Saturday, July 31, 2010

Just call me Judgey McJudgerson

This commercial is on entirely too much in the Charlotte area and I can't help but be concerned with how this girl walks. Is it just me or is her saunter a little...ummm...messed up?? Like her legs don't have nearly enough muscle to hold up the rest of her body and flowing blonde hair???



I'm also loving the guy in the commercial. I think the wardrobe and hair people thought that it would be best to make him look like he's from 1995.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Colors seem to fade...

I was talking to a patient today like I usually do. The conversations generally start off the same; I'll ask the patients how they are, they'll give me a brutally honest response (there is something about a doctors' office that allows people to shut off their filter).
Today there was a man that was talking about how he had slowly lost his ability to see colors over a two year period (there really was a medical reason as to why he was sharing his story...I don't think he just goes around and tells people about this). He hadn't noticed that it was happening (the brain is a tricky, tricky thing), but started to realize it when he couldn't tell the difference between a red light and a green light and he only saw gray sky.
When he finally went to the doctor, he had his cataract removed and for the first time in 2 years he saw the world in technicolor.
I'm not going to say it's unusual to meet a happy patient, but it's definitely not the norm (eg. Earlier today I pleasantly said hello to someone and they responded with a cold, "Why are YOU so happy??"). For some reason I was fascinated by this man's story and all I could say was, "That must have been great to finally be able to see color after all that time."
He looked at me for a second and replied thoughtfully, "It was the most amazing feeling of my life."
I literally got goose bumps. Not because this man could finally see color, but because the only difference between us is that he knows what it's like to lose colors and then get it given back and I've always been able to see colors and don't appreciate it.
Throughout the last week, I have been on a roller coaster of emotions. Other than it exhausting me, it's kind of put a gray haze over my week. I was thinking...wouldn't it be awesome to have a fairly simple procedure done and finally be able to see all the great things your life has to offer?
Just take a little Claritin and finally see that life isn't so bad...

So, my goal for this weekend* (yes, I'm starting small) is to focus on all of the super colorful stuff my life has to offer and forget about every gray-ish thing happening around me.

*It's always best to not start with a program too quickly. I'm going to start with this whole "Sarah will appreciate colors" thing at 6pm. You know...when the weekend officially starts. Cheers!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

One Night Only: Hotlanta

On Tuesday, Chris had mentioned that he was thinking about going to Atlanta to see William Fitzsimmons on Friday. Since there have been quite a few times where a fantastic idea has been hatched, but not actually followed through with, I was excited, but not necessarily expecting it to happen (because, hey...other things come up and life happens, right??).
I got an email on Wednesday that said the tickets had been bought. Although I was super stoked about the whole prospect of seeing a singer that I love and hadn't been able to catch yet, I was nervous about something I had going on Friday morning so I couldn't really focus on the excitement of Friday night until around Friday at 12:30.
By Friday at 1, I was on my way to Chris' to meet him for the 4 hour drive down to Atlanta. We made it to the venue at 6, had dinner, and went upstairs a little bit before William made it to the stage (it was an early show in the smallest venue I'd ever been to). Not only was the show in a very small venue, it also was filled with about 100 people sitting on the floor like it was a school assembly.
William ended up being a pretty funny dude (at one point making a joke about suicide and then pointing out that he can do that since he's technically a psychotherapist; definitely my kinda guy) and put on a great show (I decided it was the third best show I've ever been to). Near the end of the show, he decided to come out to the middle of the crowd (about 10 feet away from us) to sing "Good Morning".
By 8:30, the show was over and we were on our way back to Charlotte. The way back home was a little slower than the way there thanks to two different traffic accidents and a stop by McDonald's for some late night grub. I'm proud to say that we made it home a little after 1am without Chris having a aneurysm as a result of the other drivers (although, if I had a blood pressure cuff, I'm pretty sure I would've been able to confirm that his blood pressure sky-rocketed at one point during the drive).

Nothing makes me feel more like my mother's daughter than driving 4 hours to see a show and then driving home immediately after.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Just Beachy.

I realized this morning that I never posted about the crew's trip to Isle of Palms over July 4th. Here are a few of the highlights...

The Windjammer: On the night of the 4th, Chris, Thomas, Rob, Wendy, MJ (Wendy's friend that came in for a night), and I went out to The Windjammer. I had heard about The Windjammer many times in the past and I thought it would be a huge bar with all sorts of beach-type fanciness happening. Apparently, the only reason I had heard of it before is because it's probably one of the oldest bars in IOP and if you've been to IOP, you've probably been to The Windjammer (and there is absolutely nothing "huge" or "fancy" about it). My highlight of that evening was seeing Chris' face when he saw the middle-aged gay bartender that had roofied both him and Thomas the last time they were at The Windjammer to see Josh Kelley. C had wanted to use the restroom, but promptly turned around and decided it would be better to wait for a bathroom-going buddy (something about how creepy 50-year old gay men like to follow cute boys into bathrooms). After downing a few very solidly poured drinks (they don't mess around at that bar), we decided to go home. We called for a taxi (along with every other intoxicated person in Isle of Palms) and they said it would be a bit over an hour. With that news, Thomas took my phone and text messaged our dear, dear friend Beth and asked if she was asleep. Although she very much was asleep, Beth is not the kinda gal that can leave her friends hanging and came to get us. While waiting on Beth to get to the bar, I made friends with a girl named Brandy who said she'd call the next day and we'd go out on her boat.
I can't say that I'm surprised or hurt that Brandy did not call the next day. *sigh* I guess it's time that I delete her number out of my phone.
Hank's: On Tuesday night, the crew went to a bar for a few pre-dinner drinks and then to an awesome seafood restaurant that Mike had been to before during a bachelor party weekend. There isn't much to say about it other than it was really, really yummy and I learned what cebiche is.
Nightswimming: On Wednesday night, we were once again feeling really good and decided to do a little nightswimming in the community pool. Mike, Beth, Wendy, Thomas, Lael, and myself made our way to the pool around midnight and decided that there really was no need for swimsuits (well, everyone except for Lael, who explained that teachers can't risk getting caught naked in a pool). While I was paying attention to the stars (it was so beautiful out that night) and not my swimsuit, I heard a commotion happening at the gate. The commotion ended up being about 34 20-something people coming into the pool area. Okay, so maybe there weren't that many strangers infiltrating our space, but when you have no clothes on, you definitely feel like there are a lot more than there actually are. At that point, I started frantically searching the perimeter of the pool for my swimsuit (while still in the pool). I knew it had to be somewhere...it's not like the thing had legs. Well, you know...unless your friend Lael used her legs to take it and hide it before the random strangers showed up. I have to say that I'm so trusting that never once did the thought of someone taking it cross my mind. Eventually, someone found it for me and threw it into the pool. When I finally got out of the pool, I was told that Thomas and Lael went to the big pool (aka: the ocean), so Mike, Beth, and I started running to where they supposedly were. On the way to the ocean, Beth bit it on the sidewalk (life lesson: don't run in flippies). I vaguely remember her lying on the concrete, laughing really hard. Mike said he was taking Beth home to clean her up while I exclaimed, "Okay! I'll go find Thomas and Lael!" (like I was doing them a favor or something) and I ran off to the ocean.
After what seemed like forever of yelling out to the ocean for Thomas and Lael, I went back to the house and told Mike (who was cleaning up Beth), Beth (who was wrapped up like a burrito on the couch), and Wendy (who was intensely working on a puzzle) that Thomas and Lael were missing. Seeing that I was distressed, Mike replied, "Well, maybe they went to sleep downstairs."
I then ran downstairs to search the bedrooms and came back upstairs in tears because at that point I was sure that they were dead in the ocean. While trying to explain to my friends why we should be worried, Thomas and Lael walked into the house...very much not dead.
Go figure...I was worrying for no good reason once again. Last week, Rob gave me some pretty solid advice on the subject, "Hey, Sarah...if a guy and a girl go missing and can't be found, it's probably because they don't want to be found."
Ohhh, if only Rob had not left the night before so he could of given me that advice the night of my freak out.

The engagement: On Thursday, Mike and Beth went out to Charleston to discover the city until around 4. When they got back, I was lounging on the couch, reading a book while Mike was getting dinner ready in the kitchen. Beth came and sat near me while we talked about the day. She was holding a yogurt in her left hand and when I finally looked away from my book to look at her, I was blinded by something on her ring finger. Needless to say, after reality struck, I started to completely freak out. Mikey had told no one that he was going to ask her (except for her parents...how sweet and completely proper is that??). Thomas was in the back room watching a movie and thought that I was freaking out about something completely different (I'm known to freak out about even the smallest stuff, I guess). Beth eventually went back there to tell him the big news. The night was topped off with an insanely delicious steak dinner and champagne toast. It was definitely the biggest and most memorable nights of the whole trip. Heck...it'll probably be one of my most memorable nights of my life (yeah...I am really, really, really happy for my friends...).

Nightgolfing: On our last night of the trip, we made our way to the golf course (in our backyard) at dusk to steal a little golf time on the 5th hole. While normally this hole wouldn't take Mike and Thomas too long to get through, they were golfing with Beth, Wendy, and me. I hadn't golfed in about 10 years, so needless to say, it took a little while to make contact to the ball. In no way was it a terribly successful golf outing if you're measuring success by getting the ball in the hole in a timely manner. Fortunately, I measure success by how much fun it was and I have to say...it was crazy successful.

Needless to say, this was just a quick recap of a week of awesomeness. I already feel like I've forgotten a bunch of stuff. To see the rest of the pictures from the trip, here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=457484&id=621210124&l=c15a45cdcf

Saturday, July 17, 2010

What does it MEAN?!?!?

My coworker called me on Thursday and asked me to stop by his desk. When I got there, he very seriously said, "You have to watch this."

After a pretty rough week, I thought there was something else that was about to go down.
I was completely oblivious to the fact that I was about to be given the magical gift of Native American hilarity.

Apparently this fella is a 400 pound Indian that really did wonder what the double rainbow meant....




As tears of funniness were streaming down my face (the video really did just get funnier and funnier), the only question I could ask (over and over, I might add) was, "Was he high????"

Rumor has it, he was only high on life.

(as an added bonus, you can also have the Double Rainbow song that someone on Youtube auto-tuned...I'm pretty sure it will soon be played in nightclubs across the country...)

Friday, July 16, 2010

The things you do to save money...

Recently, I've been trying to cut costs. One of the funnest (and totally not sucky) parts of this is getting creative with whatever random foods I happen to have in my pantry and freezer (who has had meatballs for the last week for breakfast? I'll never tell...). Although I usually stick with my own fridge, sometimes I can't help but raid the one at work. Earlier this week we had one of our referring offices come for lunch. Per the usual, my favorite marketer (HI KAREN!) ordered a tray of wraps from Camille's. There are a few reasons why we love having guests, but naturally one of the perks is the seemingly endless supply of leftovers. You'd think I'd get tired of Camille's since I've had half a wrap for lunch and dinner for the last three days, but sadly...I have not.

One of my finest moments of this money-saving endeavor came tonight when I was cleaning out the fridge for the weekend (who likes to return to work on Monday to the smell of something growing on mystery food?)

There were 7 leftover wraps in the fridge that would definitely not stay so delicious for 2 more days. What would you do? Throw them away, you say?? Oh, heavens no. Not on my watch.

While I appreciate that some people would feel comfortable throwing away that much edible food, I on the other hand, did not.

What did I do, you ask?

While I couldn't possibly consume that many tortillas (and honestly wasn't wanting that many carbs), I painstakingly unwrapped each one and picked every bit of chicken out of those wraps. It may sound like a lot, but, well...oh okay, who am I kidding? There was a bunch of chicken. Who cares, though? It's grilled chicken! How bad can it be for you??? Plus, who just had a free dinner consisting of bits of gourmet chicken (oh, yes...I just called it "gourmet"...I didn't have to cook it, therefore it's "gourmet". Just go with it, okay?)??? This gal!

Maybe next week's lunch meeting will be a Moe's (WELCOME TO MOE'S!!!) buffet and I'll be able to have my way with a tray of refried beans. A girl can only dream...

Thursday, July 1, 2010

I stole them.

So many times I've read my favorite blogger's status updates on Facebook and wanted to steal them. Unfortunately, I'd feel too guilty if I did that and all of my Facebook friends (other than my momzy...she's already fake friends with him) have suffered for it. Suffered because they haven't gotten to read the awesome one liners.
Seeing that I want to remember these, I'm going to make a list of some of my faves...

LeBron James signs with Washington Generals. Promises to "Destory Curly and the rest of the Globetrotters next season."

"Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it." Steve Jobs to mad customer. (I agree but Apple launched the iPhone 4 like it was made of unicorn tears)

"Eclipse is best Twilight film yet" (That's like saying "Getting punched hurts less than getting stabbed." It's relative)

"FIFA vows to fix officiating by November." Entire world points out that World Cup ends in July.

"This was a private incident between me and a bear," Best. Bear. Attack. Quote. Ever.

A guy is hitting on a girl on the train. I don't want to get off. It's like a low budget Bachelor. I want to see what happens next. Who will get the subway rose???

Watches don't break, they just become bracelets.

Portugal vs. Brazil is like a Kardashian-less version of the Lakers vs. the Celtics.

Sometimes I want to swim around in the Apple store like Scrooge McDuck in his money bin.

Diehard Lakers fan security guard jumped my car. Tempted to phone this day in to Delilah. Pretty sure Chicago can fix it.

It always terrifies me that airlines make you feel like it would only take one jerk playing bedazzled on their iPhone to crash the plane when electronics are supposed to be turned off.

Had dinner with MLB great John Smoltz last night. (He was a few tables over and didn't talk to me but that's semantics)

Just saw guy sitting in front of Apple store, using a Dell, wearing a shirt that said, "Your Mac sucks." He needed a hug.

Baseball announces they will not reverse perfect game call. Also tell kids Santa is not real & kicks puppy.

Burger King serving ribs might just be the fourth horseman heralding the end of days.

"Do you know the writer Jon Acuff? He lives near here." Stranger said to me at pool, upon meeting my family for first time. "I hear he's really handsome." My response.

There is no part of me that believes Kid Rock spent Detroit summers as a youth, "catching walleye & listening to Sweet Home Alabama"

I am convinced that the woman who turns on the light when she comes in at 9AM to work feels that the 20 of us who didn't turn it on are sitting in the dark because we were unable to find the switch.

Ever watch the last scene of the movie "Can't Hardly Wait" on Youtube over and over? No? Oh, me either. That'd be dumb.

Oil spill maybe "act of God." Texas Governor. (I'd argue but that breaks my "never argue with a guy who shot a coyote while jogging" rule)

NFL player Santonio Holmes kicked off plane for refusing to turn off iPod. Dang, how dope was the jam he had on! (My guess? It was Biz Markie, "Just a Friend." That song comes on, you don't turn it off.)

Okay...I'm forcing myself to stop. You get the point. I hope you found at least one as funny as I did.