The Before and After

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

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

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

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

Bachelorette Party

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

I'm Back Baby!

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

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!!!

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

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...

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...

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!

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

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?

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

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?

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

Worst. Spades. Hand. Ever.

Fruit Chillers

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

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....

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.