It's officially the Holiday Season!! (Well, as far as I'm concerned!) Tomorrow we are officially starting to listen to Christmas music, and it's only a matter of time before the tree goes up!! Normally, I'm a firm believer that the tree doesn't go up until the day after Thanksgiving. Each holiday deserves it's own time. But since we're leaving before Thanksgiving for NC and I'm not coming back until the 1st, we want to maximize our Christmas spirit as much as possible. It seems to go by faster and faster every year.

I bought our plane tickets home for Christmas today. It was kind of a nerve wracking thing--committing to spending 7 whole days with my family. With my MOM. It totally sucks that I'm even nervous at all about the whole thing. I used to be so excited to go home for the holidays. I know my mom used to be excited to have me come home. Now I have no idea WHAT she feels. All I know is that I haven't heard her tell me she loved me and actually meant it in over 3 years. I tell her everytime I talk to her hoping that that'll be the time she says it back. It never happens. It will be hard to be around that, especially at Christmas. Especially because I know if she doesn't love me, then she certainly doesn't love Derrick, and he doesn't deserve that. I know he'd much rather be at his house for Christmas, will his family, who does love him. And me. I honestly have no idea what to expect while I'm "home". Fake it till you make it I guess!!

Blah blah blah.

I watched "Psycho" while making dinner tonite. Perfect Halloween movie!! And for the first time, I realized that Busta Rhymes sampled the theme from it in his song "Gimme Some More". My fave Busta song!! Learn something new every day, huh??

No trick-or-treaters again this year. So sad. I love to see all the kids in their costumes. Well, we actually did have one--our friends brought their baby daughter over with some cookies--which was totally cute. And yummy cookies too!

The laundry beckons. It never ceases. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloweenie!!

More fall pictures

I was thinking how really pretty the trees are around here, and how I should take some pictures of them. So I went out and pretended I was a really good photographer with a really cool camera who knew what they were doing and took some pictures of the trees around our complex. I tried to be artistic about it. I think I would really like to take up photography, but it seems like it's something everyone and their mother is doing it these days. Not that it matters, I guess. Still, who am I kidding thinking I have time to take up one more hobby??? Anyhoo, while I suppose this may be more fitting for my craft blog, I'm posting these here, because I think they're pretty. Plus, I want an opinion of what I should paint in my watercolor class. So gimme your votes. If I decide to paint what you voted for, I just may send you a prize!! :)


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#7 These next 2 I took in NYC.



#8

Party!

Oh snap! Just got an invite for a "real" Halloween party!!

Decisions, decisions....

Of coures, we could always do both. Eat candy at one. Get drunk at another.

Manuel, I'm just keeeeeeeding!!

'arry!

Woot!

My hubby totall rocks! He got us tickets to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opening weekend!! What's so cute about it, is that he hasn't even read any of the books, and really isn't even into all that. But he knows I love it!! What a stud! I can't wait!!

After 2 busy weekends and a crazy busy week, I'm totally looking forward to my relatively uneventful weekend. Going to a Halloween party tonite, and that's all I know of. Ahhhh....peace and quite. Not that I mind being busy, but I haven't slept in on a Saturday in WEEKS!! I think tonite all the kids will be in their costumes. And when I say kids, I mean all the children, who are 5 and younger, and me and Derrick. I've asked people and nobody is getting dressed up!! Isn't that part of the fun of Halloween?? Probably a top 3 holiday for me, I can't imagine NOT dressing up. This year we'll probably just use random stuff that we already have, but still. It's fun!! Maybe because I don't have kids. Which, now that I think about it, I'm wondering what kind of party this is going to be. In college, we were lucky if everyone's costumes covered the essential body parts, and remained covered as we danced in a crowded living room. I have a *slight* feeling that tonite will not be one of those kinds of parties. Shame.....

It will still be fun, tho. Always a good time when everyone gets together. Even if the only topic of conversation among the girls is the cute thing their kid did the other day and/or sharing breast feeding tips. Can't contribute much there. I hope one day when I have kids I'll be sensitive to that--and not alienate people that don't have kidlets yet. Don't get me wrong--I LOVE kids. But I would think that when moms are around other girls, they would be thriving to talk about non-mommy things. But I guess when that's your life and that's what consumes your 24/7, what else do you know??? Guess I'll find out one day.....

Wow, a whole week since my last post. I'm sure my faithful reader has been dying for an update!!

This past weekend was a blast. My old roomie Maria and her hubby, and Scott, Derrick's old roomie, were in town for the BYU/Notre Dame football game. Then Scott's old roomie who now lives in Madison joined up with us. It was a sports and food-filled weekend. We hit up the Cheesecake Factory....twice. Mike Ditka's Steakhouse in downtown Chicago. Brats at the game, crappy diner food at Baker's Square. I gained 10 pounds this weekend, no joke. The theme of the weekend was "Pat and Patti's Backpack Shack". Don't ask me why, or how that came about. But if you don't know what it is, then you do not watch enough SNL, nor are you a big enough Olsen Twins fan, and seriously, I'm starting to question the relationship I have with you. So it's probably in your best interest to just pretend like you know what it is. But I still cannot say "Pat and Patti's Backpack Shack" without laughing. Ask for a demo next time you see me. BYU lost (surprise!) but the game was still great. Notre Dame is such a classy place. Like a mini-BYU. Love it. And loved all the BYU fans there. Loved their band. Great great great.

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I had Ike on Shuffle. That's probably my favorite feature about him. Never knowing what song will be next. Richard Cheese's version of "Keep it separated" had just ended and next was Will Smith's "Men in Black". Talk about random!! That was the end of my getting ready. I was totally singing all the words, and of course, did the dance in the middle of the song. I HAD to, you see. Sorta like how Cartman can't stop in the middle of "Come Sail Away".

Let me see ya just bounce it with me
Just bounce with me
Just bounce it with me c'mon
Let me see ya just slide with me
Just slide with me
Just slide with me c'mon
Let me see ya take a walk with me
Just walk with me
Take a walk with me c'mon
And make your neck work
Now freeze

I know you're feelin' it too now. Man, LOVE Big Willy Style!!

I'm thinking of getting a goldfish. Or 2. I was at Wal-Mart today and passed by the fishies, and I stopped and stared at them for like a solid 2 minutes. I was mesmerized. Very soothing. I think I have greived long enough for Nemo's death last year, and am ready to move on. My only concern is where I would put him. Is the bathroom a weird place for a fishie?? Too close to the pooper?? Thoughts of being flushed constantly on his mind?? Don't want to psychologically damage the poor guy.

If Lisa is reading this, I'm OBSESSED with that soup, and haven't stopped thinking about it since Monday. MUST. HAVE. THE. RECIPE. By the way, thanks for a fun night!

Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Maria and I at Wrigley Field



In the Hershey's Store in downtown Chicago



Sporting the Cougar Nose at the game for good luck!!




OK, back to the grindstone. Much to do before I ditch this place!

Video

Props to Scott for introducing me to the new Beck video. I don't think I've seen a video on MTV since the invention of TiVo. Sad, but true. Long gone are the days when I could spend hours watching videos and nonsense on MTV. Heck, do they even SHOW videos on MTV anymore? Methinks not.

On with the show.


Get Music Video Codes by VideoCodeLibrary.com

Costumes

As if it's not hard enough to decide what to be for Halloween, now I have to decide on a costume for Ike!

Decisions, decisions...

It's been awhile since I've posted--I've been too busy at work lately! I tried to tell them I needed time to blog but it didn't fly. Ha. Been too busy at home too, as far as that goes!

The weekend with the MIL went well. We went to Holy Hill again and hung out and watched BYU win (hooray!) and ate and ate and ate. And now I feel like a pregnant Shamu. Ugh.

This week is insanely busy, with loads of church stuff to do, Pamered Chef stuff (my first show tonite!), and friends flying in on Thursday! Honestly, I don't think I'll get it all done! I need just a couple more hours in the day. Is that so much to ask?

But it's all good, because I'm gonna be a nurse!! I never elaborated on that--it was sooo emotional for me to open it! I sorta knew I got in when I saw the big envelope, and not the little skinny one. I was shaking sooo bad and my heart was racing. As soon as I tore the corner, I lost it. I couldn't hold it back! I bawled like a baby the entire time I opened it, read it, and reread it. I had wanted it for so long, and it finally happened. I've told everyone I've seen, and I realize I have the best friends ever, because they are all so happy and excited for me. (Probably because they've seen my get rejected 3 times already---they just wanted to get it over with!!!) So everyone at work knows, and plans are already underway to transistion me outta here and off the project. No complaints by me!

OK, back to work now. Unfortunately.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From now on, please address me as "Nurse Karen".

That is all.

:)

Last minute

So I find out this morning at 8 am that my mother in law is flying in tomorrow night through Monday. Talk about advance notice, eh?

Guess that means I gotta clean tonite....

A day to celebrate!

Did you know today is National Coming Out Day? Neither did I!!! I'm sure I'll get flack for it, but I'm supporter of the GLBT community. Why not? They're just people. They just like differnt things. Big deal. Not natural, perhaps, but still. Who are we to judge?

(Mr. Toad's Wild Ride", if you're ever gonna do it, today's the day!) ;)

3 things

I stole this from Samantha, since I have nothing better to do. Since Derrick has the TV permanatly on sports today. First it was football. Then a freaking 18 inning baseball game. Gah--shoot me if I ever have to sit thru a game that long. Now it's back and forth between the two. He won't even let me watch Desperate Housewives OR Gray's Anatomy. *pout* So. Onto the meme.

Three Names You Go By
1. Karen
2. Duck
3. Silly Moose

Three Parts of Your Heritage
1. Mexican
2. German
3. uh....American?

Three Things That Scare You
1. Heights (a recent development)
2. My teeth falling out/breaking. again.
3. Having kids

Three of Your Everyday Essentials
1. Chapstick
2. Juice
3. iPod

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Pink lounge pants
2. Matching Pink zip-up hoodie
3. green t-shirt

Three of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists (at the moment)
1. Keane
2. The Fray
3. Anna Nalick

Three of Your Favorite Songs - at the moment
1. "Over my Head" by The Fray
2. "Sometimes" by Ash
3. "These Words" by Natasha Bedingfield

Three Things You Want in a Relationship (other than Real Love)
1. A toilet seat in the down position
2. Fun
3. Am I allowed to say sex?????

Two Truths and a Lie (can you guess which is the lie???)
1. I don't have a gallbladder
2. I hate pickles
3. I've kissed over 30 people

Three PHYSICAL Things about the Opposite Sex that Appeal to You
1. Lips
2. Muscular back
3. Minty fresh breath

Three of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. Knitting
2. Cooking
3. Watching TV

Three Things You want to do really badly right now
1. Go to Florida
2. Go to Ikea
3. Go anywhere, really

Three Places You Want to go on Vacation
1. Florida
2. Hawaii
3. Hong Kong

Three Things You Want to Do Before You Die
1. See the Eiffel Tower
2. Pop out a kid or two
3. Scuba dive off the Great Barrier Reef, keeping my eyes peeled for Nemo

Three Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick/Guy
1. I cry easily
2. I love all things pink
3. I love shoes and bags

Three things you do daily
1. Pee
2. Check my email
3. Floss

Three people I would like to see take this quiz
1. Antony
2. Scott
3. Lara

Holy Hill

Today we went to Holy Hill, where supposedly you can see the fall colors best. It's the highest point in SE Wisconsin at 1300 ft. It really was beautiful. It's actually a church on a hill, still in operation and everything. In fact, there was a wedding going on. The weather was nice fall weather. Not too chilly, but perfectly brisk. Well, except for when we got to the top of the tower, where it was windy, and I wanted to die.

Here, have a look.

This is driving up to Holy Hill. Not a very impressive hill, if you ask me.




But look at the view from the top!!!



Check out that pimp house with it's own lake. Wonder who lives there. You could actually see downtown Milwaukee in the distance. Very cool.



See my pink scarf? Kinda? I just finished it last weekend! Hooray for scarf weather! On the way home we stopped alone the side of the road and bought apple cider (yuuuuummmmmm) and 3 little wee mini pumpkins. Just because they were cute. What a great fall day!

To top it all off, BYU finally won a game tonite! About time!! Personally, I think it's because I made a new recipe--"Touchdown Taco Dip". It was good luck! And pretty tasty. I also made a caramel apple dip and an apple berry salsa, which were very good as well. They went perfectly with the sweet tortilla crisps I made to go along with it. The artichoke pizza passed the test as well. Probably not the masculine football snacks to make....but oh well. I needed to practice!!

I'm exhausted. Crap--it's 2 AM!!! Where does the time go???

What the...

Tonite we watched "The Hot Chick" starring Rob Schneider over at our neighbors. It was hilarious. Honestly, I was laughing sooo hard. But I was more interested in "Billy", the boyfriend. Dang! What a hottie! Looks familiar, but I couldn't really place him. (He's the one on the right.)



So I wait for the credits, to see who he is. You know, so I can google blingo him when I get home and go rent everything else he's been in. And then have sweet dreams of him feeding me chocolate covered strawberries on a sandy beach surrounded by daffodils and all things romantical and pretty. And then I see it: MATTHEW LAWRENCE?!?!?!?!?!?

Are you kidding me?? Joey's lil bro?? The dorky kid from Mrs. Doubtfire???



Yes, indeed. The very same. Puberty did this boy well. Great jaw line, nice full lips. I feel almost pedophilia-esque just saying it!! It seems like he was always the little kid in movies when I was in high schoo. Right? Am I right??

Aparently not.

This "kid" is older than I. But only by 361 days. Man, where was I when Matthew Lawrence was on the cover of Tiger Beat? Too busy making out with the posters of Jonathan Brandis slapped to my wall. Every wall. OK. And ceiling too. C'mon! Who didn't want to fall asleep to that gorgeous face?? I even had a whole notebook dedicated to poems about him. I broke this out for my roommates in college. We weren't drunk, so I'm not sure how this came about, actually. Still, I wouldn't want to deprive you of the same tidbits of pure genius writing, so I will share some of the highlights.

.................

I can't find it. Honest. I just looked. It's a black and white composition book, colored in purple, pink, and teal (THE coolest colors of the day) and it says "My Jonathan Brandis Book". If you come across it, let me know. I promise I'll share when I find it.

Wow. Not sure how that all happened. I was in a sharing mood, apparently.

Well, sweet dreams. I know who I'll be dreaming about!



No, not JB!! He's dead, after all. That would just be creepy!!

Rest in peace, Lt. Lucas Wolenczek, of the DSV SeaQuest. (And if you know what I'm talking about, we can be BFF.)

Awesome!

OK, who's going to buy me these???? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Riiiiight.

Seriously. I want them.

New blogs for your enjoyment

For your inner (and outer, I suppose) shoe whore, I present to you 2 of my latest favorite blogs.
Manolo's Shoe Blog and La Dolce Divas. I've had them on my Bloglines subscription for awhile, but for some reason hadn't added them to my blogroll here yet. Anyway, check them out. They're great.

Update

Wow--it's already Thursday!

It's been an uneventful week in my world. But holy crap--the celebrity world is full of news!!! And yes, I do follow it. Sadly.

Shocker #1:
Nick and Jessica are getting a divorce.

Well, at least that's the rumor. His reps are denying it. But c'mon, you know it's gonna happen. I guess she is just too much of a big time superstar celebrity and wants to party party party in all her newfound greatness. Poor Nick. But hey ladies, he's available again!!

Shocker #2:
Katie Holmes is prego with Tom Cruise's baby.

Scandalous! They're not even married! Just engaged! Not that that matters these days I guess....Still. I used to love Katie Holmes. Joey and Dawson...Joey and Pacey...loved her all through that. And I used to like Tom Cruise, too. But he is just CUCKOO!! And not just b/c he's Scientologist. I knew TONS of Scieno's (as we called them) in high school, they were even my friends, since Clearwater was a huge Scieno center for some reason. And they were never as weird as he is. Granted, they were odd, but he's a certified nut. I see her as not a cute pregnant girl.

Shocker #3:
There is a Britney/Kevin sex tape floating around.

Ok, this isn't really a shocker per se. More of a, "only a matter of time" kinda deal. Supposedly her lawyers reviewed it to check the content and laughed at how disgusting it was.

Britney. My dearest Britney. I fell in love with you ever since I saw you at Grad Night in Orlando in May of 1999. You were wearing black spandex shorts and a yellow sports bra and pink suspenders. When you stopped singing, everyone was chanting "TITS! TITS! TITS!" and I defended you!! I have all your CDs. I have Darren's Dance Grooves and know the entire dance to "Crazy". I had your calendars and screensavers. I made my roomates watch your Vegas special on Showtime. I dressed up like you and sang karaoke in Vegas to your songs. I am a long time fan. Truly. Once the nice innocent girl who charmed everyone with your Southern charm, you are now trailer trash to the umpteenth degree. Your baby has turned you fat and ugly. And every picture I see of you makes me sad for you. I mean, look at those bags.



I hope for a comeback, I really do. In the meantime, I shall be a Britney-the-music fan only, not a Britney-the-person fan. (Note however, that should I ever come across said video, I will of course watch it. You're like a train wreck. You can't stop watching even if it's horrible.)

Those are the only big ones that come to mind. So my most favorite song right now is "Over My Head" by The Fray. Soooo good. It's been on perma-repeat all day. Go download. I purchashed it last night with my iTunes gift card that I won from Blingo! Have you singed up to do it yet???? Anyone like Hawthorne Heights? I have one of their songs, "Ohio is for lovers", and I like it, but I don't like it. I like the normal part, and then they start singing in this devil-like scary voice. So not neccessary!! It's throaty and scary and unnverving. **shudder**

It's 50 degrees right now. That sucks.

Typical Monday. Boring meetings. Super sleepy. Came home to a sick husband and lots of cleaning. Lots of guests over Friday and Saturday leaves for lots of messes. Oh well--small price to pay for having great friends.

Saturday we went to Six Flags Great America. I thought it was a lot of fun. Derrick gets motion sickness, so I don't think it was as fun for him, but he told me he had fun anyway. He's a good sport. Waited in line with me even if he didn't ride all of the roller coasters with me. We came home to watch BYU get crushed by whoever they played. I don't even remember. How sad is that. BYU sucks this year--they don't deserve to be remembered. So there.

So...I decided to go ahead with my "big business venture" (ha) and I am now officially a Kitchen Consultant for The Pampered Chef. Go ahead and laugh. It's ok. I did too. But you know what? I love to cook. I love their stuff. If I can make extra money doing what I love and selling stuff I know people will love too, then why not? So people, if you need anything from Pampered Chef, let ME know!! Better yet, if you wanna be a pal and host a show for yourself and your friends, I can do it for you. You will get free stuff and eat lots of great food!! Hooray!

Other than that, not a lot happenin. It's unusually warm--I think 83 today. Not that I'm complaining. Quite the opposite. I hope to prolong the gray disgusting slushy vomit of winter as looooong as possible.