jack's mannequin

when i was 14 my brother todd came home from college with a cd called Something Corporate "Ready Break." he'd seen them on campus @ USC & thought they were the bomb. i agreed.

so from then on i listened faithfully. I purchased each cd as they came out. went to every concert i got could get to and shared my love for the rockin' sounds of andrew mcmahon & his band with anyone who would listen. not only was the lead singer/piano player cute, sang awesome, wrote songs awesome, but ALWAYS but on a FAB ROCKIN show. you know me and music- i was in love!

my first car was named andrew the red rocket. after him. true story. ask anyone.

well... last night brad & i and his brother tyler & gf sierra went to see Jack's Mannequin- andrew's side project band (yes i have all their cd's, too, of COURSE). SO MANY crazy teenage/college/obsessive/emotional/awesome memories came flooding back. i was rockin' out and didn't care that everyone around me didn't know any of the words. :)

thanks, andrew, for giving me SO MANY awesome memories from my youth: car dancing, piano playing, concert rockin' out, etc etc. some of my favorite memories with my closest friends of my youth are those associated with music & concerts. it was nice to relive the past for a moment and make NEW concert memories with new bestfriend!

oh, and the headlining band was The Fray. i laid down on the ground (we were on the lawn seats)& fell asleep. true story. they did not impress. ha.

a weekend AWAY!

i have needed a vacation for a LONG TIME. a real vacation. like one where i dont have things to do, and responsibilities, and people calling, and emails, and blogging, and a time frame, and work, and stress, etc.

so brad took me camping @ pinecrest lake, CA. almost free. no cell service. no computers. no electricity. no responsibilities. just going to bed when i'm tired and waking up when i want to and swimming, hiking, napping, eating, playing, laughing and generally relaxing.

The second day just me and brad went on a long hike. About 7 miles (little more) round trip. We hiked and climbed up to the top of Cleo's Bath- an AWSOME swimming spot. It had these awesome pools you could cliff jump off, i was sad i didn't get to take more pictures of it.

us two sweaty & tired resting at the top!

on the way back, brad decided to twist his ankle. BAD. and then we had to hike & walk 3 miles back to camp. he was in ALOT of pain & i was really worried watching him hobble along, but we made it back! i wish this picture did it justice, but his ankle was possibly HUGER, bruised & more swollen than this picture shows.

i loved it. :)

more pictures & stories to come!

i love personality tests thingys

I'M BAAAAaaaaack!!!
Camping/vacationing did me WONDERS and it was an absolute BLAST. And a much needed respite. :) More to come on that later... in the mean time...

Go HERE and pick two (I needed help deciding so it's okay to ask a friend). Mine are:

gettin' down & dirty

6:00 AM- wake up super excited after 6 hours of sleep
6:40 AM- depart home with brad becki & liz to OC MUD RUN
7:15 AM- arrive, park, check in, get t-shirts and stand around waiting

8:30 AM- begin funnest 5k of MY LIFE. mud pits, sand, army crawls, hurdles, oh my!
9:10 AM- finish 5k and play in mud with friends :)

10:30 AM- finish showering off, changing, and search for free food & drinks, dance to 80's rock band

11:25 AM- arrive home
11:30 AM- change and leave home
12:00-2:30 PM- KAYAK around newport harbor & back bay with Piersiders

3:00 PM- arrive home & go to pool & swim for an hour
12:00 AM- try to blog about crazy saturday but fail. decide to try again on sunday.
12:10 AM- decide too tired. must go to bed. wishes my poor body luck tomorrow :)

i've read back through some controversial blogs lately...

and people crack me up. i kinda wanna write a controversial blog about something so anonymous people can read it, get mad & make angry judgemental comments about my opinions.

as one very wise Nikki Spjut put it:
"You know what blogging is? It's the greatest experiment in miscommunication ever, because without knowing the person all you have are their words and unfortunately our language is limited in what it can convey."

anyway.
i'm going to go homebirth my children, take birthcontrol, be mad and happy at the same time about being single, blog about my boss & coworkers, and then make my blog private so i can purposefully keep out those who make comments that make me realize i'm wrong.

happy friday! :)

go here. http://xkcd.com/

a potter in review

midnight shows are the best.
1. you are surrounded by all the crazies.

2. everyone is really excited.

3. you are driven by adrenaline, slurpees, popcorn & candy to stay awake.

4. most likely you are in good company.

5. and anything bad about the movie you can't really remember the next day anyway!! :)

harry potter and the half blood prince- overall a 70%

i rate it well done overall on quality and entertainment. not so much straying from the book that it didn't make sense. enough laughs and silly moments, enough excitement. i'd watch it again.

conclusion: movie #5 is still my favorite. it was more intense and exciting when it needed to be. but movie #6 was worth my money my time and my loss of sleep. GO SEE IT :)

the nice fairy

i love nice people. who do nice things. especially secretly.
like fixing buttons on sweaters and returning them to your closet without you knowing who or when it happened.

all i know is the last time i wore my green sweater the button was falling off so i safety pinned it so i wouldn't lose it. i pulled out my sewing stuff to fix it and VOILA! it was done!
*warm fuzzies*

sawdust festival

brad & i went to the sawdust festival in laguna beach on saturday. fabulous.

i love looking at art pieces and thinking "how did they come up with that!?"

we sat & watched a man blow glass for an hour and a half. it started out as a chunk of glass, he added colors blew it, formed it, molded and VOILA! it was a rather large round vase with beautiful color streaks and leaf-like pattern.

seriously. it was cool.

in fact, i loved it.

live music, good food, lots of things to open and amuse the eyes.

and not only does brad have a rather hard to find last name (barttels) but he also loves mosaics. concidence? i think not.

a very merzy party

we love meredith k eaton.

so me & shauna threw her a party. a picnic of sugary whimsy.
menu:chocolate covered strawberries, angel food cake, homemade oreos, cupcakes, and a black forest cake & homemade peppermint ice cream made my ME!
a good time was had by all.

love you merz.
many happy brithday wishes.

potterpotterpotterpotterpotterpotterpotterpotterpotter....

i love harry potter.

okay, i confess i do.

my sister was nutso over it and she made me read the books when i lived with her and i got obsessed. mostly bc i think it was fun to be obsessed with my sisterface.

i've seen every movie opening day or midnight since #3.

i've gone at midnight and read into the night to finish the books.

i love it.

we're going tonight.

i can't wait!

(yes, i might draw a lightning bolt on my forehead)

1776

what a great year! thanks america for being born on the 4th of july. it is my favorite holiday!
i have no bad memories of the fourth. i LOVE bbq's, fireworks, parades, sparklers, music, swimming, bike riding, red, white & blue, playing outside, etc.seriously. i love it! i get so excited for it to come and this year ROCKED. the HB parade was so much fun and i seriously was probably as excited inside as my neice & nephew were when the trucks, the bands, the hispanic gay baton twirlers, the cheerleaders, the decorated floats, the karate kids, the army tanks all came rolling down main street!! (yes, i said hispanic gay baton twirlers)then off to the beach, and the pool and riding bikes ALL DAY, and eating lots of food and taking naps, getting sunburnt, having fantastic tan lines :)basically it couldn't be beat. between my 2 brothers & SILs and the two kids, brad & various other friends of shapes & sizes, it was amazing.i love america.
it's birthday is the best.

things i think about at work:

1. how can i get a car boot like in Coyote Ugly so i can park wherever i want? ya know, the guy has one. right? am i remembering the right movie??

2. whoever invented Pandora and Hulu are geniuses. they save me from audible boredom at work.

3. CAMPING IN 2 WEEKS! i can't wait to get out of here, have no cell phone, snuggle up in a tent, get dirty, don't shower, go hiking, fishing, and smell like a campfire for 3 days! :)

4. i am a terrible swimmer. i mean, i was a fish when i was little, but not like "swim laps" swimmer. i'm going to practice swimming at least once a week from now on, now that beachwalk's pool is open again. i went last night. it was lovely!

5. i don't really love mac and cheese. but i watched people eat it last night and it looked good. maybe i'll buy a box.

weeweewee all the way home!

these are my feet.
these are my perfectly pedicured and painted toe nails.
keep in mind this is only my second pedicure EVER.
and the last time i painted my toe nails the date looked like "MM/DD/07."

i confess i feel very girlie and pretty! funny how at 23 dressing up like a princess STILL makes you feel happy! :)
thanks to monica i am now emotionally sound, physically relaxed, and sufficiently "girlied-up" :)

p.s. you can see my tan line from my flip flops from fourth of july. i love it!!

5 things:

1. girls mark territory by mascara stains on the shoulders of boys' t-shirts: brad gets marked happily and willingly. :)
2. i ate a lamb gyro from this pita place by my work today. i haven't eaten food that incredibly-melt-in-your-mouth-satisfy-cravings-delicious in weeks! mmmmmHMmm!!
3. i had a blindingly happy weekend! i worked a half day thursday so B took me to Rosco's Chicken n' waffles in long beach. it was DELICIOUS.
4. the fourth of july is my FAVORITE holiday. i will blog more about it later, but trust me when i say: i LOVE it. this year did not disappoint. :)
5. a gchat buddy (who shall remain nameless unless she wants to claim it *wink*) may have said "i see him and i salivate" to me this morning, and for some reason, it's still hilarious 5 hours later.
6. okay one more!! i love my job today, too. sometimes i really really appreciate this lil place. :)

conclusion: have a happy monday lovelies!

MLB

the first MLB game i ever went to was an Orioles v. Angel's game at Camden Yard in Baltimore. papa keith, being the so-cal native, was excited to see his home town play & we went. i have NO idea how old i was, but i remember it.

now i've been to a few more games and i always LIKED baseball, but i'm learning to love it. last night's game was pretty darn exciting & we had great seats in right field.

monkey friend.Dre loves Friend.
Friend likes to watch baseball.Baseball = large portions of greasy dogs. And bags and bags of sunflower seeds.
Friend does not love these.
we are a match made in ugly photo heaven.and sometimes not. :) (hi dre!)
please notice the new hat i'm sporting. it's the little things that make people happy and it made brad ALOT happy.

los roommatos.

Awesome evening. Take me out to the ball game...