Ariel’s Bad Hair Day

My freshman year of college could very easily been known as “the year of the amateur hairdo”. 

My dorm room was the 18-year-old version of a perpetual beauty shop. 

We were forever cutting and coloring and crimping one another’s hair (If I ever had a male reader it’s safe to assume I just lost him with that sentence).  It was an interesting time, when our new found freedom combined with our frugal spending habits combined to make some of us a little shall-we-say ‘loose’ in our styling standards.  Some of us (read: ME) began to think a little too highly of our styling skills.  I may or may not have believed myself to be the Ken Paves of my dorm hallway.

It all began when my friend Jennifer ask me to cut her hair on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  Her previous cut had grown out and it was time for a change.  I first made her swear that she would not cut me out of her life if I failed and then proceeded to cut her hair.  It turned out I could cut in a semi-straight line and instantly became the Vidal Sassoon of room 315.

Unfortunately, as my client-base increased so did the need for me to have actual hair dressing skills.  Late one Monday night my friend Katy came home from Target with a beautiful box of auburn hair dye.  We all ‘oohed and aaahed’ over how beautiful she was sure to be once her hair was dyed and I began the process of coloring her hair.  We went through all the steps, waited the prescribed amount and then she went to wash it out.  I headed over to her room when I heard the hair-dryer blowing and nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

Katy’s hair had turned Little Mermaid orange.

It was too late that night to run out and buy more hair dye so Katy was forced to live with it for a day.  Even though she was not to happy with me, she was still speaking to me.  I’ll never forget the hat she was forced to wear for the next day.  It was like a fisherman’s hat, with a brim, so she could show as little hair as possible, and she had two little braided pig tails peeking out from under it.  I’ll also never forget going to our college group later that night and our college minister took one look at Katy’s new magenta locks and said “Who did that to you?!?”.

After we told him that I (the John Frieda wanna-be) had performed the dye job, he asked Katy: “and you’re still speaking to her????”

We went straight to a Target and bought a new bottle of hair color.  Katy even trusted me enough to perform the new dye job (under the watchful eye of our friends).  Although I have rarely been as nervous as I was trying to fix her hair we did end up getting it back to a color found on planet earth, a very pretty brown color.

I am happy to report that Katy still speaks to me.  Even to this day.

Or, at least, she did before she read this friendly little reminder.

The Fairest Of Them All

Last Saturday Chelsea and I went to the State Fair of Texas.  I am only slightly embarrassed to reveal to you that it was my second time to visit the fair.  That week.  I don’t really know how to defend myself, other than to say that when you love something with your whole heart, as I love the Texas State Fair, you make it a priority in your life.  Anyway, Chels and I had a great day.  We managed to check all of our “Must-Do” items off of our list.

We visited the petting zoo:

And discovered that alpacas may just be the cutest animal I ever did see:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I caught up with Big Tex:

We tried some Texan delicacies (and by ‘delicacies’ I mean anything that would stay still long enough to be deep fried):

Deep Fried Frozen Margarita

 

Fried Bacon

And, since I know the questions are inevitable, I will give you my opinion on all the fried foods I partook of.  In my personal experience fried foods are exciting and delicious.  IN THEORY.  In reality?  The first three bites are usually pretty good… but then you start to think about what exactly it is your eating and it’s all downhill from there.  But, I continue to eat them because fried food hope springs eternal.  The fried margarita could have been good, except they poured strait margarita juice (or whatever that would be called) over the fried part, which made it pretty gross.  The bacon was ok, except every time you took a bite all the fried stuff would fall off, so in the end you were just eating bacon.  And I don’t know about you, but I prefer not to pay $8 for my bacon.

After eating our way across the fair Chels and I headed to visit my friend Cortnee.  While there we watched a little MLB Smackdown:

I may be momentarily obsessed with the Rangers.  And I’m ok with that.  Especially when they’re winning.

After we left Cortnee’s Chelsea needed to run by her office (at 8:00. On a Saturday night. Nerd Alert!) so she headed over to do that and I went home.  After I’d been home for a few minutes Chels called and asked if my Dad and I could come jump her car since it was dead.  When we got there I realized that Chelsea had been holding out on me:

I had no idea she was this prepared.  She has her own traffic emergency sign.  We’ve been best friends for over 10 years and I would never have expected her to have a spare tire, much less a traffic sign.  In my defense, she did have a flashlight, but no batteries.

All said and done the Fair definitely lived up to its hype this year, and now I am counting down the days until next year.  Just 365 days left to prepare my arteries for the deep fried butter.

The Month Before September

Well, August is finally over.  And, in celebration of this, I have made an important decision:  from this year forward August shall forever be referred to as: “the-month-that-is-dead-to-me”.

No, I’m not more dramatic in the month of September, why do you ask?

So, clearly ‘the-month-that-shall-not-be-named’ was a rough one, but some fun things happened too. 

Here’s a list:

1. Shark Week!  Shark Week was extra incredible this year.  I got a ton of it on the DVR (unfortunately the DVR has since bit the dust since my parents got HD which means they get a new DVR which means Shark Week is, once again, merely a fond memory) and particularly enjoyed the newest version of “Air Jaws”.  On July 31st I got a tweet or a text or a comment or a wall post from Katy (sometimes I think I am overly committed to all my social networking) saying she hoped Shark Week didn’t disappoint me, which I thought was really funny and sweet.  Clearly, I have worn my Shark Week heart on my sleeve and she didn’t want to see me hurt, but I am happy to report that I was not disappointed in the least.

2. I got to see plenty of my favorite people!  Including meeting the Evans girls for some coffee and some talk (ideally there would be an adorable photo of Ginger posted right here, but I forgot to dig my camera out that day, so you’ll just have to take my word for just how remarkably beautiful she is). 

I also got to hang out at a birthday party for Miranda along with Jennifer, Alison and Sarah and Justin.  The birthday party was a fun combination of games, birthday cake and porch swings.  That’s like the Pythagorean theorem for the perfect party in my mind.

3. The WEATHER!  Oh, my heavenly days, the weather.  At some point last week God smiled upon Texas and our temperatures dropped from about 112 degrees to 87 degrees daily.  It was a summer miracle.

4. My friend Cortnee came to my parents house in the country for the weekend.  I took her to see all sorts of things, including my neighbors’ farm of exotic animals, which deserves a post all of its own.  But, most importantly, my parents took both of us on a little driving tour of the country.  We even drove up to the lake.  It was beautiful and bizarre all at the same time.  I felt like I was back in junior high sitting in the back of my Mom’s car with my friend while we drove on the county back roads.

5. I accepted a couple of job offers.  Then today I accepted a new one and will be working full time for a school in the area.  The only explanation for it all is that my life is weird.  Every time I give up hope I am surprised by God’s provision again. 

I think that last bullet point explains why I am not going to continue looking back on the dark days of ‘the-month-that-is-dead-to-me’.  Not that I didn’t have some fun times, but from here on out, I’m all about September.

Sarah

Lately, all I’ve been writing have been this birthday posts, so maybe you should be thankful that my friend’s have summer birthdays.  Or maybe you’re sad that all I’m getting around to writing about are other people’s lives.  I have seen the error of my ways and I already have a post planned for tomorrow that’s all about me!  But, for today, let’s talk about my friend Sarah.

You all know the drill, yesterday was Sarah’s 26th birthday and so, here’s a list of 26 reasons to love Sarah!

1. I met Sarah on my second day at DBU.  My roommate Alison and I were returning to our room and she and her roommate Miranda were returning to theirs and we lived down the hall from each other so we introduced ourselves and became FAST friends.  We ended up hanging out at dinner that night, then hanging out after dinner, then hanging out late into the night that night.  Indicative of many days to come.

2. Sarah is a Doctor!  Doctor Sarah!  How cool is it that I have a friend who is a Doctor and can check out my eyes if I need it?

3. When we lived in the dorms together Sarah would often wake me up and keep me up until 2 a.m.- she was never ready for the party to end.  We had some of the CRAZIEST times together at around 1:45 in the morning.

4. In college we often talked about taking a big road trip to Vegas and San Francisco.  We were going to name it the “Hit That Ho Up Tour”.  I have no idea WHY we were going to call it that and I’m a little disturbed by it, but it’s mainly just funny.

5. Sarah is married to Justin, who has quickly become one of my favorite people.  It’s almost scary how perfect they are for each other.  They are fun and easy to be around, I’m very glad that they agree to hang out with me from time to time.

 

6. One time, for a college organization, Sarah and I had to sing a duet at an initiation ceremony.  We sang “Faith Of Our Fathers”.  It was hilarious.

7. Sarah’s an amazing musician and worship leader.

8. For a long time Sarah embraced the popped collar so wholeheartedly you would have thought she was a frat boy.  But, she made it work… and even made it look cool.

9. Sarah and I share a healthy fear of anything to do with horror movies.  And when I say “healthy fear” I mean we are easily terrified and may never recover if we get scared by something or someone.  I appreciate that I have someone to NOT go see scary movies with.

10. Sarah can make any place feel homey and comfortable.  When we were in Africa we lived in rooms which were a far cry from home, but Sarah took some of her old coke bottles, washed them out and put flowers in them on her windowsill.  It made her room feel very welcoming.  It’s the kind of thing she does now, in her new house (which is beautiful and welcoming).

11. She has great style!  Both in fashion and decorating (see #10).

12. The LEMON SHAKER.  Sarah has a collection of rhythm shakers and one of them is a lemon.  Freshmen year of college I stole the lemon and wrote a ransom note.  She retaliated by papering my door and begging for the lemon’s return.  I still have the decorated papers from my door and Sarah still has the lemon.  It is an iconic story from our friendship.

13. THIS PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14. We share a mutual love for the old SNL skit “Brian Fellows”.  Brian Fellows is the world’s worst zoologist / TV host.  “That shaggy rat needs a haircut!”

15. There was a time when Sarah and I kept accidentally dressing alike.  We would get ready in different cities and show up wearing the almost exact same pink polo and jeans or blue t-shirt and khaki skirt.

16. One time we organized (and starred) in a musical for DBU’s spring sing.  It was our own take on Mary Poppins and it was genius.

17. Sarah is a person who does what she loves.  She loves being around and interacting with people and she loves eyes.  Plus, she’s really good at both of those things.  Whatever Sarah does she does it with 110%- something I’m sure her patients appreciate.

18. About 12 days after I met her Sarah took me to visit her family and I fell in love with her parents!  They are amazing and it’s been a joy to get to know the Mercer clan as I got to know Sarah.

19. We both love to go out and be adventurous, but we are equally happy to stay home, do an art project and watch “You’ve Got Mail”.  That’s not something you can say about many friends.

20. She’s beautiful!  Inside and out!

21. She is wickedly funny and has some of the best one-liners.  She makes me giggle and when we spend a lot of time laughing when we’re together.

22. Sarah has a deep and steady faith.  She loves our Lord with great passion.

23. She’s cool.  I mean it.  She’s just plain cool.

24. Sarah is one of the smartest people I know.  She’s also one of the hardest working people I know.  But, she’s never arrogant.  If she wasn’t one of my best friends it would be sickening.

25. I don’t really know how we’re still friends or even really how we became friends to begin with.  All I can figure is, God, in His infinite wisdom, knew something we didn’t and has continued to renew our friendship and grow our bonds.  We met 8 years ago and our friendship continues to grow sweeter. 

26. I love you Sarah, you are such a wonderful friend!  Thanks for being YOU.

Katy

Because I am nothing, if not a prompt and timely person, I am only one day late in getting this post up.  So, technically, imagine that this is all happening yesterday which is my dear friend Katy’s 26th birthday.  Here they are: 26 reasons that you should all love and adore her as much as I do.

1.  My second day at DBU I went to a welcome party and was sitting next to a girl who was kind of shy and wasn’t talking very much.  When I went back to my room later the girl was walking down the hall towards me, it was Katy.  Turns out we lived on the same hall and would continue to life on the same hall or in the same apartment for the next 3 1/2 years. 

2. For 3 years Katy and I also worked together.  Every Sunday night we would go and baby-sit at a local house church.  The fun was endless, although it was occasionally difficult to tell who the kids were: us or them.

3. Katy and I share a mutual love for the finer things in life.  Things such as: Pringles, Velveeta Shells and Cheese, Frozen Pizza, a plethora of fast food establishments- preferably Sonic or Chic-Fil-A, and, above all else, we love Queso.

4. If I’m ever in a store and I can’t decide on a dress or a purse, Katy is my go-to phone call or text message buddy.  She always helps me make the right decision.

5. This past year Katy became a Mama and she is so sweet, patient and loving to her little girl.  Ginger is a really lucky to have such an amazing Mom and it’s been so fun to see Katy become a Mother.

6. Katy is beautiful- inside and out.

7. Katy is a really loyal friend and she just gets me.  It almost goes without saying, but it’s really rare to find someone who “gets me” without me having to explain myself in circles.

8. She got me hooked on Twilight.  I owe her big time for exposing me to Edward’s sparkly skin and ray-bans.

9. One day she and I are going to go on vacation and visit Charleston, South Carolina.  We decided to visit Charleston because one time, in our book club (our book club only included the two of us), we read Gone With The Wind and then decided to visit the old south.  Until we actually get to go on our vacation, we plan for it.  We are constantly on the lookout for cool things to do in Charleston.

10. Katy brought this little bunny into my life. 

I’ll forever love her for that!

11. Katy and I are pen pals.  We talk a lot on the phone, text, twitter, email, and comment on one another's’ blogs but we also write each other letters, send cards and notes the old fashioned snail mail way.  There is nothing better than actually having something good in the mail box.  Especially when it’s from a sweet, sweet friend.  I don’t do this with many people, and I think it’s just something really special about Katy.  (Which reminds me, I need your new address Kates!)

12. We’ve been friends for a long time, and it just keeps getting better!

13. I really love Katy’s family.  If they would have me, I would spend tons of my free time hanging out with them, or going on vacation with them like we did a few summers ago.

14. In addition to number 13., Katy is married to Daniel, who is the kind of guy everyone should know and have in their life.  Not only has he brought lots of love and happiness into Katy’s life, he also taught me all about Bernoulli’s Principle of Aerodynamics, for which I am eternally grateful. 

15. One time I dyed Katy’s hair and it ACCIDENTALLY turned bright orange-red.  We’re talking Little Mermaid Orange-Red!  And we’re still friends.  She even let me dye it back the next day.  Forgiveness is important in friendship. (Although, for the life of me, I’ll never, ever, ever forget the hat she had to wear on her Ariel day before we could get her hair back to looking normal.)

16. Any sort of Law and Order: SVU marathon will make us both incredibly happy.  And if an episode of Arrested Development somehow found its way into the mix, we would die of bliss.

17. Since Katy grew up with sisters, she understands and appreciates the art of sharing.  Accessories, jewelry, shoes, clothes… you name I have been the benefactor of her generous spirit and adorable fashion sense!

18. This picture:

19. Katy is the best listener!  She doesn’t judge.  She just listens. And then she gently speaks truth into my life.

20. Sing-Alongs.  There’s nothing better than belting out some Kelly Clarkson, Selah, Amy Grant or show tunes in the car with Katy.  She’s amazing!

21. Katy loves the Lord, so much and has always had such a deep relationship with the Father.  She also has one of the sweetest Salvation stories.  Her walk is an inspiration to me.

22. Katy spent a summer in Shanghai, China and worked as a missionary- teaching children English.  If that wasn’t reason enough to love her, she also taught her little Chinese children all about Mary Poppins and they even put on a Mary Poppins play at the end of her time there.

23. Since Daniel’s job requires he and Katy to move quite a bit, I have gotten to visit them in several locations.  This may not be one of Katy’s favorite things, because I know she’d love to be closer to home, but it’s always fun to visit her- she’s the best hostess.

24. Katy always encourages me, and she ALWAYS makes me laugh!  Her humor is definitely one of my favorite things about her.

25. One time, in college, Katy scored free tickets for us to visit Six Flags and so she and I headed over to amuse ourselves for an afternoon.  However, we forgot that just because you have free tickets does not mean you have free parking.  We literally paid the $8 parking ticket with $4 in ones, $1 in quarters, $1.50 in nickels and dimes and (I kid you not) $1.50 in pennies.  It would have been embarrassing but we were too excited about all the roller coasters.

26. I love you dearly, Katy.  You are beyond words, and no list (even a 26 item-long-list) could ever describe how glad I am that we are friends and that we are getting to “grow up” together. 

Happy Birthday, sweet friend!

Man Cannot Live on Coupons Alone

I have an endless supply of hilarious stories from my college days.  Let’s face the facts, you get enough teenagers around one another and you are sure to find a plethora of funny stories due to the impaired judgment caused by youthful ignorance.  Case and point:

(Yes. That is my friend Sarah. 

And, yes. She is dressed like an Oompa Loompa.

And, yes.  She is a Doctor now.

And, yes.  Clearly I am a master photographer.)

Anyway, back to the story at hand.  At some point during our sophomore year there was some event that the university was sponsoring, and being the upstanding students that we were, Katy was left in charge of a HUGE stack of coupons to hand out to the events attendees.  The coupons were to our favorite Mexican restaurant- Don Pablo’s.

Don Pablo’s (or as we called it, Donny P’s) was our favorite for 3 very important reasons:

1. Location (it was absolutely the closest we could get to food that was not cafeteria food.  Very important… or as my friend Donny P would say “mui importante”)

2. The chips and queso.

3. The chips and salsa.

So, the stack of coupons Katy was supposed to hand out never seemed to make it into the hands of our fellow students.  All of the coupons were for FREE Chips, Queso and Salsa.  Imagine, if you will, a stack of over 200 coupons for free food.  Then imagine, you were a poor, hungry college student, with poor, hungry college student friends. 

Two words: Perfect Storm.

It would have been embarrassing, if we had any pride to begin with.  But did I mention the poor and hungry part?  We would often go to Don Pablo’s and use 2 or 3 coupons per meal.  But, our favorite thing was to call in an order of chips and queso then when we showed up we would hand over a trusty coupon and take our meal home with us.  When we got to our dorm, and people saw the Donny P’s bag being carried in, our room would turn into the college equivalent of a shark’s feeding frenzy.  People went crazy for the chips and queso.

We began to notice a problem when we realized that we were using our coupons 2 or 3 times a week.  It was getting more and more humiliating to order up some chips and queso that many times a week and never pay any money.  Not for a coke or for an enchilada or anything.

Eventually, the day came when our coupons were all used up and it was a sad, sad moment in time.  Like the end of an era…

(Also known as the beginning of being an adult and paying for stuff.)

So, Cleopatra and a Pirate Walk Into A Costume Party…

When you’ve been friends for as long as Chelsea and I have you tend to have some of the same conversations over and over again.  Of course, they never start the same, but we typically end up discussing about the same old subjects in almost verbatim conversations.  If you get us talking long enough we are sure to fall into a routine.  Whether talking about our favorite foods or sharing our opinions on the Real Housewives of New Jersey we just can’t seem to think of anything new to say, so we stick to what’s familiar.

There is one bizarre conversation that has been repeated so many times over the course of our friendship, and it is the oddest of all of our running diatribes.  Chels and I often talk about our need to clean out our closets, and our mutual fear of losing something important if we ever actually do clean out our closets. 

The conversation is always the same and ends with Chelsea saying “I mean, what if I get invited to a Halloween party and I want to be a pirate and I’ve already given away the perfect pirate shirt?”  And then I add, “I know, I mean what if I want to be Cleopatra and I’ve given away all the right clothes and accessories?”

Obviously the conversation always ends the same.  I mean, clearly, you never know when you will need to be dressed up as a pirate or Cleopatra so the only solution is to NEVER clean out your closet.  And, it goes without saying that, this Halloween Cleopatra and a pirate are coming to a costume party near you.

The Miracle Worker

Last night, my friend Meredith took matters into her own hands and made something beautiful happen.  She (once again) fixed my blog.  It amazes that Meredith always knows exactly what my blog needs even when I don’t.  It’s a good thing Mere did the redesign for me, because anytime I try to design a new blog header, I end up cursing the day computers were invented and taking my anger to Twitter to bore anyone there who’ll listen.  And quite frankly, I don’t need all the drama in my life (especially when said drama is coming from an inanimate object).  Anyway, thanks Meredith! I love it.

Weekend, Part 2

If you missed the first two days of my weekend scroll on down and check it out.  On Sunday I invited some friends to join me at the Denton Jazz and Arts Festival.  I love a festival, I love fun music and I especially love people watching, so I knew that I was in for a good time.

On with the pictures:

Chelsea, Cortnee and Dara

Ready to Go!

Dara and I were both ROCKIN’ our Sperry’s, while Chelsea opted for a 1996 throw-back courtesy of some Jellies.

Chelsea and I preparing for the walk to the fest.

When we got to the festival, the first thing we saw was this woman, on stage with her band, rockin’ out on the keyboard with both legs stretched WIIIIDE apart in her short little dress.  She had a voice that kind of sounded like a character from Sesame Street only she was singing about magic and dragons.  In retrospect, I’m kind of disturbed on behalf of those poor girls standing in front of the stage to have their picture made.  But, at the time, all I could think was “THIS is what I want to see at a festival”.

Next, we headed over to grab some lemonade, and thus, begin our trip through the festival via awesome/terrible foods.  Prepare yourself for a montage of our favorites.

Lemonade.

Cotton Candy (making all my dreams come true).

Iced Tea.

Funnel Cake (making all Chelsea’s festival dreams come true, and doubling the festival blessings for me)

 

Finally, after eating our way across about 20 acres of festival we sat down and enjoyed some tunes.

I didn’t get a picture of the belly dancers (you can thank me later) or the Vigilante Band (a favorite band of ours that only played 16 measures at a time) or the man walking around on stilts (because, obviously…).  But, I think you get the overall impression of how awesome the Jazz Fest was.  Maybe next year you can bring your Jellies (or Sperry’s) and eat your way across town with us!

Weekend Recap Part 1 (AKA The Baby Days)

I had a JAM-PACKED weekend and so I will be splitting it up because it really deserves two separate posts.  It was so full that for today, and today only, I’m going to lay off the comedy (if that’s even possible) and go straight to the photographic evidence.

On Friday I got to have lunch with this cute girl:

And her cute Mama:

A few side notes about this picture.  1. I feel like Katy and I look like the Double Mint twins with our toothy grins and 2. I really enjoy that you can see my ‘Stretch Armstrong’ arm reflected in both mine and Katy’s sunglasses.

I’m going to miss these two an awful lot when they head back to their real lives in North Carolina this week.  I was so glad to get a little more time in with them.

She is the cutest, most accessorized baby!  I can’t believe how much she’s grown in the last month and a half.  And I can’t wait for many  more lunch dates to come.

After lunch, I had to pick up my friend Yumi so we could go find a gift for our friend Rachel’s shower.  And Yumi brought a snack for us to have on the road…

Fish Snacks.  Or, as the label on the package calls them “Fishnacks”

And these smelled extra fishy.  Yum.

We got our gifts and got them wrapped.

 

On Saturday we headed to Rachel’s baby shower.  Rachel is a friend from grad school and there is NEVER a dull moment when she’s around.  Case and point:

Her middle name is Drama.

The shower was at a really cool tea house and we had “grand tea”:

They brought each of us our own tea pot and we got to choose our tea.  I was all about this (I was also all about the scones- yum!).

Best of all we got to celebrate Rachel and baby Aria.

I lived a lot of life over the past three years alongside these women and it was really good to be with them.  I still can’t believe Rachel’s going to be a Mother.  It’s going to take some time to get used to that.

So, that was the first two days of fun in my weekend, but you’ll have to wait for tomorrow when you will get to enjoy several photos of me partaking in festival food.  Sorry.  I know you’re crushed to have to wait.

I hope your weekends were as glorious as mine.  Happy Monday!

When You’re Right, You’re Right

Chelsea and I have been best friends for over ten years now.  For the most part, we understand each other and spend our time trying to make each other laugh.  However, we also have a tendency to bicker with each other- usually done in love, but with a careful sheen of sarcasm to cover our true feelings.

Since we’ve known each other so long we sometimes feel more like family than friends and will occasionally fall into classic birth order archetypes.  I am a youngest child and as a result am typically fairly easy-going and agreeable (what some might call a pushover) although I’m also attention-seeking (read: ham) and, at times, dramatic.  Chelsea is an oldest child but is probably the most easy-going and agreeable girl I’ve ever met- until something sends her over the edge and then she starts talking at a pitch only small dogs can hear (Luckily, that’s only happened about 7 times in 10 years of friendship).  Basically, we both come from the “don’t-rock-the-boat” school of thought.

Chelsea only displays her eldest-child sensibilities when it comes to one thing: being right.  The girl is plain stubborn and when she decides she is correct about something no amount of convincing or proven data can dissuade her.  Charts and graphs are lost on her. 

For example, a few months ago, we were watching the Grammy’s and Chels asked me which Jonas Brother was Joe.  I told her I thought Joe was the one with the really dark hair and nerdy glasses.  She said “no, I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.  Joe’s the little one with the curly hair.”  I wondered why she asked me if she already knew the answer, but told her “oh, ok.  Well, you must be right.”  The next day I got a text from Chelsea saying she momentarily confused her JoBros and Joe was, in fact, the dark-haired glasses wearer.  Note that there was no admission of guilt there.  I realize it doesn’t sound like a big deal, and I realize that bragging about knowing my Jonas Brothers may not win me cool points, but magnify Chelsea’s reaction times 10 years and you feel my pain.

Well, I am here to report that finally, last Saturday I heard the first “you were right” of our 10 year friendship.  About 8 years ago I told Chelsea that casual dating was pointless because it just has to be headed somewhere.  She said I was insane and why would I say that.  Last Saturday, after a week-long, whirlwind “romance” (consisting of Starbucks, bowling and several hours wasted on text messages), which began and ended in a matter of 7 days Chelsea finally said I might be on to something about casual dating.  Her actual words were: “you were right”.  And that’s all I needed to hear.

An admission ten years in the making.  Not that I’m counting or anything.

Life… Or Something Like It

After taking last Tuesday off to pal around with my friends my return to work on Wednesday was a little overwhelming.  My students were preparing for a singing competition on Saturday and this competition is pretty much a litmus test of how prepared my students are and how good of a teacher I am.  No pressure. 

So, in the midst of preparing for all that insanity I got a call from my landlord telling me they wanted to show my apartment to a potential leaser (Have I mentioned I’m moving out of my apartment in precisely 8 weeks?  Have I mentioned I’m freaking out about having to move out of my apartment in 8 weeks?).  Basically, the landlord told me they wanted me out of the apartment at a few specific times and I agreed, but then I panicked and began to clean like a maniac.  Somewhere between dusting the baseboards in my dining room and alphabetizing my DVD collection I realized that my need to please people was running rampant and since I am not the one trying to sell the place I needed to release it.  So I gave up and spent the rest of my night watching The Cosby Show.

Finally Saturday rolled around and the competition was on!  I had one complete and utter melt-down from a student- the poor girl stopped singing on the last verse of her song, turned around and looked at me with huge tears in her eyes and started to bawl.  In front the accompanist and her judge and I.  Luckily, the judge was very kind and understanding and let my student leave the room for a minute and collect herself then come back and finish her song.  My student ended up doing very well and learned an important life lesson- which is really the whole point.  That poor girl had spent all day the day before at a volleyball tournament, stayed out late the night before then had to sing at 8:00 in the morning before heading back to play more volleyball.  Which really makes me want to get up on my high horse and preach about how overextended kids are these days, but I’m going to hold back this time (There will be plenty more opportunities for me to preach at you, since this is my blog and all). 

All said and done, I had 21 students sing at competition and ALL of them received I’s (the highest possible ranking)!  I am one proud and excited teacher!

After basking in the glow of success I headed out on Sunday to meet my people for lunch.  My buddies Sarah and Justin (The Dr.s’ Ward) were in town and we had to celebrate.  Among our group of friends celebration means ONE thing: Mexican food.  We had the best time.  You know you’re with good company when you can talk about any little thing with friends.  At the end I wanted something to commemorate the fun so I took a picture.  But the picture only had half the table in it because I didn’t want to stand up to take it and cause a scene.  So, I made a difficult decision and took a picture of the half of the table that had two of my twitter friends on it so I could send it there and show everyone what a great time we were having.

However, I never ended up sending it to twitter because:

  I don’t know what I ever did to Justin, but apparently he’s unhappy with me.  Or at the very least, he doesn’t have any control over his eyes.  Ironic, since he’s an optometrist.

Happy Monday!

Ladies Who Lunch

I know this confession may shock you, but here it is:

I LOVE having lunch with friends.

Lunch?  Good. 

Friends?  Great. 

Lunch with friends?  Stupendous.

It truly is one of life’s greatest pleasures to meet friends for lunch.  Lunch has always been a special treat in my world.  When I was younger my Mother would pick me up from school when we had a half-day and we would go have lunch at our favorite cafe in town Conrad’s.  I would always get the Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie for dessert, and if that’s not reason enough to love lunch, I don’t know what is. 

So, yesterday when my students had testing all day I decided not to rearrange my schedule and instead met my friends for lunch. 

Miranda didn’t have long to get away from work so she, Katy, Ginger and I headed over to Sonic for lunch.  Which we ate in the car.  I realize it doesn’t sound all that awesome but it ended up being really fun.  We could be as loud as we wanted and there were tater tots involved so it’s pretty much a win-win situation for yours truly.

Katy was excited about Sonic!  (It bears mentioning that this little Mama had a baby less than two months ago.  Seriously.  She still looks like she did when we were 18. Not fair.)

Here’s the backseat where Miranda and Ginger were staring lovingly into one another’s eyes:

We had the best time chatting and eating.  Except Ginger, who didn’t get to try any tots and got a little upset about it.  I can’t wait for Ginger to be a bit older so we can go out for lunch, go shopping and teach her all the important things about being a girl! 

Finally, all girl’s know that one of the most important things about a good lunch is a good view…And nothing whets the appetite like “Urethane Foam”.

Because I’m Not Above Thievery... And Also, Begat

It’s been a rough month.  I’m becoming convinced that March may  have it out for me.  But, I’m trying not to let it get me down, so I’ve decided to look on the bright side.  Now, to be completely honest, when it comes to thinking up fodder for my blog I am not above stealing.  I will gladly steal any idea that makes my life a little easier.  So, that being said… this is lifted from my sweet friend Katy.

HAPPINESS IS……

Happiness Is Chelsea Wearin’ Hats…

 

Happiness Is Havin’ A Little Chat…

 

Happiness Is Bein’ With Ginger, Who Katy Begat…

 

 

HAPPINESS IS THIS SONG!! 

BUM, BUM, BUM

(And yes, you are welcome for the ‘begat’ line.)