Dodging Bullets and Ready for 2009!

Being that it's New Years Eve still, I can't really wish anyone a Happy New Year because, well, what if we don't make it?

I'm ready for the new year, I'm ready for a fresh start, I'm ready to mentally clean my slate!

Yesterday started out as such a good day, and I'm not real sure why.  I went out Monday night for Steve's birthday and didn't get to bed until like midnight and had to wake up at 5am.  I guess maybe I was overly tired all day and in turn just in a good mood.  Who knows?
'Round about 4pm yesterday my day became overwhelming.  I was packing up my stuff ready to call it a day at work, dug in my purse to pull out the cell phone and it wasn't there.
Since I tend to tell long winded stories, I will just cut to the chase with this one... When I got out of my car at work Tuesday morning my cell phone dropped on the ground into the snow and I didn't find it until 4pm.  It snowed all day... we must have got just over a foot of snow in Princeton!  Luckily it was cold enough that the snow wasn't melting, but just falling.
I quickly came in and dried the outside off and pulled the battery in hopes to save it - I was also a nervous wreck driving home because the roads were shit and if I had ended up in a ditch I would have no phone to call someone.  It's strange how when your phone is all of the sudden not working you want to reach for it more than ever!

I get home and just feel beat.  I take a LONG HOT shower hoping to revive my spirits.  I pour a glass of wine and heat up some leftovers... I feel a little bit better and start on a mission to make my computer work.  I come to find out that surge protectors have the red 'protecting' light on if they are doing their job... my light was on and my computer still wasn't powering on.  Everything else plugged into it was working (router, modem, monitor, etc.).. I pull the strip and try plugging it into a different outlet and test every plug on it.  Each one works.

By this time I'm feeling quite dejected and I turn around to see Steve standing there.  A welcome sight at the moment - I wanted to break down right then.  After explaining everything to him about the phone and the computer and how I just want to fall over and die, he saves the day, though I'm not sure how.  We go into my room and plug the surge protector back in and plug everything into it... including the computer.  Hit the power button and ... we have power!!!  Amazing.  I hug and kiss my computer and walk away a little bit happier.

My phone is still without power and I'm scared to put the battery back in.  Steve, the fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy he is says 'Screw it, let's power it back up, it'll be fine' ... so we do.  It takes about 3 minutes to start up on average anyhow, so I just sit and patiently wait.  We have power!  Amazing.

Now here we are today, the last day of the year 2008 and I cannot wait for it to be over.  A new year, a clean slate, a new mental attitude, a fresh beginning.  I mentally need this year to be over.  Tomorrow, 2009, will be great.

I hope all of you are safe tonight, no drinking and driving!  Stay warm and Happy New Year!!

Random - Vol. 8.24

What if this is my last random blog with a Volume 8._ _  Come Thursday, with the beginning of 2009, I'm forced to change my random blogs to Volume 9._ _.  What a trip that's going to be!

Ok, so... yesterday before writing about my bomb weekend, I updated the Hair Journal - a nice picture of my beautiful LONG hair, followed by this new thing we are saying is cute.  I'm honestly not looking for sympathy or comments on this; I'm still getting used to it and not sure if I like it.  I donated my hair, it was the right thing to do... some little girl (or boy) is going to have a beautiful real hair wig because of me - that makes me feel great regardless of how I feel about my lack of hair; I could have it worse.

My car turned over 10K miles last week.  Take away the 1350 miles to MO and back and I'd still be under that mark.. so that's not too bad for 7 months, right?  Or is it.  dammit... gotta research - hold please.
Wow, here's some quick math for you.  I drive RT to work ~70 miles * 4 (times a week) * 4 (weeks a month) = 1120 miles a month just to work and back.  According to many websites out there, the average American drives 12K-15K miles a year.  So, being that my commute is longer than average... I'm not doing half bad!
Wow, talk about a random tangent.

As if you're not sick of hearing about it by now... but I'm just amazed by this tracker I have on my blog.  It has really helped me come up with titles that I otherwise wouldn't have.  That's all I'm going to say about it today.

I got excited for a brief moment yesterday when I went to Subway for lunch.  The Chicken Florentine was actually on the menu, rather than just a advertisement for it with a picture or whatever... I asked if it was going to be a permanent fixture on the menu... they told me no. :(

Last night I was trying to kill time before heading up to the bar for Steve's Birthday, so I thought, what better time to turn on the computer and upload all the pics from my new camera... I go to turn the computer on and nothing.  A bit of back story here: right before I was trying to prepare for my trip to SF and right before my accident, my mom was having computer issues.  Long story short we decided there was a power surge and her computer was fried... being that it was old we trashed it and she bought a new one, not worth fixing in her eyes, I guess.  Well, my computer (my desktop PC, not my laptop) is generally running all the time but since this surge it had been off and I never bothered to try turning it on.  I wanted to get my mom taken care of and worry about getting the hell outta town.
When I went to power it up last night it didn't want to turn on.  I checked the surge protector and the little red light was on stating that it was in face "protecting".  I've never had to deal with a surge protector doing it's job so I didn't know how to reset it.  I googled it and decided to unplug everything and flip the switch... after that, still nothing, red light is still on.  I'm not sure if that means the surge protector is fried and my computer stands a chance or what.  I need to dig deeper into it; I have no idea what steps to take from here.  I didn't want to get crabby over the computer last night so I just walked away.  I'm thinking bad things happen in 3's... what number am I at?

Last topic here because this is getting long and generally people only comment on the last thing I type about...
Do you think I should be putting a 'watermark' or some sort of ... something... on my pictures when I post them here?  So like, if some random person were to come along and fall in love with my picture it would be protected from thieves.  I'm open to thoughts!

A weekend to forget...

I don't mean I want to forget the weekend; I had a blast.  I mean the weekend and the liquor helped me forget.  After posting last week on the not so great events surrounding my life as of late, I got a lot of replies to just take it one day at a time and to enjoy the holidays and whatnot.  Let me tell ya... I did just that with a bit of alcohol to guide me.

Wednesday night (Christmas Eve), I got off work right around noon and, because I was a day behind from my travels, I still had some Christmas type things to do, wrapping gifts mostly.  So I went home and wrapped the gifts I needed for that night, plus a few for Christmas Day.  I figured I could wake up and wrap the rest before I had to be to my brothers... little did I know Christmas Eve night would be a late one.
I was able to get a nap in, which was much needed and greatly appreciated!  I woke up, ran the triple barrel iron through my hair, and made my way down to Erin's parents house.  Erin is my BFF, her family is my second, and I spend every Christmas Eve with them; I love them.  Here is a picture of Tony, Erin, and myself:

We eat, we talk, we do gifts (I'm part of their drawing of names for gifts), we all have a wonderful time.  She has 3 nieces and a nephew, her nephew is the love of my life... or used to be.  When he was little we used to say we were boyfriend/girlfriend... but now that he's getting older and too cool to even give his mom a hug, he also is too cool to be my boyfriend or even talk to me.  I end up making him feel bad about it and, because he is also tired, he starts to cry.  dammit.  We make peace and move on.  Erin's sister, Niki, lives way out in BFE... up past Cold Springs, so they had to get the kids home for Santa's arrival and Christmas morning.  Shortly after they leave I leave as well.
I talked to Steve to see if he wanted to get together for a Christmas Eve cocktail... I go pick him up and we make our way to Bennigans - they are closed.  Every bar in the area is closed.  Shit.  So we go back to his place for a few beers.  Jeff is there and we all end up watching Rambo until 3am, when I finally decide it's time to go home.
At one point I ended up crabby because of a phone call I had to deal with... which ended up ruining my night.

7am Christmas Morning - same person who ruined my night is calling... apologizing for their behavior.  After going to bed after 3am I'm not ready to be awake yet; I go back to bed.

9am Christmas Morning - alarm is going off, ugh!  I have to wake up, wrap more gifts, and be to my brothers by 10am.  I go in my pajamas, as I was instructed to do.  Christmas at my brothers was fun.  Jordan wasn't so much into opening gifts, but she sure did enjoy playing with them!  I got her a Care Bear and she loved it... even gave it kisses:

I got a lot of nice gifts, but I'm only going to tell you about 3 - because it's hilarious.  My mother is a very random person... all growing up she would buy my brother and I funny things that really are not funny at all... or at least to you they wouldn't be.  For example: because my mom rarely bought brand name cereal when we were young, she would wrap a box of Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries for Christmas... this turned into a big joke and she started buying food as gifts.  We never expect anything on a list from my mom... just funny random stuff.  Here is the highlight of my gifts from mom: I got a 4 pack of toilet paper, a box of Rachael Ray Chicken Stock, and a box of 4 Champagne Flutes.  Here were her explanations for each; TP because every time she goes to Walmart and asks if I need anything, I say TP - Chicken Stock because I like Rachael Ray and thought I may want to cook like her - Champagne Flutes because she heard me mention recently that I should get new wine glasses and even though the box said Champagne she figured I could put wine in them.  Oh, my mom!  A separate note: I ended up with 3 copies of the Britney Spears CD!
We eat brunch, which was a delicious egg bake, banana bread, and pomegranate.  We hang out for a while and talk and be merry.  I had to be at my aunts around 3:30 and was hoping to get a nap in before hand but because we stayed at my brothers so long and I still had gifts to wrap for the extended family, there was no nap in my future.

3:30pm Christmas Day - Christmas at Aunt Jackie's.  The Taylors (Jayne, Tim, Bryan, Shannon) were out of town this year for Christmas and boy could you tell!  I had a great day, but I really needed my cousin there!  Michelle is there but so is Justin and, while I'm trying to put the Justin thing behind me, I'm still very apprehensive about how I treat him.  It also meant that I didn't want to bother Michelle with my petty issues when my dad and his wife showed up.  I turned to wine (which sounds bad).  All in all it was a good day with the family, no games were played... which was different, but we still had a wonderful time.  Family is very important to me and I'm glad I could spend the day with them, plus I got to see Jordan almost all day long!  Here is a 3 generation shot (my Grandma, my dad, and me):

'round about 9pm - I leave and make my way home.  I give my mom all the gifts from the family then turn around and head back out.  Christmas night is generally a night to get together with friends and have a cocktail or two.  I head to Steve's and we wait for Jeff to get home then we all make our way to Bennigan's, this time they are open.  It was the whole big group of us and my friend Amanda was near by so she stopped through as well:

We all drink our hearts out and take a cab back to Jeff and Steve's.  I'll just say this about the remainder of the night... Steve and Dave were doing shots, no big deal, right?  They were taking salsa and putting it in the bottom of the shot glass, then filling it the rest of the way with vodka.  It was a great time.  I have amazing friends.  We may have been up until 5 or so in the morning.

Friday morning we wake up and I feel fine... the rest do not.  I'm not silly enough to do shots like that.  I decided Friday was the day to cut and donate my hair, so I do that.  I also try to get a few estimates on how much it's going to cost to get my car fixed, I only ended up with one quote ($2110) because the other places were closed.
Friday night we all met up at B-Dubs for wings and beers, then head over to Johnson's house because the boys are going to be involved in a game of Risk.  Jess, Tim, Cianna and myself end up playing the Wii.  We started out by playing a game of Mario Party, I was Princess Peach and have since adopted the motto: I am the Princess.  We then decided to play a new game Cianna just got called Raving Rabbids; it is the most random game I've ever played!  After having several beers though... it's TONS of fun!  We call it a night relatively early that night...

Saturday was really just a day.  I finally got a ride home and decided to do some cleaning and trying to catch up with everything from being out of town and Christmas; my dungeon was a pit.
Saturday night was fight night, UFC fighting.  Johnson was kind enough to have everyone over for the fight.  Steve, Tim, Jess, and myself met up at B-dubs (again) for wings and beers (again) before heading over to Johnson's.  Before going up there I was getting ready and trying to decide how to do my hair now that I have none... I ended up feeling like I look 12 and throwing on one of my best boob shirts to make myself feel better.  At b-dubs I ask this dude if anyone is using the barstool, he never even looked at my face, stared at my chest and said no, you're fine.  Obviously I'm fine... look at me.  I didn't feel 12 just then.
So we finally make our way to Johnson's for the fight and have plenty of beer in the process.  After the fights end we bust out the wii again and have some more Raving Rabbids fun.  We took a cab home that night as well... Jeff, Steve, and myself stayed up drinking until somewheres around 3 or 4 in the morning... listening to old school rap and having deep conversation about everything from spicy cheese dip to the Universe.  It was a great night.

Sunday... oh Sunday couldn't come soon enough.  A long weekend full of drinking needed to come to an end!  Woke up Sunday and went to brunch at Billy's in Anoka - the Vikings played at noon and we knew we were watching... so why not watch and drink?!  I run home and grab a half full bottle of vodka and stop at the store for some OJ; screwdrivers!  Vikings win, even though they were already in the playoffs because the bears lost... still, a win is a win, right?  I end up drunk because we may have gone back to my house for my other bottle of vodka (I didn't drive)... Jeff and Steve play a game of Football on the PS3 and I take a nap.  I finally make it home around 8:30pm.

What a weekend!  I left work on Wednesday in a funk... I cured that funk with a lot friends and a lot of drinking this weekend.  Now we have another long weekend ahead of us and I'm scared, so is my liver.

Last, a very Happy Golden Birthday to my dear friend, Steve.  Drinks tonight I'm sure.

Hair Photo Journal

Below this line was written 12.29.08 -

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I don't really have a lot of styles to share this time.  After using product in my hair and loading it up with bobby pins so much I was noticing a lot of broken hairs... so I wanted to make sure my shit was in tip top shape to donate, so I stopped the styles.  I do have the donation update though!

Friday, December 26, 2008 - 

On Christmas night out at the bar I saw Cianna, she's who cuts my hairs, and we gots to talking... I pretty much decided at that point that I was ready to get rid of the hair.  I was thinking I'd do it sometime within the next week and asked what her schedule was.  Long and short of it (no pun intended)... I went on Friday.  I woke up knowing that was my days goal, amongst other things.  I have a picture from before, of the length and one from right after getting it cut:

 Pretty sure it's obvious that I'm kind of nervous about it.  I've donated the hair, so I feel good about that.  Cianna works at Fantastic Sams and not only do they give a free haircut when you donate... they actually take care of donating the hair for you.  So I didn't do anything!  

I feel like I look 12 which, now being 27, isn't a bad thing, right?

This entry... being that I no longer have hair... will conclude that Hair Journal.  I really didn't do as much as I thought or wanted, but it was fun.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Now time to start growing my shit out again!

Below this line was written 12.14.08 -
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 
I decided to do a French braid... which is not easy to do alone with hair my length.. but I managed.  It was really the only thing I did with my hair during the week... it must have been super dry all week cause the static was in full effect, so it was up most of the time; here is the braid:

Pretty lame, but it was the first time I ever successfully did a french braid, so there.

Friday, December 12th, 2008 -
So, the plan was to go out to celebrate my birthday (which is actually on the 16th), and I wanted to do something with my hair, obviously.  So I get the idea to do curls... I search my entire basement for my hot rollers and can't find them, so I go to Ulta and pick up a set, on sale, for $19.99.  I eat dinner and put my hair up in the rollers, leave them in while I do some other girl type things and let them set for at least an hour:

Silly, really... but I wanted to share.
Turns out hot rollers don't really work, or at least not in my hair.  Now that I think about it, curls have never really set well in my hair unless it was a perm.  Here is what it ended up looking like:

I did the zig-zag part for you, Lovi.  I ended up pinning back the top half, but didn't get any pictures before I left, as I was kind of rushed out of my house.  I'll be posting a blog of Friday night out and you can see it then, otherwise there are pictures on facebook (hopefully soon on myspace too).

That's all I've got for you folks... not really anything exciting!


Below this line was written 12.7.08 -
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Tuesday, December 2, 2008 - 
Since Monday's lame attempt at a work day hair style I haven't done too much.. and being that my weekend has been pretty mellow I honestly don't have a lot to share today. I refuse to wake up early on a work day just to do something with my hair.
Tuesday I modified my ponytail a little... rather than doing a poofy section in front, I did the entire front in a poof then put it in a ponytail.  The other thing I did was wrap my hair around the ponytail holder... something I've seen girls do for a very long time, but never took the time to do it myself; it really adds to the simple pony!  I also took the picture before I left for work, so forgive my tired eyes (I wake up at 5am!):

Turns out I only took 2 pictures and the other was super blurry... so you can't really see the front, basically a whole big poof.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 -
I've had a little hair thing for several years... the longer my hair got the less I could use it; I decided to give it another shot (I cannot believe all my hair fit into this thing and it held up!):

the second picture shows off the zig-zag part ('crooked river' as Bob calls it); I do that quite often.

Saturday, December 6, 2008 -
Last night I met up with a few friends to watch some hockey... I hadn't been motivated all day (was dealing with a migraine Friday), but I got up and got at it... I had an idea that didn't turn out as well as I had hoped because it was just too time consuming.  I ended up with a zig-zag part, a funny little spiral on the top of my head and a unique looking ponytail.
The front:

The Back:

The back, close up:

Basically I put it in a ponytail, divided the pony into 3 sections, twisted them and used bobby pins to pin them up... then just used some hairspray to flair up the ends to create an effect from the front.  The little spiral thing in front was basically just a piece of hair I pulled out before I put the pony up and twisted the hell out of that and pinned it up in a spiral.

I'm running out of ideas... there really isn't a lot you can do with long hair, I'll keep trying.


Below this line was written 12.1.08 -
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For you, Dawn; tonight I begin my photo journal of my hair.  Though, as I go on, I fear I'm going to run out of styles to play with... we shall see.  Let me just say a few things right off the bat: first, You are probably going to get to know my bathroom quite well, because it's the best place to get a good picture of the overall style.  Second, Just know that I already feel like a 13 year old taking pictures to post on myspace... and that is not a good feeling.

Thursday, November 27th, 2008 [Thanksgiving Day]:
I wake up with every intention of pulling the flat iron through my hair and calling it a day (I don't normally flat iron because my hair is straight, but the flat iron gives it a little something extra and on a holiday every now and again it's okay).  I get in the shower and once the shampoo goes in I start playing with hairdos (yes, I have a mirror in the shower and yes, I play with my hair styles, bite me!)... I come up with this crazy swirl on top of my head and became curious if I could really do such a thing.  Well, I didn't have time, so I opted for something else.  I ended up with a braid going from one side of my head to the other (right to left), it was kinda neat, but I have a shit ton of annoying fly-aways, so I had to find a home for them.  Here are a few shots of what I ended up with:

Needless to say, I ended up with a TON of hairspray in my hair and on my face.

Friday, November 28, 2008:
I took the braid out in a last minute attempt to get ready for the evening... no way could I leave with it like that; talk about volume!  I pulled out the bobby pins and got busy, I don't have a super great picture of the style, but here is something:

Basically, just one of those cute little poofs on the top of my head, with a triple barrel iron run through some random spots of the straight stuff.

Saturday, November 29, 2008:

I didn't sleep at home on Friday night, so my hair and make-up were a mess the next day.. but I kind of liked it, so I rolled with it.  Came home to get ready, ended up playing in Photoshop and running out of time... so I end up with the same little poof but tried to add another poof behind it (Amy Winehouse-esque, but not quite as dramatic):

The second picture is after I took it all down... I felt like I popped back into the 80's for a second.

Monday, December 1, 2008:

I doubt I'm going to get too funky on work days, mostly because I'm finding most things are not just a quick process.  I will post as I have them though; todays style (taken after the gym, so it's not quite how it was in the morning) was an attempt to recreate the double poof:

Hard to see, I know... and pretty much destroyed from the workout, I promise it looked better when I first left the house.

I'll post more (and update the date) as I get more creative.. as always, I'm open to suggestions!

Merry Chirstmas!

I wanted to take a second to thank all of you who read and who continue to read my blog.  No matter if you comment or not, I truly appreciate your loyalty.

To all; Merry Christmas and a Very Happy Holiday season!!  Be safe, stay warm, and engulf yourselves with those around you this time of year.  When all else fails, friends and family are always there for you!

When it Rains... it Pours

Thanks to Steve, this blog has the perfect title.

I think you can learn a lot about a person by observing how they deal with stress and unwelcome events in their life.  I try really hard to handle myself in these situations to the best of my ability, while I may be affected privately, I try to not let it affect the situation at hand.

• Car accident - I was very kind to the man who hit me.  It was a horrible situation, but we were both in it, regardless of fault, it was shitty for us both.  I may have cried the moment I drove away and I may have been extremely sad and stressed for the next day or two, but I handled it to the best of my ability.
• Airline woes - I know its not the gate agent who is canceling flights, its really mother natures fault.  I spoke to each of those people with respect.  Not only will kindness get you further, but it's the holidays and these people have probably been dealing with rude customers for 2 days straight.  I go out of my way to be nice to people in the customer service industry... I've worked it, I know.  I may have walked away and busted into full tears each time I heard something I didn't want to and I may have had awful days because of it, but I handled it to the best of my ability.

This morning at work we had a meeting... a meeting because we laid off 3 people last week and our company wanted us to know that if we have questions or anything to feel free to ask or talk about it.  Our company is small, I've mentioned that before, generally we have somewheres around 10-15 people working here at any given time, so to lay off 3 people is kind of a big deal.  We are in our slower season and it's not uncommon to have light work loads, but in the 3 years I've worked here we have never laid people off.  It was also mentioned to us that we are trying to conserve money and we may have to do job sharing or some cutting of hours moving forward.  I'm quite certain this could impact me.  

So, how is the best way to handle this situation?  It's obviously not the company's fault... I can't be mad at them. I don't even know how this is going to affect me or when, or if at all.  

I have this new car full with a monthly payment (and a huge dent), I have bills, I have normal living expenses like everyone else.  

Judging me by how I handle horrible situations is fine, but at what point is a person excused from having to be civil and maintain composure?  When I've said "to the best of my ability", I honestly feel that I did that... but what is my ability and where is my breaking point?  A person can only handle so much at one time. 

I will say that I feel fortunate that the company is looking for ways to avoid layoffs altogether, by cutting hours and doing some job sharing... and I certainly don't have it as bad as some people, with their company closing the doors with no hope for the future.  

My biggest frustration in it all is the timing.  It's Christmas... I want to enjoy the holidays and not be thinking about how I'm going to make my car payment next month.  The accident... the travel... the company... it's beginning to pour.

My Travel Journey

So I'm sitting her at LAX... bored outta my mind, being that I have 3 hours before my flight even thinks to start boarding, I figure this will be a good time to start my travel blog.  I started a blog (in Word) while I was on my first flight, but I didn't really keep up with it and now, after having such an interesting experience, I figure it's probably better to just type as I remember... Sorry this blog won't have any pictures, they are still on my camera ... look for them on the networking sites (hopefully) soon.

I would like to just stop for a short moment and mention that while I was waiting in the security line here at LAX I saw Jane Kaczmarek ... so that was pretty exciting.  She is the mom on Malcolm in the Middle... I figure she was heading home to Milwaukee to be with family for the holidays.  (no, I don't just know that, click the link)

Anyhow... this is going to get long, but deal with it... read it in pieces if you need to.

Let's back track to Thursday morning.  I'm not really in the mood to give great detail, so this may suck.  I had to wake up at 4am to get to the airport on time... not ideal, but do what you gotta do to escape, right?  When was the last time any of you were driving on 35W South heading towards the crosstown?  The last time for me was apparently quite awhile ago… normally when driving south you need to be in the left lane to exit onto 62 East, so in the left lane I was.  Only to realize that now takes you onto 62 West/35 South.  That pretty much sucked, I’m now driving the opposite direction of the airport.  The first few exits are closed for road work… ugh.  I finally get off and turned around and to the park and ride that I use.  10 minutes later, I’m at the airport.

Flights are on time, I’m all checked in… I debate coffee and decide against it.  If I wanted to try and sleep on the plane, coffee was the last thing I needed.  Once on the plane I found I had a row all to myself.. YAY, right?  Well, there was this drunk dude that was in the aisle seat across from me and the flight attendant says to him “We are not full this morning, if you’d like to move over for more room you are more than welcome to”… great.  This guy kept talking to the people in the row with him… even before we were all on the plane.  He decides to move over to my side.. and is thoughtful enough to ask if I mind.  Mind you, it’s 6am and this guy is LOADED!  I don't want to talk about him.  All you need to know is that he later befriended me; oh joy!  Anyhow, I finally get to Denver.

My layover was short and honestly... at this point I no longer remember it.  

I board my next plane and am headed for San Francisco!  The flight was good, I was able to sleep a little (I think).. and finally land in SF.  As I sit here and type I realize that my memory is wicked bad because I don't even remember the person I sat next to on that flight... and it was only a few days ago.  

Anyhow - the person I was meeting in SF was set to fly in a bit later in the day, so I was on my own for a bit. I had done all my research before I left and knew exactly how to take the BART to the hotel.  I may have struggled a bit trying to get the ticket for the exact price of the trip, but a nice man helped me out :)

Once at the hotel I was able to check in, which was great considering I was there at 11am and check in wasn't until like 3pm.  I go up to the room and unpack, freshen up, and decide I need to eat something.  There was a restaurant (Urban Tavern) hooked to the hotel that came recommend by the front desk so I decided to try it out.  

After that I wanted to make sure and check out Lombard Street , I had been researching things to check out for this time I had alone and Lombard Street was something that struck me.  I shower and set out for a 1.5 mile trek to find a hill... I end up climbing mountains in the process.  You probably know SF is hilly... you just have no idea how hilly until you experience it yourself.  Well, I finally reach the hill I'm looking for and take my pictures (mind you this is my first time using my new camera... so it was pretty exciting), I will post some of those online, I'm sure.  I made sure to take a different route back and ended up getting some pretty dope shots of downtown.  By the time I get back my feet are killing me and I'm bound for the bed to take a quick nap.  My friend has landed and is about an hour away yet.  The timing should work out quite well.  It was around 6:30 at that point so we decided to grab a bite to eat and just have a kind of relaxing night.  Generally I do a better job remembering places I ate, but my brain is exhausted after the past 36 hours.  

Friday ended up being a beautiful day outside, so we decided to take a walk around the city and see some new places.  He told me that I had to try this coffee place and called it the worlds best coffee... that's a high mark to live up to.  Philz Coffee is the name of the place, and let me tell ya... it was damn good.  Crap, I missed mentioning that I saw AT&T Park, which is where the Giants play.  After going to Philz we decided to walk along the water and I was able to get some amazing shots of the Bay Bridge (which is a bridge I had seen before but was never able to get a good shot of it; I'm excited to see how those came out).  We walked more and stopped for lunch at a place right down on the water.  At that point we were ready for a beer, so we had a couple and then went shopping.  LOL... kind of random but the night before at dinner some dude pulled a box of shoes out of his bag and noticed me looking at him, so he asked if I wanted to see them.  Of course I did... as a previous shoe sales lady, I was curious. Apparently Barney's was having a 2 day sale... 70% off most things.. the shoes were not attractive at all.  We wanted to stop in Barney's though and see what this sale was all about... who wouldn't love to say they own something from Barney's?  Turns out a 70% off sale at Barney's still makes items priced well over $200.00!  There was a tie on sale for $240.00... we laughed and left.  He wanted to pick up something to complete my birthday/Christmas gift, and I wanted to go shop ipods (oh yeah... another thing I failed to mention... my iPod no longer works!  I went to turn it on Wednesday night to pack it for the trip... and NOTHING!)  I ended up at Old Navy buying a shirt for $6.00 (take that Barney's!).  

Anyhow, that night we ended up taking a cab to a place in North Beach - The House - They had some very interesting food there!  I enjoyed it very much!

Moving right along....

Saturday was the day for wine country.  We drove up to Sonoma, checked in to our hotel and made our way out to taste some wine!  We started at a Castle, Ledson Winery; absolutely beautiful.  I dont remember any names of the others we went to, but we hit up several and I was feeling the buzz!  I have some, what I think will be, great photos from up there.  Look for 'em... 

That night we decide not to go out for dinner because neither one of us really want to; we bought a bottle of wine from Ledson and figured a pizza would go well with it.  LOL, $40 bucks on a bottle of wine to wash down za... who knew!?

As we are in our room eating our pizza and drinking our wine, we are flipping through channels trying to find something worth watching.  The weather channel is saying things that does not make us happy.  I have to fly through Seattle and Seattle is frozen.  

Here is where my trip gets real interesting... Sunday morning we are both set to fly out, so we get up and drive from Sonoma to SFO, I am able to check in and get through security just fine... he was flying out of a different airport, so he left.  Once inside the gate area I'm asking around trying to figure out if I'll be able to get home, what the flight status' are.. all the important questions.  Meanwhile he is calling airlines for himself and for me.  Turns out my flight from Seattle to MSP was canceled and later my flight from SFO to Seattle would be canceled.  His flights are canceled as well.  So... not really knowing what my options are and knowing EVERYONE in the airport is trying to get around this mess... I start to cry.  I tend to do that when I am frustrated... it's very common.  He drives back up from the San Jose airport to get me and in the mean time I am online checking out hotel prices, looking for something cheap, because getting out that day doesn't look promising.  He comes to get me and we end up at a hotel in Santa Clara, because it was the cheapest.   He is finally able to talk to someone and get me confirmed on a flight from SFO to LAX then from LAX to MSP... putting me in MSP at 848pm on Monday. This is a town of business professionals, so on a Sunday, there isn't much to do... plus it's raining.  

Being a Vikings fan, and us playing ATL and being a huge game... I really didn't want to miss it.  SO we found a sports bar in some hotel and asked them to turn up the volume... we were in it for the long haul!  Vikings lost... which made a shitty day even worse.  The rest of the day is pretty much spent in the hotel room, trying to reach airlines to explore our options.  I ran out to grab us a bite and we ended up falling asleep pretty early.. it was an exhausting day.

Today is here and here I am sitting at LAX waiting for my second flight of the day to board.  The 49 minute flight from SFO to LAX was cake, and I am avoiding the weather in the Pacific Northwest by flying south first.... I was hoping to be able to go standby on an earlier flight to MSP, but all the flights are oversold and going standby is now $50!!!  Here I sit... as mentioned above though, I got to see a celebrity... as if that was the highlight of my day.  My friend is still stuck in the bay area and isn't really sure when he will get home.  They keep canceling flights all over the coast (Seattle, Portland, etc.) and people have been waiting days to make it home.  It really is a fucked up situation, I'm lucky to be on any flight at all.... and knowing my luck, I will probably end up stranded in LA overnight (which would suck donkey balls!).

The one good thing about today... I talked to an insurance agent about my accident last week and they are taking full responsibility.  Someone is going to call me tomorrow to tell me the next steps in getting my car fixed.  There were only a few brief moments where I found myself thinking about my car over the weekend... and after having travel issues all day yesterday I have come to realize that the events of the past week of my life have not been ideal.  I was glad to get away and parts of me are glad I went... I have mixed feelings on the entire trip for emotional reasons, but I think overall I had a good time.  Sometimes it's hard to focus on the good when there is so much bad.  24 hours of travel worries and unknowns surely trumped any fun I had the rest of the days... at least yesterday it trumped it.  Today, I am able to look back and at least focus somewhat on things I did and fun I had.  I'm just glad I'll be home for the holidays... unlike so many stranded at airports on the west coast.  

Again, be looking for some pictures soon... with the holiday this week I'm not sure when I'll get to them though.  

Oh, and I didn't proof read this, so hopefully you can make some sense of it.

What have you done?

Bold the ones you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars 
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (I will someday)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (SCARY thought)
11. Bungee jumped (NEVER will)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (this might be the year!)
19. Seen pyramids of an Ancient Civilization
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Visited the Caribbean
27. Run a Marathon (No way)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language 
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Been to a World Series game
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten sushi
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

An Accidental Birthday Carol

I'm writing so that not only can I tell you about the play I went to and the events of my night, but also so that I can stop telling the story of what happened last night.  Forgive the lame attempt at a diagram you will soon see.

First, I leave work in the car pool and get back to my car.  I wanted to go home and change, do a few things, grab a bite, etc. before having to meet with my dad to go to see A Christmas Carol.  I finally leave my house at about 5:40 or so, head North on Crosstown, let me present the diagram at this point:

(click to enlarge)

(diagram is not to scale and just something i drew up real quick, so it's pretty lame.  the filled in boxes are not concrete medians, but lines painted on the road to indicate there are no lanes there, just space)

Ok, so.. my car is car A, his car is car B.  He had a stop sign attempting to make a left hand turn, I had no stop sign and was driving straight.  He decides that it's all clear, for whatever reason, to make his left hand turn... had I not been paying attention, I would have hit him because he pulled out in front of me.  I noticed he was going, in a last minute attempt to avoid the collision I slightly swerve into the yellow painted lines (there was a car entering the right turn lane) hoping he would see me and make the attempt to stop and avoid it altogether.  Because the roads last night in Minnesota were some of the worst we've seen in a long time, upon hitting my brakes I start to slide... and slide.  So I swerve to avoid and slide in the process... way far to the left before he actually sees me, he ends up hitting the back of my passenger back door/tire area.  I spin a full 180° and end up facing south, we both pull off to the side of the road.

We get out, ask if we are okay, blah blah.  I go to look at the damage, see that my back door is pretty beat up and try to open it; it doesn't open.  I think to myself maybe it's locked, so I open the front passenger door hit the unlock button, close the door and try again; nothing.  So then I figure I better get my insurance crap out and whatever else.  Turns out when I was trying to unlock the doors I hit the button the wrong way and locked all of them... with my car running, purse, phone, and my entire life locked inside.  It's cold outside, I had just washed my hair, so it's soaking wet, my hat is locked in the car... I am trying to zip my jacket and the zipper gets stuck not even half way up.  I fumble to grab my mittens out of my pockets because my fingers are fucking pure ice.... I ask the guy who hit me if I can use his phone, because I just locked mine in my car... I first called my dad because he was on his way down to meet me for the play.  As soon as he picks up I bust into tears and tell him what is going on - I also tell him that my keys are locked in the car and my mom had just left the house to go to Best Buy.  He said he would call Best Buy and have her paged, tell her to go home, etc.  We then call the police to have them come file a report.  I'm freezing.  The police finally arrive we tell them the story, they take all the information I can give without having my purse accessible.  They call another squad car to try and break into my car and let they let me sit in the back of their car to warm up (first time ever in a squad on my 27th birthday... imagine)... turns out Toyota's are virtually impossible to break into (good or bad at this moment?) - she tries and cannot get it.  I tell the dude who hit me to just leave, there is no point in him sticking around, I have his cell number and he has mine...  I would call him with my policy number (it was the only thing I didn't have access to).  I still cannot get a hold of my mom and my house is just blocks away, so I said I would just walk down and grab the spare, they said someone can take me.  The first squad sits there with my car while the woman who tried to break into it takes me the few blocks to my house so I can use the garage code to get in and get my spare key (this was the 2nd squad car back seat I had been in... again on my 27th birthday).  I get the key, she takes me back and I open the car get the insurance info to the 1st squad officers.
We all leave.

I call my dad because, by this time, it's 6:30 and I'm suppose to be meeting him at 6:30... he said they were coming to the house to get me, so I head there.  I walk in my house, in full tears, run up to my mom and say "I'm okay"... and she says "Accident?" I then proceed to tell her the story.  We go look at my car, my dad and his wife pull up ... awkwardness all around.  I go in to pee, get in with my dad and we leave to downtown.

Ugh... this is getting long.  Sorry.

Finally get to The Guthrie, find our seats and sit.  I'm exhausted.  The play starts and I find myself struggling to pay attention... not only because I had just been in an accident but because we were sitting in front of the Sign Language people and I found it interesting watching the play through them.  Once I finally get over watching them and start to watch the actors I find my mind drifting off to the accident and what happened, how it could have been avoided, and if Karma was biting me in the ass (more on that shortly).  I am able to stop thinking off and on and pay attention to the play and it was wonderful!  I had never seen any of the movies or anything having to do with A Christmas Carol, so the story was completely new to me... and I loved it.
All things considered, take that one bad hour out of my day, I had a great birthday.

Here is the karma thing... as mentioned above, my dads wife came with, fine.  On the way home from work with Jayne we were talking about it and how it was such BS that I had to leave my house to go meet my dad and that he couldn't just come to pick me up... on my birthday of all day.  If people are really okay with the issue, which they claim to be, then it shouldn't be a big deal - well it obviously was.  So I kept saying to Jayne... maybe I should call him and tell him the garage door is frozen shut and he needs to come get me or what if I tell him I'm running late and it would be helpful if he could come to me... this that and the other thing... all trying to come up with anything to make it so he has to come get me.
Well, if you read closely above you know he came to pick me up... at what cost?  Oh, just a huge dent in the side of my car, no big deal, right?  So I ask, Karma?

Everything aside, I am okay and that is all that matters (or at least people keep telling me that).  My car needs plastic surgery... but I am okay.
I've talked to my insurance and they said it sounds like it was 100% his fault, so I should call his insurance company and file a claim through them.  I have a voice mail into them and I am waiting for a call back.

Last... I'm very sorry about the ramblings you've just read.  Things are still coming back to me slowly and I just wanted to get it all out... I hope it makes sense to you, the reader.
Also, I will post a picture here of the damage to my car eventually... probably not until next week though.  I'll let you know when it's up.

It's Official...

Turns out I woke up a day older today.  Just like every other day.... only today I have a new number to go with it.  I have managed to survive 27 full years of life on this planet... GO ME!


Let me give you a brief explanation of what I expect today, this day that I was given life. 
If you know me at all, you know that I love attention, I make this no secret.  Today is my day :) even more so than any other day.  
I expected to wake up today with the birds chirping, the deer dancing, and the cows singing.  Just because I expect it, doesn't mean I get it.  
I woke up with cramps.. ugh. 
The day got better, and will hopefully continue to get better.  My car pool with Jayne this morning started with a seat heater turned on and her singing Happy Birthday to me.  I walk into work and go about my business to shortly thereafter find a beautifully wrapped gift on my desk.  Jayne got me a little something... martini mixes and martini napkins; guess I have to have a martini party now!  Who's down?
I continue, again, to go about my business only to be handed a gift from Chuck (now bare in mind these people are my family too, so it's not just co-workers bringing me things!), it was a jumbo coffee mug, Christmas themed, but said Hope on it.  Hope is my middle name, shared with my Grandma, and most of my family knows I'm very proud of it.  That was a special gift.
Then someone brought in cookies today for the place... I'm convinced it was because of my birthday.  I've had several birthday wishes from friends on facebook, including facebook itself!  
The icing on the cake so far today is a phone call I got... Bob is out the first half of this week and I will be gone Thursday upon his return, his mother passed away over the weekend so he is dealing with that.  In true Bob fashion, he called the office this morning to wish me a Happy Birthday.  That made me smile more than anything, so far.


So... tonight I am going to The Guthrie to see A Christmas Carol, my dad is taking me; I'm excited!  Wednesday I have to work, then I have to clean the office... then I have to go home and pack because I leave BRIGHT and early for San Francisco, Thursday morning.  I'll be spending probably Thursday and Friday in the city and will be taking a trip to wine country Saturday.  Pretty stoked... and the flight will give me a chance to read the manual for my new camera before I actually use it.  Dammit.. now the pressure is on!


Anyhow... be looking for blogs, but I might not get them all up until my return.

One Last Hurrah..

...before I am officially in my late 20's!

Friday night was the night.  I set the date no more than a week prior... the anticipation set in instantly.  I didn't want to make a big spectacle of the night (if you believe that for a second, you don't know me at all!).. in all honesty, I wanted to keep it low key.  My friends told me other wise, so I set myself up for a night that turned out to be more special than I ever thought it could.

If you've read the updated hair journal, you know how my night began... hair disappointment.  It's not often that you find me crabby over a hairstyle gone bad; Friday was no exception to that.  I fixed it up, cause I knew I looked good either way, and went on my merry way.
Back up a few hours... Kelley had called me earlier in the day to tell me she was off work at 8:00 and she was going to come over before, since we weren't going out until 9:00pm.  I figured I would just ride there with her and catch a ride with any random hottie (or maybe one in particular) at the end of the night.  Well, Kelley missed my exit and ended up right by the bar, so she opted to just stay there.. and I can't blame her, she had no idea she was going to be my ride!
Fast forward back to me driving myself to the bar, looking hella fantastic, I might add.  I get there and see Kelley, Erin, Phiengtavanh, and Steve sitting at the table.  YAY... so far, so good!  I give my hugs, have a seat and order a dirty Grey Goose Martini with 3 olives.  I was only planning on having one then switching up to beer (more on that later).  All of the sudden I hear Shannon's voice and come to realize her and Michelle had been there sitting at a different table the whole time!  Then more people arrive... and our table is full; Pam, Nick, Stoner, Tim, Jess, Jeff, Linnea, Jenny, Joe... we decide it's probably best to change locations to make room for all the people!  As we are changing... a person walks through the door whom I did not expect to see... Rich!!  We had been texting earlier in the day and he said he would see what he could do, but I didn't expect he'd actually show up!  I was so very happy!

After we change tables a few more people show up: Morgan, Tonya,, Brian, Mark, my Mom, and my cousin Jeff too!  God, I hope I didn't forget anybody!!  Brian decides to buy me a drink... so the next thing I know I have another martini sitting in front of me!  yikes... there goes my first shot at beer.  We all continue to talk and I make my way around the table to make sure and try to talk to everyone, Jeff gets the bright idea that shots are in order; tequila shots x 4 (Myself, Jeff, my mom, and Tim).  Pictures are being taken, drinks are flying, conversation is lively ... I'm looking around thinking to myself Ang, you are one lucky girl to have this many people come out for you tonight!  I wish so badly that I would have thought to get a group picture... but people started to leave and I understood... people have lives, it was a Friday night, 'nuff said!  I managed to get pictures with most people either throughout the night or as they were leaving.

To wrap this up, because things start to get foggy after that shot... I remember playing Big Buck Hunter (as best as I possibly could!), I remember making everyone I took a picture with stand on the lower stair so I would look as tall if not taller, and I remember some other random thing that I need to ask Pam about!
I got a ride at the end of the night... and apparently made several trips to the bathroom once out of the bar to try and bring those martinis back up!
Saturday was hell.  Woke up at 8am, after going to bed around 2:30am (I'm told)... finally made my way to my house around noon, slept for 2 hours, laid on the couch all day wanting to vomit, fell asleep around 8pm and slept horribly all night until 10am on Sunday.  What a birthday!
To those wanting to ask... NO, I did not fall off any barstool nor did I rap any Eminem!

I will leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from the night (ok, maybe more than a few):

with Erin (my BFF):

with Michelle and Shannon (my cousins):

with Mark:

with Morgan:

with Kelley:

with Rich:

and last but not least, with Steve:

Thank you to ALL of you who came out!  It was a wonderful birthday celebration and it wouldn't have been the same if any of you were missing!

Thoughts For Thursday - Pink Sports Apparel

Today my Thoughts for Thursday is going to be more of a rant... and feel more than free to add your two cents (whether you agree or disagree with me) at the end.

Vikings colors are Purple/Gold/White, Twins colors are Red/White/Blue, Wild colors are Red/Green/Wheat/Gold, Timberwolves colors are Blue/Black/Silver/Green/White; those are the major sports teams in Minnesota.
My question is simple... why is it, when I go to games, I see girls wearing Pink sports apparel?  From the above mentions team colors no where did I list Pink.. I can't think of a single major sports team with the color Pink; can you?  I can surely understand if you are wearing a pink shirt with no team logo on it or something saying you support breast cancer research... hell, I support it and I have NOTHING against the color pink; I love the color Pink.  My teams were not founded on the color Pink though, therefore you should not be wearing it.
My theory is: the girls who do wear it are not real fans.  If you were a true Vikings fan you'd bleed Purple; I do.  If you really loved Joe Mauer (and his lips) you'd wear his shirt in blue; I do.
Here is a whole website with Pink sports merch.  Some pictures I found of pink crap:

All that being said, this is the only jersey that deserves to be Pink ('cause Brett's a bitch):

On a separate note: TJack will be playing this Sunday and I am full of HOPE!  SKOL VIKINGS!!!  I'm sure I'll be watching with a hangover...

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Searching...

As most of you are aware, I have a tracker on my blog.  It gives me all sorts of valuable information that I generally throw out the window because I don't know what to do with it.

One of the bits of info I get is if someone found my blog through a search; last night someone in Massachusetts found my Wall-E Review by searching "wall e sushi".  From this bit of information it tells me that they were using Google to search and I can even click on a link to bring up the search myself, exactly as they saw it.

Let me tell ya... there are some people who search pretty random stuff and find me.  I've had a ton of hits lately  from people searching for info on the Subway Chicken Florentine and a ton from people looking for Venus and Jupiter earlier this month.  I even had a person find my videos by searching "vagina vagina i want to have sex with your vagina"... that one made me laugh pretty hard!  Anyhow, the point is I get lots of hits from random people based on searching... which bring me to my point.

As I mentioned above, I can click on a link and view the search results, I decided to do this with the "wall e sushi" search, because I often times try to figure out what the hell someone may have been looking for to search those words and I also like to see where my blog shows up in the listing; it's neat seeing things I have posted pop up in Google search results!  I searched through 25 pages and still didn't see my post!  Generally if I am searching for something on Google I stop searching if I don't find it by within the first few pages... this person went beyond 25 pages to find my blog... what is the point?  Maybe each computer gets different search results? I was committed to finding where I popped up and got extremely bored with it at 5 pages... bored again at 10 pages... and by the time I made it to 25 I quit.

So my question to you is: how many pages of a search do you spend time looking through?  I've made it easy for you with this poll (lurkers, please vote as well!!), but feel free to leave a comment if you have more to say:
[edit: my first poll got screwed up, so if you've already voted, please vote again.. and sorry this poll is so crappy looking, I cannot seems to find one that works how I want it to!!!]

  

  

 How many pages do you view while searching?

  

  

      
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              1-5
    
• 
  
  
          
              5-10
    
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              10-20
    
• 
  
  
          
              20-30
    
• 
  
  
          
              30+
      

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