Friday, August 29, 2008

And she's off...

...back to Costa Rica...back to surfing (one might say she's addicted) ;)
Hopefully she will have grand pictures and fabulous stories to share. She hopes everyone has a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend/week. (She doesn't know why she is referring to herself as "she"...she better stop) :)

Anyways, a dear friend/family member passed this along to me today. It definitely goes along with my whole Carpe Diem mantra. Just some good things to think about. :)

much love


To realize
The value of a sister...
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple

To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby.

To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one-second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one.
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.

To realize
the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Adultness...

-Being stoked that Dental coverage is being added to company's insurance.

-Realizing that your rent is going up...yet again.

-Purchasing a new truck battery at 8 in the AM.



not so much love

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Life, Death and Chihuahua...

So I began this posting yesterday but decided to go back and edit it quite a bit due to recent events.

Life:
Two old friends, one from high school and one from way back in elementary school became Mommies in the last week. (Congrats to Heather and Jennifer...and welcome Avery Elizabeth and Jonathan!) I'm still not sure if that's something that I'd ever want to take on. These days I'm way too self-centered. I want what I want when I want it. And I think dealing with my own life and schedule is all I need at the moment. (Of course this is all big talk and who knows maybe a year or FIVE from now i could want such a thing in my life <---but did ya see what just said? No (good) mother or someone wanting to be a good mother would ever say that. lol)

Death:
Sadly yesterday LeRoi Moore, one of the founding members of Dave Matthews Band, passed away at the age of 46. This man artist, whether he knew it or not, has been a happy part of my life for over 10 years. Since 1997 I have seen at least one DMB concert every year, wherever I happen to be living (Dallas,Orlando..), by way of a road trip (Vegas 2001, The Woodlands 2004 & 2005), or plane (NYC birthday @ Madison Square Garden 2003 w/surprise guest James Brown R.I.P.). Each one of these times were great times, with both good friends or solo, meeting (but most likely dancing along with) new "friends". DMB was in Dallas this past weekend and I had my tickets already to go...but ended up selling them to my cousin, as I, alas, would not be in town. I find this coincidence slightly eerie. But that's just how I look at things sometimes. 46. 46 is so young. Once again that's why I urge everyone to take risks, do all that you can and love all that you can right now...as we don't know what tomorrow brings...He will be is already missed by sooo many.


Chihuahua:
So the reason that I missed the show was because this week I was working for Versus (doing tape) for the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) 2008 World Cup. So while everyone else watched the Olympics and this guy:

...five teams of guys were also competing for their own countries south of the border in Chihuahua Mexico.

I gotta be honest. I am digging this sport. These guys (and the bulls) are crazy nuts but I think it rocks! Just watching gets your heart racing...sorry baseball...you are boring! lol Afterwatching all these crazy (and just plain lame) "sports" in the Olympics, I so don't get why bull riding is not an event. I mean guys from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia all compteted this weekend. I'm sure there's other riders, cowboys, vaqueros all across the world that work hard and train, etc...just as much as freakin' ribbon & hoop wavers, laser fencing, handball, indoor cycling and badmitten players. ( no offense to all you out there that do these sports and happen to be reading this lol)
But down from the soap box I come. :)

In addition to work, it was just a pretty good weekend all around. Friday I landed in Chihuahua and the others on the plane and I headed to the Governor's Ball...the place was fabulous, and there were tons of people...but unfortunately we got there just in time to leave. Oh well. Crazy fact: the Electric Slide and Achy Breaky Heart is universal. Oh yes, you read that right. We even got the pleasure of hearing it en español.

We headed back to the hotel (got to listen to a couple of the Australian riders talk to each other...yeah I'm a sucker for accents, but what chica isn't? lol) and after a stop at Wendy's (yep) we arrived back at the hotel/hotel bar where the rest of the crew was...yeah they had been partying for awhile. :) It was definitively cool seeing people I haven't seen in a year.

The next morning was excellent. I had a great breakfast then head to the pool for the next 3 hours. I wish everyday before work could be spent I this. *Sidenote: It was also an excellent ipod day...every song that came through the shuffle rotation was pure gold (to me anyways)...and it was freaky but Dave Matthews Band came through several times...it's like it knew I would be missing the concert that night...yes I'm a dork...I we know this. ;)

On to work...The show went great and Team Canada dominated the competition on day one. It was pouring super hard when it was over...and we took what seemed like the longest route possible back to the hotel...but we did arrive to the hotel safely so that's really all that matters. :)
The call for the morning was early the next day so I didn't hang all that long afterwards but we did get to see what I like to call "the agony of defeat" montage of the Olympics...this was a Mexican broadcast we were seeing mind you...I don't think NBC would ever show such pain. It was wicked. Day two went well also. And after the Brazilians fought hard to keep their title from last year, the Americans came from behind to defeat the Canadians. It was a very cool event.



Back to the hotel (wait isn't that a song) anyways, we hung at the bar for a bit and Ben (cool camera guy from Idaho) suggested that we should go try out the hot tub since it was kind of a cool night. So Ben, Kevin (another cool camera guy from Idaho..who knew? lol) and I went in search of the hot tub. Well the Westin Soberano is a nice hotel with tons of amenities...except a hot tub. Well we were already dressed for the occasion so we said, "What the Heck," and got in the pool. This didn't last very long. Afterwards, we headed back to the bar where the rest of the crew was (soaking wet). *Fact: The Westin Soberano DOES in fact serve hot chocolate...in August. The night ended pretty early, as the first bus was at 4 AM and the second at 530 AM. I set the alarm for 445. I woke up at 5:09!!! I packed and dressed and made it down stairs by 519. I think that's pretty darn impressive. Got to the airport and head back to Dallas...I was super thankful that I was only having to travel under 2 hours...many others were not so lucky. End of that story. :)

Now that I am back from Chihuahua, I leave you with this one:
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much love

Monday, August 11, 2008

To My Fellow Children of the 80's...

For anyone that grew up going to ShowBiz as a child (or now takes their kiddos to Chuck E Cheese) you might find this amusing...and you might even, dare I say it, laugh out loud ;)

This is soo wrong (if you consider the subject matter)...and yet soo brillant! Be sure you keep watching through the rap solo (2:19ish) it's my favorite part.

Enjoy!




much love

Officially Olympic Obsessed...and other stuff :)

So yeah, this weekend was the start of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing...and I've watched a ton and loved every second (or 8 100th's of a second) of it! And as sleepiness was just about to set in, the Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay took place and the USA came from behind and (to use the words of the French) SMASHED the team from France. It was so incredible to watch...and the reactions that followed were priceless! Yeah there was trash talking before the match by the French but in the end the Americans let their swimming do the talking. Not only did they win gold...they beat the world record by almost 4 seconds!!! 4 seconds seems like nothing but in the Olympics that's like days. lol (*Note I have no hatred for the French...or anyone for that matter.)

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Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak, Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale:
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This, by far, was the most exciting event so far...but there have been many moments that have made me "feel" something during the games. Seeing Dirk Nowitzki leading Germany during the opening ceremonies was something special...

And then Yoa Ming and Lin Hao (the little boy that ran back in to save his classmates during the Sichuan earthquake) leading China got me a little teary I must admit. :)

And I was one of the several Billion watching the USA "Redeem Team" (not sure about that quite yet) vs. China in Men's Basketball...
...I am super proud to be an American but I am loving seeing these amazing people from all over the world proudly representing their own countries. Can't wait for more! :)

Other stuff in the past couple of weeks...

Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman took another trip on their bikes but this time they started at the northern most part of Scotland and ended in Capetown, South Africa. 18 countries in about 90 days...The Long Way Down series the just started on Fox reality channel i suggest you check it out. I saw the big screen version, and I am reading the book...this journey is definitely more emotional than The Long Way Round, being that Children and troubles in Africa are the main subject of the trip.
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John Mayer doing what he does best August 1st in Dallas...super hot (literally) and super talented.
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I finally got around to seeing The Dark Knight and was not disappointed. All though I thought the first 30 mins was kinda slow...I soo came outta of there wanting to ride a bat cycle. lol
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Wednesday, August 6th at 12:01 am I saw Pineapple Express at the Inwood in it's "Living Room." Love those couches and dug this movie. Yeah it's a stoner-ish flick, but I think it's more of a violent action film more than anything. It's not for everybody, but those of you it's for will laugh most definitely. :)
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Also up last week was the musical Jersey Boys. I've see many a musical and this is one of my absolute faves. This is definitely due to the music and songs. For those of you that don't know, Jersey Boys is based on the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Sounds a bit weird (but such is me and my life) but I've been a huge Frankie Valli (and the Four Seasons) fan ever since I was a little girl and my cousin Kellie and I were on a weekend trip with my mom to Lake Murray and we bought this Cruisin' Classics tape at the gas station and Big Girls Don't Cry was on it. lol Good times...and great songs!


Friday, I went to my friend Monica's 24th birthday party at Surf & Swim in Garland. It's been at least 15 years since the last time I was there. It was a great night.

Saturday, after having dinner with the aunt and uncle, and cousin and others, Momma and I went and saw The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2! Yes, I liked it. Yes, America Ferrera is my idol. And, Yes I want to go to Greece and find my own Kostos. ;)


Sunday, in between watching the Olympics, I was "Big Sis" (to Nena, Lisa & Brenda) and "Tia" (to my niece Mia). I wasn't always around as my sisters were growing up (being in Florida and California), but as they've grown up it's good to see that they still need me from time to time. :) Anyways, they and my bro-in-law Eric came over to my apartments and we swam for a couple of hours and ate pizza and watched a movie. I have decided Mia will be a fish. :)


And Mykey (my bro-in-law in IRAQ) even called while they were at my house...he's doing alright...and that makes us happiest of all! It was a good day...along with a pretty good couple of weeks.



much love