Why this weekend completely ruled

You'll never guess where I'm blogging from right now!

First, a little back-story. On Friday Aaron and I were discussing our finances and how there are so many things we want - a house, a baby, vacations, new toys, etc - and how there never seems to be enough money. Also? We decided we need to quit spending mney so we can save up for at least the house and the baby.

Then the buzzer for the front door buzzed. It was our new cell phones, which were free, so hey, we got some new toys, but those will only keep us entertained for so long. Then Aaron decided to go bum around town because he had the day off and wanted to look into a rack for his fishing rods and make a trip to his favorite places - Dick's sporting goods and Best Buy. He came back very excited, because while he was out he discovered something.

You see, we have a desktop computer that is a few years old and which has been having problems lately - mostly my fault for downloading stupid stuff and not paying attention to those alerts that come up about updates, etc. So Aaron decided to look into a new computer, specifically a laptop for me.

When he went to Best Buy on Friday the laptop he had priced out online with some extra options was on sale. For $200 less than what it was for sale for on the website. On Saturday we returned to Best Buy, completely ignoring the conversation from the night before, and bought the computer.

So, I'm blogging from my bed on my new laptop. I don't know why, but we always seem to make purchases in twos.

Also? I got some new shoes this weekend, Aaron got a new shirt, and we made an impromptu trip to Lake Michigan. I guess you could say that this weekend completely kicked ass. Because it totally did.

Hips Don’t Lie Ho-Down

It’s amazing the things Aaron and I can come up with to amuse ourselves sometimes. Case in point? This past weekend we had an impromptu “Hips Don’t Lie” Ho-Down.

See, it all started when we were talking about the discussion that had happened the previous weekend when someone brought up Shakira. All the men and lesbians in the room (there were plenty of both) talked for about twenty minutes about how amazing she was when she was moving her hips. Then the women made fun of it and tried to do the hip movements, but failed miserably. Aaron was laughing about this, and so I told him to try, if he thought it was so easy. But he insisted that he needed to hear the song in order to do the dance. So I thought I’d sing it for him:

“Oh, My hips don’t lie...”

And apparently it sounded a little country, so he doubled over laughing instead of doing the dance. Then we made up a little country western version of the song and had ourselves a “Hips Don’t Lie” Ho-down, which really ended up with us first dancing a bit, but then both lying on the floor doubled over with laughter because neither one of us can honestly do the dance. We told our friends that were visiting later that day about it, but they didn’t think it was nearly as funny as we did. Weirdos.
___________________________________________________

Here’s a sure way to get me to kill you, especially if said with an evil little grin on your face:

Him: Gah. Why isn’t it Friday yet? I really wish it were Friday!

Me: Me too….Hey wait a second, you’re taking tomorrow off, so this is your Friday! Shut Up!

Him: I know, but I feel bad for you, because you have to work tomorrow.

Me: **walks away to avoid killing him**

Easily Entertained

I mentioned a while back that I joined a new gym, and that I was very excited about it. One of the things that I was most excited about was that it had group aerobic classes – something my last gym did not have. Even though I was very excited, it took me a while to get my ass to one of those classes, but last Friday I finally went. It was a class called Step & Sculpt, and I was pumped. I love Step classes, and the teacher for this one was really good – he was funny and kept it interesting and had good music. After the class I felt great. I had one of those aerobic highs, I guess, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face (of course the smile was helped by the fact that Aaron ordered my favorite pizza for dinner, which negates some of the workout, but also is awesome).

Saturday I was a little sore from the class, but still feeling pretty good. Most of the pain was in my calves, but it was manageable.

Then came Sunday, also known as “The Day I Couldn’t Walk Because of the Pain, Oh, My God, the Pain!”. Monday was not much better and I actually skipped my workout that day because it was still painful.

So, why am I telling you all this?

Because I’m going to another Step & Sculpt class tonight. Aaron thinks I’m nuts, but I can’t wait. Hopefully I can move on Friday, when the next class is scheduled.

Maybe I am a little nuts, but I just can't help myself. Of course this obsession will move on in a few weeks and Aaron will be asking me when I'm going to step class again and I'll tell him I'm so over it. Mostly because I'll be excited about something else completely unrelated. Like my new Pink Razr that ships out today.

Being a Perfectionist is Hard Work

Planning a bridal shower and being a perfectionist/Martha-Stewart-wannabe do not mix. Especially when you’re trying not to spend a lot of money on said bridal shower.

Next weekend I am throwing a bridal shower for my friend, K, who I have known since I was two years old. Since I’m always trying to be the “hostess with the most-est” I’ve had about a thousand ideas for what I should do for the shower, including about 6 different menus I’ve planned, 7 or 8 ideas for favors, and two whole days searching for the “perfect” invitations (I gave up and just picked up a bunch of invitations that were not completely horrible at Hallmark and sent those out). It’s been driving me crazy.

But! I’ve finally had to make some decisions (since the shower is less than two weeks away) and get stuff done. Last night I finished up the favors – little decorated hand-made paper envelopes that will be stuffed with two bags of tea. I cut the paper, punched the holes (for ribbon), bought a sticker maker and made 26 heart-shaped stickers (which were hand cut, folded the paper (with my bone-folder, of course), and then assembled the envelopes. Oh, and they say “Love is Brewing” in coordinated ink.

It’s a sickness. Really.

I’m serving three types of tea sandwiches: chicken guacamole on whole wheat, cucumber with chive cream cheese on pumpernickel rye, and prociutto melon on white. I’m also serving fruit salad, mint tea punch, and cup cakes. I was going to make individual rose-shaped tea cakes, but the pan cost about $30, and I figured Aaron would freak if I bought yet another specialty pan.

But the real issue? I just realized last night I have to find table cloths, buy plates and silverware (plasticware, actually, but whatever), get a centerpiece (I’m thinking of making a tea-towel “cake”), and oh, yeah. I should probably get a gift too.

So I’m freaking out.

I don’t know why I do this to myself, but this actually isn’t too bad. You should have seen me before my wedding (which was two days after I finished finals for that semester). I was a wreck. I guess that’s what I get for being so picky and trying to make everything “perfect”.

Open Letter to Some Idiots at the Bar

The creative juices have finally hit me this morning, and it’s almost not morning already. I usually categorize myself as a morning person. Apparently that’s not true today.

Anyway, I give you: Open Letter to Drunk Bachelor and Bachelor-ette:

Dear Drunk Couple Who Are Getting Married This Weekend, But Not To Each Other,

I really hope you had fun Saturday night, because you probably already regretted your antics on Sunday morning. I am not usually this prudish, but your antics Saturday night at the dueling-piano bar were shocking enough to be disturbing to me. Here’s a good rule of thumb for how you should act at your Bachelor/Bachelorette Party (at least according to me, my husband, and our friends who all witnessed your antics and who all agreed that you should be dumped): Don’t do anything at your bachelor/bachelorette party that would cause your respective soon-to-be-spouses to dump your ass on the spot.

Activities that would fall under this category:

1. Doing a “Blow Job” shot from between the Bachelor’s legs by simulating a blow job for a few seconds first.

2. Sitting on the Bachelor’s lap for half the night/Having a strange woman sit on your lap for half the night (while she’s not getting paid to do so).

3. Rubbing your face between the breasts of the Bachelorette. Multiple times.

4. General groping.

5. Putting a leash around the neck of the Bachelor and leading him around all night.

6. Pulling on the leash to bring in the Bachelor in for a kiss. Multiple times.
And this is just what I witnessed you doing. I tried to ignore you and managed to for most of the night. Sheesh, you would think that most so-called “adults” would know that their soon-to-be spouse would look down on this behavior. Apparently you didn’t get that memo. You just better hope that none of the other people who were there for your parties tell on you, even though you deserve it.

Sincerely,

The Appalled Woman at the Next Table (who was unfortunately a witness to the craziness, no matter how hard she tried to ignore you)

I'm too tired for it to be Monday already.

What a great weekend! Friends and fun - what more could I ask for? Oh, that's right. Sleep. I could ask for more sleep. I am tired. And because I am tired many things that may not normally be funny to me are. Like toilet humor. Usually not funny, but today? Hilarious. So I'm wimping out of an actual post today and just giving you a link to Amalah's Club Mom Blog where she has links to some stories about bodily functions. Enjoy!

Apparently it is possible to make a joke out of anything

Last night I was awoken from a deep sleep to Aaron turning on the light, shaking me and telling me that I needed to call an ambulance for him. He was pacing, obviously shaken, and having trouble breathing. Before I called an ambulance I asked what was wrong. His heart was racing, he couldn't breath and he was feeling lightheaded.

He was having a panic attack.

I sat him down and told him to take deep breaths and put his head between his knees. He started to calm down and stopped hyperventilating. (My heart is racing just thinking about this.) He finally realized he was okay - not an easy feat for someone having a panic attack - and I had him lay down and relax. I went and got a movie and put it in the DVD player so that we would stay up and I could make sure he was really alright before we fell back asleep.

Then I said, "Will you be alright for a second? I have to pee."

His reply? "I'm sure you do. Having someone wake you up like that will scare the piss right out of you!"

(He is, thankfully, fine. It was quite the scary situation, but I guess there is something good about being prone to panic attacks: you can diagnose them in others too.)

What'd you say?

Okay, problem from the last post solved - since my friend is going back to our hometown, she's just taking my sister with her and my mom can do whatever she wants without having to worry about it. Thank goodness!Anyway, since that post was boring, and now solved, I thought I'd share a funny anecdote from last night.

Aaron and I both seem to have the problem that many married couples do - we sometimes aren't listening to each other. Case in point from last night:

Him: What are we having for dinner?

Me: Pasta and salad.

Him: Is there any sauce on he pasta?

Me: Yes. It's tortellini with spinach and walnut pesto. I think I'm throwing in some grape tomatoes too.

Him: That sounds good.

So, I make the pasta, call him to eat and we enjoy the meal while watching "Grandma's Boy" (which I totally recommend - very funny). After the movie he's starting to clean up in the kitchen and gets a concerned look on his face.

Him: How much basil did you have to use to make this? The plants must be bare.

Me: Um, none.

Him: None? Oh! It's spinach?

Me: Yes. It's called spinach/walnut pesto That's why I asked you if you thought that was about five ounces of spinach.

Him: There's walnuts in it too?

Me: (big sigh) Yes. That's why I call it spinach and walnut pesto. Because it has both spinach and walnuts in it.

Him: Oh. Well, it's a good use of spinach.

Me: Yes (while leaving the room because I can't take it any more)

I know he's not the only one who doesn't fully listen, because I've caught myself doing the same from time to time.

But seriously? It didn't even taste like basil. I think he just heard pesto, and left it at that.

The Dilemma for this Week

It’s only Thursday, and already I’m stressing out about the weekend. You see, I’ve overbooked our apartment for Saturday night and I don’t know what to do. So, I thought I’d air out my problem online and see what kinds of solutions are suggested.

My friend (who’s getting married in August) is back in the area until after her wedding. She just recently moved back from California and will be moving to the DC area in September. So, of course, I want to see her and her fiancée as much as possible before they leave. They are going to another nearby town on Friday and then decided to come see us on Saturday and spend the night Saturday night. So, the guest room is full.

However, here’s the problem. My mom had already spoken for the guest room, as she was also going to the nearby town, but on Saturday and was going to spend the night Saturday night because she’s meeting my sister in town on Sunday. Our apartment has enough room to fit everyone if that’s exactly how the situation was going down. But, my mom threw in the curveball of my dad yesterday – he’s going to be coming down with her. So that means that someone (probably Aaron or I) would have to sleep on the couch and someone (again probably Aaron or I) would have to sleep on the floor.

Why, oh, why didn’t I just buy a pull-out sofa? I don’t know. Probably because I was broke at the time and this version was cheaper.

Anyway, my mom has now said that if my friend and her fiancée stay on Saturday that she’ll just skip the Saturday activities altogether (a big art fair that she’s dying to go to) and just come down our way on Sunday to pick up my sister. And I feel incredibly guilty.

So here’s what we’re thinking – give my friend and her fiancée the guest room, give my parents our bed, and I’ll sleep on the couch and Aaron will sleep on the floor. We also have an air mattress if we really need extra room. But, my mom probably will not agree to this. This is also the only weekend this month that my friend can come down, and she needs help with wedding stuff and is majorly stressing out about wedding stuff, so I want to be there for her.

Why does just trying to have fun and hang out with the people we care about have to be so much stress?

My Own Personal Mario-Kart Morning

This morning was quite an adventure. Driving to work made me feel like I was in some kind of video game, with obstacles such as malfunctioning railroad crossings, distractions off to the side, kamikaze drivers and police cars. It was nuts!

The drive started out normal enough, until I got to a part of the drive that used to be forested on one side. Apparently they decided to cut down about three acres worth of trees between yesterday morning and today. That was quite a surprise, and so shocking that I almost missed seeing a car pulling out in front of me. I was deep in thought about how upset I would be if I were one of the people that had lived across the street from this now-empty area. Here they had a house with a nice view of a pretty forest, and now? Nothing. Just an empty field and some dump trucks full of cut trees.

As I was thinking this thought I was approaching the lone railroad crossing on my drive. I have seen a train here once before and then it was far down the tracks and the gates had not yet come down. Of course, today when I’m running a little late is the perfect day to get stopped by the train. Of course! While the (six-car-long) train passed the gates were opening about halfway and then slamming back down. They did this about three or four times, and then stayed closed after the train passed. Finally about a minute (and twelve confused drivers) later they opened, but just long enough for a car or two to go through before they came slamming back down. This happened twice more before I gunned it to make it through the intersection without denting my car. Once I was safely across the tracks the gates went up and stayed up. See what I mean about the video game? Once I made it safely through the stage the threats were no longer operating. At least until this point.

Since we had been stopped for a little bit, there were about seven cars behind me, when usually at this time of morning the road is fairly deserted. Well, the seventh car (a PT Cruiser, which is kind of shaped like the turtle shells in Mario games, therefore spawning the Mario-Kart reference in the title) decided that the six in front were going to slow. The road is pretty hilly and almost entirely a no-passing zone. This did not stop the seventh car, who went flying past the six of us like we were standing still, getting to the front at the top of a hill. Talk about taking a chance. A car passed right when she finally got over. I would have wet myself I had been in that car. She proceeded to go a good twenty miles an hour over the speed limit, barely pausing at the stop sign before proceeding to the next section of road. This next section is where a cop sits about every other morning lately. As I stopped at the stop sign (because I know the cop is going to be there) she flew on down the road and then stomped on her brakes right where the police car was sitting.

And nothing happened. She didn’t get pulled over, despite speeding and running a stop sign. If only I could be that lucky when I was doing something so stupid. Had it been me, I’m sure I would have been pulled over in a heartbeat. I’m just that kind of lucky.

After that the drive got fairly routine, but I laughed at the absurdity of the morning drive the rest of the way to work.

All this of course would happen the one morning in the past month that I was exhausted from a sleepless night (because of a ridiculous, yet frightening dream about a rainbow-colored duck pecking it’s way through the door to get me), and therefore not the most aware I’ve ever been. At least the start to my day wasn’t dull, I guess. Here’s hoping the rest is just as entertaining, but with less stupid drivers on the road. I really hate stupid drivers, and the world seems to be full of them.

How Boring Can One Person Be?

Pretty damn boring apparently. I’m having a major case of writer’s block today, and I can’t think of a single interesting thing to tell you, other than one thing that no one wants to hear about (I promise – it’s way TMI) and one thing I can’t blog about (work). This sucks! So here’s something boring that is just filling up space today until (if) I come up with something better:

My day yesterday was very relaxing. I finished my book that I was working on, planned meals for the week, went grocery shopping, fixed dinner, and, um, yeah. That was about it. We did watch two episodes of Hell’s Kitchen while waiting for some major storms to come through the area. I’m still totally addicted to that show, and I don’t know why, but I just can’t get enough.

In yesterday’s post I mentioned that I’ve been reading a lot lately, like really a lot, and someone asked if I’ve read anything good. The answer is: Why yes, in fact, I have. The book I finished yesterday was Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson. It’s her second book, and the second one I’ve fallen in love with and didn’t want to end. Although I have to say that I hated her for about 5 pages or so, but she resolved that and I was happy again. Thank goodness!

I’ve also read all three of Emily Giffin’s books: Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof. I finished Something Blue in one evening. They’re quick reads, but I enjoyed all three. Hmmm…what else…Oh, the first two books in the Shopaholic series, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, and now I’m reading both Angels & Demons by Dan Brown and The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler. I’m reading both at once because I have the illustrated version of Angels and Demons, which is huge and hard to carry around with me.

That reminds me! My to-read list is getting kind of short. Does anyone have any good recommendations? I would love it if you would leave them in the comments! Please? I’ll beg if I have to. Seriously! What do you recommend?

Catching Up

We made it back home safely from the weekend o' craziness and partying. I'm taking today off to recover because I just can't deal with reality yet. We had a great time and I got to see a lot of family members I haven't seen in years, including one cousing I haven't seen since he was about 2 (he's now 8). It really was nice to see everyone, but I just can't do the constant running around and never being home. I just feel I'm behind on my life, which gives me a major case of the blues, although I'm sure being home alone after being surrounded by a huge group of people I love helps with the blues too.

In other news I'm just about to finish my third book in less than a week. I love reading and haven't done much reading for fun in the past few years (mostly due to grad school, I'm sure) and am very happy to get the chance to basically inhale books two at a time. It's helping relieve my bad mood, so I'm going to get back to it.

Again with the going away

We're headed out of town for the weekend - going about four hours southeast to my aunt's 50th birthday party. Sounds like a blast, doesn't it?

Actually it probably will be. My aunts and uncles? Know how to party. And this is a 3-day long one. I just hope that I'm able to function come Monday.

The first time we had one of these big 50th birthday bashes for one of my mom's siblings (she has 7) was when I was 17. We all met in Chicago for a weekend, and I didn't quite know what I was in for. The first whole day was spent at a bar, followed by a dinner with bottles of wine. The second day was more of the same followed by a dinner at a "cheap" Mexican restaurant in Boys Town. Our bill was over $500 (which, I admit, for 18 people is not bad) but way more than half of that was booze. My aunts kept pushing shots of tequila my way, but I kept pushing them back: I was 17! I came from a small sheltered town! My mom was there! I never drank (well, okay, there was that once, but still)!

I managed to get away without having to imbibe anything alcoholic, but what I did not miss out on was the major food fight that my aunts and uncles were having. Tortillas were flying, my grandpa was shooting ice from between his fingers with surprising accuracy, and various people were having rice stuck in their hair and down the backs of their shirts. The waitstaff didn't notice or didn't want to deal with what was going on, so they kept brining us more ammo in the form of pitchers of ice and packets of tortillas. I feel bad for the people sitting around us, because I know that there was at least one guy at the table behind us that got beaned in the head with a tortilla or other foodstuffs at least twice.

But more than anything? It was fun. And I still remember it all like it was yesterday. This weekend will probably be more fun than the last for me, because I'm now old enough to participate in the debauchery instead of watching from the sidelines (not so sheltered anymore, ma!). We're leaving in just an hour or two and I have a lot of packing to do, but I am having trouble not just stuffing things in a suitcase and getting the heck on my way. Wish me luck!

I Don't Want To Decide

I don’t like making decisions. Little ones, big ones, it doesn’t matter. I’d rather just follow along and have someone else make decisions for me. I stress out about them all the time; what to have for dinner, what to wear today, even what lipstick to choose. Throw Aaron in the mix, and our least favorite decision-making time is where to go out to dinner. We’ll hem and haw and try to get the other person to make the decision so that we just don’t have to do it. I guess you could say that neither one of us likes to make decisions. We’re just not good at it.

Lately we have to make some big decisions: do we want to stay at our current jobs; do we want to find new jobs; do we want to find new jobs where we live now, or somewhere else; do we want to buy a house; where do we want to buy a house; how much should we save each month; should we buy my car when its lease is up or buy a different car; and finally, the big one: should we have a baby right now, and if not, when? That’s the hardest one of all. We both want a baby, but we’re not sure if the timing is right. Then again, will there ever be a moment when the timing will be right? Will we ever think we have enough money to have a child, which is the biggest “if” right now? It’s just stressful, and neither one of us wants to decide.

I think we just both want someone to tell us that now is the time, so that we don’t have to worry about it, and go back and forth about the pros and cons. I think it just needs to happen without us thinking about it. We’d both be thrilled, albeit still worrying about the finances and all, but then we wouldn’t have to worry about when anymore. And “when” is the question that’s making us the battiest right now.

We were planning on stopping birth control this month, but now we’ve decided to wait just one more month. My friend is getting married next month and I’m the maid of honor, so we figured it would be best not to have to worry about it for one more month, which is fine until the next time it’s time to refill the prescription. Then the stress and worry will start all over again, and then if we put it off one more month, then the cycle continues. I just want to quit worrying about it, which I know will never happen. Once I stop worrying about when, then it will be worry about the baby until the birth, and then there’s the whole thing with worrying about your child…

ARGH! I guess I just need to learn to quit worrying, although, that’s much easier said than done. The worst thing about all this is I have a serious case of baby-brain; I can’t think of anything else, and believe me I’ve tried. I’m already on my third book this week. I guess I really don’t like to make decisions because I worry that I’ve made or will have made the wrong one.

Why do decisions have to be so hard?

Basil: Good; Cherry Pie: Good, Tomatoes: ???

So a while ago I wrote about my new plants: four tomato plants, four basil plants, and how ridiculously excited I was about them. Well, since that time, they've grown leaps and bounds. For example, if you look at the size of the basil plants in the last post, you'll see that they were probably only six inches tall. Here they are now:

And! That was after I had pruned off a bunch of leaves with which to make a yummy basil walnut spread (mmmm!). The basil is growing by leaps and bounds, is delicious, and brings me much joy (unlike the parsley plant you see in the corner of this picture which is dying a slow, painful death, but that's another story).

Another thing that brings me much joy, is the cherry pie I made the other day. Here's a picture of that, because I'll pretty much take a picture of anything, and this is a pie, one that actually turned out despite my inept-ness at making pie crusts:

No, the bottom crust is not the prettiest I've ever seen, but I made it myself and it tastes good, so that's what really matters, right? The top is a yummy sugary crumble crust and there are gooey delicious cherries inside. Also pictured, my new ceramic pie plate that I love, but you can't really see too much of that. Unfortunately the pie is no longer as pretty and is more than half gone. The last time I looked at it before tonight (2 days ago) there was one tiny piece that I had eaten missing. Well, I am reassured that Aaron really likes it because when I uncovered it tonight I was shocked by how much he had eaten since then. Not that it's a bad thing, just that I love when he loves my food, and he really loves this pie.

Anyway, on to the tomato plants. Here they are:

Beautiful, no? They're even bigger than that now, and this picture was just taken two days ago. Unfortunately if you look closely you should notice something important missing. Yeah, it's not flowering at all. You know, not producing anything that will lead to fruit, a.k.a. the plant's sole purpose in life. I'm pretty bummed that it's not doing anything but gaining height when everyone else that I know who has tomatoes planted already have little green fruit dangling from their branches.

So, how do I fix this, or is there anything I can do to fix this? I wanted to stay organic and not use fertilizer or bug spray. There doesn't seem to be any bug problem - the leaves are thick and full without any telltale holes. It gets plenty of sun and water, just like the basil plant. It just won't bloom. What am I doing wrong? If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments. I just can't figure it out - why would such a big, beautiful tomato plant not produce anything resembling fruit? Help!

A Suprise and a Good Time

Well, today’s post was supposed to be about my beautiful, bounteous tomato plants that aren’t producing the bounty they look like they should be (and I’m a little worried that they aren’t going to produce anything at all), but instead it’s about a concert I went to last night.

My friend called me right as I was leaving work yesterday to tell me she had free tickets (along with free VIP-section tickets and free drink tickets) to the Steve Miller Band concert in town last night. Not one to pass up a good time, I agreed to go, and we had an absolute blast. I have to say that the VIP section is the way to go, because we got there late and still managed to get great seats. The music was great; Steve Miller and his guys put on a great show; but the people watching? Was better than the music.

First there was the woman who was way too old to be wearing something that my 19-year-old sister would no longer wear. She also had a rhinestone heart with the word “love” in script hanging from her belt, purple-ish hair, and a smoker’s voice, which she was using to shout at her friend “Bah-bay!” (I think that's her form of "Bobby") from the deck where we were sitting. It’s impossible to convey in words what this sounded like, but it was hilarious. It was all these prim and proper people with their kids eating dinner, and this one woman sporadically and hoarsely calling out “Bah-bay” to her friend who was in a boat about 50 feet off the deck. From her repeated failed attempts to get his attention, I’m guessing he didn’t want to talk to her, because she was yelling for a while before he responded, and there was no way he couldn’t have heard her yelling. Seriously.

Then there was bikini lady, who should not have been wearing a bikini. Now, before you think I’m mean in judging this woman’s body, I will preface this by saying that I have, what I consider to be, a better body than she did, and I don’t wear bikinis. Tankinis, maybe, but I definitely am too shy to wear a bikini. Anyway, she paired her barely-there bikini top with too-tight shorts, producing an impressive muffin top. Oh, and she was loaded, so she was swaying and dancing and falling into people all night long. It was also only about 65 degrees out when we left, and we weren’t on a beach, just along a polluted river that no one swims in, so there was really no reason to be wearing a bikini. Just sayin’.

And finally (because if I describe everyone that amused me throughout the night, this would be an incredibly long post) there was not just one, but two over-enthusiastic dancers standing in front of me. Both were pretty wasted (one definitely drunk, and the other I think was very high) and both put on quite the show.

The first lady (the high one) did an impressive rendition of a one-woman hoe-down during “Dance, dance, dance” She was having a knee-slapping good time, interspersed with her reaching up as high as she could to make the “rock” symbol with her hand. There was a very prim and proper middle-aged woman sitting next to where this woman was dancing, and I thought she was going to die from shock, watching this woman dance. It was definitely a spectacle.

The second over-enthusiastic dancer was with three other very drunk women, but she was by far the drunkest of the bunch. She was grinding away to the music, rubbing her chest, and periodically falling over. I think she may have been an un-talented stripper in a past life, because, although she had some decidedly stripper-ish moves, she wasn’t impressing anyone. She was, however, grabbing the attention of those around her. It was quite the show.

All in all we had a great time, and I was glad my friend called me to go to the concert with her. We always manage to have a great time at concerts, be it Steve Miller Band, the *ahem* Bryan Adams/Def Leppard Concert of last year, or even an 80s hair-metal cover band that had me sing the refrain to “Talk Dirty to Me”. Yeah, there’s definitely more to some of these concerts than I should admit.

Back to Everyday Life

Well, we’re back. Actually we’ve been back since Thursday evening, but I was still in vacation mode, so the only thing I did was upload all our pictures (or at least all of them but the unflattering ones of me) to Flickr. (I tried to post some pictures here today, but that's not working for some reason, so you'll have to go there or follow the links to them I have pasted throughout. Sorry!) I am pretty sad that I had to get out of vacation mode to come to work today. It was definitely the last thing I wanted to do, but oh, well. I’ve got to make the money to go on vacation somehow, right?

We went up to the Traverse City area for Tuesday through Thursday, and did much less than we thought we would. We actually stayed in Suttons Bay, a little town about 11 miles north of Traverse City. We passed the time walking on the beach, cuddling in the hammock at the bed and breakfast where we stayed, and doing a little shopping and wine tasting on the side. We didn’t even get to the National Cherry Festival, which was one of the reasons we had headed up that way, but it was crowded and decidedly non-relaxing, so we avoided it like the plague. Except the cherries part. They were everywhere and so incredibly beautiful on the trees. We, of course, bought a few quarts of them and have a delicious pie at home right now.

The bed and breakfast where we stayed was lovely. The people were lovely, the breakfasts were delicious, and the bed was so comfortable I could have stayed there the entire time. Unfortunately the weather was too beautiful to stay inside, so we spent most of our time outside enjoying it. 73 and sunny the entire time. It was just wonderful.

On Thursday we meandered back by way of the west side of the state. We spent a good portion of time on the Sleeping Bear Dunes, climbing them and consequently wearing ourselves out. From where we started climbing it takes two hours to get to Lake Michigan. We only went in a little less than halfway before deciding that it was time to head back (especially before I got a sunburn because guess who forgot to bring sunscreen with them. Oh, yeah, that would be us), but the view from where we stopped was amazing. In fact the views all around the dunes were amazing. And of course we still have sand everywhere.

We didn’t do much the rest of the week, but that’s the way we wanted it. We did help Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest with its record first-day gross. But that’s about it.

Now back to the grind, and tomorrow: What’s wrong with my beautiful tomato plants and why won’t they bloom?

Too Much

I am sad the weekend is over, because it was such a great one, but I’m getting over my sadness due to the fact that today is my “Friday” and I have a six-day weekend starting at quitting time today. Woohoo!

However, being at work today is not all I hoped it would be. There are only five of us in today and it’s pretty silent. I thought this would be a good thing, but it turns out I’m bored and the people I usually go talk to when I’m bored are not here today. Oh, well. I just keep reminding myself: six day weekend. It helps.

One of the best parts about this weekend was all the delicious food I ate. There was spaghetti with garlic bread, Caesar salad, ice cream, grilled cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, fried eggs and hash browns, more ice cream (this time in the form of a raspberry cheesecake flurry – it may be the perfect food), and thai chicken salad (i.e. salad with chicken and peanut dressing). I was really hoping to be good today because the scale is reflecting all the fun I’m having with food, and because I’m sure it will continue on vacation. But, no such luck. Because there are so few people here today we’re getting cookies from the gourmet cookie store across the street, and who am I to turn down a free cookie? Especially a warm, chewy snickerdoodle. Mmmm…snickerdoodle.

Oh, well, after this week there won’t be any big eating events for a while, right? Wrong. Next weekend is my aunt’s big weekend-long 50th birthday party, and she always makes sure there is tons of incredible food all the time when she has a party (especially if it’s a 3-day party).

I guess I’ll be back on the healthy-eating wagon in a couple of weeks. It just doesn’t help that 1) I completely love food, pretty much all kinds, 2) I keep having the opportunity to have lots of good food, and 3) Who am I to turn down good food?

(Just a note – I’ll be gone for the next few days. Hope everyone has a great 4th!)