I don't think an email response it too much to ask for

Please excuse me while I vent for a minute.

I love how everytime something goes wrong with my computer at work, the 2 men that I work with don't believe that there is actually a problem. They think it's me. This has happened several times in the past month or so. Today something wouldn't print, when I had been printing all morning. I mentioned it and he said, well it should print pretty quickly and then just stood there like he didn't believe me. To make a long story short, I called tech support and the entire program had been installed incorrectly and they had to do a complete re-install. Humph! I am a pretty smart person. And just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't know anything about computers. In fact, I know a lot about them and if you ask anyone that I used to work with, I was GREAT with computers. So THERE!! Okay, I feel better now.

This weekend went by way too quickly. We were pretty productive though. On Saturday we finally got our passport pictures taken. My original plan was to send mine off in November. Yes, it is now February. I'm kind of nervous about getting it in time. (I still haven't sent it in yet) We went to Walgreens to take the pictures and it was hilarious. When we told the guy we were there for passport pictures, he said okay and pulled out a camera, walked to the middle of the store, and pulled down a white screen. I immediately burst our laughing. I could do this at home! So there Lee and I are standing in the middle of Walgreens getting our pictures taken by a young man who was VERY enthusiastic about his job.

After the photo session we went to pick out the tuxes for the men in the wedding. We ended up having to get way more than I originally counted. And they cost more than I tough they would. Which is fine, just not as planned. Who knew that it was so difficult to pick out a vest and a tie? Geez, I could have stood there for hours. I'm still not sure about the decision we made. It took less time for me to find my wedding dress! But it was good to get that taken care of so that we don't have to worry about it anymore.

I cleaned the house on Sunday and we went to my parents' to hang out and watch the superbowl. While we were there, I finished up our taxes (!) and then I spent my time going through old pictures. Originally I got the out to find some for our slide show at the wedding, but then ended up scanning a bunch to put on facebook. It was fun to look at them. Oh, and we ate too much. Waaaay to much!!

I am going to rant about something else. I knew who I wanted our photographer to be even before we got engaged. Well, technically, she was my second choice, but only because my first choice was WAY out of the price range. She was great when we first met with her. But I have come to realize that she has an issue with getting back to people, whether it be through email or phone. I just think that is absolutely ridiculous. If you provide a client based service, then you sure as hell better be available for your clients. I emailed her last week and asked her a couple of questions. I still have not heard from her. This is far from the first time this has happened. I wanted to say something to her, but she is going to be taking my wedding pics. so I never did. I am seriously considering changing photogs. I know that it's kind of late in the game, but I can't handle this! We would lose our deposit, but I don't know how much I care about that. She has already taken out engagement pics so it's not like it would be a total waste of money. Ugh. I am going to start looking at other options today or tomorrow.

Just call me Kate

I have been using my Germ-X way more than usual lately. And that's saying a lot, because I'm obsessed with the stuff. Lee is sick, my cube neighbor at work is sick, and it has come to my attention that certain others that work on my floor do not wash their hands after using the restroom. Sick! We're talking about grown adults here people!! I am an adamant hand washer, especially when it comes to public restrooms. In case you didn't know, the CDC recommends that you wash your hands for 15-20 seconds. This can be accomplished by singing Happy Birthday twice, or, my song of choice, the Alphabet song once. I started this many years ago when I saw something on tv and it has since become a habit to sing the song each time I go to the sink. I think that I should post this in our restroom at work. Clearly many other women here have not been informed of the 20 second rule.

I am skipping the gym today. I feel guilty about it. Because of the snow and ice, I have only worked out once this week. And I ate pizza last night. I am going to be super excited when I am cleared to start running again. Hopefully this will happen on Tuesday, but I have been disappointed before. Once that happens, and I am cleared to lift weights again, I will be good to go!! It's hard for me to feel like I'm getting a good workout when I can't do either of those things. And if I don't feel like I am going to have a good work out, it's hard to get motivated. Enough with the excuses. I am not going today because I don't want to. Period.

So, did anyone know that there is a town in Missouri (I think Missouri) called Romance?! I, of course immediately called Lee and told him, thinking that the reason for the excitement was obvious. He responded with a confused "huh?" Duh! We should totally make the 8-hour round trip to mail out wedding invites so that they will say ROMANCE on them, right?!?! I mean, that's a totally normal thing to do. That's what I thought, but Lee didn't feel the same way. Oh well.

I watched my DVR'd episode of Jon & Kate plus 8 last night. Oh how I love that family! If I could be anyone in the world I would be Kate Gosselin. I'm dead serious. All of those babies and they are the most adorable and sweetest babies I've seen!! I have always wanted lots of kids, but never all at once. I think, no, I know that I could do it. Of course, we would need our own tv show so that we could even begin to afford that many!! I think that part of the reason that I love the show so much is that Kate reminds me so much of myself, and I freaking love her. I know that lots of people think that she's mean to Jon, but their dynamic works for them. I think that the amount of love in that family is obvious. What is hysterical to me (since Kate reminds me of myself) is that Lee totally, completely, unequivocally dislikes Kate. He won't even watch the show. Well, not just because of her, I think it freaks him out. He says that watching that show is the best birth control in the world. Lol. I love the chaos and all of the kids running around everywhere and everyone going a little crazy. I don't think we'll be having 8 any time soon :)

I am excited that tomorrow is Friday! I think that we are going to rent a movie again. We have been doing a lot of that lately. Plus, I stayed awake for the last one in its entirety, so I'm going to try and make it 2 times in a row. I am getting my hair done this weekend, and it desperately needs it! I have been trying really hard to grow it out for the wedding because I want to wear it down, but my hair is so fine that it splits really easily. Luckily I don't have to straighten it everyday, so unless I doing something special I have only been drying it until its almost dry and the putting it up. Lately though I have been straightening it a lot. It's long! I want to enjoy it! But now all of my ends are split. :( We are also getting our pictures taken for our passports!!! Yippee!! And we are going to pick out tuxes, I think that will be fun. I can't believe that the wedding is less than 5 months away now. I thought it would never get here! But now that we are getting closer, I can see how planning can be so stressful. For the last year or so, I have just been planning at my leisure, whenever I felt like it. But now I am starting to actually need to pay attention to when things need to be done. The place where we are getting married is amazing though. They work with you and are so on top of things, and they take care of a ton of stuff that most places don't, so I know that we're in good hands with them.

Ooh, it's almost time to leave work!!

I'm having the sudden urge to watch Mighty Ducks or Dawson's Creek!!

What is with the weather?! I am not a fan of the ice and sleet. It did turn to snow yesterday afternoon and that was pretty. Isabelle and Zoe love the snow! They are so funny, they will stay out in it for as long as you let them. But they are so small that I get nervous about them getting too cold. Sadly, Lee and I have learned that although they love to play in the snow, they don't like to go to the bathroom in the snow. Boo. We'll leave it at that. :) I told Lee the other night that I hoped that this was the last hurrah and then it would start warming up for good. He pointed out that it's still only January. Why can't he just dream with me? I did give myself an ice day yesterday and stayed at home. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only did I not have to go to work, but there was a CSI marathon on tv all day!! What a great day! Haha.

Speaking of tv, Fringe was on last night. If you haven't seen it, it is seriously one of the best shows ever!! I love it! Lee thinks it's weird and doesn't like it, so it's not for everyone but if you like weird sci fi kind of stuff it's great. Not to mention the fact that Joshua Jackson is in it. You remember him, Pacey from Dawson's Creek, Charlie from Mighty Ducks? I never did have a thing for him in either of those roles, but I have developed a huge crush on him in this show! He's sort of a bad boy who really isn't that bad and he's incredibly smart but doesn't really care, and I'm usually not a fan of the facial hair, but I like it on him! I don't usually have celebrity crushes, but I will make an exception for him!

I am wishing that I would have stayed home again today. I am running out of ways to keep myself busy at work. Too bad I can't bring a book and just blatantly read it in my office! Lol. Lee drove me today, which means I'm stuck for the entire day, no leaving for lunch. I liked having a chauffeur! I think that we should carpool everyday! He only works a couple of block away from me , so it would work. Gas isn't really an issue since we live pretty close to downtown, but if we move out to BA, I think we should definitely ride in to work together!

Every office has one

There is a know-it-all in my office. I wasn't sure at first, but it has recently been confirmed. He comes to talk to the guy in the cube behind me twice a day, at minimum. He stands there for.ev.er. And he just keeps talking about how someone messed up, or how he could do something better a different way. Pipe down bucko, no one cares!!! I'm pretty sure at least 2 other people feel this way about him, so I don't feel bad talking crap.

Now, here's something that I find awkward. It might be just me, I mean, my mind can be immature at times. Well, most of the time, but whatever. I hate it when people ask us where we're going on our honeymoon. I don't want to talk about the honeymoon, especially to people at work or parents' friends. After someone asks and you say Jamaica or whatever, they say ohh that's nice! And then, the awkward silence ensues. We both know what the other is thinking. Yep. Even worse than that: what are you doing on your honeymoon? Really people? Really? I mean, what do you think we are doing? When he was here over Christmas, Lee's dad asked us what we were doing on our honeymoon. I would have burst out laughing if I hadn't already been so annoyed with him. Don't freaking ask that!!! Especially when it's your son!!!! He then asked if he could go with us. He's a strange one.

There's an ice storm coming in. I am always so amused at meteorologists when there is the slightest possibility of inclement weather. They are like giddy school children. Dan Threlkeld was on the news last night, and he was so sick that you could actually feel it through the tv. I'm sure that he was running on pure adrenaline at the thought of any sort of precipitation. In any other case, he would have taken a sick day. The ice started coming in around lunch time. Booooo. Lee felt the need to call me and critique the way I go home from work. Apparently there had already been an accident on the highway I usually take. I don't know why that means I shouldn't take that particular highway. He then felt the need to tell me to be careful when driving home. I politely thanked him and said that I had planned on being reckless. :) The big boss man just came around and told us to leave if we need to. Yippee!!

We're building a house!!!!!!! Not now. Not anytime soon really. But, sometime in the next year hopefully. Well, I suppose that it's not 110% sure, but unless an amazing new floor plan is developed and built in the next year, we're building one! I am really picky, and since we both want to stay in the next house for a really really long time, it's the best decision for us. I have already drawn a floor plan. To scale. That's right.

I'm leaving work early!!! It's the only good thing about the ice.

145 days

The food in our cafeteria smells really good, but I've heard it doesn't taste good

Today I started doing my taxes! I don't even have all of my information in yet, still waiting on a W2 (I will have 2 since I switched jobs this year) and some student interest info. I don't care, I couldn't wait any longer!! I'm weird, I know it and I don't care. I love doing my taxes. I love to fill in all of the little boxes and adding stuff up. And I love love the refund that I almost always get! This year I am counting on it for the wedding, and I don't think I am going to be disappointed by the looks of my preliminary calculations :)

So Oklahoma has new license plates this year. Lee pointed them out to me a few weeks ago and I didn't really care at the time. But the more I see them the more I realize how ugly our old ones were. Now I really want a new one!! I am never happy to renew my tag. It always just seems like a waste of money for a 2-inch sticker. Oh, and don't get me started on the employees of the Tulsa area tag agencies. They are always so unhappy to help you. But, next month I will happily march into Barnes' Tag Agency and pay the grumpy lady the 90 or whatever bucks and get my new license plate!! I'm not sure what exactly is involved in obtaining the new plate, but I don't really care because I really want one!

As much as I am bored at my new job, the weeks seems to really go by fast. I think that I have had maybe one week here where I felt like it lasted forever. I am especially excited for this weekend. Tonight Lee and I are having a date, and it's fancy so be jealous. We are going to dinner at this cheap ass hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, they have good food, I agree, but Lee is obsessed. Then we are renting a movie. Hopefully a suspense or scary movie if I have anything to do with it. And since we're going to the video store, you know what that means!! Cotton Candy!!!!! I am like a kid at at the carnival with that stuff. I could eat it for every meal and never get sick. I love it!! I wanted to go to a movie (Revolutionary Road please!!!) but Lee always gripes that the seats are so uncomfortable for him, so I compromised on renting one instead. I will probably fall asleep in the first 20 minutes of the movie, because that's what I do when we rent them.

Tomorrow we are going to do some new home research and see if we are really going to get to move after the wedding. I am holding my huge smile and squeal back until we decide we are 100% certain. But I want to squeal just thinking about it!! Okay, can't talk about it anymore, I get too anxious. Then I am going to hang out with Mary!! Yippee!! I haven't seen her in forever and it's about time for some Mary-Ashley time! I'm sure it will be a good time and we might be mixing in a few wedding-related activities. Saturday will be a good day for sure, well you know, hopefully :)

Now I will get on my soapbox for a minute. I went to WalMart yesterday on the way home. It was hellacious as usual. Some part of your brain must be removed as soon as you walk in there because people act like pure idiots. They wander around, act like they have no idea people are trying to get by, around, (really any preposition will work here) them. Hello!!!! I am so annoyed every time I go, and yesterday was no exception. Just one example of the idiodicy: I had to maneuver around a lady who was sauntering down the pop aisle like she was lost. I found the diet DP area, and quietly waited for a man to get his 1000 bottles of Pepsi. Then, when he was finished and took his cart out of my way, the sauntering lady zoomed right in front of me!! Then I had to wait for HER!! I was not happy. This does not sound as unnerving as it actually was. I literally had visions of screaming at her. The MOST annoying thing about WalMart these days is the self check out. Personally I enjoy the self checkout when I don't have to wait on anyone in front of me, but I am apparently one of the 3 people that knows how to use it. You should seriously be required to take an aptitude test to be allowed to use the machine. It's really not hard people. Slide the little square with all of the lines on it over the glass and put it in the bag, then repeat. Somehow, most people screw it up and then it beeps and flashes and you have to wait forever for someone to fix the problem. And what is with the people who take their overflowing cart to the self check out?!?! What are you doing?! I'm sure that they think it will be faster, but trust me, it is not. okay. I'm finished.

In TV news, Gray's was really good last night. They are never that good anymore, it was like the old days before the writers strike. I laughed, I cried...well mostly I cried. Is Izzy going to die??? And why on earth did it take her that long to figure out what "I'm here for you" meant?! I was screaming it at the tv from like the first second he said it! Maybe it's a brain tumor. That must be it. Because anyone else would have gotten it. There have been talks of her leaving the show, but wow, I didn't think that they'd kill her off. I didn't get to watch CSI yet, because Lee gets annoyed that I watch it so much. I wanted to tell him that I get annoyed that he watches sports so much, but he still watches it. I bit my tongue. Everyone should be impressed.

148 days

5 months to go!!

I can't believe that we are at the 5 month mark! I feel like I have been in slow motion for the past 14 months, and now the real countdown can begin! I am starting to get nervous now about making sure that I am taking care of everything. I know that I have already done so much to prepare, but that was all just kind of at my leisure and whenever I felt like it. We are getting to the point now where things have to be done at certain times. Exciting! And kind of nerve-racking at the same time :) I think that this weekend I will sit down and make a list of everything that needs to be done between now and the wedding. Making lists always makes me feel better, and I feel so accomplished when I mark things off of them! Ha.

I talked to Mary last night about the bachelorette party for a little while. I think we have finally narrowed down an approximate date, so that's good. It is so difficult for me to let go of the control over anything that has to do with the wedding (theres the type A personality again, it has reared it's head a lot during the planning process, but so far I have managed to keep it at bay, or at least hide it for the most part) But I know that mary has it all under control, and she has lots of people who are willing to help her if she wants/needs it. I got excited last night though because I think that she has something planned that I don't know about, and I do love surprises (good ones).

Lee and I went to check out a new neighborhood last night. One of his co-workers built a house not too long ago and she suggested that we consider it. Lee absolutely loved it. That made me very happy :) I have always been the one pushing us to move, but I think that he is just now starting to get excited about the prospect. I just sat there and let him talk about everything, and I smiled to myself a lot. Especially when he was considering how close it was to my parents house. My dad has already said that when we have kids he wants to retire and watch them. Nothing would make me more happy. So last night, Lee was saying something about we could just "drive down that street to take the kids to your parents house" :) I love that he talks about "our kids" and that he is just as ready to start a family as I am. That is certainly one thing that we have always been in agreement about, which is such a relief to me. It was a good night to say the least.

151 days

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day! I am celebrating this wonderful day by siting at work. :) I had a marvelous weekend AND a marvelous drive to work this morning. I have a feeling that the next 8 hours will put an end to the marvelousness.

On Friday night, lee and I had dinner with my parents, which involved overeating and then making the bad decision to get dessert. And then we went to Target for a few things. Exciting, I know. We have come to terms with the fact that we are boring and actually rather enjoy it.

On Saturday, we went to a wedding reception for a couple that Lee works with. There was good food and champagne so no complaints from me! After we dodged the invitation to go out later with the happy couple, we made a quick trip over to my parents house to see how the fence was coming along. Have you ever seen an 8-foot high fence? I can now say that I have, and I'm 'not sure how I feel about it. I might love the privacy. I might hate the incarceration effect it gives off. Anywho, we forced my parents to take pictures of us while we were dressed up. Sadly they were all terrible pictures. Next we were off to do a little house hunting! We had found several houses we liked, but weren't familiar with the neighborhoods. We found a neighborhood we LOVE, and I found a floor plan that I LOVE. Too bad they are not together. Boo. The night ended with another trip to Target!

On Sunday morning we replaced all of the kitchen cabinet pulls and fixed a cabinet door that has been broken since ohhh, probably 2 days after we moved in :) I also decided that I will repaint the cabinets woohoo! We also hung a mirror that we have been planning on hanging for like 2 months. All in all, a very productive morning! Later we went with my mom to visit my grandpa. He had a bad fall a few weeks ago, and we had to put him in a nursing home for a little while. Just until he gets his strength back. I have never liked nursing homes, who does really. But this one was actually okay. The ever-present odor of urine and pine sol was non existent there and it was super clean and had a ton of staff. My grandpa was being really funny and grumpy. At least he is feeling okay. When it was time for his nap, we left and dropped my mom off. Then it was time for more house hunting! We went to a couple of open houses. We realized that we didn't love the inside of the houses in the neighborhood that we love (and by "we" I guess I really mean me) I don't know, the houses were really nice, but I just didn't like the set up and the living room and master seemed too small. I was kind of surprised that Lee liked them as much as he did. Then we went over to the neighborhood that we don't like as much to see the house with the floor plan that I love, only to find out that it wasn't having an open house like I thought it was. But, we went in another house and loooved it! It was almost exactly what we wanted. It was about one room too small though. We left the house hunt feeling like we knew a little more than we did before so that was good. On the way home, we discussed building a house. I got excited about that but I don't think Lee was as excited. Oh well, we have lots of time to decide.

I am not looking forward to another boring week at work, but hopefully it will go by fast!

Vote no for red dirt country

Last night Lee and I went to our first meeting with the wedding DJ. We have discussed the music a little, mostly in reference to other wedding that we've been to, so I kind of thought that we were on the same page. Lee isn't really a shy person, so some of his comments last night surprised me a little bit. I do know that he doesn't like to dance, so I shouldn't have been that surprised, but I still found myself saying "really?" a lot. Persoanlly, I want the kind of reception where everyone is out on the floor dancing and having a great time. So when the DJ was asking us about music genres and "group" dances, I had different opinions than Lee did. 80's dance music is my FAVORITE!! For me it doen't get any better than Bon Jovi's Livin on a Prayer :) Lee doesn't object to the 80's, he likes it also, but I did hear him utter the words "red dirt country". *insert horror movie-type scream here* What? What is that? I have never heard of that description of music, and I never want to hear it again! The last wedding-related thing that I want to argue about is the music, but I have to put my foot down at the phrase red dirt country. So I asked him to tell me who sings red dirt country. He spouted off about 6 people, only 2 of which I had heard of and only 1 of which I had ever listened to. Apparently Pat Green is red dirt country? I like exactly 2 of his songs. But that's not really the point. The point is that red dirt country music isn't really the mood I'm looking for at the reception. I left it alone for now, but I'm sure that we will revisit it later.

After the DJ debacle, we went home and watched American Idol. I was happy that this year, they are showing more of the talented people during the auditions. Last year it seemed like all they showed were the terrible ones. A few funny thoughts I have about Ai in general:

1. I always think that it's so funny to listen to people when they're watching the show. Suddenly everyone becomes an expert on singing. Last night, there was a guy that has a good voice, but maybe just chose the wrong song. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I do know that it involved words like range and octave. Haha, after we critiqued him, I laughed to myself that we have become the at-home experts.

2. Are the bad singers also blind? Because it seems to me that if I were singing to a panel of people and they were almost hysterically laughing and turning around in their chairs, I would probably notice and stop singing. But not the AI auditioners, oh no, they keep going until someone has to cut them off, and then they are shocked when the jusges give them a bad review. Oh man, you can't help but feel sorry for them...

3. The most hilarious thing that I have learned about AI is what the auditioners do when the judges are telling them that they were terrible. They start to sing some more, usually very quietly, while they are being told that they are terrible! As if Simon will hear them and suddenly change his mind. Oh my gosh, it is so funny!

I can't believe that it's only Thursday, I feel like this week has gone on forever! I am so ready for the weekend. Even though I know that our plans for the weekend involve a ton of cleaning that we have been putting off for too long. Oh well, I'd rather be scrubbing my toilet than sitting at work :) Speaking of work, I have noticed that my new company does not let us off on MLK day. Maybe that's normal for most, now that I think of it, I don't think that Lee gets the day off. I used to at the old job. I always thought of it as our last day of freedom before the busy season ensued. Well, I guess that I don't mind coming in on what I think should be a holiday if it means that I no longer have to work 80+ hour weeks.

I need a manicure

So there's a girl that works on my floor, she sits about 8 feet from me. She is a loud talker (emphasis on loud, you really have no idea), which really doesn't bother me that much, I can be loud too. But all she ever talks about is sports! OU sports, specifically, but she will talk about other teams too. She literally goes to every single OU game, and then gives her cube-mate a recap on Monday. If you know me, you know that I loathe sports. I don't understand them, I don't care about them, and I never will. I probably wouldn't care so much if I didn't live with the most sports-obsessed person in the world. When I'm at home, it's all Lee talks about, and when I'm at work, it's all she talks about. I can't get away from it!!! I told Lee the other day that if he wasn't already taken I would totally set them up. I mean, it's like a match made in heaven, OU heaven. :)

I tired to watch The Bachelor last night. I made it through the recap of last week and just couldn't do it. Those girls are so desperate for the guy. The night ended up being incredibly boring. Lee went to a friends house to watch the OU bball game, and there was nothing on tv and I didn't feel like cleaning the house which I should have done. The girls and I just hung out and worked on the wedding invites. Speaking of the girls, Zoe is still scratching like crazy. It was especially bad last night :( Poor little baby. We looked at her ears last night and they were so read from her scratching. I don't know what else to do. I told Lee that I would like to wait a few more days to take her back to the doc since we started her antibiotics 6 days ago. It's hard to wait though, I feel bad for her.

After work yesterday I went down to the fitness center to work out, like I usually do. But I got off of work a little late, which means after 4:30. There were a million people in there!! It's a small center because it's just for employees, but Williams has hundreds of employees, you'd think that they could invest in more than one stationery bike or something. But, I discovered an exciting fact, there is a group class after work on Mondays!! Yay! I love group classes, but they usually only have them during lunch time which I think is weird. Who wants to get all gross and sweaty and then go back to work. I mean, they have showers and stuff, but you'd have to take like a 2 hour lunch! Anyway, I'm totally pumped to go next week.

I'm getting the home decorating bug again. I haven't said it out loud yet, because I don't want it to get worse. We are on a strict save for the wedding / pay down all debt plan. So my itch will have to wait. But it won't stop me from dreaming. The Potterybarn catalog has been sitting on my nightstand for a week or so and I look at it every night :)

The weekend is over??

I had a great weekend doing absolutely nothing! I'm not so sure about Lee though, because I'm pretty sure that he was restless the whole time, but he's usually like that when we don't have anything to do. I usually tell him that he could clean the bathroom. Somehow after that he finds something to keep himself occupied with. :)

I am excited that Friday is pay day. I found this super fun guest book for the wedding and I'm finally going to order it! I was going back and forth about the guest book. I wasn't sure that I even cared about it, so I was contemplating just getting a really cheap boring one, or buying this rather expensive one that was pretty cute and personalized. Then I came across this guest book that is so creative! Each guest takes a page when the arrive, and sometime between then and when they leave, they complete it. It has questions like how they know the bride and groom and what their predictions are for them. I hope that our guests will actually take the time to fill them out! Which now has me thinking that I now do need a guest book attendant. I wasn't originally going to have one, but now I might need someone to harass everyone to complete their page. I'm sure that you probably don't care about this, but this is the greatest dilemma in my life right now!

On Friday, we discovered that I need to get new tires. Boo. We actaully knew this was coming, but the guy at the dealership said that the rear tires are pretty bad, so it's going to have to happen sooner than we (or at least I) thought. The good news is that the fron tires are okay for now, so we don't have to buy all 4 at once. The guy also griped at me for not rotating my tires, among other things that were not my fault (I mean, not getting the tires rotated was my fault, but the fact that the last person to change my oil cut a hole in something instead of removing it was not my fault). That's why I make Lee do car things for me. The men are always so rude and condescending to women and I don't feel like arguing about it with them. Anywho, spending lots of money on tires is just not fun for a girl. I would rather buy clothes or shoes ot home decor. And let's face it, I could get a lot of those things for the amount of money these tires cost! It's times like these that I wish I had my Camry back.

Oh, so we tried a new church on Sunday. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. First of all, the traditional worship was only at 8 am. The contemporary worships are not really my thing, I prefer the more traditional, old fashioned worship like I used to go to with my grandma. But, I just cannot justify getting up that early on the weekend. Plus, we are Baptist, and let's face the fact that a "modern" Baptist worship is probably not so modern. Plus, it's offered at 9:15 and 10:45, so much better than 8!! So we went to the 9:15. The "modern" part was okay for me, not my favorite, but I could handle it. The sermon though, I didn't really like. He started off talking about government and the fact that they don't have God or they don't trust God or something to that effect. He was kind of confusing but that was the jist. He kept going, and I thought that it went a little to far. I could have dealt with that if that was the only thing that bothered me. But then the rest of the sermon was so negative. Maybe it was just the topic that he was discussing, but I just didn't really like it. Lee was sort of the other way around, he didn't like the modern part but he thought that the sermon was good. We decided to give it another try next weekend and see how it goes.

Tonight The Bachelor is on. I decided that I wanted to try and watch it this year because I have never really watched it except for like one year in college. The first episode was alright. Of course they had some of the crazies on but that's to be expected. There is an annoying cheerleader who is immature. There's a stalker girl who told him that she stalks him. Stalking is okay, but don't tell him!! And then there's crazy eyes with a child whose dad died. Actually, my favorite so far is the girl that everyone tried to vote out. lol. I think that everyone got annoyed that she kept talking about how they might not realize what a big job being a parent is. But I agreed with her. It seemed like a lot of the girls are not ready for the reality of that. But then again, that lady left her baby at home to go on the show, so I don't know how I feel about that. I'm going to watch it again tonight, but I don't know if I can handle the whole season.

Don't look too soon, but it might be an upswing

Today I completed approximately 4 hours of work. Hooray!! I am not a cube drone who is completely unproductive for 8 hours a day! I don't want to get too excited or anything, this may simply be a fluke in the system that is designed to torture me daily, OR it might be a sign of happiness and butterflies and sunshine things to come! I choose to believe the latter and will continue on with positive thinking for the day.

As I was driving home for lunch this afternoon, singing along at the top of my lungs to Taylor Swift (who I firmly believe is a poor singer, but I do love those 16-year-old-high-school-girl-who-just-got-and-lost-my-first-boyfriend-blues-but-oh-wait-now-I-like-another-one-so-life-DOES-go-on lyrics) I got to thinking about how negative I have been lately. I recalled a specific instanch in which Lee, my parents, and I were at a friends house for a 1st birthday party. We were all standing around talking and as I recalled the conversation, everything that came out of my mouth was blah this or blah that, boo, boo, boo. (It it just me, or do other people recount past events over and over, in their precise entirety? I think that this is more of a woman-thing than an Ashley-thing) Anyway, my memory was disturbing to me because I have never been the negative nancy, and the things I was complaining about were ridiculous things that I have allowed myself to dwell on over the past 6 months. AND I was blaming a lot of things on my soon-to-be-hubby that really I shouldn't do because all he's really doing is telling me the truth that I don't want to tell myself. And it was in front of friends and my parents and I should apologize to him. Man oh man, when did I become such a downer? As soon as I got to work I went straight to my computer and added another goal to my list for 2009: Accept what I have at the moment and be grateful. I really have no reason to complain about anything. I have a good job, which maybe I don't enjoy, but it's a good one and right now I should just be thankful to have one at all. I have a great family and loving finace who accepts my irrationality, and we have the two best, cutest, cuddliest doggies in the world. We have a home and it may not be my dream home but it is pretty cute. And we are getting married this year! Finally!! I am going to be so happy when it finally gets here because I feel like we have been planning this thing forever! If you seriously asked me today if we would have had the same wedding knowing what I know now, I would say no. I would go away with just family and a few friends. No lie. (For the record, I'm thinking more beach than Vegas, but still)

Other 2009 goals that I have (NOT recolutions, GOALS):
- Go to church every Sunday!!
- Get back to my pre-Lee body. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I totally packed on the lbs. when we started dating.
- Limit my frivilous spending
- Pay off credit cards
- Do NOT stress out about the wedding!
- Get my real estate license by December

There will be a mid-year checkpoint of goal progress, but I'm hoping for success in all areas.

The OU-Florida game is tonight. Please pray for our house. If OU doesn't play to Lee's standards, he might bust a hole through the floor as a result of the child-like actions he *sometimes* has. I would elaborate, but Lee would (ahem, should) be embarrassed of how he acts during games. That's why he won't go anywhere else to watch them. Lol. True story.

BL Disappointment and Other Musings

Dear Biggest Loser,

After the last season in which you allowed people on the show that were not there for the right reasons and left me more than disappointed in you, I had decided that I would give you a chance to redeem yourself. So I watched the new season last night, and I must say that I was not impressed or happy with it. Just a few of my thoughts:

1. I love Jillian. Love love love love her. That will never change. Bob is annoying, you should get rid of him.

2. I was happy to see that everyone seemed to be there for the right reasons this time, and I already have some favorites. However Tara and Laura annoy me and I'm not sure that I like them.

3. WHY did you make the losing couples ALL send one person home? I mean, seriously BL?? WTF? I understand that you want to throw twists in the show to make it interesting, but newsflash: people like the show just how it is!! No twists needed for me to keep watching (which I'm not sure I will). Sending so many people home on the first weigh in totally defeats the purpose of why they needed to be there in the first place. I am very bitter and angry about this.

4. Why must you be 2 hours long? Why? I get bored in the middle. Nothing happens. Yes, we like to see the contestants and get to know them, but not for 2 hours. And why oh why is the weigh in so long? These are things that I will never understand.

5. Stop trying to hide Alison's baby bump!!!! I have loved her since I started watching her on DOOL and I continue to love her on this show, and I want to watch her be pregnant!!! It's not a secret, we all know she was preggers during the taping because she was huge on last season's finale. Ali, do not be ashamed of your pregnant belly, we all love you and you are even more adorable pregnant!

6. I probably will not continue to watch you this season BL. I may tune in at the very end to see the weigh ins, but that will be in between whatever else I'm doing. I'm very disappointed in you right now and I hope it shows in your ratings so that you might do something to fix this.

Sincerely,
A fan no more


In other news, I am still not doing anything at work. It's like watching Groundhog Day. I come in everyday, stare at my computer until my eyes bleed and watch the clock, go home and do the whole thing again the next day. I started almost exactly 2 months ago, and I'm starting to resent them for being so insistent that I start when I did, since I wanted to wait until around now to quit my previous job. It's getting pretty bad. You know how the less you do, the less you want to do? That's about where I am. I'm past the point of complaining about not doing anything. At this point, I don't even want any work to do! I hope this ends soon!

I finally went to the vet's office today to get Zoe's antibiotics. Poor thing, I hope this works. For those of you who don't know, she has been scratching herself for a couple of months and it is incessant. I feel bad for her. She even has little scabs in her ear from all of the scratching. The vet originally said that it was allergies, but the allergy medication is not doing the trick, so we're going to try a round of antibiotics to see if that does it. I sure hope so, because she has to be miserable. (Not to mention that it's annoying the hell out of me at night, her thumping her foot on the beed all night long...)

I am excited about this evening because I am finally starting on my wedding invitations!! Yay!! I am loving this invitation crap, plus it gives me something to do in the evenings. I was really sad last weekend because I realized that I ordered the wrong kind of paper AGAIN! I mean seriously, I think that their website is messed up because I know that I did not order the wrong thing more than once. Now I have to reorder and return which is a huge pain. Oh well. I'm actually more anxious to work on the programs but I think that I am getting a little ahead of myself there. I just keep hearing these stories about brides who are stressed out with details right up to the wedding day, and I do not want to be that bride. I certainly don't want my bridesmaids to have to stay up until the wee hours of the morning helping me with anything!

I'm just as surprised as you are

Okay, so I've really always had this thing against blogs. I just couldn't get my head around why people feel the need to tell the entire world every feeling they've ever had. But recently, I've had a lot of time on my hands (damn you new job with no work!). To fill up the time, I surfed the internet, followed link after link, and found myself re-visiting the wide world of blogging. I discovered that now that I am older, and most of the people I know are older, it's fun to read about everyone's lives and how they are changing. It also makes me feel better to know that other people are going through the same issues I am. It's hard to adjust to adult-hood. I guess I got spoiled at my old job where I had someone who quickly became a good friend to talk to everyday, all day. Now that we have both moved on from that job, I realize how much I appreciated and needed the outlet of expressing frustrations and celebrating accomplishments and everything else that happens in life. So, I guess that this is my attempt at appeasing that part of me that needs to talk about myself everyday. And maybe at the same time I will inspire other friends to create their own blog so that I can stay in touch with them better. Because as much as I am a talker, I hate to talk on the phone. And that coupled with friends who live far and wide doesn't allow me to stay in touch as much as I would like to, unfortunately. Well, that's all for now, but I assure you that there is more to come. Get excited.