friday's off

i've declared that i'm now coming in at 7am m-th, and i will be taking friday's off. i will be spending my friday's pursuing other things - my crafting, relaxing, working on me, and trying to figure out what my next step in life may be if things that i'm hoping for don't pan out. i will be exploring what doors are open and which ones i might be able to shove open a little further.

that being said, i'm feeling delightful.

why i hate it when db2's mom leaves fox on the tv

hallelujah

150 days until bush leaves office

it's like seeing a light at the end of a tunnel that has felt never-ending.

let's just hope it's not extinguished.

in sort of related news, i discovered today that my senior year (high school) english teacher, mr. lake, is still freakin cool. he's in a band. and they recorded a song and posted it on youtube. he's the one singing.

i give you ... "new born south"

the girl effect

http://girleffect.org

in more exciting news

i came from a place of power. my big sister coworker is now officially a life coach! she passed down to me some knowledge that she's gotten from talking to her life coach about the workplace and how to grow, how to come from a place of power. i followed her instructions!

i went home friday afternoon and laid out a plan of what to say. i've been feeling less than satisfied because i know that i deserve to be called a producer. i may not have the same time as other producers - i may be only 24, but i'm not green anymore. i've shown my worth, and i've produced and produced and produced. so i knew that having this talk with higher ups was coming from a place of truth.

after laying out my plan of what to say, i didn't cry! i almost always cry when i have to ask for something or ask for something serious, but not this time. and i got what i wanted!

i will be away from the office on friday's from now on working on other things, and i will be coming in at 7 am starting the week of september 5 (that's next week) instead of at 8 in order to get in 4 extra hours. i'm so excited i could pop!

there has also been talk of changing my official job title. and maybe a few other things. i love it when i feel like i've taken back the power!

now i'm going to talk to big sis's life coach. what a day already!

no sooner did i make the pact

... we totally went shopping this weekend. while i kept it way under what i would normally when going to marshall's and kohl's, i still shopped. i kept it under wraps at target. but kohl's broke me down!

i had a nice outfit for saturday night's viewing of another gay sequel: gays gone wild, but it was an expensive one!!

so i made a pact with db2 this morning. together we will not spend. we will do this!

another gay sequel - we laughed, we were grossed out, but it was mostly just nice to see my gay homies and hang. some of them insist that i must see the first part in this series that it is much funnier. it can't be much grosser. butt plugs and puke. mm.

moving right along. the water park. well, it was fun. i do have a hilarious picture of me on a ride called "the edge," but db2 and i were both struck by how many areas of the park smelled of urine. straight up. the rides were fun, but i felt sick every time the wind would blow while waiting in line. i have a feeling they don't take care of the water there like they should. it was also pretty chilly at 79/80 degrees, and the water was even chillier! i don't think we'll be back at wet n wild. next time we'll buck up and head for myrtle waves. although, it might be just as gross. it has been many years since i've been there!

schlitterbahn spoiled me. db2 insists we must try the one in new braunfels and we must also go tubing. we shall see. we. shall. see.

oh. there was also a black tube that we went down, we raced each other (see picture in post below). i was informed that it "didn't hurt at all" and was a lot of fun. it was great until about half way down i somehow ended up flipped over and face down. i almost drowned, and it was pretty painful. i don't think i'll ride that one again. all in all, the dragon ride was my favorite. we rode that one twice, and i'd ride it again fer sure. especially if the water didn't smell like piss. :)

24 is a hard year

i think, for a lot of people, that 24 is a really tough year. i know that it's been a rough ride for me - in terms of what's going on in my head. the immediate outside world has been relatively calm; i technically own half the property i live in, i have a live-in boyfriend that helps to pay the bills and take care of the weenie dogs (and me ... when i admit to it), i bought a car earlier in the year - my dream car, and i have a mother that still provides me with a pretty steady stipend each month.

that's part of what makes 24 tough, for me. i don't have all the money in the world, but i don't really have to struggle either (monetarily speaking). i'm struggling in other areas, but i find myself questioning whether or not i should struggle more monetarily to prove myself. i mean, who would want to give up free money, right? but there seems to be a cost to accepting help from my mother. yeah, sometimes she will say something like, "well we really need to reduce this credit card bill." and i swear to myself that this month, this month i will not shop at target with total abandon. but target is so delicious when i go in, and i go in with this feeling of not being whole and needing to fill it with ... things from target.

i don't need anymore clothes or shoes, and that's the understatement of the year. people have beyond noticed that they don't see me in the same thing twice and can't recall the last time they saw me in the same pair of sneakers or high heels. hell, i can't recall the last time i wore a lot of things.

anyway, my point is that i'm provided for. hell, i'm pampered to the point of being spoiled, and sometimes i'm selfish and don't want to share. but i see that as a serious character flaw in other people. so why don't i hold myself to the same principle?

i'm incredibly hard on myself, and i play the victim so often because that's what's comfortable. that's what i've been doing for so long it's like an old shoe. i'd like to call myself out, but even when i do, i don't seem to really make a change. i guess i'll try one more time.

if you've got skeletons in your closet - you'd best learn how to make them dance. playing the victim is definitely a skeleton i need to make have the wiggles if i can't figure out how to dismantle it and move it out.

i absolve here and now to not shop for 1 month. will i cave? we will see. i must put away the jc penney, the forever 21, the h&m (which i can't even get to unless i'm on vacation), the TARGET! (lord have mercy), the ikea (if i could get to it), the fm goods and sounds, baker's, etc.

my reward for not shopping for a month will be to go thrifting in september. this is not just to save money, but to prove to myself that i can break this habit of filling empty with stuff. and to make 25 a little less of a conflict in my head.

water park!

so the water slides i like to ride are big and bad ass. i like to have the crap scared out of me. i've never seen one like this one to the left, and it looks pretty bad ass. check out that pool at the bottom. i'm thinking it has to be a photoshop.

...

we went to a place called schlitterbahn in galveston while we were visiting db2's family over the weekend in texas. they have the bomb lazy river ... because you can veer off in your inner tube and be in the not-so-lazy river that is known as "torrent river."

they ain't lyin. it can be a bumpy ride. db2's sister swore up and down that she almost drowned after tipping off her tube. needless to say, the rest of us had a wild time.

this weekend we're off to wet 'n wild emerald pointe. while at schlitterbahn, we rode something that looks like this. this is the slide that is also at emerald pointe in greensboro. this is the slide that made me exclaim, "OH MY GOD I DIDN'T KNOW SO MUCH WATER COULD GO THERE!" and also almost ripped off my future sister-in-law's bikini top. i'm totally stoked.

this picture just does not do this slide justice. it does not show you just how high up it is. and you don't realize it until you're peering over the side and the lifeguard shoves you.

you're screaming, there's water going places it shouldn't, and then you're done. you get up, and water is coming out of you for much longer than you think is female-y possible. but you want to do it again.

and that's why we're going to the water park again this weekend.

hellooooo ikea

i had my first trip to ikea while in houston over the weekend. it seems such a cruel joke that i've had to live without it for 2.4 decades. really.

there are so many things in the ikea catalog to entice you, and yet, so many of them you cannot order online. dear light fixture, i covet thee, yet you are not to be mine. because i couldn't fit you in my suitcase, and because i cannot have you shipped. i must wait until the ikea store in CHARLOTTE opens in 2009. still 3.5 hours away from where i live, but closer than the 5 hours i have to drive now to get to the closest one in washington dc.

i can have a couch shipped to me for $89. that's a miracle.

but the goods, the goods. that's what you want me to get to. here's what i did score: (and didn't leave behind on the bus to park and ride at the airport)


an innocent wall shelf. desperately needed in the craft room that is currently the disaster room. waiting for db2's dad (db1) to mail these bad boys. i'm ready for them.

the kvartal system. so we left the rods for these on the bus at the airport in our tired stupor. which i'm sort of pissed about, but luckily that is an item that you CAN still order on ikea.com. so my living room shall not go naked.

the kryssbo light. for above the bed. i've never been more in love with a lamp that looks like an octopus than i was when i laid eyes on this bad boy.
i can disguise the cord and run it back behind the headboard. since my house is sorely lacking in overhead lighting ... this also leads me to my greatest heartbreak. the lamp that i could not score because

1. it was too large and heavy to go in our suitcase
2. i've discovered you cannot order it online
3. i was so in love. damn you ikea.



this lamp has broken my heart. i will live. hopefully it will still be in the store when it opens in 2009.










dramatical candelabra.










i can't wait to sit outside with db2 under this. under the hammock. i think i got some other things, too. but i can't remember at the moment. i still have to unpack that bag ...

creepy dudes.

according to wikipedia:

Stalking is the obsessive following, observing, or contacting of another person, or the obsessive attempt to engage in any of these activities. This includes following the person to certain places, to see where they live or what the person does on a daily basis, it also includes seeking and obtaining the person's personal information in order to contact him or her; e.g. looking for his or her details on computers, electoral rolls, personal files and other material containing the person's private information without his or her consent.

so i usually wouldn't claim someone was stalking me ... partly because i assume people i meet in regular life are normal, and partly because that seems so dramatic. i mean, who would really stalk me? right?

well i bought one of these gorgeous little cars about 6 months ago:
and i love my little car. i really do. i bought it from a guy who i initially thought of as kind of sad ... if not a little weird. he seemed like the kind of guy who lived with his mom and didn't really know how to interact with women, and i thought that he might be gay.

turns out he's just weird.

it all started when i got a phone call a few months after i bought the car. i picked up the phone thinking, oh, car dude's just checking in on me. but i know car dudes, he probably just wants to see if i know anyone interested in buying a car.

he was checking in on me. but just on me, not really on the car. the whole conversation was awkward and weird and i thought i made it pretty obvious i was ready to get off the phone.

he just txt msged me today with, "where are you now?"

so i called db2 and said, "db2. you used to sell cars. this is creepy, no?"

he confirmed that it's creepy. he called up to the dealership where i bought it from b/c for some reason he thought i mentioned the guy doesn't work there anymore. not only does he not work there anymore, he hasn't worked there in quite sometime.

team creep?

i mean ... i would normally just brush it off as some lonely guy who doesn't understand social norms. but he knows where i live, knows where i work, and knows what i drive. hell, he's seen my credit history.

so i guess i should be a little more wary when leaving work. although maybe it hasn't reached quite that status yet. unease.

backyard steez

i'd really like to have a nice backyard sometime that i could put a garden in that's inspired. that's what i'm dreaming of ...
here are some nice ideas that i like from cottage living.


i like that this area would sort of seem like a surprise when you open the door. you think it's just going to be a garage, and suddenly there's nice furniture, candles, and romantic netting.



focal points are really something that i need to focus on more in my design of things. i have had trouble establishing a focal point in my living room b/c there's a fireplace with a mirror over it, no good place to put the television, and 2 built in bookcases, and a sliding glass door, and the stairs. perhaps if i had better furniture to disguise the television or a flat screen. or no tv at all (haha).



who wouldn't want their very own treehouse with drawbridge and hanging bed? seriously? died and gone to heaven if this was in the backyard.



our sunflowers are huge now. monsters.

hot map

we've all seen that website gasbuddy where you can find the best gas prices in your area ... they've now got a map that shows gas prices across the country. i want to live somewhere with public transportation to die for.

i thought i got this.

go for the moon. if you don't get it, you'll still be heading for a star.
-willis reed

i feel kind of like the star implodes here though because i don't get a raise or a 401k. or health insurance.

didn't get it

well. i didn't get the job i interviewed for, but that seems to be the theme these days. so, i'll roll with it. cause i guess i don't really have any other choice. i kind of expected that, but at the same time ... san francisco here i come.

sadly funny thought of the day

No matter how many speeches future presidents give, they will never
quote George W. Bush to reinforce a point unless it's about dishonesty
or failure.

quadruple cross posting!

This is unrelated to my work, but I
feel like this video is important for people to see what Iraq is really
like these days. Having now met the Iraqi man behind the diaries that
we have filed for our show, Iraq has a personal face for me. His wife
and children, as well as the rest of his family, are still behind in
Iraq. I struggle every day to come to terms with what has happened
there and in Afghanistan. Some of us are hearing about the troop surge
in Iraq and its effectiveness or ineffectiveness, but this will show
you what it is really like and put a human face on Iraq. Please help
me to spread this information.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/5/12346/33766/512/562900

true story.

the big red button

so. you're sitting around the internet. just like you'd sit around your living room. and you're in need of a little entertainment.

can i recommend to you the big red button?

wordle!

testing testing 1 2 3!

ok scribefire stopped working for a minute
anyway - i think that wordle is a good way to waste a few minutes. i used it to make a graphic of all of my tags on delicious. you can use it to make an image of all the words on your website, or of whatever words you paste into a box.

it didn't work so good in mozilla 3, but i used ie.

100 posts in 100 days

not that i need to be encouraged to post in my blog. i may go missing on the weekends, but i'm here in full force during the week.

i like this lady's blog fer sure: http://tobietal.blogspot.com/

tobi. she's funny. it all started with a post about cowboys and miss kitty. and mustard. ahh kindergarten.

high heeled crocs?

a lot of people share my haterade sip for the croc. they've gone entirely too far now with this ... the high-heeled croc.


what a croc. ha. that joke was as ugly as these shoes.

other haters:
ihatecrocs.com
the case against crocs - newsweek (i think i'll start playing this game with people)

things i'm getting for the house

so, i've visited this website before - fawn & forest

i'm ordering some nifty wall graphics from them, even though everything there is geared toward childrens and people with childrens, i'm a child at heart. so these things are appropriate ... did i mention the hot pink dachsund lamp?







all of these things can go on glass or any flat surface, furniture ... we'll see where i put them!

friday night!

i love fridays. especially first fridays, because that means fm and blacklisted.

in fact - it's the last blacklisted of the summer. not to be missed. there will be lots of dancing and laughter.