Can I go home already?

Being the Friday before a holiday weekend, it's really slow at work today! K is coming down tonight, so it'll be the first time I've seen him since early August. I'm excited. Plus, football season starts tomorrow! In case you're not as excited as I am, click here. Trust me, you'll love it!

Tomorrow morning, K and I will go pick up Piper for good. I'll have a puppy for real! I'm anxious for K to meet her. I know he's going to love her.

Last night after I worked out, I went grocery shopping so I wouldn't have to worry about it tonight. I went to buy some dog food for Piper, and I found the cutest little dog bowl for her! I had planned on waiting to buy all those things with K once he's in, but I couldn't live without it. It's too cute! (I'll post a picture later.)

I guess my boss read my mind, because she's telling us to go home now. Yay!

Annoyed, but not surprised

I got an email from my mom on Monday. Even after her last email, I figured I'd hear from her sometime before the wedding. I figured she'd call on my birthday, since it would give her the perfect excuse to get back in touch. But she didn't.

I thought for sure that she'd send me a card. I never got it. And that's what her email was about:

Just wanted to let you know that the birthday card I sent to you came back in todays mail. I didn't forget your birthday. I thought of you all day.

Either you have moved or I got the address wrong. I hate to think that you may have moved without letting me know.

I want you to know that I love you so much and I long for the day when you want me in your life again.

My response was short and simple:

I haven't moved. Still in the same place. If you didn't put my apartment number on it or had the wrong one, then I wouldn't have gotten it.

Then, yesterday, I got this response from her:

It saddens me that there is no emotion in you.

I've done many things throughout my life that I am not proud of...things said and not said, actions and responses that were not thought through.

Regardless of your response, I want you to know once again that I am so sorry for my mistakes and wish there was a way to undo so many things. That being said, I now try to live my life better today by following the teachings of Christ. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I hope that more than anything else you invite Christ to your wedding and to your marriage. Without Him, the hard times are much worse.

I miss you and love you very much.

First off, having her not be a part of my life is a decision she made, not me. Her actions and words through the course of my whole life -- and the way she treated my brother and my dad -- has brought us to this point. I just don't want to pretend that I'm okay with what she did. She physically abused my brother, and she emotionally and verbally abused our whole family. She was hard to live with, and she cheated on my dad. Then, when they got a divorce, she dragged it out so long that he finally gave her almost everything just to be done with it. Of course I'm still angry about that. My dad doesn't have an enemy in the world. He's worked so hard his whole life, and that's how she treats him?

I think I'm going to stick to my response of no response. My mom and I always manage to go through this cycle where we get in a huge fight, she cries and I get annoyed, we don't talk for a long time, and some big life event finally comes up to where we start talking again, which leads to the fight, which leads to the not talking again. I hate it. And my mom annoys me. A lot.

"It saddens me"? Really? Who talks like that?!

Much better!

Dear gym,

Thanks for making my visit better tonight! I'm glad you're so quick to forgive.

Sincerely,
MLIB

Tonight was one of those triumphant nights. I love those! I realized my triceps are very well defined. So much that I might want to hold off on those exercises for a bit. I did go up on my other arm exercises. In fact, I went up twice. I did curls with 17.5-pound weights. I'm pretty much a badass.

Working out tonight felt good, and I was in great spirits. Fun gym nights rock!

But I only missed three days!

Dear gym,

I have spent many hours visiting you over the last few years. I've seen you when I was sick, I've seen you when I was well. I've visited when I was stressed, and I've visited when I was elated. I've stopped by for short visits, and I've stayed for a couple hours. We've been through a lot together -- times of triumph and humbling times of flat-out embarrassment.

I'll admit, three days is more than the usual gap in our visits. But this was a very busy, productive weekend! I had a scrapbook to start on and a dog to entertain. I was exhausted, and I really wanted to get to bed early last night. But I visited you anyway.

Yes, it had been three days. But that was no reason to be so hard on me. I really worked to get to where I'm at, only to have you laugh in my face after a short absence.

I wanted to let you know that I'm visiting you again tonight. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I'd really appreciate it if you would take it easy on me this time.

Sincerely,
MLIB

Guess who I spent the weekend with?

Her eyes don't really glow green like that. :)










It's really hard to take a picture of such an energetic puppy ...








but I did catch a good one of her!







Such cute puppy dog eyes! She had this ball chewed up in the 24 hours she was here.

























Right before she attacked me with puppy kisses.

This might be why I've only ever completed one (mini) scrapbook

My wedding present to K is going to be a scrapbook. It'll have pictures and keepsakes from our two-plus years together, and it's going to be awesome. Really awesome. I've been working on it for almost a week now ... and I have zero pages completed.

It's funny how long it takes to start a scrapbook. Especially when you want it to be perfect. There are just so many decisions to make, though: Do I want to make an 8x8 scrapbook, or 12x12? Do I want to have it geared toward K, with my own little comments and versions of the story when the picture was taken? Or do I want it to be more of a general us scrapbook -- and if I do that, is it really a present for K, or is it a copout, something I would have done later, but because I finished earlier I could call it a gift to K?

Does it need to be G-rated? -- not that we have X-rated pictures or anything, but odds are lots of other people will see this, meaning the quote page I had planned with funny little inside jokes might need to have punctuation marks and symbols in place of four-letter words. Should I include mainly pictures of us, or is it a good idea to include the picture of K and a friend of ours who stopped by to see us in Times Square for just a bit when we were there for New Years? I mean, it might be nice to look back and say, "Oh yeah! I forgot he met us there!"

Last Sunday, I went to the scrapbook store and spent a lot of money on paper and supplies. I already had an 8x8 scrapbook, so I was good to go. I went home and sat down at my computer to choose the pictures, anxious to begin my project. I realized then just how many pictures K and I have managed to take through our two-plus years together. I chose a few from each of my favorite pictures. It left me with well over 300 pictures. Eek.

After several nights of looking through them and choosing only the very best ones, I was left with about 250 pictures. I decided I'd have to just make the scrapbook the standard 12x12 size. Otherwise, I'd have to cut out too many memories.

I was able, though, to finish a project I'd bought the supplies for last week. Even if I can't wear it for another four weeks, it feels good to know I am capable of beginning and completing a project without overanalyzing every step of it.

But I am worried I didn't get the letters straight enough. What if they're not quite centered? Are they tilting up a bit? And does it need a period?

Should it say "ARMY WIFE" somewhere on the shirt (maybe the back) so it's really clear the shirt is camo for a reason?

See? Totally not overanalyzing.

"Here comes the bride"

A month from this very day, from this very minute, I'll be standing, excited, in a white dress. I'll be holding onto my yellow and dark pink calla lilies, and I'll be with my dad, about to walk out onto the beach, down the rose-covered aisle and to the white arch with the yellow gladiolus, where K and a preacher will be waiting for me.

I'm so excited!!!

My 24th, in pictures

The pretty flowers my co-workers got me.

Mimosas at work! I love my job!

The yummy birthday cake from Humperd!nk's.

ER and me at the beginning of the night.

Tequila!

Sooner girls, reunited! We had some awesome girls' nights out in college!

Some friends from work

My friends know all too well how much I love "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- especially when I've had drinks. They requested it especially for me. You know I sang along (and did my little motions)!

WK and me trying to recreate a really bad picture we took once. (Yes, WK came. And she was the only one there who didn't know I'm getting married in just over a month. She got mad when she found out. Oops.)

I got called up on stage since it was my birthday. I decided it was the perfect opportunity for a spontaneous OU pep rally. The poor girl next to me is a longhorn fan. That's why I'm giving her the look of pity. Someone has to tell her where it's at.

"Y-M-C-A!"

The pianists had the guy celebrating his 21st birthday come to the middle of the stage. They had us do whatever he did. Good times.

ER's sister and I were really excited about something.

End of the night! A group of exhausted, danced-out girls.

Pretty sure she's not going to be Mia much longer

I met the puppy on Saturday. Mia looks just like her pictures. She's so cute.

She was really playful and hyper, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with her. Maybe she'd be too much to take to work every day. Her foster family assured me that it's just puppy energy, and she'll stay playful, but she won't be such a handful in a few months.

Once we gave her a ball and a chew toy, though, she set to work playing with those and easily entertained herself for a long time.

I think K will love her. K is the guy who wears out his friends' dogs when he visits because he plays with them so much and runs them to death. He loves it, the dogs love it, and the dogs' owners love it. K is like a kid when he gets around dogs.

I told the foster family and the organization I found her through that I don't want to make any definite decisions until K gets to meet her. Since she'll be living with both of us eventually, it's important that he likes her too.

But I'm also thinking about emailing Mia's foster family to see if I could take her a bit early. She's just too cute, and I'm free next weekend anyway. And it'll be great for her to get a head start on learning her new name: Piper.

Day of celebration

I came to work today to find my cubicle decorated with a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner and lots of balloons. There are red and white streamers (closest they had to OU colors!), and even some a bouquet with lots of yellow flowers. Next to the flowers is a big bowl of fresh pineapple. Yay!

My co-workers know me so well.

We're all going to lunch today, and I'm assured there's more to come throughout the day. Should be a fun one -- and incredibly busy, too.

After work, 10 of us girls are going out for dinner at a restaurant that has an amazing birthday dessert. I'm pumped for that. Afterward, it's fun times at my favorite bar! Expect pictures soon.

Tomorrow morning, I'm working from home on a project, which means I'll get comp time. I'm totally okay with that! Tomorrow afternoon, I get to meet my possible puppy! I'm so excited!

It's gonna be a great day.

Look out, K-Fed!

Heidi and Spencer from The Hills have a song out! Heidi actually sings, and Spencer blesses our ears with the worst rap performance since K-Fed.

The song itself isn't so bad (minus Spencer's lame 5-second part), but I can't help but wonder how much is Heidi's voice and how much is computer-aided.

"Aaaaaaaaat last ..."

CG sent me this picture a few weeks ago, from her wedding in May 2005. Turns out that was a pretty big weekend for me too.















If you look closely, you'll see K and me (I'm in the pink bridesmaid's dress), dancing together for the very first time. To this day, every time we dance together, we make fun of how far apart we danced then (to a pretty perfect song, as you can see in the title. It'll be the song we dance to in our reception for the Dallas wedding!).

Our first wedding gift!

I had a package notice on my door when I got home last night. Since I hadn't ordered anything, I had to go this morning to my apartment office to get the package and give in to my curiosity. I suspected it might have something to do with a friend of mine and K's asking for my address, but I wasn't sure. A woman in my apartment office handed me a pretty large box when I showed her my package notice. The sender label was something I didn't recognize, and the box had come from New Jersey. The friends I'd thought had sent the package live in Georgia. I was confused.

I took the package to my car, putting it up to my ear to listen for ticking before realizing no one would be sending me a bomb in the mail (hey, better safe!). When I got in my car, I cut through the tape on the box with my keys. I opened the lid to find tons of bubble wrap.

I pulled back layer after layer, and finally, I saw a color peeking out that even this small-town Oklahoma girl recognized.















My jaw immediately dropped, and I paused in shock only for a moment before continuing to pull back the bubble wrap. What was revealed underneath was a simple box, in that oh-so-famous shade of blue, with two envelopes on top.















I didn't know which to open first, so I reached for the big one. I had debated on waiting to open the package until K was with me, but that'll be a long time from now. He'd probably tell me to go ahead and open it anyway. Besides, the large envelope contained a paper telling me exactly what was inside. Oops.

I opened the small enveloped to find the sweetest card. I was teary eyed at the message and the thought, especially since it was from two people who I know are very close to K.















Once I knew what the box contained, I had to open it. But I had to be in my apartment to do it. I rushed back and carefully carried the box up the stairs and into my apartment. I untied the bow and pulled the lid off, only to see another box, this one engraved.















When I pulled that lid off, there they were.



















I gingerly pulled one of the glasses out of the box, and as I did, it made a sound so much sweeter than my cheapy Wal-Mart champagne glasses ever made.

I can't believe our friends were so sweet (and generous) to send us such beautiful champagne glasses. This couple is so close to K. They were there for him after his bad breakup with CM, and they're both really close friends of his. I met them once in February of 2006, but I really hit it off with both of them. They're such great people, and I have so much respect for them as a couple since the last few years have been so rough for them. D-n has been in Iraq three times in the last five or so years, each deployment lasting a year. He's there right now, actually (he's one of the three guys I sent care packages to a few weeks ago), for 15 months this time. It definitely takes a strong relationship to come through all of that stress and still be standing together.

It's for all of those reasons that I've already decided these champagne glasses are exactly what K and I will use for our toast both on the beach in Florida after our ceremony, and in Dallas at our reception.

Eeeee!!!

So I'm sure you remember the adorable dog I posted about yesterday. Who could forget that cute little face and those curly ears?

I sent in my application yesterday, and I got a call back from the rescue agency today. The volunteer I spoke to told me my application looks great and that once I call my apartment and get them to fax a letter over saying it's fine for me to have a dog, I can arrange to meet her (as in the dog, not the volunteer).

And the cool part? Turns out the dog lives very close to me! Awesome! Her foster family may wind up coming to my apartment to do the home interview. If it goes well, when the dog is good to go around mid-September, I might have a roommate!

Pump, pump, pump it up!

I had such an awesome night at the gym! I got there before Jeremy and our other workout buddy, so I got a head start on cardio. I've discovered that somehow, Coldplay really gets me in a good cardio mode -- not the slow "In My Place" Coldplay, but the songs like "Whisper" and "Daylight," the ones that are a little faster.

Since I was at 7 min. of cardio for our 5-min. warmup when the guys were only at about 2 min., I headed to the back to do some crunches on the ab machines. It had been a while since I'd visited those particular machines, but I'd done an ab exercise or two in almost every workout. Well, it had made a difference, because I did twice as many crunches as usual before I had to stop. My break was much shorter before I did my standard number of crunches for my second set. By then, the guys were finished with their warmup, and I was at 100 crunches!

From there, I proceeded to totally kick @$$ on the rest of our workouts. I went up in weight on most of them. I even did a few (just a few, but my form was correct, which says a lot) curls with the 17.5 pound weights! I usually just do 12.5!

I was doing great on cardio, and every song that played in shuffle mode on my iPod was perfect for my workout. I love days like that at the gym!

When I left, there were free gym bags on the counter. I'd totally needed a bag like that but had never bought one, and there they were -- free!

And when I got in my car, "MMMBop" was playing, and I've already confessed how I feel about that song. It just added to my upbeat mood.

Now I'm all fresh and clean, and I'm totally going to celebrate kickin' butt at the gym with a little bit of my favorite ice cream (light!) and a little -- okay, a lot -- of drama on the season premiere of The Hills! (That's two of my guilty pleasures right there, and the third I enjoyed when I got home from work!)

I SO want this dog!

I've found a few dogs I really like, but this one is my favorite of all of them. She's so adorable! I'm hoping I can submit an application for her. Just look at those curly little ears!

So I might be getting a dog ...

I feel like I wasn't very productive this weekend, but now that I think about everything I did, I was pretty busy.

Friday night, a few of us went out for a happy hour after work for Br!an's going-away. I got home and was so tired from my week that I went to bed at 10:30. I didn't wake up until 10 the next morning (I did talk to K for about a half an hour when he called me at midnight, so I at least didn't sleep that whole time, right?). Jeremy called to let me know he was going to the gym at noon.

I hate going to the gym in the middle of the day. I had a lot of things to do, and if I waited until noon to work out, I'd get that much later of a start. I asked Jeremy what he was going to focus on in his workout: full body. Ugh. I couldn't resist that.

I got a few things done in my apartment before I went to the gym. I got a good workout in, and then I headed home and showered so I could start my list of errands, which included Wal-Mart, Target and going by our reception site for the Dallas wedding to pay a 25% deposit -- ouch.

That night, I hung out with ER and her boyfriend. We made dinner and watched a movie. I'd mentioned to ER how I'd told K if he deploys, I'm getting a small dog. ER got really excited. She has the greatest West!e ever. He's 13 years old, and she's had him since he was a puppy. She loves dogs. After dinner, she started searching dogs in our area. I found a couple that I really like. One is a Yorkie mix, and the other is a Cocker Spaniel mix. I emailed about those two and a couple others. We'll see what happens.

I hadn't planned on looking for a dog already, but it was fun to search through the ones online. Hopefully it'll work out to where if I am selected to adopt a dog, everything falls into place about the time K finishes his training before Labor Day weekend. That way, he can meet the dog with me. I don't want to pick one out without him seeing it first. After all, it'll be his dog too.

This morning I went to church and to lunch with ER, her grandma and her aunt. Immediately after lunch, we went to a friend's apartment for her sister's bridal shower. ER and I didn't really know her sister, but she basically eloped with a guy she'd only known three months, and none of the family was invited. Our friend was left to throw her sister a shower in a city three hours from where her sister -- and her sister's friends -- lives. It was a pretty nice shower, though.

After that, I came home and enjoyed just chilling out on my couch. I finally caught up on blog reading, and then I headed to the gym again for a nice cardio workout. Since then, I've been doing laundry and straightening up around my apartment.

It's been a pretty tame weekend, but I think I needed it. And since next weekend is my birthday weekend, I'm sure I'll be glad I (sort of) took it easy these last couple days.

How was YOUR morning? (A little TMI in the beginning, FYI)

Fair warning: I'd decided not to post about this earlier this morning, but it seems like a wonderfully funny story after two margaritas during happy hour.

This morning, I had a follow-up doctor's appointment for something a couple weeks ago that turned out to be totally not a big deal. Just a month ago, though, I'd had my lovely well-woman's exam (results were normal, thanks for asking).

Anyway, for a quick catch-up, the doctor was out of town when the scary symptoms came, so I had to go to an outpatient center in my doctor's absence. I saw her today to make sure everything was a-OK. My appointment, as usual, started with the scale.

The nurse asked me to step on the scale, and I laughed when I saw the numbers. I knew they were up from when I'd seen my doctor last month, but they were back to what they usually are (my co-worker reminded me when I told her this story that just over a month ago, I had my wisdom teeth taken out, which is probably the culprit here), so I didn't care.

My doctor came in to see me once I was in my own little room. She told me everything was fine as far as why I was there that day. "But you've gained five pounds in the last month," she said.

"I'd like to think it's all muscle," I said proudly, considering showing her my guns (which are right back to where I wanted them, by the way).

She laughed at me. "Five pounds? Of muscle?"

I contemplated telling her that muscle weighs more than fat, but she's the one who went to med school -- she knows that.

"Well, I don't know if this will make that much of a difference, but last time I came, I had nothing in my stomach, and today, I ate a bowl of cereal and have been drinking water." Even as I said this, I was drinking my water.

"You ate 5 lbs. of breakfast?" my doctor asked me.

"It was a big bowl of cereal!" I said, defensively. "I'm not worried about it," I said to her. "I work out."

"Oh, well that's good," my doctor said. Then, she looked at the calendar and considered my *ahem* schedule and realized that that, along with the reason I was seeing her this morning, equals water retention, which could account for the extra five pounds.

I'll probably totally regret sharing this story tomorrow, but I just wanted to share the fact that I straight-up told my doctor my five-pound weight gain was all muscle.

If you saw these guns, you'd think so too.

Why allowing beer at work might not be such a good idea (for me, anyway)

Br!an is our !ntern at work. I know him because we were in band together my senior year at OU (his freshman year). I helped get him the !nternship here. Tomorrow is his last day.

Some co-workers and I surprised Br!an today with a beer at his desk, since one of his favorite parts about being here is that we can have beer during office hours. We were talking and asking him about his schedule for his senior year.

One of my co-workers asked how many hours Br!an has left to take before graduating. "Thirty-five," he told us. My co-worker asked how he was going to take that many hours his senior year. Br!an told us he was going to try to take Spanish during winter break.

I looked at Br!an and asked, "Are you sure you can take a language class during intercourse?"

(Believe me, I now completely remember that what I meant to say was "intersession." Would've been nice if I remembered that before I opened my mouth.)

Some couples should not be allowed to reproduce

And this couple is one of them.

I better see some results, dang it!

It's been a pretty rough summer for my teeth. They were getting more and more crammed in my jaw as my wisdom teeth came in, and when I decided that after a full two years of those punks cramming my mouth, I finally couldn't take it anymore, I had them viciously ripped out of my jaw. With all that cramming and crowding being followed by so much extra room, my teeth have been doing a bit of moving.

I had braces almost 10 years ago, and my orthodontist told me when I got them removed that I'd have to wear my retainers three times a week for the rest of my life. No one else I knew who had braces had to do that, so I decided my orthodontist was stupid. (I'm realizing I start to think that a lot about doctors who tell me things I would like to disagree with.)

Although I still think I shouldn't have to wear my retainers that frequently, I have brought them out from the back of my medicine cabinet so I can try to get all my teeth back to where they're supposed to be. I had worn them a few times after I got my wisdom teeth removed, but not in the last few weeks. Last night, I decided it would be a good idea to wear them again.

I figured it would be even better to kill two birds with one stone. When I'd gone to my dentist in May to get my teeth cleaned, they gave me some whitening gel for free (My dentist offers it for free to patients when they keep up with their cleanings every six months). Since I'm getting married in a little over a month and a half, I decided it was an excellent idea to whiten my teeth while I wore my retainers. All night while I was sleeping.

My coworker laughed at me when I told her I'd whitened all night. You're supposed to use the whitening gel for "at least two hours," and our dentist (she's the one who recommended him to me) told her it would be okay to use it for just an hour.

Today, my teeth are very sensitive. Very sensitive. This makes me sad. What's brilliant, though, is I'm totally going to torture myself a few more times. I still have gel left, and I am still getting married in September. I might as well be at my best, right?

Only next time I decide to whiten, I'm totally going the two-hour route.

As if heading back to Texas wasn't hard enough already

Friday night when K got home from work, we went out to dinner. I love it when he's in town on a weekday, or I'm visiting him on a weekday. We can see what it's like to just come home from work to see the other there. We can figure out what we want to do for dinner, and just enjoy each other's company for the rest of the night. It's pretty awesome, and we can't help but talk about how wonderful it'll be when that's a daily thing for us.

Saturday, we both slept in and were lazy until the early afternoon. After that, we headed out of town with some friends to see The Bourne Ultimatum and eat at Johnny Carinos (my favorite!). The movie was awesome. It really tied a lot of things together from the first two. The action scenes were great, and there were a few things I'd worried they might do in the third movie that they (thankfully) didn't. I loved pretty much everything about it. They're all three such great movies.

We were supposed to go to a bar after dinner and the movie, but one of K's friends who had ridden with us wanted to go to bed. K was disappointed, especially since he worked straight through last weekend and will be going through training starting next weekend and going through to September. It was like this was his chance to go out, cut loose and have fun, and his buddy, who seems to get less fun and more under the control of his girlfriend every day, was too tired to go. At 10:30 on a Saturday.

K and I went bike riding on Sunday afternoon. We only rode 16 miles, but they were 16 very hilly miles, and in the early afternoon in the Louisiana summer heat. It was a nice ride, but we were exhausted after all the hills. After we finished, we devoured a pepperoni pizza, and it was time for me to drive back to Tejas.

Getting ready to go proved to be pretty hard. As I was loading my car, a red wasp started chasing me. I ran inside and asked K if it was on my back. He said no, and he went outside to investigate. I wasn't lying or even exaggerating, as it turned out, because when I opened the door just a minute after K had gone outside, the wasp was at the door. "Close it, close it!" K yelled. He smashed it with his hat when it finally landed, but we didn't see where it went.

I went back in K's apartment to grab my purse, and when I opened the door again, I was still looking out for the wasp, just in case. I was surprised to see something moving on the ground, right on the other side of K's doorframe. It was a small snake. I called K over to look at it. He told me it was just a garden snake, and he scooped it into his hat and put it in the grass.

We said our goodbyes, and I started my drive back to Dallas. There's a train track not far from K's apartment, and when I got to the track, there was a train blocking it. Seven minutes later, the train was still there. I had to take a 15-minute detour to get around the train, but when I passed the tracks on the other side, I could see the train was still sitting there.

My drive went smoothly until I was just about 40 minutes from home. I hit some construction, and I crawled along from 11:30 until just about midnight. I didn't get home until after 12:30 because of that.

I'm sad I won't get to see K for another month, but I'm definitely not sad I won't have to make that drive again for the next few weeks!

Guilty!

(as instructed by Courtney)

If, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing blog entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your weblog.

I'm the Al Gore of digital picture frames

Last night after work I drove to Louisiana to spend the weekend with K. He'll be training the rest of this month, so I'm working from home today in his apartment while he's at work. We'll actually have Friday night together this way, though, instead of me spending it in a car.

I got here at about 11:45 last night. Since we'll miss our birthdays while K is training, we exchanged gifts as soon as I got here. I got K a U.S. Army cycling jersey and some portable speakers (in black) for his iPod. He really liked them.

He got me the Dream Blanket from Brookstone, which is the softest thing I've ever felt. When we flew together to Pennsylvania in April for his friend's wedding, we killed some time in the airport at a Brookstone and first found the blankets there. We both thought they were really soft, but I had forgotten about them. Thank goodness K didn't! I love it!

K also got me something that we should not have had to pay for. I did invent them, after all. See, here's what happened: You know that whole government phone-tapping thing? Well, some government dude was listening in on my phone calls a few years back when I first told someone of my new idea. Being the huge picture person I am, I have a hard time choosing which photos to put in frames. And it's hard to keep updating them. I came up with the idea of an electronic picture frame that worked like a slideshow does on your computer. That way, you can choose several photos for your frame.

So the government official dude was like, "Wow! What an awesome idea!" And since he was a government guy, he had all these connections and hookups -- many more than I had as a lowly college kid. He found the right guy who could help him get "his" idea rolling, and BAM! Now they're rich, all off my idea. Bastards.

But K got me a digital frame. I figured I wouldn't get one until K and I lived together. Since it's just me in my apartment, I don't spend a lot of time there, and I don't have many people come over. We usually meet up at restaurants or something. When K and I live together, we'll become the GFF family of our neighborhood, holding dinner parties and game night watching parties. Then, people will be able to appreciate our awesome photo frame slideshow.

And K being K (and the huge gadget guy he is), he had to get the super-duper-electronic frame, which plays videos and even has speakers in the back.

The speakers and video thing wasn't my idea, so snazzy Government Eavesdropper Guy can take credit for that part. But I'm still not giving him credit for the frame!

One sleepy girl

I've been behind on sleep lately, and I'd hoped to catch up this weekend. It didn't happen. Friday night, I stayed up working on some things around my apartment. Saturday was a busy day full of errands, so I was definitely going to bed early that night. Jeremy had wanted to copy over some of my music so he could get some new stuff on his mp3 player. He wound up loading some new CDs onto my computer, and by the time I left his apartment, it was 1:30 a.m.

I was definitely going to bed early on Sunday night, and I was looking forward to it. And then my air conditioner went out. It's a long story, but I called the emergency maintenance guy. Here's a run-down:

• 8:00 p.m. -- I call apartment emergency line and leave message about broken A/C
• 8:15 -- Get call from George, who tells me he'll be over in 20 minutes to fix A/C
• 8:50 -- With still no sign from George, I call him back on the number he'd called me on at 8:20. I tell him I wanted to make sure he didn't fix my A/C unit outside and I didn't realize it. He told me he'd forgotten to call me, but that his Freeon-checking gauge was broken. He would have to go off-site to get a new one, and he'd come by in an hour. I said, "That's fine. But if for some reason you can't make it in an hour, can you please call me so I can find another place to sleep?" I made sure he understood that was important, and he told me he'd call me if that happened.
• 10:15 -- Still no sign of George. I call him again, but he doesn't answer. I leave a message. "Sorry to bug you," I say, "but I just really need to know if you'll be able to come tonight. I've got work tomorrow, so I've got to get to bed soon. Please call me back and let me know if you'll be able to fix the A/C tonight."
• 10:45 -- Phone rings. As I pick it up to see it's George, he hangs up (after like 2 rings). I immediately call him back. He answers the call, but he says nothing, and the background noise makes it sound like he's in a bar or at a wild party. He hangs up after 6 seconds. I try to call him back, and he doesn't answer.
• 11:05 -- Ever the optimist, I try to call him one last time as I'm leaving to go to ER's to spend the night on her couch. No answer.
• 1:45 A.M. Monday -- I'm awakened by my phone ringing. It's George. I don't answer.
• 9:05 a.m. -- I call apartment office to complain about the above events.

My air conditioner was fixed when I got home on Monday. Of course, it was running full-blast all day with my window open and the thermostat set on 65 degrees (another call was made to my apartment office about that). I was able to get to bed at 11:00 p.m., and it was awesome. I slept so hard that it felt like I'd been out for a whole 2 seconds before my alarm was waking me for work the next day (Tuesday).

I decided I'd have to go to bed early Tuesday night also, just to really catch up. I wasn't able to make cookies for the care packages over the weekend, so as soon as I got home last night, I ate a quick sandwich and started baking. I had one batch done just in time to rush to the gym to meet Jeremy a bit after 8. We worked out for a little over an hour, and I headed back home to shower and bake another batch of cookies.

I wrote four- and five-page letters to each of the guys I was sending packages to. I printed them out on pretty, colorful paper. I sprayed the two pillowcases I'd bought and washed for each of them with Febreeze so they'd smell extra fresh and clean, and I put them in plastic baggies so they'd stay fresh in the package. I wrapped the room fresheners I was sending in two Wal-Mart bags to lessen the smell so it wouldn't permeate the snacks in the box. I carefully placed the pictures and the letters in places the guys would see them quickly, but where they wouldn't get bent up. I packed everything tight in the boxes and got the packages ready to go. Believe it or not, by the time I'd packed everything, filled out the customs forms and taped up the boxes like they were carrying my tax records, it was after 3 a.m. I did a few more things I needed to get done, and by the time I climbed into bed, it was 3:45.

Needless to say, I was not happy to hear my alarm clock going off this morning at 7:45. I got up, though, and I mailed the packages on my way to work.

I've got another busy night in store, though. I'm driving to Louisiana after work and will work from home Friday so I'll get to spend more time with K, since I won't see him again until Labor Day weekend. That means tonight, I'll be packing. I really want to go to the gym tonight and get some ab workouts in, so we'll see what happens. No matter what, though, I hope I have much better luck with getting to bed at a decent hour tonight!