Oceans Apart

My best friend Mary Beth moved to the UK two weeks ago. She'll rock your socks off because she designs greeting cards for Hallmark and now she's chasing her dreams across the globe and designing for their UK branch. I'd buy up all her new cards and make her the most popular employee across the pond, but who really gets that British humor?

I was sad to see Mary go, because she is one of my favorite people to hang out with. We've always been the kind of friends that don't really have to get together and do anything, we just want to be able to talk to each other and catch up. So I was thrilled when, just before she left, she taught me a little trick that our Macs can do. Today, as I watched the end of Oprah and got ready to head to the gym, and just before she crawled into bed to call it a night, Mary Beth and I had a quick chat.

Exciting News

This is worthy enough for a second post in one day.  I almost forgot that I ordered this until this morning, when I went to check my mail and it still had not come.  However, when I checked my mail this evening, there it was in my mailbox.  So exciting.  I want to watch it right now, except the Bachelor is coming on in less than one hour, so I don't even really have time to watch one full episode.

It only cost me $13.00 on Amazon.  It's going to be a good week.  Me, Dawson and Joey will be hanging out every evening after work.  Good times.  Once I've finished it, I think I'll move onto Season 2.  And then 3.. and 4...

Margaritaville

Turns out Jimmy Buffet was so. much. fun.  We got to the venue a little after noon and spent the next seven hours tailgating at this RV.  Mark's friend from college drove it down and let us all partake in burgers and beer all afternoon.

You meet all kinds of interesting people at a Jimmy Buffet tailgate.  Grown men and women dressed in complete pirate costumes.  Drunk college boys dressed as parrots.  Girls wearing coconut bras.  You also feel very skinny when you see these girls in their coconut bras, if you know what I mean.  The RV next to us had made 3,000 jello shots for the party.  They drove around in a golf cart decorated like a shark and threw them out at people.

The weather was perfect, so we climbed on top of the RV to work on our tans.

Later, a man dressed as a viking came over with a drink mix he had made.  By this time, we were not scared of vikings or their drinks, so we helped ourself to a shot (or two).

At one point, we realized the Hawaiian mural on our RV was the perfect picture backdrop, circa Prom 2001, so we started taking some posed pictures in front of it.  We even did a "Charlie's Angels" pose.  I think it was the viking's idea.

We has so much fun tailgating all day, that by the time the concert began, I was HUNG OVER.  It was the stage of a hangover that you are usually asleep by, and it wasn't fun to be awake for it.  So I did as best as I could during the show. We had great seats on the floor, right by a bar that sold those margaritas that come in the tall skinny glasses.  I didn't take any pictures during this time, since I felt like crap, but it was still a lot of fun.  The best part?  We're doing it again next weekend, for the Kenny Chesney concert!

Parrotheads

This weekend we are going to the Jimmy Buffet concert. No big deal, right? Wrong. Apparently this is some sort of cultural phenom that swarms of people flock to every summer, spending entire weekends tailgating in anticipation of J.B.'s arrival. Mark has been telling me for months that I need to get my act together and purchase my outfit for this occasion and I keep assuring him that I'll find something in my closet to wear. Yesterday he really started to put the pressure on, telling me I should Google Image what people wear to the concerts and then keep my eyes out for a good outfit. So I looked it up online and saw a bunch of Hawaiian print shirts, grass skits and flowered leis. OK fine. I'll get something new to wear, but I want it to at least be something I can wear again. I found this shirt online, which I think is going to be the winner:

We are hitting up the mall tomorrow after work to make our official purchases, but I promise we won't end up looking like these folks, courtesy of Google.

When I mentioned to my coworker our plans for the weekend, she gasped and said "Oh. I cannot wait to hear what you thought about it next week." She went to a Buffet concert in college with her then underage boyfriend and said swears she will never go again. I'm thinking it will be fun though, but the official report will come some time next week. Stay tuned.

Blowing in the Wind

What's blowing in the wind you ask? Pollen. And grass. And pet dander. And who knows what else. It's making my life miserable. I have had allergies all of one time in my life. This week makes time number two. One day I'm so stuffed up, I can't breath out of my nose. The next day my skin is dry and whenever I scratch it, a nice red splotchy rash appears. And my most favorite, the past two days my eyes are red and itchy to the point that I want to take them out and scrape them, then pop them back in. I bought some Claritin, but I still only feel about fifty percent. So I can't do much other than wait for it all to blow away. Hopefully, Gus isn't part of the problem.

The Face of Unhappiness

I did what I said I would never do.  I gave my cat a bath.

Blackout

Dallas has been having its share of severe weather lately. Wednesday night we had a torrential storm with the threat of tornadoes and hail for most of the area. Our plans to go to the Rangers Game that night were canceled, so we ended up meeting my parents for dinner instead. I went to bed early once we got home, but was awakened by the rain and thunder around 3:45 the next morning. I saw that the power was knocked out and when my alarm went off a few hours later, it was still out. So I took a shower by candlelight, didn't blow dry my hair and dressed in the dark. The elevators and gates at my apartment complex didn't work, so I had to venture into the pitch black parking garage with only a flashlight to lead me to my car. It was a little on the scary side. Almost every stoplight was out on my way into work and trees and limbs littered the roads. To top matters off, I spent the rest of the day on a ranch in East Texas with sixty fourth graders. Needless to say, it was not the best of days.

Lovely List

Things I love right now:

jelly beans

sub of the day

house hunters

Gus sitting on the windowsill all day

vacuuming

wireless internet

Nineteen Minutes

skirts

dinner with friends

Things I do not love right now:

the weather - hot one day, cold the next

mark working 14 hours a day

waking up for work

the dent in my car

breakfast - I'm over Cheerios and sick of toast