I good look. I found The Road to Underfall another oldie that I hadn't read since that summer when I was 12 or 13 and I read everything I could reach in our small rural library. Then I saw a name - Anne McCaffrey. It sounded so familiar...but from where? I'm pretty sure I hadn't read any of the title's I was seeing, so I pulled a volume out. Immediately it clicked. Ahhhh those dragon books that Seth had five hundred thousand copies of.* I'm sure I spend at least an hour looking for "em, em, McCaff - McCaffrey...em em em" in that huge pile of books. I looked the book up and down, read the back cover, and decided, well, in honor of Seth, and so many more of my Sci-Fi / Fantasy loving friends, I would give it a try. And if I hated it, I felt I would have solid justification for my general dislike for genre.

So yesterday I finally got up the courage to crack the cover of Dragonflight during dinner. (Yes, that's right. I read during dinner. John was stuck in traffic due to the freezing rain, so I once again partook of that solitary delight: combining two of my favorite pastimes, reading and eating.) Imagine my suprise when I discovered about 12am that I had read the sucker cover-to-cover in almost 6 hours. I am pretty sure John came home during that time, heated himself a plate, played some WoW...I think he tried to talk to me, I can't be sure. I was absolutely immersed in that book...it has been a while since a story really captured my attention and consumed my whole focus. I can honestly say I really, really, really enjoyed that book. I'll be sneaking back to the bookstore tomorrow on my way home from work with some money pilfered from the grocery budget to buy my own pile, methinks.**

*This is apparently where the meds ate a whole in my brain. Of course, I was still on the muscle relaxers at the time, so perhaps this mistake can be blamed on simply being high, and not a serious medical condion for which I may want to seek treatment. Apparenly Seth has no McCaffrey. Who knew. I am pretty sure he has every anthology with a preview, an excerpt, or a foreward by R.A. Salvatore though. I don't think I can forget that name.

**And so what started as (what I considered) a grand gesture to understand my friends and their loyal fascination with a genre that I have always disliked and even disdained turned into a wierd nothingness. Oh well. I've still found another source of fluff to read on the ole sickbed.*** (I'm sticking to the Bronte at work, can't loose face there.) Man, I feel dumb.

***speaking of the sickbed, I am feeling 200% better. I'm back at work, which is awesome. Nothing like being reminded that you are a failure and a shame to your major eight hours a day, four days a week.**** And now I feel nothing but irritation with myself for attempting a grand gesture, failing miserably, and compremising my own literary code of conduct in the process.

****In other news*****, I am full of awesome and win. Also known as the Chef's worst assistant EVAR. That's right everbody...not only was I sick for my first couple of weeks (after telling him in my interview that I rarely get sick), I locked myself out of the computer system my first day alone, I constantly mix up my coworkers names so that now I am petrified of speaking to anyone, I may have inadvertantly (through no fault of my own, I assure you) gotten my boss in a tight place with his boss today, and to top it all off...I killed the man's fish today. I swear, I just changed its water EXACTLY the way you're supposed to. (I had a Beta for sevaral years as a child) It died right before I left for the day. Like I said, full of awesome and win. Hello Holly, angel of death / poster of awkwardness******.

***** I just make a footnote on a footnote. again. Holly = awesome and win.

******Am I spelling it wrong, or is awkward actually spelled rather awkwardly? It just looks wierd. Huh. Maybe its my bedtime.

Bad day transformed

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:39:13 GMT

First off I should properly and publicly thank my father-in-law who so thoughtfully brought me flowers and his own cheerful face to visit on Saturday, plus my three fab lit circle friends who helped me heal with lots of laugher and goodwill that afternoon. It was a good day, we went to the Olive Garden for lunch, which was a fab splurge. Our waiter was very cute, and maybe a little awed by so many fabulous nerdygirls, he spilled Colva's drink all over himself and every last one of us caught a few drops ourselves. We wne to Katherine's to hang out and I even played Wii (a very little) for the first time, and was suprised by how much I enjoyed it. We played Katherine's favorite game, Wild Rabbids or something like that. It was great. I was especially good at smacking the bad bunnies upside the head, but found that my virtual music skills are not much better than in real life. I would probably suck at Guitar Hero. Even Liz was unusually ungrumpy (and as usual a delight) and kicked everyone's butt at the burping game. I didn't even see her take out her knitting once, that's how busy we were laughing and carousing. Poor people sitting next to us in the restaurant, we were a mess, lol. :)

Today was my first day back to work, and it did not go well. I went to bed last night sorer than I expected, and woke up in a lot of pain. I went to work anyway. (mistake number one?) After an hour I was worse, despite taking my medication (minus the muscle relaxer). By 11 I was in tears and had to go home. I called my mom (it's her birthday today) and she told me I needed to see the doctor. She called and made an appointment for me with her chiropractor. I took the muscle relaxers and my sister Kelly drove me to the doc. I just got back. He said it did not look good, that I probaby have some muscle tearing on the left side of my neck. He is going to look at my x-rays, we'll know more tomorrow. He gave me a neck brace and recommended ice/heat therapy. He said no way am I going to work tomorrow, and we'll see about Wednesday. He did some heat therapy, which felt kinda nice, but I am sooo tender. So all in all it has been a pretty sucky day.

I got home and saw that there was a package being held for me at the office. I was quite puzzled, since we haven't ordered anything from Amazon in a while. Imagine my delight when I open the box and see that my dear friend Theresa had sent me an amazing pick-me-up present. Anyone heard of Numi Flowering Tea ? I had not, but I am really excited to try it. When can we get together for a cuppa, SternEngel? It was so thoughtful and I really appreciate it. You always find the most ingenious things I've never heard of...how do you do it? *hugs* Such a wonderful gesture that made my whole day seem a whole helluva lot better, thanks!

Ok that all for now...gonna go get my icepack. byeee!

And just so you know...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:36:43 GMT

I love you, I've been reading my friends page, and I have NO intention of doing that meme.

:)

It doesnt mean we won't be bffs or whatevah. :)

Tea and medication

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:17:55 GMT

Thanks everyone for your comments, they were really sweet (except you missy prissy. ok I was tired and drugged up, I think that was incredibly coherent considering the circumstances. :P ). I figured I would give you all a progress report. After speaking with my boss we decided it would be best if I took off through the weekend and tried returning to work on Monday. He actually sounded genuinely concerned...wierd behavior for a boss, huh?

I'm still moving like a robot, but each day that passses I find I have a little more mobility. Yesterday I was able to wash my hair and I even bent over to pick something up once! Im drinking tons of hot tea, wearing those ThermaCare wraps under my pjs, and of course playing Warcraft. For some reason My pain medication does not seem to be working on my calf...it hurts like a mother, and for the dumbest reason. It took the police a while to show up on scene, maybe 20 minutes 'cause the cell towers went down and there was no reaching 911. When the paramedics arrived and began cheking me over, one one them was talking to me and checki my extremities to make sure nothing was wrong. When he got to my right foot, he had to tell me to release the brake. I'd had the pedal to the floor since before the impact...I'm such a goof. And that evening those muscles were all kinds of knotted up, and they still hurt like hell. Lol.

But none of that really matters, since I was promoted to the third highest rank in my guild even though im only a 36. Most of the other ppl at my rank are 50s. It's cool. Now I gotta go do some farming. I downloaded a mod to help me set prices in the AH so I can save my 100g for my mount at 40. I am very excited about this, since John's druid got travel form at 30 he's been running circles around little ole me, and Priests don't have any kind of sprint or anything, which I personally think is RETARDED. I mean, we're going in to battle wearing toilet paper, and we can't even run away faster? Dum dum dum dum dum dum.

Ok as you all can surely see (if you're still awake at this point) I am doing much better, I love you all, and *hugs* all around.

Thankful

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:36:37 GMT

Hello loyal blog readers.

It's been a while. Been pretty busy with my new job (going very well, love it) and of course WoW. I'm not working today, nor will I be working tomorrow, and possibly the rest of the week. You see, yesterday on my way home from work I'm zipping down I66 at about 45mph (great speed for the right lane during rush hour) and all of sudden Prince William County and part of the city of Manassas lost power. The lights along I66 went out, the Jeep SUV (one car length) in front of me slammed on it's brakes, I slammed on my brakes, and then into the back of them. Of course, traffic kept flowing all around me (passing on the shoulder and honking) and the cell towers were down for several miinutes. My car was completely dead, not even my interior light would come on. After ten minutes or so I get throught to 911...I make it to the hospital on a backboard, about an hour after the accident occurred. Thank the Lord I was driving John's car and not my own...otherwise I might not be writing this right now.

I am at home, nothing broken, just bruises and whiplash. Pain relievers are helping, but it's still no fun being me right now. I hope all of you are having a better week than I. I'm glad I picked up that new book I saw on Monday...lol

Let me ask you a question

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:27:52 GMT

Since there is no way I'm going to be able to make it through all my friends posts from the past three months, could you do me a big favor?

Post a comment, give me the highlights. I really do take an active interest in everyone on my friends list, which is why it's so small. :) I want to know what's new (or not so new) and exciting (?) in your lives.

Thanks guys.

Wow it would be depressing if no one responded to this...

Back from the [un]dead...I think??

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 02:00:22 GMT

Hellooo happy lj universe!

It's been quite some time since my last foray into this everchanging landscape. Starbucks has a lot to do with that, as well as my own emotional rollercoaster. I've been feeling those oh-so-pleasant feelings of dejection, depression, and failure. My semester was anything BUT illustrious, and I am more than ready to put it FAR behind me. Along with my job at Starbucks.

That's right kiddies. No more 4:30am workdays for me! Tomorrow I start a new and exciting job as the administrative assistant to the exeutive chef of the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly. Sounds pretty fancy, but basically I'll be keeping track of the kitchen inventory and attempting to balance a very complex, 6 million dollar budget. Kind-of terrifying, considering I have been somewhat less than successful in balancing my considerably smaller personal budget. lol.

So, I suppose I should follow the herd and post my spoils. Christmas was great this year. I walked away with a wrecked house and filthy kitchen (yeah...cooked dinner for the inlaws, which was fun, but exhausting) and a head cold. I also recieved an Italian cookbook, a Coast Guard Tshirt, a BE-you-TEE-full diamond cross necklace, geniune imported Sake (with the the little cups and vial to pour it from) and [insert drumroll] MY OWN WARCRAFT ACCOUNT! (THAT'S RIGHT, I'LL BE GAMING WITH THE BEST OF THEM, AND WON'T BE KICKED OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF A DUNGEON BECUASE SOMEONE REALLY JUST HAS TO FINSH THAT ONE QUEST BEFORE HIS SPLEEN EXPLODES.) THE BURNING CRUSADE EXPANSION! AND BOTH THE STRATAGY GUIDES! AND IT WON'T RUN ON OUR LAPTOP! SO WE ORDERED A NEW DESKTOP! WHICH SHOULD BE HERE BY SATURDAY! HUZZAH FOR ME! So for now I have a trial account set up, and it is so fun to play simultaneously with John.

Yay for starting over. We hit level 8 last night...ugh it kind of sucks being a noob again, and we can't trade equipment or even mail it from other character because it's just a trial. But no fear, soon it will be all over, and I'll have a kickass widescreen monitor to enjoy it on. :D

Now I'm going to go back to nursing this cold and praying that I'm not too sick tp start work tomorrow.

HUGS FOR EVERYONE!

Stop by sometime!

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 22:47:55 GMT

I have a job. My first day is Monday. Starbucks has hired me as a shift manager. I will have orientation from 10am-2pm Monday, then my first day of training is Tuesday. At 4:30am. Seriously. 4:30 AM I have to be up, awake, showered, dressed, fed and AT WORK. This is going to be quite an adjustment. The good news is, my shift ends at 1pm, which means I can go home and take a nap before class (Milton) at 4:30pm. The first couple days are going to be rough, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. :) I will be a manager at the new store they are opening at the intersection of routes 29 and 15 near Gainesville in two weeks. Woo! Me, a manager. Go figure. And the primary opening manager, which means I am in charge of "setting the tone" for the workday. I may have to work on my enthusiasm a bit. oye!

Life goes on. and on. and on.

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:06:34 GMT

I think we're all waiting for that day when, lord willing and if the creek don't rise, we suddenly morph into more interesting people. ho hum...I think I'm just stuck as I am.

I applied for several jobs today. *fingers crossed* I don't really want a job, but eh, they're a bit of an economical necessity at this point in life, so I've been half-heartedly looking for gainful employment. Good news is, I should be getting the last of my money from Miller (August volume bonus, unused vacation time) this Friday, so things won't be too tight. I've really enjoyed this taste of student life...devoting all of one's time to studies, instead of school being a secondary-or even terciary- priority. If I can make A's and B's while working 40+ hours a week, just imagine what I could accomplish if I didn't work, or only worked part time. I'm tired of just making the Dean's List. My goal this semester is to make the President's List. I'm tired of being so tired that I accept mediocrity from myself, when I know that excellence is easily gained.

This morning I decided that I had a major craving for beef stew, so I cobbled something together- potatoes, carrots, onion, beans, peas (which I will stir in about 30 minutes before serving) and of course, a pound of stew beef and some seasonings-garlic, salt, pepper-so here's to hoping that it will be as tasty as it smells. It's been in the slow cooker for about 6.5 hours and oh my the smell is ravishing my senses. Mmm mmm. Sop up the gravy with a loaf of fresh rye...geez I need a life. :(

[But still, the idea of cooking dinner while in class discussing Milton's Aeropagitica is rather fantastic.]

Or I could tell you all about my most recent knitting project...oh good grief I sound like an eighty year old woman.

Dinner and knitting are the highlight of my day.

My life suddenly became quite depressing.

Long overdue wedding blog

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:32:06 GMT

This is my long overdue wedding blog. What with all the extra time on my hands 'n'all, I figured I'd start the saga.

The memories I have of our wedding day are rather hazy, with some brilliant, crystal clear moments. I was very emotional the night before. After the rehersal dinner (which was quite lovely - lasagna and ice cream sundaes, speeches and stories) we went to help set up the reception hall. It was rather miserable. I spent at least an hour trying to redo the seating chart, since the tables were not set up the way I thought they'd be. My mom was tired and irritable, the whole family was working so hard to set everything up and make it look nice. We finally left the reception hall around 10:30-11pm I think. John and I headed to the apartment to steal a few moments together before he had to leave for his parents house.

I couldn't concentrate on anything when we got there. I wandered distractedly from room to room, ticking things off my mental check list, fiddling with the flowers, trying to figure out if I should go ahead and make up the bouquet or if I should leave it to the morning. John did his best to soothe my nerves, but I was far too edgy to sit still. Finally he kissed me and gave me a big hug, and he was on the road by 11:30 I think. I started working on the bouquet and quickly realized that working with tulips AND roses was far different than just the roses I had practiced with. I started freaking out, and called John's house in tears. His aunt Harma (wonderful lady I just love her to pieces) has a lot of experience working with tulips and flowers in general, and she had been giving me tips on how to arrange it, and had even offered to do it for me. (Of course I was sentimental and really wanted to do it myself. ) So I asked her if she would make my bouquet. She agreed, then told me to go stop crying and get my beauty sleep.

I finally fell asleep, I don't remember when. I was not nervous, just excited. It was that jittery, I-feel-so-happy-I'm-going-to-explode feeling that I used to have the night before Christmas or my birthday.

The morning of the 21st I woke up and took a shower. *ahhh breathe* I double-checked to make sure I had everything I needed. Then I drove to the salon and had my hair done. That was so much fun, just sitting there, drinking some tea, being pampered. caffeine_monkey brought me Starbucks tea, oooh fancy. :) Then we drove to the church.

It felt like everyone was running behind, except, oddly enough, me. When everyone finally assembled we did pictures. I am really glad that we did the pictures beforehand. One of my crystal clear, wonderful memories is when I first saw John. He looked sososososososososososo handsome in his uniform, and he presented me with the bouquet, which was three times as splendid as I imagined. The white tulips and the peach roses complemented one another so nicely. It was great to see him and hug him and be reminded of why we were there in the first place.

Then the ceremony is a blur. All I can say is, it was beautiful and REALLY short. I do rememer the hymn that we sang right after we exchanged rings, Be Thou My Vision, and looking up and John and thinking "wow it's over."

The reception was basically a big party, I did more talking than eating, the cake was so freaking wonderful and we only had a bite.

It was a magical day, one that I'll always treasure. Definely the best day of my life. The only thing I regret is that I didn't get more cake.

Proof that I am not dead...yet

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:17:15 GMT

The wedding was absolutely perfect. I fit into my dress, and may I just say, I looked damn good. The honeymoon was wonderful. Contrary to popular opinion, we did not have a big fight beforehand. In fact, we haven't argued in about two weeks. I'm really happy. Married life is wonderful. I love cooking together and taking naps during thunderstorms and showing off my ring.

1. Your real name: Holly Anne Campbell Elliott

2. Your GaNgStA Name: (first 4 letters of real name plus izzle) Hollizzle

3. YOUR SPY NAME: (fav color and fav animal) Red Finch

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (ur middle name and street u live on) Anne Juliet

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Ellho

6. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink) Deep Blue Vodka

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name) Ol

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names): Lynn James

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Nikolai

10. YOUR PORN STAR NAME: (the name of your first pet & the name of the street you grew up on) Ham 605 [I'm one of the few people this doesn't work for]

Hahaha you were execting wedding details weren't you!!

More wedding info in the days to follow.

Two days. TWO DAYS!

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:26:40 GMT

Good news y'all. I have my voice back. Now I must run away, and do many important things, like bathe and take John's shirt to the dry cleaner, and pick up the flowers, and go to the grocery store.

Three Days - I lost my voice!

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:41:05 GMT

I've had a little tickle in my throat for the past couple of days. Had a slight cough last night. Woke up this morning with a hacking cough, a throat like raw hamburger and NO VOICE. Three days before the wedding, great. This is one of those "worst case scenarios" every bride has nightmares about.

I went to the doc, he gave me antibiotics and will prescribe me Prednesone if I don't have my voice by tomorrow morning.

May I just say, this sucks.

Four Days - OMG HELP ME!

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:53:30 GMT

I have so much stuff to do, I've drawn up a schedule of my last four days, and whoa baby I had no idea I had such a long to-do list stored in my brain. ugh. I finally figured out the guestbook. I know exactly what I want to do, and it's going to be really cute. I bought the supplies on my lunch break, I'll deliver them to my mom tonight. I also drew up the seating chart, wow that was really difficult but I got it done thank goodness! I hope everyone has a good time and isn't seated next to someone they detest. I have to say seating the family was the most difficult part. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings yadda yadda, I wanted to make sure there was absolutely no hierarchy, nothing that could be interpreted as "I like this person more than this person"...so hopefully all will go well. Right now I'm actually a lot more nervous about everyone having a good time than I am the actual ceremony.

1.Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4:
"Heinz farm went on sale, Carl decided to buy it. He quit the bakery," - Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

2.Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, what do you reach:
The stapler on the edge of my coworker's desk.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Herm...Days of Our Lives, at the nail salon yesterday.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is:
3:30pm

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?
3:30pm. I swear I didn't look. Honest.

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Salesmen talking, rustling plastic lunch bag of someone in the lunch room, typing, golden oldies, car alarm outside

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Approximately an hour ago. I went to have a cig. STOP JUDGING!

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
personal email, work inbox, friends list

9. What are you wearing?
White cotton polo, swishy denim skirt, white heels

10. Did you dream last night?
Yes. I was running and running and running from my mother, who was very thin, I was mad at her for some reason, then all of a sudden John's mother jumped out in front of me and tried to choke me, she had hands like Gollum, then my mother caught up with me and together we hog-tied John's mom. Then we ate lots of cake and drank Starbucks. No. Fucking. Lie. It was so wierd. I woke up cause it was so scary.

11. When did you last laugh?
This afternoon. John brought me my cellphone, which I had accidentally left at the apartment, and when I walked him back out to his car I was teasing him and he grabbed me and tickled me. It was a nice bit of levity.

12. What are on the walls where you are?
Three different [current] schedules, pic of my sisters, pic of John and I, the "wall of shame" (nasty or funny emails from customers).

13. Seen anything weird lately?
I saw a coworker pick his nose. Does that count?

14. What do you think of this quiz?
It is rather stupid.

15. What is the last film you saw?
Titus (Julie Taymor)

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?
A new car for John. A nice gift for my grandma.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.
I tape fortunes from Chinese take-out to the side of my desk at work.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would it be?
I would make it the man's job to pay for the wedding in every culture.

19. Do you like to dance?
You betcha. I love to Lindy!

20. George Bush:
Asshat

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
If I tell, you might steal it, then I might kill you. All I'll say is, it's a combination of John's mother's middle name and my mother's middle name. And it is very pretty.

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
No. you might steal it. then you die. All I'll say is that this too would be a meaningful family name.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
For a brief period of time, sure. Forever? no thanks.

24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
Thank goodness, I thought for a second there you weren't going to make it!

Ten days

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:38:09 GMT

Here are some pics of my new hair. I love it. It looks black in the pics, but it's actually dark brown. It's very light and swooshy.

Last night after I had it done...weird expression

This morning at work

This afternoon at work.

Holly's Ten Tips for FO Newbies

1. Know the rules first, and lurk for a while before posting. I did this and so far no one has bitched me out for breach of etiquette. Plus by lurking you get a feel for individual posters and how to interact with the group.

2. Don't expect people to pay any attention to you for about, oh, two months or so. After you become a constant fact on the forums, they a)get a feel for your personality and b) realize you're not going away so figure they might as well interact.

3. Even when other people make uncalled for personal attacks, don't return the favor.*

4. If you don't like the way a thread is headed, don't post, just stop reading.

5. Laugh at grammatical mistakes quietly to yourself...but please don't go around correcting people.

6. Ignore the assholes, they're just trying to get a rise ou of you 'cause they're bored.*

7. Stay away from the RPG/Gaming/Techie thread unless you are absolutely sure you know what you're talking about. Hell, they try to correct me about the price of Toyotas...just because I'm new doesn't mean that I'm an idiot.

8. ok I'm sorry I'm outta rules...back to FO. WOOO!

*This actually works well in real life as well btw

Elleven days

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:57:23 GMT

Got the marriage license today.

I felt a little tingle of excitement when they asked us to raise our right hands. I think that's a good sign.