Is this thing on?

Yeah, I know, it's been a while again. What can I say? I'm not the best blogger. I have the best of intentions and those intentions never seen to end with new blogs. Ugh. It's hard to believe another month has past.

I went to FL at the beginning of this month and had a blast. I went skydiving again which was AWESOME and had a blast. I may have slightly hurt my shoulder while doing it, but I would do it again in a heart beat. In fact, I hope to do it again next year. It was like something I have never experienced before in my life. It's peaceful and exhilarating and freeing and just wonderful.

Last weekend I had a busy housefull of people. A friend I have known since I've been 5 got married. We also went to college together and so some of our old college friends came to town for the wedding and stayed with me. It was a lot of fun and the wedding was beautiful. She was a beautiful bride.

Still working on potentially moving in a couple months. I've been really stressed out with making big decisions again and it's hard to make those decisions with the unknowns. So I continue to work on it and hope for the best.....

How much do you read?

The Big Read is an NEA program designed to encourage community reading initiatives. Of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six. I have read 23 of them.
Look at the list and bold those we have read. You can also mark those you intend to read and those you LOVED, however, there are a lot on this list that I want to read so we'll just leave it at that.
If you play along with this, let me know so I can check yours out. I found this on Kelly's blog so check her's out as well!

Happy Reading!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been this long. Wow. Well, I went on vacation and made it back safely :) I leave two weeks from today to go to FL for another well-deserved vacation (I am not the least bit biased about that!)

I've been pretty stressed lately and taking a lot of time to do "soul-searching" and figuring out what I would like my life to look like. I am not naive enough to think that I can plan out my life how I want it to be, but I would like to have a clearer understanding of what I want to see in the not to distant future. So stay tuned....there are some life changes coming (I can just feel it!) and I will keep you all posted. This may include new jobs, moves, and new friends....let the challenges begin!

Vacation time!!!

Well, it's that time again. I am going on vacation. I can't wait. I leave on Thursday morning and won't return until Tuesday afternoon. I am packing and getting ready to go and I am actually giddy because of how excited I am! I am going back to South Carolina and can't wait to just be in the sun, relax and not have to work. I hope to have a lot of pictures when I return and share with you all the details of my trip. Until then, have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy the extra day off work....I know I will!!!

A lesson in bad blogging

I can't even tell you guys how many times I have sat down ready to write something "interesting" to keep all of your attention and falling short....every time. I just haven't had much to say lately. I have still been visiting all of you and leaving comments here and there, but I just haven't had it in me to write.
Nothing really is new either which may be part of it. I leave next Thursday (the 28th) to go to South Carolina over the Labor Day holiday. I am really excited about this and hoping it's not 116 like last August when I went down there. But if it is--I'm still on vacation so I'll be just fine :) I'm hoping to really see more of Charleston and take lots of pictures. I didn't get to walk by Rainbow Row last time so hopefully I will be able to do that. The shops in Charleston are really neat too so hopefully I'll spend some time in those too :)
I also booked a vacation for FL in October. I'll be down there from a Thursday-Monday. I am going to visit family and hang out. I am also hoping to go skydiving again with one of my cousins! We have both done it before, but this time might go together. It would be really neat and I've been wanting to go again since I went in CO 4 years ago. I'm excited just thinking about it!!!
So that's my update....short, sweet, and to the point! I hope you are all enjoying your summers and have some weather that is cooperating :) We haven't had much rain the past few weeks so it's been nicer days which is really nice!
Have a great week!

And time goes on....

I've had interesting conversations with people lately. We've talked about broken promises and the idea of "forever." Often times, people fall in love "forever." My comment was that I didn't realize that "forever" was so short. The process of falling in love is so fun, innocent and youthful. The process of "falling out" isn't so fun. It's often like comment people will make about having children "nobody tells you about this stuff." I feel the same could be said for being in love and losing that love. Nobody tells you of the pain and hurt that one feels when that happens. Nobody tells you about the process of rebuilding that takes place after this. But looking back, everyone goes through that process differently and any "tips" may not have been welcome at the time.
So...I am through the "falling out" and am through the rebuilding. I am feeling more confident in myself and in my independence. I have a friend who is divorced and a little older than me who wrote me this the other day:
"Being single at any age can be difficult, it is a matter of defining it differently for yourself. You have your life, you have friends, you have a decent job, you do fun things……..you're not dating now because you're selective. If it was a matter of having a date – both of us would be with someone right now. You have gotten to the point earlier than most, where you don’t NEED a man to have self esteem, you want someone that is an equal."
Needless to say, I'm ready. So we'll see what happens. I am being selective, but I think that's okay.

A Sunday funny!

I've grown up reading the Sunday paper, looking for the comics and looking at the ads. I thought I would share one of my favorites with you this Sunday! Enjoy!

Where does time go?

I can't believe it's the middle of July. Really? Where did the beginning of July go? I swear I didn't get to enjoy all of it! I have been busy--but in a good way. I am staying busy (and out of trouble!) and enjoying some good weather too. I went to two more Brewer games and had really good seats. I've also been to some cook-outs and spent some time just reading and relaxing.

Work has been going well too. Nothing too exciting going on (well more than usual) and seems like perhaps things are calming down for a bit which would be nice. I have a conference that I will be attending in Madison on Monday and Tuesday and I am excited about that. It's a conference I have attended the past two years and have really enjoyed. They provide excellent information and I don't fall asleep during the presenters which is a big deal for me! If I am bored, there is no doubt that I will fall asleep!!!

Well that's about it from me. Just thought I should put something on this blog so people know I am still here--just been busy :) Have a great rest of the week!

Dating in the world of single people

I have been the worst blogger lately. I have so much going on and so much I want to share and then I just get busy again. I was off last week on Thursday and Friday (a MUCH needed break from work) and I went to Country USA which is a country festival about 30 min. from my apartment. I had gone before and whether you like country music or not, many people just enjoy the tailgating, camping, and other things about the festival. It was a great time and the best part was I got to spend the weekend with my best friend who came!!!We definitely had some interesting experiences along the way, and we didn't want the weekend to end, but it was a great time! We went to see "Sex and the City" too and I didn't want the movie to end. I've heard some negative things about it, but I was really impressed how smooth of a transition from tv to a movie it was. It was great!

Prior to that weekend, I had gone to another Brewer game and had great seats. I saw my favorite player, Ryan Braun, stretching and warming up below, and went down to get some great shots. That was definitely fun and it was great to see him so close. I swear, we are getting married, he just doesn't know it yet!

So being single has its perks, and I will be the first one to say that, but sometimes it would be nice to have someone. Even just someone to call up and have come over to watch a movie or talk to on the phone for a while. I miss those parts. I miss the going out to dinner or a movie or just sitting around talking. I definitely feel I am ready to date again, I just haven't found anyone that I've felt like dating. I will admit that I am rarely home and when I am, I am too tired to do much of anything. I will also admit that I haven't really "put myself out there" to find anyone. I don't want a guy I meet at a bar. I haven't given up by any means, I'm just discouraged. I was talking with a friend/co-worker today who was talking about having tried internet dating. Now, I have absolutely nothing against anyone who does that, but it's just not for me. I would feel weird about it and just would never have the desire to do that. She gave up after meeting too many weird/creepy guys. So...Mr. Prince Charming I am sure is out there...but like a typical man, he is probably lost and too stubborn to ask for directions to even get to me!

Happy Father's Day!

It was a good Father's Day for me and my dad. I took him over some lunch from Qdoba and then we watched the Brewer game together. When my mom got home with my grandma from church and lunch, I gave him his Father's day gift. I told him it was too heavy to bring out of my car so I had him go out there with me. When he opened the backseat, there was an envelope with tickets to the 4th of July Milwaukee Brewer's game! He was very excited. So we will be attending that game and hoping they win!!!

My grandma is here until Wed (she got in on the 6th) so I've been trying to spend as much time as possible with her. She is very funny. She turned 82 on Saturday and we had a party. Instead of having a cake, my mom bought decorated cookies and since she loves baseball, she had a baseball cookie! She loved it. I have pictures I will have to post.

The family reunion went really well too. It was great to see so many members of my family! The day went by so fast and before I knew it, they were all leaving. I can't believe it's another Sunday night and the week will again start tomorrow. I will post pictures soon of the reunion and my grandma's birthday.

To all you fathers out there or to you who have fathers, I hope everyone had a great Father's day. I am very lucky to have the father that I do and today was a great day to remind him of how special he is to me!

Stress...it's not always about making lemonade

I have a stressful job. I don't think anyone could deny that. I really enjoy my job, but there are days when I feel like I put so much into it and get squat out of it. Today is one of those days. I went to the doctor a while back because I had been getting massive headaches. I found out they are actually migraines and now have medication for them. I have only had to use one pill (let me tell you--that thing knocked me out all night!)

People say when life hands you lemons, to make lemonade. Well, I wish it were that simple. Sometimes things are out of your control. I just need to remember that I can not control everything (nor would I want to) and that sometimes my best isn't going to solve everything. That is not something that is easy to grasp all of the time.

I am looking forward to this weekend though. Tomorrow I have an aunt and a cousin flying in from FL and another aunt, 2 cousins and my grandma driving in from SC tomorrow afternoon. I am incredibly excited to see all of them. It will be nice to have another 3 day weekend and to just relax and enjoy some time away from work and with family!

Desperate Housewives

Does anyone else watch DH? If so, what did you think of the finale last night? I won't post anything about it yet in case some haven't seen it. But please let me know what you thought!!! I'll post my thoughts on it later!

April showers bring...no May postings?

Yep, I'm a slacker. Well, actually....okay just a blogger slacker. I've been busy! Work is hectic as usual. But it's a good hectic. It's a hectic where I know my position isn't in jeporady. YAY! I had some visitors at my apartment for a weekend, celebrated Mother's Day by taking in a Milwaukee Brewer game (they won!) and have had some really late nights.

This picture is of my best friend, Erin, who surprised me by coming to town for my birthday weekend. That was fun!!! I had just had a manicure and pedicure before the picture so we were pretty relaxed (my first mani and pedi by the way!) I believe this was right after the cake too--very good cake I might add!

I wanted nothing with my birthday number on it so my mom thought that little saying would be just fine! The dogs also helped to celebrate.

So, all in all, the past few weeks have been really good. Just very busy. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about all of you! I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

My birthday

Well, I am another year older. Lets not remind me though. I was not excited at all for this birthday and my mom was driving me crazy reminding me about my birthday and that she planned a birthday "weekend" for me. Needless to say I was ready to go crazy after all that talk! On Saturday morning, my mom said my day would start between 10-10:30am. I am not a morning person. I won't even pretend that I am. So...my parents show up at my apartment at 10:20am and I did not get up. They let themselves in and all of the sudden I hear, "get your ass out of bed!" I shot out of bed as it was my best friend, Erin, who lives 3 hours away. She had driven in to surprise me for the weekend! I, of course, started crying!!! It was such a wonderful surprise!

My mom then had set up a surprise for me and Erin at 1pm. We were dropped off at a salon and got manicures and pedicures. After that, my mom picked us up and we went back to my apartment where my parents had decorated my spare bathroom with Duke University stuff (I LOVE DUKE!) My parents then had a cookout at their house with all of my favorite foods. We had cake too :) We played some Apples to Apples and then Erin and I came back to my apartment and watched "Enchanted." I thought it was a very cute and creative movie!

The next day, my parents had a card with an Olive Garden gift card (my favorite restaurant) for Erin and me to have lunch. Soon after that, Erin had to leave to head home, but it was such a great weekend. I spent the rest of the day at my parent's house just thinking about what a fabulous weekend I had. My mom took some pictures of me and Erin but hasn't sent them to me yet. When I get them, I will post my favorite.

All-in-all, the dreaded birthday turned out to be a lot of fun and I really enjoyed myself. Age is only a number and no matter what I'm doing in my life, I realize how blessed I am to have such a fabulous best friend and parents who love me and care enough to make an entire weekend all about me!

The pictures

Goodness. If you people knew where I lived I have a feeling you would have been beating down my door for these! Sorry this took me so long. Tomorrow is my birthday and between my parents and my best friend, I had the best birthday weekend ever. I will fill you all in later. First, here are the pictures so I don't get beat up :)

This picture was just taken a few weeks ago when I was in Eau Claire visiting my best friend Erin, and her husband, Mike. That was hair before.
Here is the "after." Don't mind the double chin. It chooses to enter pictures at random. But you get the idea of the hair change. My mom took some pictures of me and Erin this weekend that I'll post later (by later I mean probably before the end of the week, okay?)

What does a soggy carpet and hornets have in common?

They are both going on in my apartment. Yes, I am lucky. When it rains heavily, the carpet in my bedroom decides to get all wet. It can't be fixed until it stops raining for more than a couple days. On Sunday, I went into my spare bedroom to get something and lo and behold, there was a very large nasty "bug." My parents happened to stop over and I sent my dad into my spare bedroom to kill the "bug". When he came out, he informed me the "bug" was actually a hornet! Now, I am deathly afraid of bees. They scare the bejeezus out of me! So on Monday when I got home, I went into the spare bathroom and there was another one climbing on my toilet. Yep, I freaked and called my dad to come kill it. He got there, saved the day, and I called the main office to tell them. They sent some guy over with a can (read: USELESS) and he apparently sprayed the outside vents in hopes that this would solve it. Since then, I have left my spare bedroom and spare bathroom doors closed to try to find out which room they are coming in from. My dad is going to come over tomorrow to go into the forbidden rooms and see if there are any more hornets. Thank goodness for dads!!!! If there are more, I may freak. I can't handle having bees in my apartment. I can handle the ucky carpet since I know that will be fixed and it's really not in my way (it's on the side with the window and I really don't walk over there), but bees? I can't handle that!!! So please send happy thoughts.

I took a picture of the new haircut the other day and I think I'm pleased enough to post it. So if my posts are not amusing enough to check back, you can check back for the picture. I'll post before and after pictures so you understand the difference :)

What a difference a....

Haircut makes!!!! I went to have my hair done tonight and announced to my fabulous hair dresser that I was sick of my hair and always put it up!!!!! I needed a different color for spring AND a new haircut. Well....she did it! I never underestimate how fabulous she is. I even had to stop at my parent's house to show them before going home because I love it so much! If I have enough courage, I'll post a new picture soon. I even have sort-of bangs and I love it!

On another front...there seems to be water getting in my bedroom. I'm not sure how, but it soaks the carpet and then the maintenance guy has to come. They haven't figured out how the water is getting in but with all the rain we've had today, the carpet it all wet again so I already called the office. I'm hoping someone will come out tomorrow. I really don't need stinky carpet from the water smelling!

I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. Not that I've had a horrible week, but I'm ready for a weekend to relax. I don't have anything planned this weekend so I'm excited. I need to clean up my apartment, but other than that, nothing. Woohoo!!! Does anyone have big plans???

The things that happen only in WI...or at least only makes "headline news" in WI

Dog chases deer into Wis. living complex
Mon Mar 31, 11:01 PM ET
KAUKUANA, Wis. - Some residents in an assisted living complex had quite a surprise when a deer jumped through the window. A witness told police a black dog was chasing six to seven deer when a deer jumped through a resident's closed window at St. Paul Home Friday afternoon.
"All of a sudden I hear all this glass break and there's a deer standing about three, four feet away from me, and I just, I've never screamed so loud in my life," nursing assistant Dana Hagglund said.
Laura Marquardt, a certified nursing assistant at the care facility, said no one was injury.
The deer ran down a hall and into one of the home's shower rooms, where it was corralled until tenants in the area were moved to safety, Marquardt said.
The deer then was steered toward an open patio door, where it made its escape.
Marquardt said she was unsure whether it was the same deer or a second deer that later ran across the patio and broke a second window but did not gain entry.

Men with blue paint on their heads

Wow, I have been busy lately! It's been a fun busy though. A few weekends ago, I went to see STOMP! and I have to say that it was FABULOUS! We had great seats (2nd row) and were able to see everything. The way those people can make music out of anything really amazed me. It also takes a lot of strength in order to do what they do. I highly recommend it if it ever comes near you. Here is a link to a clip on youtube. Click here to watch the clip! It isn't the same cast as when I saw it but they do just as amazing things.

Also, I went to the Blue Man Group a week ago. I have to say that I was pleasently surprised! I had heard they were good, but I didn't realize how big of a production it would be. I really enjoyed the band too and the songs they played. How to be a Megastar was hilarious and I loved how they incorporated that into the show. It was also very interactive and they brought people from the audience as well. I have heard that the Vegas show is better, but since I have never been there, I felt this one more than stood up to its reputation! I would also highly recommend this if you are able to see it.

Tomorrow, I am taking my mom to see Carrie Underwood in concert. I really liked her on American Idol and continue to really enjoy her voice. My mom really likes her too so we're going!

Other than that, this past weekend I went up to Eau Claire to visit some friends and go out. I had a wonderful time and had some much needed time going out with friends. I hope to be able to do that again soon! Work is keeping me busy but it's a good busy. I really am enjoying what I'm doing and for the agency I work for which definitely helps :)

What's going on with everyone else?

Easter Weekend

Well, it was Easter. This is the first year I didn't have a basket, but my easter bunny (my mom) is in FL so that makes it difficult to hide the basket from there. I'll live though, I swear.

Saturday, my dad and I took my mom down to the airport in Milwaukee. Now, I realized that it being Easter weekend that the airport would probably be busy, but seriously. The day before, all the flights had been cancelled due to weather, so there were people EVERYWHERE. There were also news crews everywhere interviewing people who were "stranded" at the airport. I had printed out the flight information for my mom and we went to stand in line at Continental. Her flight took off at 10:31am and we got there around 8:20am. We were still in line at 9:15am and still about 50 people back in line. I finally went up front and asked a new man what was going to happen with people who needed to get on flights that were in about an hour. He asked which flight I was on so I told him that I was flying to Detroit (no time to explain that my mom was the one flying!) and he informed me that "We don't fly to Detroit". Uhhh..yeah you do, it says so right here on my itinery. Well, he informs me that we've been in the WRONG line the entire time and that we had to go to Northwest. Nowhere on that paper did it say she was flying Northwest. Needless to say, I was angry. So I cut in at the Northwest line to ask a very rude worker what is going on with the flight leaving in an hour and thankfully she (rudely) informed me that there was a small line on the side that they were having for my mom's flight to make sure that everyone got checked in. So, whew. We got my mom checked in, her luggage was set, and she made it through security with enough time to use the bathroom. So, dad and I get back to the car and start the drive home when my phone rings. Her plane had just arrived (10:20am) and they were delayed until 10:48am. Ugh. Thankfully it wasn't a long delay and she still made her connection in Detroit (although she got there, had to find her gate, and get on the plane right away). She is now safely in FL, but who knows what her return flight will bring!

Sunday, we had a really nice meal with two of my cousins and their families. My dad grilled out steaks (marinated...yum!) and we had twice baked potatoes, pasta salad, veggies, macaroni (for my two year old cousin), and dinner rolls. For dessert we had a HUGE chocolate cake. We all rolled away from the table when we were done and then we just watched basketball for the afternoon.

It was definitely hard to go back to work today, but thankfully I have another fun weekend to look forward to!