It's hot! (and a hodge podge of other stuff)

Finally it's starting to feel like summer! Ha-la-lu-jah! The high is 91 today and I think that is just great. Now give me a few weeks and I'll be wishing for the 70's again, but right now I'm loving it. This kind of weather gives me a great excuse to wear a dress to work everyday and not have people commenting on why I'm "so dressed up." I can wear a suit and no one says a word, but throw on a dress and oh buddy - I'm dressed up. ( I guess that's what happens when you work with a bunch of men, huh?)

For those of you who are concerned, last night was the season finale to LOST. Oh, I'm sad. What am I going to do with my Thursday nights now?! I don't wanna say too much about the show in case any of you are LOST junkies, but haven't had a chance to watch it yet. But it was good! Answered a lot of questions, but in typical LOST style it left a lot too. I guess we'll just have to wait till next year to get the answers! (or the next the way this show goes)

I've been house/pet sitting for my aunt and her family this week. They are in Disney World celebrating the end of my uncle's chemotherapy and other cancer treatments! Whoo hoo! But since they are gone they have left me to tend to their super crazy/tons of personality little dachshund named Daisy, their irritable/mean/extremely huge cat - cowboy, and their gecko lizard. I don't think the lizard has a name. The cat is easy - feed it twice a day and stay away from it. The dog is pretty easy. She likes a lot of attention so she's kinda always around, and she sleeps in the bed with me too. I'm not really crazy about that but I can deal for a few days. And the Lizard would be a piece of cake if I didn't have to feed it WORMS! They are just these little mealworms, and they are stored in the fridge so they are cold and don't move.... but still. YUCK.

Oh, and the other day I took Daisy over to Ben's for a little while. She is usually really good with people. She might bark a little when she first meets someone, but then she is their best friend. But this time it was a little different. Daisy and Ben have met several times so that was no big deal, but she did not like Ben's roommate for some reason. She barked at him everytime he moved, and she stuck by my side w/ her tail between her legs most of the time.... or so I thought. It wasn't until roommate got up and went into this bedroom that I realized Daisy had not been sitting beside me the whole time. I heard him say "Um Mindy, can you please come clean Daisy's mess up out of my room" UH OH! Ben and I go running in there to find a big ole pile of POOP on his bed! Disgusting. We cleaned it up best we could then threw his comforter into the wash. I felt so bad. I wonder if she knew that was his room? haha. Daisy and I went back home shortly after that.

Well kiddos. This weekend should be goodtimes. Italian Fest tonight, then a Bachelorette party tomorrow night. Things might get CRAZY! Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

for your viewing pleasure

I thought I'd post a few pics from my weekend. I didn't take very many, but I hope you enjoy!

These pictures were taken at Arlington National Cemetery. Ben and I went and spent a few hours over there on Saturday afternoon. You can see all the flags that were out in observance of Memorial Day.

The big arch thing in the background is the new AirForce Memorial

This is Ben's grandfather's grave marker. I've never known of anyone personally that was buried in this cemetery so that was neat seeing it.

This is his grandmother's grave. I never knew that the military person's spouse was buried with them. They share a grave marker and the spouses name and such is on the back.


____________________________________________________________________

Washington Nationals Baseball game

Our group before the game: a friend of Ben's sister, Ben's sister - MA, Ben, yours truly, and my BigBro

The stadium right as you walk into the park.

The view from my seat - we had great seats!!

And the view to my left. Getting to stare at baseball players the whole game wasn't such a bad thing.

____________________________________________________________________

And of course, a set of pictures wouldn't be complete with out the precious nephew. Seriously, isn't he the cutest thing EVER?!

Home Again, Home Again

And I'm back! Back in Memphis - back at work - back to blogging....

My weekend was great! Despite having a horrible/miserable cold, everything was perfect. We flew into DC late Thursday night where Ben's parent's picked us up at the airport. It was neat driving back to their house because we got to drive past all of the monument's which were all lit up. I've been to DC several times, but for some reason I never tire of the beauty of the monument's and buildings. Every time I see them I can't help but think about the history that has taken place there and the thousands of people who have helped mold this country that have walked those very same streets. Ok- moving on...... the rest of our weekend was fun. There was eating, some errand running, eating again, a visit to Arlington Cemetery, eating, a Washington Nationals baseball game (where I caught a ball. go me!), eating, more eating, and some partying. In case you somehow missed it - we ate A LOT! And unfortunately for me, Ben's family is not real keen on lowfat/fatfree foods. We had donuts, eggs, sausage, steaks, potatos, bagels, eggs, bacon, burgers/hotdogs, etc.... I gained 6lbs this weekend. I kid you not! Don't get me wrong - the food was DELICIOUS and I took full advantage of all the yummy (bad for me) foods, but boy oh boy do I have to get serious this week!

My brother and his wife and son also live up in that area so I got to spend a good bit of time w them. My SIL (sis- in-law) and Nephew were out of town until Sunday so my BB (big brother) paled around with us. I don't really get to spend a lot of time with them since we live so far apart so of course I loved every minute of it. I did get some time in with my SIL and nephew on Sunday night and Monday. My nephew is 7 months old now! wow - he is getting so big! I could seriously eat him up!

I did learn something new this weekend though. Never fly if you have sinus congestion! HOLY CRAP! I'm used to a little pressure when flying, but on the way up my left ear was killing me. I thought it was going to explode! I kept halfway expecting blood to start dripping out of it at any moment. sorry, that's gross. But the pain went away after about 10 minuets. The descent down was a whole other story. This pain was about 100 times worse than it was going up. I feel so bad for Ben because I'm sitting there crying because it hurt so badly and there was nothing he could do. He kept reaching over to hold my hand or try to console me in someway, but all I could do was sit there w/ my fingers in my ears and cry. Yes, I'm a baby, I know. It lasted about 30 mins that time. Even 2 hours after we got off the flight it still felt as if I had a cotton ball stuck in my ear, and when I pushed on it I could hear the liquid in there. GROSS! I called dear old dad, who is a doctor and he said I had an ear infection. The pressure from the plane caused it. Ugh! So now I'm on antibiotics to try to heal that up. Oy! It's a never ending process!

But I've been off work for several days and I'm pretty far behind so I better get back to work. Ciao for now!

allergies

ugh. i want to die

Perceptions

There is this commercial on the radio that is put on by one of the local churches here in the area. The commercial is pretty much alway the same - it's the pastor of the church telling some story, or giving a token of advice. The story is always ended w/ a moral. They are usually pretty cheesy, but this morning it was actually pretty insightful and it got me thinking. Here's the story and the pastor's words of wisdom:


A young man and woman were engaged to be married. The night before the wedding the young man looked at his fiancee and said "honey, when we get married is it ok if I still date other women? And sleep with other women? Is it ok if I'm out at the bars every night getting drunk?" The woman looked at him shockingly while he said "I will still love you and that will just give you that many more reasons to forgive me."

Christians often take this approach with God. They say "Lord, now that I am yours, is it ok for me to sin all that I want - anytime I want? I will still love you and that will just give you that many more reasons for you to be able to forgive me." It is very common for us to think "what can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Just as you would never go into a marriage looking for loopholes and ways to dishonor your spouse, you should also never look at your relationship with the Lord in that way either.

What a good point! Way to go Rick Kershaw!

I've got the urge to shop!

Why is it that everytime I go out of town I feel the urge to go shopping and get new clothes? It's not like the people that I'm going to visit have seen the clothes I have. Today on my lunch break I went out to see if I could find any good bargains. I've decided that I need to get some new shorts....not real sure why I think I need to do this seeing as how I haven't left the house in a pair of shorts (except to go to go running) in about 2 years. I hate the way I look in shorts, I hate how they ride up between in my legs when I walk (if you can't relate to that - I hate you), but for some reason I just spent an hour trying on shorts. I had no luck. They are either hootchie short, or grandma long. The one pair that did find that I liked they didn't have my size. They had the size below, and the size above, but of course not the one I needed. So I killed the urge to spend some money by buying Ben some new clothes. I'm very lucky in that Ben didn't really dress bad when we started dating. He didn't dress good - but he didn't dress bad either. He lacks a style I guess you could say. His closet is full of solid color polo shirts, button ups, and t-shirts. Not much imagination there. I'm hoping to be able to spice up his wardrobe a little.... we'll see if he likes what I got him!

My urge to shop started about a week ago - I spent too much on ebay last week by buying a wallet I've been wanting for ages, 2 new blue-ray movies, and a decorating book. Outside of ebay I've bought 3 pairs of shoes, several tops, some new cute PJ's, and a sundress. Sad thing is I don't really have the money to be shopping like this since I'm not sure what my financial situation is going to be like during my first few months in sales..... oh well!

I wish I was one of those people that just doesn't spend money. I used to live with a girl like that and I was like "how the heck do you do it?!"

I'm so uncreative at the moment that I can't even come up with a good title! AGH! What is wrong with me! I think I just have so many things going through my head right now that I can't even think straight. Between finishing up my work from my old position and starting work for my new one - I can't seem to figure out how I'm gonna make it all fit. I'm only working 4 days this week since Ben and I are heading off to DC on Thursday night so that doesn't leave a lot of time to get it all done! Oh, did I mention I have to give up my big office to go be in the sales pit... aka a cubicle? I've got to start cleaning everything out from in here and taking it home with me. I will miss the large amount of space that my office provides, but more than that I will miss my door. I don't close it very often but it's comforting knowing that when I want some privacy, I can close it.

side-note: the lady in the office next time mine has downloaded "solider boy" as her ringtone for when her 13 year old son calls her. She doesn't understand the concept of turning down the ring volume, so about every 15-30 mins I get to her "YOUUUUU CRANK THAT SOLIDER BOY..." blaring from her phone. She has some other ringtone for her husband, and something different for her mom - argh



Sunday morning Becky and I got up at the crack of dawn and headed out to Millington. Okay, it was actually 6:00am but on a Sunday, that's the crack of dawn! She and I had volunteered to help out at the Memphis in May triathlon. Since I've done a few marathon/ half marathons before I know what that is all about, but I've never been to a triathlon before so that was new ground to me. I was impressed and intrigued all that the same time. This was an olympic distance event, so the participants swam .93 miles, biked 24.8 miles and ran 6.2 miles. Impressive huh? I couldn't do it.... not right now. I've always been interested in doing a triathlon, but I've gotta get serious about running again before I can commit to something like that. Not to mention the cost that goes into just being able to participate. Do you have any idea how much a decent bike can cost? Anywhere from $1000 and up! Then you've gotta get the right shoes, and tires, and swimming gear! Surely a wetsuit can't be too expensive huh? Anyway - I may never actually get around to doing one of these, but it's fun to think about.

As I've mentioned before, Ben and I are going up to DC this weekend to visit his family. They were very generous and gave us some money to help with the cost of our plane tickets. This was something they just offered to do without us ever asking, and obviously it is very much appreciated. I mentioned to Ben a few weeks ago that I wanted to get them a little gift as a thank you - not only to thank them for the money but also just to thank them for letting me visit and have me in their home for 4 days. If you know Ben at all, you can probably predict what his response was "we're not getting them anything. me being home is a gift enough." I very much disagree with this statement so yesterday afternoon I got him to go downtown with me to find them a gift. I have been thinking that I would make them a Memphis basket with various items from here. Memphis is known for their incredible BBQ, rock - n- roll, the blues,and of course - Elvis - so I thought this would be fun and easy. WRONG! Everything I picked up Ben said "oh they wouldn't like that..... they don't use cookbooks......oh here, let's get them this magnet that says 'i got porked in memphis'..... here, get my mom this snowman(from the 75% off christmas basket) she loves snowmen." So needless to say I was super frustrated by the end of shopping trip. We ended up with a bottle of BBKings BBQ sauce, a magnet that says "Memphis" and a bar of soup with a C on it - it's their last name initial. Yes, I'm aware that the soap makes no sense, but it's the ONLY thing Ben liked that I was semi-ok with. I spent my lunch break today trying to find other items to go in the basket. I ended up with a picture frame in which I will frame a picture of Ben and I (who wouldn't want that), a cookbook about Grilling, and some Rendezvous BBQ rub. It's still all pretty random, but I'll make it work the best I could. I just don't have time to go back downtown and go through the gift shops again. I love him a lot but sometimes I just wanna kick him! Do you think all of those things are completely ridiculous? If so, any suggestions? I've never been to his parents house so I'm really kind of clueless as to what to get!

Back in the office

I'm back in the office today. I was supposed to go out in the field again today with the sales manager, but apparently he has too much going on to do that. So here I am finishing up my old work and trying to get everything ready for when the new person comes and takes over my current position. I'm getting excited! My first official day as an Account Executive is June 1st. Between now and then I will be spending 2-3 days in the office and 2-3 days out making calls. They ordered my business cards today so as soon as they are in, I'm set! I got a really good territory. It's loaded with businesses. For some reason, my manager, HH, feels the need to take care of me. I'm not sure why that is the case, but I'm ok with it and will not complain! I am a little nervous about the salary though - it is less than what I make right now and that worries me. Of course I do have the option to make more money since I will be making commission on any sale that I close, but it's still nerve wrecking nonetheless to know that if I don't sell anything - I'm gonna be broke! PRESSURE!

Ben had his home inspection yesterday. It was great! The only problem they found was that one of the posts on the balcony is lose and needs to be secured. The realtor had warned us that the inspector would find alot of problems although most of them would be no big deal, so I was prepared for a much larger list. Ben's going to ask the current owners to fix the post - and we're that much closer to the closing! Less than a month now!!!!

I'm feeling pretty boring... not much to talk about really. Speaking of boring, I was sound asleep on the couch at like 7:00 last night! I woke up long enough to watch Grey's at 8:00 then crawled in bed for good at 9:00. I'm such an old lady at times! I'll try to come up with something more interesting to write about next week.

Ta-ta!

MIA

Sorry I've been absent the past few days, this sales job is kickin my butt! But in a great way - I'm loving it. I'm exhausted when I get home everyday and my feet are killing me, but I feel like I've actually accomplished something. I'm going to have to invest in some better shoes though - mine aren't cutting it!

Not only has this week been busy with work, but my nights have been busy as well. Monday night I babysat for some friends of mine, Tuesday went to see Made of Honor (ohhhhh how hot McDreamy is!), and last night I went out with Ben and some of his friends for a "FLOF meeting." FLOF is this stupid, made up group that he and all his friends at work made up. They call themselves "Future Leaders of FedEx" - it's so dumb.

This weekend is BBQ fest. It's apart of the Memphis and May festivities, and it's usually way better than Music Fest. Heck, it's gotta be! Anything is! ha. We are going with our friends H&JJ. Their parents have a tent down there, so they invited us to join. It should be a good time.

I know this is the most boring post ever - I'm just so out of it right now. I'm gonna just lay on the couch and chill out. Thank goodness it's Thursday! That means it's time for LOST and Grey's Anatomy! Woot!

Oh my achin' feet

Yes, they hurt. I went out on my first day of cold calling w/ one of the other sales ladies today. We'll call her LC. She's a nice woman - smokes like a chimney in her car all day. But hey, it's her car - right? We made 70 cold calls from 9:00 - 2:00 w/ an hour lunch break in the middle there. I kept waiting on the dreaded B**** that we were supposed to run into, the one who was gonna cuss us out for walking into her building and throw us out, but it never happened. What a shame. Maybe tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I will be out again with another sales rep making calls. RS and I will be hitting up north Mississippi - yes siree!

Ok, onto other matters in my life. The Bridesmaids dress dilemma has been solved for the moment. Ben and I went by the dress shop on Saturday, and rather than being angry about it, I found a sympathetic ear who was willing to hear my sob story. She asked me try it on so she could see "if it's too big." When I walked out of the dressing room her jaw about hit the floor. She said "ok. let me get the owner. One moment." Long story short, the owner came out and agreed that the dress was too big and agreed to foot the bill for the alterations. Thank you. That's all I wanted.

The house buying process is still moving forward. Ben has an inspector coming out on Thursday to look and see if there are any problems. Since the house is only 2 years old I don't see that happening, but ya never know I guess.

And yesterday at Target I got the cutest dress!

Well it's a lot cuter in person...not as retro. I'm thinking about wearing it on the plane when we go up to D.C. next week to visit Ben's parents and my brother. I want to get a little cardigan to go over it. And I'm prob gonna get these shoes to go with it. **the brown ones like this, not red**

OK, now that I'm looking at that picture more - that dress is kinda funky looking. I promise it's not that bad in real life! Yikes!

Tonight I'm going to see Made of Honor - I'm super excited. Patrick Dempsey is a sexy, sexy man. I'll let ya know how it is!

What a day!

Well this post is gonna be short and sweet - I've been really busy here at work today so I haven't had much time to write much of anything. And the rest of this week may not be much better! I start tomorrow w/ the training rides. I'm really excited about it. They keep warning me that I'm gonna be tired but I'm LOOKING FORWARD TO IT! I'm rarely busy here. Bleh. Anyway - I'll do my best this week to update at night. Hang in there with me though, I'll be back!

The girl downstairs

I rarely write on the weekends, so you all are in for a treat! Something just struck me when I was walking into Ben's apt and I obviously had to write about it - I mean, obviously, right?

Ok, so Ben lives in an apt complex and he lives on the second floor. There is this girl that lives below him who seems to be about...um... late 20's MAYBE early 30's. She is hardly ever home, maybe two or three times a month I see her car out in the parking lot (it's a really small parking lot), but the weird thing is that there is always some random older guys - I'm talking 40-55yrs old - there. They all seem to have keys, because unlock the door and go in. The first time I saw her w/ one of these guys I thought maybe it was her dad, or maybe she was dating an older guy. I don't have a problem w/ her being with an older guy, but why are there so many different guys coming and going? and sometimes (most of the time) when she's not even there.

It's just odd....

Help!

I have just realized that my blog is not recognized as a "feed" so anyone that uses feed-readers can not access my blog. The frustrating part about this i that I can not figure out how to fix it. It says it is seeing my blog as a website rather than a feedsite. I'm not really all that great at deciphering HTML code to figure out where the problem is. If anyone knows anything about this, could you pass along some tips for me?

Thanks!!

They accepted!!

the offer on the house! WHOO HOO! Ben put an offer on a house early Wednesday morning. We weren't sure when we'd hear back, but our realtor called Ben right after work yesterday and said they accepted the offer! I'm so excited, and happy for Ben! Closing is June 13th, which seems like an eternity from now but I know it really isn't. AGH! :) :)

He was really cute when he told me about it. We had been in a little tiff yesterday, so when he came to the house he came and sat by me and we talked and got everything straighted out. Then he got up and went into his bedroom - when he came back out he said "sit up".. confused, I sat up right as he opened a bottle of champagne and it spewed all over the place, and he yelled "WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!" the only thing my dumb self could say was "Whoa! Not on the couch!" (referring to the champagne). But we hugged and did little happy dances. I can't believe it's finally happened! I feel like we've been looking for 3 years - it's actually only been about 4 1/2 months. I'm just ready for them to hand over the keys to him we can get to decorating! I have a feeling Ben isn't gonna let me have too much say so in what goes on w/ paint colors and all but that doesn't stop me from suggesting (strongly) what colors I think he should paint everything.

I can't believe it's finally happening!!

love- it!

Just thought I'd share my new found love with you. For those of you who are trying to be health conscience and eat better, here is a great new cook book! I got it earlier this week and have already tried several recipes from it - all of which were DELISH!

You can order the cookbook here

heavy heart

I don't have a whole lot to say right now - I've got a lot on my heart and my mind but I'm not sure I'm ready to release it all to the world right now. I did go over to a girlfriends house last night and visit with her, that was kind alike a mini-therapy session, so thanks girl!

For those of you who know me well, you know a bit of what my driving record looks like - and it's not good. haha. So for the last 2 years my New Years resolution has been "No Tickets, No Wrecks!" I made it all the way thru 2007 w/out a ticket or a wreck (phenomenal, I know!) but this year hasn't proved to be going as well. I got a ticket a few weeks ago, but in all honesty I had no idea I was speeding. I had gotten off on this exit from the interstate, which in all honesty I thought it was still the interstate, so I was just bee-bopping along at 65MPH, when a police officer ran out in front of my car and waived me over. They love to do that here, stand on the side of the road and clock ppl, then run out in the middle of all the cars and flag them over. Anyway, the cop proceeded to tell me that I was going 65 in a 50! He must have seen the sincere confusion on my face when I said "but I thought the speed limit was 65? when did it change?" because he just wrote it for 5MPH over. Pretty nice, huh? They actually do that quite a bit here (I know from past experiences). When it's 5 over, you can either pay the $25.00 fine (which does go on your record) or you can go to court and get it dismissed and it doesn't go on your record. I opted for the second option and went down to 201 Poplar for my court date this morning..... only to find out that I read the ticket wrong (apparently the May 08, 16 meant my court date is the 16th of may 2008.) and my court date is NEXT Thursday. I begged the guy to go and and just let me get it over with today, but he wasn't budging. *sigh* I can't really go next week because I start my training for my new job and I don't know that I can get out of it. The guy at the police station told me I could send someone in my place, so I might be REALLY sweet talking Ben to go for me.....

Well I'll try to write more later today if I end up in a better mood.

blogging - bloggers - blogged

Who ever knew that this world of blogging could easily become so addicting? I find myself sitting here at my computer everyday, scouring the blogs of people I do not know. Many of them I don't even know where they live.... It's like I've become addicted to the lives of these mystery people and I just have (not literally) to know what's going on in their world. It's not that their lives are that much more exciting than mine, but I find myself checking various blogs all day to see if they've updated. And it is inevitable that I will look over at their list of blogs they frequent, and I will find another one that interest me thus making my list of daily blogs even longer. It also amazes me as I read these other blogs at how much they have to talk about! So maybe their lives are more interesting than mine. The most exciting thing that has happened to me today is I got my oil changed. Whoopty doo, right?

But I was thinking today about the actual blogs that I read - some of them are mom-blogs; mom's writing about the various adventures they go through from day to day and telling cute stories about their kids. Others are wedding blogs, or blogs about cooking and photography. Now, I clearly don't have any children or and I'm not getting married anytime soon, but I still enjoy reading these. I can't relate at all but it doesn't matter - for some reason I keep coming back. Does that make me weird? I also like reading blogs about people that actually are in the same place in life as I am. It's reassuring to see other people my age (or older) struggling with the same things I struggle with, and it's refreshing and encouraging to see them come out on top - it gives me a sense of "yes, I to can do this!"

You're probably thinking "wow, Mindy. get a life!" But until I have a job where I'm not stuck in front of a computer all day, I will live vicariously through the lives of others :)

The hardest word in the english language... "NO!"

Why is this such a hard word for me to say? Is it because I have this condition where I feel like I have to make people happy? Or I'm afraid I'm going to hurt someone's feelings? I'm envious of people that have the ability to put their happiness before others. I think sometimes I can't say no, because I don't really have a reason for not doing it other than " i just don't want to", and I feel like if I come up with a reason then that person is going to know I'm lying to them. Let's take babysitting for example. I have a few families that I babysit for. No matter how many times I tell them that weekends are difficult and I prefer not to babysit then, they still ask. So when they ask me to babysit on the one free Saturday night that I have all month, inside I'm screaming "NOO!!!" but all that comes out is "sure, I'm free that night." It's almost as if I think they will know that I'm lying and just sitting at home on the couch if I say "oh, I'm sorry. I'm not gonna be able to."

I am 100% without a doubt a people pleaser. I'm always worried about how I'm going to make someone feel, or if they are going to be mad if I do something or don't do something.... but why?! Why can't I just say "Nope. That won't work for me." or "This is what I'm doing. Take it or leave it." I agree to do something, then dread it for months, weeks, days or hours..... the whole time thinking "I should just call and say I can't do it." Ben got frustrated with me the other day and said "I'm sick of you committing to something, then complaining about 'having' to do it!" He's right (Yes, I said it) - no one is making me do these things that make me miserable, I'm agreeing to them! What is wrong with me?!

Guys and girls think differently on this matter. Guys can just say it like it is to each other and no one gets their feelings hurt! "no man - I really don't want to do that. " Girls... we have to tip-toe around each other because inevitably the other girl is gonna be mad or get her feelings hurt. So what do we do to avoid this? We agree to do it when we'd rather cut our finger off!

I hope one day very soon I will make "no" a part of my regular vocabulary.

Music Fest ..... not so festive

I learned a very valuable lesson this weekend: Never go back to Music Festival again!

Let me give you a quick rundown of the weekend. As I mentioned on Friday, my friend Jessie came in town this weekend. I LOVE being with her. When she walks in the door, we pick right back up where we left off. It's always been this way with her, and I know it always will be. There are so few people that it's like that with so I cherish our friendship so much. Anyway - didn't mean to get off on that tangent. Jessie got in town about 1:30am Saturday morning. The weather was horrendous so it took her a good bit longer than it should have. Saturday we got up and went for a walk - I showed her around my neighborhood and we just spend the morning catching up and of course, laughing. Later that day everyone met at Ben's around 3:00 to head down to Music Fest. We rode the Trolley down, which was a lot of fun, then met up with some friends at Silky O'Sullivan's for a little while before FINALLY heading down to the river. After everyone got their tickets and we waited in line to get in - we finally got into the park around 6:00pm. We left the park at 8:00pm if that gives you any indication of how bad it was. We spent those 2 hours trying to decide what everyone wanted to do (a group of 13-15 is just waaaay to many for a crowd that size), standing in line for the bathroom, standing in line for food, and looking for people that had wandered off for various reasons and couldn't find our group again. There were more drunk/completely wasted high school kids than I have ever seen in my life, lots of people smoking pot, and mud, mud, mud! Gross! The straw that finally broke the camels back for me was when a group of (wasted) 16 year olds got on top of these guys shoulders, with their butts RIGHT IN MY FACE, and started bouncing up and down. Hitting us in the head with their rear-ends that were hanging out of their shorts and dresses. They were flashing their boobs, and this kid came shoving past us saying "Let me thru!! I wanna smack their ass!!". It was at that point that I was like "nope. can't take it" and fortunately most of our group felt the same way. I guess I've outgrown that kind of thing.

Here are a few pics, as promised

Ben, me, Jessie, and Sam on the trolley



Ben and I - I love this picture



Jessie, Becky, me, and Jenny at Silky's



Jenny, me, and Jessie
We bought these "awesome" (ha!) sweatshirts cause we were soo cold!

May Already?!

Wow, where is this year going? I cannot believe it is already May! I guess it's true when they say that the older you get, the faster time flys. 1 more month and we're halfway to Christmas! But you know what's great about May this year? Tax Rebate/Stimulus! I got mine today - all $600.00. I know we're supposed to go out and spend the money - putting in back into the economy, but I paid off my credit-card with it. That just seemed like the more responsible thing to do. What are you planning on spending yours on? I hope it's something more fun than a credit card! But hey - no debt is a great thing (well it sounds nice. I have no idea what it actually feels like. Student loans anyone?).

Thank goodness it's FINALLY FRIDAY! Memphis in May is upon us and of course -it's gonna rain. I guess that's why Music Fest is also known as "mud fest". Blah. But the good great news is that my best girlfriend from home, Jessie, is coming to town! She won't be getting in until late tonight, but that leaves us with a few days to hangout and be crazy together. I'm so excited I can barely stand it! I haven't seen her since September, and that's just too long! There are a few good bands playing this year, but nothing that I'm ecstatic about! Here's the line up for this year.

I'll do my best to post some pictures when the weekend is over.

The bridesmaid dress saga is still continuing. I've called the shop where the dress is from to speak with the owner/manager about the problem. She wasn't there, but called me back later. Of course when she called me back I wasn't around. I've since called and left several messages but haven't received a phone call. I'm debating whether or not I should just go up there w/ the dress and try it on for them and say "look. this is what you ordered me. Now fix it."

Oh - one more thing. I FINALLY reached my mini-goal of 25lbs! The first 22 came off relatively easy, but man-oh-man have I had to work for the last 3! Now I've just gotta keep ,y butt in gear and try to get 25 more off!