Things I've Discovered

I've discovered a few things over this summer that I'd like to share:

1. Osa likes vegetables, popsicles and fruit more than her own food. The other day, I caught her carrying around a piece of celery and it looked like a doggy cigar. It made me laugh.

2. I'm no longer really a fan of the sun. In fact, I kind of hate it- it scares me. Gone are the days of laying by the pool working on my tan. 50 SPF and a hat for me please!

3. I'm OK with the fact that I'm still driving the car I drove as a senior in High School. Sure, I still feel 16 when I'm in it, and there is STILL glitter in my back-seat from after parties, but it's free, so I'm good with that.

4. Nick Jonas knows me. Personally (it's true HL). We are working with him on a program right now, and I've been traveling around the country with him. In fact, I'll see him again in 2 weeks in LA. This may not be THAT cool, but I'd like someone else to come up with something better! He really is such a nice grounded guy. I've been very impressed.

5. I'm what they call a 'social media consumer'. I am NOT a content creator. I much prefer to creep around and read what others say. Specifically when it comes to blogging (obviously).

6. In relation to #2- I hate the heat. In fact, I don't think I like summer very much at all. This just further proves my love for the Fall. Hurry up and get here- I miss you so.

7. I'm totally addicted to Pure Barre- a workout that uses isometric movements targeting your smaller muscle groups. I'd say it's pilates, meets ballet, meets Tracy Anderson. Life changing. And way too expensive (darn). This is probably why I've forced myself to be OK with #3. Car Payment vs Pure Barre- Pure Barre wins.

That's all for now. I'd say "stay tuned" for more, but we all know it will likely be another 6 months and I'm not one to lead people on...

Born this way

So I'm sure all of you have heard Gaga's new song, seen her in an egg, noticed her strange flesh colored veins she's had permanently adhered to her face. There's no denying this woman is one strange cookie.

I gotta say though, her message (although out there) is rather liberating. And for the millions of people who struggle with insecurities and misunderstanding and hatred aimed at them, perhaps her message means even more.

Regardless, her new hit "Born this way" just puts me in a good mood, and after reading the lyrics this morning, she's right... "I'm beautiful in my way, cause God makes no mistakes, I'm on the right track baby, I was born this way!"

Happy Thursday all.

It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M
Just put your paws up
'Cause you were born this way, baby

My mama told me when I was young
We're all born superstars
She rolled my hair, put my lipstick on
In the glass of her boudoir

"There's nothin' wrong with lovin' who you are"
She said, "'Cause He made you perfect, babe"
"So hold your head up, girl and you you'll go far,
Listen to me when I say"

I'm beautiful in my way,
'Cause God makes no mistakes
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way

Don't hide yourself in regret,
Just love yourself and you're set
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way
(Born this way)

Ooo, there ain't no other way
Baby, I was born this way
Baby, I was born this way
(Born this way)
Ooo, there ain't other way
Baby, I was born this way
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way

Don't be a drag, just be a queen
Don't be a drag, just be a queen
Don't be a drag, just be a queen
Don't be!

Give yourself prudence and love your friends
Subway kid, rejoice the truth
In the religion of the insecure
I must be myself, respect my youth

A different lover is not a sin
Believe capital H-I-M (hey, hey, hey)
I love my life, I love this record and
Mi amore vole fe yah

I'm beautiful in my way,
'Cause God makes no mistakes
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way

Don't hide yourself in regret,
Just love yourself and you're set
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way

Ooo, there ain't no other way

Baby, I was born this way
Baby, I was born this way
(Born this way )
Ooo, there ain't other way
Baby, I was born way
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way

( Queen ,
Don't be , Queen )

Don't be drag, just be a queen
Whether you're broke or evergreen
You're black, white, beige, chola descent
You're lebanese, you're orient
Whether life's disabilities
Left you outcast, bullied or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today
'Cause baby, you were born this way

No matter gay, straight or bi
lesbian, transgendered life
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born to survive
No matter black, white or beige
chola or orient made
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born to be brave

I'm beautiful in my way
'Cause God makes no mistakes
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way

Don't hide yourself in regret,
Just love yourself and you're set
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way, yeah!

Ooo, there ain't no other way
Baby, I was born this way
Baby, I was born this way
(Born this way )
Ooo, there ain't other way
Baby, I was born this way
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way

I was born this way, hey!
I was born this way, hey!
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way, hey!

I was born this way, hey!
I was born this way, hey!
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way, hey!

Going back to Prom!

Literally.

I literally went to Prom last weekend! With my company. TMA brought back "Prom's second chance", and all the prom-goers came out for fun and festivities. The theme was flexible, and totally up for interpretation. Of course there were a few people who wore 'normal' clothes, but I work for a creative agency, so most costumes were, um, out of the box? Including mine! 16 and pregnant- sucks, but you take what life throws at you.

At least my baby daddy was excited...



And at least the prom queen didn't judge me...



Oh, is that a Prom photo back-drop? Don't mind if I do!



Gotta say- Prom was WAY more fun second time around.

A lot has changed...

...Well, not really, but I figured I needed a dramatic post title, since it's been QUITE some time, since I've updated you all (that's right, all 4 of you)!

Let's recap what has happened since we last spoke:

1. I am no longer blonde(ish). My brunette roots were calling to me and I had to go back. Good to be home.



2. Heather left me. My beloved Jayhawk (cough, gag) moved back to stupid smelly Kansas. WHY Heather?! WHY?!



3. Due to the above mentioned point, I now live with a BOY! And not just any boy, sweet sweet Landouche. So far, he's not so bad. He cooks, he cleans and he brought his massive flat screen. However, I am no longer allowed to watch Gossip Girl, 90210 or Glee until "after hours". Lame- I know he secretly loves it! He calls this my "wife-in-training" program, but so far, he's a crappy trainer.



4. I discovered the crock pot! As a build to point #3, Lando came equipped with a kickass crock pot and my life has forever been changed. I mean, it's SO EASY! You put the stuff in and it cooks. Wow. Thanks Ali Moore, I made your tortilla soup yesterday and am eating it for lunch as I type this post. Delicioso!

5. Osa has gained 20 pounds. Yep, our little 44 pound mutt, is now a big 65 pound lady. She may be the best thing that ever came into my life. Gosh I love her.



6. CATS are ranked in both Football and Basketball, but after this weekend's horrible display of ball-playing, that may no longer be- however, for that one week, it was pretty exciting! CAAAAATS!

7. I promised myself I would blog at least once a week. Maybe now that I'm writing this, I will have to be held accountable. Stay tuned...

Yes Dog

Welp, it appears that I may need to change the title of my blog....

Now before you get ahead of yourselves, I still have no husband and I still have no house, however, drumroll please... we are getting a dog! Well let me clarify, Josh is getting a dog. However, I obviously helped pick her out, and I will be her sole doggy mommy, I just won't be living with her every day, sadly.

We have been searching for months for the perfect rescue pup. We both had different things we were looking for in our future pup. Josh wanted an active little girl who he could take to the lake and fetch with in the backyard. I, of course, wanted a snuggle bear who likes to kiss and cuddle. We both wanted a medium-big size dog and neither of us will tolerate aggressive behavior, so she had to be submissive.

All that into account, we finally found our little girl. Osa (who we will be calling Osa Bear) is coming home with us on Saturday afternoon. We have met with her twice now, and we are just in love. We even took her to the dog park on Tuesday, and although she loves playing with other dogs, she loved hanging out near Josh and me more. She is a 10-month old Australian Shepherd mix (or so we hear), but we think she's a mix of all kinds of fun stuff. She is house-trained (almost), and eager to learn more.

Here are some pics of her. Keep in mind, she was recently shaved, so we think she will have longer hair, and she still needs to pack on about 10 pounds. Regardless, she is still the loveliest, most precious pup in the world. Welcome home Osa Bear!

I love my Little Monsters

So Lady Gaga is in town this weekend, and to celebrate, my three closest lifelong friends are jumping on planes and flying down to Dallas from KC to join in the Monster Ball madness! Oh and obviously, the only reason I'm able to go is because of my dearest HL. Apparently one of her clients felt Gaga was "too obscure"- their loss is our GAIN!

Regardless, Sarah Berghaus, Lydia Scribner and Krystle Trammell (aka Heather's cousin) are all coming down here and I couldn't be more thrilled. These ladies have been best friends of mine since flare jeans and bangs (the first time) were cool. When a good time was video taping ourselves lip synching to "I'm a genie in a bottle" and replaying it over and over again. When partying meant drinking 1 sip of peach schnapps and jumping on the trampoline. Yes, they've been there through all the ups and downs, and now as adult women, I have more gratitude and love for them than ever before.

Thanks Lady Gaga, for bringing my little monsters to Dallas!

I have SO many friends!

Wow, what a gloating title to a blog, right?

Well, let me re-phrase by saying, "I feel so blessed and lucky to have so many amazing friends that I know I can count on for just about anything in the entire world". Yeah, that's pretty incredible, isn't it? And the thing is, I know that each and every one of you who actually read my blog, feel the exact same way about the friends you have in your life.

Heather and I were driving home from a little group dinner last night, and we looked at each other and said, "wow, we have so many GREAT friends". Usually, I would smile and shrug this off, because it's pretty OBVIOUS, but for some reason last night it stuck with me.

So this is just a little homage to all the people in my life (you know who you are) who entertain me, quote movies with me, shop with me, IM me, dance with me, drink with me, layout with me, make fun of me, eat with me, but most importantly love me.

I love you all too!

Finally, a REAL vacation

So I love my friends (DEARLY), but I don't remember the last time I went on a vacation that didn't revolve around a wedding, wedding shower, bachelorette party, etc. Over the last 3 years, I've used all my vacation time for these wonderful events, but finally, FINALLY, I am using it to go on a real vacation, well kind of...

July 30-August 4, Josh and I will be traveling the coast of California. We fly into LA Friday am and are staying with my bro and sister-in-law in their brand new condo in the hills! The weekend will be filled with lots of laughing, beach-going and wine drinking.

We will then get up early Monday morning, and drive up the coast 4 hours to the quaint town of Cayucos, CA. Cayucos is a California gem, and is VERY popular among the Cali locals. It sits right between LA and Napa and is renown for their coastal wine tasting. We have a hotel RIGHT on the beach for 2 nights! The green hotel in the below image is ours...



The best part is that we used reward points for our plane tickets and my brother's place is free, so we are doing this trip fairly cost-efficiently!

This little vacation of ours is the only thing getting me through the next couple months (well that and E's wedding next weekend which I am SO pumped for)! I am daydreaming about Josh and me sitting on the beach at sunset with a big glass of local wine in our relaxed little hands. Ah....

My Weekend

Apologies for my vague blog post last week regarding my "Big Weekend" plans. For those of you who don't know, I auditioned for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders on Saturday! I made it through preliminaries (on Saturday) to semi-finals (on Sunday). It was a LONG and crazy weekend filled with gallons and gallons of hairspray and more lipstick and lycra then I knew what do with.

Day 1, over 600 girls arrived for prelims. The "DJ" spun some techno form of a random Top 40 song and we had to freestyle dance for 2 minutes. I, of course, had a mini combination I was going to do, but when I got out there to perform, my mind went completely blank. Literally. NOTHING was coming to mind. I had ZERO brain activity. All I could hear was my brain telling my body to just do SOMETHING! I busted out some kicks and some pirouettes, and by the grace of God made it to Day 2. I honestly could not even tell you what song I danced to. After 12 LONG hours, they cut the group down from 600 to 93.

Day 2, you learn choreography and a kick line. We got to learn the dance on the field, which was an awesome experience. Apparently none of the other girls at the auditions sweat, because I was by far the sweatiest person there! Oh by the way, if you ever decide to audition for DCC make sure you choose the brightest color lycra hot shorts and bra you can find and make sure you bedazzle them until you can't bedazzle them anymore. I was in a black and white sports bra and black hot shorts, and stuck out like a sore thumb. I did have some big hair though- you know what they say..."The bigger the hair, the closer to God" :)

After another 12 hour day, I, unfortunately, did not make it to Finals. The judges clearly have something VERY specific they were looking for and I didn't fit the bill. However, I had a GREAT time and scratched the itch to try-out I've had for the last few years. All in all, it was a very unique and fun experience. NOW, I REALLY hope I don't show up as the 'reject' in the show. Yes, that's right, they are filming season 5 of "Making the Team". Great.

A Big Weekend...

Some of you know what's happening this weekend. I'm not going to post what is happening this weekend here, as I'm not revealing what is happening this weekend, until it happens (sorry for those of you who don't know what is happening). Anyway, I'm nervous/excited about what is happening this weekend. I will update next week regarding what happened during the weekend. All you need to do is wish me luck :)