So lately my mom has been wanting me to clean out my room at home. This weekend my wonderful friend Erin and I did just that. We cleaned and sanded down dressers and sorted through tons of old papers. We found some of the most interesting things that a person could hoard: a piece of tin foil, a bow, old high school lunch menus, senior pics, millions of cards, high school and grade school notes, crush matches, and our favorite...my old book of poems from grade school. I will now share with you two limericks from the book of poems.
1) There once was an old lady thats fat; who lived in a house with a cat; the lady sat down; with a big frown; and now it's goodbye to the cat. (wtf Sarah?!? who writes these kinds of things as a child?!?)
2) There once was a young boy named Frank; who loved to go to the bank; he lost his money; it wasn't funny; so he gave himself a spank. (once again...I was just too clever for my own good)
It was a very exhausting day but we had the best time searching through my old belongings and reading about which boys smelled in high school and which girls we hated or what teachers were giving us evil glares. Also, I found my old basketball season totals from 7th and 8th grade...yup, I scored a total of 12 points throughout the season...ballin'
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Feeding Frenzy
Yes, it's another story dealing with my work...I'm sorry to entertain you yet again.
I arrive at work at 9am. I get a phone call asking to come into the office for a meeting discussing some issues. Issues?!? What is going on?? Heart rate rising and I'm nervous. What did I do wrong? Anxiously, I drive to the office with my consumer to hash out this problem. I sit there and hear one side of the story and then give my side of the story...what's the problem you're wondering?!?
I arrive at work at 9am. I get a phone call asking to come into the office for a meeting discussing some issues. Issues?!? What is going on?? Heart rate rising and I'm nervous. What did I do wrong? Anxiously, I drive to the office with my consumer to hash out this problem. I sit there and hear one side of the story and then give my side of the story...what's the problem you're wondering?!?
Yup, that's right, English Muffins. My panicking and increased anxiety was all because of some harmless English Muffins. Apparently I'm a bad person if I don't let people eat what they want in order to help protect them against high cholesterol and obesity. I'm sorry. I'll stop. As for the rest of you let's try to eat healthy and not eat 4 English Muffins at once oozing with butter so much that it's literally pouring off when you take a bite. Thanks, I'll appreciate having my friends around longer. Also, in the end, I still have my job and I was told I'm doing everything fine and that educating is part of what I was trained to do. I still don't know if I'll ever get over this one though.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Balloon chasing
This past weekend I went to Cedar Rapids to attend my sister's graduation ceremony and hang out with friends. Well, I got a phone call from my friend Jacob informing me of this crazy thing called "balloon chasing". Of course, I said yes and had no idea what i was getting myself into. Here is the story of my balloon chasing adventure...
Team: Me, Parker, Tyler V., Jacob, and Jeannie (Parker's mom).
Location: Meet outside a Baptist Church
Time: 6pm (remember this time)
It's about 5:45pm and I'm at Parker's house. Everyone (except Jacob) loads into the jeep and heads to the church where the balloon will be taking off from. We sit in the car fearfully waiting for what we were getting ourselves into. We wanted to wait for Jacob to show up before we'd get out of the car but unfortunately we couldn't wait for him any longer as we were getting death stares from the other crew members wondering who we were. So, we hesitantly get out of the car and head to the open area. We watch the other crew members set up the basket and then we were told we were moving locations. WHAT?!?! you want us to get into two cars with random strangers and take us to an open field?!? This scenario was slowly turning into my nightmare...so, we piled into one car with strangers and took off. On the ride over to the field I felt safe because I was in the way back of the SUV and thankfully I had a tire iron in between my legs for safety. If anyone wanted to pull a quick one on me, they'd have to meet my tire iron friend first...
We arrive at the new field (note: still no Jacob) and still have no idea what we're doing. So slowly they start showing us what to do and teaching us about "ballooning" and the ways of this secret hobby. Everything is going smooth and we're trying to make the most of the scary situation we're in by joking about playing "parachute" with the balloon and then getting scolded by another crew member...oops. The pilot then says he needs someone to come over and help him. I made a rookie mistake by volunteering to go over and help. My job: hold onto the rope and keep the mouth of the balloon open while the pilot filled the balloon with hot air. There I was with no gloves (Jacob had them) holding onto rope that was burning my hand and flames were shooting next to me. I already hate fire so when the pilot told me it was going to be loud and hot my heart rate skyrocketed. The whole filling up the balloon with air was going smoothly until the balloon wanted to rise off the ground and my foot started slipping...it was at this moment that I needed help and looked like I was going to pee myself (see pic).
Team: Me, Parker, Tyler V., Jacob, and Jeannie (Parker's mom).
Location: Meet outside a Baptist Church
Time: 6pm (remember this time)
It's about 5:45pm and I'm at Parker's house. Everyone (except Jacob) loads into the jeep and heads to the church where the balloon will be taking off from. We sit in the car fearfully waiting for what we were getting ourselves into. We wanted to wait for Jacob to show up before we'd get out of the car but unfortunately we couldn't wait for him any longer as we were getting death stares from the other crew members wondering who we were. So, we hesitantly get out of the car and head to the open area. We watch the other crew members set up the basket and then we were told we were moving locations. WHAT?!?! you want us to get into two cars with random strangers and take us to an open field?!? This scenario was slowly turning into my nightmare...so, we piled into one car with strangers and took off. On the ride over to the field I felt safe because I was in the way back of the SUV and thankfully I had a tire iron in between my legs for safety. If anyone wanted to pull a quick one on me, they'd have to meet my tire iron friend first...
We arrive at the new field (note: still no Jacob) and still have no idea what we're doing. So slowly they start showing us what to do and teaching us about "ballooning" and the ways of this secret hobby. Everything is going smooth and we're trying to make the most of the scary situation we're in by joking about playing "parachute" with the balloon and then getting scolded by another crew member...oops. The pilot then says he needs someone to come over and help him. I made a rookie mistake by volunteering to go over and help. My job: hold onto the rope and keep the mouth of the balloon open while the pilot filled the balloon with hot air. There I was with no gloves (Jacob had them) holding onto rope that was burning my hand and flames were shooting next to me. I already hate fire so when the pilot told me it was going to be loud and hot my heart rate skyrocketed. The whole filling up the balloon with air was going smoothly until the balloon wanted to rise off the ground and my foot started slipping...it was at this moment that I needed help and looked like I was going to pee myself (see pic).
So, Ted (crew member), came to my rescue right as we lifted the balloon up. We all held the balloon down to the ground while the pilot told us what the plan was. It was bout 6:45pm (no Jacob) and we were all getting ready to take off and follow the balloon that we just released into the air. Once again, we were told to pile into cars with strangers as we drove around the Cedar Rapids area chasing this balloon. FINALLY, we get a phone call from Jacob saying he overslept and was on his way. Jacob showed up after all the hard work was done and we were piling into the car. Of course right when I saw Jacob's car I bolted from the stranger's vehicle and ran to Jacob's car and yelled at him to get in the car and drive. Sure enough, Tyler and Parker were right behind me running towards Jacob. Poor Jeannie (Parker's mom) was stuck in the other car with Ted...oops. And off we were to chase the hot air balloon we launched.
We followed the balloon and helped catch the balloon when it was landing. I was warned that you do NOT want to get in front of the basket to catch it because it was 5,000lbs. of force coming at you. You know once I heard that warning I stayed as far away as I could. So, for my first ballooning experience, I'd say it was pretty successful. I really enjoyed being dramatic and joking about "chasing the balloon" as if it was a tornado (the balloon moves 1mph...). It was a very interesting experience and someday I'll make a documentary entitled, "The Secret Life of Ballooning".
Friday, April 23, 2010
I give up
I'm sorry I have failed all of you or that one person who reads this post. It's been a long time and I never finished my spring break update and truth is, I don't think I'm going to. Bottom line: I had an AMAZING time and just don't want to think about how much I miss the beach.
Now I just read an email (a forward that my mom sent me) and thought it would be very rude of me not to share some of these humorous real life experiences with my friends, so here goes:
1. There is a great need for a sarcasm font.
2. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
3. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
4. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
5. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
6. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent an A-hole from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!
7. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
Andddd my personal favorite: There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
**I'm not sure who the genius is that wrote these but they are so true and there are quite a few more in the email so if you want the full version, just shoot me a message. Enjoy**
Now I just read an email (a forward that my mom sent me) and thought it would be very rude of me not to share some of these humorous real life experiences with my friends, so here goes:
1. There is a great need for a sarcasm font.
2. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
3. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
4. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
5. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
6. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent an A-hole from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!
7. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
Andddd my personal favorite: There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
**I'm not sure who the genius is that wrote these but they are so true and there are quite a few more in the email so if you want the full version, just shoot me a message. Enjoy**
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
It's been too long...
Welp, I've returned from my much needed vacation and had about a week of depression because I missed it so much. The beach has stolen my heart again and has helped motivate me to move once more (just what I needed). I'll slowly type a few things about my vacation so that I will not overwhelm all of you at once.
Saturday: The trip was GREAT! My car left around 7:30am on Saturday and arrived in Gulf Shores around 11pm Sat. night. The drive down went by pretty fast and everything was going smooth until...I hit a raccoon. Yup, my first roadkill ever. I thought I would be sad the first time I hit a helpless animal but nope, it gave me this big adrenaline rush and I soon found myself wanting to hit more raccoons (sick, I know). Luckily, for mother nature's sake, I did not hit anymore innocent animals. I did realize how scary parts of the south can be. For example, in Mississippi we saw about 5 huge burning torches in the middle of nowhere (not sure what they were all about), about 10 stray live/dead dogs running around the highway or in the ditch dead/sleeping (seriously MS, let's get this situation under control), and garbage everywhere. Gulf Shores was a beautiful area and until you arrive in the actual city you feel as if you're in a horror movie (Jeepers Creepers is what my car felt like). But in the end we made it safely and I love road trips so I was never too upset on the ride down.
Sunday: Woke up, called me ma out by the pool, and laid out alllll day long by the pool. It was perfect. The temp was warm if you were in the sun otherwise the wind gave you a few goosebumps here and there. Damn wind cooled me down so much I didn't know I was being burnt alive by the sun until that night when we went out and I looked like a tomato. Sunday was rehearsal day so the wedding party rehearsed while the rest of us had a few drinks inside before we all headed to "Tacky Jacks" for dinner. Tacky Jacks was an exciting restaurant. Located right on the ocean front and three stories tall. You could eat inside or out and the best part was that the menu was small enough so I didn't stress over a million items on what to eat for dinner. Food was good too. After dinner, we headed to a karaoke bar called Live Bait. Ohhh karaoke...yep, after a few drinks I stood on stage and sang, "Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen, oops. Other than karaoke I just drank and danced and had a lovely time. Everyone was super nice and welcoming. After Saturday and Sunday, I knew it was going to be a great week.
Well, there's the weekend for now, a little later I'll write about some other memorable (keyword) days of the week.
Of course the song of the day/blog will be, "Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen; Enjoy.
Saturday: The trip was GREAT! My car left around 7:30am on Saturday and arrived in Gulf Shores around 11pm Sat. night. The drive down went by pretty fast and everything was going smooth until...I hit a raccoon. Yup, my first roadkill ever. I thought I would be sad the first time I hit a helpless animal but nope, it gave me this big adrenaline rush and I soon found myself wanting to hit more raccoons (sick, I know). Luckily, for mother nature's sake, I did not hit anymore innocent animals. I did realize how scary parts of the south can be. For example, in Mississippi we saw about 5 huge burning torches in the middle of nowhere (not sure what they were all about), about 10 stray live/dead dogs running around the highway or in the ditch dead/sleeping (seriously MS, let's get this situation under control), and garbage everywhere. Gulf Shores was a beautiful area and until you arrive in the actual city you feel as if you're in a horror movie (Jeepers Creepers is what my car felt like). But in the end we made it safely and I love road trips so I was never too upset on the ride down.
Sunday: Woke up, called me ma out by the pool, and laid out alllll day long by the pool. It was perfect. The temp was warm if you were in the sun otherwise the wind gave you a few goosebumps here and there. Damn wind cooled me down so much I didn't know I was being burnt alive by the sun until that night when we went out and I looked like a tomato. Sunday was rehearsal day so the wedding party rehearsed while the rest of us had a few drinks inside before we all headed to "Tacky Jacks" for dinner. Tacky Jacks was an exciting restaurant. Located right on the ocean front and three stories tall. You could eat inside or out and the best part was that the menu was small enough so I didn't stress over a million items on what to eat for dinner. Food was good too. After dinner, we headed to a karaoke bar called Live Bait. Ohhh karaoke...yep, after a few drinks I stood on stage and sang, "Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen, oops. Other than karaoke I just drank and danced and had a lovely time. Everyone was super nice and welcoming. After Saturday and Sunday, I knew it was going to be a great week.
Well, there's the weekend for now, a little later I'll write about some other memorable (keyword) days of the week.
Of course the song of the day/blog will be, "Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen; Enjoy.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Pearly Whites
I went to the dentist yesterday for the first time in a very looonng time. I don't know how I ever let myself go for this long. I love dentists, I love teeth, and I used to want to be a dental hygienist. My only wish for my dentist appt. was to not have any cavities.
Bad News:
Song of the Day: "Bird of the Summer" by A Fine Frenzy (spring is coming!)
Bad News:
- I brush too hard (I've been warned from my friends of this issue before).
- My gums are recessed a little bit (basically they're exposing my roots a little)
- I have long roots so I don't see myself losing my teeth and looking like a hillbilly in the future.
- I have strong solid teeth.
- I only have 3 wisdom teeth so less pain if I have to get them removed (mom sold the other one on the black market).
- NO CAVITIES!
Song of the Day: "Bird of the Summer" by A Fine Frenzy (spring is coming!)
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