Sunday, November 30, 2008

I'm stuck. . .

Not that I have mental block or anything like that. . . well. . . I guess that might be debatable. . .


No I'm stuck back home in IL. Last night when I went to bed there was talk of 1-2 inches of snow. I laugh at 1-2 inches of snow. But what I don't laugh at is completely and partially covered interstates. No sirree. I do not laugh at those. I had to drive 4 times last year on those suckers and I refuse to do it now. And with fog this time. No thanks! Around 3pm today most of the roadways I would take to get back home, were now clear of ice and snow and were what the IDOT says are "wet". But seeing as I would be driving in the dark and with Holiday traffic then for the majority of my route, I just didn't want to chance anything. And I don't know why leaving at 6am to drive back is a good idea or not. I know my parents for sure appreciate it!


I am definitely thankful for my family and friends. And this week/weekend I always get to see my friends from high school. And I miss them more than they know sometimes. Especially my guy friends. It doesn't matter how old we get, they somehow go back to how we were in high school. And for some reason this time, we decided to relive some of our high school days by driving after the bars to our old haunts. Like through the high school parking lot. . . to the old haunted cemetery by the high school. . . in the country like we were going to an old friend's house. . . to Hangman's Barn. . .through Thadd's Road. . . and then back by the grade school. And we did this until 4am. I don't know what's wrong with us either. Thank goodness I quit drinking after the bar as I would have felt like shit like the rest of the guys. . .and maybe Kaci. :)

Out of all the Haunts. . . Hangman's is still the creepiest. I'll post a pic when I get back to my computer and upload my pics. You can see it's creepiness then. Hangman's is barn off of a country road in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the woods, with a small creek running by it, up a worn dirt path, where a guy supposedly hung himself many, many years ago. And if you look through the barn, you can supposedly see him still swinging. Now I can't say that I ever actually saw him because like I have mentioned before, my guy friend's are jerks, and whenever we would start to walk up to the barn, they would take off and run away from me. And I never quite made it up to the barn with the flashlight by myself because I am a complete and utter chicken. I actually got close enough to see the barn this year. . . from the car. . . and it was creepy. I'm sorry I can't think of any other adjective other than creepy.

I love going back home. I think in a way it boosts my self-esteem up if only momentarily. I was told that I was in the top 20 prettiest girl's at the bar. Then I realized there were only 20 girls. . . and then was upgraded to top 10. Thanks. My friend Kaci (normally a medium to dark brown) and Stephanie (blonde to light brown) both had died their hair really dark brown which prompted David to ask if there was a Goth convention in town. And which prompted David and Dustin (more David) to always refer to Stephanie as Medusa, Witch, or Dark Magic the whole night. Or for one of them to ask what type of Voodoo she was into now. But don't think Stephanie let them get away with it. Her typical response was "I can't hear you because you're balding." They didn't pick on Kaci as much because as they both stated when Stephanie mentioned they weren't picking on Kaci was that she usually had dark brown hair but that it's only slightly darker now.

On Saturday it was nice to have lunch with my other good friends from high school. We all live far away from each other, and now that two out of the four have children, we are only able to get together like twice a year as opposed to every other month or every two months like we used to. I guess that's the sucky part of being a grown up now.

**UPDATE**
I did make it back safely. It just took forever today. My normal 45-60 minute drive took 2.5 hours. I got stuck going up a hill when a semi was quasi jack knifed on the road and ditch and the snow plow I was following stopped to help him which caused me having to stop. Which then caused me being stuck on the icy slope known as the hill in the road. So after some attempts of putting sand by my tires I got unstuck for a car length and then stuck again. So a nice group of guys in a truck tried to push me up the hill as opposed to using their truck to do it, but they couldn't get a grip on the road to actually push me, seeing as it was a sheet of ice. Luckily they had a rope in their car and decided to pull me all the way up the hill instead as this would be much safer. I thank them sooo much. Stupid, stupid snow. But it's only stupid when I have to drive in it and it drifts over the road causing it to be unsafe for me. :)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Wedding Bells

Again, not mine. But I am totally and utterly fine with that. . . maybe. . . ;)

Anyway, D$ is getting married on Saturday!! WAHOO!!!!!!

Congrats! Congrats!!!

I wonder if she'll let me post pics on here?? I'll definitely post them of my nephew because he's the ring bearer. And he's utterly adorable.

Why it's nice to be me. . .

So last night I went over to my friend Sarah's so we could mess with my hair and see how I should wear it for the wedding this weekend. Well Sarah jokes that we could drink wine while we're doing it because it's definitely been one of those weeks.

Well Wine Rep lives by her so I suggest I'll just go over there and get some. I texted him and said "Hey is it okay if I steal some wine from you today?" Later in the afternoon he texts me back and says that it's okay, but he has strep throat, and he doesn't want me to get it, so he'll just put some by the front door. He said he'd probably be passed out in his bed when I got there.

Yeah, he totally was out. And he put a whole case by the front door.

How nice is that?? Seriously??

And don't worry. . . we didn't drink the whole case. Just a couple of bottles between three of us girls.

And Sarah made Tator Tot casserole. It was delicious.

And obviously I learned from my mistake the prior week of drinking wine on an empty stomach. Oh and I probably only had maybe 3 glasses of wine. If that. Instead of the whole bottle and a half I had by myself last week. Yeah. . .

So this one time. . .

I must say that I absolutely LOVE my mom.

And all of her weird quirks.

When you move out away from Home, it's always your mom that gets stuck calling and telling you bad news. My Dad called me once with bad news when his Mom died, and he wanted to call us at 2am and my Mom said that he should wait. So he waited until 5am. When I was little we always joked because the only time my Dad's Mom seemed to call was when she had bad news or birthdays. My Mom, however, calls me almost every morning on her drive. And then acts surprised when I am getting ready for work.

Anyway, for awhile, it seemed my Mom was calling and then would say "Oh yeah, this person has cancer now or this person isn't doing well or this person is really sick." And then she would joke and say she turned into my Grandma Mona. And we would laugh.

Well my mom dropped the ball this weekend. On Friday at 7:30pm my sister calls me and is crying hysterically because her dog got his by a truck and died about an hour ago. And Gunner, was a pretty awesome dog. They got him as a puppy when my sister was pregnant with my nephew, so basically the dog and my nephew have grown up together. So it is pretty sad.

On Saturday I go to Gramps and we get to talking about how one of my cousins is the assistant coach for the school's State Bound Football team. And Gramps asked how he was related and I said "Oh his Mom and my Mom are 1st cousins. Our Grandpas are brothers." And then he goes on to say how he didn't know my Great Uncle all that well. Fast forward to later in the afternoon when Gramps and I are reading the paper. And Gramps says "Your uncle died." And I said "WHAT???"

So I call my parents right away thinking that maybe one of Mom's siblings dropped the ball in calling any of us. My Dad was too lazy to get off the chair to bring Mom the phone while she was sitting at her chair and asks why I need to talk to Mom. I tell him and he starts laughing. "Cath-you forgot to tell A that Harold died on Friday." Not nice Mom. But I did feel a little better seeing as she forgot to tell my sister as well. So on my way home from Gramps I am talking to her on the phone and she says "So are you going to represent the family??" And I said "Mom, while I would like to do that, I would have waited to see Gramps today had I known the visitation was tomorrow. That's another 3 hours drive."

I started to feel guilty. And called my uncle and he told me not to worry that our side would be represented well because my other aunts and he were all going and none of the great nieces and nephews were on our side, so I shouldn't feel obligated.

I hadn't seen my great uncle for almost two and a half years. He was in the same care center as my Grandpa and once Grandpa died, I couldn't bring myself to go there and visit anymore. And what's even sadder, is that the last time I saw him was at my Grandpa's funeral. And the last real one-on-one conversation I remember having with him was at my Grandpa's death bed. I was close to him growing up seeing as he lived next to my Grandparents. But he was 95 and he lived a great life. He had dementia so it was a blessing. I just kind of miss the last connection to my other Grandpa.

It's just weird that this month, we lost a close family friend and my great uncle and Gunner. It's also weird that all my Grandpa's brothers died around Holidays. My Grandpa's oldest brother died the week before Christmas when I was in 8th grade. My Grandpa died the day before Father's Day. And my uncle died close to Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving.

Woah. Not meaning to be a Debbie Downer!! Sorry! I'm okay really. Now if it was my Gramps or H's Grandparents I would be an absolute basket case. I am ridiculously close to her Grandparents. And sometimes MJ (H and her are 1st cousins) and I joke that they like me better than her because I see them more. Which probably isn't true. . . maybe. . .

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Dear HIMYM,

We have a problem. And it's you. It's not me. I liked you. I really liked you. In fact, I thought that I might have loved you. But recent events have caused me to question you. And my relationship with you. And how I thought I knew the real you. Everything was happy, and then you just went and disappointed me. And left me scarred.

Speidi?? Really?? As a guest? You can't even call them guests really. Nor can you call them actual people. Spencer makes me kind of gag in my mouth. And Heidi. . . well. . . they are worse than Paris Hilton. And that's really saying a lot. I feel their 15 minutes of fame are up and you HIMYM are just helping and enabling them.

It hurts that you would choose them in a way over me. We had something and you made it cheap. I'm not saying I won't stay close to you. . . I'm just saying it's going to be hard to go back to where things were. It will take awhile. Give me some time to work through my issues and then I'll re-evaluate where we are at. But until then, I'm holding a grudge.

Sincerely,

A

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Is this ESP?!?

I think it's funny how there are some people in your life you just have this certain connection to. You can only know them for a short time yet they can read your mind and finish your sentences. Or you can know them forever and they know absolutely nothing about you.

Today the latter happened. I was hanging out with Jenna and Johnathon this afternoon since I hadn't seen them in forever, and Jenna asked me if I had seen the moving Saving Silverman. I said that no I haven't seen the movie yet. Then when Johnathon gets done putting up the walls in the basement he comes up and Jenna informs him we are going to get the movie Saving Silverman at the Red Box, and Johnathon said that when he looked the other day it wasn't there. And we were both in shock that it wouldn't be there. And then we both realized that the name of the movie is actually Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I knew exactly what movie she was talking about even though she wasn't saying the correct name of the movie. I also have seen Saving Silverman numerous times and love that movie for some unbeknownst reason. I have no idea how I knew what she was talking about! haha!!

I also enjoyed Forgetting Sarah Marshall. However, I do feel that someone should have warned me that I would be seeing a frontal of Jason Segel about 7 times. And I guess thank you Jason Segel for allowing me to now picture you naked every time I watch HIMYM. Or not thank you. I'm not sure yet. . .

Friday, November 14, 2008

Just a Friendly Reminder. . . because I forgot. . .

Never, EVER drink a lot of wine on a virtually empty stomach and then don't eat supper.

This morning I had a slight headache and by slight headache I mean I thought my temples were going to explode. I even got up and worked out and showered and then all of a sudden I thought I was going to hurl! Not good.

My friend Casey came over after work and we were just going to drink one bottle of wine. I had a nice assortment of Leftse, wrapper cheese, Tomato and Basil Wheat thins, pepperoni, these new cheddar Lays cracker crisps, and Baked Sour Cream and Cheddar Lays. Talk about a spread! haha! Anyway, I should state. . . I ate some crackers, cheese, pepperoni, and some Leftse. Not in the amount that one would call filling by any means. Well as Casey and I finished off the bottle of red wine, we decided to open a bottle of white. Just about as Dean got to my place we finished the white.

This is also the point in time where I am pretty tipsy. So Dean starts talking about the new girl and Casey gives him her advice on it. That he shouldn't date her if he's not sure about her in the first place. And when he asks my advice I just simply state, I cannot comment on these things.

Well Casey leaves like an hour after she was supposed to be home, and Dean turns to me and asks why I can't comment on these things. But before I could answer he asks me if I think this new girl is cute. And I said "Honestly?" And he says "Yes." And I said "She's not cute. I'm prettier than she is." And he said "She's not that ugly." And I told him that it doesn't matter what I think anyway. He then asks if I texted him awhile ago that she was ugly. And when I drink I cannot lie to save my life and I was honest and told him. . .then quickly added "But I didn't mean to!!!" He then goes back to the original question of why can't a I comment. And so I bluntly tell him "It's because really no one that you date will ever be good enough because frankly they aren't me. You broke my heart and that's just the way it goes."

At this point in time his head is laying on my counter because I'm pretty sure I said more than that but that was the gist as to what I said. And he said "I'm sorry for breaking your heart. I didn't mean to." And I simply state "Well, you did. And it's done. And we're cool. Case Closed."

We start talking about other things and I think we're still friends, so I guess that's good. I already talked to him today and he responded. He's got a doctor's appointment today and he wants me to go to the hospital. I doubt he'll ever hang out with me alone again, but whatever. I got a lot of things off my chest, so I feel better. . . well sort of. . .my head still feels like it's detached from my body.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Is it me or is that song in your head too?

I hate when you hear a quote or something and then it just HITS you like a ton of bricks. And the sure impact of the comment has you thinking about a million different things now.

As I was watching TV the other night--Samantha Who? to be exact--the comment was made which stated "If you have to answer that you're "just friends" it probably means there is more than just friends to begin with."

I don't know why this comment just puzzles me. I guess because I have had several guy friends and guys who I wanted to be more than just friends with that this question has been asked of. But really that's my only thoughts about it. Is it a true statement?? Or is it just a good line from a good tv show?? I don't know.

I also wonder that why whenever my boss is in town I end up paying for dinner. He makes 3 times as much as I do. I do get to expense it, but last night our tab was $108 and well in my book, that's a lot of money and I had to pay for it and wait a week to get reimbursed. I really don't make that much money.

My boss also told me last night that I could probably just come and go as I please as long as I get things done either at home or in the office. But I know that if I just came and went as I pleased, so would my employees who aren't even good about getting things done like they should when they ARE in the office.

One of my employees is being completely bitchy to me today too. And has been a lot with me lately. And you know the funny thing?? This is the first time she's been here this week. Monday she was supposed to have a half day but her boyfriend reset the alarm when he woke up because he thought she had the day off. So she calls me at 9:30 when she woke up (Mind you I called her at 8:30) and told me what happened. We had Tuesday off for Veteran's Day (Thank you Veterans, and my dad, grandpa, uncles, etc that fought for our country and our freedoms) and then yesterday she took a sick day again. She has a lot of migraines (at least once or twice a month), and she can't come in or something like that. And I am nice and just let her make up her time and not even that weekend. Sometimes she makes up the time like months later. So really, being bitchy to me is not the way to go.

I had some other things in my head. . .but can't think of them at the moment.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I have a confession. . .

I'm watching Law & Order: SVU. . . and Jesse McCartney is on there. . . and well. . . I love you Jesse McCartney. I think you're maybe 21. Maybe. You've aged well my friend. You've aged well. You're sooo much cuter than that Zach Efron.

My Best Friend's Wedding

minus of course Julia Roberts, Rupert Everett, and Dermot Mulroney. Oh and me telling Ryan that I am in love with him, he can't marry his girlfriend, and he must marry me instead hours before he is supposed to walk down the aisle.

As I mentioned before, Ryan and I never had that weird, awkward relationship. EVER. Which is wonderful sometimes. I always had a date to things with him that I greatly appreciated.

Well Ryan was absolutely 100% right that I would know 3 people for sure and kind of know 1 other person. But don't worry, I made friends.

At the wedding, Tim sat me by Joel's brother Jeremy, his Mom, his Dad, and his Grandma who by the way is awesome. Later Joel told me his grandma told him what a great girl I was. Yep. I'm well aware! Duh. After the wedding was done and we were waiting for the bride and groom, I went up to Jeremy and Tim, who were talking to these 2 girls and when I walked up the 1 girl was saying how she found out she would be drinking water tonight. I asked Jeremy if he wouldn't mind saving me a seat at the reception. Jeremy said sure and Tim informed me that since he was just an usher, he wasn't sitting with the bridal party and could sit by me. Then the 2 girls said that since I didn't know anyone, I could sit with them and their parents. I thanked them for their hospitality and said that perhaps I would take them up on it. Then I realized I had met the one girl Brooke before in college. And probably hadn't seen her in like 6 years.

I had an hour and a half to burn between the wedding and reception and no one to burn it with. I tried calling Jill, Sarah, Wyatt, and Jeremy and no one answered. And because I have this weird thing about sitting at the bar by myself when I'm not waiting on people, I decided to hang out at my favorite bookstore, Pages for All Ages. I miss that bookstore.

Anyway, so I went to the reception and Jeremy and his family weren't there yet, so I sort of wander and look around and see Brooke and her family, so I sit with them. And thank goodness her sister Courtney wanted to go grab another drink. I told her how I was going to get a drink but I didn't want to be that girl standing at the reception all by herself with no friends drinking heavily. I totally made her my new best friend with that comment.

Well Courtney and Brooke grew up with Ryan, Joel, and Tim so they were telling me all these stories about them growing up and I was telling them stories that used to happen in college. This would also be about the time I started putting my foot in my mouth. . . repeatedly. . . and only two captain and diets in. I get this from my Dad. He does it on a regular basis, except he isn't aware that he's even doing it.

Let the foot comments begin:
Number 1:
Me: I'm kind of mad at Ryan for not telling me his sister is pregnant.
Courtney and Brooke: Ryan's sister isn't pregnant.
Me: Oh. . . that's right! It's you that's pregnant right??
Brooke: Oh my God! How'd you hear that??
Me: I think I must have heard you tell Tim today and then got confused and thought it was Ryan's sister! Sorry!!
Save. Thank goodness for my listening and remembering skills. I am pretty chubby. And Ryan's sister used to be super skinny. And apparently she has gained a lot of weight since I saw her 4 years ago. And it's all in her hips and lower stomach. Where you would carry weight if you were say pregnant or just had a baby. And since she didn't have a baby with her, I thought the latter. Yep. I am THAT girl now.

Number 2:
Me: Ooooh wait. . . wasn't there a Brooke that Joel was in love with like forever??
Courtney: I KNEW IT!! Joel did carry a torch for you forever!!
Me: This is awkward.
Brooke: Yeah I dated Tim in high school for awhile and then Senior year I dated Joel briefly and it almost caused an end to their friendship. But they worked it out.
Me: And apparently never talked about it again. . .
Brooke: So Joel liked me for awhile in college??
Me: Well. . . I mean. . .uhh. . . yeah. . . sometimes we had to go out to where you were at. . . and he'd always be really excited for you to come to their parties. . .
Thank goodness they only knew of this one time that I put my foot in my mouth. . .

I really only had two instances where I really put my foot in my mouth. The remainder of the night, Courtney took on the task.

Jeremy came and sat at our table and then Tim did when the wedding party arrived. Well when Tim sat down, Courtney grabbed his hand and said "So Andrea just told us how Joel used to have this crush on Brooke. And this was right after Mom was telling her how you used to come over and cry and tell her how much you liked Brooke." Then Tim says "Awwwkward. Thank goodness Andrea isn't my wife. And Andrea, I never cried. Maybe wined." Then when Joel sits down later, I inform him of my snafu, and he tells me that he's glad I came. And told Brooke how he pined for her for years and good thing her husband wasn't there to punch him!

Courtney kept telling me how much I acted like their sister's friend Casey, so she kept calling me Casey all night. Which was pretty funny. And it was nice how instantly Courtney, Brooke, and I clicked that night. They were the old friends that had remained close and I was the kind of new. Since Courtney and Brooke live back where my parents do now, we're going to hang out, so that was nice.

Tim was talking to me about how Joel was his Best Man and how he choked on his speech and just ended up saying "I'm usually a man of many words, but now I only have few. Congrats Tim on your marriage!!" So then about 10 minutes later, Joel sits down next to me and starts telling me how he wrote Ryan's speech last night when he got back home from the bar at 3am and Tim overhears him and says "Well at least HE gets a speech!" But I pointed out to Tim how he isn't bitter and Tim says "Well at least I dated Brooke longer!" haha!!

Quotes that I remember that were hilarious. . . at the time:
Joel in his speech saying how he and Ryan and him done a lot together through the years and started naming all the things he couldn't forget and says "Suspect #3 ran on foot"

Jeremy (who's 6'6") says to Courtney when she asks if he's gotten taller says "It's the pin stripes. They make you look taller."

Jeremy while sitting at the table starts saying (and showing) how his socks that match both his pin striped shirt and slacks and how he has to get his shirts tailored because he's so tall and his waist is so small. . . then says "I sound like a woman. I'll quit. I'm scaring myself."

Tim reminding me that Ryan used to hook up with a lot of my friends. . . in front of Ryan's new wife.

Joel to me "Hey remember when you told Brooke that I used to pine after her for years?? Yeah, that was cool."

Tim saying "Why on earth do you always go for midgets?" after Jeremy got done dancing with a girl that was maybe 5 foot. I told him that was mean and Jeremy says "No, he's right. My last girlfriend was 4'8". I think I like them right at my crotch."

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Yeah, yeah, yeah. . .

I'm alive. I was told that I haven't updated anything and there was some "Dying in anticipation" or something. I think she was only using "Dying" in the sense that she is just sarcastic and just wants something to do to avoid work. That's all I'm saying.

A few things really quick in order of my week so far.

1) Yes I'll give you the wedding write-up and even one about Halloween. Maybe even with pictures!! Of course if we're friends on facebook, you already have seen the pictures. And if not, look at them, they're posted.

2) My sister turned 33. WOAH.

3) A close friend of the family passed away.

4) I met O.A.R! Yeah, pretty awesome. And they are shorter than I expected. :)

5) Obama is President!!! Words cannot describe this. The other guy from IL that was elected to the presidency did a fantastic job in the short time he was in office. I'm hoping the same can be said again.

6) I met the girl Dean is seeing. I got diarrhea of the mouth. And don't you think it would be appropriate to say WARN someone that "Oh hey, the girl I'm seeing is coming to soccer and since I know you are too, just wanted to give you a heads up." Yeah. Didn't happen. Thank goodness someone got hurt and I had to tend to them right away, so she got a little less diarrhea of the mouth. Plus it's just weird because you don't know what or how much he has told her about me. This might have to be a post all itself! haha!!!