how lame am i?

i'm totally looking forward to the new 90210 show and full intend to watch the first episode next week. that and my nkotb tickets have probably branded me as a loser for the rest of my life...

pictures from manda's wedding....

i stole all of these pictures from amanda's facebook profile to share with all of you...

amanda's photos

and we took these pictures ourselves...

my photos

enjoy!

i bowled my first 500 series! and i'm not happy about it!

so i've been trying to hit a 500 series for about 2 years or so. everytime i bowl the really well the first two games - i do the math to deterimine what i need in the third game to get a 500 series - and then i end up totally tanking.

so tonight i bowled my very first 500 series. i didn't even think about it until the ninth frame of the last game when i was sitting there with a 184 game. final series was a 531.

i should be totally ecstatic, right? last season i achieved my first 200 game and i had two goals left - a 500 series and a clean game. and now i've hit the 500.

i'm not happy about it because tonight was the first night of bowling and you are supposed to bowl really bad the first night so you start off the season with a lower average and a higher handycap and you can work upwards. but i did it all wrong cause i finished up last season with a 137 average. i'm starting off this season with a 177 average. that's leaves a 33 pin handycap verses the 77 pin handycap i ended with last season.

not to mention living up to the 177 i'm starting with is going to be really tough....

that lazy ass neighbor...

so you all remember that lazy ass neighbor who leaves her car in front of our house for days at a time when there's room in front of her own? well check out these pictures.

first - her house is on the left. that is her car behind the red blazer.



notice the space available in front of her house.



and notice the space behind her car.



now look again and notice the amount of space between her car and the blazer - which belongs to the nephew of the lady who used to live in the house it's parked directly in front of.

i rest my case.

the bestest matron of honor speech ever!

when i gave my toast at amanda's wedding - i did it from memory and didn't have a word written down. i had been drafting it in my head for a year and i kept it very guarded because i wanted everyone to experience the speech for the first time at the same time.

now that it's over - i wrote it out for postarity's sake so that amanda can have it for later. so here it is!

are you ready for this? she said "no". i told amanda a year ago that i knew exactly what i wanted to say at this moment and i think she's been really frightened ever since.

i met amanda 13 years ago when her family moved to st. louis. she and i spent almost every saturday and sunday for two years working together at subway slinging sandwhiches. even though there was about 3 years difference between us in age, we quickly developed this crazy bond that to this day can't be put into words. easiest to say that she could make me giggle like no one else in the world. it would only take one word and there were giggles.

(macarena, mayo, cologne, bzzz - at this point amanda threw out the word macarena as an example and it was the only word mentioned at this point in the actual speech - but you get the picture. this is also where i cut the line about how as the youngest of three children, i had quickly adopted her as the little sister i always wanted and never had - the one who was fun but didn't take my toys. reason it was cut is long and not worth going into right now. i had told amanda before the wedding that that line had been in the original draft but cut for certain reasons and she understood - again - long story.)

so you can imagine that having become so attached to amanda, i was pretty disappointed when i found out she would be moving to carrol, iowa for a year. i knew i was powerless to stop it and the idea of throwing myself in front of the moving van and begging her parents to make me her legal guardian wasn't going to work. so i decided i was going to make sure amanda always knew she would have a reason to come back to st. louis - and i decided i was going to throw her a party. it was going to be a surprise and i planned it literally under her nose with her standing two feet away. the plans were all going well until about 2 days before the party when during what turned out to be her last shift at subway, in classic amanda fashion, she was attacked by the lid from a tin can of olives. long story short, she ended up with about a hundred stitches in her leg, unable to walk, and completely unable to pack - which was great for me, but kinda stunk for her parents.

the first thing i said when i heard this was "i can't believe she did that."

second thing was "yeah. yeah, i can believe she did that."

third thing was "and just what am i going to do now??"

so after a brief panic moment, i rearranged some things and made some phone calls. i made sure her mom was still on board - i knew the hardest part was going to be getting her out of the house. and at the time i was pregnant with my now 10 1/2 year old daughter so i did what any crazy, pregnant best friend would do. i called her and i said "amanda, i need you. i have a doctor's appointment. no one can go with me. i think they're going to do an ultrasound and i can't do that alone. i need you to go with me - i'll push you in a wheelchair if i have to."

i had her hook. line. sinker. and she was super shocked when her mom actually LET HER GO.

so i picked her up and fibbed to her about how i forgot something at my house. then i fibbed again about why i had to park in back of my house where i never parked. and when she walked into my back yard and saw a half dozen of her closest friends - none of which she still talks to other than me, i might add - she was really surprised.

now i share this story with you today because i learned two very important things about amanda that day.

1. she is SO gullible.

and

2. no matter what was going on in her own life or where she was, if i needed her, she would be there for me and she would always be my best friend. and i'm happy to say that she has been a part of every happy and every sad moment i have had ever since.

i was really honored five years ago when she stood next to me on my wedding day - or attempted to stand anyway - and i'm really proud of your performance today. and i was even more honored to be able to stand next to her today.

on that day five years ago, amanda publicly informed my husband that he got a two-for-one package deal when he married me. she would always be there for him as well. so chris, i say to you today - you're stuck with me. it's too late. there's no going back. and if you see jeff later, i'm sure he can give you a few pointers on how to cope with it.

in all seriousness though, i want you two to know that there really aren't words to express just how happy i am for you today and i want to wish you both the best as i see you happy together today, happy together tomorrow, and happy together for the rest of your lives.

*toast toast toast - applause cause i totally rock and the best man tells me that he's glad he got to go first and not follow that which made amanda respond with "don't fell bad - she was an english major - she loves this stuff!"*

and now after spending almost every waking hour together for four straight days - she's been in myrtle beach since monday and i haven't talked to her since sunday and MAN IS IT KILLING ME!

totally m.i.a.

i know i've been missing in action for a month and all. and i've probably lost all my readers.

things have just been crazy.

since returning from pittsburgh, i've been working from home/bread co. our new office location still isn't ready for occupation so we're the foudnation without a home.

and my bestest friend amanda got married this weekend. i was matron of honor. i've been doing a lot to help her with last minute wedding stuff. i drove up to iowa last wednesday to be her brain for the three days before the wedding. drove her everywhere. helped her decorate her cake. let her use my hotel room as a wedding holding tank until we could give things to the hotel for the reception. it was a good time. and i gave the most awsome toast. the best man said he was glad he didn't have to follow that. that education as an english major paid off.

now she's all married.

i have no clue where my summer went. yes i do. it went to detroit. then to iowa. then to pittsburgh. then to iowa. and now nina starts school the day after tomorrow.

not sure who all i've told - but nina is going to a new school this year. she was picked in a lottery for a charter school. she's pretty excited. it will be a new start. new friends. new opportunities for her education.

anyway. i'm sorry i've been m.i.a. it's just been too crazy. i'm hoping to return to a normal schedule soon so things will seem more normal.

and i'll try to annoy you all with my babbling again...

us transplant games - day 1

for those of you who don't know, i left this morning for the u.s. transplant games in pittsburgh. the day started with a flight on a tiny little plane that only sat 50 people. it was mostly smooth - bumpy on the landing and take off. but it was short and pretty painless and i think i kept the hyperventilating to a minimum....

there was only one seat on my side of the aisle so at least i didn't have to share or anything.

anyway - we're staying at the doubletree and it's a pretty nice hotel. gotta love anyplace that keeps tossing fresh baked cookies in your face when you go to the front desk. we ventured over to the strip district for lunch. we ate at this little place (name escaping me - i'll try to figure it out and get back to you) that had an outdoor balcony - very french quarterish. they have this lobster roll that is basically a giant roll that is like a roll slash garlic bread filled with lobster claw meat that has butter and garlic and nom nom nom nom. and they had excellent seasoned fries. it was sooooo good. and the area was cool. kinda the loop meets soulard meets the french quarter in new orleans. we didn't actually have lunch until 4 or so. and it kinda freaked us out that as 5 pm approached - all the stores were rolling up the street vending and locking up the doors. like the place tunned into a vampire haunt or something at 5:15.

most of the night was spent trying to figure out tomorrow - which is going to be the first real day of craziness. we have a hospitality suite for the team and we have to get all the shopping done for it and get it set up. then it's the cards/pirates game tomorrow night.

the real games start saturday with swimming and the opening ceremonies - which i'm told is quite the emotional experience. i can't wait to really get going.

we just finished dinner an hour ago - we ordered in pizza. it's now midnight and i'm totally exhausted. i've been told that dinner this late is the norm - so i'm sure my system is going to love that.

this is going to be quite the experience and i'm going to try to update every day - provided i don't colapse into my kingsize bed and sleep for a year.

i'm going to try to crash now. this will be my first stay in a hotel room by myself. i survived my first flight without jeff - so i think i'll manage this okay too...

nite nite.

i don't get it...

i just don't get gas (except after eating white castles - ba dum bum - but seriously) - i just don't get gas. i passed 4 gas stations on my way to work. one was $3.98. two were $3.94. one was $3.89.

guess where i stopped? and not just for my 64 oz diet mountain dew with cherry syrup fountain drink...

but can someone just make up their mind and be consistant?

*rocks gently repeating "make up your mind, make up your mind, make up your mind"*

i'm not dealing well with indicision and limbo in my life lately...

detroit zoo, doubles and singles, side trip on the way home, and all the stuff in between...

so last night we started bowling our doubles and singles events at about 7:30 (an hour late). six straight games, no break. no amount of gatorade and oj could keep my blood sugar up. doubles came first, and i bowled a 145, 178, 127. singles i bowled a 166, 129, and a 92. in my own defense - by the time we got to that 92 game - it was about 1:30 in the morning and all the steam was totally gone. i'm not placed very well in any of the events so i probably won't win prize money this year. but i did bet $40 in brackets and turned that $40 into $85 - so that was kinda cool at least...

anyway. we also went to the detroit zoo yestereday. big place.

and on our way home today we took a side trip to warren dunes state park to visit the beach and lake michigan ocean (as we always affectionately called it).

and then i have all these photos - which don't fit into any other categories.

i'm pooped. yesterday was a long day with a short night of sleep followed by a lot of time in the car where i dozed off several times - but didn't actually get any substantial sleep. i'm sore and stiff - between bowling my brains out and sitting in a car all day. i have to take a shower and get some sleep and then try to function at work tomorrow. plus - the cats are still waiting to have a word with me about leaving for four days - so i have to give them their face time...

night!

team event

in this evening's team event i bowled a 158, a 152 and a 100. series a 410. i guess i choked in that last game huh?

tomorrow we have doubles and singles. we start at 9:30 pm and it can take 4-6 hours to bowl all 6 games. gonna be one late night...

in the meantime, enjoy these pictures and these pictures.

and we're off...

leaving first thing friday morning for the women's national bowling tournament in exotic detroit. jealous?

stay tuned...

all in a day's work?

morning got off to a fine start.

everything went to pot at noon when our phones went dead. weren't sure what the problem was. turned out to be some miscommunication someplace about our office move next month. someone thought the phones were to transfer over june 16th - not july 16th.

left for lunch at 1. came back at two to discover four fire trucks, five police cars, to fire chief vans, 3 first response vehicles parked in front of our building. we pulled over to a lot where two of our coworkers also just happened to land on their way back from lunch. the guys working outside our building digging a trench for the sewer hit a gas line.

2:30 - get the all clear to go back inside. smells kinda funky but they assure us it's not dangerous. but we find out that we can send emails out - but nothing can be sent in to us due to problems in new york.

3:00 - the trench diggers start playing with paving the spot they dug. tar and gas fumes combined with something that smelled like paint thinner starts giving everyone headaches but the gas guys can't detect any harmful gases in our building.

3:30 - call for a ride home cause my stomach is turning and my head is starting to ache.

4:00 - go home. where i am now, and working on work things to make up for the time lost by not having phones, emails, or a building with breathable air...

happy monday!

i've corrupted my child

we spent 45 minutes tonite watching nkotb videos on youtube (btw - i'm liking their new video more and more!) she's placing nkotb on her list after the jonas brothers - but i think it's only to please me. she wants me to put in the movie and see if i can still do the dances - somehow i think i wanna skip that part...

but we did find this father daughter wedding dance video and it cracked us up. you have to get through the first 45 seconds to get to the funny part though...

i so happy!

7 am - watched new nkotb video on vh1. it wasn't as bad as i thought it might be - but they have come a long way from chasing the girls around the carnival and locking eyes across the tilt-o-whirl.

6 pm - come home from a long ass day at work to find happy happy nkotb tickets in the mail. life is good.

6:30 pm - nina finds this in the depths of her closet (where it landed after we moved - along with her teletubbies videos). i'm gonna sneak out of bed at 2 am one night this week and watch it....



oh jordan. i can totally overlook your lameass stint on the surreal life where you came off looking like a weirdo with that whole boxes in the doorway o.c.d. thing. just give me one quality rendition of i'll be loving you (forever) - high notes in tact. i'll forget it ever happened...

i am the proud owner...

of 2 tickets to see New Kids on the Block on November 10 at Scottrade Center.

Section 117 - Row GG - seats 1&2

that's the right stuff all right!

ever since i got my laptop

bailey hates it. she's jealous of it. she's been trying to find a way to get around it to her favorite place in the world - my lap.

she finally said "screw it" and found a way...

you have no idea how hard this makes it to play solitare...

there's still time!

visit my kidney walk page to learn more about how you can help in the fight against kidney disease!

this week on "why you won't be my next american idol"....

welcome to a very special episode of "why you won't be my next american idol". i'm your very smart, talented, clairvoyant karen seacrest. i apologize for not getting this to you sooner - but i was celebrating the night away because i - for once - ACCURATELY PICKED DAVID COOK AS THE WINNER!!! yeah me!

honestly - i don't know what everyone is so suprised about. it seemed like a no brainer to me.

so - let's not beat around the bush. david archuletta - you won't be my next american idol for the following reasons:
1. you have no range. you can only sing the powerful ballads that people sing on telethons. every song you sing sounds exactly the same.
2. you may be young - but you are by no means hip or marketable.
3. your daddy spent too much time training you on stage presence - and not enough time training you to have a personality.
4. and because lindsey's husband is right and you do sound like vera di milo (performed by jim carrey on in living color) when you talk - and it's freaky!!!

and that means that DAVID COOK - YOU ARE MY NEXT AMERICAN IDOL! and nina already wants your first cd. so that's one cd sold...

and your from missouri - so that's a bonus. i will have to work on you being a royals fan though....

until next year - this is karen seacrest - out...

idol finale...

nina won't shut up about the jonas brothers. nick jonas is oh so dreamy...

and that archletta performace on "it's too late to pologise" sucked. i hate that song. anyone notice how he didn't even sing real words? just aaaahhhhs.

and i guess jordan sparks is feeling better...

edit - digging the jack black, ben stiller, robert downy, gladis knight thing way more than celine and elvis last year. lmao...

edit - george michael looks terrible. he looks like a george michael impersonator...

edit - and now we're waiting. you know - i appreciate george michael music more than i used too. but i couldn't watch him perform..

david cook's guitar hero was better than david archuletta. david wasn't even a sperm when that movie came out...

waiting. fluffy comments. can we just get to the results. wait - did simon just admit wrongness?? david cook must be winning because simon wouldn't take it back otherwise...

there's the envelope...

certified blah blah blah...

here we go.

winner

is

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

woot woot!

nkotb - nov. 10 at scottrade center!