Enough, already!

It all started with Bennifer. As if it wasn't annoying enough that freakin' Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were plastered all over the news ... I guess the media got so sick of typing out both names that some moron decided it'd be funny or cool to call the pair Bennifer. Heck, it would fit much easier in headlines.

And then we were graced with such wonderful new ones as TomKat and Brangelina. All of a sudden, in addition to being bombarded with photos and "news" over these couples, we're constantly hit with their new nicknames, courtesy of the media.

Whoever it was who came up with that idea, you are so not on my cool list.

MyTimewaster

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've joined MySpace. I swore I'd never do it. (I also swore I'd never have a blog, but here I am ... But in my defense I saw people in college doing stupid high school-like things on blogs, like using them to vent about organizations or sorority things that aren't supposed to be discussed with nonmembers. They would use them in a childish way to complain about people rather than suck it up and express the problem to a person's face. Of course everyone would find out -- it's a blog! I do not use my blog for those purposes. And it's a secret blog, so there!)

Ahem ... I don't like to spend too much time doing such things online. It's slightly ironic to spend your time building a page about your life, then blogging about your life. If you're not careful, you can wind up not having a life because you spent it all online.

I swore off facebook in college, too. I knew it was something I could lose way too much of my time to. I only joined it after Brad and I broke up. He joined, so clearly, it was the only thing left for me to do. Plus, my best friends had been bugging me about it for months.

I started my blog for the fun of it. It seemed like a cool thing to do. I type faster than I write, so it seemed like a way to record my life in a simple way, and the thought that other people could enjoy reading about it is kinda neat, too.

But that was enough for me. I didn't want a MySpace page. I didn't need one. But Kristin had begged K and me to join for months. She sent us both multiple invitations to join. Then CG started on us. She made a page for Joe. I told CG and Kristin that one reason I didn't want to join MySpace is because I knew CM had a page, and I didn't want to be all weird and checking it and everything trying to find out more about her, since she's kind of mysterious to me. Well, Kristin informed K the other day that CM no longer has a page. There went my excuse.

And Kristin is really bad about keeping up with e-mailing, so it's a good, easy way to keep in touch.

I'm exhausted today because I made my page yesterday, then walked K through building his last night. I was up until 12:30. Facebook didn't take up a ton of my time after I got my page all set up. I can only hope MySpace is the same way -- for your sake and for mine, 'cause reading about my time online is would get pretty boring. ;)

It's good to know

K and I had a wonderful weekend in San Antonio. He came Friday to my office and took me out to lunch. He brought me a single red rose. :)

We left Saturday a little after noon and got to San Antonio early that evening. We enjoyed ourselves alone for a bit, then we went to dinner at Dick's Last Resort. That place is so cool! I didn't know it, but I guess there's one in Dallas, too.

The whole thing about the restaurant is that the servers and employees are just rude to you. They watch your reactions to gauge how far to take it. There were like 4 bachelorette parties there. Unfortunately, our waiter was waiting on the party that had more than 15 girls in it -- all drama queens. We didn't get to experience as much of the atmosphere, but we definitely had fun watching everyone else and seeing the whole scene. We'll have to go back with a group next time.

We met up with one of K's buddies stationed in the same place as him who was in San Antonio for the weekend with his brother, who was visiting from Washington. We met them at this piano bar called Durty Nelly's. It was fun. After hanging out there a bit, we left and went to some club. K and I didn't stay long. It was raining, so we walked along the riverwalk back to the hotel in the rain.

The next day was overcast, so it wound up being perfect for our plans. We went to Sea World, which was an absolute blast! We fed the dolphins and touched them. That was really cool.





Then, we went and saw the sharks and tropical fish (kept separately, by the way). After that, we went to the Shamu show, "Believe." It was so awesome! I was very proud of myself for getting this picture at the end.

After that, K and I went to see the sea lions and the otters. Then, we hit up the Anheiser Busch tent and met up there again with K's friend and his brother, who we had also watched the Shamu show with. We had our two complimentary beers there, and then we walked around the park some more. I found this great (overpriced, but adorable) Sea World frame to put our picture in.





It was such a great day! We went back to our hotel and cleaned up, then we went out to dinner at this Mexican restaurant on the Riverwalk.

K ordered a 60-ounce margarita. It was so huge! I was full, so I didn't exactly do my part in drinking half of it. I don't think we'll ever order a drink that big again.




We stopped off a little north of Austin for lunch, and a good friend of mine from college that I hadn't seen in a year (last time was at CG's wedding, where I met K) met us there with her boyfriend. It was great to see her again, and I hadn't gotten to meet her guy yet. She met K briefly at the wedding, so she actually got to meet him more. K and I are going to go to Austin later this summer or maybe even for Labor Day to stay with them and hang out. It'll be fun!

Anyway, when we got back on the road, K said, "Now they're just dating?" I said yes, but that the live together. They're planning on getting married and not it'll happen; they're just not in a rush. And K said, "Yeah, there's definitely no reason to rush it." That made me confused. We'd also had a conversation the night before about things with CM. When we'd been in the car on the way to San Antonio, I asked him if he'd had songs in past relationships. We were talking about our old songs in the past. K said he and CM had a whole list of songs (Brad and I did, too). One of their songs was some jazz song because it was playing during their first kiss after the rehearsal dinner for the wedding they met at (yeah, I know). They were dancing to the song when they first kissed. So they had this great first kiss story.

Our first kiss was great, but it was when we were about to go to sleep. We were at my dad's, and he was at his girlfriend's. I could either make K sleep on the futon or let him sleep with me on the full-sized bed. I told him it was ridiculous to make him sleep on a crappy futon so I could have a bed to myself. I told him I trusted him, and he was fine sleeping in the bed. He kept saying the futon was fine, but I insisted he just stay in the bed. I moved all the way to the edge, and he climbed in. He was on one side, I was on the other. He said, "Goodnight," and I heard him raise up from lying on his stomach. I turned my head, and we kissed. It was a short, innocent kiss (that I would have let go on a little longer, but he didn't want me to feel uncomfortable). Afterward, we faced each other in the bed and held hands between us talking about how suddenly we weren't sleepy anymore. We talked for a while and fell asleep holding hands.

Our kiss was sweet and nice, but just knowing they had this great, movie-like first kiss was kind of saddening to me. I remembered K had said once that alcohol helped bring them together, so I asked if he was drunk when it happened, desparately hoping he'd say yes. Of course he wasn't.

Anyhow, somehow we ended up talking about their engagement again. I figured since he was a little under the influence he wouldn't mind as much. He said that they had talked about marriage several times before they were engaged. We've barely talked about it.

So K's comment about my friend, her boyfriend and not rushing anything made me wonder what he meant by that. I got really quiet, thinking about everything. He was quiet, too, and he said he was trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I told him it was his comment. I told him that I didn't want to rush anything, and I didn't want to be his psycho girlfriend who's always talking about marriage or getting engaged. I told him that no matter how much more time we'd spent together or how much better we go together, she has one thing I don't: She knew exactly how he felt about her. I told him that if he wasn't ready to talk about marriage, it was fine, but that I had told him how I felt.

He said that he thought he had told me how he felt, but maybe he'd just dreamed it or something. He said he knows he wants to spend the rest of his life with me and that we'll get married some day and have babies. I told him that was all I wanted to know -- to hear him say that and know that was the case. I told him it had upset me the night before to know that he and CM had talked about marriage before, and her best friend said CM knew she didn't want to marry him! I said we had talked about my wedding and his wedding, and who my bridesmaids would be at my wedding and who his groomsmen will be at his wedding. We had even talked about when we each thought a good time would be, and it happened that it was the same month. But we still never said anything about us or ours. I hoped that was what it meant, but still, it's just good to hear it said. And he did. We got to a stoplight, and we hugged. He said, "I love you, future wife." It was so cool to hear him say that. It'll be even cooler when we can officially say it.

One year!!!

Exactly one year from this very moment, I met K. And my life has changed so much for the better since then. I had the internal checklist of what I was looking for in a guy (we all have the list!), but I was pretty sure there was no way I'd ever find it. I did. It's amazing!

K drove in today and came to my office. He brought me a rose! We went to lunch together, and he talked to several of my coworkers for a bit after we got back. When I got home from work, he was lying on my couch, so we cuddled for a while, which was really nice. It would be awesome to be able to do that every day.

We went for dinner and then to see X-Men 3. It was much different from the previous two -- even moreso than I expected. It was good, but there was a lot about it that I didn't see coming. The special effects were pretty crazy.

So now I'm sitting on my couch, blogging on my secret blog, and K is watching TV. I'm so sneaky. :)

Ew!!!

My air conditioner in my apartment has been making funny noises. I had to call the office today about my lease, so while I was on the phone, I told them about my air conditioner. It's been making this high-pitched noise when it kicks on. It sounds like the fan is attached by a bolt or something, and the bolt is loose, which makes the propeller part rock back and forth on the metal bar it's held on. That's what it sounds like to me. Or maybe it's just old.

I know nothing about air conditioners, but I know it's not supposed to make that noise. I'm afraid it's just going to explode or combust or something, so I told the girl on the phone that. She said she'd put in a maintenance request.

I live by myself, and I'm not home during the day, so I turn my air up to like 85 or something while I'm gone because I don't need my apartment to be cool when I'm not here. When I get home, I turn it down to around 78 (it's hard to tell on this thermostat), and I hang out in shorts and a tank top. This is what we did in my apartment in college, too. To me, the apartment is supposed to be cool -- not cold.

But when I walked in tonight, my air was on and it was cold inside. Cold. The air was set to just below 70. Which is insane. I found the maintenance note on my table, and it said "that is regular noise for all a/c." I guess they didn't bother listening outside to the actual A/C unit. The note said they'd come at 1 p.m. Which means my air conditioner has been running for the majority of 6 hours (I'm sure it did turn off a few times for a minue or two.)

I was frustrated about that, so I called and left a message at my apartment complaining that they had turned my air way down and left it that way, and then didn't fix my air. I was nice in the message, but I told them I don't even turn my air down that low when I'm here. (I don't even turn it down that low when K is here!) I also told them that it's the unit itself, which is outside, that is making the noise.

It woke me up last night TWICE when it kicked on because it's so loud!

I hung up the phone and then walked into my bathroom. I was appalled. My toilet seat was up! I never leave my toilet seat up. And there were little clumps of dirt all around my floor and my pretty yellow bathroom rug. Which means that the maintenance guy came in here, jacked my air down, didn't hear anything and proceeded to do whatever on my toilet. I don't know what he did on there, but I don't like it, no matter what. He didn't even fix my air conditioner!!!

I feel slightly ridiculous for being mad that he used my bathroom, but I am, and that's how I feel. Honestly, it makes me wonder what else the guy did while he was here.

I saw a TV special last year about germs in your home. It mentioned the bathroom, and it said that when you flush the toilet, fecal matter and bacteria is thrown up to 15 ft. away from the toilet if the lid is not down. Since then, I always put the lid down on my toilet. Always. My old roommate saw the same special, and she does the same thing, so I'm not crazy.

I just don't like fecal matter being on my bath towels. Especially if it belongs to the apartment maintenance guy.

What is wrong with me?!!

For the second morning in a row, I woke up about an hour before I actually get out of bed. Both mornings, I thought I was actually late getting up. Yesterday, I panicked, grabbed my cell phone and saw that I had failed to note the hour hand on my clock across the room, so I was actually early. This morning, I checked my clock again before I panicked. And, like yesterday, I decided to go back to sleep.

And, like yesterday, it took me a while. And, like yesterday, I had a weird dream in that 30-minute bit of sleep.

In yesterday's dream, I was in my living room, and my younger brother, who lives in our hometown in Oklahoma, was at my apartment for some reason. He was in the bathroom, so I was by myself in the living room when I noticed this really long (like over 6 inches long), thin black bug zipping very quickly across my walls. I called my brother in, and he got the bug with a paper towel and put it outside. (I wouldn't have wanted him to kill it because it would have been mean and, honestly, gross.) "What is that?" I asked him. He said it was a cockroach.

I've seen the big cockroaches before. My science teacher in high school had some in this little container on her desk for a couple of weeks. But this didn't look like a roach, and it was ridiculously huge. It was like a limo cockroach or something.

And, FYI, I have never (knock on wood 1,000 times) seen a cockroach in my apartment. I would freak if I did. I hate them!

But what I realized when I woke up was that my brother would have been just as freaked as I was.

This morning's dream, however, requires some background info:
1) I am not afraid of horses. I have never owned a horse, either.
2)Every year for the Fourth of July, my dad's side of the family holds this big family reunion, and it's awesome. Since the 4th is on a Tuesday this year, I don't know if it'll be the weekend before or after the 4th. I've called my dad and a few cousins to see if anyone knows when it is. No one does yet. K has his block leave starting the end of June, and he's going home to Pennsylvania. He wants me to come, too. I don't want to miss my reunion, though, and he'd like to go again, too. So he can't buy the plane tickets and I can't ask off for specific days of work until I know when the reunion is.
My dad was joking around and said that I could have the reunion at my place. But my little 650-square foot apartment won't hold 60 some-odd people. And the majority of my family lives all over Oklahoma, anyway. My dad had said he wouldn't mind holding it if no one else wanted to. 3)We had the reunion once at our house in high school, but it's not our house anymore and hasn't been since my parents divorced and my mom sold it in the spring of 2004.
(Background info complete)

So in the dream this morning, I guess I was holding the reunion at my apartment. Somehow, though, I walked outside and managed to be walking out the back door of my family's old house. Our backyard was huge, and it was divided into two sort of by our driveway. We never really went in the back half of it. My brother used to ride his go-cart there when he was little, but we pretty much didn't use that part. In this dream, that part of the back yard was filled with three rows of huge, tall, brown horses. They were all lined up in rows, facing me. There were several rows of barbed wire, some even going very high up, to keep the horses in that part of the yard. I guess one of these horses was mine or I was familiar with it. I think I said a name or something looking at it, and we made eye contact. The horse flipped out, and I realized it wasn't the one I thought it was. It looked like it was going to charge at me or something. All of a sudden, it jumped up, trying to make it over the barbed wire. It got its two front legs over, so it was kind of hanging over the barbed wire. I freaked out and jumped forward because I didn't want the thing to get hurt. I was afraid it was going to die. My dad and a couple other guys (I wasn't paying attention who they were, but family maybe?) ran forward to help the horse, which was somehow not so huge anymore. All the other horses had backed away when this one went crazy, and so when the horse struggled for two seconds and finally fell back, they weren't in the way when the horse fell on his left side after freeing himself from the wire. He fell a long way, and I woke up right then, but I think I knew before I woke up that the horse was okay.

All day yesterday, I thought it was Tuesday. I kept thinking, "Man, if it was Wednesday, I'd get a head start on my Thursday projects." Not until I was on my way home did I realize I could have started them.

And today, I feel like it's Friday. I feel like I have so much to do at work. I got several things done this morning, so I feel better. I was really stressed, though, for a bit. I might end up staying later tonight. I think part of the reason I'm worrying is because when K comes on Fridays, I usually don't mind staying late because he doesn't get here until 8:30 or 9 at the earliest, and that's only when he can get out early. But he doesn't work tomorrow, so he's coming up early and I'll want to get out as early as I can tomorrow. Which means I would rather stay late tonight than tomorrow.

So this has been a nice break. Back to work (through lunch!)!

Habits ...

I got my hair cut a few weeks ago (nothing drastic, but I noticed!), and since then, I've gotten into the habit of twirling my hair. I think it started off innocently, just me feeling the ends of my hair to make sure the lady did a good job.

But then I switched shampoo and conditioner. I'd thought about upgrading to salon conditioner for a while, and I finally did it. I switched to Biolage, and I love it. It makes my hair shinier and healthier and softer, so now I twirl my hair because it's soft. And it's so easy to twirl because it's curly!

I don't do it while I'm driving or anything, so it's not like I'm endangering my life or others' lives to twirl my hair. I pretty much just do it at work while I'm sitting here for 8 hours at my computer. And I do it every once in a while at home while I'm on the couch watching TV. But that's about it. Besides maybe on my morning commute on mass transit -- but again, not the one driving!

The other habit I'm starting to slightly do is one I was proud to drop in September -- biting my nails. This one also started innocently. You know how every once in a while you snag your fingernail on something, or it chips or starts to break off a bit? Well, if I don't have a file handy, I don't want it to get worse, so I'll nibble just at the tip to try to fix it. But being the perfectionist I am, I have nibbled a couple of times lower than I intended trying to even out the rest of my nail. Whoops.

I have gone back to painting my nails clear again, which is what helped me quit biting my nails in September. We'll see how it works.

As for the hair twirling habit ... eh, whatever. :)

Fun weekend comin' up!

This Friday is one year to the day that K and I met. We're celebrating it as our anniversary. It's hard to decide when that actually is because we met the weekend of CG and Joe's wedding, and we didn't get to see each other again until July 2. July 4 is the day we really fell in love, but we talked on the phone two and three hours a day through June. We just didn't get to see each other. I'm sure we'll celebrate somehow as well on July 4.

But we're going to San Antonio this weekend. I'm excited because I haven't been since I was in the fifth grade. We're going to the Riverwalk and to Sea World (K's never been). Luckily, K has Friday and Monday off. He's going to sleep in Friday and drive here that day. He'll get home around the time I do, and we'll go grab dinner and go see X-Men III. I'm excited!

We'll get up Saturday, drive to San Antonio and spend the weekend there. We'll come back on Monday.

I can't decide if I should get K a gift. I want to, but I'm not sure what to get him. I originally wanted to make him a scrapbook of us, but I didn't plan enough in advance to do that. Things have been so hectic! I think I'll do that for the Fourth of July.

Which still doesn't help me for this weekend ...

Why I love '80s music

I found this column online while straying (briefly) from work. At least I was keeping up with the latest events. Sort of. (It is on a news website!)

Saturday night fever

I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I have been drunk. I can count on one finger the number of times I've drank so much I got sick. And that finger would not have been up 24 hours ago.

K came here again this weekend. Saturday night we went to Fort Worth and had dinner with CG and Joe. Afterward, we went to The Library, which is a bar in Sundance Square. The Library has Long Island iced teas for $2.50, which is a really good deal. So we were all drinking LITs.

One of the other times I have been drunk (which some people probably would've considered to be closer to buzzed or tipsy) was a result of three LITs. I wasn't paying attention last night to how many LITs I had. I know it was either 4 or 5. I'm thinking it was 4. They didn't taste strong at all. CG is also a less-experienced drinker. The drinks didn't really seem strong. CG and I both, after our second ones, were like, "I don't feel anything." It only made sense that since the drinks were so inexpensive, the bartender would make them less strong.

But we were all just having a good time. CG and I made a bathroom run, and on the way back, she said she needed to close her tab. She thought we should each get one more drink, so we did. And that may very well have thrown me over the edge.

We left not long after because it was getting late. I don't remember walking from the bar to the car. I did finally remember today, though, right when we got to the car because K had said something jokingly to me that made me go up and talk to the three total strangers -- two guys and a girl -- who were walking in front of us. I did, however, manage to remember their names -- Greg, John and Ashley. (My incredible memory -- especially with names and people -- was still functioning that way.)

I don't remember the car ride from the bar to CG's apartment. Joe drove, and he was sober, by the way. I don't remember walking in to the apartment. But I do remember everything after we got there. I started feeling very sick. K had already fallen asleep. I wound up throwing up like three times. I went to go lie down to go to bed, but I guess my body still wanted to be vertical because that made me get sick again.

CG's bathroom is very big and L-shaped, so she said it might be good for me to just stay in there. She put a blanket and pillow on the carpeted part of the floor in front of her washer and drier. I fell asleep there and woke up sometime later when K was over me stroking my forehead. He had woken up and seen I wasn't there and went looking for me. I told him what had happened, and we went back to the bed and passed out there.

This morning, I woke up about 9:30 and was talking to K about last night. We were laughing about stuff from the bar, and I was trying to fill in the missing 20 minutes or so between my last LIT and CG's apartment. We talked for a while and managed to fall back asleep. When we heard CG and Joe moving around, we got up and joined them.

They started talking about lunch and places to go eat. I wasn't hungry, and I was still feeling a bit unsettled, so the last thing I wanted to do was hear about food. We wound up going to Chili's, though, because K wanted "greasy hangover food" and I wanted a sandwich because it sounded safe. When we got to Chili's, I started feeling sick again. Nothing happened, though.

We got our food, and the last thing I wanted to do was eat the sandwich and salad in front of me. I knew it was the only way to start feeling better, though, so I took a bite of my salad because it was what I wanted most. Suddenly, I knew it wouldn't be good for me to sit there much longer. So I tapped K on the leg and he got up to let me out of the booth. I got sick again three more times in the Chili's bathroom. Luckily, no one came in while I was in there.

I still wasn't excited about eating, but I managed to get a little food down and then more and then most of it. I felt quite a bit better. I don't think I've thrown up like that since I was in high school and had some kind of virus or something.

Someone told me a few weeks ago that if you haven't thrown up from drinking before, then you've never actually been "drunk." All I have to say is that that is an experience/feeling that I am not hoping to recreate. Ever.

Freezing Friday!

I don't know why it's always so cold at work, but it seems especially cold today. I have a thermostat in my office, but it doesn't work. It's reading right now that it's 75 degrees in here, and I believe the thermometer is right, but I'm still cold!

Everyone is always freezing in our department. What's funny is that last year when I found out I got this job, I bought a bunch of cute skirts to wear to work, but I've only worn one of them, and even then, just once or twice because it always feels like it's 20 below in here.

I keep my office door closed to try to keep it warm (and to keep it quiet, because it can get loud sometimes because we have a couple people in our department who don't use 'inside voices"). It just makes it worse, though, when I have to leave my office, which I have to do pretty regularly.

So I'm sitting at my desk drinking hot chocolate to stay warm. Even though it's a typical May in the South, which means it's in the 90s outside.

I swear, if the company would realize how cold everyone is, they could turn the thermostat up and give everyone a huge raise with the money they'd save on the bills. And that would be much cooler than being cold!

Gimme a ring sometime

I got in my car tonight when I was leaving the gym and saw I'd missed a call from K. So I called him back. He was with his roommate leaving Wal-Mart.

Now K is a gadget guy. He is very fond of his new Razor phone that he just got. His ringtone for me on his old phone was "Boomer Sooner," the most awesomest fight song ever. :) Well, he downloaded "Boomer" again, but it's just the drum cadence that's the intro of "Boomer." It's equally awesome, but it's not as obvious that it's "Boomer Sooner" unless you're someone who's played OU (and "Boomer Sooner" is played each time we score, it usually gets played a lot) or a big fan of the Sooners.

K's ringtone for everyone else on his phone is Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." Since it's the different "Boomer Sooner" than he intended, he just switched my ringtone back to the same as everyone else's for the time being. So when I called K, his roommate said, "Is that your ring just for her?" K said, "No, I need to get a ring for her. This is the same one I have for everyone else."

But being the quick, engagement-obsessed girl I currently am, I caught that he said, "I need to get a ring for her." He meant ringtone, but that's not what he said. lol So I had to bust him on that, too.

Once a band nerd, always a band nerd

Drumline is on TV, and I haven't seen it in forever, so I started watching it. It's really making me miss college and band. For those of you who weren't cool enough to do marching band in college, ;) Drumline isn't as far off from my experience as you'd think.

Our band was fun and awesome. The OU marching band -- The Pride of Oklahoma -- has a great reputation, and I was surprised my freshman year to see how excited people were about us and how much respect they had for our band. People thought it was really cool that I was in the band. And I did, too. :)

Things that are true about the movie -- to my experience, anyway -- is that college drumline is a very serious thing. Our drumline had everything matching -- headbands, wristbands, sunglasses and probably more else than I realize. Our drumline was awesome.

But we were all more one single band than that. The drumline was definitely the most isolated of any section, and they were especially isolated my freshman year, but the longer I was there, the harder they worked to try to not segregate themselves so much.

There's a fraternity called Kappa Kappa Psi in the movie. That's real. A lot of the chants they do are authentic, too. There little initiation they have outside, though, is not real. Everyone knows who's rushing KKY, and the rituals are very secret. They would not be held outside like that. Also, only the officers wear robes, and the robes don't have hoods. I was actually cool enough to be in the fraternity's sister sorority, Tau Beta Sigma. It was alright. Pretty much all my friends were in it. We did some cool stuff.

Pregame, though, is the big thing with OU's band. It's the favorite for everyone in the band, and it's a favorite for a lot of the fans. It's what I miss most.

Pregame starts with only the drums, colorguard, drum major and twirler on the field. The drumline begins its opening cadence, and the fans scream so loud that we have a chant in the tunnels we run out of so we know where we run out.















And when our chant ("M-I-C... K-E-Y... M-O-U-S-E" TAP TAP TAP) is over, that's when we run out of the tunnels and straight onto the field. It's so awesome.





























As soon as we turn and begin playing "Oklahoma," which is our opening song, the crowd goes crazy. We would play a small part and turn 90 degrees each time. It sounded like this: DUNT, DUNT, DUNT, DUNT, DUNT, and then the crowd would yell, "O-U." After we went all the way around to the front again, our drum major would step off and do his signature strut. And then, the crowd would really go wild!















It's the most awesome experience ever. I used to always wish that I had a mini-video camera in my hat so I could record what it's like from the field.

In the middle of pregame, we would play the "OU Chant," which is our school song. That's what this picture is. Everyone raises his or her right pointer finger in the air and sings along. And everyone knows the song.















Do you see how full the stands are in this picture? It was awesome to have fans who supported us like that.

We closed our pregame show with drill that begins in straight lines and transforms into an interlocking OU, the university's signature symbol. Then, we marched it all the way down the field, keeping the form. It's awesome. :) I miss it like crazy!















See the bottom left corner of the O? I'm there!! There are four people who make up the angle connecting the bottom and the left side of the O. That's my squad! I am the third from the front, so I'm the third farthest from the camera in my squad. We rocked, and we had the toughest drill to get there. Even the band director said so. :)

We played some cool songs, too. This is one of my favorite sets from a movie show my junior year: (In case you're wondering, I'm near the left 35 yard line, so I'm in the dip on the bat's right wing, which is to the left from this view. I'm one of the two that are closest to the center of the field, so I'm at the deepest part of the indention.)














Oh, how I miss it!!!

K's awesome horoscope

Again, I don't really believe in these, but who doesn't indulge in a little horoscope reading every once in a while just for the fun of it -- especially when it's at the back of the paper that you've already read all of. It's like a fun reward!

Especially when your boyfriend, who you've known you wanted to marry for like 10 months, has a horoscope like this:

Conditions are excellent now for long conversations about the future. With the right partner, this is the start of something big.

And you better believe I read it to him!!!

A good kind of sore

I finally went to the gym last night after putting it off for a few days, and man am I glad! It felt so good! I was going to brave the elliptical for the first time since I hurt my knee, but I decided to just ride the bike again. Why not -- it's a good gluteal workout!

I did biceps and triceps and abs (oh my!). I did more gluteal workouts for the first time. It was nice because it works the back of your thighs, too. What I love is that I feel a little sore today, which means I did a good job last night.

So good, in fact, that I might not go back until tomorrow. :) lol

Proof that change is good

One year ago today, I was in a completely different place -- literally and any other way you can say the word. I graduated college on May 13th of last year. I had gone through college intending to be a TV reporter for three of the four years I was there. I had also been dating the same guy, Brad, for three of the four years I was there.

Brad was born in California, but he went to high school in Texas. He was like no other person I'd ever met. He was always always always thinking. My friends said I always smiled, and they said that Brad never smiled. We were total opposites. But I loved our story: We met freshman year in the dorms ... in a fire drill. We realized later that we'd both had crushes on each other most of the year. He had a "top 5" list of girls at OU, and I was number 2 on his list. Number 2!!! It seemed crazy to me that a guy I thought was so attractive would have a top five list that I would be anywhere near being on. OU was famous for its pretty girls. There was no shortage of sorority girls who could grace the pages of a Victoria's Secret catalog. But I was number two. He said he had always seen me on campus and in the cafeteria. What drew him to me, he said, was the fact that I was always smiling and laughing. And the fact that I was never alone -- usually even with a group. Oftentimes, with a group of guys -- dorky ones. This made sense, since after band practice we'd all hit the cafeteria at the same time. Most of my friends were guys, and I hated being by myself. The two times I ever went to the cafeteria alone, I didn't eat alone: The first time, I met a girl in line and ate with her; the second, I found people I knew inside and sat with them.

Brad and I were different in every way possible: He was a rebel in high school; I was nominated "teacher's pet" in the Who's Who of my senior class. He went to a Catholic private school; I went to a public school. He was Catholic; I was Baptist. He had never lived in a city small enough to not have a team in the NFL until Norman, where OU was; Norman was the biggest place I'd ever lived, coming from a town of 18,000. He smoked pot, drank and partied; I was still a goodie-goodie. (I went to parties, but I didn't drink. I said I didn't have to be drunk to have fun, so what was the point?) He had four siblings and a half-brother; I had my one younger brother. But we did both like to write. After I switched my major, we were both journalism majors. Naturally, we had very different writing styles. He hated TV news; I wanted to be a TV reporter. He hated Abercrombie; I worked there. He thought band was for geeks; I was in the band. He said I was a hot dork, but that was one of the things he liked most about me.

We fought a lot, and we broke up a billion and one times. We were both constantly asked why we were together. His friends liked me when it was just me. But when it was all of us -- Brad included -- in a party atmosphere, they thought I was the fun police or something. Brad always managed to go off and do something stupid or screw up plans or something, and we would wind up in a fight and the guys would think I ruined the night by being angry. There were a few times, though, that even they got mad at Brad for what he did and told him that he didn't deserve me.

I got annoyed after three and a half years of other people feeling I owed them some explanation about why I loved Brad. The thing was, he knew me better than anyone else in the world. I told him things I never thought I'd tell anyone. I was comfortable with him. And I hated change. Brad was also there for me through the worst thing I've ever gone through in my life -- my parents' divorce. It wasn't the divorce that was so hard, but the fact that my mom went on an emotional rollercoaster through it, and she called me two and three times a day, forcing me to go on it with her. I got to the point where I told her I couldn't listen to what she was telling me, that I couldn't help her because (1) it was my parents' relationship she was talking about, (2) I didn't break it, so I couldn't fix it, (3) I've never been married, and I don't have chidren, and (4) she needed to talk to her friends about those things -- not me. Sometimes, I would finally get through to her, and she would apologize and say she'd try harder. Then, a few days later, back to the rollercoaster ride. So I started getting angry at her. I would say terrible things to her and tell her I had too much to deal with to add that to it. I told her she made me feel like the parent.

Then, one day after we'd gotten into a fight, my mom did something really stupid. She almost died, and she told me a couple months later she wouldn't have done what she did had we not gotten in the fight (I told her to f--- off, a phrase not usually in my vocabulary, and said she couldn't blame her stupid decision on me.). When I found out, I rushed back home and called Brad along the way. He met me at a gas station and came with me to the hospital. I figured there would come a time when I'd sit and cry for days and days, but it never happened. Only a handful of times did it hit me, and I'd cry for about five minutes, and Brad was there each time. The hardest thing was the next time I had to go home after that. It was for Thanksgiving. I was anxious the day before and all the morning of the day I was leaving, but when it came time for me to go I finally figured out I felt so off because I didn't want to go. I went to Brad's and just cried for a while, and I felt better. I went home, and things went okay.

I wasn't close to ER yet, and CG had transferred to college in Lawton by then, so it was hard for her to really help on the phone, but she tried. My roommates (there were three) were either selfish or too weird about the whole situation (One kept telling me, "Jesus loves you." I didn't know what to say to that. The other one, who I'd known since kindergarten, kept saying, "Aww... awww..." -- not exactly what you want to hear.) to help. Brad was the only one who was really there. That meant a lot to me.

Brad had always planned on going back to California, and I'd known that from the beginning. He had wanted me to go with him. I told him it'd be crazy -- neither of us knew how the other was in California. Being there could make us both completely different people. I'd only been to California twice, but never to San Diego. I told him if I went out there, it would only make sense to get engaged, and we both knew that we'd be crazy to get married because we'd get a divorce. We knew we didn't go together. And I didn't want to start my life after college following him on his dream.

So one year ago today, I said goodbye to Brad. We packed up his car and he drove off to San Diego. I stayed in Norman, still unsure of where I was going or what I'd be doing. I said goodbye to the job I'd had on campus all four years I was at OU. I kept my job I'd had for almost a year as a carhop at Sonic (it was pretty good money with tips!). I spent my time off applying for jobs I could find in any state I didn't think it would suck to live in (California, the Carolinas, Florida, Texas, Illinois, etc.). The only things I knew about the future were that I was going to CG's on May 26th to help her get ready for her wedding, and my apartment lease ended July 31.

I had just gotten to Lawton to meet CG, who was running behind, when I got a call from the man who is now my boss asking if I'd like to interview. I scheduled an appointment for the following week. I met K at CG's wedding. I did well at the interview, and I landed a job better than I thought I'd ever get out of college.

I moved to Dallas and found a great apartment. I went from having three roommates to living by myself. I have new furniture, since my apartment in Norman was furnished. I have my own bathroom for the first time in my life. Being alone doesn't bother me as much anymore, but I still won't go out and eat alone (why bother, when I can just get it to go?).

I sold my crappy '98 Cavalier that had over 108,000 miles and bought a 2003 Honda Accord -- OU red -- with just under 20,000 miles on it (although I've almost doubled that already with all my trips to see K). I finally got my car with a sunroof. :) It would be nice to save my $300 bucks a month, but I love my car.

I turned 22. I have a practically new wardrobe, since it is consisting more and more of work clothes. I am in a much better relationship than I thought I'd ever be in with a guy who I really do think is absolutely perfect for me. I am ready to marry him.

It's insane how much life can change in less than 365 days. For someone who hates change as much as I do, it's so nice that a lot of them can be really good, and sometimes even just what you needed. Besides, 22 always was my lucky number!

Just what I needed

My relaxing weekend with K was perfect. I went to my friend's band concert, which was awesome. Her students were so adorable! I made it back to my apartment just a few minutes before K arrived. I figured he would be pretty tired, because he usually crashes not long after he gets to my apartment from his 5-hour drive.

We stayed up for a while, though, watching TV and snacking on chips & salsa and nachos. We slept in on Saturday and had a late lunch at Chili's. We ran a few errands and went back to my apartment and vegged out, letting our full bellies digest our food. ER called and invited us to hang out at her boyfriend's friend's house with a group of them who were watching the Mavericks game. We decided to meet up later so we could carry out our Olive Garden dinner plans. So we met up with them at about 10:30 or so.

There were four other couples there in addition to ER and Dan, and K and me. It was a pretty good group. One couple left, though, and by then, everyone had had a couple of beers. We managed to separate in trips inside for snacks or to use the restroom and wound up with the girls talking for a bit and snacking in the kitchen. The guys had their group outside talking to K about weapons and "blowing shit up." :) ER hadn't met a few of the people, and I only knew ER, Dan, K and Alex (the guy whose house we were at). K only knew ER, Dan and me, but he thought he'd met Alex before when he met Dan the first time. So our group split let ER and I get to know the girls better and K to get to know the guys better, so by the time we girls decided we were sick of standing up in the kitchen and rejoined the guys in our chairs on the back porch, we were having some pretty good conversations. The original plan had been to go to a bar after the game, but it worked out great where we were because it was relaxed and we could hear each other. K and I stayed until 3:30, when I was about to fall asleep. All the guys were pretty much drunk, and all the girls had managed to just sip casually, so we were all fine. I drove K and I back to my place, and he was falling asleep on the way. :)

We definitely slept in on Sunday, and then we ate a lovely, healthy lunch at Fuddrucker's. Then, we went to a bike shop because K needed a new inner tube for his bike. He bought two, along with some metal strip stuff that's supposed to protect your tires from flats from thorns (the No. 1 tire offender, a bike shop guy told us). And a new tire pump. And I lost track after that. But he bought much more than an inner tube. I was teasing him about it. :)

We went back to my place and watched Elizabethtown. Do you ever see a movie that you've heard good things about or that looked really awesome in the previews, but you just don't understand what the fuss was about? You think maybe you managed to get a different version -- that somehow you're not watching the same movie that everyone said was so good. That's how I felt about Elizabethtown. I just don't understand how one shoe can make such a difference to a company and one person. In fact, I can't believe the company was so successful if the president is so eager to throw $9 billion into one single product that hasn't even been labeled a success yet.
Anyway, so K left last night at about 7:30. ER came over about an hour later to upload some pictures from my camera onto her new iBook. We watched Desperate Housewives -- which is a very stressful show, by the way -- and Grey's Anatomy. I've only seen the show a couple of times, but I've never really gotten sucked into it. I think I'm going to have to watch tonight, though, because last night was just way too dramatic an ending. I swear, if Burk dies, I'll never watch the show again. That would be just too mean of the writers.

But it's Monday again, and I'm at work, counting down the days until Friday, when I get to see K again.

Fun post for Friday

A friend e-mailed me this this morning:

When girls drink too much

1. We have absolutely no idea where our purse is.
2. We believe that dancing with our arms overhead and wiggling our butt while yelling, "Woo-hoo!" is truly the sexiest dance move around.
3. We've suddenly decided that we want to kick someone's ass, and we honestly believe we could do it, too.
4. In our last trip to pee, we realize that we now look more like a homeless hooker than the goddess we were just four hours ago.
5. We start crying and telling everyone we see that we love them sooooo much.
6. We get extremely excited and jump up and down every time a new song plays because, "Oh my God! I love this song!"
7. We've found a deeper, spiritual side to the geek sitting next to us.
8. We've suddenly taken up smoking and have become really good at it.
9. We yell at the bartender, who we believe cheated us by giving us just lemonade, but that's just because we can no longer taste the gin.
10. We think we are in bed, but our pillow feels strangely like the kitchen floor (or the mop?).
11. We fail to notice that the toilet lid is down when we sit on it.
12. We take our shoes off because we believe it's their fault that we're having problems walking straight.

My favorite is number 6. That's totally me. :)

Fast Friday!

I drove to work today because my friend's concert is tonight. A drive that should have taken me only about 25 minutes -- including traffic -- instead took me just under an hour because of a multi-car accident. (It didn't look like anyone was hurt. It looked like a mild fender-bender, only with like 6 cars.) Isn't it great living in the city? ...

Since then, my day has flown by, which is nice. It means I'm that much closer to the weekend and to seeing K.

I saw a link on MSN that said "Pics: Top bridesmaid dresses," so I clicked on it (hopefully I'll be hunting for these things soon, anyway -- might as well get some ideas!). Um, ew?!



This one, the first one, is kinda pretty. I wouldn't choose that color as a wedding color myself, since I'll probably have a spring or summer wedding. It's a pretty dress. But I wanted to see the others.















This one is pretty, too, but it doesn't look like a bridesmaid dress! It seems too showy for that. It looks like a nice dress to a formal dinner or other event. But the only person who's supposed to wear a dress like this (minus the green) is the bride!













This one is my favorite. It's so cute! Again, I'd do it in a different color, but it's adorable! I love the length. But then I noticed the top of the dress. Personally, I don't have the boobs to pull that one off. I couldn't do that to my bridesmaids, either, even though they're more *ahem* "gifted" than I am (Yes, I do already have them picked out. But that's something most girls do anyway!). It just seems like it'd be tough to pull off.

So I'm sure you're thinking, What is she talking about with her "ew"? I know. That's what I was thinking.

Until ...






Yes, this dress is pretty. But the link didn't say "Pretty dresses." It said "Best Bridesmaid Dresses." This is not a bridesmaid's dress.















WTF? I don't know what wedding this dress would work for. This dress doesn't look very formal, either. I would never think this was a bridesmaid's dress.

















Um, hello? Half the top is missing! It's a wedding. In a church (most of the time)! At least give your bridesmaids something that looks like they're wearing a bra or have some sort of support!

This looks like Little House on the Prairie or even something you buy at Old Navy to wear to a picnic. Definitely not a bridesmaid's dress.








There are other dresses on the site that are okay, but the last two I posted were the real winners to me.

I've sufficiently wasted a good enough portion of my lunch break now. :)

Happy Friday!

Reasons I love today

• I am eating pizza and salad for lunch.
• It's Thursday.
• It's the Thursday before K's and my weekend devoted solely to us. So far our plans include watching Elizabethtown and lying around on the couch. A lot. I've also requested that we go to Olive Garden.
• It's the Thursday before payday, which means that when I wake up tomorrow morning, money will have magically appeared into my account.
• I am going to one of my best friend's band concerts tomorrow -- her first one as a band director.
• I get to wear jeans to work tomorrow.
• My hair smells really good.
• I am wearing comfy ballet shoes.

America is CRAZY (and a fun fact about me)

I am so bummed! Chris Daughtry, my favorite contestant on American Idol, was somehow kicked off tonight. This is crazy! He was awesome. I would totally buy his cd. I guess I'll just have to root for Taylor now. If he gets kicked off next week, I'm done. Seriously.

Now Twister is on TBS. It's funny how they always play these tornado movies during the spring. Gotta make us scared, ya know? Especially since a tornado blew through the county next to mine last night.

I love the movie Twister, though. It was filmed in Oklahoma! And all the footage of the meteorologists on the TV news stations is real. Each of the three local stations in OKC had their meteorologists in the movie. The only thing I don't like about the movie is the "Melissa Reeves" character. I was really afraid before this movie came out that they'd all have fake hick accents that I was convinced the world thought Oklahomans have. Luckily, the annoying Melissa Reeves chick is the only one with the accent.

But another thing I really like about the movie is that a piece of my past is in it. My parents are fans of antiques -- especially my mom. Our house was filled with them. There was an antique store in Purcell, Oklahoma, called Butler's that we always went to. My parents were friends with the owners. Anyway, my brother had this great antique bed, and the owners always loved it and asked about it. My brother hit his growth spurt and outgrew the bed. At the same time, I had the perfect spot in my room for a secretary's desk. As fate would have it, there was a perfect desk at Butler's Antiques. They offered to negotiate with a trade for the bed, so my parents agreed.

The very next week after I had my desk and Butler's had its bed back, the set designers from Twister walked in looking for props. They bought my brother's old bed and a picture of Jesus. If you watch the movie, in the very first scene, you see Jo as a child lying in her bed -- my brother's bed.

My whole family went to see the movie at the theater, and in the first scene we were all so excited and said loudly, "That's our bed! That's our bed!" when it showed it in the movie. It showed it more in the theater. Maybe in the widescreen version, you can still see it better. But it's there, and I know it's our bed. And that's awesome.

The 'm word'

I was going to answer Jes's question to my previous post in the comment section, but I realized it would simply be too long, since the answer is complex and since I hate leaving out details. So here it goes, Jes:

Yes, we have talked about marriage. I knew he was "the one" very early on. We met on May 26 last year. We hung out throughout the weekend in between our friends' wedding activities, and then I went back to Norman, Oklahoma, and he went back to Louisiana. He was out in the field (which, in Army lingo, means that he's basically camping outside in the ridiculous heat; showering in a tiny little curtained-off make-shift shower; eating MREs, which is the Army's version of camp food that they eat in combat and in the field; doing drills and enactments to prepare for combat; and probably some supervising stuff since he's an officer. I'm sure I've missed lots of other stuff, but I think you get the idea.) ...

So he was out in the field for the next month or so, then he went to Pennsylvania to visit his family. Keep in mind that all this time, we were talking on the phone almost every day for two and three hours getting to know each other. It was from these conversations that I started feeling that K was it for me. I didn't tell anyone until August, though, because I didn't want to seem like I was being ridiculous. And for all I knew, when I did get to see him again he might eat with his mouth open or tell really bad jokes or even smell bad and I just didn't notice it before.

He got back from Pennsylvania on July 2. He came to my apartment with flowers, the Howie Day CD, the Coldplay CD and the Dashboard Confessional CD (He'd burned them all for me. He had bought them all online, so they were legal.). It was the second time we'd seen each other. We hadn't kissed yet or even held hands. We hung out at my apartment for about 30 minutes before we headed to Oklahoma to watch my brother race. My family always has our reunions on the 4th of July, so we were going for that, too. It just worked that that was the best time for him to come, which was cool because my family is awesome. :)

On our way to Oklahoma, we had a great conversation. We had somehow talked about cows peeing and were laughing about how funny it is. And then we passed a cow peeing! Once we got to the races, we noticed that we had the same tennis shoes -- mine the women's color scheme and his the men's color scheme. (In case you were wondering, we did finally kiss that night.) At my reunion, everyone loved him. He fit in, and it was great. It was the best 4th of July ever. We made it back to my hometown from the reunion in time to see the big fireworks show there. Afterward, we went back to my dad's and leaned against the fence watching other people's big fireworks all around and a storm that was slowly rolling in, all while cuddling and talking. It was just a nice, relaxing night. That was the night we both fell in love. :)

So about the marriage topic ... He's been engaged before, but he's never been married, so obviously that didn't work out (well, it did for me!). She broke it off with him, and he has said many times he realizes that it was a good thing because they weren't right for each other, but it was still painful.

Like I said, I started telling people in August that I knew I wanted to marry him. The reaction I got from CG: "Duh! I knew a long time ago you guys would get married someday." My dad's girlfriend said, "Good! So we're not the only ones who think that." ("We're" meant my family in OK.) It came up in conversation with one of K's friends one late September night. I had wanted to say something to K that weekend, but the two times I tried to bring it up, something else happened. The first time(Saturday night), I actually think we both fell asleep (it was a late night). And the second time (Sunday morning), I got this random sharp pain that made me go, "Ow!" and explain why I just said that. Since I had told K's friend Jeff, I felt like I needed to tell K before he heard it from his friend. So that night when I called K to tell him I'd gotten home okay, I brought it up. I think it caught him off guard. It didn't go well at all. I was crying and felt so stupid, and when I woke up the next day, I was sure I'd screwed things up. I felt awful. I called CG during my lunch break, and she told me I should e-mail him and explain better what I had tried to say the night before, since the way I was stumbling around trying to tell him sounded like I was trying to either propose myself or tell him I was pregnant. lol

I e-mailed him what I had wanted to say -- that I could see myself spending the rest of my life with him. I told him I understood if he was apprehensive after what happened to him. I also told him in saying that I didn't mean I wanted to be proposed to that day, the next month or the week before. I just felt that way and wanted him to know. Getting married is something I only intend to do once, and I feel the same about being engaged. I told him I didn't want it to be something that happened before either of us was ready and that I didn't want it to be rushed into. He e-mailed me back and said he wasn't scared off and that he hoped I knew that. He said we'd talk more about it later. I never really brought it up, and he didn't either.

One weekend in January, I was at K's when one of his best friends called and told him he had gone ring shopping with his girlfriend. They'd been dating since sometime in August, at the earliest. K's friend wasn't on speaker, but I could tell by K's reaction what Al had told him. K said, "That's kinda fast, don't you think? Just be careful. Take it from me -- you don't want to rush anything." It really bothered me that K had said that. I went upstairs to give him privacy on the phone. When K came up, I said something to him. I blurted out, "I heard what you said to Al." He laughed nervously and looked at me. I said: "What you said really bothered me. Different things work for different people. He called you with news he was probably excited about, and you were telling him to be careful." I told him I understood he didn't want Al to go through the same thing, but just because it happened to K doesn't mean it'll happen to everyone else. My parents got engaged after they'd been dating/known each other a month. A girl I work with did the same thing. Other couples are together for years before they get married. I said I understood if he was being cautious, but that I wasn't his ex and I wasn't going to do that; I know how I feel about him, and I've told him. I said that if I went off my past, I'd never date again because I've had three boyfriends in my life, and all three have cheated on me. I said that if he wasn't ready to talk about the future, that's fine because I don't want to rush anything. But if the reason we hadn't really talked about it is because of what she did, then it wasn't fair. I told him that what he said to Al really upset me -- both for Al and for me.

After I said all that, K came over to me. I realized he was actually crying. He said I was right and he felt bad for having that reaction to Al's news. He said he didn't want me to think he was just going along and enjoying a free ride, not taking us seriously. He said that he could definitely see us together for a very long time.

Since then, it's sort of come up, but at the same time, not really. Once around Valentine's Day, K was joking around, and he slipped and said I better not let him go to Argentina "until after we get married. We've also each talked together about things we'd do for our weddings. I talked about how all my bridesmaids are going to be brunettes (not intentional -- just my closest friends have dark hair). He named off all 15 of his groomsmen (actually, I think the number was 9 or 10, which is still pretty freakin' ridiculous. the guy has too many close friends! damn Army!). Another time a couple months ago, we were talking about where each of us would get married.

And of course, it came up a few of the times I mentioned in the post about the wedding last weekend. I've also noticed that K has been bringing up the "m word" in conversation in his own odd way lately. For example, the other day, I said, "I love the All-American Rejects!" K responded, "Why don't you marry them." He's been saying that a lot to me over the last two or three weeks. He had never said it before then. I can't help but wonder if it's guy way of getting comfortable saying the word... lol Especially since he never said that before.

So, Jes, to make a short story long (but get in almost every detail), yes. We have talked about marriage. Sort of. :)

This is going to be a long couple of months ...

This is bad. The song "Dani California" is barely released, so it hasn't been in the No. 1 spot on the rock charts but for a few days.

Which means it'll be a good two months or so before this Red Hot Chili Peppers song is slowly filtered out of airplay. I hate this song! I think it's something about the vibrating "yeah... yeah" ("She's my priestess, I'm your priest. Yeah, yeah ..."). Actually, I know that's it. I can't stand it.

And what's the deal with the excessive mentioning of states in the lyrics? Maybe the Chili Peppers are trying to help the youth of America after the disturbing news that nearly two-thirds can't find Iraq on a map even after three years of war, and one-third can't locate Louisiana, despite the whole Katrina fiasco. I guess the Chili Peppers are trying to help us with our geography by naming every state they can fit and even trying to rhyme them in a couple cases. It's nice of them to be concerned, I guess.

But if the song's short history and already ridiculous airplay are any indication, it's only gonna get worse. This is going to be a long couple of months ...

Foreshadowing?

The weekend, as usual, flew by. This one, though, seemed to fly by even faster. I left work Thursday to go to K's in Louisiana. On the way, I made my usual stop off at a McDonald's for my quarter pounder with cheese (no onions!). I stopped off this time in Longview, and I actually went in. Can I just say that this is the least McDonald's-looking McDonald's I've ever seen in my life? And isn't McDonald's supposed to be forkids? What happened to the cheesy red and yellow decor, with Ronald and the Hamburgler everywhere?















The first night in Pennsylvania was fun. I played designated driver for K and one of his childhood friends. There was hardly anyone out on a Cinco de Mayo Friday night in Pennsylvania, although everyone seemed to know it was Cinco de Mayo. Somewhere, there had to be a bar full of people. Not where we were.

That Saturday, we slept in and then drove two hours to where the wedding was. It was a pretty drive through the mountains. We don't have many of those in Oklahoma and Texas. One thing I really noticed and liked was the lack of billboards. They're ridiculous in Texas. You can't drive two feet without passing one, it seems.

Before the wedding, we went to K's aunt and uncle's house to follow everyone to the church. We hadn't gotten to wrap his cousin's gift yet, and we were saying hello to everyone and catching up. I didn't realize how little time we had. All of a sudden, K's uncle said, "We need to leave at quarter of." The way he said it made it seem like we had plenty of time to wrap the present. So I was taking my time, and the paper wasn't cooperating. I wanted the gift to look pretty, but I hadn't even gotten the paper cut (I had only been working on this for like 30 seconds, by the way) when his uncle and dad said, "Just fold it and get it done." All of a sudden, his uncle was saying, "We have to go now." There was no "We need to leave in about 10 minutes" or anything like that. I hate being rushed -- especially when I am doing something that I want to look nice. So we hurried and wrapped the present. My side wound up looking terrible, which was frustrating in itself, but then K, who wraps his presents differently than I do, got his to look great because his method works better for when you have too much paper on the side. I just went out to the car and was loading the gift and still feeling frustrated when K came up with a pretty flower he'd pulled from a tree. Who can be frustrated when your boyfriend does something as sweet as that?!















The wedding ceremony lasted less than 15 minutes, which was insane! When we were on our way from the wedding to the reception, I mentioned to K that last time we hung out with CG, she said if K and I get married, our kids will have really pretty eyes. Right then, "Sweet Home Alabama" came on the radio, which is our song. We started laughing, and I thought it would change the subject, but K said, "This would probably be our wedding song." Good thing he was joking. I laughed, though, mocking what it would be like: "Now the bride and groom would like to have their first dance as a married couple." Then, I started humming the opening to "Sweet Home Alabama." We laughed at the thought of it. Then, I said, "Well, it would at least have to be played. We couldn't not play it." K agreed.

The reception was so a blast. We toasted with champagne, and I took it upon myself to prevent the wasting of the glasses that people didn't drink. Don't worry -- I didn't get drunk at K's cousin's wedding. I was having a good time, though. (Besides, at a wedding filled with Italians, who are always making sure you're not hungry or thirsty, no one would have thought badly of me.)

At the wedding K and I went to together last September (the last wedding we were at together), I was called up specifically by the bride for the bouquet toss. K walked behind me on his way to the cake table and said jokingly, "You better not catch that shit!" A few weeks later, I was in a wedding K couldn't make it to because of work. I caught the bouquet. I was willing to throw punches to do it (slight exaggeration -- slight), but I didn't have to. I actually caught it without much effort. I wanted to catch the bouquet at this wedding. But it's K's family, and I didn't want to seem too eager and go all out to catch it. I was still going to try, though ... until I saw K come around the corner to watch. So I decided I'd just let the bouquet go. If it came at me, I'd catch it. Well, the girl to my right caught it, and she had to lean a bit to the right to get it herself. I just stood there. I walked toward K, and he said, "Geez, you could've at least put some effort into it!" I said, "I thought I wasn't supposed to catch it! Trust me, I would have caught it!"

And then it was time for the garter toss. K was at the far front and right of the pack. His cousin kind of sling-shotted the garter back like a rubber band, and it went right at K. He lifted his arm, and the garter landed on his finger -- effortless. He looked right at me and laughed. His aunt (the groom's mom) screamed, "YAY! You're next!" and came at me, giving me a huge hug. It was awesome.

Everyone had been teasing us before, saying, "When are you guys getting married?" and "So you guys are next, right?" So of course it was even worse after he caught the garter. Not that I minded at all.

K wore his dress blues to the wedding, and everyone was talking about how sharp he looked. I met the groom's brother, David, and his fiance. She was so nice! Their wedding is set for next September, so everyone was saying we could actually be next. And if the conversation K and I had a few weeks ago about August being a good month winds up happening, then everyone's prediction and the garter toss will be right!

Sometime during the reception when everyone was asking us about the whole marriage thing, K said something to me playing the tough guy role, acting like it wasn't going to happen. I had had a bit of champagne (and a cosmo... and an apricot sour), so I said, "Whatever. You're so gonna marry me." I forgot I'd said that until the next day, when we were at the airport and he started laughing randomly. I asked what was so funny, and he quoted me: "You're so gonna marry me." I had actually forgotten that I'd said that until he repeated it. But the good thing, I think, is that he repeated it. :)

That Sunday, we had lunch with his family. I'd had a conversation with the bride and her mother in the bathroom at the reception about K and me. They were both in the "you guys are next" camp, so we were talking about that. When we said our goodbyes that Sunday to head back to K's parents' house, the bride's mom said, "Good luck with the future" and winked at me. :)

I hope the good lucks, the garter toss and predictions bring something on soon!

*^% #$@

I am starting to get very frustrated with my job.

Thank you for listening.

Thursday? Friday? Eh, whatever

I'm totally thrown off today on what day it is. But what's cool is that it doesn't matter because, technically, it's my Friday because I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow to go to K's cousin's wedding!

Unfortunately, this means it'll be a vacation from my blog, so you all will have to sit on the edge of your seats until I can post again on Monday. (I know, I'm sorry.)

I would, however, like to thank those of you who did not vote for Paris after Tuesday's Amerian Idol. I hate to sound like I'm rejoicing in someone else's misfortune. Paris, though, is only 17. She's very talented, and I'm sure she'll have a great music career someday. I'm just glad it won't be through American Idol. And I'm sure she'll be, too, when she doesn't have to give X-amount of her money to Simon Cowell. (Actually, she probably still will have to. hmm)

Anyway, I have much to do at work, and I'm hoping to get out early so I get a head start on my lovely 5-hour drive. I GET TO SEE K TODAY!!! woohoo!

Whoops (x2)

It seems none of my readers are as into American Idol as I am. That's okay. I won't hold it against you. We can't all be this cool.

Speaking of cool, I have these adorable brown ballet shoes that I have worn the heck out of since buying last October. They have great beading and sequin detailing on them (notice I said "great," not "tacky"). Anyway, as I said, I've worn the heck out of them. And since they're ballet slippers, I wear them without socks.

Since I hurt my knee again, I've been wearing heels as little as possible. I forgot that I had taken my lovely brown slippers out of commission because they were starting to smell bad. It's important for you to know that I absolutely do not have smelly feet (and trust me, I'd know if I did. I'm kinda paranoid about smelling bad.). But a girl with pleasant-smelling feet can only wear a cute pair of slippers without socks so many times in all types of weather -- including 85+ degree heat -- before those shoes take on a slight odor.

So, being the paranoid person I am, I'm glad I have my little coconut lime body spray in my work tote to spray in my office to prevent people from coming in here, smelling my shoes and deciding I smell bad.

Idol post

It's Tuesday, which means 48 hours from now I will be at least halfway to K's. This makes me very happy.

What else makes me very happy about Tuesday is that it's American Idol day. And what makes me even happier about this particular American Idol is that I think it's Paris's week to go home. For those of you who read this thing, if you like reading happy posts from me and you actually vote on American Idol, you shouldn't vote for Paris.

As for the show, I'm so glad that Chris sang "Renegade." I didn't realize that was the name of that song, but I love it! He did awesome, which also makes me happy.

And Taylor rocks! He's just so fun to watch. It always makes me smile watching him. I think he's awesome.

Can I say, though, that I think Paris's and Katherine's thanking the judges now no matter what they say reminds me a lot of Kellie Pickler? She was the one who always did that before. I also think it's bad that Elliot is singing a song called "Let Me Go Home." Not that I'd have a problem with that, either, but first things first! I really don't think I can take another week of Paris's nasaly "Thaaaank Uuuuuuuu." Ugh!

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P.S. I totally caught the "Let Me Go Home" irony and had this posted before Simon ever said anything!

Turning 23 is going to be awesome!

Dinner last night was so great! ER's family is so awesome, and it was a blast hanging out with all of them. As soon as I got to the door, ER said, "I have a beer poured and waiting for you!" The food was great, and one of ER's grandmothers (both were there) brought a chocolate cake that had strawberries on the top around the edges. Mmm!! Her grandparents and parents were telling a lot of funny stories from when ER was little. Her family is so laid-back and cool.

They were talking about past birthday parties. Evidently ER had a lot of pool parties, since they have a pool at their house. I had a pool party when I was 16 at the Elks Lodge in our town, and it was so fun! It was just several of my close friends -- girls and guys -- and we had a blast just goofing off in the pool. I think I got thrown in 8 times.

Anyway, when we were leaving, ER was talking about how it's funny that when we started college, 23 seemed so old. Now, obviously it doesn't. I mean, ER's boyfriend is 31, and K is 27. That's old! (j/k) :) So of course I had to tease ER and say, "Well, I'm not there yet!" Her family asked when my birthday is, and ER blurted out, "August 17!" Her parents were like, "Well, we'll have to have a birthday party for you here!" And they were being serious. I could totally have a 23rd birthday pool party at the parents' house of one of my best friends. How awesome is that?!