Thursday, May 27, 2010

This isn't about you....really.

When did that addictive little social networking site become a place for people to say some of the most disturbing stuff?

True, at some times I find it more entertaining to read other people's drama than to go to watch a movie, but still...at what point did it become socially acceptable to air out your dirty laundry on Facebook? Last week, there was a huge war of words between an old high school chum and her family. Did I go back every other day to check out what verbal bombs were dropped? Abso-freakin-lutely! Was it the right medium to discuss such an insanely private matter? Heck no. (If you want to know the dirt, just let me know...I'll fill you in. It was really juicy...and no, I REALLY, REALLY shouldn't even know about it.)

Sure, I know that I'm adding to the problem by actually being interested (in a completely voyeuristic sort of way) when other people's crap hits the fan (and, for what it's worth, I never comment on real drama...I just read it like I'm sneaking a peak at someone's diary. I know that my ability to actually keep my commenting-mouth shut may come as a shock to many of you), but I really do find it more entertaining reading about your drama than what you had for lunch...and believe it or not, many times I'm laughing and reading your drama out loud to my coworkers. Yes, you are becoming comedic fodder in North Carolina. Be proud.

Do you really want your old college pals to remember you for the friend you were to them in college or do you want them to remember you as the girl that has 3 different baby daddies and can't get child support from any of them? Do you really want to be MY entertainment? My guess is no. Because, I'm going to be 100% honest here: I am judging you right along with the rest of your world.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of Facebook:

While I was in St. Louis, I went over to my cousin's house. She got on Facebook and lamented, "Ugh, since all of my friends have become moms, that is ALL they talk about."
And then she proceeded to read off every post of momdom on her page. So, let me save you your breath if you are thinking about posting all of your mommy musings...
No one cares that your kid is in the 78th percentile, but they will laugh when you proclaim that your kid pooped all over you. Post accordingly.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Beep.

On Thursday morning, I woke up to the sound of chirping. I'm not quite sure why it's called chirping when it's the most annoyingly loud beeping sound ever. Chirping implies a sweet bird. The stupid smoke alarm is not a bird. It's a piece of plastic (with a hand carbon monoxide alarm as an added bonus) that wants to pick a freaking fight.

When I woke up, I was actually a little pleased that the smoke alarm made me get out of bed (I have a tendency to not want to get out of my bed in the morning). I've been feeling rather thankful as of late and I decided to look at the positive in this beeping situation. How hard is it to change a battery, right?

I stumbled my way downstairs, hauled the step ladder upstairs, and climbed up. Nothing. No place where a battery magically pops out. What I did see was a lot of wires. Wires of every color of the rainbow. Okay, okay...maybe not every color of the rainbow, but one of them was red (which technically isn't even a color of the rainbow...kind of like how tree trunks aren't really brown...dang, our elementary school teachers were liars...LIARS!!!).

I decided to just deal with it after I got home from work. When I had gotten to work, everyone insisted that there had to be a battery in there. Around 11, I took a long lunch and came home to try to figure it out (the idea of coming home after a long day to that beeping was a horrible thought). I saw what people were talking about when they said that there was a battery. There was...except when I changed it, the thing still chirped every 30 seconds. I tried to just pull the whole thing out of the ceiling, but apparently that ticked off the chirping, talking smoke alarm. When I pulled the alarm, it set off all of the other alarms and said, "Fire! Fire!" over and over again.

At that point, I realized that I had a bigger problem on my hands. And what do you do when you have an electrical problem on your hands? You call for reinforcements. The only reinforcement I could think of was Brian's dad. So I made the phone call to Lulu to see when he was going to be home (which ended up being the next day). While I was talking to her, the frustration from the shrill beeping and the lack of sleep got to me and I started crying like a fool. Per the usual, Lulu was super sweet and reassured me that not even boys today know how to do wiring, so I shouldn't feel bad that I couldn't figure it out.

When I finally made it back to work (after an adventure at Home Depot to find the correct replacement), I got an email from Mike to ask if he could help me fix the alarm. He came within moments of me getting home from work and fixed it in about 10 minutes.

So, there you have it. Another reason I heart Mike. He has saved me from myself once again.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Riddle me this, Batman...

We're going to play a game. Well, not so much a "game" (you can't lose this and neither can I, which is a good thing for me since I haven't really been one for winning anything as of late), but I'm going to ask you 5 questions and then you can humor me and answer them in the comments section. How lucky for you!

Okay, mom...have fun...

1. What is your favorite album of the year so far?

2. If you could eat any one cereal for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

3. If you were given $100 and you were told that you had to spend it on yourself, what would you spend it on?

4. What is the most recent movie that you've seen that you actually thought, "Wow. That was surprisingly good!" after it was over? (If you can't think of a movie that was "surprisingly good", I'll also take "actually good" or "not bad"...)

5. What is the one place you would travel to if you had unlimited funds?

I have a feeling that this is really going to be an experiment as to how few people actually read this blog, but still...fun times!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Billy Gra(m)ham Cracker

I can't believe I've finally made it to the end of this vacation blogging experience. It truly was as painful for me to write as it was for all (2) of you to read.

Sunday:

After my alarm went off at 7am, I stumbled into the shower where I had a combination of the coldest and hottest shower ever. Thomas had forgotten to mention (or had meant to not mention, I'm not sure which) that the shower was a bit fickle and would either freeze me or burn me, depending on which side of half a centimeter I put the dial on.

We got on the road by 8am and the only things I can remember are...

Me deciding on lunch- I'm known as "decision-making challenged" and Thomas told me to pick a place to eat. So it took me about 2 hours until I saw something that striked (struck? stroke?? stroked???) my fancy (is it weird that I just sang Reba McEntire's "Fancy" in my head??). Unfortunately the food sign that you see on the side of the highway forgot to mention that the Zaxby's was 5 miles off the highway. I think Thomas was just pleased that I finally picked a place and said, "Oh, no...you picked something...we're going..." when I said that I'd pick something that wasn't so far off the path. The food ended up being pretty okay, but the strawberry shake was deeee-lish.

Nashville flooding- We had made it to a gas station outside of Nashville when a man mentioned that we'd be lucky to make it through Nashville since Hwy 24 was closed. I'm going to go ahead and say that it was by the grace of God that the man had no clue as to what he was talking about. (Actually, I'm quite sure that the highway had been closed...we were just lucky enough to miss the whole closing situation)

Rude Boy- At this same gas station near Nashville, there was a woman at the cash register listening to the radio. Rihanna's "Rude Boy" came on ("Take it, take it...love me, love me") and the lady said to me, "I have no idea what they have on this here radio."
I, with a shocked tone in my voice to imply that she was an idiot for not knowing the musical force that is Rihanna, replied, "Why, that's Rihanna's 'Rude Boy'!"
To which she replied, "Well, they can take it, take it..."
Touche. I had to try very hard to stifle my laughter because she was quite serious and all I could do was nod with the very same serious hatred that she so obviously felt for the song.

Mooresville traffic- By the time we became overjoyed that we had missed the Hwy 24 closing and the fact that the mile marker 2 had opened back up in Asheville, we hit some traffic about 20 miles away from home. Needless to say, I gave Thomas the special downtown Mooresville tour to avoid the highway. It only added about 30 minutes to the trip...so that wasn't too painful, well, at least for me. I wasn't the one driving.


So, there you have it. My vacation in blog form, which I'm sure felt about the same as when someone you are mediocre acquaintances with at work sits you down to show you 600 pictures from their beach vacation (all of which are of their bratty kids and the scenery).

Thursday, May 13, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I can't believe that Ryan is a dad!

Brendan James Casida was born this morning at 10:13. He weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. To be honest, I was surprised that he wasn't bigger...seeing that his dad is about 9 foot tall.

Congratulations Stephanie and Ryan...your boy is beautiful!
I love you all so much!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Gotta love the non-bride that wears white to a wedding.

Saturday:

My grandma called at 8am to ask me if I wanted to get some breakfast at First Watch. Do you know what I said to that? Do ya, do ya, do ya!?!? I said, "Heck yes, grams! I love First Watch almost as much as I love breathing!!"

Okay, I didn't exclaim that so merrily, but I was a little bit excited for some breakfast grub. I mean, I love breakfast-for-breakfast almost as much as I love breakfast-for-dinner.
After breakfast, I went home to shower, pack, and get ready for Chris and Christy's wedding. Seth, Laura, Logan, and Sadie picked me up at 12:30 (I wasn't supposed to be to the church until 1:30, but there was a Cardinals game happening about 3 blocks from the church and I really wasn't sure how much traffic there would be). We arrived by the Arch at 1:15 and played for awhile, with the only pseudo-almost-catastrophe being that Sadie fell face first into a bush while she was standing on a ledge. I'm not sure at what point that kid became such a champ. She used to cry and cry and cry over people holding her and now, when she actually has something to cry about, she just whimpers for 3.6 seconds and then gets over it. I guess she cried out her lifetime's allotment of tears in the first 8 months of her life.


The wedding was beautiful...and quick. I felt like a 12 year old when I was trying to stifle laughter at the word "lover" read 38 times during the reading from Song of Solomon. It seems a little odd to me that I grew up in St. Louis (the land of the Catholics), I've seen the Pope (well, Pope John Paul II), and this was my first Catholic wedding. If someone had asked me before if I had been to a Catholic wedding, I would have said, "Yes. Definitely. I've had many Catholic friends in my life and I've been to many weddings in my life. Therefore, I'm quite sure that the two have combined forces to give me the full-blown Catholic wedding experience."
Now I know that I would have been sadly mistaken. The moment I knew that I was way off was when I saw that the bride, groom, and wedding party had to kneel during 75% of the service. I totally would have remembered if I had seen that before. I know that a wedding is more than a gorgeous dress (and Christy's was definitely gorgeous), but I couldn't help but wonder how she wasn't wrinkling it...and how kneeling that whole time wasn't like a punishment. Believe me, I've seen the amount of tulle that goes into making a puffy wedding dress and I also know that kneeling on it feels very close to the feeling that children get when they are forced to kneel on rice as a punishment (which my parents never saw as an appropriate punishment, by the way). But now that I think of it, Christy didn't appear to be in any pain...so maybe I'm way off on the whole rice thing.


After the wedding, the wedding party (plus me) boarded the party bus and did a quick tour around St. Louis for some pictures, then made our way to the Four Seasons to watch the Kentucky Derby. Well, I didn't really watch the Kentucky Derby...I was more fixated on the insanely beautiful wedding party that also happened to be at the Four Seasons. Seriously...this wedding party looked like they were out of a catalog for weddings (I don't even know if a catalog for weddings exists, but you see what I'm saying). Usually there will be a few 10's in a group of people, but EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. was GORGEOUS. It almost made me feel uncomfortable to be within a 20 foot radius of them.
By the time we made it to the wedding, the cocktail hour was winding down and I had a conversation with a girl that went to high school with Christy. This is how the conversation went down:
Girl: "Who are you here with?"

Me: "Thomas. Wait...TJ. Sorry. I keep calling him the wrong thing."

Girl: "Oh! Your husband is SO funny! I met him the other day!"

Me: "Oh....no...he's not my husband."

Girl: "Sorry...I mean your fiance."

Me: "Wait, no...we're not even dating. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give that impression."

Girl: "Why not? He's hilarious!" (as if that's the only reason to date someone)

Me: "Ummm...well...yes, he is funny..." (*awkward silence while I was thanking God I had a glass of wine in my hand so I could pretend to just be thirsty while I thinking of something to say*) "Soooo...I guess it's time to get upstairs for the reception. I'll see you up there!"

I must say, the reception was the most beautiful that I've ever been to, the group of people at my table were crazy awesome, and the best man's speech was the best I've ever heard. To be honest, I became 542% more popular when people found out that I was the best man's date (Random person: "Wait! You're with Sir Dalton Swayze, Esquire III?!?!?!? That guy is hilarious! You are so lucky!" Me: "Why, yes...yes I am.").

By the end of the night, Thomas walked me back to the hotel room and then went back out on the town while I nursed a slight allergic reaction (all I have to say about that is that I'm super thankful that I dehydrated myself throughout the day).


(I just let out a huge sigh. There is only one day left of vacation to blog about. Remind me after the beach trip in July that blogging about every single day is a really stupid idea. Believe me, I'll forget.)

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Friday

Friday:

Let's just pretend that I didn't just name this blog "Friday", okay? I've come to the realization that blogging about every day was the dumbest idea ever. Yes, quantity does not equal quality.

I'm bullet-pointing this one. Hang on tight...

- Had lunch with momzy at Chevy's. I love their chips and salsa and I love their waiter even more. I think his name was Rob. The fact that I remember that should be a testament as to how much of a fan I was.
-Mom left for the Agape Festival after we went shopping for a tarp and some Crocs. Rain will never stop that music lover...NEVER.
-Did some laundry. Nothing is better than unpacking your suitcase filled to the brim with clean laundry.
-Went to dinner at Cassie and Joey's (and Colton and Chase's...I still can't believe that they have twins). My uncle and aunt brought over pizza and Carrie and Matt brought over Ellie and June...soooo...yeah, there were quite a few people there. Even Carrie #2 stopped by for a bit before she had to go chaperon at an 8th grade dance. We had a great time and after everyone left, I hung out until midnight like the good ol' days.

So, there you have it. Friday. Written in about 5 minutes.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Ohhhh..."T" stands for Thomas...

Thursday:
When you pack for a long vacation (yes, I consider a week to be a long vacation), you are bound to forget a few essentials. In my case, both of the essentials that I had forgotten were for Thursday night. One of the things (adorable brown shoes) I found out that I forgot before it was too late to remedy the situation. The other thing I forgot (adorable, non-booblifting bra for a low cut dress)...well, I realized that I had forgotten when I was getting dressed.

My cousin Heather came to pick me up to have lunch at Steak n Shake (I'm not sure why I ever order the Frisco Melt...it's delicious until about 2 hours later when you're reminded what that much butter and grease will do to your digestive system) and then go shoe shopping to find some brown shoes that would match the dress that I had borrowed from Beth.
After eating and shoe shopping, she brought me back home to get ready for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. My mom was nice enough to get off work early (THANKS MOM!) so that I could borrow her car and get downtown in time for the 20 minute rehearsal. I honestly thought the priest was talking that fast because there was only a short period of time to have the rehearsal...I found out on Saturday that he just talks fast all of the time.
It took longer to drive to Carmine's for dinner than it would have taken to walk there, but who wants to walk in heels?? ("Not me!", said I...)
I had forgotten how much I love toasted raviolis and an open bar. I feel a little bad that I had the awesome idea to want the same thing that Thomas was ordering and then talked him into ordering something else so that we could share both. Okay, it wasn't like I was talking him into it, it was a mere suggestion and I like to pretend that he really, really enjoyed his pasta (because I really, really enjoyed my chicken). Also, I maintain that I only had one glass of red wine, although technically it was never empty. My glass was topped-off enough that Thomas took my mom's car keys to drive to the piano bar (The Big Bang) after dinner where the Jayhawk fight song was bought for a heckuvalot cheaper than it costs in Mooresville, NC.
My favorite part of the evening was when someone asked me for the 4th time, "And who are you with?"
To which I replied, "Thomas."
At that point it was obvious that a light bulb went off and he said, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh....'T' stands for 'Thomas'. You're talking about TJ."

Silly me. I was calling him by the wrong name the whole dang time.



Sunday, May 9, 2010

STOP. HUMMING. THAT. SONG.

When Chris and I went to see Date Night last night, there was a preview that had me rolling. I had no clue that Will Ferrell was even coming out with a new movie, but I have to say that I'm stoked...


Saturday, May 8, 2010

Like an old brass penny with two heads up...

Wednesday:

I'm just going to try to hit the highlights because the days are really starting to run together. (Yeah, sorry. I really should have taken notes...)

I remember Thomas had about 32 conference calls that day, so I left him behind and went to have lunch with my mom at Great Harvest Bread Co. I really wish there was one of those closer to me (and no, Ballentyne is not close enough).

After dropping my mom back off at work, I went to pick up my nephew early from school. He had no clue that I was coming, so when I walked into his classroom (during their nap time...dang, I miss kindergarten), the teacher whispered his name and it took him about 3 seconds to realize who I was and he ran to jump in my arms. The first question he asked me was, "How was the baseball game last night?"
Ohhh...I love that kid.

I told him that we could do anything he wanted to do, anything at all. Wanna know what he picked? The world is this kid's oyster and he wanted to go play at home. Ummm...okie dokie. I can handle that. Dream big, I always say.

After playing for about 3 hours and Logan surprising Thomas with some chocolate covered pretzels (enjoy those, mom...I totally forgot to take 'em out of the fridge), we decided that a shake sounded like a delicious excursion. I love that he's already inheriting my decision-making skills. I asked what kind of shake he wanted and he said he wanted vanilla, until I said that I was getting strawberry...then he decided that strawberry was the way to go. I had to explain that it is way better to get two different kinds and then switch in the middle. I also had to explain this rationale to Thomas at the rehearsal dinner, but I'll get to that in tomorrow's post.

When Seth got home, I had to get T's car back to him so he could make it downtown to meet Chris for drinks. I ran to take a shower and waited...and waited....and waited for Ali to pick me up to meet Ryan and Stephanie for dinner in Wentzville (about 20 minutes away). I realized at that point why I have always been so used to Sam's clock. When I say 6pm to Ali, it means, "Oh, 6 or 8 or 8:30...whatever feels good at the moment."
The greatest part was calling him over and over again at 6:25 and he finally called me back and said, "Did you just call me 3 times in a row?"
Uhhhh....yeah. We needed to be at dinner 1 minute ago. He thought I had said 8. Even when I talked to him at 5 and said that I'd see him in an hour. Wow. I love that boy.

Seeing that Ryan used to crash on Ali's floor (yeah, it's time you all learned that we were wandering hoodlums from 2001-2002), Ryan was already privy to the way that Ali's clock works and was able to push dinner back by half an hour. Everyone I had talked to said that 54th Street Grille was a great place with cheap food. The thing that I wasn't aware of was the fact that they serve 5,ooo calorie portion sizes and their buffalo chicken sandwich technically doesn't include chicken. Who knew??

After picking through an inch of fried stuff to find whatever was in the middle and discussing the fears that Steph has of birthing her child (which was technically due yesterday), we decided to go to Fritz's for some ice cream. I made the mistake of ordering a vanilla concrete with peanut butter. I had no idea that it was going to taste exactly like I was eating spoonfuls of peanut butter out of the jar. For anything thinking about doing the same thing, let me warn you...it will be awesome for about 4 bites and then suddenly get sickening. Seriously. Have you ever tried to eat a jar of peanut butter? It's not easy.

At 9:30, we decided to call it a night. Mission accomplished. I had successfully made myself ill off of strawberry shake, bits of "chicken", and peanut butter with a side of ice cream.

Friday, May 7, 2010

A bracelet for a baseball game? That's a first.

Tuesday:

I don't remember much about Tuesday morning, but let's just assume that I woke up.

At 11:30, I went to meet my friend Rhonda at her parents' house in Lake St. Louis. You know that feeling you get when you go back to a place that you haven't been in awhile? The smell takes you back to when you were 16. With the amount of change that has happened in my life in the last 10 years, that house is one of the very few places I can still go back to and get the same feelings I had when I was a teenager. Sure, her old bedroom has now been transformed into a playroom for when her adorable children visit their grandparents and there have been a few updates, but when you walk in the door you will still be greeted with love by whatever part of the family happens to be home. You will still find her mom genuinely concerned with how you are doing. It's not that I had forgotten how much I love this family, but it was so great having the reminder.

After visiting with her mom for a little while and watching the kids show me how fast they can run, Rhonda and I made our way to El Maguey for the Mexican I didn't get on Monday. I hadn't realized how long it had been since we'd had an actual conversation and there was so much to catch up on. The great thing about real friends is that it doesn't matter how long you go without talking, you can still fall back into your friendship like you saw each other a week ago. Seeing that we finished our meal and stuck around for awhile after (with a few questioning looks by some Mexicans), I would say that it was a successful lunch.
After dropping Rhonda back off at her parents' house, I went home and got ready for the Cardinals game that night. Ali was running late (he had forgotten to mention that he was buying a new car that day), so Thomas, Laura, and I just went on without him (I'm not completely mean, Seth and Angelo were coming downtown later and said they'd pick him up on the way). The plan was to go to the John and Jill Ruggeri's new restaurant Gio's (which happens to be next to the stadium) and talk to Jill for awhile. Jill ended up not being there, so we had a few drinks and engaged in a little light conversation with John. Although I had worked at his restaurant and babysat his children for years and years, this was probably the most that John and I had ever had a continuous conversation in our lives.
Around 6:15, we made our way to our seats at the stadium. I had made the decision that the all-inclusive Legends Club seats were the way to go. After doing a little math in my head after the game, I'm starting to believe that maybe sitting closer to the field and just buying our food would have been cheaper. Oh, well...you live, you learn...and the fudge brownies were de-lish.
At one point near the end of the game, a foul ball was hit along the first base line and I saw two guys catch it and start hugging it out like it was the most magical moment ever. At the time I thought, "Hmmm...those queer looking fellows look familiar..."
When we made our way to Show-Me's (the second-rate Hooters of Missouri) after the game, we learned that those guys looked familiar for a reason. Seth and Angelo had caught the foul ball. When Seth showed Logan the foul ball the next day, he touched it and excitedly asked, "Can I play t-ball with it?" (Awwww, sweet Logie...thinking that you will be able to make use of a ball that will ultimately end up sitting around, collecting dust...how cute are you??)
My favorite part of the evening was when I heard the classy waitress scream from behind the bar and turned to look at her bringing everyone their chicken wings. When she was dropping them all off she was sure to warn us not to ever get chicken wing sauce in an open cut. The only thing I could focus on was the fact that she just informed us that her open wound touched our food. Needless to say, I stuck with water that night.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Porky Pig

Monday:

I'm starting to believe that this "blog about every single day" idea was a bad one, but I shall continue on and allow you to suffer through it with me...

Monday morning I woke up and walked by Thomas (who was already up for work) and asked how he slept and if he wanted anything for breakfast. I then got a bowl of cereal and walked back into the living room where he proceeded to ask me, "Hey! When did you get up?"

Apparently, my grandparents aren't the only ones that can't differentiate between my mom's voice and mine (although, he stands firm in his argument that he just didn't expect me to be awake, so he just assumed that it was my mom talking to him...I guess I can choose to believe him).

Around noon, I went to my mom's work to meet her for lunch, which ended up being more of an event than we had originally anticipated. First we tried El Tio Pepe (Who says I don't ever have an opinion? I wanted Mexican, darnit!), but my poor little Mexican joint had burnt down. We then went with my mom's choice of Great Harvest Bread Company, but apparently they are closed (errrr...."loafin'", as it said on the door) on Mondays. When my mom and I had both exhausted our first choices, we just put a bunch of restaurant names in a hat and drew one out (I'm kidding...we didn't have a hat in the car, we put the names in a tin can). We eventually ended up at Chili's.


After lunch, I went to the grocery store, went home and made random sides to go with the BBQ my mom was bringing home after work until it was dinner time (why are all of these blogs about eating?? Dang...seriously...). Seth, Laura, Logan, Sadie, and my grandparents came over around 5:30 and we hung out and ate BBQ (or "Porky Pig", as Logan calls it...which is a little disturbing since he won't eat pork unless you tell him it's that lovable cartoon character with a speech impediment). After eating about 5 bites of dinner, Logan wanted to go watch Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for about 5 minutes until he was on to his next activity. Eventually, everyone just went home, Thomas went downstairs to watch fuzzy TV and I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30. Go ahead and say it...I know you want to. I'm a freaking party animal.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Detour!

I'm taking a slight break from the 10 day vacation blogging extravaganza to share a video of a friend of mine that was on Fox and Friends.

I met this guy (Adam's older brother) almost 10 years ago and he is arguably the quietest (and shyest) dude I've ever met in my life.

The reason he was on Fox and Friends is because his pit crew (he's on Jeff Burton's pit crew) won the Pit Crew Challenge and he was there to show them how a catch can man does what he does.

If you want to fast forward the video (which wouldn't let me embed, so you'll have to click on the link) to 6:10, you'll see Andy (he's the only guy wearing a hat)...

After the Show Show: 5/4

My favorite parts of the video, you ask? (Don't deny it...you are dying to know...)
1. Andy is very much a smoker (well, unless he's recently switched exclusively to the chaw). I believe that's why his pit crew fellows were chuckling.
2. Around 3 minutes in, he disappears thinking that he won't be interviewed. Nice try, Andy, nice try...
3. Interviewer: "Prilosec is one of your sponsors? That stuff works great, right?" Andy: "I don't take it." (Way to sell it, buddy...)

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

"I mean, I love America too...but I'm not gonna put it on my car."


Sunday:

I really wish I had more to talk about when it comes to the Sunday that we left for St. Louis. What it boils down to is that Thomas picked me up at 7am and we drove 13 hours to get to St. Louis (an extra hour due to the fact that the NCDOT was about 3 months late on cleaning up the rock slide in Asheville and we had to take the scenic route, which is actually a lot less scenic than the original route).

During this trip, we were able to bear witness to a giant Confederate flag along the highway and many, many American flags on the back of various cars. I've come to the conclusion that Tennessee is the most patriotic state in America. We also took a bit of a detour through Carthage...and North Carthage, Tennessee in an attempt to find something de-lish to eat. What we ended up finding was a lot of run down and closed buildings with a few creepy looking people sprinkled about the town. Needless to say, we didn't stop and we ended up at a quaint little eatery, creatively named "Arby's".

I was also able entertain Thomas by pointing out every landmark from Rend Lake, IL on into St. Peters, MO...which was roughly the last 3 hours of the trip. I can't confirm this, but I really think he enjoyed it and was fascinated with the vast knowledge that I was dumping all over him like slime at the Kids' Choice Awards (wow...a Kids' Choice Awards reference....this blog just keeps getting better and better...).

When we made it to my mom's house at 8 that night, I immediately ran out to grab an Imo's Pizza for dinner. I either was really hungry or I really love Imo's. Either way...I was really happy by 8:27.

I really don't think we did much else that night...so now you get to wait until tomorrow's post to see what we did on Monday. Isn't reading a blog about every day fun? No?? Oh, well...get over yourself.

I only took one picture on the way to STL. At one point, I started believing that Thomas only drank those Starbucks Mocha drinks so that he would have a handy container to spit his sunflower seeds in.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Gotta love a 6PM bedtime.

Saturday:

When my alarm went off at 5am, it felt as if I had just fallen asleep (I can't imagine why). I eventually rolled out of bed and made it to Chris' house by 6:15. Brian, Thomas, Chris, and I then drove down to Ballentyne to make it to the ALS walk by 6:45.

By the time we got there, the rain had started and the set-up maps were passed out. After taking roughly 34 minutes to figure out the map (I'm what would be considered "directionally challenged"), we started tossing tables and tents all over the joint.

It is a little weird that my favorite part of the whole walk was the bluetooth guy (does anything make someone look like a doucher more than a bluetooth permanently attached to their head??) that dramatically gave me the critical task of making sure that everyone eats something (it was described as "the most important job"). Now, personally, I believe that if you are over the age of 3, you have the ability to decide if you are hungry or not. Do I really need to run around and shove bagels down a 32 year old's throat? Well, maybe for fun...sure, but because they couldn't take the time to simmer down and grab a bite to eat? Probably not.

After the walk (and after Brian won a fabulous shop-vac gift pack), we cleaned everything up (which is a heckuvalot easier than setting everything up) and made our way to Red Robin (with a slight detour) for some lunch. When lunch was over, I went home to finish packing and to take a nap.

My nap began at 6pm...and lasted for about 11 hours.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Hey mom...guess what? I blogged.

When I was in St. Louis this past week, it seemed like every day my mom would sit at the computer desk and say, "Ohhh...you didn't write a blog today."

Now looking back, I think maybe it would have been easier to blog while on vacation. At least then I would have remembered everything that happened.

So in my attempt to suck as many blogs out of this vacation as possible (look who is lacking material!), I'm going to blog about every. single. day. You read that right, dear blog reader, you are getting 10 separate blogs about one vacation. How lucky for you!

Day 1:

I had high hopes for Friday when I woke up, which is a good thing since it started off awesome and only got awesomer. What made it so awesome, you ask? (Let's pretend that you ask a lot of questions.)
Well, not one thing in particular (I'm lying...it was the first day of having 10 days off in a row. How could someone NOT have an amazing day??)

After spending the day packing for vacay and having a little baking fun, I went over to Papa and Lulu's house to pick up Brian to take him over to Thomas' hizzy for some BBQ action. I should have known that Brian would be running behind (in no way is that a slam on Brian, but isn't it about time that I learned that past experiences should dictate future expectations??). Not that it was a big deal, I just hung out on the couch with Brian's brother Bob for about half an hour. We discussed a wide range of fascinating topics including (but obviously not limited to) trees, Arkansas, college, and bugs.

When Brian got home, we made our way to the Lervkins abode (I've just recently figured out/"been told" where the name Lervkins came from. Wow. Sometimes I feel really dumb). There was some pretty intense BBQness happening and to be perfectly honest, I kind of wish I took some of the leftover pork (you know....if there was some actually left over).

Post-dinner, we broke out the Apples to Apples. After 5 rousing games, we called it a night so that we could get enough sleep for Saturday's early morning ALS walk...