Highlights & Lowlights

Party time, cruch time, party time!

2009-12-15T05:14:49Z

This is probably the same sentence everyone is uttering right about now, but holy shit, Christmas is next week! O_O

I have a good start on everything, but I'm not done with anything! Putting up decorations, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, packing & shipping gifts, sending out cards... nothing is done! I'm obviously not freaking out so much that I can't spend some of my precious time updating LJ, lol, but seriously, OMG crunch time!

The plan is to get around to friends' places this week to deliver gifts, so we're not intruding upon their family time next week. That means lots of socializing, which means lots of pictures, which means I better share the ones from the weekend just passed before I am drowning in photos! (Not a bad way to go, if I have to die in the next week or two, but I'd rather be a part of 2010!)

My friend Shannon celebrated her 26th birthday & invited us out to dinner, followed by dancing. Like the ridiculously generous person she is, she freaking PAID for everyone at both places, sans the alcohol! It was a surprise, and we were like, are you kidding?! It's YOUR birthday! That's just how she is. Amy hasn't been well lately, so I brought Janie along, and it was really great how everyone just meshed, even though most people barely knew each other, if it all. Shannon invited friends from work, school, the gym, family, etc. Sometimes that goes well, and sometimes it goes horribly wrong, but she has good taste in friends, so it was smooth & easy. Everyone was really nice. :)

I wore my blue "No She Didn't" lipstick & my new zebra print boots. My outfit was SUCH a hit! Not only were strangers coming up to compliment me, or ask where I got something, they were literally asking to have their picture taken with me, LOL! I gotta say, I didn't hate it. ;D

The bday girl, posing with her boyfriend. He's not a midget; she's just a giant!

Have you seen my eyelids? I lose them in photos all the time!

Shannon with her dad. She's a total daddy's girl!

YAY for smoking hot friends! =D I'm no straying dog, but I love me some eye candy.

Get a load of that cake candle beaming light from the waiter's pants, LOL!
Best poor photographic angle ever!

I wish I'd taken a big group photo of everyone standing, so you could see how GIANT some of her friends are. Shannon is nearly 6' 2" & the other girl? Well, here's a pic of them standing next to one another. O_O

And this is the giant friend's boyfriend, who is much taller than both of them & was debating going to the club with us, because he literally cannot stand in certain areas of the place where the ceilings are low, LOL. He & Janie were in food comas after the meal.

In da club!

I deny all allegations that she & I made out. That's blue gum, you sick fuckers!

This poor stranger had no clue he WAS the joke when Shannon danced with him & posed for a picture. He just thought he was so fly, he was asking for it, lol.

I'm such a freaking midget. I tell myself it's because I'm leaning to the side, but I'm pretty sure standing up straight would not have helped much. Not even my giant heels could save me!

Which do you think is funnier? Stacy's comical expression, or the dime-a-dozen twin ho-bags in the background? I laughed so hard when I saw them!

Another stranger Shannon wanted a photo with, but this time the guy intended to be the joke. Check out the penguins on his vest, LOL.

He remembered his hat & asked for a do-over, haha.

Getting too into the music when there is a camera around is such a plan for disaster, haha!

She's so into him, and he's so... into that drink! LOL

Trend of the moment: secret faces popping in! Happened with a totally different group of friends a couple weeks ago, remember?

Déjà vu! I took a very similar photo a month ago.

P.S. If you haven't left me your address for a Christmas card yet, you can still do so here. Sending them out in the next day or two!

Ugly boots, pretty tree!

2009-12-09T03:14:37Z

Okay, so I'm trying to get better at updating with the small stuff, so every entry is not just a recap of an entire month, since that leaves no record of daily life & leaves you knowing what sort of things I do, but not really what sort of person I am.

Obviously, Amy is a huge part of most of my days, and if you don't know her, I will tell you now that she's hilarious, both when she's trying to be & when she's not. Like, this morning, when she was trying to get ready for work...

Amy: OMG, WHERE ARE MY BOOTS?! I CAN'T FIND MY BOOTS ANYWHERE!
Me: Which ones?
Amy: MY UGLY ONES!

LOL. And yeah, I totally knew exactly which pair of boots she was looking for & directed her to them. She put them on her feet & walked out a little happier.

Now, she's home from work & getting ready to go have dinner with a bunch of her sorority sisters, most of whom she hasn't seen in over fifteen years. I'm pretty sure she's going to change her boots.

As for me, I played on poupee girl all day. (Actually, I'm going through my closet & taking a bunch of pictures of my clothes, so I haven't spent much time on the site itself, but if you don't play, that surely confuses & bores you at the same time.)

My productivity so far this week only amounts to a decorated Christmas tree, but that's fine, because that's a lovely thing to have accomplished! (It's certainly more than Sasha's done!)

Clickety-click to see it larger! The middle image is closest to what it looks like person. The first image makes it look much more cluttered that it really is, and that almost makes me not want to show this picture... but, I am probably just being too self-critical. Not like people are going to gossip that I'm a terrible tree decorator! Or, are they? Haha, j/k. ;)

Pictures from our friend Cory's 37th birthday party. ♥

2009-12-04T17:01:20Z

Lisa & Amy

Me, Cory (birthday boy!), Tim, Lisa, & Amy

Jenn & Cory

Cory & Casey

Dana & Heather

Dana & Cory (girlfriend/boyfriend)

Lisa & "Beaker"

Dana's daughter, Penny, peeking in on the party. :)

Heather, Amy, & Me
(Note that I do not improperly title this, "Heather, Amy, & I." That turned into a funny little bit at the party, when I went ape-shit over someone getting that wrong, LOL. What can I say? Horrific grammar is a pet peeve of mine.)

Dana & Jenn (bffs)

Heather, Guy Who Reminds Me of Sting (Dawn's boyfriend), Dawn, Dana's hand full of boob, & Cory

Heather, Guy Who Reminds Me of Sting (Dawn's boyfriend), Dawn, & Cory

Dawn & Jenn

Cory, Casey, & Guy I Do Not Know

Casey, Lisa (Casey's wife), Cory, & Guy I Do Not Know

Casey, Lisa, "Beaker" in the background, & Cory

Casey, Lisa, & iPhone

Jenn & Me

Lisa & Tim

Lisa & "Beaker"

Amy & Heather

Ahmee Tumah (according to the nurse who called her name at the doc's office); Amy Thurmer, if you ask anyone else.

Cory & "Bleaker," sharing an intimate moment. Aww.

Oh, Jenn, must you live in my shadow?

Amy & Jeff (bffs in high school, which is so freaking cute now)

Heather (Jeff's wife) & Lisa

Guy I Do Not Know, Guy Whose Name I Forgot, Cory, Dana's butt, Casey, & Lisa

Guy Whose Name I Forgot & Cory

Heather, Secret Face in the Picture, & Dana

Heather, Guy Who Reminds Me of Sting (Dawn's boyfriend), & Dawn

Dana & Lisa shaking their booties, while Guy Whose Name I Forgot snaps pictures with his cell phone of said booties.

Dana & Lisa

I think you're probably catching on to who is who, and I can stop naming everyone, yes?

The picture that prompted Casey to say, "God, I am a DORK!" Therefor, I title this, "Cherany & Dork-a-saurus."

Camera delay caused me to miss what was so funny, but I kind of prefer this shot, anyway. I love pictures of people laughing. (I know you're wondering, so the really funny thing was Casey planning to plant a surprise kiss on Dana's cheek when the photo snapped, only to be surprised by her, when she turned her head & gave him a kiss on the mouth.)

No birthday is complete without a spanking!
(This reminds me of the time I wrote something about a birthday spanking after work, on a co-worker's birthday card that was passed around the office, and then completely regretted it. While it would've been funny in conversation, on paper, it just looked totally inappropriate. Still regret not using a little white-out that day.)

Pretty! This might just save Amy from having to don reindeer antlers for the photo I had in mind to go on our Christmas cards. I'm pretty sure I'll use this one.

Look out, Birthday Boy hAtH gOnE cRaZy!

I'm thankful for cute clothes & the invention of the camera.

2009-11-30T08:51:53Z

I can't believe the year will soon be over! Christmas is creeping up fast, and I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed. To calm myself, I reason that no one ever feels completely prepared for it, between decorating, shopping, etc. I'd say I'm half-way there, so no panicking yet. I do hope someone we know throws a party, because there's no way in hell I am throwing one, but the odds are good on that. Between the new friends I've made, and the old friends Amy has reconnected with in the past year, we have a pretty sweet social circle. :)

Life has been typically busy & crazy lately. Nothing major to talk about, just fun being had & stress getting to us at times. It beats the bore that seems to come each year, just after the new year reigns in, although hopefully that won't be the case in 2010, because we got ourselves the Wii for Christmas. I'm excited to try it out, and Amy is super excited! It's definitely more of a her thing that a me thing, but I did like some video games as a kid, so we'll see. Wii Fit looks a terrible bore, but some of the other games look fun.

For Thanksgiving, we went over to our friends' parents' place. I was relieved someone invited us over, because my only interest in Thanksgiving is Black Friday. (Yeah, I was one of the crazies in the Toys-R-Us line at 10pm, then at Wal-Mart at 2am, and onto some other stores after that. I even went to Toys-R-Us to wait in line at 5am on Sunday morning for another deal. Insane!) I do not cook well, but even if I did, I would not want to make an entire Thanksgiving meal for just Amy. I don't like Thanksgiving food, on account of all the meat & vegetables, the two food groups I avoid with all my might. (Because they're grooooosssss. No need for suggestions on how to make myself like them; it's just not going to happen.)

As always, I have pictures to share! And there's a silly video, too, so you can hear my voice & see what I'm like in person, if you've never met me. I was obviously playing around with a fake persona, so it's not quite the real me, but I do make wildly exaggerated facial expressions in abundance, on an everyday basis, so that part is dead on. ♥

Grace, our friend's ten-year-old daughter, took a lot of the pictures, so adjust your eyes for blur. ;) I threw my outfit together at the last minute, so I wasn't really sure about it, but looking at the pictures, I guess it turned out pretty cute.

Amy was just relieved that she didn't have to dress up!

The blonde girl in the back is Grace's sister, Penny. The other kids are cousins, I believe.

And there's Grace now! I am wearing black tights, but they always come out looking like pantyhose in pictures. Pantyhose = EW.

Grace fancies herself an artist, and although none of the adults do, I guess the younger kids found her work fascinating, lol.

Cory, the male half of the couple who invited us over for Thanksgiving. Amy's been friends with him since junior high; he's a really great guy.

After a kid takes 6348764654654 pictures of you, you gotta liven it up a little.

Before we went over, Amy debated wearing a blue sweater, versus an orange sweater. Back & forth she went on it, eventually deciding on orange. Then, she didn't even take her jacket off the whole time we were there. What diff did the sweater make? lol

Logan, Grace & Penny's younger brother. He has a cute little crush on me. :)

Why must all the boys like me?

Cory with his girlfriend, Dana, mother to Grace, Penny, & Logan, and also a long-time friend of Amy's & now good friend of both of ours. She went to high school with Amy, & now they play soccer together.

Aw, it's just like a Sears portrait. Except for all the stuff in the floor. And that guy in the hallway. Ha!

I always scoop up everyone's dog! Have yet to meet one I didn't like.

Logan is one of our rent-a-kids. :)

Hypothetical family portrait!

Nah, I think we're better off kid-free! ;)

There's a lot of background noise, so I transcribed for you. She made up the questions on the spot, so I had to just think of answers & spill them out. I was expecting questions about the real me, so when she labeled me an actress, I just had to go with it. Kind of regretted setting such a Diva example later, but it was all in good fun. =)

Grace: Hello, America! This is Grace Adams, reporter of the week. I work for you! And today, we are interviewing Cherany Skelton, who is currently filming her new movie, Shopping... with no money!
Cherany: Shopping with no money, that's my movie.
Grace: I have a few questions for you.
Cherany: Sure!
Grace: So, do you really shop with no money?
Cherany: Of course!
Grace: How is that even possible?
Cherany: I'm just that great!
Grace: [something about serious persons]
Cherany: I'm very serious.
Grace: Do you like balloons?
Cherany: The what?
Grace: BALLOONS!
Cherany: Is that about me?
Grace: Not everything's about you!
Cherany: I think we should talk about me more.
Grace: Okay. So, how did you start liking acting?
Cherany: It started liking me, really.
Grace: Does everything like you?
Cherany: Who doesn't?
Grace: Her, and her, and her, and her, and her, and her, and her, and...
Cherany: Those people don't count. They're not important like me. I have a movie.
Grace: What's your Dr.?
Cherany: My what?
Grace: Your Dr. Dr Pepper, Dr. Sprite, Dr. Root Beer?
Cherany: Dr. Cherany!
Grace: That's not an answer!
Cherany: I drink Dr. Cherany. It comes in a pink can. With glitter.
Grace: Is it furry? [like your sweater]
Cherany: Is it furry? Not so much. Mostly just glittery.
Grace: So, I hear that you change your purse every day.
Cherany: I change my purse every five minutes!
Grace: That's impossible!
Cherany: Never!
Grace: Whatever.
Cherany: The interviewer seems a little strange. Maybe I should be the interviewer and the interviewee. I think that the audience would like that better.
Grace: Okay, get out!
Cherany:

And a couple of pre-Thanksgiving photos which don't seem to fit with this post, but are being added, because it's now or never. I already have tons of pictures for another update after this one (will post them in a few days). If you know me at all, you know the pictures are never-ending!

Janie, me, & Rose, out for a drink (them) & chat (mostly me - haha, j/k) after a clothing swap. This was the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Janie's new guy, Tony. SO MUCH better than the last guy! Really hope it works out between them. :)

Early call for addresses!

2009-11-19T23:50:02Z

If you would like a Christmas card from us this year, please leave your address here. All comments are screened.

I'm really sick of trying to come up with subject lines. "Stuff," mmmkay?

2009-11-16T01:52:34Z

Depending on how motivated you are or aren't, Sunday is the unofficial day of Catching Up & Lazing Around, isn't it? I like to do a little of both.

I had such a busy week, I crashed & fell asleep at 8pm last night, right in the middle of an exciting episode of one of my favorite shows, The L Word (we rent it, so we're just now watching the last season). I had planned to go out with friends, because it was Michelle's last weekend here before she moves to Wales for three months, but I just knew I wouldn't make it. Maybe if the plan had been to go to a comedy show, where I'd just have to sit on my ass & listen, I could've, but they were going out for karaoke & dancing. I really hate missing out on fun, but sometimes you just need to catch your breath.

No sooner had I made the decision to stay in, than Amy's friend Curran was inviting us to a party. He jokingly added, "If you're not in bed," either because sleep is Amy's #1 hobby, or else he was insinuating we were doing the wild monkey dance, although I think the first is more likely, because they used to be roommates & he knows her all too well, lol. When she told me what he said, I replied, "They're nice," (meaning the people having the party & the people who'd be there) "but we really don't fit in. Mostly because we don't drink, but also, the fact that he joked, 'if you're not in bed,' and we are, in fact, in bed..." Haha, we're just not party people, at least not that kind of partying.

Before chill time began yesterday, I took our friend Dana's girls, Grace & Penny, out to their first-ever clothing swap. I'm used to scoring big time at swaps, and I thought they'd go home with bags full, but I guess kids' clothing swaps are a different ball game. Dana sent them with really nice dresses & other things that no longer fit, which were scooped up literally as I was dumping them out of the bag, and the "pile" (like, ten items) there for them to look through was full of items stained so badly, it was clear people just brought what they couldn't even get $0.10 for in a yard sale. Kizzy brought her daughter, who was swapping for the first time, as well, and the same thing happened with her. It was really disappointing.

There was a toy swap going on after the clothes swap, so I guess people brought a few ratty clothing items, just so they could snag some toys. It was a very different experience than I am accustomed to at swaps, where people are usually generous and kind, rather than greedy and inconsiderate. On the bright side, once the toy swapping began, the kids couldn't have cared less that they didn't get clothes, especially Penny, the youngest of the bunch. I even snagged a few stuffed animals that no one seemed to be interested in & gave them to our dogs, including a talking Care Bear, which excited Princeton a little too much (he cut himself on it somehow & then went crazy "murdering" it, so we had to take the voice box out, lol).

I finally took down the last of the Halloween decorations a few days ago, and Christmas stuff has made it out of the storage closet, although not out of bins and boxes yet. My ideal schedule is to have the place decorated for Christmas on Nov. 1, so we can enjoy it for as long as possible without feeling weird (I won't mix it w/ Halloween, as Amy practically begged me to, after she bought some icicle lights last month), but I have realized that the only way my home could ever be run the way I'd really like it to (hello, Stepford wife) is if I had no life whatsoever. I'm just not willing to make that sacrifice for spotless floors & early Christmas decorating.

I have been Christmas shopping for months, but now, it's time to really focus & make sure I have something for everyone. I always want to buy so much for so many people, I have to pace myself. Every year, I buy gifts for some people who aren't able to reciprocate, and I really hope those people don't feel bad about it. I buy for the people I really want to buy for, and the fun of it is a gift in itself. When it comes to good friends, I tend not to think about price, but that is not to say I buy extravagant gifts all the time. It's just, I might see something that is $10 one year, or maybe $50 another year, and if it's the thing that makes me go, "Omg, that is soooooo her," then I get it. I don't worry if I spend $10 on one friend & $50 on another, both of whom are equals in the friendship department.

I just worry that other people are not like me, and they are keeping score, both of the gifts themselves & of the value. That's the kind of thing that can make people feel weird, esp. if you get them something nicer than they get you, or they know you got a mutual friend something much more expensive, etc. But it shouldn't be like that. When I receive a gift, my feelings on how "nice" it is are in direct proportion to how "me" the item is, not how much it cost. And as much as I love receiving gifts, it doesn't bother me when someone doesn't get me one, regardless of how many other people they bought for and/or what they got them. It's just... a gift should be a gift, free of clear of politics! A way to say, "I really appreciate your friendship, and I saw something I thought you would like, so I bought it for you." Dream on, right? lol

Sometimes having friends who procrastinate is really nice! I'm still receiving birthday gifts half a year later. Last month, Lisa sent me those awesome princess bookends, and this month, I received from CupKate...

Loads of goodies! A rainbow purse (hello, perfect!), bead necklace, decorative butterfly clips, and the cutest tealight candles I've ever seen in my life! Not only are they covered in iridescent glitter, but they have 3D polar bears on them! There was also a card for me, as well as one for Amy. So sweet! Thank you again, Kate!

My, "Can you believe I've looked this cute all day & no one has taken my picture yet, and now I have to take it myself while driving," face, lol. (Don't worry, I was at a stoplight. Maybe not while I was taking this picture, but at some point, haha!)

The other day, it was pouring down rain at the same time as the sun was testing its maximum lighting ability. I figured since I couldn't see anyway, I might as well take pictures while driving, lol. This picture actually gives the impression I could see more than I really could; it was bad.

This is when it started to get better. I knew, because if you look close enough, you can see other cars on the road, something not possible in the previous photo.

Finally, things improved enough that I could go more than 10mph, but look at those clouds. Like evil in the sky! I bet none of my exes or their mothers have alibis.

A brighter, better day! Yesterday, actually.

There was face painting at the clothing swap, so of course I got something totally awesome & gay.

Grace got a flower & had me take her picture. After that, she took over the camera and didn't stop snapping pictures until just before they went home, when her sister finally got a turn.

Rose's twins, Grace & Harmony (not sure which is which here, lol)

Penny & me

Sucks that this pic is blurry, because it's actually great framing. That's Kizzy's daughter, Trinity, on the right.

Another one nearly lost to blur. Sizing them smaller does help.

One of about 100 pictures Grace took in the car. Not bad for a 10 year old kid, shooting through the car window, while moving faster than 60mph.

At some point, they started giggling madly, and I could hear Grace directing Penny. If ever she didn't pose as asked, Grace told her she was a bad customer. When I pointed out Penny was not paying for pictures, Grace told her she was a bad model, LOL.

"Okay, look scared, like I'm really going to punch you!"

Quite possibly the funniest pic of the bunch! It's like a horror flick poster. Amy was flipping through the pictures on the camera, and she freaked out over this one. "OMG! I can't look! It's CREEPY!" And she was practically throwing the camera at me, so I could flip to the next one, haha!

How she managed some of these angles, I don't know!

Grace made me get in the backseat for pictures with Penny. She literally directed everything, right down to my hand under my chin. Guess she forgot to have Penny actually look at the camera!

Pics Grace took of me with Penny? One. Pics Grace demanded Penny take of her with me? Countless!

Girl seriously needs a camera for Christmas!

Ween (the Hallo is one entry back)!

2009-11-03T08:38:58Z

My fourth & final Halloween event was a night out that involved a comedy show, a drag queen show, and dancing in two seriously cool clubs (which is saying something, b/c I'm very picky about clubs). Such a blast!

Rose & me, sisters by choice. I'm so glad I met her!

Costume #4: Spider Queen!

Rose's mom & stepdad met up with us. She was the Queen of Hearts, which was a bit of a relief, as I'd mistaken her for Mrs. Claus from a distance. I hate it when people dress in Christmas-themed costumes for Halloween. She said she was going to wear a tiara, but the only ones she could find had penises on them. I was all, "Where the hell do YOU shop?!" She just laughed & said, "LONG STORY!" Hahaha!

You probably know everyone's names by now, but if not (from left to right): Michelle, Rose, Pete, Janie, & me.

First up was the comedy show. We saw three different comedians, but this guy was especially hilarious! He did a really wide range of celebrity impressions & completely nailed all of them.

Mr. Incredible won Best Male Costume at the comedy club, but when the comedian announced it, he was in the bathroom, which brought on a stream of jokes, like, "Mr. Incredible, who must be taking an incredible piss right now!" And when he didn't come out for a few minutes, "Or something longer..." Lol, always great when you have a room full of people timing your bathroom break & laughing about it! He won a $100 gift card, though.

Rose's mom was the one to suggest our next stop, which turned out to be the coolest place of the night: a gay club with drag queen shows on one side & dancing on the other. Hello, cool Mom!

She sang "When You're Good to Momma," and we were all, "OMG, that has to be our next karaoke song!" LOL, can't wait for that!

Looks like cough syrup to me!

I don't remember what their strange expressions were about. Maybe this...

These are some friends of Rose's parents, who were with us most of the night. Priceless expressions! :D

They only let one person in the cage at a time. Boo!

Strangers with awesome costumes are subject to picture requests!

Sailor girl is Rose's actual sister, Tiffany. Rose's expression = pretty much everyone's reaction to Tiffany all night, seeing as she was drunk off her ass & making a fool of herself. I could say a lot more, but I'd rather not focus on the one sour bite in our otherwise wonderful night!

Family portrait, haha.

Big group photo before we split ways. The "adults" went home, I think, and we "kids" went on to a Persian dance club.

Best dancing picture ever! Totally looks like Janie is punching Rose in the face, LOL!

Last photo of the night! The owner was trying to convince us to stay for a private party with "free" cocktails & breakfast. He had good reason to think we'd accept, but I'm trying not to badmouth anyone's sister on the internet, if you catch my drift. (Ewwwww is only half of it!)

This was definitely my best Halloween yet! I only count the last five, since the ones before that were crap, but still. I'm just stoked I was able to fit in four different costumes in one year! I want to do that every year! Then I can make oodles of these photo collages...

Can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for me! :D

P.S. This super-flattering photo from the other night popped up on facebook. LOL, awesome!

Hallo (the ween comes later). I need sleep.

2009-11-02T13:27:56Z

Too many Halloween pictures to cram into one post, so I'm splitting them into two & throwing in some pre-Halloween stuff.

Amy is visiting family in Hawaii, so that's why she's not in any of the pics. Lots of reasons why I didn't go, but the short version is that it was obvious she'd have more fun on Halloween if she was there, and I'd have more fun here, so that's how we did it. :)

Rose took her kids to the science museum last week & invited me along. There was a Halloween exhibit on fear, and they had this free fall thing set up. Clearly, meant for children, but Rose & I went for it, too, because hello, how can you pass up a photo opportunity like this?

I was laughing as I went back, but the picture totally looks like I'm screaming! It reminds me of those old movies where the mental patient is strapped down for a lobotomy...

Off with my head! Rose's three-year-old girls were too scared to go for it, despite having no clue what a guillotine is & seeing that the rest of us came out just fine. The sound of the "blade" coming down was actually a bit creepy, though.

This was a game about the fear of animals. You walked along, and your silhouette showed up on the screen. The tree silhouette would drop fruit, and you could "catch" it. The idea was to collect as much fruit as you could, then run off screen without dropping it, before the cheetah pounced out of nowhere to eat you (and the fruit, I guess). I had more fun trying to get a picture of us being eaten than anything, lol.

Some weird underwater creature, which doesn't appear to be in water (or even real & living, for that matter), but which is totally real, living, and in an aquarium filled with water.

Toilet humor. Would probably be funnier if you could actually see the toilet, lol. I should've had my picture taken from the side.

They had a whole room of circus stuff. I barely paid any attention to the lessons, because most weren't terribly interesting for an adult, but I was all, "Oooh, circus booths! Let's take pictures!" Haha!

Fun with mirrors (but not funhouse mirrors).

Just hanging out in a giant ear. Something we all do now & then, I imagine.

To outer space, they go!

When I got home that day, I had two packages waiting for me. One was the make-up I ordered from Lime Crime & one was a present from my dear friend, Lisa. Cutest book-ends ever! This picture was begging to be taken!

Oh, man. Those of you on facebook know about this already! "Hi, I'm a little dog named Sasha, and I have a super fun idea! Why don't you dress me up in my Halloween costume & take me outside for pictures? Then, I can find some other dog's shit & roll around in it! Oooh, and I have another great idea! After, you can put me in the tub & wet me down,... and I can shake dry before you even get soap on me, so shit can go all over the tub & in your face! SO MUCH FUN!!!"

I guess little devil was a rather appropriate costume, considering the story above!

New day, new costume, different dog, and best of all: no dog poop involved!

Sasha ended up with a second costume (surprisingly unrelated to the incident w/ mystery dog's poop). I stupidly failed to detach the claws from one another before taking pictures. I'd do them over, but now Halloween has passed, and I have a million other things to do, so... maybe next year!

Don't let the chops-licking worry you. He did not eat the lobster. ;)

Maybe Princeton was jealous that he didn't get a second costume, because he flipped his hat like this & turned himself into... a gangsta vampire?

My second jack-o-lantern of the season! I was planning to do a bunch more, but, ugh, time shortage struck again! I never even got to put out the ones I did carve, because I never found time to buy flameless lights & didn't want to leave real candles burning while I wasn't home. Boo! Another thing to do better with next year!

I baked a really fun cake & had none of it. It's silly how that happened. I baked it to take over to Janie's, since she invited me to a party her boss was having, but then she suggested we bring it to the party. We did, but you know how parties go: you talk & take pictures the whole time & forget to eat! (No? That's just me?) I hope someone ate it!

Yellow & orange cake + white frosting = candy corn cake! It was easy to do, too. Just mix white cake mix up like normal, then split it into two bowls. Use food coloring to turn one bowl yellow & one bowl orange. Pour the yellow mix into the pan & put it into the freezer for about 15 minutes to stiffen it just a bit. Then, you can pour the orange mix over it & not have it all mix together. Bake cake as normal after that & frost white. (Would obviously work with other colors, too, so it's something to keep in mind for Christmas & other holidays. I might whip up something red & green in a couple months.)

Halloween costume #2! (You guys saw #1 in my last post, the fairy costume I wore for Amy's birthday party.) I set a goal was to wear as many costumes as possible this year, once multiple opportunities starting popping up.

Janie & her date, who... well, I think I'll just go with The Golden Rule here, and you know what that means. :(

New people! Actually, just one new person named Meghan. You already know me! :P

Take a guess at the costume on the right! (Hint: the fluff on her legs = clouds.) There was probably one at every party this year!

The guy on the left is Pete. He came with Janie and the rest of us & was a pretty cool guy. (I later learned he's Janie's ex. I'm always amazed by people who can get along after a break-up. I can't stand any of my exes!)

I know, I look ecstatic, lol. I really was having fun!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! "Mr. Rogers" (who had a tie on earlier in the night) is Janie's boss & was the host of the party. Super nice guy, with a super nice wife. She added me on facebook, which I'm happy about, because that means I might actually see some of these people again. Everyone there was really nice!

We went out to eat afterwards, and it was the strangest place! They had things like alligator & frog legs on the menu, as well as "green eggs and Spam." What kind of place serves both alligator & Spam?!

Pete ordered the frog legs. I don't like meat, so I didn't bother trying them, although Michelle does not like meat & ended up liking them a lot. Janie tried them & hated them. Everyone agreed they tasted not like chicken, as I've always heard, but like chicken crossed with salmon, which is just... ew. Fish is the grossest meat there is, if you ask me.

They wrap up the leftovers in different shapes for you. We all got animals, but I saw another table get a huge sword, so it's obviously not strictly creatures.

Janie got a bunny, Pete got a crab, and Michelle got a mouse! I spent too long taking pictures & ended up finishing my food way later, so my leftovers weren't wrapped up for a while. By the time I got mine, I decided just to photograph it when I got home, but then I left it in Pete's car!

Thankfully, Pete took some pictures for me! As you can see, I got a snail. So cute!

Another day, another costume! I met up with Rose & her girls for trick-or-treating.

Amy & I chatted on the phone about Halloween stuff, and when I told her I dressed as a China girl, she asked if I painted my face white. Um... LOL. Like I even needed to!

Rose was a Bratz cat & the girls were princesses, although it's hard to tell, since they decided they didn't want to wear their cone-shaped princess hats & needed jackets to keep warm.

For the most part, I'm happy to have an apartment, but Halloween gives me house envy, because I want a yard to deck out!

The flash lit up everything in this picture, but in real life, it was pitch black out. You couldn't see anything inside the grim reaper on the left, which you had to enter to get candy. A lot of the younger kids (including Rose's girls) were too frightened to go in!

Happy dog in lap; jealous dog attempting to climb me. All too familiar!

That's better! Now we can focus on my legs, which are surprisingly hot for someone so freaking pale! ;)

While Rose put the girls to bed, I entertained myself with self-portraits.

Then, we got ready & went out with friends, but you'll have to catch that in my next post! ;)

Pre-Halloween Maddness!

2009-10-22T03:17:00Z

I need a big sign on my back that says, "BUSY!" Because I feel like I am needed/wanted in five million places, with a never-ending parade of people coming up to me for more, and it is just not going to happen. I want it to; I really do, but there is only one of me, and I am just trying to cram in as many to-dos as I can, amongst a social life.

This week, I am sick with the flu, which has forced me to finally park it. I have a lot of things I need to get out & do, and I am tempted to do just one or two things each day, but really, one simple thing is never one simple thing (something always goes differently than planned & all errands take 4.25 times longer than you expect them to). I don't have the energy to do anything, anyway. I had this movie to return, and just driving to the store wore me out. I didn't even go in; Amy did that part! So, I've decided to stay home, chill out, and get well as quickly as possible. Then, I can hop back into action & not have a relapse, like I usually do. It's just frustrating at the moment.

Tons of stuff has happened since my last update. I did say I'd keep you all posted on my hair, so the word on that is just that I'm leaving it alone for now. There are areas that did not take the color as well as other areas, but it's not immediately noticeable, unless you are looking for it. I haven't really had time to think about my hair color lately, anyway. I figure it's best to reassess when I actually have time to do something about it.

Amy's 37th birthday was the 18th, and we had a birthday/Halloween party on Saturday to celebrate. It should've been a relaxed get-together with a few friends, and it was for most people, but I am too high-strung for that. I spent the whole party stressing out because nothing was ready (including me - I wasn't even dressed when the first guests arrived!), slaving away in the kitchen to throw together all the food I had planned (some of it just never happened), worrying over the decorations & other things that were never put up, and freaking out that I must be coming off really rude to everyone, because I was missing the party.

I know everyone else was having a great time, but I just couldn't. I had everyone tapping my shoulder for this or that, and I couldn't catch a break. Even my mother was calling me on the phone, needing help with something I had promised to help her with, but which I had not expected her to wait till the very last second on (which happened to be in the middle of the party). I'm glad we had the party, because it was for Amy & she definitely had fun, but it will be a long time before we have another. Being the hostess is only enjoyable when everything is completely prepared the day before. (I had no time the day before, because, among other things, there were two back-to-back clothing swaps I couldn't miss, since I take the leftovers. And let's not even talk about the day before that.)

This is Grace, the daughter of a friend of ours. I borrowed her for a day, partly so I'd have a kid to take to a kid birthday party I was going to, but also because she thinks I am the bee's knees & has been asking to hang out with me for some time.

We wore $5 petticoats I snagged from the Halloween aisle at Wal-Mart. An old lady rang me up & was all, "Oh, my! I haven't seen petticoats in years! We used to wear these under our dresses, when I was a girl." I decided it best not to shock her by telling her I was going to wear them as ordinary skirts, lol.

The "gun" is a hot glue gun. I was trying to fix my necklace, which was both brand new & broken. Gotta love it when that happens!

The birthday party was for my friend Rose's twin girls, Grace & Harmony, who turned 3.

Rose's sister, Tiffany. Hung out with her a time or two before, and she's nice, but we're completely incompatible as friends.

Grace made friends with this little girl, who was the ultimate DIVA. Words cannot describe how stuck on herself she was, and even though I was dying laughing at the things she said (like when she went on about how she wanted her own face on her birthday cake), I really fear for her mother! (For the record, she was cuter in person, lol.)

Back at our apartment, Grace wanted to take more pictures. She has her poses down.

Had a little fun with this one!

Grace loves being the photographer as much as the model. She directed Amy & me to, "Look angry!" We laughed at how Amy couldn't pull it off & always looked scared instead, so Grace went with that...

I got ready to go out with friends, and Grace helped accessorize me. She picked out the scarf, jewelry, purse, etc. Then, we had to "present" my outfit to Amy. She took it so seriously, saying things like, "We went with a teal scarf here, to accentuate the color of the top," and, "Ear muffs are the height of fashion this season!" Amy could barely stop laughing long enough to take the pictures!

Once I was kid-free, I met up with my girls at Harvey's, the stand-up comedy club we're always going to. We saw the funniest guy ever that night!

Kizzy looked cute, but she was freezing! Even though I was in a skirt, I was kept warm by my boots & fishnets (surprisingly sufficient). I'm much better about dressing for the weather than I used to be.

All of us: Kizzy, me, Rose, Michelle, & Janie :)

Perhaps in an attempt to keep from angering me over the mess, one of my dogs peed on the carpet in the shape of an animal. And I guess it worked, since instead of scolding her, I went for the camera.

The guilty (and very sleepy) party.

Can't have one without the other!

I bought two shopping carts full of pumpkins for the party: 16 big ones, about 8 small ones, and countless tiny ones for the kids. The car was loaded!

Party time! Some say I looked a bit scary with those lashes and that knife, but I'm a nice fairy, I swear! ;)

Mummy pizzas!

Mummy dogs! (They were supposed to have mustard eyes & mouths, but I didn't get that far.)

Cheese fingers & apple monsters! I intended to have a tray of each, but you're looking at almost all of them that were actually made. Boo for realz.

Let the carving & decorating begin!

Our friends Heather & Jeff brought their boys, Carson & Blane. It was weird having boys in the house, lol.

Penny, Grace's little sister.

Rose & little Grace (aka the other Grace; there are two unrelated kids named Grace here).

The boys with their dad, Jeff.

Penny was very proud of her pumpkin!

Carson & mom, Heather

Look out, Amy! There's a lobster behind you! (More pictures of that soon.)

Heather's going to love this one! She was talking about how they don't have many pictures of all of them together just a bit before I took it.

Penny & Grace with their mom, Dana

Snickers Blizzard ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, since Amy loves ice cream & is not big on cake. It was a hit!

Love Harmony's expression!

Janie! She was going to bring her sister, Michelle, but then Michelle couldn't come, so she thought she'd bring another sister who was really interested, but the other one said she didn't want to impose & couldn't be talked into coming. I felt bad; they're too polite for their own good!

Janie's owl looked great! It was nearly a disaster at the end, but we saved it.

Rose carved a really elaborate tree into hers. She was like, "I can't even remember the last time I concentrated that hard, for that long!"

I carved a sexy witch!

Amy did an awesome jester's face! (Btw, Sasha is not being crushed under there. She was just being stubborn as hell & would not look up for the photo!)

Amy's & mine, which was starting to sag in places by the time I took this photo. Short shelf life!

The kids sneaked off to my closet for a while...

I caught the girls playing Good Witch/Bad Witch, lol.

After the party, Grace & Penny got to stay over & spend the night. Naturally, dress-up was the first thing they wanted to do! Grace thought she was hot stuff with the hair extension & said her sister looked like Ugly Betty in the glasses & wig, LOL!

The fact that their brother, Logan, came with them, was of no consequence! I would say poor kid, but he seemed to really like it... LOL.

I totally look like a decapitated head! And the kids' expressions are perfect!

They wanted to have a fashion show, of course! Grace had a blast bossing everyone around, saying, "I'm the director here! I need models in the dressing room, pronto!" Amy & Logan had to be the audience, and Penny & I had to model tons of different outfits. (Yeah, my closet is a MESS right now! lol)

Eventually she took her turn as the model & entertained us with the oddest poses!

Crash time! Penny had actually been begging to go to bed for a while, but Grace pulled her aside and whispered, "When you go to sleepovers, you stay up LATE! Now stop ruining it!" LOL!

Amy & I were ready to pass out from exhaustion hours before we actually got everyone in bed. A little taste of what it's like to have children, especially after you've had a really long ~~day~~ week, was enough that I think Amy might actually stop asking me stupid hypothetical questions about us having kids! (One of her favorite things to ask me is, "What if I decided I wanted a baby?" Turn the tables on her, and she will respond, "Omg, NO! Are you crazy?!" LOL!)

So, yeah! That's what's been happening around here. Nothing since, because we've been too sick, but my plan is to be well by Friday, because I have plans, dammit! Send me some well wishes, or cast some spells, or whatever it is you do when you need luck on your side! ;)

The End of the World (aka My Day from Hell)

2009-10-12T10:38:17Z

I had planned to get up early today, so I could get out & take care of errands that are more troublesome through the week. But I've had a busy weekend & have been running on very little sleep since Thursday, so instead, I ended up sleeping nearly all day. When I did get up, Amy was upset that there was no Ranch dressing in the kitchen & said she'd been waiting for me to get up, so I could go buy some for her. (If you think that sounds ridiculous, that makes two of us.) I thought, all right, I'll take care of a couple things I need to do & then head out for a few things, including Ranch dressing.

The first thing I wanted to do was deal with the dogs' Halloween costumes. Trying to find a costume for a dog over 15 pounds is like trying to find a costume for a man over 700 pounds, so I had to order online. The costumes arrived yesterday, and we tried Sasha's monkey suit on her (perfect, since we call her our chunky monkey), only to die laughing over how ridiculously it fit. Her enormous rib cage required us to order her the same size as Princeton, but that was the only place it fit her; everywhere else, it was at least three sizes too big.

Today, I thought I'd try both costumes on Princeton, to see if maybe we could just keep them, since returning stuff & seeing shipping charges go down the drain is one of my least favorite things in life. Both fit him, but neither one looked good, so I decided to return them, despite the lost shipping charges, return shipping charges, etc. There was just one problem with that: he hasn't been groomed recently, because I've been too busy to take him, so in just two minutes' time, he'd managed to slather the costumes in white fur. Understandably, returns must be in re-sellable condition, so I had to spend 30 minutes lint-rolling the stupid things. And I was back at square one with no costumes for the dogs & few options online, due to their enormous size (i.e. not teacup). (Update: I found new costumes. Please let them come quickly & fit perfectly. If not, the dogs are going as nudists for Halloween.)

The other thing I wanted to take care of was my hair. I changed my color yesterday, and because it was such a drastic change, the spots I missed were really obvious. I went from red to black, and from experience, I know the way to get good results with black hair color is to use "soft black," so it looks natural & not goth. Well, if you do the process more than once, it starts to negate that; I knew a second dye job would darken the color. But it's better than having blondish-red spots here & there.

While waiting for my hair to dry, I glanced at the calendar and completely freaked out, screaming, "OMG! We missed it! Today was the day I planned your birthday surprise, Amy, and we didn't go! I forgot about it! It was at 4pm, and now it's night, and it's over! And it was expensive! You were going to love it! OMG, how could I do that?! WHY didn't I set an alarm on my phone or something?! How could I be so stupid?!" On and on, I went, and Amy just sat speechless, which aggravated me, because she didn't seem to be the least bit upset, even though she barely knew what I was talking about.

When she did speak, it was to say, "It's okay," which infuriated me, because I felt it trivialized my reason for being so upset. It was NOT okay! $60 I spent on tickets to see this amazing show, and then like a complete idiot, I forgot to take her to it! I was angry as hell, and the last thing I want when I am mad is someone acting calm & saying things will be fine. I need people to get upset with me, to say, "Fuck! I can't believe that!" Or at very least, "Oh, no!" Just some sort of acknowledgment that whatever I am upset about is, indeed, something worth getting upset over, you know? Do not trivialize my problems!

I knew I was blowing up on her, so I soon left the room to do other things & calm down. I went into the bathroom to check on my hair, and I noticed some hair dye had splashed onto the toilet seat (Garnier 100% color = super liquid-y & splashy and not something I will buy again!). The color wasn't coming off with a rinse, because it was already dry, so I had to scrub it off with Soft Scrub. Whenever I clean, I wear raggedy clothes, because I always manage to get cleaner on me, but this was just a little job & I didn't think to change. Stupid of me! I soon discovered I had a HUGE white stain on my shirt, which I JUST got & love so much! Cleaner stains never come out, because they're not really stains; cleaners lift the color right out of your clothes. I had tears in my eyes & was bitching about the shirt, and the same scene with Amy saying it would be okay & me going bonkers over that reaction re-occurred. I needed a time-out, so I leashed the dogs up for a bathroom break.

When I came back in from the freezing cold (seriously, we're having record low temperatures here this weekend—hilarious, when we just had a summer of record high temperatures), I ran for the blow-dryer, so my wet hair could stop driving me crazy. I soon noticed I still had several red spots in my hair. I could not have missed so much hair after two colorings, and knowing the problems I've had getting my hair to hold color in the past year (a bad bleaching job at a salon in '08 completely screwed me—it's always when I go to salons that things go so wrong, they can't be fixed!), I know the only answer is to cut it super short again. This is opposite of what I want right now; I've been trying to grow my hair out, since it's been half a decade since I've had really long hair & only a couple of years since I had super short hair. Normally, I'm the kind of person to say, "It's just hair; it grows back," because my hair does grow quickly, but when you've been working towards something & then lose all your progress, it's extremely frustrating. On came round 3 of Amy telling me it'll all be fine & me freaking out, because NO, it will NOT! I was like, "It's the end of the world, can't you see?!" Of course, even in my moments of anger, I knew it wasn't, but I needed to act like it was & to have someone agree with me! 'Tis the way of someone with a bad temper.

All this craziness ended several hours ago, and technically, it's now Monday, so I can hope for a better day. Amy has gone to bed, and I've had time to calm down. I've looked over my hair again, and I see spots even near the roots that aren't black. There's no way the hair at the roots was damaged by the bleach job in '08, seeing as that hair has grown in since then, so that tells me that it could just be I bought an inferior hair color. I am going to the store in a few minutes to get a different brand (and Ranch dressing!). Hopefully, my hair won't be Halloween Witch black after three dye jobs, because I'm super pale (always too busy or too lazy to go tan these days) & need a softer black color to look good in it. Of course, I may still have strands of red hair when I'm done, in which case, I will have to cut. Ugh. Will keep you posted.

Last bit of summer, beginning of fall, & concern over rapidly-approaching Halloween!

2009-10-09T10:04:27Z

No surprise that it's taken me nearly a month to update. AGAIN! :(

Time seemed to be moving at a normal pace until mid-August hit, and then, BOOM, Halloween! As much as I love the holiday (totally my favorite—how could a day that's all about dressing up not be?!), I feel like I'm frantically scrambling to stay caught up with the calendar. Normally, I have the apartment decked out for Halloween by late September, but not this year. I hung up a witch & a skeleton the other day, but the rest of the stuff is sitting on my couch, tormenting me while I try to take care of all the other things that need to be done.

I'm always saying I don't know where all my time goes, but I guess I do. Clothing swaps eat up a good chunk of time, because they happen at least twice a month, and they're a never-ending cycle of shifting clothes. I go through leftovers, sort out re-swappable items from stuff to donate to shelters, pack up & delivering the latter, and of course, bring the good stuff to the next swap. We're not talking about just a bag or two. At the moment, I have about eight garbage bags full of clothes to donate, five suitcases full of stuff to go through before the swap next week, and I still haven't gotten around to updating the mailing list or creating a facebook page for a swap affiliation we're doing with a new group. The work does pay off in the form of TONS of free clothes that I absolutely love (currently wearing a cute shirt & perfect fitting jeans that came from a swap), but yeah, it's work!

Another big chunk of my time goes to couponing & shopping for deals, which I talked about in my last entry. Like swapping, it's highly rewarding, but extremely time-consuming. Between swaps & couponing, it's like having a full-time job, because seriously, I can't figure out when the hell I ever had time to work before, although my new activities do a pretty good job of eliminating the need for extra income. Speaking of, the photography job I was hoping to get fell through. Just as well, I guess! I can't even find time to clean the apartment, much less clock in somewhere.

I'm always wishing I was the perfect little wife, with a squeaky-clean home and dinner on the table every night, but it seems that is never going to happen. Even if I had the time, I lack the motivation. I'm the kind of person who charges into things full-steam & then loses interest before the job is done. I'm also an all-or-nothing type of perfectionist, so when I clean a room, it takes me hours, because I simply must get every little nook & cranny. Then, I don't have time to do the other rooms that same day, and the next day, I've usually lost interest. I really just want a maid!

I'm sure plenty of things more worthy of talking about have happened to me since I last updated, but I'm trying to hurry, because I'm hoping to finish Halloween decorating tonight—while I listen to Christmas music. (I just got my hands on my favorite singer's new winter album, so I reason I have a good excuse & am not like those people who dress in Christmas-themed costumes for Halloween. Those people are weird as hell.)

Shannon! She's like a long-lost friend, because I met her within days of moving here, and we hung out a couple times soon after, but then we only saw each other once in the next couple of years. Not on purpose; she was just always super busy with two & three jobs at a time, school, trips here & there, etc. But finally, we found time to hang out again! These pictures were taken after an improv comedy show we went to see.

Amy & I got to meet her wonderful new man, which was nice, because the last time we saw her, she was with this total asshole. Always nice to see your friends with people who seem good for them, rather than a dangerous nightmare for them!

I was excited to wear this dress, because I'd just bought it, and I knew I didn't have much longer before summer weather was over. This was the second-to-last weekend in September, I believe, and whadya know? With Monday came cool fall weather, putting dresses like this out of rotation for 2009. I was proud of my perfect timing!

A reminder to always spit out your gum before photos, lest you end up looking like half your teeth are orange. ;)

No, Amy & I are not getting shorter, as one friend who saw the pictures suggested, LOL. Shannon's just a giant, over 6' tall on her own & wearing heels on top of that.

A slight parody of her real life experiences, haha.

Amy saw this one & was like, "Ew, why did I wear my soccer shoes with that outfit?! Can you crop my feet off?" I had to deny the request, on account of the desire to show off my own shoes!

The weekend we met (back in 2007), she talked about some shoes she'd bought on impulse, that she'd probably never wear, but which seemed completely my style. She offered them to me, but since we hardly ever saw each other, I never got them from her. Instead of giving them to someone else, she actually hung onto them for two-and-a-half years for me! I couldn't believe it, especially when I opened the box & saw how PERFECT they are for me! (Yes, seriously, my giant friend & I can share shoes. I have amazing supermodel feet!)

First fall photo of 2009! Would've been perfect, if we'd thought to move that menu pamphlet. Taken by our good friend, Miss Self Timer, on a much-needed date night at Ruby Tuesday.

After dinner, we dropped by a friend's place, whose daughter was having a birthday party.

Puggy Wuggy! I was warned that she was on her period, but she didn't seem to be leaking on me. I realized that wasn't exactly true, when I was wearing the very same jeans the next day & looked down to see a stain on my thigh. Eww! Spay & neuter, people!

Oh, man. So many laughs! See, the RL hoodie used to belong to Amy. I hated it, because it was distressed when purchased (I'm not a fan) & years later, simply worn out (which I find absolutely intolerable), yet Amy insisted on wearing it all the time. She called it the "Real Lesbian" hoodie, lol. Well, I bought her some new hoodies & other clothes, with the stipulation that the worn-out hoodie had to go, so she gave it to our friend Dana (on the left). Dana's a lot smaller than Amy, though, so she gave it to her mother (wearing it here). It was funny enough to see the hoodie making its rounds, but Amy was dying with laughter that the mom had it on, without knowing we called it the lesbo hoodie. I tried to tell her the woman wouldn't exactly fear it would turn her gay, if we told her, but she was too scared to, lol!

Dana's boyfriend recently moved in with her, and she was telling us he brought with him a bunch of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air-esque clothes he hasn't worn in years (thank god!), but refuses to get rid of. We sneaked off to the bedroom to have a look, and I had Dana model this stylin' 90's jacket beside me, in my metallic 80's top (was also wearing teal metallic pumps that night).

Dana's boyfriend, Cory, being groped by a mutual friend, Jenn. She remembered Amy from school, but Amy had to pretend she remembered her. We did have a good time chatting with her, though, so maybe we'll hang out soon.

This is Jazmyn, my clothing swap co-host & youngest friend. For a long time, I didn't realize she was a kid, because she created a myspace page for our swap, and the age listed was 18. Since I'm 26, I figured she must have listed her own age, but it turns out, she just had to say at least 18 to make the page, or group, or whatever it is. (I don't use myspace, because I'm not 15, which happens to be the exact age Jazmyn is!) I didn't find out until months later, and it was kind of like, well, whatever, we're already friends. But I did feel differently about her after finding out; I couldn't help it!

Elvis joined in on the fun! I assume she knows who he is, but it's hard to say for sure, because she's grown up without TV her whole life & meets you with a blank stare regarding just about every famous person you can name. She doesn't know a thing about Friends, doesn't know who Roseanne or Barbara Walters are (They came up when Amy & I were reminiscing about the time we played the game of Life & forced each other to choose between wives such as, "Rosanne or Barbara Walters!" and, "Rosie O'Donnell or Judge Judy!" In case you're wondering, I believe Amy chose Barbara Walters, and I chose Judge Judy, LOL.). She's also never heard of Pavarotti (whom she accidentally made a sexually suggestive joke about, LOL), which I felt was fall-over-from-shock-worthy, but then, our 17-year-old waitress didn't recognize his name, either, so maybe those under 20 ~~are exempt~~ just don't count! ;)

And we're out!

P.S. I managed to do a rush-job on a new layout. I thought maybe my super summery page didn't really mesh with October. ;) I avoided the color brown, because I hate it, so hopefully the color scheme isn't too fruity for the header, although if it is, I'm sure it will be Christmas before I find time to do anything about it, and then it won't matter!

Massive catch-up post for the past month!

2009-09-15T18:34:48Z

Well, I'm being nudged, or poked, or whatever it's called when the peeps of the internetz are making official, "Hey, lady! Update your page already," demands. So, here I am, finally updating! What can I say? My fans—er, I mean, my friends!—call & I come. ;)

I've been really busy lately, with good stuff & bad. I put some of the bad in a friends-only entry, but the rest is fit for the world to read. I'll start with the crappy stuff & work my way up!

I've practically moved house & am living at the dentist office now. I've lost count of how many visits I've had in the past month, and each one has been several hours long, causing Amy to freak out when she can't reach me (especially the night I was there until 8pm, when they close at 6!). So far, they've done a root canal (my third), pulled two teeth that were too far gone to save, and filled cavities in about six teeth, among routine procedures, like cleaning & x-rays. And we're not even half done. I have just two teeth in my whole mouth that don't need work! :/

Paying the bill is the worst part (no insurance = I don't even want to talk about it!), but coming in a close second are the numbing shots, because I have really bad reactions to the them (not allergic, but lots of other problems), and I'm extremely difficult to numb, which means I require even more of them, about 4-6 times more than the average person, actually. Yay! They even asked me if I was a natural redhead, because apparently, redheads are much more difficult to numb. (I'm not.)

Partly in response to the monster expense my rotting teeth are creating, I've been trying to get a job for a while now. I don't mean I've been actively looking & applying here and there for months; I mean, I've been trying to get one particular job that I think I could actually be happy at. I'm done with jobs that kill my spirit.

I'd be working as a photographer in a portrait studio, mostly taking pictures of babies and young children. Babies are a little weird for me, because I have trouble forming a connection with those who cannot form clear sentences, or at least sign or write things out, if they are disabled. But children, I quite like, assuming I don't have to take them home with me at the end of the day. The photography aspect is what I'd really enjoy, especially portraits.

I've gone through a couple of in-person interviews and had a lot of phone contact with them, but it's kind of a waiting/phone tag game at the moment. I do think I'll get it, but we'll see. If I don't, I can always apply at other portrait studios, but to tell the truth, I loathe the process & hope I don't have to. Good things come to those who wait, right? (Let's not talk about how many things that phrase does not pan out on: laundry, dishes, avoiding the dentist...)

I've become a coupon lady! Good friends of mine know I'm cheap & have never paid much for my clothes and things like that. (Seriously, I either get my clothes free at swaps or pay, like, $10 for a pair of heels at the mall.) But I've never been very frugal when it comes to food. Our grocery bill was always insanely high for two people, especially two people who eat out a lot. I never saw the benefits of clipping coupons from the newspaper, because they never seemed to be for the items we buy, or they'd be for $0.30 off when you buy three of something, which hardly motivated me to pick up the scissors. The few coupons I did clip, I would always forget to use. So, it just seemed like the coupon game was not for me. Until!

A friend pointed me to a bargain/couponing blog, which led me to more blogs & message forums of the same nature, and I found it fascinating to read how little these coupon ladies pay for their groceries. I learned of coupon printing websites, which often have better coupons than the Sunday paper. I learned of rebate & rewards programs that drugstores have, that can be combined with sales and coupons to add up to some major savings. I learned couponing is not just a hobby, but an entire culture, complete with its own language (seriously, if you check out any coupon blog right now, you'd better know what MM, MC, RR, SCR, and all sorts of other acronyms mean!).

I started couponing about a month ago, and now, we are ridiculously well stocked on things, including groceries and household & beauty products, like toilet paper and shampoo. Anyone who comes over will surely take a look around and say, "Why do you guys have twenty-seven boxes of mac & cheese, thirty-four boxes of cereal, & eighteen boxes of tampons?" And rather than tell them that we're often hungry & sometimes a little bloody, I will respond, "Because the macaroni was free, the cereal was $0.75 a box, and the tampons were $2 a box!"

Yes, you read that right—some things end up being free! I've even MADE money on some purchases! Like, if a normally-$3 item is on sale for $1.50, and there is a $1 rebate, and I have a $1 coupon, I end up getting the item free & making $0.50, to boot! I literally bought $100 worth of FREE groceries last month (there was a promotion where you could buy $25 in qualifying products & get a $20 rebate, as well as a $5 store credit coupon, and I did four of those deals).

It takes a lot of time to plan out shopping trips & to do the actual shopping, because when you're doing deals that require you to buy specific products and/or spend a certain amount, and a store is out of something, it can require re-planning the whole shopping trip, while you're in the store. Good math skills are not optional, since you're frequently calculating percentages, dividing out cost per item, and so on. You can carry a calculator (I have two in the massive coupon binder I now carry), but to be frank, I find that calculators help those of us who are good at math do it faster, and leave those who aren't good at math standing in the aisle, scratching their heads, while they try to figure out which numbers need to be punched in first. (My super supportive nature may stem from having a ditzy spouse who once added 2 + 2 and did not get 4. I have a low tolerance for these things, people.) If you have the patience for all that, it's well worth the time!

Hurrah, you made it through all my blabbing! I shall reward you with peekshaz!

Taken at the Iranian Festival, which Amy & I agree is the best musically, of all the cultural festivals we go to each summer.

These were taken while Jenny was visiting, but I left them out of that picture post, since it was already so massive.

Sasha has a serious TV habit. When there are animals on there, she often goes up to the screen, but sitting in the chair or on the bed, she will watch mundane things with an intensity you can't even imagine. One night, Amy turned off the TV, and Sasha just stared at the screen for a few minutes, before glancing over at the remote, like, "Turn it back on!" Amy did & Sasha went back to watching her program, which was something incredibly boring & nothing you'd expect to entertain a dog!

This creature is rather entertaining, as well. You're looking at her on the toy aisle in Target, pressing the buttons on every single one of the talking tigers, or whatever they were. I was in another department & used my mega zoom to capture her in the act. She does this every time we have to pass through a toy aisle. Yeah, it really helps that constantly being mistaken for a kid problem that she has. ;)

Rose & I went out one night and after our good time, spent an entire hour walking around the same few blocks, trying to find where we parked. I wish I could say we were drunk, but friends know I don't drink, so I guess that won't fly.

Another night out!

Kizzy's just bought a house, so it was time for celebrating! We did the usual: stand-up comedy show & then out to a karaoke bar. We're fans of one particular place, because no one seems to mind too much if you suck.

This guy started singing Rosanna, which is Rose's name, so Kizzy dragged her out there & made her sit for the performance.

She was a good sport. Probably because she was like, "Omg, dream come true, part 2?!" (She's dreamed her whole life of someone singing that song to her, and as some of you probably remember, we all got up & sang it for her when we went out for her birthday last month.)

The guy got overly enthusiastic & Rose must've flashed him her wedding ring, because during a musical break, he was like, "Whoa, you're married?! Uh... is your husband here?" She motioned over to Kizzy & me, saying something about us being her sisters (just a, "those are my girls & they're watching out for me," kind of thing), but the music was loud, and he obviously didn't hear her well, because then he said, "Oh, sorry... your wife!" We were dying with laughter! :D

Note the, "How can be?" on the sign. Gotta love that Engrish!

Our first visitor!

2009-08-19T02:32:37Z

For a short while, I was on a roll here, updating frequently enough to save you from huge pic-spam posts. But then, life took over again! Sorry!

Lots of fun stuff going on lately, on account of SUMMER! I never want it to end! The good news is that it won't for about another month, since our summers tend to run through the end of September here. After that, it'll be back to humdrum gray skies and rain every day until mid-June of next year. But, I'm getting way ahead of myself! Back to talking about summer & all its wonders!

Jenny came to visit us from Michigan last week! Ever since I moved out to Portland, where incoming flights cost no less than $500 from anywhere on Earth, no one has been able to afford visiting me. But lucky Jenny, thanks to her airline employee husband, made the trip & was our first-ever guest! She stayed a whole week, which I think is the longest anyone has ever stayed with me, aside from Erin. And just like Erin, I wore Jenny out after just a few days! She was probably relived to have Amy around, because there was someone else to say, "Hey, let's take a break," haha!

We had tons of fun, although none of it involved swimming, as I thought it would. Just before she came, we were having a tremendous heat wave, so I told her to pack a swimsuit. It cooled down just before she arrived, and now that she's gone, it's quickly heating back up. Oh, well, probably for the best. Extreme heat is not your friend, when you're already exhausted, and, as it was, we had to put a big fan in her room to keep it from being too hot. (Oh, yeah, the guest room = my closet, equipped with an air mattress. That sounds terrible, but remember my closet?)

They bonded immediately. I could almost hear them yipping, "New playmate! New playmate!"

First order of business: SHOPPING!

The biggest bow to ever exist off Aretha Franklin's head. Anyone want to be a Poupée Girl for Halloween?

Took her to the International Rose Test Garden, but I went light on the pics, since I have a million from there already.

At the zoo! The animals are arranged by geographic location, giving you a perfect tourist picture if you're visiting here (and the perfect fake one, if you stand by the Africa sign, lol).

Behold! The not-so-bald eagle!

Bear looks hungry! :/

This goat was totally gay. I know, because he tried to take my sequin purse AND my shiny bracelet.

I think we inadvertently wound up with a bunch of pics of me on my camera & a bunch of pics of her on her camera, so I guess you'll see this trip from the other side when she updates.

Best shirts ever! One says, "It wasn't me, it was my evil sister." The other says, "I didn't do it."

The kids belong to Rose, obviously!

Outdoor cello concert. They played for a bit by themselves, then had guest singers join them. Some were pretty good!

Saturday Market!

I curse myself for being too cheap to buy these!

He & another guy were doing a pretty damn good job of playing drum music on buckets!

WE FOUND WALDO!

Popular slogan around here.

Almost at the front of the line to go into Voodoo Donut, where they have things on the menu like the Dirty Bastard, the Texas Bigass, and the Gay Bar. They even have voodoo doll-shaped donuts with raspberry filling & a pretzel "pin" in them!

A night out to celebrate Rose's 26th birthday! Went to see a stand-up comedy show & then hit the karaoke bar. Same as last time, except Jenny & Kizzy were there! :)

I give great gifts! ;)

Amy with Janie & Michelle

Rose with her mom

Kizzy & me

Rose's name is actually Roseanna, so she took a seat on the dance floor & had us sing Roseanna to her, fulfilling a lifelong fantasy of hers! LOL

People mistook us for sisters, based mostly on our speaking habits (loud, never-ending, arms-flailing, constantly interrupting, lol) & partly on our similar, unusual turned-up noses, which we attempted to capture on film.

This is Janie's actual sister, Michelle, with her boyfriend, whose name I can't remember, despite having met him twice. I'm really bad with men's names, faces, and general existences. If ever I'm attacked, I'll never be able to identify the attacker, because most men look about the same to me!

We went up to sing something they picked, but when I realized I'd never heard of the song, I abandoned them, lol.

Breakfast! This is where we heard the news that Lisa had given birth! Congratulations to her & Callum on their healthy little boy!

We warned Jenny the portions were massive, so she went for a half order of pancakes. Seriously, that's HALF on her plate!

I met up with Rose & Kizzy for the India festival. By this point, Amy & Jenny were exhausted & unable to take any more of my, "FUN, FUN, FUN!!!" So they chilled at home with the dogs.

That's Kizzy's daughter in the middle.

I want to be part of this maddness! :D

I still have some other pictures to share, which don't relate to Jenny's visit, but I think ~~fifty pictures ago~~ here is a good place to stop. Hope you're all having as much fun this summer as I am!

Our summer fun continues!

2009-08-01T10:04:46Z

Summer is here FOR REALZ! Got up to 107° this week & hovered around 105° for few days. When I'm outside, I love it! It's a very different story when I'm inside, because lack of central air has kept us sweaty & gross, but I'm trying not to complain too much. Heat & sun are precious gifts in such a dreary, wet place!

We've been hanging out & taking lots of pictures, so I thought I'd post some of them before the weekend is up & I have an overwhelming number of them to share with you. It's been my way in the past to blow up your computers w/ my 100-count pic-spam posts that encompass a month's worth of activities, but updating more often should help with that. I'm getting better!

Grrrrrr!

The genuine smile of a winner! Last game of the session, and they killed the other team. Amy was nervous about whether she'd be invited to play next session, but of course they asked her to!

We're trying to keep spending under control, so we went out to celebrate her victory at Sonic.

Pool time! I said to hell with worrying about my hair color & hello to cooling off!

Another day at Sonic! Any food joint with outdoor seating is our kind of place!

Mmmm, cake ring!

Free outdoor movie! Amy has her leg propped up, due to injury. I have to tell you that, because she's worried about looking like a "lazy handicap." *dies*

The free popcorn stand, as seen from a great distance! (Seriously, we were like a football field away from it. My camera just has a very long zoom & Amy wanted a picture.)

Was in a cam-whoring mood!

The end! Sleepy time now, because I have a very full day ahead!

My awesome weekend!

2009-07-28T10:53:29Z

There was a time when I updated this blog constantly. I'd go out to a BBQ one afternoon & have pictures and stories from the event up by evening. I don't have time for that anymore, but I do wish I updated more frequently than just a couple times a month, which is what I'm averaging lately. I feel like I'm not sharing the small things that make my life what it is, and instead, just rushing through all the big things, when I finally get around to updating. So, feel free to poke me if you notice this page is static for more than a week or so. (Yes, Amy, you're allowed to poke me for real.)

Me, in my fabulous outfit, with my fabulous hunk of bread! (Actually, the bread is just all right. I've had better.)

Hawaiian Festival!

We saw the same group of drummers at an Obon festival last year. Guess they're Japanese when they need to be & Hawaiian when they need to be? LOL!

Native American dancers

My new friends! That's Rose on the left, and the twin girls belong to her. Kizzy is on the right with her daughter. (They each have a son, as well, but this was a girls' day.)

Amy & I went swimming the same afternoon. Only my second swim of the year, because fear of chlorine zapping my hair color has kept me out of the pool. (Btw, that's what happened to my super red hair & why you never saw anymore pictures of it!)

An evening out! This was the same day as the Hawaiian festival. Rose changed, and I didn't, which made me feel super under-dressed. That is the WORST feeling ever. If I were a religious person, I'd say it's the #1 sin. Some drunken man even asked why I was in my "daytime" dress!

The menu reveals we were at a comedy club. I'm no stranger to theatre, but this was actually my first time at a stand-up comedy show. There were two headliners, both very funny, making for a fantastic first experience! Can't wait to go again!

Karaoke bar afterwards! That's Janie on the left, an old friend of Rose's & a new friend of mine. :)

LOL, I think they were singing Baby Got Back!

That's Janie's sister, Michelle, on the right. She wasn't talkative, so I didn't really get to know her, but she seemed nice.

Oh, you bet I sang! First time in public, actually, and I was surprised that I had ZERO nerves, but I did feel embarrassed by the end of it—not because I can't sing a note (or even tell one note from another when someone else is singing, haha), but because I screwed up the lyrics SO bad! A lyric turned out to be different than I thought, and whenever that line came up, it would throw me all off—it did not help that it was in the main chorus & continued to torture me throughout the song!

I ~~sang~~ butchered Wuthering Heights, in case you're wondering. When you suck, you never have to ask yourself if something is too vocally demanding for you—the answer is always yes, and so, you are free to be as ambitious as you like with song choice! LOL

It's like we've been friends for ages! :)

Summer Fun & Friendship

2009-07-24T12:17:30Z

I've been busy lately (as usual!), but it's mostly been the good kind of busy: lots of social outings & summer fun!

I mentioned in my last update that Amy joined a soccer team—two, actually—but I don't think I elaborated much. Basically, an old friend of hers from high school, Dana, whom she's recently been back in touch with through facebook, invited her to play on a team. It's an advanced team, and with her not having played in about twenty years, she felt really rusty. So, she joined a beginner team to get some extra practice in. Somewhere along the way—she thinks at a beginner game—she injured her knee. She's still playing (although her doctor isn't happy about it), but she has to wear knee braces (both knees, even though she only injured one, to prevent injury to the other), and I don't just mean during the game. She pretty much wears them all the time now. And, of course, she's icing & all that jazz.

Anyway, the point I meant to get to is that she's back in touch with this friend from high school, Dana, who is dating a guy Amy was pretty much bffs with back then, Cory. The couple is still friends with a bunch of other people Amy was friends with in school, so she's suddenly back in the loop with all these people she's not seen in nearly two decades. They've been inviting us to their social gatherings & it's been fun, especially for Amy. They're all really nice, and I tease Amy that it's cool to meet some friends of hers who aren't strippers, because when I met her, all her friends were! She lived in bars & strip clubs! So weird to think that was just a few years ago, but I guess I'm in a really different place than I was a few years ago, too. Such is the story of life!

I've made some new friends myself, as well. These two women, Kizzy & Rose, came to a clothing swap last week, and they were really nice, but it wasn't until after the swap, when they helped me clean up, and we somehow ended up standing outside talking for hours, that I realized they were good friends-to-be.

We're all equally loud and talkative (well, ok, maybe I am just a smidge more so than them, but I'm damn hard to beat!), and we're all the sort to interrupt constantly & enjoy it when other people do it to us—haha, we even talked about that! Basically, we just clicked, and they are the first people I can honestly say that's happened with since I moved here. Nothing against any of the other friends I've made, because I have made quite a few, but until now, I've not felt anyone could measure up to Kayla, or Shay, or Natalie, or any of my other best friends from Atlanta & elsewhere. But Kizzy & Rose really just might.

We met on a Friday night (well, I met them—they were already friends with each other), excitedly exchanged numbers & e-mail addresses, and by Sunday, we were hanging out again. They introduced me to the bins at Goodwill outlet stores. Very interesting experience, involving rubber gloves & waking up sick the next day (dust allergies), but I love that they wanted to go do that! (It was fun! I got a bag full of clothes, including a nice dress & a perfectly fitting pair of jeans, for $2!)

I won't bore you with a long list of our common interests, but really, it's crazy how vast they are. It's exciting! I almost don't want to jinx it by talking too much about it, but I figure it's way too late for that, because ever since I met them, I've been gushing about them! (They each confessed to gushing about me to other people, too, so that was a relief! lol) The biggest difference between us is that they both have children (one is married, one not), but I find that I have more in common with people who are settled in at least one of those ways (married or kids), versus childless singles. My life is pretty settled, too. I mean, Amy & I are practically married (happily so!). We're not party girls, so most of our activities are family-friendly, and if you didn't know better, you'd just assume we were married with kids. (Our dogs feel like kids most of the time! They need all the same things, except for clothing & talks about the birds and the bees, haha!)

All right, I've talked enough, I guess!

That's Dana & Cory on the left. The brunette (ha, I almost said the chick in pink, but they're all wearing pink!) is Lisa, another high school friend. Tall guy in the back is her hubs.

Buried in women: it's every ~~man's~~ lesbian's dream! :D

Free 3D movie + windy outdoors = old-school 3D glasses & earmuffs! Couldn't resist having my picture taken!

Kizzy, holding a shirt I found in the Goodwill bins—notably, the same shirt she was wearing that day! LOL

Kizzy, Rose, & Me

Exciting weekend ahead! Improv theatre tonight, Hawaiian festival & comedy club show tomorrow, possibly a play on Sunday... so much fun to be had! :D

The juggling stripper parade!*

2009-07-11T16:12:42Z

One of my best friends shared a truly humbling story on her blog recently. I told Amy about it (absentmindedly, while we were eating!), and of course she had the reaction, "OMG! I would never do that! I'd go work at McD's! I'd do anything but that!"

Because Amy loves to present me with ridiculous hypothetical situations all the time (I should really post some of those whoppers!), I turned the tables on her and said, "Well, there are always other options, especially if you're a woman. But let's say there are no other options, because you're in a third world country where there is no McD's, and it's you & the dogs, starving. You have to take that job, or the dogs will starve to death. Would you?"

She freaked out & screeched, "No! There would be other options! If it was a third world country, there wouldn't be any porta-potties! They just shit outside in the grass! I'd go strip before I'd do that! There's gotta be somebody who likes fat girls!"

She went on to nickname herself Jiggles, and I said, "Oh, come on, that's like Trixy or Roxy in skinny stripper clubs - there's a Jiggles in every fat girl strip club!" (Are there fat girl strip clubs? LOL, I guess there must be!) She said she'd spell it differently, which of course led to her stripper name becoming Juggles!

And I thought, "I now have a plus-sized, juggling stripper for a girlfriend. I am so blogging about this!"

* Subject line may be slightly misleading.

Most of June, crammed into one big post.

2009-06-26T01:24:28Z

Holy crap, it's been a month since I've updated! Not for lack of things to share; I've just been super busy this month (still am, actually). Sorry if this ends up all scattered; I'm just piecing together what I remember from pictures. Not in chronological order, but it's all from this month, so it shouldn't matter.

My 26th birthday was this month! I never got around to planning anything special, and then it just kind of crept up on us, so there was less celebrating than I'd have liked, but I still had fun. Amy had given me most of my presents a week earlier: subscriptions to photography magazines, the latest David Sedaris book, and an itunes gift card. On my birthday, she came home from work with a bunch of balloons and we went out to eat at one of my favorite Mexican places.

They put the big birthday sombrero on me while they sang. Man, it was heavy!

They also brought me this chocolate sundae, which I pretended to eat, since I don't like chocolate & didn't want to look rude. Amy was too full to "share with me" (i.e. eat it for me!), so I had to move it around a lot & try to make it look like I ate some! I dumped some of it in her soda glass, which probably looked a lot less inconspicuous than I'd hoped, lol.

Happy Birthday to me!

I forgot to make a wish!

My cake is super moist & yummy, with delicious buttercream frosting, but omg, the frosting is sooooo rich! It's hard to make it through a whole cupcake. (Been working on it for a few days now & have just discovered the small cake in the middle is better than the surrounding cupcakes, because there's a better cake to frosting ratio.)

Shared some with Princeton! Specifically, the cupcake I dropped on the floor while taking all those pictures, lol.

This was a couple days later. We attempted to have a nice time at the park, brought along some board games & my balloons (for pictures, of course!), but it was super windy & we had to leave. Boo! (I'm ultra-sensitive to wind & can't be out in it w/o earmuffs or earplugs, neither of which I had with me, or else I get a horrendous headache at best & really sick at worst. Definitely got a headache & was cranky because of it!)

We finally got around to doing something cute with our kitchen cabinets!

This hung on our fridge for a week before I noticed the phrase printed at the top, lol. (Don't bother trying to make sense of it. It is not Amy's way to make any sense at all.)

Watermelon! It's the second one I bought this year, but the first one we got to enjoy. Amy dropped the other one while trying to carry in too many groceries at once. Funny thing, a few weeks later, she also...

Dropped the milk while opening the car door! I was all, "Hahaha! Get the camera!" And in the time that it took her to get it & take the picture, you can see how much milk leaked out. Amy's temporarily banned from touching the groceries, lol.

Amy has joined a soccer league! This picture is crap, but you can at least see her there, with the yellow/green t-shirt on. Her team is really good & we're both so excited she's playing! It's a fun way to exercise, and it's good social interaction, too.

I was on the computer one day & felt Sasha rub against my leg, but when I looked beside me, she wasn't in the floor. When I saw where she actually was, I was all, "Haha, get the camera!" Looking at it now, I'm not so sure it'll be funny to anyone else, but Amy & I were all over it. We're such moms!

A big snail came up on our patio after it rained one day. I told Amy about it, and she (in all seriousness) started shouting, "Hurry up & get the camera! It's going to get away!" LOL. Apparently, I am faster than a snail, and I took plenty of pictures to prove it. :)

We went to the Starlight Parade for the third year in a row & were shocked to see how much the economic crisis had affected it. Nowhere near the number of floats we were used to seeing & most floats not as elaborate as past years' floats. It was so sad!

I took very few pictures (partly on account of forgetting my tripod at home: moving floats + nighttime + no tripod = a lost cause), and even fewer came out. But I guess if you've been on my f-list long enough, you've seen it already!

Amy & I took some pictures of ourselves afterward. :)

No, that's not a Photoshop effect; that's just camera settings.

Amy's sister & niece are in town, and the kid wanted to go fishing. Between all of us, I was the only one willing to touch the worms (Amy actually asked if there was someone who came along to bait the lines for us at this trout farm, LOL). I used to be a lot prissier, but then I hooked up with Amy & realized I had to be the tough one, because she's the worst! (Friends have invited us camping a few times, but we can never go, because she's afraid of bugs. Seriously!)

All was well, until the kid was catching 16" fish & Amy caught a tiny little 6" fish! This picture was not staged; it's literally the look that was on her face when she saw it, LOL! It was actually quite hilarious how personally she took it, too. She was all, "Wtf?! Let me try again! I know I can do better! Just one more time!" And then she'd catch another tiny fish, and the kid would catch another big one, LOL!

Eventually, she got over herself & held one of her tiny catches with pride! :D

I gave fishing a try, too. I did it once when I was 7, and by that, I mean my dad did everything for me except hold the pole, so I had no clue what I was doing. I bravely baited my line, but I flung it out like a flailing fag, lol. A big fish bit, but I didn't know how to reel it in, and I ended up losing it. I was disappointed, in a way, because I'd felt how heavy it was & was rather proud of myself for catching it. On the other hand, I was glad to have lost it, because Amy was already jealous enough of her niece, haha!

After losing the big fish, I caught a tree branch, and after that, a tiny fish. Amy felt better then, since she wasn't the only one who sucked. But I'm pretty sure she's going to beg me to take her back to that place, because she's like a gambler, always sure that one more try is going to turn her into a winner! I guess it's good that she's so optimistic. :) I would worry about the expense, but with her track record, I think it'll be a while before that's a concern, lol. (You pay according to the size fish you catch; obviously, larger fish cost more. We saw two guys spend over $400 on their catches!)

Also went to the zoo! Saw the grossest elephant shit ever. I expected it to be huge & all, but I wasn't prepared for how much it would pee at the same time (like, a lake!) & well, seeing it fall is a lot grosser than seeing it already on the ground! Did not help that the baby ate it. *gag*

They're currently building a new habitat for the monkeys, so for now, a bunch of them are in basement-like cages. It's so sad!

This sea otter, omg, hilarious! He was totally giving himself a blow job, and this picture simply cannot express the graphic-ness of it. He'd pull it out of his mouth for a moment, and it was like a dog penis, all bright red & sticking out, and then he'd be back at it, bobbing his head and sucking away! We were all dying with laughter!

We saw a bat pee, and it was far less disgusting than the elephant's bathroom break. The bat flipped himself upside down (er, right-side up, actually!), took a pee, and then flipped back around to his normal, upside down position.

More animal pictures here, if you're interested. Trying not to spam with every picture I took; I'm sure you guys care more about people pictures!

Lots more things to share, but I think I'll save some for my next update, lest all your computers explode, thanks to my pic spam. Promise it won't be another month before I update again! :)

I can't think of a subject line. So... STUFF.

2009-05-28T09:09:23Z

The last time I updated, I had a million things to talk about & held back most of it for next time, but now, I can't remember what any of those things were! :P

Oh, well. Picture updates are best anyway, right?

I blame Kim. She says to me, "Let's do something crazy in the picture! Put your leg over my head!" LOL, wtf? Why?!

And then we danced! She's right to look worried, because...

In typical Cherany fashion, I dropped her!

(This is a bad habit of mine, dropping chicks when I attempt to dance with them and/or pick them up, regardless of how much lighter than me they are. It's doing nothing for my adamant argument that, when/if Amy & I take ballroom dancing lessons, I should lead. I say because I'm the dominant personality, and also the taller one, it's clear that I should lead. She points out that I am the lightweight, flashy-skirt wearing one, and she never gets to lead with anything, so therefore, she should lead. Add my dropping habit in, and grrrr, she has a good case!)

Kim shows off her special glowing powers!

This was taken with my newest friend, Harriet, to be included with a photo meme I'm working on. But by the time I finish it, she might not be my newest friend, so I'm sharing this now! :)

This day, Amy & I went to see a musical (more like a monologue/concert) starring Storm Large, a singer Amy really loves. She's this really wild rocker chick with a horribly foul mouth, so the show turned out to be pretty funny at times. Like, when she sang a whole song about her vagina being eight miles wide & how everyone could come inside (it had a kids' show sort of tune to it, lol), and she made all the men in the audience sing it alone! The age range in the audience was rather wide, so imagine the laughter and tears from the wives of fifty year-old-men singing that! Omg, hilarious! :D

Just me in the pictures, because Amy was sleepy and cranky! You can't tell, but I was pretty cranky, too (on account of her crankiness). It was a day of really stupid fights... ugh, all couples have those days, I guess. They don't suck any less b/c of that!

That same night, we went out for Mexican, which I looooooooove! It was hours later, and we'd taken the dogs for a run since, so I was on my third outfit for the day (not typical, I promise, lol). My hair was sweaty, and there was no time to wash it, so please excuse the un-flattering style!

Cheese dip, yuuuuuummm! (Looking at these pictures is making me want Mexican! Uggggghhh! Our dining budget is $0 for June, except for my birthday, because we ate out a zillion times in May!)

Amy got dessert, but I'm always way too stuffed after eating in a restaurant for that!

Norwegian celebration! Things started off slow, but I had faith that they would pick up. I'm not a horse lover by any means, but these horses really were gorgeous. I love the color!

They kept trying to eat the flowers off each others' leis!

I have no clue what this guy was all about.

But Amy took a picture of me with him, haha!

Can't say the native costumes excited me as much as they have at other cultural events, but I snapped a picture. Again, I figured things would get more exciting as the day went on, and I'd be glad to have photographic evidence.

But this was the most excitement that ever came! LOL, super lame!

Really, you never know what these things are going to be like, until you go. I'm constantly dragging us events I read tidbits about online. Most of them turn out to be tons of fun, but you can't win them all! (And you can't complain too much, when things are free.)

New hair! This was my first night out w/ the new 'do. We arrived at the theatre to see an improv comedy show at 7pm, only to be informed the show wasn't till 10pm. Oops! We drove back home, chilled for a while, then went back—but we were early both times! We're late everywhere (mostly b/c of me, haha), so I think my new hair must be lucky! ;)

Seriously switching gears, these flowers are right outside our patio door. I've been meaning to take some pictures of the grounds here and haven't gotten very far. But this is a nice teaser, I think!

Same picture, but with flash. My camera has a setting that will snap two shots in a row like that, one w/ flash & one without. It's handy sometimes.

All right, I think that catches you up on everything! At least, the pictures I didn't think would bore you too much, haha. I'm sure it won't be long before I have more to share! :)

P.S. How many of you are on Twitter? I've resisted so far, because I figure no one gives a shit what I'm doing on the hour. But I find myself wondering things all the time & wishing I had an instant soundboard, so I'm starting to see the appeal.

Love me, love my dogs!

2009-05-19T06:37:43Z

I've wanted to take some decent outdoors pictures with the dogs for ages now, and last weekend, we finally got around to it! We took them over to Amy's dad's place, where there's a fenced-in backyard, and snapped away! I even went barefoot in the grass (close friends know I NEVER go barefoot!), for the sake of the shoot, but please excuse my hair, which desperately needs to be colored, cut, and conditioned!

Sasha looks so sad!

But she cheered up when it was just the two of us!

There was much rolling around in the grass!

Much running...

Much playing...

Much relaxing...

Much smiling...

And much kissing!

And now, for the funny pictures!

Notice the tongue touching the nose!

She has the equipment & just needs the skills. Flying lessons, please!

Girl gone crazy; boy's eyes scared out of their sockets!

Princeton looks more like a wild animal than a domestic dog, and Sasha appears to have teeth growing out of her nose!

More crazed eyes!

There were lots more pictures, but I'm trying not to post all 59,762 of them! It's hard! I'm just thankful there's no "crazy dog lady" stigma, like there is with cats! I interpret that as people being more interested in dogs (i.e. not bored to tears by my posts!). If that's not the reason, don't tell me! ;)

More pictures [of other things] coming soon! I have a slight backlog going on, now that the weather is finally nice & we're out doing things. :)

Growing up, I wanted a parasol so bad!

2009-05-13T07:03:59Z

There are actually more here, if you're ~~obsessed with us~~ interested in seeing them, but these are my favorites. :)

The concert was AMAZING, just in case you're wondering! ;)

Omg, it's finally here!

2009-05-10T17:42:00Z

CELTIC! WOMAN! TONIGHT!!!

I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!

We're driving to a town a couple of hours away, so we can see them in a 2,500 seat theatre, versus the 7,000 seat arena they performed at last night in Portland. (Quality concerts belong in proper theatres, not places that host ball games!) I CANNOT WAIT!!!

May 5

2009-05-05T22:49:11Z

Haven't done a meme in ages (mostly b/c they're boring as hell), but this one looked fun. :)

What were you up to on this day, every year since you started your livejournal?

May 5, 2008

No posts on the 5th, but I have one from the 6th, which is close enough. Amy and I had a conversation about our differing taste in 80s music (I liked soft rock; she liked new wave). She attributed to her taste to the fact that she was "an outcast" in school, which I laughed in the face of, reminding her that she was Homecoming Queen!

She pouted about my post, because she hates for people to find out. And she'll pout when she reads this, because it's a subject that just won't die! (100% my fault - I wasn't crowned Homecoming Queen OR Prom Queen, so I should at least get to brag on her behalf!)

May 5, 2007

I posted pictures of Amy and me being goofy in Party City. Well, mostly Amy being goofy. Putting on funny sunglasses is about as far as I go most of the time; I'm rather stuffy, compared to her. She does things like bending over and holding a 'Party Zone' sign on her ass.

I also talked about our upcoming trip to Hawaii, which we had just moved from May to October. It's kind of sad, looking back at how excited I was to go, considering what a nightmare it turned out to be! (Super long story, but many of you remember, I'm sure. Trip to HELL!)

May 5, 2006

I was sick and about to have a tooth pulled (bad combination). I was also surrounded by huge boxes of party decorations and worrying over invitations for my prom-themed birthday bash in June.

I mentioned something about work. Back then, that was selling full-time on eBay. I miss that job, but I don't know how anyone can make a living doing it now. I recently sold some dresses I picked up really cheap, and no one ever paid for them, no matter how many times they sold. The one person who attempted to pay sent me an e-check that bounced.

May 5, 2005

No post on this day, but the day before and the day after are telling. I was asking friends for advice on how to handle my psycho stalker ex. And I was bitching because one friend didn't show up the night I asked them all to meet me, so I could talk about it. I was an embarrassingly needy person back then.

May 5, 2004

I posted about really boring shit like laundry, but the entry did have one saving grace in its mention of pop culture: I said I'd be watching the finale of Friends the night after. Oh, nostalgia!

I swear, if Ross Gellar were real, and also, if he were a cute chick instead of an ~~average looking~~ (what does that matter? lol) dude, I'd be all over her! The funny thing is that Amy is most like Joey, who is my second-to-least favorite Friend, but I love her too much to trade her for a [female] Ross, so she needn't worry! ;D

Official Bid-niss!

2009-04-27T22:16:44Z

New Layout

Who can remember the days when I changed my layout every single week? If you can, you have been my friend for a long time! 2005 was the year I LIVED on LJ.

I rarely change my layout now, but today, I redid everything. It's so cheerful & summery, I just want to stare at it all day long! Amy will come home & ask what I did all day, and I will say, "I looked at LJ. I didn't read any posts; I just starred at my own page for hours." :D

Friends Cut

I recently cut some people that seemed to have abandoned their LJs and a few people who have never commented. If you were removed in error, just let me know.

Also, I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember who quite a few of you on my f-list are, so if you want to stay, please comment and tell me how we ended up LJ friends. Thanks!

Spring has sprung!

2009-04-26T18:24:35Z

First off, I love you guys! You make me feel like a celebrity sometimes. Like when I was in the process of unpacking and kept getting e-mails begging for info about when the pictures would be up. And then when I finally posted a full tour and started getting tons of questions about my stuff and requests for closer-up pictures of things like the titles on my bookshelf or tips on how I organize my accessories. It reminds me of those magazine pages where they show someone like Cameron Diaz and you get to see what she carries around in her purse. You guys want to see what's in MY purse! And I love it! :D

So, I have a bunch of pictures for you in that regard. And I also have pictures of some other things:

1) An Old English Sheepdog walk we participated in. Long-timers on my f-list will recall that we had an Old English, and we had to get rid of him, due to fights between him & our other male dog. The lady who adopted him has kept in touch with us and sends us pictures and updates now and then, and she recently invited us to join them for a walk with the OES club she belongs to. She's letting his coat grow out (something we didn't do, because we couldn't keep up with the intensive grooming), and it was a real shock to see how much bigger he looks now! She is absolutely the perfect owner for him - she even gave him a better name (Beemer Bug!).

2) A small party we threw last night, which was intended to be a "pizza & board games night," but ended up a, "talk for hours, dress up in Cherany's clothes, and then realize it's too late to play any games," party! LOL, I guess girls will be girls! Two of my old co-workers came, and one of them brought her children: two teenage girls and a newborn baby boy. The dogs found the baby very interesting (they couldn't stop sniffing the baby blankets and carrier - new scents, new scents!! lol), and the girls found my closet very interesting, haha!

Plus a few other pics thrown in from here and there. As always, proceed with caution. I don't do dial-up friendly! ;)

My super-cute evite (address blurred, of course)!

We're all looking at my shoe wall, which explains the grins!

Looking at my clothes, which explains the AWE! :D

This can only be explained one way: Because I am Cherany!

This cannot be explained at all! LOL, how do I even end up in these positions?! It is one thing to take pictures of someone while they are talking; it's another thing entirely to do it to someone as animated as me!

I give Veronica some fashion tips and get her started with something practical.

Stephanie joins in and assures her this is what all the hip women are wearing nowadays!

This came about from a conversation about the girls wanting to throw a masquerade party. I don't think anyone was surprised that I was prepared for that without advanced notice!

Showing off the hideously fabulous 80s dress I snagged at a swap, but taking a serious spotlight backseat to Tilly in the most awesome outfit ever!

Please excuse the fact that I am dressed like a slob (i.e. in sneakers)! We didn't know if we were going to be walking for hours or what, and I figured everyone would be in gym wear. When we got there & saw Ashley in a dress (the walks don't last long), I wanted to crawl under a rock! NOTHING is worse than being under-dressed!

I wore this to one of my clothing swaps and had a good laugh at myself when I got there, because it turned out to be the worst outfit for trying things on with. Imagine how print tops looked with those tights and socks on bottom, lol! (Btw, those are multi-colored Chihuahuas on my socks, and I swear to freaking god, the package said MEN'S socks! I want to meet the man who would wear those!).

Amy's friend Tanya came over & I made them pose for a picture, because I'm like, "We never had people over at our old place; all the company that comes here must be photographically documented!" (Lol, I know the newness will wear off eventually, but I'm enjoying it atm!)

Hilarious battle of sticking tongues out to each other!

This cuddling turned playful wrestling match is pretty typical for them, but it never gets old for me!

I love how the teddy bear looks like he's passed out, as well!

Life is hard!

A glimpse into my reading habits! I mostly stick to non-fiction and prefer humor over everything else.

Questions about the products in my bathroom brings me to...

Lots of Victoria's Secret lotions & perfumes, as well as a couple things from Body Shop, some "plain" lotion for my face, and silicone spray for my hair.

In my shower: more Victoria's Secret products, store-brand "Pantene," etc.

A second look at my jewelry cases, since some of you had questions!

These plastic cases are just a couple dollars each (I bought them at Michael's on the bead aisle, and I think Wal-Mart has some in the craft department, as well). For my earrings, I pretty much have a case for every color (2 for pink); obviously, you're looking at purple, green, and pink earrings.

Some of my bracelets in the box on the left (I have warm colors in one box, cool colors in another); brooches and rings in the box on the right.

My big box of bangles and bead necklaces, which contains...

Bangles bagged up by color, as well as...

Party favor necklaces and a bag of all my earrings that are too big to fit in bead cases like the others.

Tiny sets of drawers for necklaces...

That either don't bend or are too big to fit into bead cases. (My regular chain necklaces are in bead cases like my earrings.)

The junk box, sort of. I switch out my purse with every outfit, and not every purse holds the same amount of stuff, so I need a dumping ground for the items I'm not carrying with me each day. This looks like it's mostly sunglasses, but there are actually quite a few various things buried underneath.

This is a 58-qt. storage bin for my pink purses, which okay, does make me laugh my head off! But things aren't quite as crazy with the other colors; I only needed 28-qt. bins for them, LOL.

As you can see, many are placed inside of others. I counted 19 pink purses here. Doesn't sound like that many, to be honest...

A look inside my drawers! Obviously, this one houses earmuffs & hats.

Scarves!

Petticoat, slips, and layering camis. The camis are a serious staple of my wardrobe, so I have a lot of them (about a third of them are in the laundry bin and, therefore, not pictured).

Fun socks & tights! (Just white & black tights under the leg warmers; you're not missing anything exciting.)

Anything else you want to see? Just ask! I've been meaning to do one of those photo memes forever, where you have people ask to see whatever they want (underneath your bed, your toothbrush, or whatever), so now seems as good a time as any! All reasonable requests will be honored (i.e. sorry, no looking up my nose or down my shirt, haha)!