Tuesday, June 30, 2009

PRETTY

Evan, Carrie and I were recently fĂȘted at a rooftop soiree honoring Nashville's Prettiest People. We were voted the top three Prettiest People in all of Nashville.* Here are some of the outtakes from our upcoming magazine spread:*Clearly we are pretty but that's not what this photoshoot is from. Just your run-of-the-mill rooftop party with a professional photographer.

Monday, June 29, 2009

PED EGGED

Over the weekend, I poised a question on Facebook: do Ped Eggs really work?

I got back six answers:
"My best friend has one and says it works!"
"Yes ma'am!"
"My mom has one and she loves it."
"I have one too and I like it. Just don't use it when you get out of the shower."
"It certainly does!"
"Eh, I am not a huge fan...maybe I am doing it wrong??"

Five out of six was good enough for me, so yesterday when I went to Kroger, I swung through the beauty aisle to pick up a Ped Egg of my very own. t $9.99, it was still cheaper than a pedicure and I only hoped the Ped Egg would last longer. As soon as I got the food put away, I plopped on my couch, assembled my Ped Egg and went to work on my dry, cracked heels.

I noticed how dry my feet were when I came back from Vegas. I don't know if it the over-chlorinated pool, or walking around on a pool deck so much, or just all the walking in general, but my heels have never been so dry and cracked. Lovely image, I know. So I was expecting the Ped Egg to take down that dry skin like a weedeater.

Shave shave shave. Back and forth I went, occasionally peering at my progress. Was I making any headway? I shook the egg hoping to hear some shavings held hostage inside. Nothing. I kept at it for a while and after not noticing too big of a difference on my heels, I finally decided to open the Ped Egg to see what damage I'd done. I was expecting to find something resembling sea-salt, but instead I found a tiny pile of what looked like pepper or ashes. But at least it was something, so I put it back together and kept going.

I applied more pressure and continued Ped Egging for another 20 minutes. The skin/pepper pile had definitely grown by the time I was finished, but I am not sure I got my $9.99 worth. My heels were definitely not as smooth as I thought they would be. Maybe it sounds dumb but I definitely noticed more of a difference when I applied more pressure. I guess I was scared of taking off too much at first. Is there a way to do a Ped Egg wrong? What's your Ped Egg secret?

Saturday, June 27, 2009

DANGEROUS

Today I have been looking for MJ updates online when I came across this humdinger of a headline:

Cheerleading Most Dangerous Female Sport in U.S.

Well it's about time cheerleading is recognized as a sport, and if people want to call it the most dangerous female sport then even better.

An advocate of this fact years ago, my school always erred on the side of caution with what we were allowed to do. In junior high, if anyone hit the ground during a stunt, the entire squad was automatically "ground bound" for two weeks. I remember one time in seventh grade the stunt group I was a part of toppled backwards during a THIGHSTAND (yes, you read that correctly - how you fall over doing a thighstand is beyond me [maybe it's because we were trying to do a cradle off a thighstand?]) and consequently, all 12 of us were ground bound for two weeks. As the spotter of the aforementioned stunt group, I took the blame pretty hard.

My junior and senior year, we pushed the envelope as much as we could regarding what stunts we were allowed to do. This was largely in part because we finally hauled off and got help from someone besides our coach - a real, certified cheerleading/stunting professional who owned his gym. He worked our fancy little butts off and it was totally worth it when we finally unveiled our super-cool stunt (the Runner's Lunge!) at the pep rally a blood, sweat and tears-fueled four months after we'd first started practicing it.

All laughing aside, cheerleading can be dangerous. Broken arms, broken noses* and broken legs were just a small part of what I saw during my six years shaking my pom-poms. But perhaps the most dangerous of all, more than stunting or dancing or inhaling all the paint fumes, were the bus rides.

True Story: one time our bus entered the freeway on an exit ramp.
True Story: one time our bus jumped a curb.
True Story: our cheerleading coach drove our bus.

Oh, I miss cheerleading. I think this Christmas I am going to organize a ten-year reunion of the Mighty Ducks. I think most of them read this anyway. Who's in?

*Just because my hand accidentally hit her face does not mean I went off and broke her nose, okay?

Friday, June 26, 2009

BLONDE

I just realized that with all the Vegas and Bunko hullabaloo, I have not even mentioned Legally Blonde!

C and I went to see it on Tuesday night. As a continuation of my birthday celebration, he had snagged some complementary third row tickets through his company. Woohoo! So even if the show was lousy, at least we would have great seats.

Except it wasn't lousy - not at all. It was great, great, great. In fact, I am fighting all my urges to go back and see it again. Laura Bell Bundy was so wonderful and the rest of the cast was excellent as well. Why this show closed on Broadway, I still don't know.

Just a minute ago I had to run a package downstairs and guess who I saw standing at the ticket counter? The young man who plays (among other roles) the UPS guy Kyle. I ran back upstairs and grabbed a coworker who is going to see the show on Sunday and drug her with me to find him again. We spotted him in the galleries and went to introduce ourselves and say how much we love the show. He was with another member of the cast and they both seemed very appreciative to hear how much we liked the performance. At least I hope they were.

So if you get the chance to go see it, please do. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

TRIPPY (part 2)

So when left off, C and I had seen some more sights and enjoyed time by the pool on Saturday, our second full day in Vegas.

We freshened up and headed to the monorail, so we could go check out the Wynn and Encore. Those hotels are so hard to get to - C knew there was a shuttle running from the monorail stop to the hotels, but they stopped doing that in February. Not wanting to follow instructions and (I quote) "Get on the southbound shuttle, go to the next stop and walk from there") we figured we'd just walk from where we were. No need to ride the monorail again, right? Wrong. We hoofed it through some back roads and sketchy apartments until we got to the Wynn and the Encore. We had to step through some bushes to cross the street. It was like we were sneaking up on the hotel!

But how much was that walk worth it - what a gorgeous place! Both hotels were elegant, charming, fun and regal all at the same time. The interiors were so pretty. I was that girl, taking photos of the floral arrangements just because they were so breath-taking. We passed the Wynn Theater and the Encore Theater, home to Circque de Soliel's La Reve, the late Danny Gans and future home to Beyonce for four nights in July. Eventually we had gawked enough and made our way to dinner.

Gorgeous, no?

Chris chose a quaint little spot in the Wynn called the Terrace Pointe Café. I was delighted with his selection. Cute, cute, cute. We enjoyed our meal and dessert very much, and even though it was dark outside, we could still see the lush landscaping of the pool area that the restaurant was overlooking.
Great dinner and yummy dessert

After dinner, we enjoyed touring the hotels a little more. I thought he was just super-impressed with the decorations, but turns out when Chris's jaw hit the floor he was not so much caught up in the flora or fauna but in Miss Ricki Lake, who had just waltzed past us looking svelt as ever.

We hopped in a cab and headed off to Fremont Street. I think they should have left Fremont Street alone. I understand the point of enclosing it to make it more pedestrian, but I think the lights and all were probably just fine the way they were - no need to add a ceiling. We walked the block, took some photos and decided we'd seen enough.

Vegas!

We rode the people mover at Bally's on our way to see the Bellagio Fountains for the first itme in their entireity. Holy cow. The song was from the suite from the ballet Gayaneh and is called "Dawn, Ayeshe’s Dance." I was glad we got to see classical music as that is how I had always envisioned the Fountains (thanks, Ocean's Eleven). Knowing we'd be back at the Bellagio the next night, we moved on and decided to go try our hand in the casino at the Monte Carlo. I played some slots and then Chris and I picked a Roulette table to play at for a while. He blamed our bad luck on my selection of hot pink roulette chips, but whatever.
Come on, machine, work with me!

And now, Sunday. My birthday. We slept in and then meandered out way to the MGM Grand Brunch. There was a lot of people and a lot of food. I happily gobbled up my birthday brunch and then we decided to spend the majority of the day at the pool. We joined the dancing people playing in the wave pool before parking it in the wading pool.

After a long stint in the sun, I went upstairs and got into my party dress for the night. First stop: Bellagio, to pick up our tickets to see O. I felt like a little girl playing dress up in my shiny new dress and silver heels, strolling through the Bellagio with C. It was all just too good to be true. We got our tickets for the show, and decided to grab a drink and appetizer at Fix, an interesting restaurant/lounge around the corner from the theater. Chris had wanted to try Fix, and for good reason - we decided since the menu looked so great and we had time to kill, just to go ahead and eat dinner, and we were not disappointed. It was great food, artfully served.
Told you I was feeling fancy!

We slid into our seats at O with only a few minutes to spare. O was clever, creative, whimisical and more. There was diving, acting, fire, contortionists, comedy, trapezes - it literally had it all. I am happy to say that O gets the distinct honor of being named my top recommendation of what do to in Vegas.
In our seats, waiting for O to begin

After the show concluded, we utilized my free play money at the casinos, where I won $5 (woohoo!) and saw the fountains again (another classical piece - "Winter Games") before moving on to a club so we could shake our groove things. We settled on Pure at Caesars Palace (side note: did you know there is no apostrophe in Caesars because they want all their guests to feel like a Caesar? It's plural, not possessive - interesting, right?).

We get to Pure and are happy to see the line is not that short. I reach into my purse to get my license out, when I realize my license is still in my beach bag back in the hotel - a good hike away. Big, fat oops. I was SO embarrassed. Of course, Calm McEasygoing hardly batted an eye before marching us back to the cab line. I wanted him to fuss at me so I wouldn't feel so guilty. I mean, of course I didn't MEAN to leave my license, but I didn't want to be so selfish as to insist we go get it and come back. But, on the other hand, I certainly wasn't ready to call it a night. So, rather than make the long walk to go get it, we hopped in a cab, swung by the Monte Carlo and were back at Pure within about 20 minutes. Quite a fail, but at least a fixable one.

We walked in and the place was empty. Well-lit and lovely, but empty. Everything was white, silver, cream or ivory. We wondered where all the people were, until we saw an elevator to take us upstairs. Jackpot. The view from the terrace was AMAZING. And on the terrace itself, more white and silver and gorgeousness. We had an absolute blast, dancing and people watching long into the night, until we decided it was time to head back.
Party people!
Our view at Pure - priceless!

The next morning we checked out and headed to the airport for our 11 am flight home, which was much less raucous than the flight to Vegas. I was so sad to leave but very happy with my memories. We definitely conquered Vegas and I have no regrets about the trip. It was so perfect, worth the wait and I can't wait to go back!
View out my plane window - goodbye, Las Vegas!

BUNKED

Before I tell you about the second half of our trip, I have to share about last night's inaugural gathering of my monthly Bunko club. Holy cow, was it fun.

As I mentioned, the theme was denim. I picked up MB, looking like this:
and she came running out, looking like this:
Luckily, when we got to Casey's house, we found ourselves in good company:

The hostess for each month (this month it was Casey) picks a theme and provides food. So last night we had a salad bar and a baked potato bar. After discussing the rules and teaching everyone to play, we were ready to get our game on.

Each game has six rounds. I think we will play three games from now on, but last night since we started late, we only played two games. We decided that whomever wins the most rounds in one evening will win the largest share of the pot; whomever rolls the most bunkos wins a smaller share of the pot, and whomever receives the most votes for best costume received the smallest share of the pot (when costumes are applicable to the theme).

So in game one, I managed to win five of the six rounds. Woohoo. In game two I only won three. That left me and another girl tied for most wins. The tie-breaker for that is most "out of towns" (a different combonation of dice that you roll). We were tied there with two each. Some people wanted us to have a roll off, but we decided we'd rather split the winnings. So guess who got her $10 back plus an extra $25? Kind of ironic that I went all the way to Vegas and lost money, but won $35 right here in Nashville.

The winner of Best Costume was Mary Byrne - look at her, didn't she deserve it? Don't miss the bedazzled pockets on that jumper. I think I would have won it had we not already awarded money to the winners. I definitely had the most creative costume, with my denim skirt doubling as a tube top. Classy, isn't it? I hope I have started a trend.

I am looking forward to many more months of this. Especially if I can keep my winning streak alive!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

TRIPPY

I feel so bad I haven't had time to share with you all about the amazing, perfect trip. There is so much to say and inadequate words to say it with. I'll try to sum it all up.

The plane ride out there was ridiculous. I have never been on a plane like this one. It was a party plane... literally! Southwest's birthday was June 18, so everyone on board was offered a free "spirit" of his or her choice. Naturally just about everyone took them up on their offer. Guess who talked their way into getting a second round on the house by rattling off a list of reasons including but not limited to it was my BIRTHDAY and Sunday was Father's Day (similar to the promotion running that day, fathers who showed a photo of their kids on Father's Day also got a free spirit). As soon as they started serving cocktails, people were up moving and talking and the plane was abuzz with excitement. It was pretty fun.

Slots at the airport, immediately after getting off the plane

We landed and I was ready to sprint to the strip. I was so excited! But in the time span of about an hour, excitement gave way to fatigue and I am embarrassed to admit the first night in Vegas was a quiet one. We saw the hotel and some of the amenities but were asleep pretty early. It was midnight by our internal clock, and we opted to get some good rest and hit the ground running in the morning.

That plan worked perfectly. We were dressed, fed and on the Strip at 8 am the next day. We took off sightseeing: New York New York, MGM, Paris, Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, Planet Hollywood and more. We did some shopping at the Forum Shops at Caesar's, saw the fish tank and the stupid robot show about Atlantis, and then made our way back down the Strip to the Monte Carlo pool. We got some sun and then put our party duds on for a night on the town.
Chris v. Joe Louis at Caesars Palace

At a fountain outside the Bellagio (not to be confused with The Fountains outside the Bellagio)

Just off the monorail... ready to see some more!

First stop: the Venetian for Blue Man Group. It was pretty cool. I think I liked it more than Chris did. I don't know how to describe it accurately. They find interesting ways to make noise and messes. I laughed a lot.
Chris tries the pipes after Blue Man Group (while wearing a really great shirt).

Afterward, we explored more of the Venetian, including dinner at Canaletto in the square. I thought the Venetian was lovely. We didn't ride a gondola but we did see the canals and the lovely ceilings. We headed over to the Mirage to go to Jet. Dark, loud and packed, it was just what we were looking for. We stayed out pretty late, having a good time.
Dancing at Jet!

The next morning we had a cheap breakfast and saw some more of the hotels on our end of the Strip. The Luxor was not as exciting as I thought it'd be. Just kind of dark. Mandalay Bay on the other hand was stunning. A long time ago when we were first batting around the idea of going to Vegas, that's where we considered staying. Then everything fell through and that plan got scrapped and rates went up. Next time we go, if we could get a good deal again, that would be one of my top picks for a place to stay. It was so bright and spacious and airy. Next stop: MGM Lion Habitat, which was exciting because the lions started walking over our heads when we got in the tunnel. We looked around the M&M place and a few other stores before went back to the pool and hung out for a while before our Saturday night out and about.
High five for Peanut M&Ms!

So that's half the trip. I can't believe we got there a week ago tomorrow. That's weird. I will tell you about the second half of the trip tomorrow! I am really summarizing but don't let that fool you - everything was magical and memorable and wonderful. It was a great great trip!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

VEGASED

I am trying to catch up with work stuff this morning and afternoon, but before I head to lunch I just had to tide you all over with a few pictures! More on the trip soon, I promise!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Friday, June 19, 2009

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

MISSPELLED

This morning, my sister sent me the link to an article on Politco.com about a hilarious incident regarding nicknames. Someone on the Hill offended someone else on the Hill (not to be confused with someone on the Hills, mind you) by shortening her name from Elizabeth to Liz. Big mistake. Turns out Elizabeth HATES being called Liz. Read more about it here and don't miss the second page with the actual transcription of the e-mails.

I can't say that if someone was that rude to me after that many apologies, I wouldn't leak it either. Would you? I'm sure Elizabeth/Liz is the one doing the apologizing now. Hope she learned her lesson.

However, it did get me thinking about my own name and what a big, fat pet peeve it is for me when people get it wrong, misspell it or shorten it. Elizabeth is entitled to ask people to call her by her correct, full name. She just took it too far. While I would never go to the extremity that she did, I feel that I should take the opportunity, since the soapbox is there, to explain why I cringe when you...

1. Get my name wrong - I started my first job in May 2006. A week later, they hired another young brunette, named Leslie. She worked two doors down from me. We became buddies. We worked on a few projects together. People from that office STILL call me Leslie. It drove me crazy while I was there. She and I conferred and it was easy to tell who really knew our names and just slipped up occasionally and those who didn't know who was Lindsay, who was Leslie, and didn't really care to learn. Fast forward a year. C's sister-in-law's sister, whom I have seen often lately with the birth of little baby G in March, called me Leslie three times on three different occasions before I finally told her my name was Lindsay. To me, this is the worst offense. Am I saying I know the name of everyone I have ever met? No. But I try. And if I don't know their name, I ask someone who does or I don't use a name at all. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. My CWE kids would always be so impressed because by the end of Day 1, I knew all their names. It was a personal goal of mine (and a lot of other counselors) to get their names correct because it shows respect. Plain and simple.

2. Misspell it - now obviously, if you've never seen it in print then you have no excuse. But when we e-mail back and forth all day long, and the correct spelling is right there in your inbox in black and white, I'm going to think you are lazy when you (repeatedly) spell it wrong. This. Drives. Me. Crazy. Again, it's a respect thing. One time, two years back, a coworkers kept calling me Lindsey in an e-mail exchange. After the third time, I signed my e-mail LindsAy, hoping she'd get the hint. Again she came back with Lindsey. So, I decided if she was going to misspell my name, I would misspell hers. Even though it had three letters, I found an alternative spelling for it and used it in my reply to her. I'm pretty sure it didn't work, but I felt better. The worst when people drop a "z" in my name. I had a client that once spelled my name "Lynz" - WHAT? That sounds like a car. Linz, Lindz, Linzee - no, no, no. I can deal with Linds, Linny, Lulu or a myriad of other nicknames but please, no Z's.

Now. Like I said, I am not perfect and I know I have committed both of these fouls before but here's the key - I try REALLY, really hard not to. If I have to Google someone to get their name right, I will; even if it's just to find out if there's a space in a double name or not. It's that important to me. I think it's because I am obsessed with my own name (monograms, etc.), but there are a lot worse priorities I could have than to get a person's name right.

I would feel bad preaching about this if I knew I was the only one who can't stand it when her name is butchered. I know there are LOTS more of you out there. And if you think I am being ridiculous, be sure to tell me. Just make sure you spell my name right when you do!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

BUNKO-D

Exhibit 3,512 in the Case of How I am Becoming Mother: I joined a Bunko league.

The first and only time I ever played Bunko was at Laura Ann Mackey's birthday party in the second grade. We all went to a country club in Birmingham (I forget which one) and rolled dice until our parents came to pick us up. From what I remember, it was fun.

My mom has been in a group in Birmingham for a few years. I don't hear much about it except for when she hosts it and posts pictures of them all dressed up on Facebook (they have theme nights).

So when MB and some of her friends started a group, I was invited to join. We are slated to meet the last Wednesday of each month, a date which surprisingly I have free from now until the end of the year at least.

I got my first invitation in the mail last week. For the June gathering, we're having a June Jarty (that's jeans + party). Casey had cut out the rear pocket from a pair of old jeans, and tucked into it was an invitation with a witty limerick, and to give us a reference point, she'd photoshopped her pretty little face into this picture and printed us a copy all of our own: While I won't quite be crossing the line that Brit Brit and JT did with this heinous ensemble (hey, we all make mistakes [and isn't it fun to remember the days when Britney's mistakes didn't involve husbands or Huggies?]), I will be donning my double denim (jeans and jacket) and maybe a little something extra I will whip up between now and then.

And just like my mom, I'll take photos.

I've already started thinking of ideas for a theme for my turn to host...

Monday, June 15, 2009

HAPPY

*Mom + 1 came to town yesterday for my birthday. We had a fun day visiting the temporary Judd Museum (don't act like you didn't know I was a Judd fan), shopping, then eating dinner at C's house (he grilled us some delicious steaks and ribs, yum!) and then we all trucked it downtown for the last night of the CMA Fest. It was a great show, too long if anything, and C and I left after the surprise guests (Sugarland)... and that was at 11:30 pm, before Kenny had even taken to the stage.

*Mom brought some birthday gifts with her, including some amazing homemade strawberry cucpcakes and a set of big girl luggage, which I have already set out to start packing up for Vegas! What a great gift! Thanks Mom!

*Did you know that all ten seasons of Friends are now on iTunes, ready for download? They used to have only three seasons up, but now all ten are there! I have started downloading my favorite episodes one-by-one and putting them on my iPod.

Friday, June 12, 2009

TIRED

What a week. The busyness of the week has definitely taken its toll on me. As if working long and early hours and being around throngs of people all day wasn't enough, I've come home to company. Pests. Crawly ones, to be specific.

Now, a pest here and there is to be expected. You know I haven't been immune to it. But finding a pest in your coffee pot... in the water well, to be specific... three days in a row... is downright unsanitary. I am ashamed to admit that. But it's not like I am begging them to come live with me. Quite the contrary. I am ready for them to be extinct. So as I type, a bug bomb has been detonated in my apartment (again!) and hopefully those little b@$t@rd$ are lying dead on their backs by now. I might give someone $20 asked C to go do damage control so I don't have to. It was pretty gross last time.

I have started my Vegas spreadsheet and already I feel better. I scoured web sites, poured through books and solicited lots of advice, which all came together last night in a rough spreadsheety sketch of how this trip is going to go. So much for telling C to plan it all. He's good about weighing in, seeing how he's been there several times, and I definitely want his expert opinion. It's just that he's just more of a go-with-the-flow person, and I'm more of a I've-waited-26-years-for-this-trip-and-don't-want-to-miss-anything-or-leave-one-corner-unturned kind of person. Somewhere in the middle, we will mesh and have a great trip.

Mom and man are coming up on Sunday to visit, celebrate my birthday and go to the CMA Fest with us that night. And then it'll be Monday again, and then Tuesday, and then Wednesday, and then we leave Thursday from work!

Wish you all could be here for the spectacle that is CMA Fest. It's pretty fun. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope you enjoy yourself!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

FANFARED


Please don't tell anyone where I went...

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

STRESSED

Help!

I am starting to get stressed about Vegas. We leave in nine days. I haven't packed a thing. I don't know where to start. Even if I did, I don't have a suitcase.

I need to go shopping but I have to be at work at 5 am on Wednesday, all day Thursday, 8 to 6 Friday and 8 to 6 Saturday. Then my mom is coming to town Sunday and its back to work Monday and then we leave Thursday! Aaack! Sweat drops, sweat drops!

So, La Reve is not playing while we are there... Hope that's not an omen. We are thinking of seeing O instead. Not only does C love it but tickets are 25% off right now. We also found some Blue Man Group tickets on sale, and C hasn't seen that so we are leaning toward going to it as well. Can't get him on board with Bette Midler though.

I got on eBay and tried to bid on a set of 2 passes to a bunch of different night clubs. They are VIP passes so you skip the lines and cover charge. Are these legit? If not I would only be out $13.50, but still.

WHAT ELSE? Help me!

Sunday, June 07, 2009

WRAPPED

C's friends left this morning. Did I mention that the last time all five of them were together was more than a decade ago? I am so happy to have been a part of such a memorable weekend not just for C but for those four guys too.

Yesterday involved a lot of hanging around and being lazy on the couches. Eventually, the six of us plus C's brother went and had dinner before heading out. C and I had tickets to Coldplay that we certainly didn't want to skip, but we didn't want to leave the clan either. We all took our time at dinner and he and I got to the concert just before Coldplay went on stage.

Wow. What a show. We stayed for most of it and were amazed. Chris Martin wasn't at all how I expected him to be - much more playful and excited. The lights and special effects were so cool. You could tell a LOT of thought went into that show. We left just after the cell phone wave and "I'm a Believer," which was near the end of the concert anyway.

We found the boys and headed off to do some much-anticipated karaoke! I may have mentioned before that C is a great singer, but this weekend I found out his friends are, too. We heard "1979," "Moving Out" and "Wanted Dead of Alive," none of which topped a group performance of "Sweet Caroline." Of course I held my own with "Something More" and "Don't Stop Believing." It was a fun, fun night.

"Bah, BAH, BAH!"

When I started planning this weekend back in January, I wasn't sure how it would go. But it surpassed every expectation I had, and I know it surpassed C's expectation since he didn't have anything to expect. I know he felt so special, and more than having fun or hosting a great party, that is what I was aiming for.

But enough about his birthday! Do you know what's in two weeks exactly? My birthday? Vegas? All of the above? Yes yes yes. Hope you all had a good weekend.

ANNOYED

If your bass is so loud that it sounds like your car is FARTING, then it is inarguably too loud.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

SURPRISED

So, I know you all are dying to know what this big birthday surprise was...

Meet Brad, Chris, Gary and Fran. These are Chris's four best friends from high school. Yesterday at 10 am, I picked up Chris and Fran from the airport, and a little later they took my car to pick up Brad and Gary.

While the four of them were hanging out at C's house, I was cleaning and making food. Why was I cleaning and making food?
Because we had a party!

When C got off work, he met me at a restaurant here in town. He has known something was going on tonight, so when he got to the restaurant to find just me, looking pretty rough (after a day of cleaning and cooking, remember), he was thrown off. Later he admitted to expecting a party or a party bus or something, even though at 6 pm would have been a really early party.

We chit chatted for 10 or 15 minutes, deciding what to order, until our waiter brought over a shot. He explained that some guys at the bar sent it over, they wanted me to come take it with them, they were really drunk, blah blah. I told him I wanted to go see who it was, so we walked back there. Three of the four guys were hiding and only one of them was still at their table, hunched over with his back to us. He slowly turned around to face C, whose expression was so priceless. He was STUNNED to see Brad and then when he saw the other three come out of their hiding spot, he was even more surprised. Big hugs all around, a little bit of shock and surprise, and then I left so they could have some guy time and hang out. I told them I was going to freshen up and I would meet them back at C's house.

Meanwhile, I did freshen up and finished getting ready for the party. Everyone showed up around 8:30 and we all waited on the birthday boy to arrive (we didn't turn the lights out or hide or anything... just kind of waited). When we heard the knock at the door, we all looked and there was Chris! He. Was. Stunned. He said all the lights on and chairs and tiki torches set up outside didn't tip him off enough to think there was a party going on. He didn't realize what was going on until he opened his door and saw us all standing there. I don't know how I managed to pull it off. Doesn't someone always spill the beans about stuff like this? But he had no idea. More hugs all around, and a great great night followed. Here are some more pictures from the party!*Reenactment photo at the end of the night, because I accidentally deleted the real one... and then cried about it. It looked pretty similar to this though, except he was wearing shoes.


So, what are the take aways from this post?
1. My haircut is too short;
2. I really like Chris;
3. And so do a lot of other people.

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