cornnuts!*$%#^

new lunchtime poll-

would you rather see me

a: get up early, get dressed and head in to work for a productive day after a 6 day christmas vacation and an upcoming 3 day one?

or

b: get up early, write an email that ive come down with some sort of stomach flu and go catch a matinee?

dear billy

thanks for being born.
last night was a bucket of fun.

its just not christmas without 96 hours of tv

its bizarre to me that the holiday season is pretty much over. it kind of came and went without much ado.
my parents came in on wednesday. jason left on thursday.
since then we went to see a christmas carol, had some people over for christmas eve and more over for christmas dinner. all the in between times have been spent watching tv. one movie ends and somehow we find another one... even if we already watched it two days prior. we have also spent a lot of time napping.
i have to wait to open the rest of my gifts. jason gets back tomorrow and we decided to celebrate christmas then. so gift wise the season was pretty light. i did manage to score myself a gravy boat and two almost-matching plates because my mom thought our guests would need them on christmas day. im returning them. im just not quite the gravy boat type, despite what people might be saying behind my back.
im bored. i could go on and on and on because at this point there isnt anything to do in the house. but im also bored writing this. i just keep going because i like to type. it makes me feel smart.
merry christmas yall.

i cant sleep............

im staying up to see if i can catch santa.

enjoy

http://www.elfyourself.com

THIS is why i dont like windy fall nights

photos from storm watch '06

i rest my case.

+/-

+ i love being at the bottom of a pile of fresh-from-the-dryer laundry
- i hate seeing the bottoms of peoples shoes (generally on tv)
+ i love sam on top chef
- i hate marcel
+ i love post work naps
- i hate changing purses on a daily basis
+ i love celebrity gossip sites
- i hate not having something to blog about daily
+ i love eggs benedict
- i hate bad bites of meat
+ i love post work naps
- i hate sunday nights
+ i love holidays
- i hate birthday pity parties
+ i love fresh snow
- i hate windy fall nights (they scare me)
+i love this picture:

me=lucky

i met a new baby today...
neener neener neener

im just sayin, IT'S c-u-t-e.

finally

puerto rico pics...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hebro24/sets/72157594395229280/detail/

26.2 is my bitch

and i am a marathon finisher.
i could not be more proud, either.

lets recap shall we?

i followed the weather reports all week long. 60% chance of rain showers-hmmm. 30% chance- yes! and then saturday, 100% chance of rain and snow showers.

sweet...

it was raining when i got up this morning and i was not looking forward to the run. i had originally started learning to run in the rain (in january- can you believe i have come so far), but hadnt run any of my marathon training runs in it... oh well, nothing i could do.

we met at the seattle center as a group and found out irene's husband had been given a no-go by his doctor because of some chest pains. lisas running buddy never showed up. but everything else seemed to be in order.

we were pumped at the starting line, wishing everyone good luck and trying to keep somewhat warm. and it was really fun to run through downtown in the middle of the street. the rain kept up until mile 9 or so, and then tapered off. the sun almost came out. leigh and i made it across 90 and headed toward seward park making decent time. as we came to mile 13 i overcame the wall that was holding me back and then we saw irene. she was shuffling and her running partners had left her. with a half of a marathon left to finish we werent going to leave her behind by herself. from about mile 13 to mile 21 we stayed with her, walked when she needed to walk and pulled her along when she started to struggle. mile 21 we left her (her husband was meeting her at mile 24 to run with her to the end) leigh and i picked up our pace a little more- back to normal- and headed towards the finish.

then the rain started (again).
and then started to come down a little harder.
then it started to get a little colder.
then it started to hail.
then it started to snow.

there could not have been worse conditions for the race.

but we did it anyway. we rounded the corner at the finish to jason holding up a sign that said "go mandy" on one side and "your mom" on the other.

perfect.

bill was there snapping pictures and pregnant, due that day beth was pumping her fists in the air. they ran along the side as leigh and i crossed the finish line. i bawled. i kept telling them i appreciated them being there, but they will never know how much (thank you guys. it fills me up to think about your support).

so as of 3pm today, i am a marathon finisher.

on a low note i left my race belt (which is actually beths race belt) in the recovery area along with my cell, id and debit card. so instead of sleeping all day tomorrow, i may be galavanting around the city trying to replace said items.

at least ill be galavanting around as a marathon finisher.

i keep saying no more, but at this point i know my time could be better, and the weather cant be any worse can it? we'll see.

(*to jason, bill & beth it honestly meant the world to me. thank you...)

nervous

all my stuff is together and i have pinned my number to my shirt...
this weekend seemed like forever long and now its here.
26.2 tomorrow...

qfc owes me $10

the pie was a disaster. it never solidified. i would say we threw it away, but "pour" seems to be a more appropriate word.

i wasnt letting that stop me though. chocolate dream pie has made my thanksgiving for as long as i can remember. so i hopped in the car and went back to qfc. i called my mom on the way. she was making her pie that morning so i was curious if she had similar problems. i talked to her as i parked the car, as i grabbed my basket and as i found the graham craker pie crusts again. but wait... what is that? could it be... chocolate pudding- INSTANT.

and this is where i begin my rant about qfc's holiday displays. i was already bitter about the forementioned displays when i tried to find a baster two days prior. all the shelves were empty. 15 minutes later, i happened to round a corner nowhere NEAR the baster aisle to find a big display of them- obviously set out for the holiday. we had a similar problem with the large roasting pans... they werent by the roasting pans... no way. instead they were cleverly located inthe frozen pizza aisle- and no, the turkeys were nowhere near by.

so here i am, near the pasta section, grabbing a pie crust, and holding on to two boxes of chocolate instant pudding. i walked back to the baking aisle where i FOOLISHY picked up my pudding boxes. then i see them- COOK & SERVE pudding. but no instant.... all the instant was back by the pasta and pie crusts...

ok, now i know im to blame for not reading the pakages, but i also think qfc needs to own up to their end for their poorly placed products... if the store REALLY wanted to be helpful, they would put all the thanksgiving makin's in ONE area.

at any rate, i got back home with the correct fixin's and made us some delicious pie...

bill and beth came over sans jerry and lynda (sicky mcsickersons). they made some delish brussel sprouts, stuffing (in cute muffin pans- thanks rachel ray), fancy rolls and fresh cranberry sauce. we ate, we drank, we played scene it... ok, well bill played scene it while we all hoped and prayed that he would miss one... (thanks guys, yesterday was way past due)

hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving.

gobble gobble

its thanksgiving eve.

this is the first thanksgiving that i wont be with my parents. WE are cooking instead. bill and beth are heading over, along with beths parents.
tonight we are trying to get some of the side dishes taken care of and ive already fucked it up.

if you dont already know about my stellar cooking skills, ill tell you. in college my job at our mock thanksgivings (a topic which we can discuss later) was always the no bake cheesecake. every year something went wrong. i added too much milk, or i dropped the bowl into the crust and made no bake cheesecake scramble. ive recently had very "i love lucy" moments with pecan pie, fudge, and eggs benedict- though it seems i have moved away from the no bake fiascos.

until today.

my mom always makes a chocolate cream pie. the recipe is basically pudding packets, dream whip packets and milk. no baking. just mixing.
it is supposed to look like this:


mmm. tasty.

mine does not look like that. it looks a little more like pudding in a crust- a little less like pie. ill take a photo tomorrow. im sure it will still taste the same. my mom giggled and assured me it "should" thicken. i called her a bitch and told her to stop laughing at me.

happy holidays.

alright alright. im back ok?

so in case you dont know how hard it is to get back into the swing of things after a long tropical vacation, i will tell you.

its hard. very hard.

things i cant seem to do right now:
work
clean up after myself
drink anything non-alcoholic
run
brush my teeth (oh dont act like YOU do this on vacation)
write a blog

its rainy here, and i swear it gets darker earlier. plus there is no ocean nearby, nor is there a bacardi distillery 5 miles away.

here are a few pics. there are better ones on our camera, but you can add uploading photos to the list of impossible tasks.

we were going for the "senior picture with a twist" moment here. the twist being the giant leaves.


the rainforest

youre cool. dont change. k.i.t.

our plan is to post the rest of the pics on flickr soon (again, something to add to the list) but i need to ensure that any swimsuit-esque photos properly show my already existing six pack......

puerto rico here i come!

leave me be. im on vacation, bitches!

friday cock-tail hour

we opted for the stripper to send off my boss (see earlier post).
we arranged a private room in a restaurant we frequent.
we gave him a waiters uniform.
he brought in water. spilled it on himself. then took off his clothes.
but not his socks.
see?

it was hilarious/akward/insane for everyone involved.
except "baby boi"- he seemed to enjoy it.
look at those moves.

i gather no moss.

i categorize myself as a spontaneous person.

i am not a fan of plans and will try to get out of them as much as possible, regardless of how much i want to do whatever the planner has in mind. its just that sense of obligation that i dread.

there are exceptions to this rule however. vacations. lots of money (without the work requirement), plans that involve ice cream, etc.
concerts, however, do not fall into the exceptions category.

allow me to travel along the tangent superhighway for a moment. i enjoy shows. they are fun when its a good band and/or a lot of dancing is involved. however, since my move here, they have lost their luster. nights out rarely involve the dive bar down the street and a few bang up games of pool and shuffleboard. instead they involve going to a show- which is normally loud, crowded, overpriced and filled with people standing in a crowd staring at a stage. its like getting that really good cookie (a tim tam for instance- see previous post) every day. over and over and over. the magic is lost, but my ears are still ringing.
and now we return to regular scheduled programming.

sunday night i was relieved when a friend wanted to bail on a show she had bought tickets to (i am from ohio. i can end my sentences in to's and for's anytime i want!). one of these tickets was a birthday present to me (read- plan was made way back in july).
last night i was looking forward to an equally quiet night in. maybe some dancing with the stars, peppered with a little law and order svu. you could even venture to say i was PLANNING on it. that was until jason called with two free tickets to the rolling stones.
i have never seen the rolling stones in concert. sure, ive seen the videos. i took history of rock and roll course as an elective. but never live. i hesitated to say yes. i had stayed home that day and didnt want to be seen at a show that night, but i agreed to it in the end. i mean, fuck. its the stones.

spontaneous!

i was even more excited when i found out dave matthews was opening for them.

another tangent takes us back in time to the days where mandy wore hippie dresses and listened to a lot of phish, just like everyone else who was sticking it to the man by being "different."
fast forward to the present.

i love dmb. the old stuff. some of the new stuff too, but the acoustic guitar resonates with me. it reminds me of that time where all the friends, who are lost to me now, were part of my daily routines. they were the people i borrowed clothes from and had the rooms i would escape to every night (not like THAT!) we also went to the dave matthews concerts (2 in a row) every june.

last night, though, the show was different. it was a stadium for starters. ive only seen dave in amphitheaters, barefoot and in the grass. we were late secondly, and only saw about 3 songs. but the feeling there was different. granted, people were there to see the stones first and foremost, so the cheering for dmb songs wasnt too loud. but it was just different. i turned to jason after the set ended (no encore which is absurd) and told him this might be a really sad show- a failing dave matthews crowd and the stones, who seem too old to be rock stars like they used to be.

we saw them pull into the stadium in their black busses. they came out onto the stage after two bouts of fireworks and they put me in my place. they were old, yes. and very wrinkly. but they put on a great show. i dont have anything to compare it to, because ive never seen a show with a large production, but it truly blew me away. the stage moved, mick jagger ran around like a crazy gyrating man, and they were great. hunched over? gray? sure. but great nonetheless.

im pretty sure i wont see dmb or the stones again. its bittersweet. i thought i wouldnt see the stones ever, so that was a nice surprise. i was 90% certain i wouldnt see dmb again, and i was 100% that i wouldnt see them with jason of all people (he hates dmb). so that worked out nicely as well. just seems like the closure for me of an era that ended a long time ago.
(by the way, i still have and love my hippie dress and a few choice phish songs- scoff all you like)

tim tam slam

best.
dessert.
ever.


thanks beth!

avian flu reaches the vatican!

i read today that they think the pope has contracted the avian flu.


they think he got it from one of the cardinals.

lost meanderings...

lost is on.
drool.

ok its a commercial.

we had lunch today to celebrate a coworkers 40th birthday. i tried duck. it was good... i have this thing with meat. no bad bites. one bad bite- ok, ill try again. two bad bites and i write off the restaurant for good. today? no bad bites- one borderline, but it ended up being ok.

ANYWAY. at lunch we started throwing around the idea of hiring a male stripper as a last hurrah for a parting coworker. dont get me wrong. we dont have hurrahs like that at work, EVER. but this time it seems different. 1. we dont care anymore. the people in charge treat us like we are morons so we might as well act the part. 2. the parting employee is gay, and apparently by law at work you can do or say anything if you are gay. its a perk since marriage isnt allowed. and 3. hes technically in a "boss" position, so

commercial is over...

commercial is back...

where was i? oh yeah, so hes in a "boss" postition so why would he get us in trouble? hr would be the problem, but i put her in the "people that treat us like morons" group, and so i dont really give a flying f*ck if she cares.

the REAL question is whether we host the event at the office itself or at a restaurant with paying customers (read more tips)...

ok, tv is taking over my life... and this posting.

things that happened this weekend...

-->i ran 10 miles
-->beth got certified to be a mo-fessional
-->jason kayaked to the locks
-->we made shiskabobs
-->the buckeyes won
-->the mariners won (we had AMAZING seats)
-->the seahawks lost
-->jason finised the ncaa football 07 season without securing the achievement
-->alisa did NOT go into labor
-->my mom bought a new camera
-->we killed zombies
-->i wrote this blog

.,?!-;:'"

i am making an effort to better my posture.
and to floss more.
and to dress more appropriately for work.
i am trying to wear my hair down more.
and pick my battles.
i would like to eat more fish. possibly even raw.
i am trying to put my shoes away when i get home.
and purses too.
i am planning to wash my car. and keep it clean.
i want to sign up for yoga.
and get a new job.
or be a stay at home girlfriend.
theres a toystore i want to own.
and a clothing line i hope to develop.
all while selling graeters ice cream.
i am happy using punctuation where it is not needed. especially periods.
i want to change my nose ring to an actual ring instead of a stud.
i pretend i have already done that with my hoop earrings.
sometimes i wish my tongue was still pierced. it made me edgy.
i want to get a puppy.
or a boat.
i need to stop cursing so much.
and learn to cook.
i would like to go on and on here. but i have to work now.
.

toot toot

thats the sound of my own horn.

look where i ran this weekend.

wanna be amazed in detail?
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=456229

dear bad dancer in front of me...

you do not look good. pursing your lips together and throwing the peace sign up does not make you hotter. the drink you slurped down is not helping. and now you are sweaty. the heckling you think you are doing isn't funny- and i like hecklers. it is especially pathetic that you need to turn around to your equally bad dancing, lame drunk friends for confirmation that your funny (lame) joke was great (horrible).
dear bad dancing girl who pushed your way into the small crevise you called a dance floor in front of me...
look to your right. meet bad dancing boy.

15 items or less is still MY winner

last night i got the urge to make a chicken pot pie. well, it was the night before actually, and last night was the night to implement my plan.

*taps fingertips together*

i ran into billy at the grocery store while shopping for supplies. we played dad-to-be and the other woman when we went to the counter to pick up beths pre-natal vitamins. it felt dirty. then we played pmsy bitch and in-touch with his feminine side lover as we taked about periods in the tampon aisle. it was hot.

then came check-out time. dun dun duuuuun. i personally do not like the self check out aisle. i think it takes more time and is simply there so people can feel like they are accomplishing something instead of standing in line. i practice patience. its a virtue. and i am virtuous. but billy was into it.

..and the racers are:
-billy in the self check-out aisle
-mandy in the 15 items or less aisle (with 2 people in front of her)

green flag.

c'mon guy, who pays cash? swipe the credit. oh, lady can't you scan those items faster? ooh, billy looks like he has to "show id to the cashier." that'll buy me some time... cmon... CMON! do you really have to look up the price of onions?! yes ill sign. give me my receipt. GIVE IT TO ME!

checkered flag.

billy by a nose.

damn.

...

we were the host house for a party yesterday.
the hostess has a drinking problem. and an ex boyfriend problem. and, well, a whole slew of problems.
so it made sense when she promised not to get wasted and cry in the corner that night.
2 bottles of wine and 3 shots of whiskey later, she didn't really hold true to that promise.
i mean, i guess its hard to abstain when everyone around you is drinking, but i would imagine you would want to say no to another glass of wine when you have fallen in the restroom and torn your purse handle apart to show the shoddy craftsmanship of your $300 bag.

>>>sigh<<<

unicorn power

im a procrastinator. i dont like to do all the work im supposed to do during the allotted time i am supposed to be doing it (this doesnt mean i dont make my deadlines, just that 9 to 5 doesnt work for me).

i digress. (also a favorite word, or term as the case may be)

so today, as im trying to not work, i stumble across this little doozy (oh, how excited am i for the puyallup fair?! http://www.doozy.net/index.asp) of a "how to" page.
http://www.wikihow.com/Dissuade-Yourself-from-Becoming-a-Blogger

key points against blogging are as follows:
...no one really wants to read your musings.
...you have better things to do.
...your words are waste of precious [server] space.

you can also find links in said article for:
...100 reasons not to blog
...top ten reasons nobody reads your blog
...top ten blogger lies

coupled with:
...how to start a blog
and
...how to write a famous blog

personally, i like to read the blogs. they make me laugh, and i can leave snarky (also a good word- new to my vocabulary, thanks to google "define") comments on them. i find them insightful. they can be a catalyst for clever banter with people you have never met, but know dirty stories about, or a place to come home to (yeah, i dont know about that last part, ive just lost my blogging steam for the day)

so to the author of this how to page, i have one thing to say to you...


and to you bloggers out there, fighting the good fight, i leave you with this...



damn the [wiki-how] man!

verbage

---words i like---
heretoafter
wherewithall
shenanigan
henceforth
ingenious
forte
livid

---words i dislike---
panty
moist
fabulous
melange
booby
plasma (as it relates to bodies)

THAT guy

we have been scattered, smothered & covered in music lately
(a delicious waffle house experience for those of you that are not from the midwest)

last weekend was bumbershoot. typically a great 4 day festival with line-ups to make other festivals jealous. this time around it was 3 days, smaller (physically), and a less than perfect line up. the most frustrating part about the whole experience were the teenyboppers. god they are so unaware and self important. dont they know they need to get out of MY way...

wednesday was a concert at marymoore park. polyphonic spree opening for matisyahu. we had seen the polyphonic spree nearly two years ago as a surprise free concert the first night of hanukkah. amazing. i flirted with the viola player (ugliest one in the group, thus an easy target) and while i didnt manage to snag a party backstage, he did give me his bow. and by bow i mean...

matisyahu was great too. as close to a religious concert as ive ever been, but seemingly cooler... hassidic jews know whats up when it comes to reggae.

but lets get back to polyphonic spree. when we saw them perform the first time around, they were in different colored robes. very cultish. this time around, they were dressed for the revolution. a little less cultish, a little more nazi. but we didnt go the whole night with out the robes... because there was THAT guy.

you all know that guy. he's that guy at the show who is wearing the band shirt from the previous tour. the shirt has all the dates listed on the back, not unlike the plastic cups from mcdonald's with the nascar dates listed on them (shake and bake!). but THIS guy... he didnt have a tshirt with tour dates... no no. he had a robe!


he could not have been more content and proud that he was donning said robe. he was a true fan. strutting to and from the beer garden, head held high.

more power to ya polyphonic spree robe wearing man! at least the tour dates werent listed on the back. THAT would have been a little much.

crocs rule!

the crocodile hunter died yesterday.
i read it on cnn. com as i was getting ready to head out for my run. i had to reread it- twice. to sound cliché, i literally couldn't believe my eyes.
sure- hes hurt.
critically injured even.
i mean, honestly, it was bound to happen. he lost a hand. hes being rushed to the hospital for an anti-venom shot. i always thought that news would be funny, and cause him to consider a second career.
but not dead.
the news is on par with the death of princess di, or the death of pluto as a planet.
we used to watch him in college at the boys house. we used to make fun of him. he was so overdramatic and WAY too excited about the snake holes he was reaching into. but he was so sincere and passionate.
he was killed, as beth poignantly pointed out, by something without teeth.
r.i.p.

super jock n jill

i cant get out of bed.
my butt hurts.
i ran 13.1 miles today- look.

seesters

and these are my nieces. lukes new big sisters.i heart them and miss them lots

luke

this is my new nephew luke.
named so that my brother can say "luuuuke, i am your father."
isnt he cute?
heres another one. you can see my sister in law in it. shes purty too.

cleanliness is godliness

jasons parents are coming next week and we have started a mass cleaning of our apartment.
not that surface cleaning that we do for our friends- the "put everything in the office, close the door, and pick up any crumbs that have been hanging out on our carpet" clean.
no. no. no.
this is starting at the base- the heart of the beast.
the closets.
it started off as jasons idea. cleaning typically is always his idea. dirt is kitchy to me. but i cant exactly play video games and watch tv while he organizes and reorganizes- at least not while hes cleaning in the living room. so i had to help.
i emptied out, swept, and organized the front closet and i did a hell of a job. i mean, we have a bookbag bag. it holds the empty bags. how ingenious is that?!
jason worked on the back storage closet last night and i must say, his organization skills leave something to be desired. its clean and nice, but let's be honest. there isn't anything in there that rivals the bookbag bag.
our house is still a mess, but man! if you come over we are totally taking you on a tour of the closets!

hmmm.

i dont have anything to write about.

except your mom.

my very educated mother just served us nine... oh f*ck....

id like to talk a little bit about this new classification for pluto...
i heard about it just before i hit snooze on my alarm, but then found myself so excited i couldnt go back to sleep... seriously.

something about the fact that what the science books have taught us all these years will now be reprinted to teach the next generation something completely different is so fascinating to me. and that technically, what we have learned to date is all wrong.

in 2003 i happened to catch a smidge of the news while on vacation in aruba. i heard that astronomers had found a planet next to jupiter in our solar system. holy canolli! i couldnt wait to get back to the states to learn more about it... when i got back i couldnt understand why no one was talking about it. i mean, a huge planet, in OUR solar system, undiscovered until that day. it was equivalent to learning that there IS in fact a santa claus (there is by the way). i was searching news channel after news channel to no avail. then i found it, thanks to my digital soul mate, google. it is a planet the SIZE of jupiter in a solar system NEXT to ours.

this is jack's deflated excitement.

so fast forward to today, still harboring feelings of loss and resentment from 3 years ago... to hear that there is a surprise like this. some think its semantics, but i dont care...

this is jack's renewed hope.

as of today, our solar system only has 8 planets... at least that we know of. there is always the chance that theres one hiding behind uranus.

our 42" golden calf

last night jason met me downtown.
"we need to go to costco."
now, i wont ever be one to question this, because i love bulk. i love all the 100 count packages of m&ms, and the concrete goodness that is their home.
but we werent going for bulk items. we didnt even get a cart (blasphemous, i know).
we were going for a tv.
our 27" flat screen did not have nearly enough pixels to see the heads being blown off our ghost recon advanced warfighter opponents- at least not clearly. nor was is big enough to completely FILL our entertainment center. we needed more.
costco was unproductive. its offerings- slim. (i shake my head in disappointment).
but we werent done.
off to the east side (for those of you that actually live here, its like venturing to hell. khaki, polo, hummer hell) to CIRCUIT CITY.

at this point im bored with this story, and the adventure iteslf, so ill speed it up.

we bought a tv.

...no....

its not just a tv.
its an experience.
a samsung 42" dlp tv to be exact. (it was on sale, and jason was buying) and a universal remote that gives us a little lip when the devices it controls dont work properly. "is the tv on NOW?" *yes* "did that fix the problem?" *yes*
and its in our house now.

...no...

our apartment.

but it is glorious. it is shiny and crisp (even with brodcast only tv). and size really does matter.
tonight i am going to make a sacrifice to it.

shower the baby in red wine and vaseline

this blog is a little belated. and once again, about beth.
actually, about bills mom (seriously though) ...and her immediate family ...and their fondness for red wine ...and sexually explicit jokes at the expense of the mom to be.

we were late to the shower in bremerton. on the hour plus ride over i got the dossiers on the characters i was about to meet.

bills mom (dossier)... nice lady. very "how things should be." i was told it would be unfathomable if i humped her like i do billy.

bills mom (in person)... drunk. VERY drunk. in a very short skirt giving everyone a chance to glance up it. still a very nice lady. just a very nice drunk lady with purple teeth. i probably could have gotten away with humping her.

bills aunt (dossier)... bills favorite aunt. also nice.

bills aunt (in person)... also very drunk. i think i DID hump her.

you get the gist.

and according to michelle- bills cousin- exactly like she was described in the dossier and probably the most sober one- beth should not use the vibrating baby bouncer for herself. it does not work so well.

it was the best baby shower ever. EVER.

dear gastank

if you hold out long enough to make it home tonight, i promise i will fill you up and never let you get so low again.

your humble servant.
mandy

"its people!"

these are things i knew:
-boys like to make other boys happy for money in volunteer park.
-there are lines of cars with only the driver in them parked along the lower street in the park.

yesterday on my walk with beth and alisa we walked past the forementioned cars. i have walked past them so many times without giving them a second thought- i was always looking for the boys in the bushes... because if you are going to have super secret playtime in the park, thats where you would do it. i never saw a one. well, imagine my suprise, while walking by car #1, i hear moaning thru the open window... and then comes the fabled oprah "aha moment"- i whisper yell to myself in a "soylent green is made out of people" type voice, "they are in the CARS! not the bushes, the CARS!"

it felt like the end of a good nancy drew novel.

*sigh*

fucking cat owners

its been a while.
ive been debating on whether to continue my blogging or not. sometimes i get wrapped up in the idea that its very narcissistic... and then the self doubt kicks in.

"who would want to read this? youre a designer, not a writer."

then i say fuck it.

and that brings us to today.

i picked up an excited beth today to head to target where i witnessed the gamut of emotions swirling inside of her. she doesnt become irate or mean, just quite. then she disappears for a while, and comes back chipper- an empty hot dog wrapper in hand. prime pregnant beth- as im slowly learning.
before we headed to target boutique we had to run an errand only beth could come up with. she found a scared cat on her way home today. he was hunkered down on the corner of busy street and traffic ave. so she took him in, called the owners on the tag, and decided to drop him off at his home.
bleeding heart.
so imagine my surprise when beth ran back down to my car to give me the dvd i will burn as a gift for fathers day with her cordless phone to her ear (let me interject here how weird i still think it is for bill and beth to have a land line...) apparently the owners of mr. cat did not live at the address on the tag- the address we had dropped him off at on our way out. as a result they chastised beth via voicemail. apparently they love their cat enough to call and harrass someone trying desparately to help, but not enough to change the fucking tags on the OUTDOOR cat's collar.
im gonna kick that guy if i see him.

Smelt Run

He lost his tallywacker in an unfortuante smelting accident...
or something like that.
I ran me a 5k today- the whole way. 3.1 something miles. oh yeah!

2 miles!

it doesnt sound like much, im sure, to those long distance runners... but to me, it was the most i think i have ever pushed myself... and im pretty fuckin proud.
saturday i have an ambitious 5k to run. im hoping my shins dont hurt as much, and i REALLY want to be able to run the whole thing. keep your fingers for me.
then i can eat lots of ice cream... or other bad things before i have to start my food diary...

the "it" factor

what is "it"? how do you know when you have "it"? how do you keep "it"? how do you revive "it"?

sick winter

i cant even remember how many times ive been sick this winter.
i hate it and im over it.

right now i have one of those colds that make me wish my mom was here... i hope jason hurries home with the freezer pops.

just like the one pam anderson wore...

i saw a guy walking down the street the other day. he looked seemingly normal from the temples down, but up top there was one of those top hats- the oversized kind- purple, i think- with fur. and i thought to myself (because i deemed him normal) that it was just a means in which to keep his head warm and dry in the chilly damp weather that makes seattle what it is. (of course this assumption is because of my inate ability to judge people at first glance) seeing this guy got me thinking... i wanted to wear more hats- like that- and i dont wanna care what society thinks...
well, this was days ago, and of course, im too self conscious now to don one...
but someday...

grr..

only children annoy me. i apologize if you are one of them. but really... learn to share.

this is typical of me

i have had this blog for a long time. in fact i think i have two or three. but i can't remember my login name, or password, or the email address it is directed to (because i have many of those as well)...
i took the time out of my work day today to figure it out... good use of company time.
so here i am making my first post in my -i dont know how old- blog space... and i cant post any pictures, because while i have a flickr account, i cant remember any of my login info there either.
and the kicker is that i have a remarkable memory...
apparently for certain things...
and this is not one of them...