Following in Ally's glorious foot steps...

I Have Tasted:
-real Italian wine
-warm cookies and ice cold milk
-homemade tortillas
-satisfaction

I Have Touched:
-soft down comforters
-baby feet, but not grown-up feet
-a snake
-someone's life...I hope

I Have Smelled:
-freshly baked bread
-LUSH bath products
-the rain before it starts
-leftover cologne on my shirt

I Have Heard:
-Streisand...LIVE!
-my mother cry
-all-consuming laughter
-rustling trees

I Have Seen:
-both a Broadway show and a London West End production
-the stars at night, big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas
-my father only once since I was twelve
-the view of the land from an airplane window

I Have Sensed:
-someone staring...and it always freaks me out
-the weather shifting
-something coming
-time standing still

I just found this...

After last night I realized how much I love Julia Sugarbaker's tirades. Now they are here for reference forever. My favorites...the one from Reservations for 8 and the Pilot (who can forget Ray Don?!)

Alright, I made it back home with out incident, which is good. I have entirely too much stuff so it doesn't all exactly fit but most of it will end up staying in boxes in the garage anyway so no big deal. My mom greeted me with a bouquet of white roses to "help brighten up my room" which made me feel all warm and fuzzy...maybe being home won't be so bad. We certainly laugh a lot and even spent last night cackling at the Designing Women reuinion...those ladies are too funny! The comforts of home are nice too like mommy-made meals and freshly vacuumed carpet...my place was never quite as spick-and-span. Plus, she really looks like she is having fun whem she is Swiffering.

I'm already trying to plan my life for the next few weeks with all of the things that I want/need to do...long list.! I'll get on it tomorrow, or maybe the next day, or....

For Barbara...every misunderstood lyric you ever wanted to know.

You will live in Shack.
You will drive a silver Toyota Corolla.
You will marry P. Diddy and have 2 kids.
You will be a Wedding Planner in Georgetown

Analysis:
P. Diddy keeps me and the children out of the city because he wants his family to grow up with a love for nature and great Southern manners. Obviously, my house and car are all "weekend" fair as our real home(s) are lavish and full of man servants in tight clothing who fan me and bring me cocktails. Of coure I keep my wedding planner job just as something to do because I love it and it reminds me of the day that P. Daddy (as the kids call him) and I were wed in holy matrimony and the Cristal flowed freely.

Moving: Phase 1

In my imminent quest to leave the lovely weather and never-ending strings of strip malls of Texas behind, I am officially packing up the Austin palace to head back to the land of antique stores and flashing stop lights of Georgetown. Mixed feelings for sure. I have loved living in Austin for the last year. It was so great to be so close to all of my friends and the great things that Austin has to offer. And though I am certain that I could be rich now if I had stayed with the mom for the last year, I wouldn't trade the money for the memories. I'm looking forward to going home, or looking forward to the fact that is only three weeks, I'm not sure. The point is, it will be nice to be so close to my family for a while as I am certain that it wiil take three weeks to get my fill of family and only three minutes to miss them.

It's an official packing party tonight and loading lunch tomorrow...all are invited!

I Googled myself today and this is what I found. Too bad I'm not registering for China...I could have my namesake!

So, the waiting is over...the money is in...and I am happy!

On a completely separate note: Do you remeber the diary that you kept as a child? I had one in the 6th grade that basically consisted of who I happened to like that day and everything that they did as I stared at them in class. I found it once a couple of years ago and had a really good laugh. Now imagine that you too have found that diary of elementary days passed but instead of ripping up the pages and throwing them out with your old artwork, you decided to post them on the internet so everyone could see. Well, thanks to a funny gal named Amy, we now have the chance to peer into the mind of an average 3rd grade girl and her daily trials and tribulations. And thanks to her friends, all of the entries have voice and artwork...it is too cute!

Take a peek and reminisce...

Okay, so this article makes me want to get a real addiction. Take a read and you'll see whay...it seems that everything can kill you these days.

Oh, and a leftover game from Ashlee's website...the fun never stops!

Because I am bored today...and because Ashlee McCarthy happens to have an unusual amount of fun quizzes on her site...which I stumbled upon today getting her e-mail address at su.com...and because it's fun...there are more to come so take the challenges and see how you stack up!

I'm a White Russian, discover your ALcoHoLiC personality!

	Cheer Bear You're the Care Bear cheerleader! Your spunky personality and optimisim lifts everyone's spirit. Though you want everyone to be happy, you stand your ground on issues you feel strongly about and this can bring disunity among your friends. Despite this, you are a true believer in working together.
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

The Waiting Game

Waiting sucks! I can think of any situation in which waiting is a good option. There is a certain joy in being "next" but that is totally different from waiting, endlessly, and on edge. Wednesday is how long I have to wait. Tomorrow might be better because then I will be next, but today I am just waiting and it sucks.

In the meantime I shall play many useless hours of of Alchemy on Yahoo games...it makes waiting tolerable. Lets all just keep our fingers crossed that my news will arrive early and my waiting game will end soon.

Until then...

I have added a counter...I am super happy now!

So I'm proud of myself today. As you may (or may not) notice I have made a few changes to the site. I figured out how to change my font, re-do my archives and add in links to some of my favorite pages to play. Nothing big I suppose, but I did have to file through some code stuff and that can be a challenge. The good thing, after a few tries it all works perfectly! I still have a few things that I want to add, but baby steps.

I am happy...

Mixed Drinks vs Cocktails: The Great Liquor Debate

The statement that started it all, courtesy of this website: http://www.eatdrinkandbemarried.com/

Mixed drinks referencing any sexual act are always best avoided. These mixed drinks are crass, often acting as props that you carry around with you in a bar as a conversation starter. A cocktail, by comparison, sits with you at your table and speaks volumes about your taste and the company you keep.

Now, as a young, modern lady, I will openly admit to partaking, once or twice, to an alcohlic beverage (alright, stop the giggling!) But before this question, well, statement rather, was posed to me, I never really thought of the difference between the two. I don't think that I ever really knew that there was a difference in the first place. So, in a very Sex & the City manner I have decided to figure out if I am a cocktail girl or a mixed drink girl.

At first reading of the post, which can be read in its entirety at the aforementioned website, the distinctions between the two are obvious. The mixed drink is a simple combo of a spirit and a sweet mixer such as orange juice (think screwdriver) and the cocktail is the stronger drink usually with more ingredients that don't try to mask the taste of the spirit behind sugar. That said, I think that my life can easily be broken down into two drunken phases: college and post-college. In college, my drink of choice (free frat beer not included) was certainly a mixed drink. As most underage drinkers will admit, it is far easier to snag one bottle of anything than it is to smuggle numerous types of illegal liquids into any given dorm room. And, as young college women, mixers were always available. You don't have to be 21 to buy coke or any type of juice (or any other pre-made "just add liquor" products for that matter.) So we mixed, a lot, and enjoyed our time together.

Yet as I have grown older and alcohol has become something that I can purchase for myself, I do believe that I have moved on to the cocktail. I now order vodka tonics with reckless abandon and rarely think to mix myself a screwdriver (which I used to do so frequently and chug from large containers!) As of late, my drink of choice is a martini. Any type, classic or otherwise. So I guess this means that I have moved on. That now, a good drink is certainly best shared when sitting with my best girlfriends, sipping from a stylish glass not wandering around looking to find the next drink as if the magic mixed drink fairy is going to plant a full paper cup in my hand.

But, the funny thing is, sometimes you really just need a good mixed drink. Sometimes something sweet and sugary and full of youthful abandon is just what the doctor ordered. And sometimes, sharing that sticky drink with a group of friends while laughing at all of the people with their stuffy cocktails is just as fun and carefree as it ever was. It is indicitive of the company I keep. The company I keep doesn't care if I drink a cockatil or a mixed drink, in fact, they enjoy that I drink both! As the wonderful candy slogan says "Sometimes you feel like a nut, Sometimes you don't" and I think that is the way it should be. I suppose I am not as refined as I sometimes belive that I am. It's just another sign that I am still in that purgatory phase, as so many young twenty-somethings are, between childhood and adulthood, between mixed drinks and cocktails. Either way, I'm happy. With good friends and good drinks, life is bearable.

So, hear is a toast to all of you. Those with the stuffy cocktails and those with the youthful mixed drink. Drink up, enjoy, there's plenty more where that came from!

So I am officially back from my much needed vacation. And, I can honestly say, this is probably the first real vacation that I have ever had. I don't mean a vacation like you had every afternoon in college after your two o'clock class ended and you napped on the couch watching Oprah thinking of just how long it will take you to write a two page paper on the diaspora of Russian Jewry after the war (see, I did listen!) And I don't mean a vacation such as the present that I gave to myself like a cruise around the gulf with all of your best girlfriends after graduation (memories, light the corners of my mind!)

What I mean is a bonafide working woman's vacation! After more than a year of solid real-world work (I know, me and the rest of God's army, point duly noted!) I was awarded by "the man" with one full, uninterupted week of non-work bliss! This isn't to say that I didn't do any work over the holiday...I painted a room, went on a scavenger hunt for $20,000 (still didn't find it) and survived a few days of family...I really worked! But for that one whole week I also really took a vacation, I mean, I didn't even update the blog! I played the slots in Shreveport's top casinos, watched entirely too many chick-flicks, bought new records, and did some Kareoke...all in all a fantastic way to spend a week in the summer! I now truly understand what it feels like to be a part of the work force as I have experienced all that it has to offer.

Paid vacation is indeed the great equalizer...I am forever in her debt!

Okay, so I'm bummed. I'm a little worried about a lot of things, but mainly just a lot worried about one thing. It's hard to keep going on something when everything that could possibly go wrong, does. I'm not really one for long, uphill battles that keep re-salting wounds. I much more prefer one good knock down-drag out fight that leaves a huge bruise that you know will eventually heal. I'm generally an optimist, but today feel very much a pessimist. My glass whihc is usually half full has moved beyond half empty, it has fallen off of the table, shattered into a million little shards of glass that I continue to step on no matter how well I think that I have picked each piece up.

The one thing keeping me going, a quote by Mayta Angelou: "You shall encounter many defeats, but you shall not be defeated." I sure hope she is right.

I promis to feel better on the next post, but not today...

It's official...I'm going to fall in love and marry someone who is old enough to be my grandpa! Okay, maybe this is a bit extreme as we have already established that my limit is 10-ish years and this dude is much older. So old in fact, I think that he is now dead.

Either way, one must admit that there is a definite charm about Dumbledore. He is wise, caring, understanding, full of silver hair (which we know I adore) and has that magic thing down to a science. Still, I must draw the line and declare that I am in no way sexually attracted to Dumbledore!

Take the quiz if you must...it's actually kind of fun!


With Which Harry Potter Male Are You Most Sexually Compatible?
brought to you by Quizilla

Power Struggle

Okay, we all know how much I love being in charge. Getting to boss people around is the high point for most of the Leos I know. It makes me feel important and powerful. (I realize that you are all probably thinking that I could use a good ass kicking or therapy session to work through some issues, but stick with me.) Since I will be leaving my job in August for a life in the big city, I have been given the task of training my replacement. She started on Monday and has been "shadowing" me for the last couple of days. She sits in on conference calls and comes to meetings and I generally spend the day trying to explain all of the intricacies of my job to her. Now, this is where the power thing comes in. I thought that the idea of having someone to "boss" around was going to be fun..it's not. Mainly because there is absolutely no bossing around involved. I spent hours putting together a transition plan for her and am spending hours (eight of them to be exact) trying to come up with things to do. You see, my job isn't rocket science and, to be honest, I spend most of the day reading gossip columns and playing solitaire. I like how that works. But now I have been forced into pretending that I actually do stuff. That I am actually "busy" all day with real work, not playing "make your own Mr. Potato Head" online. For the past two days I have been trying to find time to check my Streisand chat rooms and read my blogs. I feel like I am really trying to hide something, but not from "the man" who is the person I should be hiding from, but from the other chick taking my job. Where is the reason in that?!?!?! I suppose it could be worse. She could suck. She doesn't. She is totally nice and ready to learn how to make the job work. The only problem that I now face is figuring out how to make work out of work. Wish me luck!