Merry Christmas

Hey kids,

Just your old Dad, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope to see you all soon. I miss you all.

Dad

Fantasyland

So, in just a few short days I have contemplated quitting my job, moving out of state, buying a house in a shi-shi community, and starting a brand new life. And alas, I have come full circle and decided that I will probably live in Costa Mesa for the rest of my life. But it was a cool idea while it lasted! :)

Back from AZ!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let everyone know that I am back from a trip to Arizona! I had an amazing time!!!!!!! I absolutely loved it there and seeing all my friends was so awesome. It was so nice to get away from OC for awhile and all the stuff going on around me. I had a blast.

So I guess that is a nice segway (sp?) into saying that I am considering moving there. Wow! I know that's big and kind of crazy, but what do you guys think? Of course, a move is dependent on how things pan out here, if I am able to get a job there, etc. And maybe I am just coming off a high from being there and enjoying myself so much! But just wanted to throw it out there to see what you guys think about that. Not like I am leaving tomorrow, but you never know.....Hahahaha!

Tuesday!

So usually my relaxing day of the week, won't be so relaxing this week! It is quite a powerful day. Tomorrow I have my final in the morning, and FINALLY I will be done with this semester! YAY! And after that at 1:00pm I have the meeting with the company that wants to hire me! I am hoping that it goes well and that there is no catch involved, because it kind of sounds too good to be true! So everyone keep your fingers crossed for me that everything goes well!

Oh and Jill, you suck that you only have 3 more days of work this year! Totally not fair at all! Sheesh! :)

Can't wait for vacation!!!! I am excited to see everyone! Only 21 more days till we are in California again!! WOOT WOOT!

Just so everyone knows

Just so everyone knows!

I am trying to retire at the end of February, because I am really tired. My plan is to sleep at least 6 hours a day, which should give me 2 more than I get now.

Phone Call....

I got a phone call! :) From the staffing for one of the hospitals that I applied at!! Just wanted to give you an update!

So Ern????

Hey Ern,
You were the one that asked us to start this blog? Why are you not posting?
Oh right, because you forgot your password right? When you go to login see that little question mark (?) next to the word password? Click that and it will send your password to your email. Really gotta get up on this technology thing.

News...

So I know that you all know by now what is going on in my life! I was told today that I had to choose between my current job and going to school. Obviously I choose school, because the whole purpose of me working is that I am paying to go to school! So as of today I am searching for a new job. I sent out about 7 resumes tonight after working on my homework. I am hoping that I will get a couple hits from those and then plan on sending out even more tomorrow, my day off.

It all is a bit depressing because I was told that they would work around my school schedule until the new management arrived today and said she would not ok my request. My boss, Jerry fought for me but at this time there isn't really anything I can do. I also decided that I was done working for a company that I have worked my ass off for but didn't get much in return. I got measly raises that I couldn't even buy a stamp with and even worked on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving with strep throat and tonsillitis because at my job you do not get sick days.

So all in all in was a frustrating day but now I am looking at this positively. I think that everything happens for a reason and I think that it is probably for the better. I will be taking 14 credit hours this coming semester and it was about time I cut down on my hours and found a job that had more flexibility in hours. Luckily there are quite a few big hospitals within a 20 minute driving distance and I can find a position with quite the variety of hours.

I will keep you guys posted on what happens in the coming days/ weeks with that. My plan right now is to come to California as originally planned, on the 29th of December and then depart on Jan 4. It all just depends on if they don't fire me from my current job (yes it is a possibility since they know I am leaving) and how soon I can find a new job.

Snakes!

FANNIE BAY, Australia, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- An Australian woman says she hated snakes even before she found 14 young carpet pythons in her bedroom.

Esther Honegger of Fannie Bay told The Northern Territorian she first noticed some of the snakes as she prepared for bed Wednesday night.

"I hate snakes and as I walked backwards and forwards I would see another one," she said. "They were everywhere -- there was one curled around my bedhead, another around the bottom of the chair, and when I went outside there was one in the hallway, another on the railing and another on the step. It was like I was having a nightmare."

Snake catcher Geoff Brouff removed seven of the baby pythons Wednesday and was summoned back to Honegger's home Thursday, when he found seven more.

Brouff believes a female python living on the roof laid her eggs there and the babies slithered down through air-conditioning vents. Since carpet pythons usually lay 25 to 30 eggs, Honegger could have some more unwelcome guests.

"I've never had a call out for so many snakes before, so I thought it was a joke for sure," he said.

I need a better picture....

Wow........

I am getting good with these

AKA no neck Joe.

Still bored at work......

Bored at work.......

So?

Well, I guess that I am the only one posting on here.
Really?

New York, New York!

Hi everyone! Mark and I just returned from a fabulous "fake" honeymoon in New York. We stayed right in the middle of Times Square and there were so many people! On the island of Manhattan live 8 million people. Crazy! Everything is so fast paced. Mark and I ate so much food off the street vendors: hot dogs, italian sausages, roasted cashews, shish kabobs, ice cream. Endless. We had slices of pizza from every pizza place in town including Ray's famous pizza. So many different flavors, so little time. We did all of the touristy things: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Central Park, Bryant Park(where they have the fashion shows every year) rode the subway. I had the biggest pastrami sandwich ever at Carnegie Deli. We saw three shows on Broadway: Avenue Q (the one with the "muppets", freakin' hilarious!), [title of show] yes, that is actually the name of the show, another musical that mades us laugh so hard we cried, and August:Osage County a play that had the woman who played the mother on Roseanne (Estelle Parsons) a dark comedy about dysfunctional families. Then we saw an Opera at the Met. The Met was amazing, the opera, Dr. Aomic, sucked. Written in English it was about the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico. Three hours bad story. We drank beer and champagne at the local bars and pubs. Mark took me to a place called The View on the 48th floor of the Marriot. It was a rotating restaurant. It gave you a few view of the city, although it rotated slowly, it was scary high up. We also visited one of my old friends who is a firefighter and works at a fire station that was one of the first to respond to 9/11. He gave us a tour of the firehouse and let me try on his gear and take pictures of Mark and I in the fire truck. It was pretty cool. We had a great time and let me tell you, flying business class rocks! Champagne, full meals, personal entertainment boxes that let you watch movies (I watched Baby Mama and Be Kind Rewind. Mark watched Hancock and Get Smart, then on the way back we both watched Ratatouille and Leatherheads) You can also watch T.V. shows, play games, listen to music. Awesome! Plus your chairs recline to a laying down position and you get pillows and basically a down comforter to snuggle in. I wanted to cry it was so cool.
Now we are back home, trying to put away wedding gifts and do laundry. Sigh.
With all of the hustle and bustle, it is good to be home though.

Hello?

Am I the only one posting on here?
Hello?
Anyone?

Picture links

Here are some of the picture links we have recieved so far:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=99u8uon.7lh101qz&Uy=n8ch34&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=41824390384_657519194603&localeid=en_US

http://picasaweb.google.com/jbwife1/JillAndMarksWedding#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Nobrakes15/MarkJillWedding#

http://picasaweb.google.com/traci.johnson/WeddingPictures#

Enjoy!

The Delightful Mrs. M

So here it is, a week after the wedding and I am totally going through a post festivities depression. I want to do it all over again. In fact, I am so depressed about it being over, that Mark has promised that we can do it again, although on a smaller scale, in five years. Working on getting that shortened to every year.

I am glad that we had the talk on Sunday, I now have more insight on everyone. It was an very emotional weekend for me. And I am definately missing T and T.

Well hello there!

Well hello family! It was nice seeing everyone this past weekend! We definitely need to get together a lot more often! Ali is trying to say hello to everyone by typing on the keyboard! :) I am currently babysitting my friends twin girls! They are very adorable! 5 months old and love to talk. Ali is sitting on my lap helping me type this blog while her sister Alyssa is taking a nap! I'll show you guys a picture of them, they are CUTIES!

SO anyway, how is getting back to the daily grind of things? For me, I am quite disappointed that I am back in Utah! :( But I also feel like I haven things into perspective, and I know what I want! So I am going to work on getting that!

So I don't beat around the pink elephant in the room I am going to be the first one to say that I am very glad that we had the chat that we did before we left. I know that it was a very hard thing to have, but I think that it was necessary and I think that those things needed to come out. I also want to say that my greatest wish for this family is that everyone is happy. However, I do want it to be one big happy family as well so if we could find a happy together family, that would be awesome! :)And I will do whatever I can to make that happen!

Well I have to go change a stinky diaper! But how is everyone else doing this Tuesday??

The greatest music in the world

So all of you know (if you are reading this blog) that last Friday night I went to see Counting Crows, my most favoritest band in the whole wide world! Someone at the show asked me how many times I have seen them because I randomly spew out fun facts about particular songs, sing along and make comments only a true fan could appreciate. I think I calculated that this last Friday was number 12. We had amazing seats and it was an incredible show. I cried. And just for reference sake, I always cry at their shows. It's a funny thing how music does that for me. Hearing a particular song, or a lyric, just totally transports me back to a different time in my life. Bare with me for a piece of nostalgia, if you are interested....I am 18 again, living in Berkeley and seeing CC in concert for the first time, circa 1994. I heard they were playing by a fluke and stood in line (back when you stood in line for tickets! LOL) and froze my butt off with my buddy Cody to pay General Admission price! We were so cold, that one of us broke line to go to a pay phone (T & T if you don't know what that is, google it) and called our 3rd friend who was going to meet us in line and talked her into bringing us sweatshirts so we could survive long enough to get the tickets. We were 3rd in line so there was no way the cold was beating us out!! Hahaha The show was amazing! I remember being the closest I have ever been to "the man" and felt as if he was singing right to me. We were standing in the pit, next to some real jokers who were just trying to mack with these other girls, but I really didn't care. The actual feeling of love filled the air! Hey it is Berkeley afterall!! I nearly fainted when he walked on stage. My friends Angela and Gen had to hold me up a bit. They laughed at me , but I was literally awe-struck. If you have ever been to the Greek theater in Berkeley, then you know what I am talking about. Best place ever to see a show. And it was literally next door to my dorm. I don't think it gets much better than that! I cried at that show too because of the emotional feelings that his music illicits in me. I cried when it was over. And I cried that I waited until the end of the show to by my concert t-shirt and there weren't any left. Lesson learned in the art of concert going. Always buy your shirt first, no matter how silly you look wearing 2 shirts or sporting it over your shoulder like a dish towel. I decided that night in Berkeley, that this was my favorite band. That I would see them whenever I could and that I was completely in love with their music. And over the last 14 years, they have never disappointed me.

So the concert last Friday, I sat in awe, once again. It's funny how Adam looks different and the same. He cried too, while he sang. He is a bit of an emotional guy, maybe why I like him so much! But it's just the music has that affect on me and his utter commitment to the delivery of it. It takes me back to a younger, simple time. When my problems were nothing. And when life was on the cusp of the unknown and no one cared. We were just living it. Wow, sorry to get all nostalgic and sappy, just can't be helped sometimes!

So if you ever want to go see an amazing show, I would love to take you along with me! My friend Gina says that half the fun of seeing them is watching me watch them! Hahahaha I can't imagine what she means by that!!

Hope everyone is doing well, and if you are still reading...then thanks for reading!!!

Great Time Had by All

Sounds like a great party. We also went to a party last weekend. A wedding for our Dance Instructors son. He is a coreographer just like his new wife. There were coreographers from all over the world at this party. The dancing was awesome, but we didn't know most of the dances. They were very modern dance stuff. Still line dances but not country western.

Hope the rest of the activities for this month come together well for you Jill. Hope to see you soon.

Dad

K-town rules!

I must send out serious props to Lane dawg for her awesome organization of the bachlorette party this weekend. We started out at The Olde Shop, one of my absolute favorite restaurants. EJ you may remember it, we took you and Monica there, I believe you had the bangers and mash. We then took a journey deep into K-town (Korea town) to the most awesomest karoake bar ever! We had a small room that seated about 12 or more poeple. We sang songs, laughed, fired up the cheesiest lighting machine ever invented, laughed. The footage that played behind the video as we were singing was someone's vacation video. It was awesome! The best part: Lanie sang "You are the Sunshine of my Life" to me and totally made me cry. After many X-rated gifts and so much singing that my voice was hoarse, we trucked on down to the Goat Hill Tavern. Troy, you may remember this place from your introduction to day drinking. We had some beers, and were asaulted by some pipe daddies, one of who kept putting his sweating pimp daddie hat on my head. It was a fabulous evening, and to top it off, I did not throw up.
Thanks to Lanie for such an awesome time!

We are almost ready!!

So Troy and I had a shopping extravaganza today! Spent a crap load of money! But Troy is now a proud owner of a smoking suit! :) And I am a very proud of a new sexy dress! Now we won't show up naked to the big event! Huge relief I know! :)

How was the partay tonight???

The real deal

So the review is in! My picture was choosen to be part of the art installation. It can viewed on the we at the link I previously posted. Woo-hooo. The whole idea is that every 25 years they will take pictures of Los Angeles people and then add another chapter to the installation. n Go Bridejilla! There is no stopping me now that I have been imortalized.

What is this about keys??

Okay, I'll bite. I have been doing a whole lot of nothing lately. Well, maybe not nothing. I have been planning Jill's final bachelorette party which takes place this Saturday night! So that should be fun, and for obvious reasons, I am not able to disclose any information at this time. Although, pics to follow!! LOL Okay, so other than that, not much else to report. I am still doing weight watchers and have lost a total of 42.2 lbs, but I had a massive slice of carrot cake this weekend, so my weigh-in today will probably be a wash!! But I am sticking with the program pretty consistently and it seems to be working. I finally decided to tell Mitch that I was on the program. So the secret is out!! Hahahaha

This Friday, I am going to see my most favorite band in the whole wide world!!! Counting Crows!!! Although, I am not crazy about the venue that they are playing at (verizon, which used to be called Irvine Meadows for you old skoolers), I would pretty much see them anytime or anywhere! They are playing with Maroon 5, which I saw last year at Staples and loved! And Augustana, which I have seen before and they were great too!!! So I am so super excited because I have amazing seats!!!! And am going with Mitch and my homeskillet G-money!!! It's going to be an amazing show, although this time I think I will shy away from the 40 oz beer because I'd hate to have to miss one note of the show because I have to go to the bathroom!!

Oh yeah, and Troy...Last weekend I hit up the Goat for some casual beer drinking. Wow, tried this new beer called Alley Cat. Smooth but deadly. I guess the texting can show for that, eh?

Hope everyone is doing well! :)

I'll hit some keys...

Things are going pretty good over here. :) Just very, very busy!! School is in full swing currently, and I have a math assignment and quiz due everyday of the week which keeps me quite busy and away from playing for most of the week. Also had my first test yesterday which went pretty good. Have a solid B in that class currently but it'll go up soon I am hoping!

Other than that Troy and I went out all weekend. Friday night we went to Wiseguys, which is a comedy club in West Valley. It is so awesome and hilarious. It is an hour and a half show and has I think 4 comedians and then the headliner. We really lucked out because they were all hilarious but the headliner really was the funniest guy I have ever seen there. I don't remember his name or anything but he's on comedy central apparently. And because it is in West Valley (ok well maybe not because it's there but still...) it is not the clean humor usually found in Utah. They were cracking jokes about politics, religions, races, and the headliner's piece was almost solely about sex which pretty much nailed everything. :) I also played guitar hero for the first time that night and that was super fun! Even though I completed SUCKED at it!

September is shaping up to be quite a busy month for me! Of course we will be down for the wedding and the weekend before that my friend Jen, Troy and I are going to be going to Spud Day. Doubtful that anyone has heard of this before because I hadn't but it is in Shelley, Idaho which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from here. Anyway we are going to that because the PA student currently working with me told me about it and said it was the best day ever (and said that I wouldn't ever go, so of course I had to go after that! :) It sounds like it has potential though in a small town sort of way. First of all road trips are always killer! Then there is a day all about potatoes which is funny in the first place but it is complete with spud picking and bagging, parades, food, games, and the part that I am looking forward to most is the instant potato tug-o-war. They take a huge cement mixer and fill it was instant potato then put it in a hole and then have tug-o-war. Ok seriously, how can you beat that because that just sounds too funny to miss! :)

Well I am off to meet C-bro for lunch. Soccer game tonight so I'll let ya know how that goes. Currently we have 1 win and 1 loss. And I have 2 assists for this season so far. Might I add they were amazing because 1 was off a goal kick and the girl ran onto it and tapped it in. The second was BEAUTIFUL because I took the corner kick and the girl headed it in. :)

Hitting the keys.....

As for hitting the keys, I should be hitting the bottle, so to speak. Wedding plans are going well, we have most everything out of control. Have just a small items that need to be taken care of and we are good.

This weekend I attended an art exhibit at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) http://www.lacma.org/events/lanza.aspx

It was an exhibition projecting pictures of people taken in the 1970s. Then they took your picture and added it to the exhibit. It is suppposed to happen every 25 years. Some of the people that were in the original exhibit in 73 were there so that we pretty cool. So I went with some artsy friends and we stood in line to have our picture taken and guess what? Pretty soon we looked up and there I was.

My image was project on the 20 feet tall screens for all of the public to view. I am was so excited. It was cool so to see me really big, well maybe not that big. And, yes that is really me. Hoop earrings, electric blue Dr. Marten vintage rubber jacket, and black hip hop Fat Albert hat. Stylin.

Besides that not much else going on. Girls night tonight, tomorrow having dinner with friends, Thursday rehearsing some music for the wedding. Friday? Rest up for Saturday.

Hope all is well with everyone. Who knows maybe some day I will be famous.

Where Is Everybody?

Where is everybody? Wow, I am writing this again. I had a long message written and it all suddenly disappeared. Anyway, what are you all up to. It seems like this blog has gone dead. Has anybody gone to the grocery store or gone to the gas station? How about those Dodgers! How about those Angels! How about those political candidates! What do you think about Sarah Palin? Traci and Troy did you ever go fishing? Jill and Lane, I want to know all the details of the wedding plans and foofarah. What have I been doing? Oh nothing, just looking at the blog every day hoping for a new message. Also I have been trying to get my taxes done. Also working hard trying to get some testing completed for Underwriters Laboratories. Searching for my tax papers, I came across an outline of a story I started some time ago. I was thinking it would be a shame to not finish it. or maybe a shame to finish it. In spite of my advanced senility I do still like to write and paint. Maybe I should do more. Oh almost forgot, I am reading the Reagan Diaries. Fascinating stuff. To bad we don't have other writings by each of our presidents. It would be fun to read what was going through their thoughts while they were presidents.
Well thats all for now and I hope to hear from you all soon, so GET OUT THOSE FINGERS AND HIT THE KEYS!
DAD

Where to get your new suitcase

Traci,
The web address for the Leather place, I told you about, is leatherthatworks.com. If you go there you will find the leather goods and the fabric suitcases. Look under tapestry for the suitcases. You can order different sizes and they are all only $20.00. They will deliver from the warehouse. I don't know how much they will charge for delivery, but I don't believe it will be that expensive.

Happy Tuesday!

So how is it for everyone to be back at work today? Luckily today would be my day off so I am enjoying my 4 day weekend! :) Everyone have a great holiday weekend though? Anyone do anything spectacular??

I don't know about everywhere else but the weather here in Utah is also starting to change a bit. We had rain for 2 days here!! Which is really impressive cause rain in Salt Lake usually lasts literally 10 minutes and then it is done. S0 going from 100 degree weather to 65 and rain was a really nice surprise! Everyone suspects that we are going to get an early winter and a very hard winter like last year! Which means Traci needs to find someone to pull her out of snow banks this year (since there is no boyfriend with a big truck this year). You might laugh but sadly enough this happens quite often to me because my car likes to slide in the snow! :) Oh big brother, oh c-bro with the 4 wheel drive....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JILLER!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JILLER, BRIDEJILLA, JILL!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Hope you have a fabulous day dude!!! I am looking forward to celebrating many more years with you!! I could not have asked for a cooler older sister!! You are a rockstar!!! Love ya!! 36 years young!!!! Woohoo!!

Happy Birthday to Jill,

Well Jill, You finally reached 24. Not Bad for a Johnson (soon to be something else). I hope your day goes good and the folks at work treat you right or not. Anyway, have a great day.

Happy day of your birth!

CONGRATULATIONS ON SUCCESSFULLY NAVIGATING THE BIRTH CANAL 22 YEARS AGO! WOO-HOO! WAY TO GO CRAZY ELBOWS! MAN CHILD! C-BRO!
PARTY LIKE A ROCK STAR!

Today is Troy's Birthday

Troy,
Happy Birthday from your old Dad. I hope this birthday is terrific for you and you do something fun. I will try to call you later today.

Do you remember when you were born? Ha! I do.

Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY C-BRO!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MAN-CHILD, C-BRO, TROY!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME DAY OF CELEBRATING YOUR BIRTH!!!! WISH I WAS THERE TO CELEBRATE WITH YOU! HAVE FUN AND TRY TO DO SOME DAY DRINKING IF YOU CAN FIT IT IN!! :)

Donde esta?

Donde esta mi familia?? Padre? Necessito buscar par ti!

My spanish is very rusty so I thought I would test it out! Hopefully I said that right, let me know if not! Lol! Anyway, wanted to say HI!

I want to encourage everyone in work out activites! :) Specifically we need to motivate Troy to work out!! Because if he wants to get in shape for hockey he needs to work on it now! Lol!

Yay for soccer starting again this week! And I jsut want to say that pilates kicks some serious ass man! I could barely move my abs the next day! And crazy psycho pilates instructor was like teaching advanced stuff! She's like ok next move is we are going to balance on the ball... on your knees and then lift weights. I started laughing like are you crazy lady?? Yes, I still balanced for like 10 seconds and then about broke my face falling off! :) And how was your week?? :)

Look what I found.....

Ummm, this is my new favorite band.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=8649411

Actually, one the bands members is Mark's buddy from high school. We saw him and his wife when we went to the reunion in Texas two weeks ago. It was stinking hot. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Oh, and Troy did you ever check out Bat Lord? http://www.batlord.com/

I reccomend the song Undertaker.

Crash

Anyone seen this movie? I just watched it, and was quite impressed. I wasn't expecting too much (I didn't really know much about the plot), but it was really well done. It's about racial tension & biases in LA. If anyone else has seen it, I'd like to hear your opinions.

Happy Saturday night all!

Well hello everyone! It is a lovely Saturday night here in Utah! I am currently sitting with 'Crazy Elbows' (which reminds me of Crazy Eyes in Mr. Deeds, but anyways...) watching Dexter. I would like to introduce you to another addictive TV series. It is called Dexter and originally was aired on Showtime. Anyway, it is a must watch, or at least ya gotta try it on for size! I now have Troy addicted! :) It is about this guy who is a serial killer, because he was born to be one, but he uses it for good instead of evil. He only kills the people that deserve to be killed, because they have escaped the law system. Great show! Great music to it as well.

So on the movie update, I watched Tropic Thunder last night. That show was freaking hilarious! It is a must see!! Ben Stiller is hilarious in the movie, and I was shocked to see Tom Cruise in the movie! It was literally in the last minutes of the movie that Mike was like, hey isn't that Tom Cruise. I was like noooo way because it isn't a role that he would usually play at all nor did it look like him at all, but he did a damn good job at it! It was hilarious! On tomorrow's schedule is The Mummy,so we will let ya know how that goes!

Lastly I would like to say I spent $135.00 on a calculator. It is one of those fancy graphing calculators which does stuff for physics, chemistry and biology not to mention all the math stuff. The best part of the calculator though is that it is PINK! :) Just saying... math is always more fun when it comes in colors!

Working for the Weekend

Hey Everybody! So nothing much to report on my end. Just that I am completely overloaded at work (hmmm, must be since I am sitting here blogging!) At both these clinics, when you take time off, YOU take time off. But that doesn't mean that crazy takes time off. Nope, the work just piles up until you get back. So having 80 emails and a mailbox crammed with stuff is pretty typical when one leaves for a week! So I am still playing catch-up, but I am sure that this information is highly boring to you readers, so let's move forward!

A week from today I will be at JACK JOHNSON!!! Woohoo! I am excited but marginally concerned. For some reason, ticketmaster decided to sell all the tickets to this concert as general admission. So you are assigned a section like (orchestra, terrance, etc.) but you have no assigned seat in this area. Yikes! Once again, I will be fighting the 20-somethings to get my seat. It should be an awesome show cause well, hello, it's Jack Johnson, and I am going with like 10 friends, and it's on a Friday, and it's Jack Johnson! Can you tell, I am excited?

Then a little less than a month from now, I am going to see my most favoritest band of all time. Counting Crows!!! I have awesome seats (yeah, my bank account can vouch for that!) and I cannot wait to see my next husband, Adam Duritz! Not to mention they are also playing with Augustana and Maroon 5 which I happen to love both of them as well! So it should be quite a whirlwind of music. I kind of made an impromptu New Year's resolution for myself this year to see more live shows! And it has definitely panned out for me! Paramore last month was great! Anyone seen anyone good?? I think I might quit my job, get a job at Starbuck's, sling coffee for a living, sleep on the beach and go to shows in my spare time. Or maybe I am just having a midlife change of plans....Anyone with me?? LOL Happy Friday! :)

I Must say...

I am so very excited that tomorrow is Friday! Yay! This week has seemed to drag on and on! Anyone have any fun plans this weekend? I will be going out tomorrow for a small hang out, and for Saturday, a pedicure and full set is on the menu as well as text book shopping. Woohoo! Love spending $200 on text books... :)

Some good news... I got my blood drawn today and my Trigs were in the 200's finally! Like 223 or something!! HIP HIP HOORAY! Loving that the Libofen is working well! I also got my thyroid tested again ( I was on medicine for it, and then went off because they thought it was working again.). Unfortunately it was twice what it should have been so it is back on the meds, but the good news is that maybe I won't be so dang tired!

Lastly, I want to share that I went to the gym today all by my lonesome. I have a hard time motivating myself to go when no one is coming with me, I usually have like 3 different co-workers that go with me. However, I went and I did 3.5 miles on the elliptical! Yay! :)

Going in for the kill.....

So besides being the Queen of Rats, I am going in tomorrow to get this shot in my spine. Am I looking forward to it? No. Will it hurt? Probably. Will I feel better afterwards? I hope so.
Meanwhile, Mark is at some lake with his friends partying it up for his "out of town" bachelor party. Boating, drinking and $90.00 of red meat says goodbye to singleton, I think.
Hope all is well with everyone.

Back from the sand pile!

Aloha Everyone!!! How is everyone doing? Wow Troy you did a fabulous job on this blog!! Looks awesome!! So Hawaii was nice. The wedding was a little odd, very unorganized and not what I expected it to be, but nonetheless, it was a wedding!! Somehow, I got roped into being the videographer, so I basically watched the whole ceremony through a video screen!! Hahaha. But I did have a fabulous time snorkeling! Diving off the boat into the water there is awesome because the water is about 72 degrees so your system isn't shocked at all. I snorkeled for about an hour and swam. Then I took the guided snorkel tour. It's really cool! You have a guide that swims you way out and points out a bunch of sea life and different cool things to look at in the middle of the ocean. And you will all be proud to know, out of the 10 people in our group, I was the only one that was able to hang and finish the complete snorkel tour. Everyone else had to swim back to the boat early because they were tired. It's an intense thing because you have to swim and keep up with the tour or else you will miss things!! Picture me returning to the boat with snokel mask, fins, etc. and everyone else is eating and drinking mai tais!!! And I am like "where the heck did you all go??" It was quite funny but every enjoyable!!! We stayed at a really nice hotel and i actually was able to use the fitness center while I was there (for free) so it turned out to be quite comfortable for me!

I did purchase something called a gizmo for my ipod. It's a really cool adhesive cover type thing. Maybe I can post a picutre of it so you all can see it! :) Even though the trip was nice, it is good to be home. I get a little antsy being trapped on an island!! LOL

Troy, the band you are thinking of is Langhorne Slim. They are so awesome, and I was actually one barstool away from Mr. Slim at the Troubadour in LA. A few of their songs I really like "Oh Honey" "English Tea" "Hummingbird" "Electric Love Letter" "Restless" "Worries" "In the Midnight." He is kind of folk and rock, and alternative all rolled into one. They are one of my friends on myspace, so check them out! :)

Hope to chat with you all soon! Back at work today, so really playing catch-up! :)

New Car

So with my latest car problem (I've put more money into the car than what I paid for it), I've decided I'm going to buy a new car (not necessarily an '08 or an '09, but something that was made within the last 10 years unlike my current car). So, I wanted to see if you guys had any insight (particularly Jill) as to what cars hold up (physically as well as monetarily) and who might have better service departments, better deals typically, and all that good stuff.

The only real requirement I have is some sort of four wheel drive, I really don't want to drive around in the snow without it again.

Some of the models I've looked at (internet only) are 4 runners, fj cruisers, wranglers, elements, outlanders and endeavors. I'd prefer a smaller (compact) suv if possible, I don't really want to be driving a cherokee or something around.

Anyway, thanks for the help!

Trace Atkins who?

Well I went to the fair last night and saw Trace Atkins. I was thoroughly disappointed. The acoustics were bad and the stage lighting was not good. Where was Mark when we needed him. You couldn't understand a word TA was saying much less singing. Speaking of singing, I was suprised. He really can't sing. Oh well the food was ok, except expensive. You remember the giant sausage sandwich at th OC fair for $8, well the one I had at the Ventura fair was about 1/4 the size and it was $9. Way over the top. Oh well such is life.

Cars Are Fun

Yeah so I guess it was my turn today. Got up to go to work, car doesn't start. I believe it's either the battery or the starter (probably the starter). HURRAY. Other than that, got my classes sorted out. Another hurray :( Ah well, such is life, eh?

Crest?

The crest is just an attempt at putting a picture on the blog. What is all this intervention crap. Traci you need to slow down a bit. You too Jill. Where's Troy? No messages from Lane? I'm going tonight to see Trace Atkins at the Ventura fair and I'll be dancing there on Sunday. Troy that firefox you put up on my computer at home works great except I can't retrieve my e-mails anymore. It says that it can't find my earthlink tool bar program. Guess i'll have to download it from earthlink. Not much going on here, but I do miss you all.
Dad

Not much...

Not much is too new around my corner of the world. Troy got to witness the emotional castrating that I have done to Tyler. That was a barrel of laughs tonight... uh had a great weekend this weekend! Involved some drinking and poker with the family on Sunday night. Fabulous date on Saturday for most of the day/ afternoon. Saw the movie Step Brothers. So hilarious! I was laughing pretty much all movie long it was great! I kept asking if that was really something that guys did! Anyway it is very hilarious, in a crude way. Definitely worth seeing! Also got a behind the scenes look at the new soccer stadium they are building here. Very, very cool! It is going to be way nice! I even conquered my fear of heights by going on the catwalk that is on the roof. Scary but still very fun indeed.

Other than that I am in the semi finals tomorrow with my soccer team, if we win we play for the finals tomorrow as a double header. Should be a fun night. Funeral for Troy and I to go to on Thursday, and then possibly some fishing for me afterwards. Working this weekend and I am hoping some rafting Saturday afternoon since the rest of the family is ditching me for the weekend! Oh how I wish I was 21 already! :)

Intervention?

Holy crap, you guys are hooked on Intervention. I blame, Lanie. Currently watching the Breakfast Club for the 1000th time. Freakin' love that movie. All is well, Mark is Boone, Iowa doing a farm show. Yes, a farm show. I hope to have pictures soon.
Doctor says that I need to have a cortozone shot in my spine between C5 and C6. They basically stick a long needle in my neck and shoot this crap directly into my spine. Good times right.
Uh, what is with the crest?

Hello yourself

Hello everyone. Dad is here. I am very new to this stuff so it will take me a while to learn how to do this. I am having to use my computer at work because I can't get the e-mail working at home.
I would like to post some pictures but I don,t know how yet. I just tried to do an image. Don't know whether it will work or not.
Lane, didn't know you were going to go to Hawaii. Wonderful stuff. Where's Jill? Troy, looks like you did another great jobon the blog.
Dad

Hola!

Where is everyone else yet? No one else wants to join the party?? New pics will be on my picasa tonight in case anyone wants to check it out!!

Lanie, I hope that you have a safe trip to Hawaii tomorrow! Think about me while you are on the beach! Wish I could be there too! :)

Jill, I am excited for the upcoming event!! :)

Dad, are you going to blog yet? All your children are on here!

Troy, you're sitting next to me and we are going to go watch an Intervention! Woohoo! Don't forget to put the top on the alcohol shaker! :)

For everyone, I copied the pictures today so presents for everyone soon! :)

First Post

Hey everyone, this is the blog that everyone can use to talk to each other! How's everyone doing?