The life of Emily

Leeeeaving On A Jet Plane....

2009-09-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

So it has been quite some time since I have blogged. I've been debating over whether or not I should just call it quits altogether - at least for a while. I'm still undecided, but while I continue to mull over my decision, you'll get a few more posts out of me. And by "you", I mean my mom because I'm pretty sure she's the only one who will still look at this. :)

I'm headed to Madrid tomorrow, and travel is always something fun to blog about. So here's to Madrid! I'll see you soon!

How NOT to Win Customers For Life

2009-06-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

Being in marketing, I tend to pay close attention to what other companies do to develop their brand. When you think of brand, your mind probably goes to a brand name or logo or spokesperson. When I think of brand, I look much further than that. As my boss loves to say (constantly): "Everything a person sees, hears, feels, or experiences is your brand." So when you go to the grocery store and it is dirty, it affects your view of their brand. When you ride in your friend's new car and it smells funny, it can affect your view of their brand. This is why most luxury car dealerships give free car washes for life - if you see a dirty, trashed out Lexus driving down the street (also known as Emily's Lexus), it can affect someone's perception of Lexus when it is really out of their control (sorry Lexus!!).

Today I realized a major thing about AT&T that is killing their brand: their strict upgrade policies. It really doesn't cost them a whole lot to let you upgrade your phone at the "reduced" price, but yet if you are outside of the 18 month upgrade period, you have to pay ridiculous prices for a new phone. You can usually talk them into giving you the reduced price, but you come away feeling horrible about AT&T and extremely frustrated with the service they've provided. Today I stood at the front of the AT&T store waiting for my turn and watched 5 unhappy customers leave the store feeling ripped off and not getting what they came in for because of this exact reason. And then an hour later, I left feeling the same way. Not great for your brand.

Here is my solution, AT&T. Let people get a new phone at the "upgrade price" at any time, as long as they sign a new two year agreement. No questions asked. People will feel really good about your company, will make them loyal customers, and I would bet money that you would actually see revenues increase. I know plenty of technophiles who would buy a new phone every 9-12 months if they could so they would have the latest and greatest thing to come out. But instead, you won't let them buy it until 18 months have passed. Over a 6 year period, one person would double the number of phones they purchase from you if they could easily get a new one out of the 18 month timeframe. And those customers are usually the ones buying the more expensive models as well: the iPhones, Blackberry's, Samsung Blackjacks, etc.

Unfortunately, AT&T is way too caught up in their own self-righteousness to think of something so simple, and will continue to alienate customers while their more nimble competitors (T-mobile, Alltel, Boostmobile, etc.) will most likely come to this conclusion (if they haven't already...I've heard t-mobile is really easy to upgrade with) and AT&T will find themselves in a bad spot.

SYTYCD Recap - Top 20

2009-06-10T20:00:00.001-07:00

I've decided I'm going to jump in this year on the So You Think You Can Dance redux postings. And I'm committing to posting my opinions before I read Holly's...I think it will be fun to see how similar or different we really are!

Tonight I'm thoroughly annoyed. A little thing called a tornado interrupted my life tonight - ruined the first hour of SYTYCD with "Storm Tracker" coverage! So I am jumping in halfway through the evening. I joined in right after a waltz I believe. Just as Mary admitted that she couldn't show expression tonight because of botox!!! And it's definitely true...she is a little plastic...but I can't believe she just said that!!

Onto the dancers (that I get to see...)

Ashley & Kupono

Ashley - just cute as a button. Auditioned four times and kept persevering. I really like her. Kupono - he's a little...interesting. But he's not terribly annoying. He's got some work to do to really win me over, but I don't dislike him. THIS JUST IN!!! WADE ROBSON IS IN DA HOUSE!!!!! After being out last season, he's back! And he has his "muse" in the audience with him! After being gone for a year he is back. And seriously, how can you not like a dancer when they do a Wade Robson Routine? I thought it was great. I really didn't get the 'old dummy...new dummy' thing from the dance, but I still loved it. Judges loved it too.

Melissa & Ade

SYTYCD is bringing out the big guns tonight! Wade Robson and now Mandy Moore for choreography!! If I find out I missed a Mia or TabNap dance for the storm, I'm going to be FURIOUS! Melissa is our "naughty ballerina". I"m a little skeptical...ballerina's typically don't do very well here - they tend to lack personality. Ade - He's wearing a pick in his hair for his interview. Strike one. He'd better dance the heck out of this to win me over. And they both did. Mandy created a routine that literally gave me chills. Not sure why - it wasn't the most amazing routine I've ever seen - but it did. It played to his contemporary strengths and her ballet skills but still maintained to be...interesting. My skepticism is still slightly there....let's get them into some hip hop and see if they can survive...but I'm excited to see where these two go.

Kayla & Max

This is definitely the sob story couple. She was raised by her grandparents...he has a dead brother. I appreciate what people have gone through, but its not going to make me like you if you can't dance. BuBallroom guy and contemporary girl draw samba. Lucky them! And their choreographer, Louis, is GORGEOUS!! Double lucky them! Haha. We all knew he was going to be great so the wild card was Kayla. I give her an "huh, pretty dang good!" There were a couple of spots that were a little sloppy to me, but I think I like them. Adam Shankman LOVES it, Mary is screaming like a drunk freak for the hot tamale train (the bane of my existence)...Nigel likes it too...AND BRINGS UP THAT THERE WERE SPOTS THAT WEREN"T AS SHARP AS HE WOULD HAVE LIKED!! WHAT UP?? I CAUGHT IT TOO! Sorry...I get really excited when I see something small that a judge brings up too. Haha.

So that's all I saw. On the recap I notice: two hip hop routines that I wish I would have seen. Doesn't look Shane Sparks but could be a TabNap. Broadway that's probably a Tyce which I usually am 50/50 on liking. Latin dance of some sort, eh. Of course...they couldn't wait to get further into the season before jumping in on the "Slumdog" bandwagon with a dance to "Jai Ho"! I'm sure it was probably disappointing, but I would have liked to see it. This is when I wish Fox wasn't so stingy with YouTube so I could see what I missed!!

My prediction: the three couples that I saw are safe. The rest of my predictions are solely on the 2 second recap - I think bottom three will be Waltz couple (sorry...bad draw. Waltz is boring), Latin dance couple to Poker Face (if that clip is the best you had...), and maybe Broadway couple. If its one of my three, I'd guess Melissa and Ade. I liked it, but it may not be compelling enough to pick up the phone for.

The Bachelorette

2009-06-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

When I was in college, I used to watch The Bachelor faithfully with 5 of my friends in the dorms. I haven't really watched it since, but I decided to jump back on the bandwagon this summer. Mostly because its the summer and there's not much on TV so I needed something to fill my DVR, but also partly because it is The Bachelorette. It is so much more fun to watch guys fighting over the same girl (they tend to take out their jealousy through pranks and hilarity) than to watch girls fighting over the same guy (bring on the cattiness!!).

Normally I would keep this slightly embarrassing guilty pleasure to myself, but tonight I'm conflicted. Meet my favorite guy on the show: Jake

Jake is absolutely awesome. He is totally laid back, seems like a genuinely nice guy, has a little bit of nerd in him, is a pilot (hello? airline industry!), lives in Lantana, TX (hello? Like 15 minutes from me!), knows how to country dance (which I love doing!)...and did I mention he's kind of hot?

So I'm conflicted, because I really want the "nice guy to finish first" for once and for Jillian to pick him. But even more than that, I want her to dump him so that I can meet him. Cause you know, that's totally what would happen if he gets kicked of the show, right?

Jillian - you'd better make the right decision!! And if you make the wrong one, go ahead and give Jake my number, okay? :)

Thoughts From a Restless Soul

2009-06-04T21:58:00.001-07:00

Tonight, I watched Under the Tuscan Sun - a movie starring Diane Lane that will make any female want to pack up and move. I really need to avoid it from now on. I love the movie - however idealistic it may be - but it gets me craving change so much that it is probably bordering on unhealthy. Not kidding, the last time I watched it on TV, I started doing research. I discovered that with the salary that I make now and my Master's degree, I can pretty much pack up and move to any country I want and qualify for a work visa without needing a company to sponsor me. Tonight, I started looking at apartments in New York and Chicago - just seeing what I could afford for what I currently pay in my mortgage.

I think my urge to roam right now is magnified for a two main reasons:

1. I have 3 couple friends (I'm friends with both) getting married this summer, plus 4 more couples that are engaged. I think I have only have 3 people that I consider close friends who are totally single. In the meantime, I'm still single with absolutely no prospects or signs of anything changing any time soon. I'm not really meeting any new people and don't have any friends that I see myself with. So it feels like if I just move somewhere new and start over, I'll meet someone. I know that's a ridiculous train of thought, but its what crosses my mind sometimes.

2. I'm approaching 2 years in my house. For the last 10 years, I've moved every year or two. The longest I've lived in the same spot was in grad school - August 2005 to May 2007. Almost two years. So it feels like it's time to move. Obviously, I'm not planning on doing this since I own my house, but I do drive through different parts of the metroplex and see what I could buy if I were actually going to move.

A big part of me thinks that I'm just a restless person. I'm always looking at what my next move is going to be - in work and in life. But regardless of what I feel like should be next, I really am doing my best to enjoy where I am and savor what I'm doing right now. And I know I've got it pretty good. But it can't hurt to dream, right? :)

Vegas Baby!!

2009-05-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

So I'm laid up at home following a foot surgery on Friday. I think it's punishment for not blogging enough. To make amends, I'm going to continue on my adventures from March with my trip to Vegas!

My dad and I decided to take a trip to Vegas with just the two of us. It was completely random...I'm not sure exactly when or how we decided to do this, but it was definitely one of the most fun trips I've had!

I could tell you all about our adventures, great meals, cool casinos, etc. But instead of boring you with the things you could find on any travel site, I'll just leave you with a bit of advice for the future: If you're up $300 but have a little time before you have to head back to the airport and say "Hey, let's stop and take our pictures in front of the Vegas sign" and your traveling partner says "No, let's stop at Tropicana and gamble a little more," tell him no and keep yourself from losing $200. Not that this happened to me or anything....totally hypothetical situation. :)

This is the only picture we took together the entire trip...at the airport right before we boarded the plane to go home!

Why did the crawfish cross the road?

2009-04-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure why...but he was definitely trying! There was a random crawfish in the middle of the street around the corner from my house on my way to work. I've never seen anything like that before (outside of an organized crawfish boil)! Crazy!

Roomie Weekend 2009

2009-04-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

Over Spring Break, I had my 4th annual Roomie Weekend with my college roommates. After last year's jaunt to Chicago, this year they all came to DFW and stayed at my house. We had a FANTASTIC, action-packed weekend.

We went and ate lunch at Chef Point Cafe right by my house. It is a gourmet chef who couldn't get a loan to open a restaurant, so he got a loan to open a gas station and put his restaurant in the convenience store! It was on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives this past weekend so it was cool to get to eat at it before the show aired!

Front row: Deborah, Lindsay, Lindsay's sister Melanie. Back: Nichole, Me

Then we went to the Grapevine Chocolate Festival. That's right. A chocolate festival! You went through booths and got samples of all different kinds of chocolates from different places. Sooo good and I pretty much made myself sick.

Later Saturday night, we went to Pete's Piano Bar. We went there on the 1st annual Roomie Weekend (which was also in Fort Worth) so everyone wanted to make a repeat. From there we saw Aisha Tyler at the Improv and got to sit on the front table right by the stage! Aisha Tyler is the girl who played Charlie on Friends and was on Ghost Whisperer and was really funny.

Lindsay is not in this picture....she fell asleep during the show (it had been a LONG day!) and was too embarrassed to meet her!!

We topped the weekend off with Sunday brunch at Blue Mesa. It was yummy! I look forward to this weekend all year long and it never disappoints! These are three friends that I am going to be close to for the rest of my life and that makes me so happy. :)

Maverick

2009-04-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, my roommate is my brother's fiancee, Vanessa. Well, they have been talking for a while about getting a dog after they get married. So one random day in February, Vanessa and I decided to surprise Ben a little early with a new Maltese puppy. His name is Maverick and he is quite possible the cutest thing on the planet! He is just a tiny little fluffball and has been so much fun....minus the puppy chewing of course. I'm going to miss him when they move out in July, but for now it is so much fun to have a puppy in the house again!

Back for real this time!

2009-04-10T11:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay, I'm back to blogging for real this time!! Lots to catch you up on....Roomie Weekend 2009, trip to Vegas with my dad, Maverick the Wonder Puppy, and.....drumroll please....crossing another item off THE List!

To start off though, here are a couple of pictures of my latest cake creation. Actually cupcake creations. We had a Spring Festival at work where people could bring their kids to the office for pictures with the "Big White Bunny" (politically correct Easter Bunny), watch a magic show, play some games, and have an "Egg Hunt". I made Bunny Cupcakes for the big event.

They have Orbit gum for teeth, a jellybean nose, and white chocolate ears. At first I didn't think they were going to turn out like I had hoped, but they ended up really cute! Without further ado, here they are. :)

I'm Alive!

2009-01-28T21:32:00.000-08:00

I had really good intentions of blogging tonight...and really for the past month. But its just been really busy. The 3rd week of January is our annual Sales Summit at work where we bring in all of our sales guys from all over the world for a weeklong kickoff/unveiling of new stuff, etc. So the first two weeks are spent frantically pulling things together for it. And then the week after is recovery! So I'll be back to blogging soon, but I'll leave you with a few pictures from the last night of Summit - our big awards dinner. Or as my friend Lauren calls it...Sabre Prom. :)

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

Can you guess what I got for Christmas?

Necessity is the Father of Invention

2008-12-23T11:38:00.001-08:00

What do you do when you want to quickly chill a bottle of wine you just bought, but you don't have an ice bucket? Create your own! :)

Another Open Letter to Santa

2008-12-22T07:02:00.001-08:00

Dear Santa,

I appreciate your quick response to my letter. I'd love to answer your follow up questions, but first I need a little more information.

Could you please define what you mean by "good"?

Thanks again!
Emily

An Open Letter to Santa Claus

2008-12-19T09:10:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

Here’s the deal. I’m looking for 2008’s must-have, hard to find item: The Good Single Man. Tall. Handsome. Funny. I’d really prefer the Premium Model (you know…the one that comes with at least $150K annual income), but I’d be more than happy with the Standard Model too. I thought I was going to be able to find one, but some lady actually pushed me out of the way last week to grab the last one for her daughter!

I know, you tend to focus most of your energy on the <10 age group and I applaud that. They are definitely deserving. But you should know that I have been watching a LOT of Hallmark Christmas Movies this year. I have seen that you have a place in your heart for the single women (must remind you of the first time you met Mrs. Claus. How sweet!) and admit it…you really like showing up that snotty little midget Cupid who prances around in February like he’s king of the world. I heard he actually used to work for you til he decided he was "too cool for the Claus!" What an attitude!

I know you’ve got the ability to give me what I want for Christmas this year, so I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop by and help me out. I'm sure you’re a little overbooked on Christmas Eve, so I’ll even take my present late…just as long as its here by Midnight on New Years. :)

Thanks again Santa,
Emily

Random Thought for the Day

2008-12-18T22:19:00.000-08:00

What makes a man want to be an OB/GYN?

What does this say about me?

2008-12-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

I have a quick links bar set up on my laptop so I can have one click access to my favorite websites. Here is a screenshot

In case you can't read them, here they are from left to right:

1) Myspace.com. I haven't checked myspace in at least six months and haven't updated my page in much longer than that.

2) Gmail. My lifeline. I check this email obsessively. Legitimate link.

3) TCU Mail. I stopped checking this about 2 months after I graduated. My account got shut down one year after I graduated. It's been shut down for 8 months now.

4) Sabre Webmail. Work. Only email I check more than Gmail...second legitimate link.

5) Ryan's Blog. The first blog I really followed of a good family friend. He stopped blogging and actually deleted his blog at least a year ago, maybe longer.

6) Woot One Day, One Deal. I haven't checked to see what the deal of the day is in probably a year and half.

So now for the 2 big questions:
1) what does it say about me that of my self-proclaimed 6 most important links, only two of them are actually legitimate?

2) What does it say about me that instead of taking this 10 minutes to delete the links and replace them with real ones, I would rather make a screenshot and blog about it, showing how truly lazy I am?

My First Blog Award

2008-12-05T12:10:00.001-08:00

So after three years of blogging, I've finally gotten my first award! Happy day for all!! Okay, maybe not for all, but definitely for me. :)

I am supposed to recite the below and then pass this fantastic award onto eight other bloggers who make me smile every time I read what they have to say. Thanks Ginny for thinking of me!

"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

My awardees are:
- Megan at Mookarama
- Cousin Trey (who should update more often!)
- Bonniebee Wester
- Courtney B
- Kristen
- Courtney N
- Mag, Maisy, and Weaver (it's private. no use posting a link. Love ya Mags!)
- Holly in NYC (private too. Keep out!)

More substantial posts to come soon! Including (but not limited to) My first pair of cowboy boots, recipe for a christmas movie, and maybe (just maybe) an actual recipe or two.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2008-11-27T15:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you had a great day with family, food, and football. :)

On the field at Texas Stadium at a work event last year. :)

Happy Open Letter Day!

2008-11-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

Today, SITS is hosting an Open Letter Linkup...everyone goes and puts links to their open letters. I love open letters. If you've read my blog for very long, you've probably seen a couple. So for your Friday enjoyment, here are my open letters. Enjoy the blast from the past!

A Letter To My Love

An Open Letter to Grocery Stores

An Open Letter to the Apple Store

Tiramisu

2008-11-19T12:58:00.000-08:00

After posting Broccoli Rice Casserole recipe yesterday, by Sarah's request (glad to hear from you!) here is my tiramisu recipe. Background: after I went to Italy, I had the best tiramisu I've ever tasted. I went to numerous Italian restaurants in the US trying to find it again, and eventually realized that no one here has it. So I scoured several Italian blogs, found a couple of recipes that I played around with (not changing much...mostly altering to fit what I could find in the US) to create what I think is the perfect tiramisu. I have a couple of disclaimers that I'll throw in at the end. This recipe will make a 9x13 pan. You can half it for smaller ones.

5-6 packages of Mascarpone cheese (8 oz pkg. I usually buy mine from Super Target and its kept in the deli/bakery section close to the fresh mozarella and other specialty cheeses)

6 eggs (6 egg yolks, 4 egg whites. Separate into two bowls)

6-8 heaping spoonfuls of sugar (or more or less, depending on taste)

2 packages of ladyfingers (I usually find them at World Market - Vicenzovo brand in an orange pkg)

4-6 c. espresso (strong coffee will work just fine. Make it and then put it in a dish to cool)

Cocoa

Beat egg yolks and sugar. Add mascarpone cheese and whip until creamy. Beat egg whites until peaks form, then add to cheese mixture. Add extra sugar to taste (it shouldn't be overly sweet though).

Quickly dip ladyfingers in coffee one by one and line the bottom of your pan (I literally set it in the dish with the coffee, immediately flip it over and take it out. Very quickly or they get overly soggy). Put a layer of cheese mixture on top. Make another layer of coffee soaked ladyfingers. Add another layer of cheese mixture. That should be enough to fill a 2" dish. Sprinkle top with cocoa (a sifter works great for this). Stick in the refrigerator for a bit and serve cold.

Now my disclaimers:
- This never comes out the same twice. It all has to do with the consistency of the mascarpone cheese which is out of your control. Sometimes you may need a little cream to make it creamy (no pun intended) and sometimes it will come out entirely too thin and doesn't get a good thickness to make layers. Sometimes 5 pkgs of the cheese is perfect, sometimes you need 6, sometimes even with that it is too thin. Even when its a little thin though, it's still good!!
- You're probably wondering where the liquor is. When I was in Italy, I never had a tiramisu with liquor in it. Apparently, that is an American addition. Italians prefer to keep their alcohol separate...drink the wine on the side instead of throwing it into the dessert.

Hope you enjoy!! :)

Broccoli-Rice Casserole

2008-11-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here is my recipe for Broccoli-Rice. We had another potluck today (for a different group) and I was tasked with dessert. I made homemade Tiramisu and it was a hit again! I'm just rocking out the potlucks this year. :)

1 stick of butter
½ onion chopped (or a little more or less, depending on how much you like onions)
1 package of frozen chopped broccoli
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 to ½ lb of velveeta cheese
¾ c milk
1 cup of uncooked rice, cooked (measure the rice before cooking it, but cook it before you put it in the casserole)

In a large skillet, sauté onions in butter. Add chopped broccoli and sauté until completely thawed. Add soup, velveeta, and milk and cook until all of the velveeta is melted. Stir in cooked rice. Pour mixture into greased pan and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

For a 9x13 pyrex dish, I made 1 ½ of the recipe above. The normal portion works great for a 9x9 square pan. I usually make it the night before and bake the day of. Hope you enjoy it!

Potlucks...mmmm

2008-11-14T11:02:00.001-08:00

I love potlucks. I love potlucks even more when everyone raves about my dish and asks me to send them my recipe! It satisfies that scared child in all of us that is wondering "are people going to like my dish? Is the food that I think is good actually weird or gross?" Hooray for Broccoli-Rice Casserole! :)

Things I Could Blog About, But Won't

2008-11-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

- Work is busy as usual

- How Wheel of Fortune's new $1Million spot is a load of crap....too many hoops to jump through after you land on it

- The big storm that is headed my way bringing hail and tornadoes....in NOVEMBER! Seriously??

- The fact that How I Met Your Mother is the best. show. ever. It is legen...wait for it.....

- How depressing it is to leave work at 5:30pm and have it be completely dark outside. It feels like I'm leaving at 10:00pm!

- I thought working out was supposed to give you energy. It just makes me exhausted and tired

- ....dary

Hope you had a great Monday...or at least as good as it could be!

How About a Little Respect?

2008-11-04T15:33:00.000-08:00

Last week, I went and exercised my right to vote. We have the luxury of being able to vote in secret, but I will tell you that I voted for John McCain. But I'm not here to talk about why McCain should win - people have made up their minds on that issue already and there are like, 1 1/2 hours left in the polls. Plus, I don't think anyone cares about my opinion on that! :)

What has made me really frustrated today is not who people are voting for. I'm pretty sure Obama is going to win. I'm frustrated at the lack of respect that people have and how divisive the whole voting process becomes. Throughout today, I have been reading horrible attacks on supporters of either candidate on blogs, facebook, myspace, etc. Obama supporters implying that people who don't vote for him are idiots, racist, just plain wrong, and so on. McCain supporters implying that people who don't vote for him are uneducated, lazy, just plain wrong, etc. The truth of the matter is, both candidates are great men. Yes, they have differing philosophies; yes, they focus on different things. You can take both platforms and spin them to be the best, state the same fact in two different ways to support different conclusions. That's just how politics is and always will be. Remember that millions of people are voting on the opposite side of you and that those millions of people aren't wrong - they're just voting on different things.

My best friend at work, Lauren, is voting for Obama. We are able to recognize that both of us are intelligent, we both make the same amount of money, we have the same education, we're both white females...we have just interpreted the two platforms differently. And when we show up for work tomorrow, neither of us is going to think any less of the other for our decision. And frankly, if we let who we vote for define us as people, we don't deserve each other's friendship.

Whether our next president is Obama or McCain, the world is going to keep on spinning tomorrow. I don't care who you vote for, but don't attack my decision and I won't attack yours.

Halloween Recap

2008-11-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

It's 6:45pm and has already been pitch black outside for the past hour. That makes me sad. I don't know what I'd do if I lived in Sweden or Alaska or another one of those places where it is dark pretty much 24/7 in the winter!!

But on to the important stuff...Halloween! I've been so busy this year, I actually forgot it was coming. But my cousin, Allyson invited me to a party with some of her friends on Friday night. Then she started talking about dressing up and I was like "Why would we dress up?" That was the first time I realized it was Halloween!

So I made a quick trip to Academy after work on Friday and did a really pathetic transformation into camo-girl for the night. Ally channeled some 80's Madonna, and we headed off to The Glass Cactus for the Spazmatics Halloween Bash. Spazmatics are an awesome 80's band that I have been to probably 10-15 times (for example...here and here). It was the perfect Halloween activity - everyone had a great time just dancing and hanging out and they put on a really fun show. We felt like we were at the Halloween party out of Hocus Pocus with everyone dressed up and dancing to a live band. :) Is it sad I set my holiday expectations from a kids movie?

And now...pictures. ;) Starting with me, Ally, and her friend Anastasia (with the Spazmatics in the background!)

I incldued this one for the full effect of Allyson's outfit. Ha!

No Halloween party is complete without Uncle Fester and his (working) lightbulb!

Asian Michael Phelps and Shark. This guy had some SERIOUS self esteem to be able to walk around in a speedo all night!

We all had such a great time! Thanks for a great Halloween, Allyson! :)

It's time for another....

2008-10-28T09:43:00.001-07:00

Good Idea:
Making mac and cheese for lunch while working from home

Bad Idea:
After discovering your box of Kraft is missing the cheese packet, attempting to make mac and cheese from leftover shredded cheese and milk that you have in the fridge.

Random Thought of the Day

2008-10-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

How did the American Accent come to be? I mean, our country was formed by people coming over here from England, which is why the majority of us speak English. We kept the language - wouldn't we have kept the accent too?

Bloglist12345

2008-10-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today I was playing around with Sitemeter (don't we all?) looking at how people found my page. I think its funny to see what people have googled to get to my blog and its fun to see which friends blogs they're coming through.

Today one of the referrals was clicking through a link at bloglist12345.blogspot.com. I didn't recognize that one, so I thought I'd see who linked to me (I have to confess...it makes me feel special when I'm on someone's blogroll). Turns out, bloglist12345 is PRIVATE! And I'm not invited! So someone out there has me on their blogroll, but I can't read theirs. Or it could just be that someone made a blog to keep track of their favorites without having other people read it, I'm not sure.

So Bloglist12345, if you're out there....invite me! I love to read other people's blogs!

P.S. My most common google phrases refer to "Mexican weddings" (which is really amusing to me) from this, "I Hate Apartment Living" from this, and "Funny European Sayings" from this. I always have at least 4 links from each of those every time I look at sitemeter (which is only about once every 3 months or so).

For Sale: Riverfront Property in Texas

2008-10-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to the Apple Store

2008-10-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Apple Store,

When I battle traffic for almost an hour on my day off to give you a chance to show me why I should become a "Mac" instead of a "PC", it would be nice if one of your "geniuses" could at least acknowledge my existence in the 45 minutes I spent wandering around your small store looking lost. Not a great first impression of your "outstanding customer service."

I'm just saying...

Best Regards,
Emily

Go Frogs!

2008-10-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I went to the TCU vs. BYU football game with my friends, Chris, Erin, and Mike. It was DEFINITELY a fun game....we had a good tailgate before the game (all 45 minutes before the game since it was Thursday and we were coming from work), saw some friends from grad school that we haven't seen in awhile, and got to watch the #24 Horned Frogs completely smash the #9 BYU-ers (anyone know their mascot?). It was a great night! And even better...I'm taking the day off work tomorrow, so I don't even have to worry about going straight to bed and getting up tomorrow. :)

Here is a very blurry cell phone picture of me, Erin, and Mike in front of Frog Fountain. Go Frogs!

A Conversation With My Dad

2008-10-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Dad: So I'm getting a new car....

Me: What kind?

Dad: Well I figure I'm 58, which means I only have 2 years left in my "mid-life." I'd better get my mid-life crisis car while I can!

And that is the story of how my dad became a proud Corvette owner. :) And after driving the 1983 El Camino for the past 10 years, I can honestly say no one deserves it more!

SITS

2008-10-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's probably not a secret to anyone who reads my blog (seeing as at least three of you are people that I first met through blogging...) but I like to read random blogs. I love seeing other families and what they do, what they are interested in, and how different it is from my own life. Yes, I know its weird. But today I discovered that there is a whole community out there just like me! And even better, I discovered it on one of my favorite blogs to read, The Quilao Triplets, so now I know that she doesn't mind random people checking in from time to time!

All that to say, the new site I discovered today is SITS and it is all about connecting people who like to read and write blogs. I'm excited about digging into it and finding new blogs to read - you should go check it out too! They're having a "blogathon" today with all sorts of giveaways. Who knows, you might make a new friend! :)

3010 Words

2008-10-12T16:47:00.001-07:00

Chief Marketing Officer, VP of Corporate Strategy, all for charity.

Blah Blah Blahg

2008-10-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

I'm sick. You've gotta love having at least one of these posts every 6 months or so! The fun part of this one is that my fabulous sinus infection hit the same week as our company Talent Show that I was supposed to sing in (its a part of our Give Together fundraising week and all proceeds go to charity). I sang in it anyways - it wasn't great, but the song I sang was more funny than serious so it wasn't terrible. Now I'm just hoping that I can spend this weekend getting well so I can hit next week with full force...I've got a TON of work to do since quite a bit of this week was taken up with Give Together and Talent Show stuff. Blah.

Sesame Street

2008-10-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

One of these things is not like the other.....

Yes, that is Patty Weaver in a Supergirl costume. Yes, we were out in public at a restaurant. No, this was not a part of any dare, nor was she under the influence.

The Before and After

2008-10-02T21:24:00.001-07:00

I'm stealing pictures from Katie's blog to show the before and after of the hair. It's really a funny story how it all came about....

Ben, Vanessa, and I were at my house bored on a Friday night watching America's Next Top Model. It was the makeover episode and Vanessa made the mistake of saying "I don't see why these girls always cry. I'd let ANYBODY dye my hair!" If you know Ben....he took this as a challenge. A couple of hours and 2 bottles of dye later, we both went from reddish blondish brown (not sure what our hair colors were before) to dark brown.

Me before on the front left....Vanessa is second from the right in the back.

A few days later with dark hair. I look really bad in this picture, but its the only one taken so far with the dark hair!

Back to the Wedding

2008-09-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to do the blog I talked about in the last post, but I'm going to do it right and really prepare before I launch it. So I'll let you know when I get it done!

And now I decided that I should finish my posts about the wedding I went to in August before October hits! Lindsay's wedding was beautiful, the reception was awesome, and I now have another roommate married before me! :)

The most bizarre thing from this wedding happened at the reception though. The reception was at a Country Club, so we wanted to get some pictures on the golf course before going in. They went ahead and opened the buffet for the guests. When we came back in, Deborah and I started looking at the cake, then we went and looked at the groom's cake. It was chocolate and had a couple of chocolate covered strawberries. It looked a little funny and we couldn't figure out why...until a guest walked in between us, picked up tongs and took one of the last two strawberries off the top of the cake! The guests had eaten ALL of the chocolate covered strawberries off the TOP of the cake!!! WHO DOES THAT??? I've been to many weddings in my time and have never seen anyone even THINK about touching the cake before its cut! The photographer didn't even get pictures of it before it was picked apart. So sad.

Here are a few pictures from rehearsal dinner and the wedding.

Nichole, Me, and Deborah at the rehearsaLindsay and Deborah as we were getting ready
My first limo ride ever! Going from the church to the reception. Notice the glasses still...stupid pink eye!!The newlyweds in the limo!Going out to the golf course....we got some really cute pictures in the golf carts.
Cutest ring bearer ever! This conversation went something like this: "Will you take a picture with me?" "No."

The remaining roomies with our new friend, Katie. She is the new girlfriend of one of our college friends and we LOVE HER!!!

That about sums up our wedding weekend! It's about time, huh?

Short Fling With a New Blog Idea

2008-09-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

For awhile, I've been wanting to make a blog/website devoted to cooking for one. It is such a challenge and pretty frustrating to try to buy groceries and cook for just one person - you're either really limited in what you can do, or you end up with a ton of leftovers that go bad before you can eat them. I've spent the last 5-ish years modifying recipes and coming up with some really good ones that work perfectly for single cooking, and I have people ask me for recipes all the time. So I thought I'd open it up and just start sharing them and see where it goes. Sounds like a pretty decent idea, right?

Wrong.

I started looking for a blog name just to see what was available....every variation of cookingforone, cookingsingle, singlecooking, cookforone, etc. is taken. Every one of them is this same idea. Every one of them has no more than three posts - an introduction post and possibly two actual recipes before abandoning it a couple years ago. So now I'm pretty sure that if I started this, I'd just reach the same fate. Maybe someday I'll decide to go for it and will actually build something worth reading, but for now, I'm pretty sure it would just be a blog-fling.

Unless someone can think of a really creative cooking name for me. :)

Quote From Ben

2008-09-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

"Did you ever get about halfway through something and realize, this probably wasn't the best idea?" - Ben Tate

Bachelorette Party

2008-09-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

Karaoke and dancing. I'd tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you.

I'm Back Baby!

2008-09-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

So my sweet roommate overheard me whining about my lost camera cord and realized that since we have the same camera, I could use her cord! Hooray!! :)

Starting the trip back down memory lane...early August, I went to Amarillo for my college roommate, Lindsay's wedding! It's been a long time coming and I was so happy to be able to be there for her big day - especially because I almost wasn't. In true Emily fashion, I came down with Pink Eye the night before we were supposed to leave for Amarillo! But after an early morning trip to CareNow, I made my way there and was stuck in glasses all week. :(

First stop on Wedding Weekend 2008, Lingerie Shower!

Deborah, Nichole and I threw a fabulous Lingerie Shower. We played the best lingerie shower game ever (not really a game, but a fun activity that wasn't too cheesy and everyone really enjoyed! I'll tell you about it if you're interested) and had a cake that we made. It was really great.

Me and my college roomies: Deborah, Lindsay, and NicholeOpening presents

Up next: The Bachelorette Party!

Travelocity "Race to Savings" Sale

2008-09-03T09:47:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Since I get the question all the time "can you get me discounts?" I thought I'd post it here that for once, I can! :)

Travelocity is having a Race to Savings sale for the next month in honor of The Amazing Race premiere. For the next week (Sept 2-8) I can give you a "Friends and Family" discount code that will get an extra $50 off a 3+ night stay at any of the participating hotels on top of the discounts that are already there.

Its not a ton, but if you're planning to go somewhere between now and January 15th and you're ready to book your hotel this week, leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll send you the discount code along with a note about how I'm jealous because I'm not going anywhere.

Happy Traveling!
Emily

Coming Soon!!!

2008-08-26T18:55:00.001-07:00

I promise I haven't died....just been busy! Coming soon:

- My college roommate's wedding weekend
- Multiple trips to the ballpark
- Some Olympics stuff
- Some lack of travel :(

I haven't been on a plane since....June I think. That is way too long. And I have no trips scheduled. I'm sad.

The Hills: By The Numbers

2008-08-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Recap, intro, and "next time": 3 minutes
Commercials: 13 minutes
Actual show: 16 minutes

Really? A 32 minute show and only half of it was the actual show?

I just find it amusing that I watch a "hit show" for the first time and all I can pay attention to is the fact that there is very little actual show to it.

When Valets Attack...

2008-08-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

I could talk about the Rangers vs. Yankees game I went to Monday. I could talk about how it was probably the highest up I've ever sat at a Rangers game.

I could talk about how exciting it was with every last pitch in the bottom of the 9th wondering who was going to pull out a run to win the tie game. I could even talk about the walk-off GRAND SLAM that ended the game for a Rangers' victory.
But instead of having those things be the main memories I have of that game, I get to tell the story of how the valet lost the keys to my car. Yep, thats right....LOST MY CAR KEYS! After about an hour and a half of waiting for my car then to discover they couldn't find it, the only thing I could do was laugh. It really was an "it could only happen to me" moment. Here is Erin and I in a delirious state at about midnight.
Finally they decided to pay for a cab to take me to my house to get my spare keys and back. A little journey that got me home at 1:45am when I had to go to work the next day. It was really frustrating. They are being great though and paying to get my car rekeyed...since there is a set of car keys with my name, type of car, and license plate number attached to it. And I think I'm going to get some free Rangers tickets out of it too. That is pretty cool - although I would have preferred to just not have my keys lost in the first place!

*Note: I didn't actually pay $30 for parking....Lexus owners get free valet at the ballpark. I htought it was a pretty nice perk until now! Haha!

Heard Over Cubicle Walls...

2008-08-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today I heard this conversation as I was at work:

"Is it just me, or do you get more work done when your boss is out of town too?"

I feel a Dilbert comic strip coming on.... :)

Return of the Turkey!

2008-07-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, I told you about the turkey that I saw walking around by the highway next to my office. People think that he lives in the woods behind our building that people may be feeding him which is why he comes around our building.

This morning as I was coming in, he was hanging out in the walkway between our parking garage and our buildings! So I whipped out my cell phone and got a couple of shots.

So without further ado, here is the new Sabre mascot....um....okay he doesn't have a name, so we'll call him Terrell the Turkey!

Now that I think about it, how do I know its a "he"? Is it a "she"? Anyone know how to tell the sex of a turkey?

Frozen Dinner and a Glass of Wine

2008-07-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

Today, I got home from work at about 6:45pm. I walked into a house that I own, and poured myself a glass of wine while I cooked a frozen dinner. In the 2 1/2 minutes it took to cook, I looked around and just started laughing. If you had told me 5 years ago what my life would look like today and where I was going to be, I would have said you were crazy. I figured I'd probably be married, working in marketing probably a couple of levels lower than I am now, and who knows...maybe even with a child on the way like a lot of my friends. Wine wasn't really a part of my life at that time (which i'm sure makes my mom happy since I was only 20!) so that part of my evening wouldn't have registered.

It's just funny to me how I am, in a lot of ways, so far from where I thought I would be 5 years ago. But with the way things have transpired, I know that I am right where I should be. I think I laughed tonight because its just amusing how we think we've got it all figured out, but God just says, "You have plans? Nope! I know the plans I have for you..."

I've been going through one of my "single hating" times, where I just get really annoyed at having to pretend that I am 100% happy being single and that I don't want anything else (because if you're a girl and show even the slightest sign that you would like someone to share your life with, you're labeled "desperate"). But it's nights like tonight when God, in a really weird way, reminds me that he's in control and things will happen on his timetable. And he did it all through a frozen dinner and a glass of wine. :)

P.S. For future reference, if you ever ask me if I'm dating anyone and I say no, please do not follow it up with "Oh, but you're only single because you're doing the career thing right now, right?" That just makes me feel like there should be something wrong with me if I'm not purposely staying single, and 2 or 3 of these comments in a row is what sets off the "single hating" time...

Like riding a bike? Really?

2008-07-21T19:31:00.001-07:00

Whenever people are talking about something that you never forget how to do, they always say "It's like riding a bike," implying that once you've learned how to ride a bike, you can just hop back on one at any time. Today, I proved them wrong.

That's right. I discovered tonight that I don't know how to ride a bike.

With Vanessa moving in she also brought a set of bikes that she and Ben bought a while ago (and have never really ridden). They told me I could use them, so tonight I went and bought a helmet, put on my ipod, and got on the bike. And immediately realized I had no idea what to do! Every time I tried to pedal it would veer random ways and I could get about 2 rotations in before I'd start to fall. Then trying to figure out the whole gears thing...forget it!

I was really happy when I realized it had a flat tire, so I HAD to stop riding. And I'm going to pretend the tire was why I was having so much trouble....and then try to find some time to re-learn how to ride a bike!

Pet Peeve: Parents who let their kids run wild in public

2008-07-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to get my car washed at the dealership and witnessed the most ridiculous parenting I have ever seen. I understand that kids are kids, and I try to give parents the benefit of the doubt, but give me your opinion parents, because I think this goes beyond "She doesn't understand because she doesn't have kids."

Mom walks in with her two kids - probably 4 and 6 years old. The kids immediately proceed to begin playing tag...indoors....in a busy waiting room. Complete with yelling "Base!! Base!! This is base! You can't tag me here!!" Every now and then, the mom would say "Shhh" which would last about 1.2 secs before they were yelling again. And running, full speed throughout the waiting room which is also the Lexus dealership showroom.

So right in between the waiting area and where you pick up your car, they always have a Lexus Preowned Vehicle on display...car of the month or whatever. This time is was an RX (the small SUV). The kids run and get inside of it (at which point normal parents would have been up and over there in a second getting them out, but not this mom!). You see them climbing over the seats, jumping around, hear them yelling, opening and slamming the doors several times....mom still just sits like nothing is going on. Finally the service manager comes over and says "Hey guys, you really need to get out of this car." They say okay, and on the way out, one decides it would be fun to honk the horn twice. SUV car horn, honked indoors....ridiculously loud! NOW super-mom decides to come over and I hear her saying "which one of you honked the horn. I need to know, who honked it?" That's the only thing she's upset about??? Not that her kids have been disturbing every person in a busy waiting room and possible causing damage to a very expensive car? And here's a thought: maybe if they weren't playing tag in the lobby, they wouldn't have had the CHANCE to honk the horn!

Am I the only one out there who thinks this goes beyond the reasonable limits for children in public places? Okay, I know I'm not the only one because the other 15 people that were waiting were all as shocked as I was, but am I the only one in the blogosphere?

Thanksgiving already?

2008-07-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

This morning, I was driving into work as usual. As I was about to pull onto our campus, I had to stop under the bridge at 114 to avoid an animal in the road. You're probably thinking dog, cat, maybe at weirdest some kind of livestock.....wrong. The animal that I had to avoid was a WILD TURKEY! There was a wild turkey just walking along, hanging out under the highway like it was totally normal. It didn't seem freaked out or anything. By far the oddest thing I've ever experienced in my morning commute!
I didn't have a camera with me, but this is almost exactly what it looked like.

1004 Words

2008-07-07T21:09:00.001-07:00

Worst. Spades. Hand. Ever.

Fruit Chillers

2008-07-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

I love Del Monte Fruit Chillers. They make a great snack - especially for someone with a sweet tooth. Theres a couple of things I don't like about them though: 1) I'm sure they're full of sugar, 2) They always leave my teeth feeling really gritty (see #1).

So today I decided to make my own. I bought some fresh strawberries, blueberries, and bananas (apparently raspberries are out of season? I couldn't find any), put it in a blender with a little orange juice, then stuck it the freezer for several hours. It was great! I think next time I might try adding a little honey or splenda, but even without it tasted great and I know exactly what went in it, so I feel good about eating it. Hopefully it will help me increase my fruit intake as well - that part of the food pyramid is a little weak with me.

My Future Sister-in-law

2008-07-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

I know we all thought it would never happen, but my brother Ben is engaged!! Okay, so he's been engaged for 2 weeks and I just haven't blogged about it yet. :)

The happy couple
Me and Vanessa
The big day is July 19, 2009! I really like Vanessa and I am so excited she is going to be my sister-in-law. And even more exciting (okay maybe not, but its pretty cool), she is going to be my roommate for the next year! I'm not so worried about living with Vanessa...it's Ben being around all the time that makes me a little scared. :) Just kidding! It will definitely be something to tell the nieces and nephews about some day though!

Out of evil (the writer's strike) comes some good....

2008-07-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Holly, I now have something to majorly look forward to! You MUST click on this banner. Watch the preview, then read the master plan (there is a button underneath the preview if you scroll down a bit.) And yes, that is Neil Patrick Harris.

NY in 24hrs. Part Deux

2008-06-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

After I bought my ticket to see Spring Awakening, I was walking down 8th St. trying to find something quick to eat before the show. All of a sudden, I hear someone call my name....on a street in New York City. It was one of my friends from Grad School, Justin! I didn't even know he lived in NY! He has been there for about 6 months and lives right in the middle of the theatre district! He was on his way to the grocery store and saw me. How weird is that?? We talked for a little bit, and then went our separate ways. It really is a freakishly small world.

Another fun thing was crossing an item off THE List.* #27 on THE List was "Stand outside the Today Show window and try to get on TV." Ever since I first bought my ticket, I was planning on doing this. Unfortunately, Lindsey beat me to the punch one week earlier and there is really nothing I could do to match her stunt. So I changed #27 before I went and luckily was able to do it before I got sick. So unveiling the new #27:

~~27. Eat a cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery in New York City~~

I ate the red velvet cake one first. It was totally different than anything else I've ever had in my life. One bite I would think "I really don't like this", but then the next bite I'd think "This is the most amazing thing ever!" and back and forth until I finished. The icing wasn't very sweet and basically tasted like pure whipped cream, so it was like having cake and milk together at the same time. The next day before I left for the airport, I tasted the other one. I was sick so I didn't feel like eating the whole thing, but what I tasted....WOW. It totally lived up to everything I've heard and I can't wait to get another next time I go.

*Confession: I kind of cheated a bit on this item, but I'm totally okay with it. I went to the 2nd Magnolia Bakery location, which is right around the corner from ABC Studios. So it was close to where I was and didn't have a 20 minute line at that time of day. Some people might say it shouldn't count, but hey, its my List. :)

Last sort of stereotypical thing I did there - I had a hot dog from a street vendor. Actually I had 2. The first was because I got to my hotel at 2pm and I was STARVING and it was right outside; the second was right before I went to the airport because I needed to eat something and didn't feel well enough to venture any further than the CVS across the street from my hotel where I bought medicine and then the same hot dog stand. That's right, 2 of my 3 NY meals were hot dogs. Kind of pathetic.

And with that, my New York trip comes to a close....and with it all of my scheduled trips for awhile. It makes me sad to look at my AA account online and see the sad words "You do not have any reservations to view." I need to schedule a flight, pronto! :)

New York and back in 24 hours

2008-06-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well, my New York trip turned out not at all like I expected! I got really sick my first night there and had to change my flight and come home the next morning. So basically I got to do none of the things that I had planned! But I did accomplish a couple of things.

We'll start with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: I went to the audition. It starts out with probably 100 people in a room taking a 30 question multiple choice test. You have 10 minutes to take the test on a scantron, then they score them and announce the people who pass. Most of the questions were really easy, but some were just so random! My favorite was "Which of these events occurred earliest in the calendar year: A) O.J. Simpson Verdict; B) D-Day; C) JFK Assassination....I can't remember the last choice, but you get the point. Crazy! Well, I didn't pass. From what I could remember and look up later, I think I missed 4 maximum, maybe only 3. So they're looking for near perfection.

After the test I talked to Holly Root. We were originally going to meet up that night, but she wasn't feeling well so I decided to see a Broadway show and then we were going to figure something out on Friday. So I succeeded in crossing #8 off the THE List

~~8. See a Broadway Show~~

It was even more special to me because my first Broadway show happened to have one of my best friends from High School, Phoebe Strole in it. The show was great, and seeing her on stage made me so happy. I started crying during the first number that she's in and I'm sure the people next to me thought I was crazy because it wasn't a particularly sad number! I regained my composure for the rest of the show though. :)

That was pretty much the end of my New York trip. My sickness started to kick in during the second act and by the time I got back to my hotel, I was just dying. I was so sad! I was planning on doing some sightseeing, Phoebe and I had plans to meet up for lunch, I was going to see Holly and Jonathan and hopefully see Jonathan in Avenue Q that night...instead I got to fly back early. Blah.

I did get to do one other thing that has recently been added to THE List, but I'll blog about that tomorrow because this is getting really long! To sum it all up - I had a great time in New York for the ~24 hours that I was there. Didn't get to do much, but I did enough to know that I really liked it and will definitely be going back!

Calling All Bloggers!

2008-06-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

Thursday I was looking through blogs, and for some reason decided to go to Lindsey's blog even though I know she doesn't update it anymore. Then I noticed that her old posts were still there, so I started reading from the beginning. After a while I went and read some of my old posts. It really made me miss the "Golden Age of Blogging" amongst our friends - when everyone had blogs and updated them frequently.

My excuse for being a bad blogger is basically that I don't think I'm interesting right now. I don't have kids to blog about and for some reason I don't think my life post-school is nearly as interesting as it was when I was in school. This is kind of ridiculous, because I still do a lot of the same things that I did before. So I'm making a declaration now that I'm going to be a better blogger. And I'm going to make a plea to Lindsey to start blogging again (though I'm pretty sure she won't!) And to everyone else, I miss hearing what's going on in your life! Leave me a comment if you have a blog so that I can update my blogroll and start reading them. :)

LinkedIn - you have officially blown my mind

2008-06-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

I love magicians. I love trying to figure out how they do an illusion, and then when I can't figure it out it makes me even happier. Today, a website did something that a lot of magicians can't....it performed a trick that I seriously cannot figure out how it did it!

I use LinkedIn as a way to keep track of my professional network and reconnect with some people outside of the Facebook world. Today I opened up Linked In and as always, it had a couple of suggestions of "People You May Know." Usually, these are people who have something in their profile that matches mine: Schools, companies, a lot of the same connections, etc. But today the first suggestion was Jeff Cameron. Turns out, I do know Jeff Cameron...but not in any way that would be visible to LinkedIn. He is the husband of the Children's Minister I interned with about 6 years ago (and that is not on my profile). He lives in Houston and owns his own company, we have no similar companies, no shared connections....there is absolutely nothing in our profiles that match in any way. But somehow LinkedIn decided I might know him. I'm stumped. I'm glad I found him, but I am definitely stumped.

How has this not been invented sooner???

2008-06-13T22:59:00.001-07:00

Every now and then, I see a new product that ellicts a reaction of "That is such genius, and so simple.....how has that not been invented already??" A good example of this is the pasta pot with the holes in the lid for draining without requiring a strainer. Another happened tonight...I actually said it out loud when I saw the commercial. Introducing....the Black and Decker Gecko Grip Level! It is a level that has movable "accu mark targets" so you can measure how far apart holes need to be in a wall, and then mark and level them at the same time. How in the world has this not been invented already?

And no, I'm not getting any royalties for pushing a product....unless someone out there wants to pay me for it! :)

What products have you seen that make you think, "How has this not been invented sooner?"

What is the world coming to?

2008-05-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

I decided that the best way to "practice" for my Millionaire audition would be to get Trivial Pursuit and just go through the cards. Have you tried to find Trivial Pursuit lately? It is impossible!!! What is the world coming to when you can find 65 special editions of Monopoly and 20 versions of Scene It in the stores, but not one single version of Trivial Pursuit??

Oh well. How about another question to help me on....

If you could vote yourself as best-_____ or most-likely-to_____, what would be your vote?

I Want to Be a Millionaire!

2008-05-27T20:08:00.001-07:00

In less than one month, I am going to do probably the most random thing I've ever done in my entire life (and I've done some pretty random things). I will be flying to New York City to audition for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!!

No seriously. I really am.

I am really excited! Hopefully they will think I am smart and/or interesting enough to actually be on the show! Then I can cross another item off THE List, and maybe even have a little extra money to do a few other items on it too! :)

So now I need your help. Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to be posting a few questions from the application that I have to bring with me and will be looking for your input! Even if you don't know me all that well, make something up and I'll see if it fits me at all. :)

Todays Question: What is one thing you (I) do that makes people laugh?

Ready...and....go!

Happy Memorial Day

2008-05-26T23:27:00.000-07:00

I've spent 30 minutes trying to write a fitting tribute for our soldiers (like any of them read my blog, but still...) and can't write anything that even halfway expresses the praise they deserve. So I am just going to say thanks. It is because of them that I can enjoy a day like today - I went to a concert and fireworks show at White Rock Lake in Dallas. It was beautiful and I am thankful that we are able to gather like that with minimal fear here in America. God Bless America!

RIP Samsung Blackjack

2008-05-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

First of all, is it sad that I have enough cell phone stories for it to have its own tag?

Today, my Samsung Blackjack met a sad demise. It was set on the back of my car while I put on sunscreen before a soccer game. In a tragic twist of fate, it was left there and was found in the street later this afternoon, having been run over multiple times. It was pronounced dead on the scene.

The Blackjack has been a fine companion for the past year and half - keeping me up to date on my email, alerting me when I had appointments coming up, and even being useful for the occasional phone call. Its ease of use was beyond compare and will be truly missed.

The Blackjack is survived by its SIM card, which has gone on to live with Blackjack's successor, the Blackberry Curve.

Upward Part 2

2008-05-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

In January, I coached 4th Grade Cheerleaders for Upward Basketball. At the end of the season, they started the recruiting drive for soccer coaches. My brother signed up to coach a 5th-6th grade team and asked me to be his assistant coach. I must have on something that day, because I actually agreed.

Neither one of us knew what we were really getting into...because the 5th-6th teams were all filled by parents, so we got put with a 1st-2nd grade boys team! It has definitely been a challenge. I thought my 4th grade girls had no attention span....these boys have a -5 sec attention span. I can't even get their attention in the first place! They're cute though and it has definitely given me a new appreciation for parents of elementary school boys!

Goodbye Rodney!

2008-05-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

This Monday, we celebrated the retirement of my former boss, Rodney. In two years at Sabre (next Monday! Can't believe I've already been there two years!) I have had three bosses. Rodney was the second; he was my boss from Jan - Nov 2007. Even after I stopped reporting to him, we have still worked very closely as he is the operations manager for my product.

Rodney was really great. I learned a lot about technology from him...and I think I was even able to pull him into Marketing-Land once or twice! :) One other thing I've always appreciated was the random life advice he'd throw out every now and then - thoughts on career, investments, taking vacation, blocking lunch time to get out the office, etc. Rodney, I know you'll probably never read this, but I wish you well in the future!

Noise Pollution

2008-05-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was driving to work, I spent most of my commute next to a guy on a motorcycle that he had souped up to be really loud. And not just when it was moving - when it was idling too! Being stuck next to that extremely annoying noise while I was driving combined with the fact that I had to sit next to him at 6 different lights literally put me in a bad mood by the time that I got to work. Apparently the world is on a big "green" kick right now....can we lump noise pollution into those initiatives too? If I have to deal with that too many more times, it will be come necessary for ensuring the continued safety of our motorcycle drivers....

Welcome to the 70's, Emily!

2008-05-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

My high school government teacher had a theory: most of the world's problems can be traced back to the microwave. She said the microwave made us impatient and feel like we were entitled to what we want, when we want it. Most of the problems stem off of this impatience and entitlement. So for the past 6 months, I have been combating this phenomenon by not having a microwave in my new house. Okay, not really....I was really just too lazy to go get one!

For my birthday, my parents decided to buy me the appliance that now has my house up to the level that most households reached in the 1970's....a new microwave! They not only bought me a microwave - they bought me a really nice GE microwave/vent combo. And today my dad installed it!

Before (you can see the ventihood above the stove):
After (the microwave isn't crooked...the picture is.):
Thanks Mom and Dad!! I can now be a modern woman...no more waiting for food for me!

Things I Could Blog About But Won't

2008-05-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

- Work is busy, work is good

- I have found gray strands in my hair for the past three days in a row and its kind of freaking me out

- The fact that I paid $60 to fill up a 15 gallon tank at the gas station today

- How the season finale of The Office was the most depressing and uncomfortable hour of this year so far

- How these lists were so much better when Ryan had a blog. :(

- How excited I am that So You Think You Can Dance starts in less than a week!!!

No A/C = SUCK!!

2008-05-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

My air conditioning is broken. It has been broken for 3 weeks. I have a home warranty that supposedly covers the cost of the new coil that I need....but they don't cover the $150 Freon removal charge. Or the $150 old coil disposal charge. Or the $50 permit charge.

The worst part...I know that half those charges are completely bogus. Freon removal should be about $75, there shouldn't BE a coil disposal charge, AND they're going to sell the old coil and get some money for it. But there is nothing I can do about it because the last thing I want to do is make the guy responsible for my A/C repair mad so he'll do a bad job. It just makes me really mad when I think that there are companies out there who make their money purely by cheating other people. Its like the people in the Bible who filled their bags with sawdust instead of flour - just purely dishonest.

Has anyone else had to deal with this? Is it worth calling them out on these ridiculous charges?

The United States of Texas

2008-05-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

Today I was doing my daily scan of CNN.com articles, and started reading an article about Jenna Bush getting married. Nice sweet article...President's daughter is getting married this weekend...met her fiance through the 2004 campaign...Ole' W is really excited to be the father of the bride....and then I saw this line:

"As is customary in Texas, Jenna Bush will have a "house party" of 14 women instead of bridesmaids. The first lady's office described them as guests of honor, with no role in the ceremony."

Two things strike me as odd in this statement:
1. They talk about Texas like it is a foreign country. Like we have these bizarre customs and you need your passport to enter.

2. I have been to hundreds of weddings in my lifetime here in Texas....I have never heard of the custom of having a "house party" instead of bridesmaids! I have heard of having a house party in addition to the bridesmaids (as Maggie puts it, it is the time to show your friends what you REALLY think of them by who makes the bridesmaids cut!) They make it sound like this widespread thing that everyone in Texas would immediately know about.

This made me laugh today. :)

Shamelessly Self-Promoting Birthdays since 1983

2008-05-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday dear Emily
Happy Birthday to Me!

You know you think this is hot...

And what do I get to do on my birthday? Sit in a quarterly planning session from 8am-3:30pm. :( But then my boss is throwing me a bowling party, so thats cool.*

*The bowling is actually a team activity after the planning session and would have happened whether it was my birthday or not...but I think its funny to say that my boss is throwing me a bowling party for my birthday. :)

Bad Bad Day

2008-04-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Today I hit a dog while I was driving to church for a rehearsal. It was devastating. I didn't run over him and I went back to get him. He was just moaning when I picked him up and for the first 15 minutes in the car (rush hour...couldn't get anywhere quickly). But he really rebounded and was SOOO much better by the time we got to the only emergency vet open in the area (about 45 minutes later). He was looking around and sitting up and stuff.

Its amazing how quickly a bond forms in a "crisis". I think he is going to be okay. If I still had Oliver, I would have kept this dog too. Unfortunately, I can't do that. He was definitely a stray and the vet said they would keep him overnight, get him all fixed up, and then turn him over to the humane society. Its so hard having to put ANOTHER dog out there and never get to know how he is again. Even though we were only together for an hour, it was almost as hard to see him go as it was with Oliver. I would have named him Hercules because he survived being hit by a freaking car...he must be strong! Needless to say, I am sad tonight. I feel like I just gave up my puppy all over again. :(

The Tornado Siren that cried Wolf

2008-04-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here in my living room with my TV off (because its not on a surge protector yet and I don't want a blast of lightning ruining it...plus my satellite is out cause of storms), my blinds open, and a candle lit (waiting for the inevitable power outage that will come any minute now) watching and listening to the storms coming through right now. Oh yeah, did I mention the Tornado Sirens are going off too? And still, I just lounge here on my couch like nothing big is going on.

I'm not an incredibly fearless person by anymeans. Its just they were already going off when I was driving home 30 minutes ago, they went off last week, and they will likely still be going off 30 minutes from now. It kind of sucks, because now even if there were an ACTUAL tornado, I wouldn't be paying attention because this siren goes off so much. I think we need to reevaluate the use of the tornado siren and stop crying "wolf" quite so much with it.

P.S. Is it weird that I have dreams about tornadoes all the time? Because I do and have since I was about 10 years old. I had one just a couple nights ago.

P.P.S. When will people learn that speed limits and stop signs don't count (within reason) when tornado sirens are going off?

Quick Update....

2008-04-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been a little MIA....the past couple of weeks have really been a rollercoaster of emotions and events.

Work got crazy...some good, some bad (I'd say its ended up more good than bad, but just stressful)

I found out that I am allergic to Oliver. I kept him until the Rescue Organization could find him a new home. He went to his new family on Saturday. It was absolutely miserable....felt like I was ripping my heart out. But he really like them and they seem like awesome people. And they're going to keep his name as Oliver, so that makes me happy. I'll be doing an Oliver tribute post later with some of the pictures that I took while he was with me.

Summer Spectacular (Richland Hills' VBS) rehearsals started Sunday. That is 6 hours a week. A lot of work, but my favorite time of year!!

Between all of that, I haven't had much time to do anything interesting, thus the lack of blogging. Hopefully I'll be more interesting soon though!!

Thought of the Day

2008-04-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Why does Wal-Mart make you choose your amount of cash back on a debit card in multiples of $20 if it is going to dispense the cash in $10 bills?

To my BFF Ashley...

2008-04-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

P.S. Right after I took that picture....I made it REALLY good! :)

And All That Jazz!

2008-04-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

For our 3rd Annual Roomie Weekend, my college roommates and I decided to go to Chicago. Lindsay is living right outside in DeKalb while her fiance is in grad school at NIU. And as an added bonus, we were there over St. Patricks Day!

After we landed and Lindsay picked us up from the airport, we headed to M. Henry's for brunch. This place was featured on the Food Network for having the best brunch in America, and I have to say I agree! It was fantastic!

Then we headed over to the St. Patty's Day festivities....saw the green river, watched a portion of the parade (it was not interesting), and went through Millenium Park to see that big cloud sculpture thing.

Lindsay, Deborah, me, and Nichole
In the center of the sculpture at Millenium ParkMe, Nichole, Deb, Lindsay in front of the Millenium Park sculpture We did some shopping in the city and attempted to go to an Irish Pub for some green drinks, but quickly discovered that was going to be impossible. Every place that was halfway Irish (including Bennigan's) had a line around the block or was so packed you couldn't move. So we went back to DeKalb and went to an Irish Pub there. Ryan (Lindsay's Fiance) and I had Irish Car Bombs

And the rest had a green shot of some sort. We also drank a little green beer and sang some songs with everyone there.
The rest of the long weekend was pretty low-key. Sunday we went to church, made dinner, and had a game night for Ryan's birthday, Monday we went shopping for bridesmaids dresses, and more than anything we just hung out like old times. Then we had our fun adventure getting home. My old roomies are the type of friends where no matter how long its been since we talked, every time we get back together it is like we've never been apart. I love these girls!

Do you know the way to San Jose?

2008-04-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, after a brief Oliver break, we're back to my life in reverse.

The week before I got Oliver, I was in sunny California for a conference in San Jose. It was really rather uneventful. I was traveling by myself and didn't know of anything to do in San Jose. I went up to San Ramon on Monday night for dinner with my good friend, John who lives out there now, but most of the time, this was about the most exciting that I got.

All of my family and friends warned me that I might be killed if I didn't go to In-N-Out Burger while I was there, so I skipped the conference lunch one day and found one. It was good, but not necessarily anything to write home about in my opinion. My last night there, I had nothing to do. I went to dinner at a chinese restaurant across from my hotel. My plan was to go and gas up my rental car so I wouldn't have to in the morning and then head back to the hotel to watch some TV and such. Then I realized it was only 7pm and that was really lame. I had heard that the drive to San Francisco was awful, but I was bored and had nothing better to do, so I decided to just start driving towards SF and I would turn around if I decided it was to ridiculous. 8 miles later....

But a few miles down the road, I saw that it was an accident causing the traffic and from there it was smooth sailing. I just drove through town to see the Golden Gate Bridge and then came home because I didn't know where anything was, but it was worth it to say I actually did something.

The rest of my trip was spent discussing the merits of Software as a Service and how to sell it, so I'm sure you don't want to hear about that. I found it interesting, but then again, that's my life right now!

Next on the tour of Emily's Life in Reverse: Chicago.

3000 Words

2008-04-04T10:41:00.001-07:00

My March in Reverse

2008-03-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

So I went to Chicago, went to San Jose, all is well. But instead of writing posts about them in the order in which they happened, I am going to write in reverse order, basically because I'm really excited about the first....

I have a new man in my life and his name is Oliver. :)

Oliver is a puppy I saw online at a rescue organization and just fell in love with. I knew I couldn't take him until after I finished my travel (I don't have anymore planned in the foreseeable future at this time) and the rescue organization was able to continue to foster him until I got back. So yesterday after I got off the plane, I went to pick him up.

He has really come a long way in just one day. He hated riding in cars at the beginning of the day and although I'm not convinced he's totally over it, by the time we drove home, to PetSmart and back, and to our church guy's softball game and back, he was able to just lay down in the back seat wearing his doggie seatbelt and not freak out. And he slept in the crate just perfectly last night.

Right now he's asleep on my lap while I am working. He is such a sweet puppy and although I know the next couple of weeks are going to be hard with crate training and him getting used to not being around a lot of other dogs, in the end it will totally be worth it. And as a first time dog mama, I'm sure I'll be asking for advice from you guys (Thanks for taking my freakout call today Ashley!!!)

I'll post pictures soon....once I can get the dog off my lap. :)

Quick Question

2008-03-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

I am in San Jose this week for work, so I'll have more to post about Chicago and California later, but for now I am wondering about something:

In DFW, radio stations are very genre-specific. One is basically top 20 hits, one alternative rock, a few rap/r&b, classic rock, oldies, jazz, etc. You know exactly what kind of music you're going to get.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, all of the radio stations out here are so insanely random I can't figure out what I'm listening to! It will play a song by Miley Cyrus...followed by some motown....followed by some disco....then some Coldplay....then Snoop Dogg....then Colbie Callait....then Aerosmith. So if you're hoping to hear a certain type of music, you are out of luck. It's driving me nuts!

So I have two questions:
1) Is the Bay Area weird with the random stations, or is Texas the odd man out with defined genres? I'd especially like to hear from anyone out there who doesn't live in DFW area.

2) Which would you rather have? Stations where you know what you're going to get, or all random ecclectic mixes of music?

Home again, Home again

2008-03-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you have some time to spare in an airport? Make an attempt at taking an artsy picture. :)

I was in Chicago this weekend for Roomie Weekend 2008 with my college roommates. I'll post more about the actual trip later, but first....my past 2 days.

Tuesday
10:30am: Leave DeKalb, IL for O'Hare Airport.

11:15am: Its a little foggy, so I call AA Information to see if our flight is delayed.

11:16am: Find out our flight has been CANCELLED

11:17am: Get on the phone with the AA Platinum desk to find out whats going on. Find out that because of storms in DFW, all flights are cancelled for the day. Get Deborah, Nichole, and I booked on a flight out the next morning that connects through Indianapolis, IN.

5:00pm: After a couple of extra hours with Lindsay, get checked in to a hotel by the airport so we can have a quick shuttle the next morning.

Wednesday
10:00am: Take the shuttle to the airport

10:08am: Get to the self check-in kiosks

10:09am: Find out Nichole's ticket is booked to connect through Memphis, TN, not Indianapolis

10:30am: Find out AA tried to call Nichole the night before to tell her she couldn't get a confirmed seat on our flight and would either have to take the Memphis flight or fly standby. Let Nichole freak out for a minute before she decides to take the confirmed (which gets in later) and I'll come pick her up after we get home.

1:15pm: Get to Indianapolis. Eat lunch with Deborah and waste time in the airport.

4:10pm: Flight should be boarding. Its delayed. Of course.

6:30pm: Get to DFW. Find out Nichole's flight is delayed too. Proceed to baggage claim.

6:45pm: All the bags have stopped coming and mine is nowhere to be found. Of course.

7:15pm: Finished going through the lost baggage process. Get into the SuperShuttle van.

7:16pm: A guy knocks on the window of the van asking for a ride to the Gaylord Texan hotel (a decent way out of the way but closer than my house.) Driver says yes. Of course.

8:00pm: Nichole calls. She's landed. I think to myself "I wonder if Nichole is parked behind me at my house? Wouldn't it suck if Nichole is parked behind me and I have no way to get back to the airport to pick her up?"

8:02pm: Get to my house. Nichole is parked behind me. Of course.

8:45pm: 2 VERY long days, 4 flights, 1 lost bag, a $40 SuperShuttle, and a $50 cab ride later, we are all finally back to my house! What a trip!

Well, I'm going to relax and go to bed. The weekend was great and I'll blog more about that later. Have a great day!!

It's time for another...

2008-03-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

Good Idea:

Searching Flickr at work for a picture of an extension cord to represent a technical concept.

Bad Idea:

Searching Flickr at work for a picture of an extension cord using the search term "Power Strip."

That FICA Guy Strikes Again!

2008-03-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

When I first started my full-time job, I was surprisingly shocked by how much was taken out for taxes. I've worked since I was 16, but it isn't as significant when you're making $6/hour compared to a full-time salary.

Now almost 2 years later, I still get sticker shock every now and then with regards to taxes. Today I looked at a pay stub for my annual bonus that I am getting tomorrow...1/3 was taken out for taxes!! That is just crazy to me! God only asks for 1/10!! Who does this FICA guy think he is??

Springtime!

2008-03-08T22:18:00.001-08:00

I love springtime. It is the perfect combination of the winter air smell/feel and the summer warmth. I love going to the park and reading and just being able to sit outdoors and enjoy the sun without either getting too cold or immediately sweating like a pig.

The other thing I like about spring is the pretty flowers and trees. Not sure what the big tree in my front yard is, but last Sunday, beautiful white flowers popped up all over it! I had to get some pictures of it. This is when I wish I had a "real" camera instead of a point-and-shoot. I'm sure these pictures would have come out better.

The next day, it was snowing in Texas. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for my real spring, but this day was a nice teaser!

Snow and Haircut

2008-03-04T19:53:00.000-08:00

Couple of random pictures:

First off - Boston! It snowed while we were there. We went into dinner and it had just started to flurry. By the time we came out, there was like an inch of snow on the ground! Definitely not Texas snow! Outside of Quincy Market after dinner.
Second - I got a haircut tonight! Its really short - first time since probably my freshman year of college that I've had it this short.

If you're in Texas, I hope you voted in the primaries today! And now the fun is just beginning. :)

Happy (Late) Bloggiversery!

2008-03-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I missed my bloggiversery this year (February 14th), so I want to celebrate it today.

In honor of the end of my third year of blogging, I decided to revisit the URL of my blog as well as the ones that I tried to use but couldn't.

My blog address is really rather dumb: lemminggirl. I chose this because nothing normal (like my name) was available and I really didn't think I'd use it very much except to comment on other people's blogs (guess I was wrong there). So I called my blog Lemming girl to signify that I felt like a lemming following everyone else of the cliff and starting a blog. Ironically, nearly all of the "tons of people" that I was starting a blog after have long since abandoned their blogs and I am one of the veterans among my blogging friends! So much for being a lemming, huh?

Now I'd like to take a few moments and honor the amazing, high-quality blogs that have been sitting on some of the names I wanted to use for the past three years. You really should add these to your blogroll - their posts will change your life.
- emilytate.blogspot.com
- lifeofemily.blogspot.com (my personal favorite. A great use of a good URL)
- thelifeofemily.blogspot.com (ironically, this one is in Abilene which is where I was when I started mine)
- emilysadventures.blogspot.com

Finally, I leave you with a few favorite posts:

- My very first "Good Idea/Bad Idea"
- Probably my most serious post ever, but it means a lot to me.
- You may not think this is very funny, but I think its hilarious! I was so proud of myself for this one. :)
- Another favorite "Emily is an idiot" moment.
- Finally, a shout out to my brother's amazing talent. He's taking orders now...you can leave a comment here and I'll get you in touch if you're interested. :)

Happy 3 years everybody!

Some Respect for Our Candidates

2008-03-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight I had a very weird experience that really made me think about a different side of the 2008 campaigns and made me have more respect for all of our 2008 Presidential Candidates.

I am taking it easy tonight, watching Saturday Night Live, when Hillary Clinton makes a surprise guest appearance. However, this morning, my family and friends were in the Stockyards in Fort Worth and stumbled upon a Hillary Clinton rally*.

I hear about them being all over the country, but it wasn't until I thought about being here where I live this morning and then being in New York this evening that it made me think about just how EXHAUSTING a campaign must be. I've taken a few day trips and had some times where I am on the road a lot and am always just ready to die after a lot of traveling. But for the past 6 months or more, these candidates have been on the road constantly. AND, they are scrutinized over every word that comes out of their mouth in this exhausted state of mind**. Regardless of who I personally support***, tonight I definitely want to give props to all the candidates for their perserverence in this campaign.

* Not sure where Patty and Wade stand, but my family will kill me if I let it seem like they actually went to the rally and/or support Clinton. They just took a picture with a sign to make me jealous because I really want to attend a political rally before the campaign is over just to be a part of it.

** I still fully plan on scrutinizing every word that comes out of candidates' mouths. I just have more sympathy for them now. :)

*** John McCain for President!

Pet Peeve: Bueno and Hot Sauce

2008-02-26T19:05:00.001-08:00

There is a very good possibility that I might have blogged about this before, but I think it is worth repeating.

Every time I go through the Drive-Thru at Taco Bueno, they ask the question "Do you need hot sauce?" Every time, I answer "No thank you!". And every time, they put at least 2 or more packages of hot sauce in my bag!

If it were in packages like soy sauce or ketchup, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But Bueno basically scoops out hot sauce into a little plastic container with a lid on it. The lids are really easy to pop off and on more than one occasion have spilled before I got home. SO ANNOYING....especially when I said I didn't want it!

So tonight I went to Bueno. "Would you like hot sauce?" "No thank you" Sure enough, when I got to the window there were THREE hot sauce containers in my bag(for my one party burrito and tortilla soup). So when the guy handed me back my credit card, I handed him back his hot sauce and said "I'm sorry, I don't need this."

My question is this: Why does Bueno even ask me if I want hot sauce if they're just going to give it to me either way?

Donors Choose

2008-02-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago, I saw a commercial for a program called "Donors Choose." It is a website where teachers can post needs that the school system won't/can't provide for them and individual donors can fund them. It is really amazing how many things are needed for schools that teachers actually have to buy for themselves or just live without. You can search by school, region, subject, % of low income, etc. for projects that seem like something you want to fund. My first donation was to buy a classroom subscriptions to Weekly Reader and Time for Kids because Weekly Reader was always my favorite in Elementary School and it makes me sad that a lot of kids can't get it anymore. Since then I've kept going back.

As good as it feels to know that I've helped some students, the best part is the thank you package. Donors Choose sends a disposable camera with each project so the teacher can take pictures of the students using the items that you sent and they usually send thank-you letters from the kids as well. Every time I get a thank you package, it makes me so happy that I just want to go back and donate more! The kids are just so cute!

Here are some excerpts from letters I got today. Read them and then go to donorschoose.org and pick your own projects to fund! I love it because you know exactly where the money you donate is going and exactly what is being purchased. There really is very little waste in this program.

"Dear Donor, Thank you so much for donating books to our classroom. I can't believe your class used most of your money to get us thirty books! Getting us five books would be nice but to get us thirty books that's amazing!"

"Joey Pigza is funny. I think in the book Joey Pigza: Loses Control he can spend a little more time with his dad because his dad is wired. But he can't spend too much time with his dad or with his grandma either because his dad and his grandma smoke and smoking is bad for you. Also in the book Joey Pigze: Loses Control he shouldn't put Pablo (Joey's dog) in the glove compartment and do harmful stuff to him. Thank you again for the books."

"Well thanks for sending Tucker Joey Pigza books. Everyone loves Joey Pigza books. You should read some Joey Pigza books. This is very nice of to send us books. That's very nice. That's what you need to know. Thanks!"

Such cute kids! Well, I'm off to search through more projects to fund!

Things That Make Me Smile: Hot Tamales

2008-02-22T14:13:00.000-08:00

This morning as I was driving to work, I looked in the rearview mirror and noticed I hadn't put on any mascara. So I stopped at Walgreens to buy some and right by the register, I saw it: a giant box of Hot Tamales!!

I love cinnamon flavored things so Hot Tamales have always been one of my favorite candies. Wade Weaver used to have a giant jar of them in his office at Altamesa and I would always go and grab a few before I did anything else at church. I haven't seen them in a while, so it definitely made me smile today. And the fact that I walked around sharing them with my coworkers near me made them smile too! What a great way to start a Friday. :)

Prayers

2008-02-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

I'm sure by now, most of you have heard about the shootings at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. My college roommate, Lindsay (second one on the left in the picture from that post) is living there while her fiance, Ryan is in grad school at NIU. They are both okay, but very much shaken up. Ryan was proctoring an exam in the same lecture hall not too long before the shooting...had the shooter chosen a different time to come in, it could have been Ryan.

It is hard to explain what it feels like to have your entire world turned upside down and to all of a sudden feel completely unsafe in your own town. In September (on Maisy's 5th birthday actually) it will be 9 years since the shootings at Wedgwood Baptist Church where I lost a friend. It seems crazy that it has been that long. But 9 years later, I am still experiencing effects of that event. I've always loved finding new things in common with my best friends, but this was one that I was hoping to never have to share. Please pray for Lindsay, Ryan, and the entire NIU campus as they begin to deal with the aftermath of this terrible thing.

Thanks,
Emily

I have an accent?

2008-02-12T16:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry for leaving the picture up of no-nose man all week! I've been extremely busy/sick.

I'm in Boston for a few days. It is FRIKKIN FREEZING here! Tonight there is supposed to be a snowstorm....glad I wasn't trying to fly out! But as always, Boston is great. Quick anecdote:

At the end of the workshop I am attending, we had a panel discussion. I was pretty chatty as always. At the end as we were all exchanging business cards, one of the panelists shook my hand and said "Love the accent!" Cracked me up....We were always giving my friend Bill a hard time for his Boston accent and now the tables have turned! I don't mind though. I've always wanted an accent. :)

For Jonathan

2008-02-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

The slow-mo shot of Charlie swimming in the window from the Lost Season Premiere.

Edited to add pictures of the eye in the cabin window...definitely not Locke (he has blue eyes) and definitely Jacob (notice the lack of nose)

It's time for another.....

2008-01-30T17:03:00.001-08:00

Good Idea:
After changing your password to an email account at work, emailing yourself the new password so you can check it at home too.

Bad Idea:
Emailing yourself the new password to the same email account, so in order to get the new password, you need the new password.

Songs

2008-01-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

I got an email at work today about a team summit we're having that included this:

"Music evokes fond thoughts and memories, similar to what travel does for our customers, their customers and ourselves. So please send me your favorite song and the artist that performs it, that evokes great thoughts, memories and feelings for you."

They've asked us to send several submissions to have a good list. The first thing that popped in my head was the song "Bubbly" by Colbie Callait. That song is so mellow and relaxing that no matter how frustrated, stressed, or upset I may be, when I hear it I just get calm and happy.

I thought this was a really interesting assignment and would like to hear what other people think of when it comes to a song that evokes great memories and feelings. What song would you send in?

Speed Stacking

2008-01-26T14:53:00.001-08:00

Yet another example of how out of touch with kids fads I am since I don't have any....

Today my cheerleaders had another game. While we were waiting for our game to start, a kid pulls out a mat and a bunch of cups and starts stacking them and taking them down...I was SO confused. So I ask my girls what was going on. They were like "YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT SPEED STACKING???" Apparently this is a new thing. Cup stacking. Seriously. They have competitions and everything. I thought you only stacked cups when you were putting them in the cabinet after washing them - and then not in a pyramid!

Here is a video of some kids who are around the same level of my girls. My fastest girl had 22 seconds:

And here is a video of a couple of the "pros":

And a super cute girl on Regis and Kelly. Not as fast as speed-boy above, but who cares? She's only 5 years old and adorable!

And yes, I tagged this "sports" although I say that in the loosest sense of the word!