Rockband for little ones...

Meet the Zob boys... they know how to rock...



This is just a fun extra curricular activity that some of the guys from church take part in. They have "Rockband nights". They were genrous enough to include one of the guys little boys. I think they did a stellar job! They can show the grown ups a thing or two. :) Enjoy....

Until..................

Ahhh, Summer....

There's nothing I love more in the summer than fresh fruit (well, maybe laying outside by the pool, but this is a close second).

I was going to lay out on the deck this afternoon, but it keeps getting cloudy and that's just not enjoyable to lay under a cloud covered sun.

Sydney and I just said goodbye to Izzy. It was quite funny... the last half hour she was here it seemed as though the two of them were fighting. Sydney would play growl at her and Izzy would come running to me and practically climbing my legs so that I would hold her. Sydney must have shown her who was boss! Rightly so! I think Sydney has collapsed upstairs from exhaustion and will be recovering for a couple days from this visit. Izzy wears her out!


Well, I think I'm going to read a book or something. I've been meaning to start a book I got a couple weeks ago, but haven't yet. Now would be a good time....

Oh, one more thing... here's my frog cookie. I still have a whole bunch of them, but I think I'm just going to have to throw them away. Poor froggies! :(

Until...............................

One Blog Away From Being Blogged Out...

For the majority of the evening I helped my dad set up his own blog for his junior high youth group at church. I must say, I love blogging! I forgot how long it takes to set up though. Granted there were a few glitches here and there since he wanted his blog linked to the church website, but between me and Dan (our resident tech dude from church) I think we've figured it out. Well, atleast momentarily.

This weekend has gone by fast. It's been quite exhausting, and yet I haven't really done much. Saturday I came home to sleep of course after working 12 hours. Then I got up around 2 and really don't remember all that I did until I went to Walmart around 5. I had to go get some things to make a snack for this pool party we were having with my small group. Unfortunately the party was cancelled because it was very gloomy and rainy today...well intermittently. Anyway, so I ran to Walmart then went to Hol's to watch a movie. So, I come home at 9:15 or so and make my treat (which I didn't end up needing), all the while I am helping my mom make a stupid paper bag scrapbook for someone she works with. I used to love scrapbooking, but seriously I can not stand it anymore. I guess it's because I don't have time for it and I get easily frustrated since I don't have as much time to spend on making it look good. Anyway... so I helped her with that, made my treats, and then was in bed by about 1 or so.

Well, apparently 6 hours of sleep was not enough because I woke up briefly to my mom saying goodbye when she and dad left for church, but I promptly fell back asleep and did not wake up again until Hol came in my room to see if I was ready for church. Uh...no. So she left and I half-slept for another half hour or so. I got up and started to get ready for the pool party and then Hol sent me a text saying it had been cancelled. What am I going to do with all these frog cookies I made? Oh well....

So, I just kind of lounged around the majority of the morning and then finally meandered upstairs to eat a bowl of cereal. That is when I saw the scrapbook. Darn it! I hadn't finished it yet! So mom and I sat down to get it done. Of course we couldn't finish it, so off to Walmart and Hallmark we go. We had no luck there either, so we decided to run to our neighboring city. I was going to go shopping Monday anyway, so I decided to just do it a day sooner. We ended up finding what we were looking for to finish the scrapbook and I got some clothes to top it off. I was stil soooo tired though. I don't know what my problem was. I'm a little better now, but I am going to bed after I finish this.

We have Izzy again. She's been here since Friday night. Her owners (our friends from church) are at one of their grandkid's graduation parties. She's actually been ok this time. She's been more tame. Sydney doesn't look as stressed, but you can still tell she's counting down to when she will be the only pup in the house. Here are a couple pics from the day...

(The ball thief)

(Best Buds)

Well, that's basically what's been up with me. Mom and Dad start vacation this Friday, so I'm hoping that my dad will build me some shelves for my closet and get me a new phone. Mine is getting dumber by the day...and more annoying. I'm tired, and I feel a headache coming on... more later....

Until........................................

I've been Googled...

Whenever I see someone has found my blog through google I just have to look and see what they searched for that led them right to me. Well here are some of the searches that result in a visit to my little blog world....

~ NYC "mexican train" (I never saw this while we were there, but we were afraid to ride the subway. ha!)
~ Doctor Dance
~ Unnecessary but Appreciated (I think I've only used this phrase once. Who knew...)
~ Fruit Pizza Recipe (several hits from this search)
~ Rock the Reception (again...several hits due to this video I posted)
~ Photography by Joy Rugaard or Joy Rugaard photography (tons of hits because of this)
~ Mark Ballas (I can't tell you how many visitors I got after I posted on my Regis and Kelly experience)
~ Song playlist for the Ultimate Gift (I think this is a combo of me talking about the movie and all my frustration and changes I've made to my playlist)
~ Hugga Bunch (Oddly enough the majority of the hits I get for this are from out of the country)
~ Gullidge (one of the hits from this came from London)
~ Legally Blonde Musical Soundtrack
~ Throat inspected with a camera are you put out (yes... you are put out before they stick that long tube down your throat :))
~ Google Reader (I haven't quite figured this out yet, but I think my posts go directly to someones inbox or something. Note to self..must investigate this more...)
~ Anotherseasonfadesaway.blogspot.com (I wonder how they found me from this?? Hmm...)

So, yea....that's how people find me. There are still several places around the US that hit my blog frequently that I don't know who they are, but whoever you are...you are welcome!

Until.........................

A new obsession...

I have recently discovered a photo shop website that I am in love with. You can do a whole bunch of crazy things to your photos, including whitening teeth and minimizing blemishes. It's glorious!
I was messing around a little bit with the header of my blog and wanted to change the font. What do you think?

I love my picture, but I feel like I'm ready for a change already.... Maybe that's why I want to change the font...to pacify myself for a bit longer. I don't know... It takes me so long to find pictures and blog layouts, etc. I'll probably end up finding a new one soon.

Anyway, that was kind of a buzz kill to my photo shop extravaganza! Well, I'll get back to it. Hope everyone has had a good week so far! I have work for the next two nights, so don't expect much from my front.

Until..................................

Naked Cowboy sues Naked M&M

When I heard this on the radio I cracked up laughing! Have you seen that m&m commercial where there is a parody of the blue m&m being the naked cowboy from NY? Too funny!!!
Here's what The New York Post reported...

NAKED COWBOY SUES OVER SINGIN' M&M
By KATI CORNELL

DUELING COWBOYS: Cowboy Robert Burck wants the M&M cowboy outta town.

February 13, 2008 -- Times Square's Naked Cowboy is trying to take a $6 million bite out of a giant candy corporation, charging it stole his identity by dressing an animated blue M&M in his skimpy trademark outfit.
The nearly nude street performer, whose real name is Robert Burck, has his tighty whities in such a bunch over a massive video billboard showing the candy in a white hat, boots, guitar and underwear that he's filed suit against the mighty Mars candy corporation.
The case of Naked Cowboy vs. The Men From Mars will be heard in Manhattan federal court.
Burck, who bills himself as a top Times Square tourist attraction, admitted he received warm congratulations for his candy-coated chocolate electronic alter ego and was initially thrilled to see proof of his impact on popular culture.
"My initial response was like, 'Wow that's cool,' " said Burck, whose claim to fame is playing guitar at 45th Street and Broadway, strategically holding the instrument over his briefs to make him appear to be naked.
"The artist seeks to create the world in his own image. Obviously I was overjoyed," Burck said in a phone interview with The Post yesterday while taking a break from the cold.
"It took years for people not to say that's a stupid idea."
But it didn't take long for the Naked Cowboy to realize that a major corporation was cashing in on his ingenuity and hard work with the billboard designed to attract customers to M&M's Times Square store.
"All I've got is my underwear. It's the most brilliant thing that's ever been created from a marketing perspective. You can't stop it," said Burck, 37, who said he filed suit on the advice of lawyers and trademark experts.
The billboard flashes a blue M&M, dressed in a white cowboy hat, boots and briefs, for several seconds of the nearly five-minute repeating video that also features the candies in street scenes and as city icons, including King Kong and the Statue of Liberty.
"I'm huge now, but I represent the little guy," said Burck, who filed suit Monday and seeks $6 million, plus additional damages, for trademark infringement and other claims.
Calls seeking comment from a Mars spokesperson were not returned.
"The tourists love him. If it's him, he ought to get paid. He's the one who created the Naked Cowboy, not M&Ms," said Adriana Servellon, 22, who works at Foot Locker at 45th Street and Seventh Avenue.
Additional reporting by John Mazor

Ok, seriously? He's all jazzed about his iconic influence then when he realizes he can make some money out of the deal he decided it's a violation of his identity that he's created for himself? That's a little fishy if you ask me.

Anyway, I just heard that on the radio this afternoon and had to share.

Until..................................

Disconnected?

Have you ever felt totally disconnected from the world? That's how I have been feeling lately. Work has totally consumed my life. And it isn't even the whole "That's-what-happens-when-you-get-out-into-the-real-world-and-work" factor. It's the whole working nights thing and having a summer class and sleeping during the day. I love love love the atmosphere of night shift and love the people that work there, but the schedule is kinda crappy. My eating is off. My sleeping is off. My social life is completely over. I've been reduced to blogging (basically a one-sided conversation) and leaving messages for people on facebook or emailing. I can barely even text anymore because when I'm awake and want to say hi or something everyone is asleep and nothing is more annoying that your little text ringer going off with a subsequent beeping afterwards when you haven't viewed it yet.

I don't think working nights would be so bad if I actually got to pick my schedule... but I didn't. I got stuck with crappy hours which deprive me of my Sunday night small group and force me to sleep when my family is off from work. I hardly ever see my family anymore and when I do it's a brief moment when I'm getting ready to go work or they're headed off to something fun that I can't go to. :( I know.... I'm complaining. But it's my blog and I can complain if I want to!

*Sigh* I guess I'll be going now. I need to go to bed kind of early tonight (before midnight) because I'm meeting my great aunt for lunch tomorrow and then I have a dumb educational inservice to go to at 1:30. I also need to run up to the floor and see if I can catch a minute with my educator. Ugh... I dread tomorrow already. Isn't there some sort of saying that says don't think on the things of tomorrow........ or something like that? Hmm....

Until............................

200 posts!!!!

This isn't what I was getting on to blog about, but when I went to hit "new post" I saw that it was going to be number 200.

Happy 200th blog birthday to me!!!

I'm feeling much better today. I've come to the conclusion that I was severly dehydrated. AS I looked back on the day to see if I had eaten anything weird or been exposed to anyone/anything suspicious I realized that I had barely eaten or drank anything that day because I slept until 3 and then ate really fast before I left at 6. Silly girl! Note to self: Eat and definitely DRINK more before you go to work.

I've had this feeling all day that I will get in some sort of trouble for leaving work last night. I know (or atleast don't think) I won't, but the feeling I feel none the less. There was seriously no way I could have stayed though. Even the intensivist on call looked at me and said... "You're awfully quiet." Granted I'm not a normally loud person, but I was definitely not right. I was only at work a little over 3 hours before I had to get out of there. I feel bad that I missed out on the little heart baby I was assigned, but in retrospect, the nurse didn't want to answer my questions and she wouldn't let me do anything. The most interesting thing I did while I was there was walk to surgery and back. Yea... I know... you wish it was you instead of me.

Oh well, I'm better now, so I will work Thursday and Friday (and maybe Saturday if my educator thinks I need to " make up" the night I missed) as scheduled. Is that not the most retarded thing you've ever heard? We have to "make up" days we miss. Am I mistaken or is this not a job? Aren't we allowed sick time? Atleast one day anyway? I'm working over 300 hours this summer for pete's sake! That's 150 more than required for my class. I haven't heard back from her yet about it, so I guess I shouldn't get to wound up about it. I may not even have to make it up.

Anyway..... this post turned out to be a whole lot longer than "Happy 200 to me!" Imagine that.... me having more than just a "few" words to say.... Hmmm......

Until...............................

One thing I do NOT like....

...is being sick. :( I had to come home from work tonight because I felt so ick. Now I might have to work 3 nights in a row.... :( I'm going to hydrate and try to go to sleep.....

Until.............................

What makes me nervous?

The thought of going to a pool party this Sunday afternoon.

Why you ask????

1) It's been about a month and a half since I went tanning (which leads to reason #2)

2) I'm pasty white

3) I seriously need to start working out (which leads to #4)

4) I'm not the most confident in a bathing suit

Oh to be tan and comfortable in a bathing suit (or my own body for that matter).......

Until..............................................

Barely hanging on....

Well, I did not get enough Zzzzzz's. I was so tired last night I was getting that sick to my stomach feeling. I hate that! I should have tried to catch a nap this afternoon, but it just didn't work out with church and then running around to get some errands done. Then my twin cousins had their 15 year old birthday party. Then I came home and did my small group bible study lesson. I know, I know... nothing like last minute. In all honesty I did not know what chapter we were on until last night, and even then I was misinformed, so I found out for sure at church this morning which chapter we were on. It was a good lesson this week. It talked about how it is important to be with other believers and how it is a needed source of encouragement to congregate with them often.

I got a small daily inspirational book today while I was out and about running errands. The inspiration for today was talking about planting better things in the place of the weeds we have just pulled out our lives. New Christians are able to grow better and faster if they replace one of their weeds (sins) with a better plant (prayer, Bible reading, and Christian fellowship). It talked about encouraging a new Christian by sharing with them how we've grown as Christians and show them how to plant something better in the place of their weeds and then rejoicing with them as something new grows from it.
Even as a seasoned Christian it is important to have a good upkeep of our gardens. Sin can so easily creep back in to our garden that it is almost to the point of overtaking are precious and beautiful plants before we notice the fact that they are there and need to be taken care of. It is so important to stay in constant contact with our Christian support systems, so we can more quickly acknowledge our sin and take care of it with the help of God so we can continue to keep our garden growing beautiful and able to help others flourish as well.

Tonight, we did our lesson fairly quickly, ate, and then srpung a surprise baby shower on Leah. She initially didn't want a shower, but I think she finally agreed it was a good idea after she saw all the boy stuff we got her. All she really had were girl things since she has an almost 2 year old little girl. But now she has a nice amount of stuff for little Cal. We had some good laughs tonight. Small group is pretty fun....when you can attend. :(

Tomorrow night I have to work. You know what that means....stay up as late as I can so I can sleep in as late as I can. I'm thinking tonight that I will maybe start reading a book. I don't know yet. I'm feeling kind of tired already and since reading kind of mellows me out that might not be such a good idea since I'm trying to stay up. Hmm....

It feels odd to me that I am not working on a Sunday night. It's nice.... I'm off every Saturday and Sunday for the rest of the summer except for July 13th. It will be kind of nice to have my weekends back. I'll be glad when the summer is over because I won't be working as much period. I will also not have my online summer class anymore. It doesn't take that much time to comment on the online discussion thread, but I still have to remember to do it. Thankfully I only have 3 more weeks of that left. It actually ends two weeks before my extern does. Which reminds me I should probably be emailing the manager to let her know I'm interested in a position over the fall semester. Hmm... I should do that tomorrow. She's supposed to be leaving on vacation soon and I want to catch her before she leaves.

Ok, so I think that's it for now in regards to kind of catching you up. I was going to talk about my babysitting extravaganze of a weekend, but I was exhausted living it, and I think I would be exhausted all over again telling you about it, so I'm skipping that part. :p I'll be back soon I'm sure. This week should be much better since I don't have VBS.

Until..........................................

I'm alive!

I'm alive...but exhausted. More to come later. For now, I'm going to bed. I need to catch up on some major Zzzzzzzz's.

Until...............................

Snake anyone?

So I forgot to mention that the snacks for VBS yesterday were fruit skewers and donut snakes. I helped assemble the snakes, and they were STICKY! They turned out pretty well though. I only got a picture of the little kids snacks though because I didn't have my camera with me when we were making the big kid snakes.

Aren't they cute?? They're held together by marshmallow creme (hence, the sticky part). I'm not really sure why there are fruit skewers. I guess because Satan tempted Adam and Eve with fruit.... That would be my guess.

Here are the kiddos sitting at their tables waiting for their snack.

(The boys...plus one girl who wanted to sit with them all. Too cute!)

(The rest of the girls)

Well, I should go get ready for work. I have to get ready so I can run to church and eat, help out if they need it assembling tonight's snack, and then work at 7p. I should probably run to the bank too..... Sadness....I get paid this Friday and since I haven't done my direct deposit since I've been so busy I have to wait until Monday when I work to get my check, which means my tithing check will be late....unless I can figure out what I made these last two weeks and go off of that. I might do that.... that sounds good.

Ok, enough rambling........ Have good night all!

Until....................................

I will regret this I'm sure...

Yes, it is almost 1am and I am still awake. I work tomorrow night so I'm trying to adjust my sleeping schedule. It's all well intended, but I don't think it will work. It didn't last time I tried it, but what can I say....
I'm sitting in bed typing on the laptop watching the 5th season of Gilmore Girls. That Kirk cracks me up. :)
VBS was pretty good. We had about fourteen 4 year olds. There are some that are so sweet, but then there are some that you just want to.... well.... take back to their parents. :) Is that a nice way of putting it?
So... I'm not really sure what else to say, but I feel like I should come up with something funny or insightful. ...I got nothing. Must be writers block...or the late hour. I'll try better later.

Until.........................

Pre-exhaustion

Oh man am I tired.... I worked Sunday night, therefore I did not get home until almost 8a on Monday. I caught a few hours of sleep and then got up so I could sleep that night. Well that sounded like a good plan, but at around 8:30 I started getting really tired. That could also have to do with the fact that I had just endured 2 1/2 crazy hours of VBS.

VBS = exhaustion in itself. There were 4 of us helping in the 4 year olds. There were only 12 of them, but it felt like 20. You know how some kids equal about 3 kids in themeselves? Yea, we had one of those. I knew he was trouble when he walked in the door and tried to escape within the first minute of being there. Thankfully I have to work tomorrow night and Thursday.

Work......... that's another thing that's going to wear me down this week. After I work those two nights I have one last night of VBS to do. Oh, did I mention that I was watching my friend's cousin's kids this weekend?? Yea....that starts Friday afternoon. So I'll get a few hours of sleep and then be off to watch the kiddos and then have VBS that night. I'm going to be fried come Sunday....

Oh well.... it's my own fault if I'm tired. I signed up to do all of those things. I could have said no when someone asked me (well, except for the whole working part...). But I wanted to be a part of it all, so I said yes. It will all be fine and I will just have to make sure my next week is full of rest. Moving on.....

Can you believe that June is over halfway done? That doesn't even seem possible! It will be 4th of July before we know it.

Well, I better get going. I have a couple of things to get done today. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Until........................

Happy Father's Day, Dad

My Dad. How do I find the words to describe how fantastic he is? I don't think anyone could ask for a better earthly father than the one I have.

He is kind, generous, loving, patient, funny, and a man of God.

He is always there to come to our school events, build me a play house replica like our house, kill bugs, change our oil.... He's been there for every holiday and birthday. All we have to do is ask and he is willing to help us.

He takes time out of his busy schedule to help others and do projects for them, even if it cuts in to his down time. He is a man of his word, and always keeps promises that he makes.

He sets a wonderful example of what is to be a follower of Christ. He helps out at church with the jr highers and many other things involved with church.

He has an infectious smile and laugh.

There's no one like him. I'm proud to call him My Dad.

I couldn't possibly describe how much I love my dad with the few words that I have, but that will give you a little insight into how great he is.

Happy Father's Day Dad!! You're the best!

Until......................

Another Happy Birthday

This evening my family went to another birthday party. This time it was a surprise! Our good family friend Janeie was turning 4-0!! She doesn't look a day over 31 though! (I have to say 31, because Hol is 31... :p) In all honesty, when I heard about this party I was like "No! Janeie isn't 40 yet!" It didn't seem possible!
Well, of course I forgot my camera...again! What is with me not remembering to take my camera places?? I'm missing out on all these great moments! Oh well, there will always be a next time I suppose.
We got to see a few people we hadn't seen in awhile and got to catch up with some dear friends we've known ever since I was a baby. All in all it was a success, and a really good time was had by all!
So Happy Birthday Janeie!! You are truly a special person, and I love ya!

Until................................

Vacation Fast Track

I thought I should make a fast track to my NYC recaps. It will just be easier to go back and view. Plus, for those of you just joining us it will be much easier for you to read through. Enjoy.....

NYC Recap- Day 1

NYC Recap- Day 1: Part 2

NYC Recap- Day 1: Part 3

NYC Recap- Day 2

NYC Recap- Day 2: Part 2

NYC Recap- Day 2: Part 3

NYC Recap- Day 3

NYC Recap- Day 3: Part 2

NYC Recap- Day 3: Part 3

NYC Recap- Day 4

NYC Recap- Day 4: Part 2

NYC Recap- Day 5

Until...........................

NYC Recap- Day 5

Well here is the last part. Hope you've enjoyed it.....

Day 5

This day we just slept in since we didn't plan on going anywhere. We had thought about going back to Crumbs to get cupcakes to take home, but we figured that it would be too expensive to take a cab, so we didn't. Instead, we just stayed in our room, took a few more pictures and repacked.

Right before we went down to catch a cab to the ariport we saw an infomercial on ShamWow! You really will saw Wow everytime! :) We were totally enthralled.
So, we headed down to get a cab and as we were standing outside waiting for a bellhop to hail a cab for us a man approached us and asked if we wanted a ride to the airport. He said he was part of a car service and charged similar to what a cab would cost, but he had an SUV that was more comfortable. Now, he seemed nice enough, but we had been burned before so we were a little leery. We asked the bellhop what we should do and he said that Jose (that was the drivers name) was from a reputable company and that we could trust him. So that was enough for us. We loaded our bags into his SUV and off to LaGuardia we went. He was super nice. He talked to us the whole way there. He told us about his family, and a little bit about the city. MUCH better than the driver we had when we arrived. I wish I would have gotten a picture of him, but we got his card, so if you want a good, repuotable, honest driver when you go to NY, just let us know.
So we checked in at one of the kiosk stations (which are kind of nice) and then we went through security. We had a quick lunch and then went and sat at our terminal. We still had like 2 hours to kill, but it was fine. I called mom to tell her we were there, and everything was on time. Holli and Lisa read their books and I started on some sudoku puzzles. The wait didn't take too long and then we were boarding our plane. We were on a pretty big plane going to ATL. There were like 6 flight attendants. They showed an episode of Ugly Betty on the tvs. Luckily I had seen it before, so no need to buy the headphones. I started reading my book on the plane so it went pretty fast. Before we knew it we were in ATL and getting ready to endure our 4 hour layover. :/
We walked around a little bit and then searched for our terminal. For whatever reason our flight was not listed, so that had us searching for a little bit. We finally saw it on one of the screens and discovered they had changed our gate so we headed in that direction. If you have ever been in the Atlanta airport, you now it is ginormous. There is definitely a lot to do. We ended up eating at the Atlanta Bread Co. It's basically like Panera (but Panera is WAY better).

After that we headed over to Ben & Jerry's since it was right by our terminal. We had a Ben & Jerry's right across the street from our hotel, but we never made it over there, so we finally got some in ATL. It was yummy. I had Butter Pecan, and I'm not sure what Hol and Lis had. Something chocolate.... Anyway, we ate that and then began our long wait. We ended up sitting at the gate next to ours because there were more seats. A plane had just boarded to Ohio and passengers for the next flight to Minneapolis were arriving, so we quickly snatched up 3 seats. Of course I was seated next to one of the most annoying couples ever. I think they had just been on their honeymoon. They were sugary sweet together and I just couldn't take it. Thankfully, they got up and went for a walk. May the reading of my book and people watching continue!
We sat there for about an hour and a half and then when our gate boarded their flight, we went over there to sit for the rest of our wait. The layover actually went by pretty quickly. We all read some, and talked to people. It was fine over all.
About an hour before our plane was scheduled to board they starting calling for Mrs. Garcia (Thank you Holli, for letting me know her name). Well Mrs. Garcia never answered.
Pretty soon this airport employee wheels up an older woman in a wheelchair. He asked her where she wanted him to sit her. We assumed she had trouble walking or something. She seemed kind of out of it. Just smiling and looking around. Well he's getting ready to sit her wheelchair next to us and she gets right up out of the chair and walks away. The look on that guy's face was priceless. He just said, "Uh...okay...." then walked away. We were cracking up! The lady just got up and walked away. I have no idea where she went, but it was out of the gate area. Obviously farther than that guy thought she could walk. Too funny!
About 10 minutes before boarding they called for Mrs. Garcia again. Wouldn't you know it the old woman in the wheelchair was Mrs. Garcia! She walked up to the counter and they got her ready to board. Crack me up! he had been strolling around for over a half an hour by herself.
More and more people kept arriving at our gate and this one old woman had us cracking up. She was on her pink Razr cell phone talking to someone. All of a sudden we hear her say, " What?! You must have been drunk!!" Oh my word!!!! I thought we were going to die we were laughing so hard! She kind of chuckled because she saw us laughing, but we couldn't contain ourselves. Between her, Mrs. Garcia, and our exhaustion we couldn't keep it in any longer. Shortly after that she told her friend she had to go because her husband was waiting for her so they could pre-board. She was funny though. She had spunk, and I loved it!
So we boarded the plane and got situated. Hol and Lis were sitting together and I was by myself across the aisle, so I could look out the window if I wanted. (Poor Holli said she could smell Mrs. Garcia's perfurme the whole way home. :p) Our flight attendant was hilarious. Her name was Ashley. It was her first flight, so she was a little nervous. She did a great job though. She went through all the safety stuff, and when she got to the exit doors she said "Don't worry, you won't need them." Then when she was showing us how to use the seat belt and the oxygen masks she said "You won't need this, promise." She was too cute.
The flight was pretty uneventful. No turbulence, thankfully, and it actually seemed to go by pretty fast. The only bad thing about it was that I was just getting to the best part in my book when we landed and had to get off.
It was SO nice to be back in familiar territory! Mom and Dad were waiting for us. Mom held me for the longest time! I thought she was going to crush me! We went down to baggage claim, got our bags (Thank God our luggage never got lost or damaged) and then we were on our way home!!

Overall, the trip was amazing. There were a few bumps in the road, but it was unforgettable.

Plane tickets: $420-ish
Tickets to see three Broadway Shows: $300
Staying in a nice hotel 5 days, 4 nights: $1052.52
Going to NYC with two of your best friends for the first time: Priceless

Until...............................................

RIP Lucky

I saw this video posted on another blog and I was cracking up! Hope you enjoy it too!
Warning: The last 10 seconds may be too graphic for some.



Until...............

"Happy Birthday Cousin"

I have had a loooooong day. A good day, but very long. I got off at 7, came home, and promptly went to bed a little after 8. I tried to catch as many zzzz's as I could before noon. I woke up at noon, showered and headed off to spend a few hours with my dear friend Cara. We had both been on vacation and wanted to reconnect and chat a little bit. We had a great time chatting and eating ice cream (gotta love DQ!), then we goofed off on the computer a bit. I won't hate you if you post those pictures Cara! :)
Sadly, our time was cut too short, because I was watching Brooke, and had to be there to get her at 5. We said our goodbyes and promised to do it again soon. No vacations planned for either of us (that we know of), so hopefully it will happen soon.

Well, I arrived to get Brooke at 5 and she was in the prettiest little yellow party dress. I was only watching her for the night because Dan and Becky were taking Luke and Mer to some car show. So I was taking Brooke to my cousin Rachel's birthday party. (Happy 18th Rach!) The second I got there she ran out the front door and jumped in my arms. She is so sweet... She melts my heart! I hugged Mer and talked to her and we went inside. Becky said hi and that she wasn't ready, but if I needed to go I could take Brooke because she was ready. Well, we still had some time, so I just went ahead and loaded up Brooke's carseat in my car, and then sat in the living room with the girls and chatted a bit while Becky finished getting ready. Becky commented that I must have bonded with Brooke or something (because I started watching her when she was 5 months old), because anytime they needed a babysitter Brooke would say, "My Megan gonna watch me?" Becky said I'm always her first choice, but she tries to get her to understand that I can't always watch her. Yea, right... she's 2!
Anyway, so we're sitting in the living room and Brooke keeps looking at me saying, "I ready to go in the car. Let's go bye-bye." She was so ready to go and party! :) I chatted with Becky a little longer and then her and Mer left to meet up with Dan and Luke.
Brooke and I left shortly after, and she couldn't have been more excited. I kept telling her we were going to my cousin Rachel's birthday party. We rehearsed a couple times "Happy Birthday Rachel". Well, it was quiet in the car at one point and I hear her talking to herself in the backseat... "Happy Birthday Rachel". Then a few seconds later... "Happy Birthday Cousin". How sweet!!! She was all ready to say Happy Birthday. We had gone through the guest list (My mom, Holli (aka Hoddie)....), she was ready for cake and ice cream...we were set! So we're driving along and I had a country radio station playing pretty low, because we had been talking. Well she all of sudden says, "Megan, can you turn it up?" So I did. Then she says, "Really loud, k?" So I turn it up louder. Then I hear her sweet little voice singing to the radio. Are you kidding me?! She knew a lot of the words to the chorus. The funny thing is that it was a Montgomery Gentry song. I wanted to start laughing, but she was just so sweet I didn't want her to stop. When the song ended she said, "My mommy and me listen that music in her car." Too precious! So we're almost to my cousin's house and we pass an ice cream place. Well there is a huge ice cream cone outside and I hear her gasp and say, "A Snowball Man! Did you see it??" At first I had no clue what she was talking about then when I caught on all I could do was smile. She seriously is a bright spot in my day when I get to be with her. She's so funny!

We finally arrived at the party and as we were walking toward the door and we went through all the people she knew that weren't there yet, she looks at me and says "I don't like cousins." How hilarious! She was nervous! Well the fact that my cousin's dog met us at the door barking did not help the situation, but she quickly calmed down, and when Holli arrived shortly after, she went to her while I got her sippy cup filled. Brooke was pretty quiet at first, but she opened up pretty quickly. My mom got there and she went right to her and was soon chatting it up with the guests and showing her sweet little smile to everyone. :) She was thrilled that my mom let her stick her finger in the cake to get some of the frosting off. She ate her dinner great, and barely made a mess at all. I was quite proud of her. :p
While Rach opened her presents (which were basically cards) she sat on Hol's lap and then sat in mine next to where my cousin's little boy was. They quickly began playing together and were just too funny! I think Carter was a little smitten. :) My cousin snapped some pictures of the two, and if she emails them to me I will post them here and let you know.
Brooke started getting a little tired around 8:15 so we left and went back to her house. She kind of snoozed for a couple minutes on the drive home, but not too much. It must have been just enough, because she was wide awake and raring to go when we got inside. So much in fact that she was completely naked in the matter of 5 minutes. Silly girl! I got her dressed for bed and decided to pop in a movie. Bad idea!!! I was so tired, that putting in a movie just lulled me into a relaxed state. I was on the couch and she sat with me for a bit, but then she wanted to get some books out. I couldn't muster up the energy to read them to her so she sat in a chair and read to herself. Thankfully Dan and Becky got home shortly after that. I was fading fast, and I was pretty sure I would be asleep soon if they hadn't shown up. We went through the run down of how she did, bathroom breaks (now that she's potty trained), if she had fun. She nodded her head vigorously when Becky asked her if she had fun. Then she asked, "Are you and Megan best friends?" to which Brooke nodded and smiled. I love her!!

Thankfully I am home now, and I am going to be going to bed now. I'm way tired. 4 hours of sleep in like 32 hours is NOT enough. I'll be sleeping in tomorrow and taking a long nap on Sunday before work. Don't worry though. I will be back with my trip post as promised. I want it finished just as much as you do. Everyone have a good Saturday!

Until...................................

NYC Recap- Day 4: Part 2

Aren't you surprised?? I worked on half of this post last night after I finished the previous one. I was on a roll I guess. :) Here is the rest of Day 4. Only 2 parts for this day.....

Day 4: Part 2

When we were done at the beloved Grand Central Station we trekked to The Empire State Building. What a bust! Seriously. Don't go inside. It's dirty and the gift shop is terrible! Just take a picture of the pretty outside and move on. Don't waste your money. Go to Top of the Rock. Much better, same view, and clean. I mean, honestly, isn't the Empire State Building you want a picture of anyway? You can't get that if you're inside the building. Just my thoughts. You can do whatever you want, just wanted to give you my honest opinion before you were going to waste money.

After we did that we went back to the hotel (I think) to drop our bags and then we went to Columbus Circle. You know, I think we may have gone back to the hotel earlier... I don't remember. Either way at some point we went back to the hotel....

So we went to Columbus Circle, because I for some reason had become obsessed with the fact that we go there and take pictures. I enjoyed myself. I spent 15 minutes trying to track down a horse and carriage to take a picture of (why...I don't know), we took a couple pictures of Trump Tower, the big globe, and surrounding buildings. Oh yea, there was also a freaky statue impersonator there. He was almost more scary than the Statue of Liberty posers because he was decked out in head to toe white. *shudder* Ick! Who would want that job?

So right off of Columbus Circle we found a Subway and got a sandwich for dinner. FYI- Roasted Chicken is Ick! Then we decided that Pinkberry was in order again and we stopped in to have dessert before dinner. This time our collective concoction was Original fro-yo with chocolate chips and yogurt chips!! I was so excited to have my beloved yogurt chips again! :) However, the picture is blurry because Lisa was freaking out! We weren't supposed to take pictures inside the store, which is kind of dumb.

Not sure why they have that rule, but I figure I was only taking a picture of my purchase which I could have done anywhere. I wasn't taking a picture of people, just my food. Do they have fugitives working there or something?? Weird....

So after that we went and hailed a cab and went back to our hotel for our delegated resting time.

This day we had like 3 and a half hours to kill before Lion King. So we ate our disgusting sandwich from Subway and then Lisa took a nap. This is when Holli and I decided to go through ALL of our pictures and write down what they were so we wouldn't forget. I'm glad we did, because it's only been two weeks, and without my cheat sheet I would be lost. Lisa was just too funny sleeping though, so I had to snap a few pics of her. :)



We started getting ready for Lion King around 6 or so and took our mandatory picture. Of course the one musical I'm not overly thrilled about seeing is the one I'm wearing my favorite shirt to and my hair was not destroyed by the elements throughout the day. Oh well....

We headed off to the Minskoff Theatre. This was probably the biggest, and nicest theatre we went to. There was a very nice view of Times Square too. Check out the traffic!




So...the Lion King. I don't know. I'm glad I saw it...so I can say that I saw it, but it wasn't too spectacular to me. I don't know if it's because I was so tired, or if it was the fact their weren't really any strong lead vocals. It was more like a "choir" performance. No one really stuck out. The costumes and set get an A++. That was of course the best out of the three musicals. I had a hard time focusing though. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to look at the real person head, the costume head, or both. It was a little distracting and the whole first Act had children singing and dancing. You know how I feel about that.... unless I know them it creeps me out. I don't know why, it's just how it is. Here's a clip of the beginning though, because it's just so cool. This is from the Tony Awards that they performed at.



Yea, so that pretty much concludes our evening. We went back to the hotel, got ready for bed, and that was it.
I'll post about our last day and journey home sometime soon... I promise. It should take me as long. I have Friday and Saturday off of work, so hopefully I will be able to post sometime then.

Until.....................................

Prayer Request

Please pray for my friend Ashley and her family. Her dad is having a quadruple bypass in the morning (Thursday). It was very unexpected, and they are lucky they caught it when they did. Please pray for Ashley, her mom, and sister as they wait during the surgery. Pray for the surgeon that he will have a steady hand and that her dad will come through the surgery with flying colors.

Until.................................

Music

Ok, so my playlist is starting to tick me off. I don't know why it only plays 30 seconds of some songs and the full length for others. It didn't used to do this, so I know I picked full length versions of all of them. I will have to investigate this further... Sorry for the annoyance. I will try to get this resolved ASAP.
Until...........................

NYC Recap- Day 4

I know, you're shocked. I'm actually back to update on my trip. With work and everything I've been a little busy. Working 3rd shift is good, but the whole sleeping thing is an adjustment. Oh well...
I keep having to remind myself that it's summer. I feel like I should be going to the pool, or taking long walks...something. Instead I'm working 3 days a week and then sleeping the rest of the time it seems. I really love working in the PICU though.
Anyway... I guess I should get on to the real reason for this post. :) Enjoy......

Day 4

We got to sleep in a little bit more this day (Saturday). We were going to go to Rockefellar Center (aka Top of the Rock) first and they didn't open until 9 or something, so we slept until 7:45 and then leisurely got ready. So we listened to a little music on my ipod and got ready. We were actually listening to the Wicked soundtrack. Holli came out of the bathroom and clicked her heels (or rather her knees) at one point, she was so excited for the day. :) Haha! She was constantly searching for things, as we all were. Living out of a suitcase is not my ideal, and I don't know how some people do it for an extended period of time.

So, as I mentioned before we were starting off our "shopping/misc" day by going to Top of the Rock. I must admit I wasn't sure about this. I don't know if I quite knew for sure what it was, but now that I know I recommend it to anyone going to NYC. It was great. You go up in these elevators (that have tv's in the ceiling) and then there are three more levels that you can go up (on foot) to look out over the city. The city is quite beautiful from up high. Central Park looks really nice, and a little out of place. It's building after building squished together and then there is this vast green section. It was a perfect day outside, so it was nice to be out and enjoying the view.

(I paid $.50 to look through this thing, and it didn't even work very well. I want my money back!)

(Target Walkway. This whole room lit up with lights intermittantly. It was cool.)

When we were getting ready go down on the elevators the guy who was operating the elevator looked at me and said, "Hi. How ya doing?" I replied, "Good." (I know... how intelligent of me.) Then he says, "Oh good, someone who speaks english." Haha! It is so true!! Everything sounds foreign and garbled everywhere you go. It just cracked me up that he said that. :)
On the ride down you could look up and see the elevator shaft with the cable lit up in all different colors. It was pretty cool, but I recommend looking down if you're afraid of heights or something. I enjoyed it though.

Fun fact: Did you know that Kandace Pelletier from Amazing Race is a Rockette? Right before we got in line to go up on the elevators there was a movie playing and she had a 3 minute blurb about being a Rockette. Who knew....

After Top of the Rock we went around some shops inside Rockefellar Center. Nothing too spectacular, but it was nice to walk around. The NBC studio Store was there. That was a nice thing I guess. I got a shirt and posed with Matt Lauer's cardboard cut out.

Then we went across the street and got our pictures taken with the BIG picture of Matt and Meredith.


Shortly after these pictures we encountered a SCAM ARTIST!!! He wasn't threatening or anything, but he wanted us to buy these hats he had for $10 a piece to "benefit a charity". Whatever Dude!! He was being all suave and flirty, and I was pretty much not looking at him or paying attention. He was ridiculous! He talked to us for awhile and then smoothly mentioned that we could keep the hats he had handed us for the low low price of $10 a piece and then we could walk around with an "I've been scammed" sign on our forehead. Ok, so I added that last part in, but we might as well have if we paid him for them. He can call us Shaniqua, Shanaynay, and Roxie all he wants... we were not paying him for those hats! He was trying to butter us up so we would fork over some cash! We're not dumb! Just as we were walking away he started trying to scam anothe rgroup of people that walked by and this woman chewed him out! She said "I was here last year and one of you people tried to scam me. I'm not falling for that!" To which he kind of stuttered a reply, "It's only a scam if you give me money." Are you kidding me?! What an idiot! Right after he said this we snapped this picture...

Caught ya red handed!! Yea, so that was our excitement of the morning.

Next we started walking toward Grand Central Station. We made a pit stop in a souvenir shop. We had to get something, we'd barely purchased anythign besides food that whole time we'd been there. So we got a shirt and some dirty photo albums (No, we didn't know they were dirty when we bought them. They were wrapped in plastic). It was funny because almost the second we walked into the store we had workers "stalking" us to see if we needed anything. They were trying to sell us something before we left and we wouldn't have the chance to leave if they were 5 inches away. So we pick some things out and as we're still kind of browsing and headed toward the cash register they are nowhere to be found.... Seriously? You stalk me for 15 minutes and then when I'm ready to check out you're down in your store room? Talk about backwards! We finally made our purchases and left.

After that we continued on our way to Grand Central Station for lunch. I love GCS!

It's very beautiful inside, and there is just something about it.... I don't know. It's hard to describe. We stopped in a fun little store called Pylones.


The store had some really fun stuff inside (mostly for children). The cashier cheated me a dollar though. My purchase cost $7.04, and since I didn't want to dig around for 4 pennies I gave her $8. She counted it, looked at me and said "Don't you have 4 pennies?" So I kind of looked at her a second and said "I don't think so." ....Blank stare. So I said, "Well, let me look." So I pull out my wallet and rummage around and finally find 4 pennies. I hand her the pennies and say, "I gave you $8." .... Again she says nothing. She puts the money in the register and gives me my purchas. I looked at her for a second and then I just walked away. I'll forfeit the $1 just as long as I didn't have to look at or talk to her again. She wasn't so bright, and quite frankly rude. What is up with this day?!

So we move on to Juniors, which was on a lower level. This restaraunt is famous for their cheescake. It's very odd how they have food places set up in GCS. They are teeny tiny spaces, and I'm surprised they had sit down places, but they did. We had to wait like 15 minutes, but once we were seated we ordered and everything came in a timely fashion. I was quite impressed. I got a BLT (because I had to see how theirs was compared to ours :p), Holli got turkey (of course), and Lisa got a cheeseburger. All were very yum! We got a piece of Strawberry Cheesecake to share for dessert. Oh my word! It was phenomenal! I think it was the best cheescake I've ever had. If you think your cheesecake can beat theirs you make me one and I'll try it. I'll gladly taste test and see. :)




So after we ate we took a TON of pictures. Of course I had to be a little artsy. :) The funny thing is that Hol and Lisa try to be artsy too, and Lis has a little bit of trouble, but one of the pictures she took was pretty fantastic and artistic with not much effort on her part. It turned out amazing. Snaps for Lisa! (Sorry... just a little left over Legally Blonde there) :)

(Lisa's artsy work.)

Alright, well I think that's enough for this post. Next up... Visiting the Empire State Building (affectionately called the Eiffel Tower by me all week. I don't know why I was so confused), Columbus Circle... You're Fired!, and the Lion King.

Until.............................