KISS it

I have much to say about my trip to Texas last week, but not enough time to share it at the moment. So I'll leave you with the following things I learned on vacation:

1. Children are expensive and make a lot of laundry
2. They need a new word to describe Cowboys Stadium; "gargantuan" isn't big enough
3. "Schlitterbahn" is German for "total lack of body awareness"
4. The amount of time spent waiting in line is directly proportionate to how unhappy Lonnie will get
5. When men find out you can cook, they invite themselves over for dinner
6. It takes two hours to paint four little boys' faces like KISS, and ten minutes for them to tire of it
7. Twin beds weren't meant for sleeping a deaux
8. "Despicable Me" is a great flick
9. I'm really, really glad I didn't go to medical school
10. It is possible not to check work email for four days

More later. Rest of pics are here, here, and here.

Welcome to my crazy, busy, fabulous life!

While I realize I need to update this thing more, and I have the best intentions of doing so, it never seems to happen. Although my life is going swimmingly, my marathon to-do list never seems to get down to "update blog."

I miss the days when preparing for vacation meant shopping for swimsuits and stocking up on film. These days I work like a mad woman to get as much done as possible prior to vacation so that I can actually enjoy my time off and not spend it working. The blessing and the curse of technology is that I'm always accessible, so vacation is relative I suppose. I may be two states away, but email gets delivered in Texas just like it does in Arkansas.

This week the fabulous Amanda has been staying with me and commuting to her new job in Rogers. I love it when she's here because she'll eat almost anything, so I get the chance to try out new recipes and dazzle her with my culinary skills when she stays here. Monday night we had three cheese pizza with atomic salad, Tuesday night we had brie pasta with fresh green beans, and Wednesday night we had grilled salmon and asparagus salad. And now my pants are too tight.

Tonight we had a going away party for my friend/sorority sister, Valerie, who's getting ready to leave for a two-year mission trip. We all met at Bonefish for bang bang shrimp and girl time. I never thought when I pledged a sorority that I'd make so many lifelong friends. All for the bargain price of $28 a month.



Tomorrow night I'm meeting my friend D in Tulsa to see Rascal Flatts. I had plans to go to a toga party at my friend Lela's, but when D called and said, "Hey, I have VIP/meet and greet tickets..." I blew off the toga party for the special treatment at the BOK Center. Luckily, Lela is a good enough friend that she's given me a free pass on skipping her party because I had a better offer. I've known D for over 20 years. He has a really cool job and has had the opportunity to meet a lot of amazing people, so my goal tomorrow night is to be as blase as he is about the experience. I swear, he's one of the least pretentious people I know, but when he randomly throws out phrases like, "One time when I was at the White House correspondents' dinner..." I find it hard to retain my dignity.

Did I tell you Usher was on my flight from Atlanta?

Saturday I'm picking up birthday cake for Memaw and Taylor and partying with the fam. Then on Sunday Chance and I are caravanning back to Texas with Lonnie and the boys.

Tuesday it's a tour of Cowboys Stadium, then Jen is taking two days off on Thursday and Friday, so we're all going to the beach.

Whew! I don't know when I'm going to work in a pedicure or a tanning appointment, but this diva is overbooked the next few days. Yes, it's crazy and busy, but very, very, cool.

Happy, happy day!

So excited about the start of football season! I had nearly given up on the 'Boys last night, but they managed to pull out the win. I'm afraid it's going to be another long season, Dallas fans.

In a few I'm headed south to pick up Chance and Hope (and maybe Taylor, if he's really, really bored) and go hang out with Jen, Lon, and Huey, Dewie and Louie. I'll spend tonight with Peep and Meem, and that's always interesting. Their house is like a zoo when we're all there. It's Beaver's birthday, so we're headed to his party at 2 p.m.

Tomorrow I'll be on Nebo with Scott, Alisa, and Grey. Not sure what we're doing since all our best laid plans got either rescheduled or are tentative due to weather. Nevertheless, I haven't seen them in months and can't wait to just chill and eat.

Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone!

It's finally Friday

Man, it's been a very long day. And a stressful one. But thankfully I drowned my sorrows in some Chinese food and the 20% off sale at Express. I might have purchased yet another pair of jeans. It's a sickness, really. But it's been years since I've found jeans that actually fit and don't create a muffin top. I now enjoy looking in the three-way mirror a little bit too much.

My self-esteem was too high when I was fat. I'm really full of myself these days.

Sure, I have to go through the entire stack of jeans at Express to get to larger sizes (who's a 0 long, anyway? Giselle doesn't live in Fayetteville), but at least I can finally shop there.

Jennifer is evidently dragging me to some new intern extravaganza at the hospital next weekend, so I'll do my best to land a cute doctor (not one who excessively text messages). She has assured me that I need to wear really tight jeans. I'm not sure if that's sage advice or merely sabotage. I am sure that it will be 900 degrees in central Texas next weekend, so at least my hair will frizz and be higher than usual. 'Cause in Texas, the higher the hair, the closer to God, right?

Speaking of closer to God, my plane lands at DFW, so I'm kind of pumped about seeing the new Cowboys stadium. I think it's out of my way, but I am very curious to see what $900 million buys these days.

Tomorrow I have big plans of sleeping in, yoga, napping, church, then dinner and a movie with my friend Lori (I'm not speaking in third person; I actually have a friend named Lori who is tall, sarcastic, single, and supremely cool.. sound familiar?). This is my last free weekend for awhile, so I'm trying to bank some sleep time. Of course, I do plan to nap all day at Lonnie and Jen's on Friday while they go to work like chumps. I'll need to recover from my 47-minute flight.

Hope everyone had a fabulous week!

Leftovers

I have leftovers from dinner last night. I have leftovers from lunch today. I have food on all possible kitchen surfaces. So much for the diet!

The work party went pretty well. I made baked brie, guacamole, monterey jack salsa, and bleu cheese dip for appetizers; chicken tortilla and tomato/basil soup; and chocolate covered pretzels, peppermint bark, peanut butter kiss cookies and brownies for dessert. And leftover cheesecake from last night. I threw away the extra guac, but I still have some of everything else.

This morning, while chopping cilantro, I had a little medical incident when I gave myself a manicure with a sharp knife. I managed to not bleed on any of the food, but I have a kitchen towel that will never be the same. One of my coworkers thought it would be hilarious to bring me a first aid kit this afternoon.

We played dirty Santa with white elephant gifts and I ended up with some lovely Christmas lights. I've also discovered several "gifts" dispersed throughout my house, like the fabulous pine-smelling air freshener that LiLar was supposed to take home.

Now I'm watching the last game at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys look terrible, but hopefully they'll figure out a way to win in the next four minutes.

The long way home

Jen's probably the only one who cares, but I'll try to update my blog for the rest of the masses who might care about what's going on in my life.

I've been in Central Arkansas since Friday, and I got the brilliant idea to go home north by northwest this morning rather than my normal west then north route, which showcased the beautiful fall foliage but made my trip 4.5 hours from Little Rock to Siloam. It was a gorgeous drive, but by the time I got back to my beloved NWA, I napped through the entire Cowboys game. Turns out that wasn't such a tragedy.

To catch you up, I was a moron who gave myself a mere 24 hours to recover from anesthesia and being sliced open with a large knife, so I presided over a day-long meeting on Wednesday and marched into the very large home office of the world's largest retailer on Thursday to pretend that I'm a big girl with marketing prowess. Luckily both meetings went well and were very productive, but I was in pain for the whole two days that I pretended to be invincible. Sometimes the Superwoman cape feels a bit snug.

On Friday I stopped in Russellville to say hello to Alisa and Shauna before meeting my friend Erin for coffee in Conway to discuss politics, violence on college campuses and the need for responsible choices. Oh, and world peace. When you're getting ready for a pageant interview you have to work that in, right? Joe and I had dinner at Kobe on Friday evening (he brought me some gorgeous pink roses because he's amazing).

Yesterday I spent six hours talking to people from all over the state who want to be teachers. Okay, I talked to two. So it was a very long day, saved by the fact that two pals from the Center of Learning were there to catch me up on my former coworkers and eat lunch with me so I didn't look like such a loser. Then, last night, I went to dinner with my good friends Dave and Brent at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Sonny Williams.

Now I'm home, punch drunk from the long nap and needing to do laundry. But at least inquiring minds no longer need to wonder what's new with me. Not much.

Where did the weekend go?

While I realize that the work week is five days and the weekend only two, it seems those two blessed days are much less than 28% of my week. The time from Friday at five until Sunday at ten seems to fly by, and I'm often left wondering how in the world I wasted the past 52 hours. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and thank God for it every single night, but still... I'd be lying if I said that I never considered what it would be like to be a lady of leisure. I live for my weekends and days of watching football (hooray for the first full weekend of the pigskin!), reading books, visiting friends, and sleeping in. Hey, 8 a.m. is sleeping in these days.

Last week was quite busy, so I was in bed before 9 p.m. on Friday night. Yesterday I slept in, watched football all day, then headed over to Rogers for church. I've been looking for a church home for over a year, first in Conway and now in NWA, and have never found a place where I belonged. Every time I get to go to chapel at work I leave filled with the Spirit and full of peace and joy, and I really want to find that same feeling someplace on the weekends. Oh, I know worship is about Him and not about me, but still, I really want to be someplace I can be happy.

So yesterday I crossed the county to meet a coworker and his family for Saturday night church (and no, it wasn't LDS), and I loved it. The praise and worship was awesome. The message was inspiring. Granted, it was only my first trip, but I think it's a great start. So I'm praying for God's guidance on whether that will be my new church home.

After church I went to visit some friends who recently moved to Rogers who paid $35 to watch the Hog game on PPV. Yeah, we won, but it was not pretty. It's going to be a loooooong season, Razorback fans.

Now I'm gearing up for the week. I'll be traveling to all four of our offices in 24 hours, so it will be a crazy few days. Oh, and I have 300 bags of microwave popcorn in my trunk, so now my car smells like butter. Hmm...

The good news is that the Cowboys looked great today (yeah, they played the Browns, but still), and Felix had a TD. The bad news is that pretty boy Tom Brady is evidently out for the season with a torn ACL. Guess the MVP award is officially up for grabs.

Later, kids.

Are you ready for some football?

{Sigh.} I'm watching the Cowboys. All is right with the world again.

Queen of denial (football, part dos)

It's a sad, sad day Cowboys fans. I mean, to lose your first game as the #1 seed in the conference is bad enough, but to lose it to your biggest division rival (who you beat twice in the regular season) is just devastating. I couldn't bear to watch the last 45 seconds or so... I figured I was a jinx since I turned off the Buffalo and Detroit games when it seemed hopeless and the 'Boys found a way to come back and win. But alas, no such luck this time. Guess I'm not the only bad luck charm... I'd bet Jessica Simpson had better not show her face in Dallas for years.

But congrats to the Bolts, who managed to upset the Colts in Indy. Who would have thought that Eli would be the Manning brother in the conference championship?

I feel like I could throw up. But at least I'm wearing my Patriots t-shirt. And I'm almost done packing.

Holiday Recap

Today's the first day that I've felt any respite from the hustle and bustle of the holidays. It's been crazy since I got here, but I've finally caught my breath and have the opportunity to update you all on the exciting happenings in my life.

On Saturday, I met Ashley for lunch at Rolando's, then I went down to spend the evening in Hartford at Memaw and Pepaw's house. Since the Cowboys game was on NFL network, we went up to Woo and Amanda's to watch. Then we came back to Memaw's where 8 of us spent the night. I slept on the couch.

On Sunday morning, Kathy and I started cooking for the Plunkett fiesta. We made enchiladas, tacos, creamy taco, guacamole, pico de gallo, and cheese dip. My mom's family came down for lunch, then we had a rousing game of Dirty Santa (I got a mani/pedi set).

Here's Hewey, Dewie and Louie playing football with Chance in the mud.



And this is Taylor and me at the party.



Hope and MaKenzie, my cousin Carrie's little girl, got new purses from Granny Eck.



On Sunday evening, I stayed at my brother's house with the kids, where Chance, Taylor and I enjoyed a wild night of RockBand. Then I slept on the bottom bunk with Hope, who talked incessantly.

On Monday (Christmas Eve), we opened presents at Brad's early that morning, then went to Dad and Vickie's for brunch and more present opening. After that I ventured back to Fort Smith to my grandmother's for a nap prior to attending the candlelight service at church. Then I went to my aunt and uncle's house for German food. And I spent the night on my grandmother's couch.

Chance put the bow from his sister's present on his head.



I got Taylor a Romo jersey.



Hope got care bears from Grandpa and "Mickie."



On Tuesday (Christmas Day), I stopped at Vance and Sorne's to see what the boys got from Santa, then I picked up Taylor, Chance and Hope and we went to Memaw and Pepaw's to eat fish with the Hester brood. After dropping them off and coming back to the Gregory's for a nap, Amanda and I went to the movies.

Today (Wednesday) I slept in 'til after 10 a.m., then Vance cooked breakfast. Sorne and I went for coffee, then I took a nap. Tonight I met John and Tricia at Chili's for dinner.

Tomorrow (Thursday) Ashley and I are headed to Siloam Springs. I'm meeting with a realtor to find a place to live, then I'm having dinner tomorrow night with my dad, stepmom, brother, his GF, and my grandmother. Guess I'll head back to C-way on Friday to start packing.

And for those of you who are curious, my friends and family were generous this year. I got a beautiful bowl for my new office, a fabulous leopard throw, a cute coffee mug, and gift cards to Starbucks, Williams Sonoma, Best Buy, and Ann Taylor. Pretty cool, huh?

Some good news

While I realize that Thanksgiving was a couple of weeks ago, I'm feeling especially grateful as of late. And it's not just because I only have to work 60 more hours before 12 straight days of vacation, but because I'm feeling really blessed by all the amazing people in my life.

On Wednesday, I'm headed to NWA for a second interview. And while there's a distinct possibility I may not get the job, I've just been astounded by all of the people who were willing to support me. From Susan and Ashley, who started this whole process, to my ol' pal Matty, who said really nice things about me to my potential boss (and I didn't even prompt him to do so), to my former Sunday School teacher, who e-mailed a friend who also knows the potential boss, I am honored that so many awesome people have championed my career.

Other reasons to be happy... the Pats won big (bet the Steelers' Smith is wishing he'd kept his mouth shut) and the 'Boys pulled out a great win in Detroit (which I didn't see because I turned it off at the 2:00 warning).

Here's hoping it's a fantastic week!

The Pack vs. the 'Boys

Yes, tonight is the NFC showdown between Green Bay and Dallas. And most of you cable subscribers have most likely, like me, found family and friends' houses with satellites to watch the game.

If you're still not sold on the need to locate the elusive TV set with the NFL network (I'll spare you the needle-in-a-haystack analogy), check out Don Banks' story on si.com, "Ten Reasons to Watch the Pack-Cowboys... if you can." Amidst the Ice Bowl memories and expected Romo vs. Favre comparisons, Banks talks about the two unsung coaches, describing Wade Phillips with, "He might look like a tire salesman who eats donuts two out of every three meals, but the guy is coaching circles around the Cowboys' opponents."

That's funny right there. Now I'm craving donuts.

Toenail clippings and chocolate poptarts

My sincere apologies for neglecting the blog yesterday. I know the three of you who faithfully read "The Daily Drivel" were disappointed. But alas, I woke up yesterday feeling like poo, so I stayed home and slept all day. (Dad and Memaw... I'm fine now. No need to call and check on me.)

So after 18 hours or so of Nyquil-induced sleep, I spent the evening in the kitchen. I made a breakfast casserole for this morning's office potluck, and a roast for my dear cousin Lonnie. It brought back memories of our time as roommates, when he would rake his toenail clippings into the crevice of my coffee table and eat chocolate poptarts two meals a day. Ah, good times. Lonnie did learn to expand his dietary horizons when he lived with me... I exposed him to broccoli salad and his favorite, pot roast, so I made him one for old time's sake. It's nice that someone appreciates my domesticity, even if it's someone related to me.

Jen's in Atlanta (or Mylanta, as Taylor used to call it), taking some sort of "turn your head and cough" exam, and Lon's got gate duty, so I'm headed to Maumelle after work to pick up Huey, Dewey, and Louie from school. I invited myself to their house tonight to watch the Cowboys/Packers game since I, like 80 million other people, don't get the NFL network.

And if that's not punishment enough for my misdeeds, I get to go to Branson this weekend with my mom's sister and my 83-year-old grandmother, who will surely be wearing something bedazzled to the Bob-o-Links or whatever painful show she drops $150 on tickets for.

Happy festivus, folks. Serenity now!

Driving Me Nutts

How 'bout them Hogs?

I saw Nutt on the news tonight when I got home. His assessment was that the Vols played so well yesterday because they're worried about Fulmer losing his job. Gee, too bad the Hogs didn't seem to feel the same way. But I guess that's just wishful thinking on my part. That game was like a train wreck. That's why I spent the second half napping through my depression.

We had another great dinner last night and another great round of Mexican train before bedtime.

I got up early-ish this morning and walked four miles on the golf cart track (walked on it, Alisa... didn't drive on it this time). Then we had brunch at the club, put up Estella's Christmas tree, and headed back to Central Arkansas. Now I'm watching the 'Boys beat the Giants and doing laundry.

Can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow. Ick.

It's beginning to look a lot like... autumn

Although I'd grown quite sick of the rain, the crisp fall air that followed was quite welcome. Last weekend I got to perform my annual fall acknowledgement ritual, wearing a sweatshirt to a football game. And today, one of our student orgs had a chili cookoff in the room across from the office, and the building smelled like chili all day. I'm not quite sure what it is about autumn, but when the first leaf falls, I feel the need to put on a turtleneck and grate some cheese for a bowl of chili.

Today was the first day since I've lived in Conway that it felt too cold to get out of bed, so I snuggled under my down comforter after hitting the snooze button twice. My standard morning routine includes standing in the shower, washing my hair (you're welcome for the visual, by the way) while mentally trying to decide what to wear to work. This morning I realized that it was time for long sleeves and socks, so I perused my closet for a yummy turtleneck. Then I realized that all of my winter shoes were still in boxes.

I also realized, during one of my many daydreams at work, that there were only two paydays left 'til Christmas. So I made a budget and a list. And I realized that I have no ideas for presents. So now I'm stressed.

And I'm trying to decide what's on my list. Aside from my major wishes--world peace, Super Bowl ring for the Cowboys, and another kid for Brangelina--I'm at a loss. Granted, I'm lusting for an iPhone, but I don't think all of my gift givers put together can afford that. One of my coworkers just bought one, and she let me play with it today. Oh, how my heart longs for an iPhone.

It occurs to me that there's nothing that I need, and little that I want. I usually buy anything that I really want. And that makes me a lucky little brat.

Ok, all of you avid readers. What's on your Christmas list? While I wait for your response, I think I'll watch "The Office" and smell my new caramel wallflower from Bath & Body Works. Smells like fall!

Football and Dwight P. Shrute

For the third weekend in a row, I've been very unproductive. This weekend, however, I did manage to make it out of the house. I got up at the crack o' dawn yesterday to go watch Brady play football. His team's really good; they're undefeated, and yesterday they played the other premier team in the league, and ended in a 18-18 tie.

Here's a video from yesterday. Brady's the QB (#7), and I call to your attention the flagrant and very illegal tackling by the other team.

Other than that, I've watched a lot of football (hooray for the Hogs, Pats and Cowboys) and the entire second season of "The Office" thanks to Lonnie who loaned me seasons two and three. That show makes me laugh out loud.

It's Homecoming week, so we get to wear jeans to work on Tuesday due to "Paint the Town Purple." How very sad that's the most exciting thing I have to report.

Sick of being sick

Another weekend, another 48 hours of feeling like poo. I'm really sick of being sick, but as my pal Alisa said, " 'tis the season." So I've been in the bed/on the couch since Friday night. And neither the Hog game nor the Cowboys game did much to make me feel better.

Taylor informed me that I shouldn't be too bummed about the Pats/Cowboys since I like both teams. He, on the other hand, hates the Pats, so he's upset. I told him that he'd have to learn to like New England when Tom Brady becomes his uncle, and he's assured me that, should that happen, he'll work on it.

This is going to be a strange week at work. My boss left around 11 a.m. on Friday for good, and my new boss isn't planning to be in the office 'til next week, so this will be a long five days, especially since Thursday and Friday are fall break and I seem to be the only person planning to work. At least I won't have trouble finding a parking place.

Ride 'em, Cowboys!

I was on my third cup of coffee before 8 a.m. this morning. Why? Because I was woken up not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES last night, and I'm very sleepy.

After a nice dinner at Mike's last night to commemorate my boss' last week, I headed home to settle in for a good, old fashioned butt whoopin' of the Bills. Um, that didn't happen.

Romo threw four INTs before half (two of which were ran back for TDs), and the undefeated Cowboys appeared to be caught looking ahead to next week's showdown with the Pats. So when the Bills went ahead 24-14, I gave up and went to sleep.

My pal Ryan called at 11 p.m. to talk some smack about the "Cowgirls" (his term). His glee was short-lived as the impossible happened... on-side kick and not one but TWO 50+ yard field goals made to win the game for America's team.

One of the bloggers on si.com called it the "greatest regular season game I've ever seen." I don't know about that. Exciting? Yes. The sloppiest game that the winning team didn't deserve to claim? Perhaps. The #1 play on SportsCenter's top 10? Absolutely. But the best game ever? Doubtful. The best game would infer that someone deserved to win. Last night's game was a showcase of who wanted to give away the game more... the Cowboys who had six turnovers, or the Bills, who only had three offensive points.

We'll take the "W." And deserved or not, the 'Boys are 5-0 for the first time in over two decades.

So I finally got back to sleep after midnight. The cat woke me up for attention (and subsequently being thrown off the bed) at 3 a.m., at which time I reset my alarm for 7 a.m. My dad called at 6:35 a.m. to talk about the game.

See, I do dearly love my Cowboys, but let's talk about it when I'm awake, okay?

And for those of you waiting for my "Bachelor" reviews, my apologies. Monday night's when my testosterone leaks out and I trade giggling girls for bumbling commentators. Sorry, Emmitt. Perhaps you should stick to the paso doble.

20 years from now...

The other day I was cleaning out my garage when I ran across an essay I'd written when I was 13 about where I imagined myself in 20 years. It's been 22 years and I've accomplished nothing on my list. Oh, I've accomplished other things, but nothing I wanted back then. My list:

1. Become an opthamologist. (This was because I knew my opthamologist made about $1 million a year. I didn't consider that I was bad at science, or that blood made me nauseous.)
2. Marry a nice Christian boy. (Haven't come close; even with a not nice, non-Christian boy.)
3. Have two or three kids. (Hardly possible considering I haven't even kissed a guy in five years.)

So I don't have a medical degree, but I do have an advanced degree, and people will call me Doctor in the next five years. And I don't have a husband or kids, but I can spend as much as I want on shoes and my brother and cousin loan me their kids anytime I feel maternal urges... which the kids quickly squelch.

What I do have.... amazing friends, wonderful family, and a good job that I really enjoy. So I feel pretty darned lucky. Especially since the 4-0 Cowboys are on MNF. Life is good.