my life working in christian retail during the holidays...

many of you know that i work in christian retail and we have officially hit my least favorite time of year. the time of year where people camp out 5 days in advance in front of a store for the best place in line on the day after thanksgiving...aka BLACK friday. whoever named this special day WORKED in retail and know that it is doomsday for us who are cursed with the commercialism and crazy people who will push, pull, and kick to get what they want at 3am. i am glad to say i work over the phone so i don't work on that evil day but must succumb to answer call-in questions about the sales of that day.
here are a few that i've heard this week (enjoy) :
fyi my MENTAL thoughts are in italics - i would NEVER say these things out loud even though i'm thinking them.

"all your stores are sold out of the Jesus $1 tote. how are you sold out? don't you know Jesus' names never change."

"i'd like to order that Jesus book"
(note to people...you are calling a CHRISTIAN retail number. ALL our books are Jesus books!)

"can i order online and get the same prices that show on this paper?"
(if you look at the sales flyer that you are referencing. in large 18 point font it will say order online or shop at our store)

"i will be in a remote area during the holiday weekend with no access to internet or store, can i order these items now?"
well, considering its a Black Friday Sale and on the sales flyer that you are holding it says November 26th and 27th ONLY in extremely LARGE print i'm guessing that you know the answer but i'll humor you anyways and tell you no, you do not get special privileges even though you are secluding yourself to the boondocks to go hunt and defeather a turkey for your dinner over a campfire.

"how come you sold out of ________(fill in the blank) at the store? i was at the store specifically to purchase it and now you're out. that's bad advertising."
noooo...it's great advertising hence WHY the product is sold out.

customer: "i have a store complaint. they didn't __________(fill in the blank)"
this usually involves something i have no control over.
me: "did you talk to the store manager at that location?"
customer: "no. i never asked. they just told me that you deal with everything including store complaints and i have a complaint"
me: "i'm sure if you speak to the store manager they would be more than helpful in resolving this issue as i am unable to help you out since it is a retail store issue."
customer: "i don't ever want to go in that store or look at any of those snide employees ever again. i will just shop elsewhere like online at CBD."
either way we're still supplying the product to that company so one less disgruntled customer going into the store and calling me to deal with. if you would have just asked to speak to a manager everything would've been resolved very quickly and efficiently.

so that is just 1% of what we deal with on a daily basis during this lovely *insert sarcastic tone here* holiday season. you ask why i hate this holiday season and say bah-humbug. sit in my job for 1 day and you will be in my exact same place.

and i bid you safe travels to wherever you are going - i will be in the comfort of my lovely little town enjoy a wonderful baby shower, hockey game, and pies!

thanksgiving...thoughts in random form.

i guess the older i become random notifications are more apparent and things i've never noticed before appear:

growing up we had the semi-typical thanksgiving dinner:
turkey (sometimes grandmacita adds in a ham), mashed potatoes, some form of broccoli (depending on the new recipes my aunt discovers), cinnamon roll bread (i'm sure there is a more scientific name for it but it has cinnamon swirls in it and is tasty), stuffing (with and without sausage - we hit the motherload on stuffing because there are 2 kinds!), salad, rice & beans, sometimes egg rolls or noodles (depending on how much time my mom has that week/day), and some other veggies depending on newly discovered recipes. so overall, everyone should be JEALOUS as to our family's thanksgiving dinner. i know i am. i haven't been able to spend thanksgiving with the family in a couple of years so i try not to think about the yummy goodness that is going on up north.

over the past few years i've been mastering my culinary skillz and have been able to recreate my grandmacita's rice & beans, my mom's homemade lumpy mashed potatoes, and my cousin alicia's cheesy potatoes w/onions. i (HOWEVER) will not be mastering the turkey as i don't like to cook meat on the bone. it weirds me out a bit. i also have been testing out new and creative ideas via the Food Network. i have a slight addiction to food shows. it amazes me that there are dozens of different ways to make 1 simple item like mashed potatoes. last nite after the Ultimate Thanksgiving Throwdown with Bobby Flay came Unwrapped. i grew up watching Mark Sommers on Double Dare (kids show of random obstacle courses. the best way to describe the show is if the shows 'I Survived a Japanese Game Show' & 'Minute to Win it' had a baby). so i'm learning about the behind the scenes of different thanksgiving foods and it comes up...the craziest replacement for a thanksgiving turkey:

Tur-Duck-Hen
(i pretty much just like saying TurDurken - but it's pronounced TurDuckHen)
can you guess what this lovely bird is? it's not an inbreeding of 3 birds but 3 birds are involved.
it's a turkey cut open cleaned out and stuffed with chunks of duck and chicken/hen. it is also stuffed with 2 kinds of stuffing.

Grocery Ads
this week everyone advertising their turkey sales. one grocery store sells both turkey and young turkey. never realized that there was a difference between regular turkey and a young turkey - i just always assumed everyone in the US bought a butterball.

guess growing up there is a lot to learn.

happy thanksgiving to all!

books books and more books

several weeks ago a group of us celebrated my friend's birthday with dinner, dessert, Wii, and a great book discussion. within the discussion another friend brought up that we should start a book club and after weeks of deliberating and planning the 1st book club meeting has been set. now on to picking the book...after suggestions were thrown into the pot the winner is The Alchemyst by Michael Scott. i've only gotten to chapter 8, but so far i'm loving the storyline. it's an easy read, especially after reading Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte. those Bronte sisters know how to write dreary classics but i tend to get mixed up in the old English text.





growing up i was a fan of reading. i could lock myself anywhere and read book after book. i decided at a young age that i would buy a house and have it filled with books or maybe have 1 room with 1 chair, a light, and bookshelves on all 4 walls from floor to ceiling. now that i have the house, sadly there is no 4 walled floor to ceiling book filled room. however, i do have several bookcases overflowing with books. my love for books started at a young age and continued to grow. i never read comic books (aka graphic novels) or large pictured story books. my mom began with thick novels probably meant for kids older that my current age at the time but i loved them. i re-read my books over and over again enough that the crease in the binding would detach the pages from the binding glue. now i look at my books on the shelves and i see the creases and i can't even count how many times i've read each book. the older i become the more i appreciate the quality of the book and i try my best to preserve the book to last until i can pass the books on to my children. i found 3 Shakespeare books at an antique shop and i think of how many hands the book has passed through. it is small in size and i image it was originally read by someone in a reading chair by candlelight in their room. i tried reading Jane Eyre by candlelight one time (to get into the mood of the book) and gave myself a migraine. i admire those in history who did not have the luxury lighting that we have now.

i will try and write more on what books have been read and what i think of them. so far in September 2010, i've read Wuthering Heights (3/5 stars) which was a 1st time difficult read, but now that i've gotten the gist of the story and the language i look forward to re-reading it in the future.

thinking is overrated...

when i was in high school my favorite part of saturday nites were watching Saturday Night Live. i remember waiting up just to see the part of the show called "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey". random thoughts that we all have had yet felt too embarrassed to verbalize them because of the fear of being called a moron or a blonde. in honor of those memories i give you:

'Thoughts' by Kira Schneidt
(if you know Kira, you know that these are memorable quotes)

"why do we still call it monDAY even at night.. should it be monDAY in the morning and monNIGHT at night?"

"i just realized OK is a sideways person"

Gotta love those random monday thoughts!

30 day challenge...

i've come to realize i'm not one for challenges if i can't see the outcome - whether i fail or succeed i need to know what the outcome is.
could that be the planner in me? am i a control freak? yes and yes.
on tuesday, we were given a quarter sheet of paper at church. normally i say no thank you or avoid eye contact so the greeters don't attempt to give me one because i feel bad throwing the paper away or putting it in my Bible and not giving the paper another thought. tuesday was the same until i realized what was on the back. thankfully a friend gave me her's and grabbed herself another one. there in little black barely there print was my challenge.

i can do this i have been telling myself this for the last several days.
READ THE NEW TESTAMENT IN 30 DAYS: New Thru June

now, don't get me wrong. i love reading the Bible. there are so many new lessons to be learned through the pages, but i somehow have ADD when it comes to reading for long periods of time. i think it's because if my brain stops it's multi-tasking for more than 5 mins it freaks out and i begin a new list of tasks to do or should do's. i've only ever had the chance to let my brain take a vacay when i've been on retreats with VLI (when i worked on staff) - however, we were in the middle of nowheresville, ohio with only cabins, bugs, lots of nature and no distractions.
so this is a challenge to myself to learn to be disciplined in reading the Bible with full concentration in a place filled with distraction. you'd think this would be easy since i'm a homebody. i LOVE being home alone away from everything.

so...here's to the challenge! anyone with me? if you are here's the schedule:

WEEK1:

Tuesday	1-Jun	Grace Day
Wednesday	2-Jun	Grace Day
Thursday	3-Jun	Matthew 1:1 - 12:50
Friday	4-Jun	Matthew 13:1 - 23:39
Saturday	5-Jun	Matthew 24:1 - 28:20, Acts 1:1 - 4:37
Sunday	6-Jun	Acts 5:1 - 15:41
Monday	7-Jun	Acts 16:1 - 28:31

WEEK2:

Tuesday	8-Jun	Grace Day
Wednesday	9-Jun	Grace Day
Thursday	10-Jun	Mark 1:1 - 11:33
Friday	11-Jun	Mark 12:1 - 16:20, James, Galatians
Saturday	12-Jun	1 Thess, 2 Thess, 1 Corin 1:1 - 11:34
Sunday	13-Jun	1 Corinthians 12:1 - 2 Corinthians 13:14
Monday	14-Jun	Romans

WEEK3:

Tuesday	15-Jun	Grace Day
Wednesday	16-Jun	Grace Day
Thursday	17-Jun	Luke 1:1 - 9:62
Friday	18-Jun	Luke 10:1 - 20:47
Saturday	19-Jun	Luke 21:1 - 24:53, Eph, Phil
Sunday	20-Jun	Colossians, Hebrews
Monday	21-Jun	Phil, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 Tim, Titus

WEEK4:

Tuesday	22-Jun	Grace Day
Wednesday	23-Jun	Grace Day
Thursday	24-Jun	John 1:1 - 10:42
Friday	25-Jun	John 11:1 - 21:25
Saturday	26-Jun	2 Tim, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John Jude
Sunday	27-Jun	Revelation 1:1 - 11:19

what challenges do you face and how do you over come them?

the great flood Nashville 2010...

"Turn Around. Don't Drown!"

this was our theme this weekend. the newscasters repeated this over and over again all day on saturday. on sunday the theme changed to..."Just Stay Home!" as you can see in the pic above, they have very good reason. nashville, the place i call home. the place i commute to for 45 mins to and from my home for work. all under water. the above pic is 3 blocks away from where i work downtown nashville. the word of the weekend has been surreal. i've lived through tornadoes and major thunderstorms and snow storms and droughts but nothing like this...nothing that required a 'state of emergency' or the coast guard.
here are some pics of where i was at:

this is the entrance to my friend's apartment complex. we saw some people walking through the water on the road and it was up to their knees.



these pics are of the park that was near the apartment in hendersonville, tn. at one time they were the home of an inline hockey rink, skateboard ramps, and baseball fields. the above pic was taken Sunday afternoon and the below pic was taken Saturday morning. as of Monday morning, there is no water but the inline hockey rink's wall is collapsed. and the crazy thing is on Friday evening teams were practicing in that same rink.

Nashville is still under mass destruction and the whole city of Bellevue is under several feet of water. we've had numerous deaths of people trying to get out to safety and many more still coming out of the shock of devastation.
please continue to pray as this history city attempts to rebuild itself .

back to reality...bittersweet.

so... after a grueling season sadly the Nashville Predators (NHL hockey) did not make it to the second round of the playoffs. this is a bittersweet time. i'm glad to get back to normal reality but i miss the time out and energy that comes with game day (and all the tummy flutterbies). the thing i'm not gonna miss is 1 hour of sleep game nights - i do like my sleep...but i do like our game nights out. OH the bittersweetness of it all! (bittersweetness isn't a word i know - the red squiggly lines keep coming up, but it's the word that best describes what i'm currently feeling)
May - back to reality. isn't there an early 90's song that is called 'Back to Reality'? if not, i have some random 90's song stuck in my head with my own words made up to go along with it.

until hockey season 2010-2011...

pet peeves!

grrr...... i just need to get this off my chest.

my pet peeves:
(apparently today is the day all of them come into fruition)

- when someone is speaking and they don't use the full pronunication like the cat bit the person's tongue right off after each word.
aka: street is said as 'stree' or evans is said as 'evan'

- when people say ' i know, right?' i know it's a popular saying, but it sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me.
aka: "look at that crazy driver!" "i know, right?!"

- when people call in, ask a question and when they don't like the answer i give them they get angry and & re-arrange the question (because in your mind when you change the wording in a sentance it's going to make me change the answer) or they are given the wrong info and i try to correct them they just hang up.
way to be a good Christian example, people!

- nashville drivers...enough said.
aka: driver all the way to the RIGHT (out of 5 lines splitting into a Y intersection) drives and cuts off everyone and speeds over the white crossed section of a non-driving road area because they weren't paying attention to where they were going to get to the farthest LEFT lane.

- when people get all pissy because i've asked them to repeat themselves because i can't understand a word they are saying.

that's pretty much my vent for the afternoon...i need an extra shot of coffee or something.

a time and a place

there is a time and a place for everything.

for me the time was after work today, a random thursday (no work on friday due to it being a holiday) and the place is one of my most favorite places in nashville...FIDOS!

fidos is a coffee shop in the little area of nashville called 'hillsboro village'.

things to note about hillsboro village:

- it's way kitschy

- it's in the middle of 2 major college Vanderbilt (know for being ivy league) and Belmont (known for music)

- it's full of random people (on a good nite if you stay long enough you can get a small glimpse of the variety)

- it's never lacking in the boys wearing girls jeans department

- it's got free wi-fi :D (great for someone without internet)

- it's full of yummy organic treats & restaurants: currently eating hummus and a b&o muffin (blueberry & oats)

- it's considered a touristy part of nashville, but the only touristy attraction is the lovely Pancake Pantry

- it's one of THE BEST people watching areas! (and you know me, i LOVE LOVE LOVE to people watch)

for some reason, being here makes me feel almost complete in a way. something about this area puts a little smile on my face. when i'm with friends, its kinda fun to make up stories about different passer-byers. nothing harsh. last time i was in here i saw a knitting club, a possible awkward 1st date, and an old friend. oh the stories i had going in my head. if only i were a writer - i could spend every afternoon or evening here and write a chapter on the random people that come in.

tonite is a slow nite. mostly college students studying. some in groups, while others are alone. mostly utilizing the free internet with their macs. as i sit here, i'm able to watch outside the open garage door window out into the street and see the cars zoom by and people walking hand in hand on the sidewalk.

others enter into the room. pause. look around. size up the table situation (and sometimes the people in the room) then move to their chosen seat. one set of girls have moved several times trying to find the best place to study.

the lighting isn't idea for journaling (now that its 815p and the sun has gone down) but it is ideal for a quiet coffee/tea chat or hott date...hmmm...

Vandy is a medical learning facility as well, so periodically you will see an oversized ambulance try and squeeze its way on a 2 lane (4 lanes but 2 are parking areas after 5p) and cars down here don't move out the way for emergency vehicles so it's a show just to see how the truck will worm it's way through the cars.

have a happy resurrection weekend!

April 4th, 2010

i completely forgot about april 4th, 2010. it's really kinda sad. as a Christian you'd think that besides Christmas, Resurrection Sunday would be on my radar. i'm not much for holidays - i really don't celebrate them. not since they've become overly commercialized and i've gotten callous to the fact that stores are pushing the holidays several months before the actual holiday date.
sure, when i was a kid i LOVED Easter. i loved that my mom would put a basket together and hide it outside under a bush somewhere (usually under our back bush or the front one that had my plastic easter egg decor all over it). i would wake up and run to my mom's room, wake her up before church and try and get some semblance of where the "Easter Bunny" may have hidden the basket. she and i both knew that i didn't believe in the ginormously creeped out pink or blue bunny (those bunnies still give me the creeps), but the idea of using my imagination was what my mom always pushed me to do. so, before the pretty frilly dress (yeah, you heard me - i used to wear the frilly stuff) was carefully put on (including accessories: hat, frilly socks, and patent leather shoes), i would run all throughout the yard looking for the basket. my mom...clever woman that she was (and to this day still does this to either teach me patience, torcher me, or to get a laugh) would empty the jelly beans, candies, and anything smaller than the size of my pinky finger and mix it all in the grass - and let me tell you there's a WHOLE crapload of grass in there. the plastic kind that got everywhere and boy did i hate that stuff. it was messy and would get everywhere and i refused to dump the basket to get to the candy until i couldn't take it anymore. if you know me, you know i like separating things, putting things in each individual pile and coordinating colors. this would take up the rest of my Sunday after church.
we no longer have the bush out front that used to be decorated with plastic easter eggs and the bush in the back is overgrown and unable hide anything near or underneath it. i no longer spend the Easter holiday at my mom's nor do i dress up in anything white, frilly, or overly prissy.
i remember these things as i continue with my beth moore esther bible study. we're 1/2 way through the study and she's made some remarkable points. but the lesson i'm on today reminded me to concentrate on 2 Peter 1:3-4 however, i went to 1 Peter 1:3-4 accidentally and it reminded about what Resurrection Sunday really means:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you"
remember the memories as you begin to prepare for the upcoming celebrations.

Hockey Mania!

(Nashville Predator's Starting Goalie Pekka Rinne)

have you ever had something that gave you butterflies in your tummy and make your heart beat faster every time you thought of it? do you get anxious and nervous whenever you realize that you'll get to see that specific thing/person that you can't think straight? this is how i feel about going to a hockey game! i know. ridiculous. this all started when i was probably 10 years old when i took ice skating lessons and our teacher had on special black skates. i thought that only the cool skaters wore those skates and boy was i right! after the lesson i'd watch the older guys go on the ice in their pads, jerseys, gloves and sticks and glide across the ice following the puck across the ice. a little spark of envy crossed my eyes and the love of the sport grew in my heart. ever since then, i've been hooked.
the excitement of the cold arena, the zamboni, the anticipation of the glove throw down (ultimately done by Predators #22 Jordin TooToo), the traditions of the crowd, and best of all when overtime kicks in and the game lasts just a bit longer. the idea of walking with the crowd those 3 blocks from the parking garage to the arena in my hockey jersey and then as you walk in the doors you pass the boxes filled with programs just make for a perfect evening. i imagine this is what a die hard red sox or buckey fan would feel.

i'm sure when i meet my future husband this feeling will gravitate toward him - and if he loves hockey then i'll probably just burst.
so...until i meet that special man i'll just have to have those special butterflies for my favorite sport - HOCKEY!

Alice...Alice...Wake Up Alice...

i just can't contain myself. this weekend is the release of a movie that i have been waiting patiently for...Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. Alice has been one of my favorite fairy tales ever since i was a child. as a book reader, i used to get lost in the story lines of a book. i would imagine myself within the story interacting with the characters much like Alice did. after seeing the Disney cartoon, one Sunday afternoon after church the old Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass came on. i was immediately sucked in. the Jabberwalky scared me, TweedleDee and TweedleDum were annoying, and the Caterpillar smoked a hookah. there was a Crazy Mad Hatter having a tea party with a Mouse and Rabbit. over the years, many versions of the book have been adapted and i've begun collecting them. its a random collection with a similar baseline but each have a slight difference in the director's interpretation of the book.
not to mention the fabulous concoction that will appear with the collaboration of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. those two are geniuses. i understand that not everyone will agree, however i do love when those two are working together. i look forward to this movie with anticipated excitement, well...pretty much i have been holding my breath this whole week with joy and happiness.
i think it would be amazing if Tim Burton took on a Jane Austen novel...how CRAZY would that be!

adventures, movies, and 4 year olds...

so...last week i sent out a twitter asking friends if they wanted to go on a Nashville adventure - no response. so i just made plans with close friends to just catch-up - guess i should have known an adventure can occur unexpectedly. saturday morning was breakfast with Kris at The Perch. if you've never been there, it's FANTABULOUS! crepes so tasty. chai so cozy. sugar rush most definitely! after the yummy goodness, Kris asked if i knew of any mexican grocery stores in the area so i took her to the Korean-Mexican grocery store called Fiesta E-Mart...yeah. it's owned by Koreans. oh what an adventure. so that was my adventure for the weekend. i was actually able to get some items for my favorite soup so i'm stoked.

then on to movie times with Karen. she DVR'd Emma (Masterpiece Theater) with Johnny Lee Miller - he's my #1! i heart him sooo. after watching the first hour and a half it was movie theater time. When In Rome. can i say: 1-i want to go to rome and take some coins out of the fountana de amore just to see what would happen and 2-dance scene at the end so inspirational. gotta see it 'cuz i'm not telling you what it was. after a happy movie we finished off the movie afternoon with The Haunted Airman (BBC makes some crazy intriguing movies!) very interesting however i needed more. i think i was expecting more conclusion.

and to end the weekend - a birthday party for my favorite little twins turning the big 4! i walked into their house with a greeting of 3 little voices saying "Chrisanina, Happy Birthday!". the day was filled with princess dolls, lots of food and sugary treats, and everyone getting their hair done by 2 new horse riding little ladies. at the end of the night, their auntie Jodi asked each of them what they would like for their birthdays and this is what they said:

h: " i would like a horsey that rocks. i would like more prince dolls. i would like a train. a doggy. and a banana" (this was pretty priceless. she actually meant a balloon because she let hers go and it floated to the ceiling - the vaulted ceiling is very high).

s: " i would like a mulan and rocket" (rocket is in little einsteins)

at one point Jodi and hales were playing with the dolls she got (prince from mulan and mulan). hales had also gotten a sword from her nana terry (needed to add this in because of what i'm about to tell you). jodi had the mulan doll and she asked the prince if he got her a ring (for marriage) and then said "i'm still stronger than you." and without blinking an eye hales says in some form ' i have this' and has her prince holding her sword. ok. so it was pretty funny in person but doesn't sound as funny when i type it out.

pretty much that was the adventurous weekend. today i'm excited to start my very first Beth Moore study (Esther) in Kairo's next semester of Intersect. i'm looking forward to meeting new girls and learning new things!

kids say the darndest things...

i'm gonna gush about some little ones today...

each week i get the fulfilled enjoyment of spending a couple of hours with 3 very entertaining and very smart young little ladies. we have H and S who are gonna be 4 years old tomorrow and M who just turned 2 years old. if you haven't had the chance to be graced with the presence of a child at this age you are missing out.
during christmas i also got the chance to chill with E who will be 4 in march and his little sister G who was 18 months at the time (now she's 20 mos i believe).
here are some memorable moments and convos i've had with them:

H&S: what are those?
me: nylons
H&S: what do they do? do they keep your legs from getting dry?
me: *smiling* no, they are just like your tights but for grown-ups.
H&S: can we feel? (at this point i have 6 little hands feeling my feet and ankles, kinda awkward yet very funny at the same time)

S: can i tell you a secret?
me: yes
S: are you coming to my party?
me: *smiling* i don't know... maybe...


at christmas E and i were watching Little Einsteins (can i just say, this is one addicting show and i LOVE it! it intertwines classical composers and artists). E love dinosaurs. so much so that he can tell you all their names and identify them - words that i never thought i'd be able to pronounce. an episode of Little Einsteins had dinosaurs featuring the artist Andy Warhol. many of you know how i feel about Andy Warhol - LOVE HIM!

me: E, you know what?
E: what?
me: i LOVE Andy Warhol! he's my favorite.
E: ME TOO!
me: what do you like about him?
E: the dinosaurs (title of episode: piccolodactyl).
me: if anyone asks you who is your favorite artist are you gonna say Andy Warhol?
E: yeah!

G's mommy and daddy have taught her well - Mosh left her coffee traveler mug on the floor and G picked up the mug, brought it over to me and handed the mug to me and asked "coffee"? a child after my own heart.

i think my favorite part of this age is when they start calling you by your name. their little voices are so cute - my heart just melts when i hear: "ChrisAtina" and "EENa"

spending time with little ones reminds me of how thoughtful, intricate and creative God is. each little person has their own individuality that grows and expands the older they get. it's truly amazing to see them grow-up and express themselves. none of these kiddos are mine but i love them as much as i would if they were mine. it's a good reminder as to how much God's love for us is. it's so unimaginable how much He loves us, i just can't even grasp it.

Punk Phil Day....grrrr!

ok...so happy bah-groundhog day!
did anyone watch the video? i know we have this tradition of asking Punxsutawney Phil if he see's his shadow - but really? here's my interpretation of the you tube video of the whole 5 second event:
2 "handlers" wrestle out a poor defenseless fat fuzzy creature out of a tree stump cage and hold him up towards the scary crowd of thousand of onlookers just like the scene in Lion King when the baby cub was born (i don't remember the movie i just remember the one marketed point of the movie that everyone is well aware of). clearly the animal is not enjoying the cold, crowd, or crazy top hat wearing pink cheeked handlers as he wiggles around trying to get loose.
then one handler holds the little fella over a stump as if to have a conversation at a stump table with another top hat wearing man who says "uh-huh. yeah. ok...etc." and reads the decree of what double P has said in the convo (plus some other traditional nonsense jargon).
from the looks of the interaction, Phil does not look like he enjoys winter or that even saw his shadow -- its all a conspiracy! well...not really, but i'd like to think so since i dislike winter oh so much.
today marks week 1 of 6 more weeks of winter. enjoy!

Snow Day? Nay...Iced Weekend!

so...down here in 'Nashvegas' we completely shutdown when there is a prediction of snow. for the past 3 winters we've had predictions of snow via weather people (i refer to them as weather idiots or chicken little since they are rarely if ever correct on the weather prediction). on wednesday of last week the rumors started flowing...BIG STORM coming! we are going to get hit hard! co-workers began their freak outs and planning of taking the day off due to the impending weather. thursday the prediction changed. no ice just snow. and on friday when i woke up - it was a clear sunshiny day in the lovely Hill where i live. came into work on friday co-workers took the day off because of the coming storm...so far no storm.
my quote for the day became "i'll believe it when i see it!"
guess i should have said..."let me go home at noon because all of the roads are going to be completely frozen over."
downtown Nashville was fine. roads were a bit slushy when we left at 2pm (i'm very thankful they didn't keep us til 5pm otherwise i would have had to sleep here!) but as soon as i hit the 1/3 of the way home point the road seemed a bit chunky and all the cars immediately slowed down to 20 mph. the 'chunkiness' was ice. nicely thick packed ice coating the lovely 65 S highway for the next 30 miles of my commute. normally it would have taken me 45 minutes to get home, but on friday it took 2 hours.
apparently it decided to not only snow, but rain and sleet several hours before the snow and then begin sleeting after several inches of snow had delicately fallen to the ground helping the sleet to freeze over.
* those of you up North who think i've turned into a wimp this is for you: down here in TN everything is rock (unlike up North). so salting the road is pointless. we also don't have very many plows (road plows - farm plows are a plenty) to scrape the ice coated snow covered roads.
in a nutshell, i still will say "i'll believe when i see it". however, those crazy southerners who decided to do their little 'i want snow dance' will be tackled by yours truly, so stop that nonsense. if you want snow move up north! adults do not get snow days where we can sleep in. those are called vacay days & PTO days and they come out of your benefits. i'd prefer to use those days for travel and going to sunny warm places.

Randoms and Quotes

Yesterday was a day of ultimate RANDOMNESS...

Let's start from the beginning.

I've been waiting for the new movie Whip It to come out and when I picked it up I was memorized at the packaging (I'm a packaging kinda girl - interesting packaging contains interesting things). Little did I know I was going to be spending 15 minutes the following morning trying to open this DVD and all it's child-proof hefty taped goodness.

Once I was done with that madness my co-worker decided to show-off her lovely outfit she wore just because.

I have this thing...nay...a quote - God made animals with animal print and humans with skin. If God wanted humans to wear animal print He would have given us animal print skin. Lil Fella Snooks likes to wear animal print and wore her special leopard print shirt in honor of me to see my reaction. My internal fashion sense cringed and I may have vomited slightly in the back of my throat :) - and this is why we are friends. (How Lil Fella Snooks has gotten her nickname: she received a text from a guy she had a crush on and the text referred her to 'lil fella' and she also loves the show Jersey Shore (can't grasp that these are actual people and not actors), especially the character Snookie.)

You're probably bored right now or entertained by the fact that all this has occurred before 830am in a workday.

To top this all off, flying over the cubical wall (Lil Fella Snooks and I sit next to each other and often throw things over the wall) an over sized envelope. I open it to reveal a Christmas Card exactly 32 days after the actual holiday!

So that was my very RANDOM Wednesday morning. Do any of you have random moments like this? It seems like the older I get the more random life gets.

Favorite Quotes of the Moment:

"Somebody better talk I'm in the mood to staple some heads." - 'Lassie' in Psych

"I've gotta re-hook myself because everything keeps getting cancelled." - me talking about trying to find new shows to enjoy since most of my favs are either cancelled or being cancelled.

I hope your day is as random as mine!

my first ramble

i'm not much of a blogger. i don't have anything witty to say on paper (well in this case...electronically) - this could explain why it takes me about 3 years to get through a journal. i'd love to be one of those girls who sits and journals for hours like anne frank, but i'm not. i get bored. distracted. annoyed at myself for what i just wrote. this is my attempt at my thoughtless rambles of what is going on around me.
just a few things about me:
i don't like my veggies mixed with fruit or anything wrinkly on my salads (aka cranberries or raisins or any of the hybrids).
i love watching hockey and extreme sports.
i am from ohio but i loathe the buckeyes - GO UofM WOLVERINES (i bleed maize and blue)!
i heart 70s and 80s british punk - don't really know where that came from.
i was told i was 'Korican' (Korean and Puerto Rican) by my cousin (and close friend) Alicia when we were 10yrs old. we have had many random moments together.
i don't like snow, ice, or the bitter cold (rain doesn't bother me too much if i'm not walking in it).
i have a slight addiction to good magazines (yes, there a plenty of useless mags out there).
i am teaching myself how to use a sewing machine - so far i've semi-mastered pillows.
i can sit in an airport, coffee shop, or mall for hours watching people.
i read before i go to bed which postpones my bedtime several hours.
i enjoy dressing up and going out with friends.
i would adopt a baby if i had the funds.
i seem to be drawn to any form of potato when deciding on food choices.
i want to live off of coffee, tea, water, sushi, sweet potatoes, my mom's homemade eggrolls, and my grandmacita's rice and beans.
i love empire records and know almost all the words to newsies (and i sing along!)
i am learning to appreciate all types of music - just not enjoying all types of music.
i get cantalope and honeydew mixed up.
i will re-organize my closets and containers several times a year.
in a perfect world (in my head) the container store, H&M, urban outfitters, anthropologie, NCC, chipotle, CPK, peter's sushi, target, and tossed would all be in my closest shopping center all together.
i still have Boofo (my favorite stuffed animal from when i was 9 yrs old).
i took piano lessons for almost 10 years before i decided i'd rather play basketball and grow out my nails.

that's pretty much all about me. hopefully i will have more fun and exciting adventures to write about...until then.