Milk jug lids and other daily obstacles

The other morning, while attempting to twist the cap back on my milk for the millionth time (see first bullet), I started wondering why it was just so darn difficult for me. Surely if the milk jug manufacturers keep producing the jugs the same way year after year, they must not be that impossible to figure out. 

So then I started thinking about other simple things that I have trouble with. You know, the everyday things that seem impossible to me (and probably only me). 

• Screwing the lid back on a milk jug. Seriously, why is it so difficult? Why won't the little nooks and crannies fit together in perfect twisted harmony? I swear, I stand there in the morning trying to screw it back on for a full 4 minutes before I give up and put it back in the fridge—with the lid halfway on. Whoops. Oddly enough, I have the same troubles with peanut butter jars. But only peanut butter jars. It boggles my mind. 

• Typing the word "license". And yes, it just took me about 3 tries to get it right there. It's just so darn tricky! And since I'm a copywriter and spend a good chunk of my day proofreading, it's a bit embarrassing. You'd be surprised how many times that word pops up on a daily basis. I guess I'm just sensitive about it. It's like a lisp for my finger. License, license, license!

• Watching a full movie on DVD. If it's on TV, yes, I'll watch the whole thing (commercials and all). But if I own the movie and physically put it in my DVD player to watch, my attention span shoots straight out the window. I either fall asleep, start playing online or leave the room. Kind of strange, really. Apparently turning on a movie turns me off.  

• Saying the word "parenthesis". That "h" trips me up every time. I always pronounced it as "pa-renT-uh-sees", and thought it was totally normal. But then my friends caught on and started poking fun at me for skipping the "h", and now I'm all paranoid about how I say it. 

• Dealing with people talking on cell phones on the bus. Yep, that's me shooting you evil looks. I have very, very low cell-phone-talker tolerance. Especially if I'm really engrossed in a book and you sit right behind me and proceed to talk loudly in my ear. Hey, lady, that's great you're going to buy a $1,200 bag (what a sin!), but I don't want to hear about it. 

• Not saying the word "like". Totally my verbal crutch. I hobble around on that sucker all the time. Pretty much every sentence I say has one of those bad boys thrown in. I, like, really can't help it. And I'm definitely not a Valley Girl. 

• Standing up straight. Ugh. I know I slouch, I wish I didn't, but it's just so darn hard to fix. I'll sit/stand up straight for a few minutes, but then I'll forget and BAM! Slouchy McSloucherson returns. I think I'm getting a tiny bit better...eh, maybe not. I'm just more aware of it now.  

• Not getting giddy when I hear Irish accents. I can't help it. Whenever I hear my favorite little accent, I get all excited—even when it's a girl. I have to fight the urge to run over and talk to them. I'm pretty sure that would make me a huge creep. 

So what about you guys—any easy, everyday things you just can't seem to do? Have any tips on how the heck to screw lids back on or secrets to standing up straight?

Hope you all had wonderful weekends! I know I did—seeing Rascal Flatts at Wrigley Field was a blast!

Getting goofy in Disney World

I had a fun little Disney World send-off post planned in my head, and I couldn't wait to write it. But then life stepped in and I had a million little things to deal with tonight. And right now, it's midnight and I have barely started packing, haven't done my dishes yet and haven't cleaned my apartment yet. Argh. So really, I don't even have time to write this post, but I couldn't leave you hanging all week, wondering where in the world I am. 

Soon I need to head to bed and gear up for a whirlwind tour of Disney World. Because that's exactly what it will be—a whirlwind. As I mentioned before, I'm going with J and his parents. And they LOVE Disney World. It's so fun going with them because they love hitting up everything, even Blizzard Beach water park, which is pretty much my favorite thing ever. It's funny because J and his mom aren't too keen about crazy water-slides, but his dad and I love them. So we like to run around hitting up the big slides, while they relax in the lazy river.

And this trip I'm extra excited because we're staying at the Grand Floridian, which is absolutely gorgeous. Plus, that means I get to ride the monorail everywhere, which the 4-year-old inside me gets ridiculously giddy about. 

I can't wait to get there and ride Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, Expedition Everest and Rockin' Rollercoaster. Unfortunately, Space Mountain is closed for renovations. Bummer. But on the plus side, this weekend is President Obama's big debut as an official member of the Hall of Presidents in the Magic Kingdom. Is it weird that I'm kind of excited to see it? Perhaps, but oh well. I'm not ashamed.

So anyway, now that I've rambled on and on, it's time for me to head out. I'll be sure to post fun stories, awkward moments and plenty o' pictures when I get back. In the mean time, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a very Happy Fourth of July! Yay America!

I heart awkward moments

Last weekend was a total blast. I was here, there and everywhere from Chicago to Milwaukee, and back again. It was tons of fun, nice and relaxing, and chock full of awkward moments, which always make for great stories. 

Moment 1:  Friday night I was out in the suburbs with my parents for my uncle's concert. A little back story: My uncle is a friar and also a bit of a musical genius. He can play tons of instruments (harp is his favorite) and he composes absolutely beautiful music. (Oddly enough, NO ONE else in my family got his talents. Total bummer.)

So we were at his concert in the theater of a nearby university, and I was standing with my parents waiting to be seated, when the usher came over to us. She was an older lady and leaned over me to get a closer look at my Mom's ticket. Suddenly, I felt her hand take a swipe at my bum. Not just an accidental graze—it was an intentional feel. 

I was a teeny bit creeped out, but decided to ignore it. 

At intermission, I walked out to the lobby and realized the same usher was staring at me. Our eyes met and she immediately walked right over to me.

"May I rub your dress?" she asked, smiling up at me.

Uh. What?

Before I could respond, she reached down and forcibly petted—no wait, more like rubbed—my thigh. 

"Oh wow! That's real madras! All those squares are actually sewn together!" she exclaimed out loud. 

Of course, I blushed and nodded and my Mom, who caught the rub down, laughed awkwardly and steered me away from her. Yikes. Who knew madras could get such a rise out of old people? Guess I better rethink my plans to wear my madras dress any time soon.

Moment 2: Saturday night I drove up to Milwaukee to pick up J at the airport. He was coming back from a school trip to Germany, which involved him taking a handful of 15-year-olds to mix, mingle and learn history with German students of the same age. It was a very cool opportunity. 

I was so excited to pick him up, so I thought I'd get there early and run in to meet him at the terminal. Unfortunately, I was running a little late and he was running a little early. I pretty much threw my Mom's car (I don't have one. Sad.) into the parking garage and ran into the airport. 

So I practically skipped in, not really looking where I'm going, and found myself smack dab in the middle of a HUGE celebration for World War II vets who went to D.C. for the first time. I had no clue what was going on—I just saw hundreds and hundreds of people dressed head to toe in red, white and blue, waving American flags like their lives depended on it. And there I was, running through the crowd in my bright purple dress, not even realizing there's an intense display of patriotism going on around me. I obliviously marched right down the ceremonial walkway the families had created, still not noticing what I was doing. And when I finally realized where I was, it was a bit too late. I felt very, very purple, very naive and very anti-American. I almost wanted to scream out "I'm Canadian!" or something. It was super awkward. And the glares I got from people? YIKES. I felt like I should grovel at the feet of a bald eagle to make it up to them.

Moment 3: I had a good time at a wake. Er, wait, that sounds bad. More like I didn't have a bad time at a wake. And it made me feel really inappropriate. Long story short, my old grade school music teacher/musical theater director passed away last week. She was a lovely woman, so lively and full of positive energy. Everyone absolutely loved her.

On Sunday, I went to the wake with my Mom. Right off the bat, she ran into her old students, including the daughters of the woman whose wake it was. So it was fun to see how they all interacted after more than 30 years, and it made me see a whole new side of my Mom. 

And then we spotted the husband of one of the daughters. He's an actor who played a pretty important role (the groom) in a certain 90s movie I LOVE about a reluctant father getting ready for his daughter's wedding. He looked exactly the same as he did back then and it made me all giddy. And then I felt weird for feeling giddy and it was vicious cycle in my head the whole time. But anyway, it really was a lovely wake...and very touching, too. 

Sidenote: I seriously need to stop listening to "Will You Be There" by Michael Jackson, from the Free Willy soundtrack. It used to be my FAVORITE song when I was 7, and now it's hitting me all over again. And I keep waiting for a whale to jump over my head or something.

This indecisiveness is killing me.

So, it's time to get personal. And a little serious. Because if I don't address what's bugging me, I might snap a little bit. 

Lately, I've been completely incapable of making a decision. And I mean any decision. From choosing an outfit for work to what drink I want at Starbucks, everything has been an impossible choice. I can barely stick to blogging topics anymore, hence the lack of posting. I couldn't even choose the place for my family birthday dinner last week. And last night, the thought of choosing which bar to go with my friends nearly made me skip out on the whole night. At the sound of "It's up to you", I completely panicked. My heart started thumping, I began to sweat and I just kept saying, " I don't care, I don't care, " which was a lie.

I don't know what is wrong with me. I've always been indecisive about little stuff, but this is getting out of control. Lately, when I'm faced with a decision, it's like my mind shuts down. I get defensive, grumpy and really panicky. And I get really anxious and terrified that if I make the wrong choice, someone will get mad or be unhappy with me. It's like I've laid out a path of eggshells all around me, and I'm scared to make even one small move.

I know I'm feeling this way because I've got big, big changes on the horizon and I feel like my life is spinning out of my control. I'm really, really excited about the future, but I'm scared to death to put myself out there. And therefore, I feel like I have no right to make any choices, even if it's only about what food to eat. Time is flying by and I feel like I'm desperately clinging to anything I can to keep up. It's really starting to weigh on me. I've been sick, I'm not sleeping well, I'm not eating well and my emotions have been on an insane roller coaster ride. One minute I'm in a funk, wondering why everyone hates me, and the next I'm giddy as a school girl. 

Ugh, what the heck is up with me? I don't get why I'm feeling so....lost. And out of control. Even now, I'm sitting here wondering if I should even post this or not. My mind just changed itself about 7 times in the last minute. This is ridiculous.

Anyway, on a happier note, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and had a chance to get out and enjoy the gorgeous weather (well, here in Chicago at least). I know I did...and I have the lovely splotchy sunburn to prove it. 

Back in action and feeling good

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I was sick last week. Really sick. I hadn't been sick in ages, but lately I've just been really feeling rundown due to lack of sleep and an all-Cheerios diet (yeah, I know, not healthy). 

I don't really know what I had. It started with a headache that lasted three days. When it finally went away, I developed this weird cough. A few hours later, I was hit by the fever train. I had the aches, the chills, the loss of appetite—everything. Last Tuesday I woke up and I felt AWFUL, but I somehow managed to drag myself to work, trying hard to keep myself propped up on the bus. I was at work a total of 25 minutes before I asked my boss to go home. Then I went home, slept and watched daytime TV (I love reruns of The O.C.). 

I managed to get back to work on Wednesday, but I should have stayed home. All I could do was sit slumped over at my desk and will myself not to pass out.  I finally felt better by Friday, but still had no appetite. And thankfully by now, I'm almost as good as new, minus my pretty gross chest cough.

Luckily, I pulled myself from my sick bed just in time to head up to Wisconsin for the weekend. I hit up Milwaukee on Friday night and was greeted by J and the sweetest/cleverest/most thoughtful birthday gifts ever. 

Oh yeah, did I mention Tuesday is my birthday? Because it is! I LOVE my birthday. Well, I love birthdays in general, so naturally mine falls under that category. 

Anyway, more on that tomorrow.

So then early Saturday morning, J and I got up and drove to the high school where he teaches. He had to attend graduation so he dropped me off at a nearby Starbucks for a couple hours. That way, I didn't look like the random creepy girl sitting alone at a high school graduation.

When it was over, J took me to Madison to continue the birthday festivities. I had only been there once when I was 9, so I didn't remember much. Which is a shame...I love it there! We just meandered all over town, making quick stops for ice cream (of course), drinks and a quick moment at the lake. It was so relaxing and it was the perfect escape we both needed. After taking a quick nap back at the hotel (I still wasn't feeling 100%), we went out for some margaritas and dinner. It was perfect.

And now I'm back in Chicago, in my very messy apartment, getting excited for the week ahead. I was sad to say goodbye to J today, but I'm also so excited for him. He's jetting off to Germany this week with some of his students as part of a high school exchange program. He'll only be gone 10 days, but I know he's going to have an amazing time. I only wish they needed an extra chaperone. I would have volunteered in an instant. 

I hope you all had wonderful weekends! Anyone do anything fun? Gosh, it's good to be back in the blogging world. I missed it last week!

Big fat writer's block and my teeny bopper junk drawer

So I've been suffering from a ginormous case of writer's block over the last few days and it's not a lot of fun, let me tell you. I have about 5 different starts to posts from last week that just kind of fizzled out. (sigh) I promise to be better soon. 

Anyway, I had a great weekend. I got to sleep in for the first time in months, went to Target, had a blast out on the town last night (which I definitely paid for this morning) and got some much needed relaxation time. And today I finally got the peanut butter chip ice cream I've been craving for weeks when I met up with Jessica from The Everyday Adventures of Me in the City. It was a ton of fun. It's so nice to meet someone who enjoys a good ice cream run as much as I do. 

In order to catch up on some of my random thoughts, I've decided to collect them into another one of my junk drawers. I'm calling this one my "teeny bopper junk drawer" because I'm still a little giddy after seeing the New Moon trailer and so my mind is in an "OMG!" kind of place.

• Could Kristen Stewart be any more awkward? My God, she made it seem like the biggest pain to be at the MTV Movie Awards. Sure, it's not the Oscars, but at least pretend to be appreciative. But she definitely got brownie points when she dropped her award and said, "Yep, I'm just about as awkward as you thought I'd be," or something like that. I'm glad she realizes how she comes across.

• I swooned at the trailer for New Moon. Why is Edward so attractive? I guess Robert Pattinson is, too...but still. Real life Rob is an odd duck.

• Loved the clip from the new Harry Potter. I can't wait to see it in July. Nerd alert: I might even go to the midnight showing because I'm that excited. Did I say might? I mean I definitely will. I did it for the last 5, so why stop now?

• Pixar's new movie "Up" is amazing. I laughed, I cried (no, more like sobbed) and then laughed some more. It not only made me appreciate the adventure in every day, but also really made me want a talking dog. It could happen. If you haven't seen it, go!

• I made pasta for dinner tonight and the directions on the back ever-so-kindly said, "Please do not overcook." I find it refreshing that the pasta company cares so much about my dining experience that they nicely tell me not to overcook the noodles. I couldn't let the packaging down, so I sat and watched those darn things cook so they came out just right.

• I feel like everyone is getting engaged lately. Yikes. Do I feel pressure? Perhaps. Does that excite me? Yes. But then again, I'm only 23 (almost 24!). I guess I better live in the same city as J before we discuss wedding bells. It sure is fun to think about though...

• My laptop gets hot. Really, really hot. As in, it literally almost burns my legs. Hm. What would cause that? It can't be good. 

Ok I'm off to bed to dream about hot vampires and ice cream and pleasant things like that. And seriously, if I don't get this darn computer off my legs in about 2 seconds, it's going to burn a hole through my pants. Happy almost June, everyone! (Woohoo, birthday month!)

The Toasty Posty

That's the ingenious title I came up with while WG2 and I chatted it up over a couple beers at the Cubs game last night. Our conversation had nothing to do with blogging, but I suddenly blurted out my urge to write a post. About what? I don't know. But I sure liked the title.

So I got home after the game, ran up to my apartment and flipped open my computer to write. About what? I still didn't know.

But alas, my internet was not working. Again. And no matter how many times I plugged and unplugged the ethernet cord, it just wasn't mean to be. (sigh)

So I gave up and packed for my trip to Milwaukee this weekend instead. I'm headed up after work to see my boyfriend. And this trip should be very interesting because as of 11am today, his school closed due to swine flu. Apparently 3 of the students might have it, so they closed the school for a week. A week! Can you believe it? All over the flu? Ridiculous.

Apparently he's not allowed to be in public now in case he's been exposed. Please. I'm still going up and we're still going to carry on our weekend like we normally would. I think this swine flu is out of control. It's just the flu, right? Yes, a mutated form of it, but still. All this hype is making people nutty.

And if I do end up getting the swine flu, then so be it. At least me and the people in my office will get a few days off, right?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Dirty pizza, teenybopper movies and internet troubles

I wrote 95% of a post earlier today and was going to come home tonight to finish it. Buuut I just went to find it and realized that due to my ridiculously bad internet connection, it didn't save. So the entire post was erased. Bummer. 

In the mean time, I'll try to do a quick weekend recap in bullets:

• I went out Friday with two of my roommates from Ireland. It was a blast. By the time the night was over, my name had been changed to Gretchen, I ate pizza off the floor (hey, it was REALLY good pizza and it was 3am) and we had a great time reliving our glory days...or at least attempting to.

• J came down early Saturday and we spent the day out and about enjoying the gorgeous weather. When spring rears its cute little head in Chicago, it's pretty much the best thing ever.

• We went out to Joe's on Weed Street Saturday night to meet up with friends and to see some band. Unfortunately, we didn't realize it was some big UFC fight night. I never knew that people actually cared about that stuff. It's totally barbaric. Who likes watching two men air-kicking, punching and straddling each other while they gush blood all over the place? Yikes.

• I went to the good grocery store today, thanks to my fabulous friend who drove me there so I didn't have to walk block and blocks through the pouring rain. Thanks Alice!

• This afternoon, I made the very wet trek to the movie theater to see Seventeen Again AND Hannah Montana (hey, I was curious). I now have a bit of a crush on Zan Efron...and I can't get the Hannah Montana Hoedown song out of my head. 

• Watching the Natalee Holloway Lifetome movie late at night is creepy. Even creepier is that those Dutch boys left her passed out on the beach...while I was in Aruba a few weeks ago we had multiple people warn us not to be on the beaches at night. Apparently they are very, very dangerous. Gives me the chills. 

So that's that. Anyone have any good stories from the weekend? 

Hark! My beating heart hath no love for the opera.

A few weeks ago, my friend and I decided on a whim to get tickets to the opera. We both had never been and had always wanted to go, so we decided to go to the show currently playing at the Lyric Opera House: Tristan und Isolde. Little did we know that it was a 5 hour show. Yes, 5 hours. And all in German (such a pretty language...or not).

Our big opera debut was last Friday night. I was excited, but also a bit scared. I was afraid I wouldn't like it and then be stuck there for the whole show. And my fears immediately came true as I quickly realized that opera is not for me. I was expecting it to be just like in Pretty Woman. I'd be Julia Roberts (minus the dazzling jewels, evening gown and studly date), and be caught up in the story, swept up in the beautiful words and bawl my eyes out over the power of the music. Yeah, not so much. 

The story was...okay. The singing was nice, yes, but very boring. My friend and I laughed out loud a few times as we read the English subtitles that scrolled across the top of the stage. They were singing things like:

My beating heart is thumping in exaltation!

Hark! Heed the wary night which covers thou in its gentle, deceptive beauty.

My heart will perish without my beloved near my bosom

Ok so those weren't exactly what they said, but pretty darn close. It was hilarious. And the same things were said over and over and over again...they could have told that story in 20 minutes, did a little song and dance, and be done with it.

The first act was okay. But then the second act nearly did me in. As I sat there listening to Tristan and Isolde singing about how they would surely die if the other person died because the word "and" connects them forever, I really thought I was going to die of boredom. As I realized my friend fell asleep and I was alone in my suffering, I became fixated on the girl next to me who kept scratching her arm over and over and over again. It was sick. So I tried to tune her out by leaning my head back and counting the decorative vents over our seats (we were in the back, no worries).

As soon as the lights went on for the second intermission, my friend and I took one look at each other and decided we had to leave right then and there. So with two hours left in the show, we packed up our belongings and proudly strutted out of the opera house. I felt like a total dropout, but at least I was a dropout who could go home, get in her pjs and watch Good Will Hunting on TBS.

It's not that I don't appreciate the arts, I just don't think opera is my thing. I know eventually I'll go back and try again (maybe), but I think I need to try one that's like Opera for Dummies. Eh, we'll see.

Outside of my little burst opera bubble, I just had to share my experience from Saturday night. After a long night I climbed into my cab...and immediately discovered that my driver was singing. Loudly. And not in English. It's not like he was singing along to the radio. He was belting out a slow, soulful, spiritual song. I felt like I was intruding on a personal moment, so I tried to sit there as quietly as possible

Until I realized that my driver was on the phone. And the man on the other end of the bluetooth was harmonizing with him, singing just as loudly on his end. I nearly burst out laughing. (It reminded me of The Office when Andy had the guys from Here Comes Treble singing with him over the speakerphones.) But then he started singing in English and it really was a beautiful song. It was very soothing. When he dropped me off, I complimented him on his nice singing voice and he seemed shocked that I had heard him singing. I don't know how that surprised him since I was sitting about 8 inches from him, but oh well. Just another interesting cab ride here in Chicago!

Snuggie Love

Ahh, sorry for being completely MIA for a while there. I spent all night Thursday making peanut butter bon-bons for my boyfriend, was up in Milwaukee all weekend and then was up at my parents' house last night and just got back a half hour ago....phew! I somehow managed to squeeze in two big shopping sprees (swimsuits, books, gym shoes, eek!), a trip to see Confessions of a Shopaholic, a Mariokart marathon, some quality time with the bf, another Marquette basketball game, a couple of crazy nights out, a plate of green eggs and ham, and a trip to the doctor. Yikes bikes.

And great news! As of this weekend, I am a very proud owner of a Snuggie (feel free to laugh). Yep, my boyfriend surprised me with a red Snuggie AND book light (free with purchase, of course) for Valentine's Day. He even bought himself one to match. Hilarious, right? I have to admit, they are ridiculously comfortable. I napped in mine on Saturday and it was probably the best nap of my life.

Over the last few days I've realized that I am absolutely incapable of telling a lie (a story for another time), I'm developing some kind of food allergy (not sure what though), I'm terrible at Mariokart on the Wii and that you guys have really interesting stories. So thanks for sharing! 

And is it sad that I love Mondays because of The Bachelor? It's such a terrible show, but I love

 every single overly-dramatic second. I can't even wait...

UPDATE:

I suppose I couldn't write about the Snuggie without posting some pictures. Silly me. So I tried to show off just how true some of the claims from the Snuggie infomercial really are:

Oh my goodness, you really can read a book and still keep your arms warm! Thank God.

Yes, it's true. You can use your hands to talk on the phone, use the computer, eat a snack, brush your hair, whatever AND still stay warm. Is there anything you can't do in a Snuggie? 

I think not.

If you haven't seen the infomercial, you need to watch it now:

You can even hold a baby? (gasp) It's a Snuggie miracle.

If my life had a soundtrack, I hope this wouldn't be it.

I had a pretty rough morning today, starting with my smoke detector alerting me that it had a low battery at 7am. It beeped once every minute and a woman's voice shouted "BATTERY LOW". It kept going off over and over and over again. With a headache from hell and very little sleep, I was ready to jump out the window. When I tried to turn it off, it went through a test and started beeping at warp speed and screaming, "WARNING! CARBON MONOXIDE! FIRE, FIRE! GET OUT NOW!" Yeah, it was awesome. I had to crawl out of my apartment and go to CVS to get a new flippin' battery. Ugh.

So I felt a bit off all day. And because of that, I'd love to do my weekend recap tomorrow, when I'm all happy Monday is over and I'm pumped to watch The Bachelor. 

But for right now, I figured it was the perfect day to figure out my life soundtrack. I found it on zentiment and thought it might be fun. I had to start it a few times because I kept getting Christmas music and it was messing me up. 

How it works:

Each “question” you have to answer with a song
1. Open your iPod/iPhone/iTunes music library
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For the first question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button twice


My Life Soundtrack

Opening Credits: "All The Things I've Done" The Killers
Waking Up:   "Do You Want To" Franz Ferdinand
First Day at School:   “Ruby" Kaiser Chiefs

Falling in Love:  “Love and Memories" O.A.R.
Losing Virginity:  “Senorita" Justin Timberlake
Fight Song:          “Romeo and Juliet" Dire Straits
Breaking Up:    “Angel" Sarah Mclachlan
Matric farewell / Prom:     “Ring of Fire" Johnny Cash
Life:   “Pencil Thin Mustache" Jimmy Buffett
Mental Breakdown:   “White Shadows" Coldplay
Driving:   "Kite" U2
Flashback:   “No One" Alicia Keys
Getting Back Together:   “Dirt Off Your Shoulder" Jay-Z
Wedding:   "Push" Matchbox Twenty
Birth of Child:   “City of Blinding Lights" U2
Final Battle:     "Last Train Home" Ryan Star
Death Scene:   “Single Ladies" Beyonce

Wow, I didn't even know I had half those songs on my iPod. Matchbox Twenty as my wedding song? Really? At least I'm going out with a bang. Dying to Beyonce? Yikes. This is a really depressing soundtrack...

I think my real theme song is "Piña Colada in a Pint Glass" by Gaelic Storm. It's so...me. 

Exhibit A:
"She wants a piña colada in a pint glass...
She wants to be where the summer won’t stop,
She wants gin clear water and milk white sand,
A sunburned nose and a drink in her hand
With a pink umbrella on top."

They might as well have said "Pam" instead of "she". Plus, it's Irishy and beachy. Amazing.

You learn something new every day...and weekend

I had a wonderfully busy weekend. I could probably write pages and pages on all I said, did, watched, drank, played, ate, etc, but I'll spare you that. Instead, I'll give you a nice little list of things I learned this weekend:

• Sleepovers with your grandma are a ton of fun, no matter how old you are.

• If your grandma tells you to stay awake through "The Glenn Miller Story" (a 1954 movie starring Jimmy Stewart), you better stay awake. 

• Jimmy Stewart will always be George Bailey.

• Marquette basketball games are amazing. Especially when they win. 

• Taking 6 shots in a row is only a good idea if they're all tasty...like Baby Guinesses, Love Triangles and Buttery Nipples. Yum.

• If it's 10pm, you've been out since 1pm and you need a change of scenery, hit up a 24/7 karaoke bar. It's sure to be classy.

• And at this karaoke bar, it's especially fun to belt out Bon Jovi like a total rockstar, even if the drag queens in the corner lean over and tell your boyfriend that you suck. (He laughed. I did not.)

• Don't pick fights with drag queens.

• Cooking burgers on the grill in the middle of winter is fantastic, as long as you don't let yourself forget that it's still 20 degrees outside. 

• Sometimes it's so nice to kick back and relax at your parents' house.

• The Super Bowl commercials this year? Not that good. The Office? Hilarious. 

So how was your weekend? Do anything fun? Any good stories? Feel free to entertain me with amusing anecdotes. Tuesdays are my least favorite day of the week so I appreciate any little bright spots that come my way.

Oh, and Happy Groundhog Day everyone! Thank goodness groundhogs are cute, because otherwise I'd like to dropkick those little suckers for always seeing their shadows. Damn you and your 6 more weeks of winter!

I kid, I kid...I love animals. I cry harder in movies when animals get injured/hurt/die than when humans do. Is that bad? 

I love a good movie

And Slumdog Millionaire is definitely one of those. I just got back from seeing it and I loved it! If you haven't seen it yet, you need to go. It's so good.

I think you guys may be right. I think I might have a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder since I only ever feel this way during the long, cold, dark, grey, icy winter months. Ick. Bring on the sunlight! I'll read up on it for sure. And thanks for the kind words everyone, you definitely put some pep in my step today.

So tomorrow is finally Friday. Thank goodness. I'm really excited about this weekend. 

Tomorrow night I'm going to my Grandma's house for a sleepover party with my brother and sister. My Grandma has never had an "official" sleepover before (even though we used to stay over all the time), so for Christmas, that's what we gave her. We're heading over to her house right after work and making her a big spaghetti dinner and then we're going to get into our pajamas, cuddle up on the couch and watch the movies of her choice. She was so excited about it that she even went out and bought new afghans so we can each have maximum coziness. It sounds so relaxing...I can't even wait.

Then Saturday morning I'm getting up bright and early and heading up to Milwaukee for the Marquette vs. Georgetown game with my two friends. So that will be fun...and I finally get to see my boyfriend again after 3 long weeks. Hooray!

And Sunday I'm heading to my parent's house to see them since they just got back from Barbados and we'll hang out and watch the Super Bowl. I really only care about the commercials. For a total advertising nerd like me, this is one of my favorite nights of the year. I could care less about the actual game (confession: I don't even know who is playing in it this year), I just love the fun ads.

Oh and sidenote, I am SO excited that they ousted Governor Blagojevich. What an embarassment to Illinois. I mean seriously, how the hell did he actually get in office? He's crazy. I certainly didn't vote for him, I can tell you that much...yikes.

Weekend recap, Amish people, Golden Globes...oh my!

This girl is tired. Very, very tired. After getting about 7 hours of sleep the whole weekend, I'm definitely ready to go to bed.

Friday night was the big (little) Galway reunion. I had a blast. We braved the cold, wet snow and trudged out on our Irish pub crawl. After a few pints of Smithwick's and Stella, some bottles of Magner's and a handful of Baby G's and Car Bombs, we were loudly and excitedly (mostly on my part) reminiscing about our favorites times abroad. Throw in a few awkward moments (like an almost-fight between strange men) and a heart-to-heart at the Rock n' Roll McDonald's at 3am and you've got one hell of a night. 

The next day I had to brave the snow again (I am SO sick of winter) and made the trek to the train station. Thank God for my sweet black peace sign rain boots, which kept my feet nice and dry and relatively toasty. Let me just say that sitting on the floor of a super crowded train station with a hangover is not fun. What was fun though was when this really loud woman struck up a conversation with this sweet little Amish girl standing next to her. And please note this was right after the loud woman got pissed at someone in line and called her a snotty bitch. I believe the convo went something like this:

Loud Woman: Hey, wow, great cap! Are you like Amish?

Amish Girl: Yes, yes I am.

LW: Wow! That's so cool. I think all you Amish people are great, you know being away from society and stuff. That's awesome. 

Amish Girl smiles and nods a bit.

LW: Is this your first time in the big city? Are you totally blown away?

Amish Girl: Yes, I am on my way to visit my boyfriend.

LW: You guys can date? No way! How is that possible?

Amish Girl: Yes, he is from Kentucky.

LW: Wow, really? Can you guys really do that? Go out and meet other people like that? 

Amish Girl: Yes, yes. 

LW: How did you meet? I just admire you all much. Amish people fascinate me.

And that's when I couldn't hold my laughter anymore and I had to walk away. That poor girl. It made me shudder a bit to think how naive and obnoxious that woman was. Yikes.

The rest of the weekend was great. I finally got on the train and went to Milwaukee to hang out with my boyfriend. We went to his teacher holiday party out in the middle of Wisconsin somewhere. Have I mentioned before that he is a teacher? So anyway, that was a blast. He works with some really fun people, so he's lucky. 

Then today I came back to the 'burbs and hit up the mall with my sister. We ended up seeing Bride Wars. It was good...but not that good. I was a tad disappointed. 

So now I'm sitting here watching the Golden Globes. Was anyone else a little sad when Heath Ledger won? He definitely deserved it, but it's so tragic... Ok and seriously, it has always REALLY annoyed me when people win awards and then aren't even there to accept it. All the other nominees could come out and wave their little hands and smile, but the dope that won couldn't even show up? Hey, I understand if there was a family emergency or something, but still. If I was one of those people that didn't win, I'd be a bit upset. But then again, if I was one of those people, I'd probably be freaking out because I was in the same room with all my favorite celebs. 

I love how all those actors and actresses are so "hip" together. They all mingle and do the cheek-kisses and all that jazz. How chic. And fake. Do you ever wonder how things really are between all the celebrities? Like who really hates each other? Who is secretly in love with someone else? Who slept together in the past and tries to forget it? I do. I mean look at Angelina tonight, she looked pissed. And Steve Carrell always looks really sad at award shows. I wonder what it's all about. I bet it's crazy drama sometimes. But that might just be me.