Getting Ready for a Party**UPDATE**

So McMommy is turning 30 in a few weeks. And we seem to have a similar theory, mantra, creedo to birthdays....CELEBRATE THE HECK OUT OF IT.

I am working on some fun blogging buttons for her Carnival Birthday Extravaganza!
I love my photoshop...it is just sad that I only have it at work and can't play all night at home, but my dog and laundry pile are probably glad that I don't. KW is in finals mode right now, so he doesn't care as much.

Right now, I am trying to link this picture to a website. I have written the code that I know how to do...works on my schools website, emails, etc. but it is no good for blogger.

Does blogger just not let you do this? Stupid Blogger!?! Any one out there know what to do?

Thanks.
**UPDATE, I figured it out** by myself ::insert back pat:: ::insert McHammer Dace::

top picture is linked proper (makes no sense HTML codewise...but I don't care)...dancy party below

Make Me Laugh Monday-Darth Vader in Lego

For this edition of MMLM, may I submit for your viewing pleasure....what a conversation with Darth Vader would look like in the Death Star canteen...in lego.

No, I am not a Star Wars junkie...I actually have never seen a full "episode." The Muppet Babies did a great remake of it...and I know that.

Still, who can not laugh at Jeff Vader.

For more laughs, head over to Absolutely Bananas.


Here is the Muppet Baby show I was talking about: Seriously good.

I did it!

Okay, so as you have noticed, all three of my loyal readers, I have not blogged in a bit...but this is for good reason.

I think I mentioned before how I was offered a promotion here at school that would extend my contract from 9 mo. to 12 mo. with the hope to be renewable for our last year in Ann Arbor. KW and I talked a lot about it and decided that he would not pursue more lucrative or exciting job internships for the summer so we could be together and have some sort of reliable income.

After he took a part time internship, my boss decided to tell me the money for my promotion was not there and the best he could offer me was 11 months. That meant one month of no money and no insurance. He said that he thought I could be with KW that one month off. Yeah, that would have been great if he was supposed to be somewhere but when I asked my boss to give me the go ahead for the promotion I told him that KW would stay here. He forgot...I was peeved.

I started my self doubt ritual: maybe I wasn't doing good enough work, what if when I was gone they realized they didn't need me and they didn't rehire me....yadda yadda yadda. So I resolved to work my tail off. I took on projects outside of my jurisdiction, cattle prodded people to get work done faster and better, and tried to make sure that people outside of my office (you know, the ones that hold the purse strings) saw that I was invaluable.

And it worked.

They found the money and I am going to be on a 12 month contract. Now I want to celebrate but I haven't signed anything yet...and I don't want to celebrate to have things fall through again (I know this is normal with big institutional non profits...I'm just used to smaller ones).

Usually, I work about 8 hours a day (normal), several nights, and a Saturday or Sunday each week since I started working here....this past two weeks, I have been working 10 hours a day, all nights (except maybe one if I was lucky), and all weekend. These two weeks have also included events I hated going to, work that I have had to be on my feet for 3 days straight, and a lot of "happy hard work."

definition: Happy Hard Work [hap-ee hahrd wurk] noun, adjective, verb. [origins: unknown, believed to be parents of Roaming Southerner]
1.) Doing extra hard, long tasks with smile on face and cheery phrases such as "Oh no, this is fun!" "It keeps things interesting" "At least I won't need to work out today" "I love it here!" coming out of worker's mouth.

I am hoping that life will resume a bit of normalcy soon. That I might be able to do laundry, clean my apartment, see my husband and dog, pay bills (yeah, I've slacked off on that-first time ever...NOT GOOD!)...and have fun.

To let you know that I am not totally down trodden and brow beaten: a lot of my night and weekend work are hanging out with people that I know and like, seeing fun things, and taking pictures for people. It is the part of the job. But when I'm out doing these fun things, I have to make up with lots and lots of "desk work."

So, Erin, there you go. Thanks for shaming me into posting. ***or just making me realize that someone actually checks up on me every once in awhile. Thanks.

My dark and inner beast

Since I have found, sought out, and befriended Tori at Red&White Preppy, I have seen a dark and inner beast that lies beneath my heart and soul.

This beast has a name, but it must not be spoken.

It is shiny, girly, expensive, beautiful and PREPPY!

Since patrolling R&W Preppy (who you have to ask to see, but she is a cool chick--she'll probably invite. Heck she let me in!), I have found some amazing sites:

Barefoot in the park: Not only is she super sassy...her mom owns a company with a logo that says "Celebrate the South: Y'all Spoken Here." I'm ordering a dozen. I loves it!

BlingBling and Southern Swing: She is a southern gal going through college and just reminds me of all my lovely friends and sorority sisters at Furman. Plus she posts drool worthy clothing pics.

Countdown to Wedded Bliss: She is going through all the rigamarole of getting married in the south. And that means beautiful showers, fun dresses, and all the wedding details. She shares them all and it makes me wish I had my blog during that time. What a great way to document the stuff that you forget so easily in the rush to the alter. Plus she passes on some great recipes

And the worst of all, Adventures of a Southern Newlywed: Not only is her blog the most beautiful design of green, but she has some great pictures of clothes that I want...no! NEED TO HAVE! And she shares my love of Vera.

***Updated...I found this three seconds after rereading some Red&White goodness...and I am in LOVE. Look at the blog background...look at her adorable shorts that she found! I don't wear shorts, but I might if they were that cute! And the name of the blog: Houndstooth and Nail. How clever is she? I'm in awe.

All of these women (and more that I have yet to peruse in full) have a great love of preppy clothes ala JCrew, the Republic, etc. They make me embrace my full girlie side, which is scary and wears skirts and heels. I always said I would never be one of those girls...but pass the monogrammed bags and Lily dresses.

But all of this beauty comes at a cost...1.) the letting go of my tomboy ways and 2.) the cost of costly beautiful clothes, and costly is not my friend at the moment.

So enjoy these girls blogs, while my husband has to hear my moans of wanting more shoes, bags, and clothes. (being the sweet husband he is, he usually says yes knowing that I will go into a shame spiral and probably will not get it. he is tricky that way)

Best Friend Bloggy Awards

So those who have read this blog for awhile will know two things about me (okay, a LOT more but two specific):
1.) I love to play with my photoshop
2.) I love to read McMommy's blog

McMommy said she was best bloggy friends with certain people she had met through the blogosphere and even made a casual reference to wishing to have an award to give out to her BBF.

So what did I do? Yup, I created some for her.

For one thing, you know I gotta challenge myself to see if it can be done. (I have a few more I'll show you later this week). For another, I have "met" some really cool people on this blog of mine and would like to recognize them. Now this is not the Best Blogs of the Universe game that I will be running soon. (Still working on that graphic.)) And for a third, I love McMommy's color scheme (insert Frank Egglehoffer's voice -ala Martin Short- from Father of the Bride "I ahm tinking ov da tame and cohlour of dee wedding")...the colors of her blog are fun to work with and will have to figure out how to change Ave's colors to something more like them.

So on to My Best Bloggy Friend award acceptance speech that McMommy asked for:

Oh, McMommy, thank you thank you for this glorious honor. I do feel that I received because I made it, and I should feel shame, guilt, or remorse. But I don't! I love that I have "met" you and your friends and love love love reading all about your shenanigans. I shall display this award proudly.

Now on to giving my Be Frie jewelry (and McMommy is right, the Be Frie is the best half and I know many of best friends dissolve over who would get the BE FRIE and who would get the ST NDS...I am a grown up now and can give the better half to my true blue bloggity friends):

Of course, Erin gets a BE FRIE cause she was one of my first blog friends who I really didn't know in real life. I'm obsessed with her blogroll and her blog in general. As I have spouted off her virtues here, here, and here to name a few. But she is a loyal commenter and is just plain cool.

Next is Leigh, who not only shares a name (her first, my middle-spelled the way it ought to be spelled thankuverimuch!) but also shares my love of Marlee Matlin, shaking her groove thang, taking awesome pictures, and loving all things southern!

While I can't really give Pea a bloggy best friend award cause she is one of my real life bestie's, I do want to take this time to say how glad I am that she blogs so I can keep updated on her and her family.

So there you go, I have bloggy best friends and we have the jewelry to prove it. But I'm sure I have room in my blogging heart for more! (PST! be my friend!! she cries in desperation)

Make Me Laugh Monday-Fun Pictures

For my make me laugh Monday entry, I went cruising around one of my favorite humor sties: gigglesugar.com. It is part of the Sugar network that is awesome (fashion, pop culture, movie reviews, recipes, dog care plus more all in one place!).

All of that shameless plugging so that they will not mind that I put these pics up. Cause they are hilarious and I didn't know how to link them.

Sad thing is that I know offices that would do something like this.


Is this woman selling a house or Doritos? What possessed her to take the shot with the Doritos in the first place? And was this the only decent picture they got...when she was happy about her cool ranch flavored treat?


so, I'm guessing Arlene likes cats? Maybe a little too much.

2 Much 2 Say

Ha, I thought the title looked like a boy band name, which is appropriate for all the noise that is going on about NKOTB.

Anyways, sorry that I haven't written much this week. I had started about 18 different posts, which are forth coming, but I have gotten trapped in other people's blogs. This would constitute my second search of the Great Blogs of the Universe.

And I found some doozies. But more on that to come.

This is a post to say I will be posting more interesting posts but I had too much to say and I actually have to work...even though Curtis thinks I slack off too much...Thanks, CWC.

If you want to see what I was busy with last night, click here (but be forewarned...you will want to set aside an hour or two for it).

Engagement Musts: Parental Pow Wow

So one thing on every engaged couple's must do list is for both sets of parents to meet.

Now unless you've known each other in Huggies or maybe braces, chances are that your parents have never met your fiance's parents. This is an interesting dichotomy of the getting ready to unite two people: even though each of these couples birthed and formed a person who would be form a "perfect union," these two sets of couples are typically not very similar.

While my parents and KW's parents are seemingly alike on paper: Catholic, conservative, pro-life...they are very different in ideals, parenting styles, and personalities. KW had both sets of families waiting for us after he proposed, so we missed that awkward "set up a meeting with parents" event.

My brother, who is recently engaged, did have to go through this.

When my parents met KW's parents my dad did his thang: made sarcastic remarks about KW's dad (note to dad: lawyer jokes are not good to LAWYERS!), poked fun of the little brother, and bet his little sister to eat cake without forks.

What is y'all's Parental meeting of the minds? Please share your story. I will share the highlights in a separate post with my brother's story, which is awesome and embarrassing.

Dashboard confessions

From my sitemeter, I have found a blog that I can't see: http://redandwhitepreppy.blogspot.com/
Are you RedWhitePreppy?
I'd love to meet you!

Movie Review: Lars and the Real Girl

I have befriended a Blockbuster employee and beside that he is my dog's boyfriend...he also gives KW and I movies off of his free movie pass. This means that we get some movies before they come out and he and his wife pre screen them for us.

They gave us Lars and the Real Girl. Now I had read about this movie and I thought that it sounded cool. However, I didn't want to watch it because I thought this would break my 3-sob rule (make me cry like 3 toddlers).

This movie seems to be about a guy buying a sex doll as a companion, but what you don't realize is that it is a sweet story about a nice guy, who has had a rough childhood. His childhood has made it hard for him to deal with life. His fake girl helps him deal with the real world. It is very interesting, very sad, very funny...and just good. I would really recommend it. It is not raunchy or crude...it is touching and moving.

I give it a 4 out of 5 Thumbs Up
and 3 out of 5 toddler sobs

I love so much about the things they choose to be

I love pranks, I love carpentry, I love video editing done in an overdramatic fashion...

Therefore, I love Cara Dee and Brandon's hilarious musings.

Here is the video of Brandon's prank on his coworker.

It was so good it made the news!!!!

This is amazing in so many ways.

I have found a great blog in my great March exploration of blogs.

A MCMeMe

So McMommy tagged me for a Meme

Here is the 5 Things Meme

First, the rules (and oddly, only two of them...why not five?):
1. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
2. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment letting them know they've been tagged and to ask them to play along and to read your blog.

what i was doing ten years ago...
1 Getting my driver's license
2 Only being allowed to drive to piano lessons
3 Hanging out with my brothers and my bestest, Crouton
4 She and I went to see Ever After 4 times in the theater
5 We were not what you would call "cool"

five things on my to-do list today...
1 Send a TON of emails for work
2 Fold the Mount Everest of Laundry
3 Play with the Penny, she has been home alone today
4 Clean my bathrooms
5 Pay bills, esp. rent (due today!)

five snacks i enjoy...
1 French Fries of all shapes and sizes (McDs being the best)
2 Miller Lite/white wine
3 Diet Coke
4 Reduced Fat Wheat Thins and Pepper Jack Cheese/or the fancy version: chips and queso
5 Rice Krispie Treats (homemade still warm!)

five things i would do if i was a billionaire...

1 Travel to everywhere...first on the list: Napa (culinary institute of america and vineyards, what more can a girl ask for?!?)
2 Buy a house...a cottage on a lake
3 New clothes, new coats, new shoes
4 Help my husband start all of his wonderful ideas
5 Have kids and lots of 'em

five of my bad habits....
1 I let clean laundry sit in the basket WAY too long before folding it. Then, of course, it’s all wrinkly. And I’m not an iron-er.---I am the same as McMommy...it is my worst and laziest vice.
2 I drink diet coke and I should stop
3 I check email/blogs way too often
4 I am lazy and hormonal and that's no good
5 I don't work out enough (see lazy in #4)

five places i have lived....
1 Atlanta, Ga (born)
2 Lilburn, GA ('burb of the ATL where I was raised)
3 Greenville, SC (working on the Undergrad at ole FU)
4 Washington, DC (Grad school and newlywedom)
5 Ann Arbor, MI (current residence and hub's law school)

five jobs i've had....
1 T-shirt folder at T-shirt's plus (the wonderful establishment where you could have a kitten or unicorn heat pressed onto a pink sweatshirt)
2 Research assistant for policy lawyer (read a lot of stuff my high school mind couldn't grasp)
3 Event coordinator and researcher for a public policy firm in Greenville while in college
4 Waitress while in college at Longhorn's steak-Rack 'em
5 Event coordinator and development hack at an Internship nonprofit in DC
(6-event coordinator and development hack at the awful branch of Alzheimer's Assoc Great Lakes chapter and 7-admissions and external affairs at Ave Maria School of Law)

Whew! That was fun!
Here are some new people to do a meme (if my usual peeps (Pea, Kels, Erin) want to tap in, I'd love to hear from you!)

April at To Live is To Love
My friend from Ave, K-Re
The Ben Show because she keeps up with me.
Pug Lover 'cause puppy lovin' is a good thing
Trying her Best cause she is tough and funny

ReLINK!

So I forgot to make sure my link to SappyChick's blog was working!
Now the link is working on the original post about my interview.
For good measure though, I will give you the straight link to the interview:
http://sappychick.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/now-i-ask-the-questions/

Go and check her site out...she has a picture of Downtown Greenville on her header!!! I can taste the Underground Coffee coffee right now. And the Blueridge Brewery calzones! drooooool.

The Product of my Round up and yes, it is weedless

So here is some of the things I found on my journey out.

The Diaper Diaries: A link from Make Me Laugh Monday. I admit it, I put things that make me smile or chortle...but this...this made me laugh out loud multiple times.

A Boy, A Girl, A Pug: This makes me feel like I could obsess over my dog a little more before turning into THAT woman...you know the one that dresses her dogs in matching outfits to herself and calls her precious names. Oh crap, does a green harness and a green jacket count as matching? Does calling her Princess Poppyseed count as precious....I may already be there, people.

The non-boring musing of Cara Dee: Found at McMommy's blog, Cara Dee is a fun blogger who found my week spot: LOTS OF GREEN. She also introduced me to this:

TV Reviews

It tells you at what level you are writing at. I'm okay with Junior High. Means I'm pretty reader friendly, right? I'm not looking to write a mensa blog.

Also from McMommy, I found Jimaie.Marie. Both her and McMommy showed the inside of their purses! Their purses, y'all?!?! The inner sanctum sanctorum. I'm contemplating such a highly risky maneuver...but a precursor cleaning may need to be done (Well, I guess taking everything out of my purse to photograph would constitute cleaning...very tricky, McMommy, trying to get me to clean without me knowing!)

This call to round up has been good for many reasons:
1.) Got to find some cool new blogs
2.) Saw some really creative post ideas that I will steal
3.) And some people that I had forgotten to bookmark as favorite sites came back and reminded themselves to me. Like The Ben Show! They are a great family that has gone through a foreign adoption process, adopted Ben from Vietnam, and are looking at adopting again.

Thanks for putting up with this exploration. There will probably be more later as I go in search ::INSERT LOUD BOOMING VOICE: FOR GREAT BLOGS OF THE UNIVERSE