I'm leaving...on a jet plane

Ok, so I'm not heading out on a jet plane. But we are leaving. This Sunday (at approximately 1:00 pm MST) PJ and I will be heading out of the crazy-weather state of Utah and hitting the road for California. We will be hitting up Disneyland-truly the happiest place on Earth, and many other things are going to be happening. I can't wait for the fun to get started.
Of course, leaving means having to pack. I loathe packing. I always have the feeling of forgetting something, which I know isn't a big deal-if it's something I need, I can always find a store or something to go to. I always pack way too much, so my suitcases are always stuffed to the brim, and some of the stuff I won't even use. But I always think it's better to be safe than sorry. And I hate picking out outfits in advance. What if, in the upcoming days, I don't want to wear any of the clothes I've brought? Nothing will happen, I'll just have to be wearing them, but you know. It's just things I think about. As I was packing tonight (yes, even though we're not leaving until Sunday, I had to pack on this Thursday. This weekend is too busy for me to pack at another time.) I had a hard time staying focused. This actually was a theme for the day. All through work, I kept getting sidetracked, hard as I tried not to. Mama was helping me out through most of it-reading from my list I made, and that helped, but then, I had everything I needed, I just needed to put it in the suitcase, and I started to do other things. I was eating some pudding, doing a crossword puzzle, (I mean word search) and watching TV. (Reruns of the Gilmore Girls-so good) I sat down on my bed, and for a half an hour or so, completely stopped packing. I watched my show with all my attention, even though I've seen it all before many a time. I realized that I was doing nothing, and quickly jumped up to put some stuff in my suitcase. After I've gotten most of it in (and yes, I'm using two cases, because all my junk can't fit into one) I felt proud for doing a little, and stopped. Mostly because I had to run and whatnot.
I am pretty far along though, I just have a few more things to finish packing. I know I'll be done for sure on Saturday-which is when it all has to be done anyways, so I don't really have a choice. And don't be sad, dear readers, but while I'm out and about, I probably won't be thinking of you. Don't fret, and don't miss me too much, and remember-I'll only be gone a little while!

Its like a part of me has died

One of the greatest inventions of my life has to be text messaging. It’s an easy way to keep tabs on people, an easy way to shout out at people really quickly if you don’t want to have a whole conversation. Or, if you’re me, texting replaces all phone conversations. I’m not a talking-on-the-phone kind of person. People keep trying to get me with the argument of, ‘Well, it’s so much easier to talk on the phone, say one quick thing, and get it taken care of’ but that’s not how I feel. I like to have a conversation going, and there could be many a thing I want to talk about. And I don’t want to say one thing and then end the thing there. If we have a lot to talk about-will we have to be on the phone for a long time? Because that would cut into my plans of the day. What if I think of something later to tell you? Do I have to call you back just to say one thing, or do I have to wait until the next day to call you? See-these are things I wonder about phone usage. Another thing people say is bad about the texting is that you don’t ever know how something is being said. You don’t get tone of voice, sarcasm, etc from it. I disagree. If you know the person you’re texting very well (like myself and PJ), you absolutely know how is being said. I can even hear her voice in many of the things she texts me. And if you aren’t sure how to take it-how hard is it to ask for them to clarify? Jeez.
One thing I like about the texting is picture messaging. Sadly right now, I can’t receive any pictures on my phone. I can send them out, but for some reason, I can’t get them. For the last two days, I have been on the phone with my T-Mobile customer service for many an hour trying to solve this problem. After a couple of hours yesterday, and going through I think 4 tech people trying to fix it, they finally told me to get a new SIM card and that would solve my problem. Wanting this problem to be gone by my trip next week, I went straightaway to the phone store and got one. After I put in the new card, I tested it out, and received a picture message. Rejoicing in my good luck, I thought all my problems had solved.
Later in the evening, I noticed that it had stopped working. Cursing the phone Gods, I called yet again to the customer service to have them fix it. After about an hour (but only 2 techs) they have come to the conclusion that it can’t be fixed. They have written me up as a “Trouble Ticket” and handed my problem over to an engineer who they say can fix the problem-and it will take up to 4 calendar days. This troubles me for many reasons. Does this mean my picture receiving days are over? Will I get the ability back in time for my trip? I love getting pictures from people-so this saddens me.
Until this gets solved, I’m pretty much just up a creek without a paddle. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that they’ll be able to fix this. And if you send me a picture message, and I don’t write back, it’s not that I hate you…necessarily.

Shave and a haircut, 2 bits. And a little of my soul...

I am not an emotional person. I don't like to show it, I rarely feel it, but I (randomly) do cry at like, movies and TV shows. Yeah, I don't get it. For some reason though, I am the biggest baby in the world when it comes to my hair. I get bored with my hair very quickly. Having the same hairstyle for a while makes me annoyed, and I want to change it up. I don't want to have my hair short, so changing it is hard, but I thought I had found a hairstyle that would mix it up while keeping it long. It didn't work out like I had thought though...
Lately, I've been feeling the change itch. For a while, I waffled between wanting to cut it all off and doing nothing to change the length. After much deliberation, I decided that the way to go was to cut maybe a half an inch (to get rid of the dead hair) and then layer the heck out of it, to add some body or something. I figured, its not changing things too much, so I won't flip out, but it'll be different. As I sat in the chair at my stylist, I was a little nervous. I always get butterflies right before the actual cutting happens. I explained what I wanted, she nodded in understandment, and we were on our way.
As she was cutting, I kept thinking, there is a lot of hair ending up on the floor. But I figured it was the layering, and just kept waiting to be finished. After what seemed like an eternity (ok, maybe not really) and she had dried and fixed my hair, I looked at it. I was a little shocked. It was definitely shorter than I wanted-instead of the half-inch I wanted to take off, she had taken off at least two. And the rest of the hair, while very cute, was so much shorter than I had imagined in my head. I do like it though, so I thanked her and left.
I can no longer grab my hair from the back, like I used to be able to. And my hair seems more in my face. One thing I hate about getting my hair styled professionally is that I can NEVER recreate what they did. I tried today to make it as cute as she did, but nothing doing. It looks like a poor imitation, and I feel slightly disappointed in myself. I know, I know, its just hair, and hair grows. I'll be ok in a couple of days, when the shock of having no hair has set in. Farewell, dear hair, you will be missed.

If only there had been cake.

Today was my grandfather's 88th birthday. Can you believe? Way to keep rocking, man. My aunts threw a party for him, and of course, I attended. I wasn't sure who was coming, but the parents and I headed up to meet everyone, with high hopes.
I haven't seen my cousins for at least 10 years, and even then, I've seen them, from a distance at the few family functions I've been to, but I haven't talked to them since I can even remember. And I remember at every family thing, I always felt so young. They're all much older than I am-but how much older I really can't say. Maybe 10-15 years in a few of them, and I think that a couple could be older than that. Even though I'm now (technically) an adult, (I saw technically, because I so don't feel like an adult) I still feel like a kid. I was the youngest person there, and I felt it. I know its dumb to, but I still did around them. They were all really nice though, and they all kept telling me how they hadn't seen me since I was knee high. (In one cousin's case, since I was an infant. That boggles my mind)
There were a few children there, and I actually got along with them. I never hang out with kids at events-usually the two of us avoid each other, and with good reason. But some of those little kids were cute-although one kept calling me Jenna. I'm pretty sure he just couldn't remember what my real name was. Thats ok though, because I'm really not sure what any of their names were. I even held a baby! But only for about ten minutes. It started to cry, so I loaded it off to another person.
All in all, it was a fun night. I was glad I got to see these guys-and hopefully I'll get to see them all before another ten years pass. And sadly, I didn't even get to eat any cake!

This isn't my first time

I love firsts. They can be small, like the first snowfall of the season, or first day of soccer season, or they can be big, like the time I crossed the finish line in my first 5k. No matter what it is, it’s a great feeling. I have had another first in the last couple of days-my first sunburn of the season. It’s not a bad burn-that’ll come later, no doubt, but having one means I’m laying the groundwork. Soon, my arms and legs will no longer be as white as a sheet. I’ll look healthy, and a good color, instead of the sickly pale I look during the winter.

I got the burn doing a run. Because of my lazy weekend (see previous post) my Sunday was way slowed down. I decided to eat a big breakfast (ok, it wasn’t that big. It was like, a bowl of cereal, a banana, and a biscuit.) and wait for a run. Three hours later, I was thinking it could be time to run, because I was kind of sick of just lying around. It was 11:40 and I thought that maybe it was too hot to run, but I went anyways.

It was warm-but nothing bad. I didn’t really feel the heat of the sun or anything, I just felt the heat in general, but it wasn’t unbearable, until about 45 minutes into the run, then I just was hit with how hot and tired I was, so I decided to call it a day, and went back home. I noticed I was red, but I figured that was just from the run, and thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until later that night when I looked in the mirror that I saw that it was a burn. Nice and red my skin was-but only on my face, neck and shoulders, of course. Just where the tank top wasn’t. I’m glad I got some sun, and having this burn now will make it so that later it won’t be as bad (I hope.) And of course, I have a few good tan lines, one from where my watch was, and the other from where my MP3 player was. I’ll have to get rid of those at my first chance!

Have it Yooooour Way...

My life is a little busy. Its not hectic, like a lot of people's, but it keeps me on my toes. A day consists of me working for many an hour, then working out at night, which takes a couple of hours. Then the weekend comes, and I fit everything into Saturday that needs doing. Errands, cleaning, what have you. I like being busy, but sometimes, I just want to take a breather.
I got such a breather this weekend. PJ went camping with her family, and I decided to have a weekend of nothing, and I did it. On Friday, I watched my Thursday night TV (that I didn't watch because I was busy watching Real lose). On Saturday, I did a little bit of shopping and everything, but it was all slowed down. I didn't have anywhere to be, so I just moseyed through the stores and took my time everywhere. I have gotten a lot of my Tivo cleared out, and finally, watched my Netflix movies. I know, to some people, this seems lazy and boring, but you know what? I wanted it. I've needed this, to have a day of nothing, and I got it.
It was a little lonely, being by myself for a weekend, so I'm glad this doesn't happen all the time, but its nice to have it every once in a while. I know that as soon as this deliciously lazy Sunday is over, things will be back to being busy, and thats ok. In a few months, I'll get this opportunity again, and by that time, it'll be another blissful weekend of nothing.
And I ask all of you, when was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park? Try to do that soon.

I need more clothes

Today, I wore a shirt I haven’t worn in a while. As I was pulling it on, I thought to myself, “Self, why don’t we wear this shirt more often?” A couple of hours into my day, I remembered why. The shirt is a stretchy-type material, which, of course, rides up. So all day long, I had to pull the shirt down to be a normal shirt. It was irritating-to say the least. I was so uncomfortable all day, thinking more about my clothes than anything else, and not in a good way. More like, “Is it down? Am I showing skin someplace that I don’t know about? What’s happening around here?!”

Have you ever had this? You pick an awkward shirt or an ill-fitting pair of pants, and suddenly, your whole day is thrown out of whack? It happens to me so often. I should start carrying extra clothing around with me, for when this happens again. And of course, it never manifests itself before you leave your house. You pull on your clothes, give yourself a one-over in the mirror and think, “That’s right”. Then you leave the house, get going with things, and then you notice it. At first you brush it off, like it could just be the way you’re walking, or sitting, but then as time goes on, you’ve switched the way you’re doing things, and yet, your clothes are still waged in a war against you. And unfortunately, you’ll lose every time. I usually stick to the clothes I know I love, and therefore wear often, but sometimes, I just have to switch it up. I should attach little signs to my clothes, to remind me what wearing them is like. To a pair of pants, I could attach, ‘These are too short’ or on a shirt, ‘Will show a bra strap by lunch time’-I could save myself massive amount of time spent on trying to fix myself throughout the day.

I know this is a dumb thing to blog about, and not that interesting, but it consumed my whole day and made me kinda grouchy. I couldn’t wait to get out of this shirt-and hopefully, I’ll remember next time why I haven’t worn it in about 3 months.

I have to be a shirt- I'm allergic to the sun

As everyone knows, I have very sensitive skin. There aren’t a lot in the way of lotions and soaps that I can use that won’t set me into attack. Heck, I’m surprised I’m not allergic to clothing. (OK, scratch that. I actually was once allergic to a shirt I wore.) I am uber careful about what I put on my skin now-I use unscented lotions, and soaps that I know I can use, all of which I found out through intensive testing. And by that, I mean, I tried these once, and when I rashed out, I stopped using quickly. I use a natural non-scented shaving cream, and a specific deodorant to keep everything kosher. The chances of me having break-outs now are pretty slim.
Last night, I was doing my running at the local high school track. In between some laps, I’m supposed to stop and do 200 crunches. Yes, it’s as hard as it sounds. Since I don’t think it would be very comfortable to do it on the track, I scooted over to the grass to have a softer ground. The grass was kind of irritating to me, but I was like, oh, it’s ok, it’s just pokey, it’ll go away as soon as I stand up. I got done with that and ran some more, and (can you believe it?!) sweated a little. I was psyched when that happened. I didn’t sweat a whole lot, just on my arms and my neck and a little on my face. I knew that meant I must be working hard.
When I got into my car, my neck was kind of itching. Assuming it to be just the sweat, I kinda swiped at my neck to get the stuff off. Oh, what a mistake that was. All of a sudden, my neck was burning. I had no idea what was going on, but I got home in a hurry. As soon as I got into the house, my legs started to itch like crazy, and my arms too. I knew then what a mistake I had made getting on that grass. I was scratching at my legs like nobodies business (I know you’re not supposed to do this, but it was itchy!) as I made my way downstairs to my bathroom. I thought the easiest way to stop all this was to wash the grass of my skin, so I began doing that. Also a mistake. As soon as I started to try to get it off, my skin started burning. The plus side to that was that the itching stopped! I ran in place for a couple of minutes, trying to get the burning to go away, and after a bit, it did. I just had to deal with itchiness for the rest of the night, and luckily, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was before.
Today the itching wasn't bad, and the rash isn't noticeable. Sadly, when I was getting my weekly massage today, when she was doing my neck, it was totally burning, but it was over pretty quickly. And as it turns out, the grass poked through my tank top, so now my back is all rashy and itchy. I’ve been pretty good about not scratching it, but it’s difficult. Running tonight was an extra special treat, too-turns out when I sweat, even just a little, it creates a reaction to the rash, so I am all burny and stingy right now. Good goodness! At least now I know to avoid the grass at the track-or wear a full body suit.

101 things about yours truly

Chelle told me about how her sister-in-law wrote 101 things about herself on her blog, and I thought I’d try something like that. I’m not saying it’ll be great, but I’ll try to make it good. It’ll start off with the obvious info, and then I’ll have to get more creative. And if you already know all this stuff about me, then consider yourself part of my inner sanctum.

1) My favorite color is gray.
2) I love nachos too much right now.
3) Soccer is my favorite sport of all time.
4) I have had one stitch in my life-on my face right above the lip.
5) I have cut my head open once.
6) TV show I’m loving right now is Burn Notice. I fully believe the stuff he teaches us each episode will come in handy some day.
7) My guilty pleasure movie is The Covenant. Crappy dialogue + hot guys with no shirts = fantastic movie.
8) Favorite accent is Australian. I could listen to one of those guys read the phone book and I’d be enthralled forever.
9) One of my life goals is to visit and get a shirt from every Hard Rock Café. I think I’m up to 4 right now.
10) My favorite book series of all time is the Majyk series by Esther Freisner.
11) I am an organ donor
12) One of my favorite smells is Purell. I know that’s weird.
13) I don’t like chocolate cake
14) I hate chocolate ice cream
15) I want to marry into a WASP family.
16) I like to rename people after I’ve met them
17) I don’t like the outdoors.
18) Summer is my favorite season
19) My favorite juice is orange
20) I want to touch a cow. Living-lets make that distinction
21) I hate ice cream cakes. My problem with the ice cream is that the ice cream has to be frozen, so the cake does too, and I hate that.
22) Sometimes when I’ve been typing for a bit, I realize I’ve neglected a letter, (say, an S) and I have to use that letter in the next few words.
23) Disneyland is one of my favorite places in the world
24) I hate to talk on the phone-I only like to text people.
25) I wish life was more like when I was in school. Out by three, with summers and holidays off.
26) I can’t just sit there and watch TV, I have to do other things while watching, whether it be working out or reading.
27) I have two tattoos-both of which are located on my back
28) I don’t show my love with being mushy and saying ‘I love you’ I fully believe in buying people things to show my affection.
29) I snort when I laugh too hard. And I clap when I laugh too hard.
30) I think my parrot is hilarious when she’s not inflicting bodily harm on me.
31) When I get angry at myself while playing sports, I’ll tighten my ponytail.
32) I hate celebrities that say they don’t work out or watch what they eat. Yeah, your ribs naturally stick out like that.
33) My pet peeves are interrupting and people reading over my shoulder.
34) I love to watch Hannah Montana and most of the Disney Channel original movies that come on.
35) I hate when people call me by my shortened name if I don’t think we’ve been friends for long enough.
36) I own over twenty pairs of flip-flops
37) I run about ten degrees cooler than most people.
38) I keep track of how many movies I see-I write them down, and the method in which I saw them.
39) I’m watching all the DVD’s I own in alphabetical order.
40) I can’t do an accent to save my life.
41) I have OCD in a major way
42) Target is my favorite store in the world.
43) My idol to meet right now is Kyle Beckerman
44) I like to get colds
45) I want to break a bone-preferably a leg
46) I won ‘Pride of the Pack’ two times in high school. (Timpanogos’ version of MVP)
47) I once put a hole through my cheek with a lollipop stick
48) Elevators are my favorite-because I have met most of my favorite soccer players in them.
49) I sing and dance involuntarily
50) Superman is my favorite superhero.
51) Cherry pie is my favorite pie. (right now)
52) I don’t like to play games that I can’t guarantee I’ll win
53) I cheat at Clue every time I’ve played-and I used to cheat at Life, but I haven’t done that in a long time.
54) I believe cats are the devil
55) I don’t like the ocean. Or sand.
56) I’m not really sure what my real hair color is anymore.
57) I hate the noise that nail clippers make when they’re cutting a nail
58) David Beckham’s voice makes me think of him as less than a man
59) I don’t think baseball is a real sport
60) I am allergic to pretty much every lotion and deodorant out there.
61) I draw stick figures on everything.
62) My favorite candy bar is Three Musketeers
63) I don’t ever want to move out of Utah
64) I have had six speeding tickets
65) I do not understand our political system-nor do I care to try to.
66) Peanut Butter M&M’s are my favorite kind of M&M’s
67) My favorite cookie is a snickerdoodle. (or, nickernoodlen)
68) Favorite movie right now is Iron Man. I can’t seem to get enough of it. And RBJ in it is so hot.
69) If there were a disaster of sorts (be it zombies rising from the grave or a serial killer) I wouldn’t fight for my life. I’d give up-and quickly.
70) If someone I knew were kidnapped, I’d probably give up hope of seeing them again after like a week. I love you all a lot, but realistically, by then, you’re probably dead.
71) I would love to be in the mafia. Probably more as a daughter or wife of someone than a part of the group that kills people.
72) My middle name is Gabrielle
73) My favorite flower is the daisy
74) I don’t really have any embarrassing moments. If anything does happen, I’m usually embarrassed for like 14 seconds, and then I’m over it.
75) Babies and children make me uneasy, in the same way a bear does. You just don’t know for sure what move they’ll make next.
76) I hate puns. (But I still use them sometimes…I’m so ashamed)
77) Every time I’m sick, I watch the Father of the Bride movies
78) I’ve started to train for a half marathon.
79) My current 5k goal is run it in less than 27 minutes.
80) My guilty pleasure TV show is Moonlight. It is so ridiculous, but I can’t help but love it.
81) I have an accidental wink.
82) I once rolled in a van-without a seatbelt, so I literally rolled about in the van.
83) My favorite ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough
84) I am one of seven kids. 4 older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister.
85) I am a champion at the “seven degrees of separation” game
86) I love to play Scattergories-I think I pull it out at every family party.
87) Whatever pen I’m writing with for the day has to match my outfit-as does the highlighter I’m using
88) I have a super good memory when it comes to TV shows or movies-I can recite most of the lines after one viewing.
89) I hate the following foods: mushrooms, tomatoes, seafoam, onions, cantaloupe, any fish/seafood, ricotta cheese, white chocolate, cucumbers, blueberries, watermelon.
90) I loves me a Chai tea frappucino-but the hot Chai tea makes me sick
91) The time that I want to live in the most is the 50’s-I think I could do very well there.
92) With the foods I hate, I do give them a second chance-I will periodically try them to make sure I do still hate them. I have only reversed a hate twice-with steak and cinnamon.
93) I don’t like the type of music where there’s people chanting in the background. It freaks me right out.
94) I have a thing with ears. Not like a fetish-but I like ears a lot, and it’s the first thing I notice on people. (and in movies)
95) I have recently become a ‘Top Contributor’ on YahooAnswers.
96) I am incredibly stubborn-I will not back down.
97) Christmas is my favorite holiday. The whole season from Thanksgiving to Christmas-the best time of the year. (Minus soccer season)
98) I broke my nose once in a soccer game.
99) I once stabbed myself in the leg with scissors. Totally on accident, but it gashed me pretty good.
100) If I’m in a bad mood, a hot dog can cheer me right up.
101) I own 924 DVD’s.

This was much harder than I originally though it was going to be! It’s hard to name this many things about yourself. I challenge you peeps to do it also or at least give it the old college try. I hope you learned new things about me!

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.

Because this is Mother's Day, I have decided to dedicate today's post to my mama. She won't read it, (she never reads my bloggity-blog) but hey, at least its out there.
My mom is the greatest. She is a tiny feisty German woman who will stick to her guns more so than anyone you will meet. She has rules, and you will follow these rules or get her wrath-and anyone who knows history knows, you don't piss off the Germans. When I was younger, she was really strict. We had set bedtimes-which aren't bad, but oh my goodness, they were so early. I could never wait until my next birthday, in which I could extend the bedtime for a half an hour. Glorious times. But now that I'm older, I appreciate the strict-ness. There are worse things than having an early bedtime.
She is really supportive. She came to every soccer game I had-sun, rain, snow, anything. She would bring treats to them, be a carpool for it, anything. She goes to everything that her grandchildren are involved in. If they have a Halloween parade, she's there to cheer them on. If anyone needs anything, she will be there to provide it.
My mom is super thoughtful. If she's at the store and sees something she thinks I'll like, she'll buy it, and then surprise me later with it. She calls me to tell me if I got something good in the mail, or if something happened that she can't wait to tell me. If she sees something new at the grocery store that I've mentioned I want to try, she'll get it so that we can try it.
She is a hoot. She will sing all the time-operatic things that are really just saying what she's doing, or she'll sing people's names. Ok, mostly mine, but my name is very sing-able. Even though we always tell her not sing when she's doing it, its really very funny when she does it. She has these random funny sayings that just make me giggle when she says them. The way she pronounces some words are bleeding hilarious-and its even better when she'll repeat it for me, then hit me for laughing. (ok, that sounds bad, but you know what I mean)
There are so many more things I can say about her, but I don't want this blog to be crazy long. I'm glad I have my mom-and I hope that today made you all appreciate your own!

I don't care if this is nuts, and I don't care if it hurts. I'm gonna climb this insanely high mountain. Watch me

I run every day. I do a pretty good work out every day, with the exception of Friday, there's too much going on there to squeeze it in. When I first started exercising a few years ago, I lost upwards of 60 pounds. After the soccer of high school ended, I just stopped doing anything, and slowly, the pounds creeped up on me. I didn't even notice, until I looked at pictures of my brothers wedding, and knew that I had to do something.
Now, 4 years later, I have slowly started to gain it back. I'm exercising better/harder than I used to, but working at a desk job does have its disadvantages. And I'm not telling you this for the pity 'you're not fat!', because that's not what I'm doing here. I can see that I've gained, and I'm not what I used to be. The reason I'm sharing this with all (5) of you out there is that I want to let it be known what I'm doing. I've read, over and over again, that when you want to hit a goal, and need support or whatev, you should tell people, so that they can help keep you on track or something. I think its more that when people know about it-you HAVE to stay on it, otherwise, you just seem lazy.
I've enlisted the help of my older brother James in this matter. He's the fittest person I know, and he's going to be my trainer. (From afar, he lives in California.) He's a former marine and he's going out for the LAPD right now. I also think he can improve my running time-I found out this morning that he can run a mile and a half in 9 minutes. Good goodness, that's fast. He's worked out a training plan for me, based on what the marines do, and we're gonna give it a shot and see how it works. I'm not expecting miracles, and I'm not going to be like, 90 pounds, but I'm going to give this a try-and hopefully it'll work out in my favor. I'd like to be able to say that I'll cut out like sugar and stuff, but I know already it's not realistic, so I'm just going to try to eat healthier. That'll be better-and it might actually happen. So please, cheer me on, ya'll, because I need all the support I can get.

Always, always follow the labels.

I consider myself a smart person. I'm no genius, but I can hold my own in any type of situation where brains are required. Sometimes, and I'll admit this sadly, my brain doesn't always think things through. I will think something is a good idea, and do whatever I've thought of and afterwards realize how dumb it was. Tonight, I had such an experience. Let me preface this whole story with this: It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Today I lifted weights as part of my routine. I have my own weights, basically, my own gym set up in my house. After I was finished, I kinda haphazardly threw my weight near the wall. Doing so, I hit into the corner of the wall, detaching it, and splintering the wood. Thinking I better fix it, and not really knowing how, I chose the universal solvent: super glue. Patting myself on the back for thinking of something smart, I found some and started gluing. (After explaining to dad that I just wanted to see the super glue, not really DO anything with it) I unscrewed the lid, and got going. First, a little mishap, the bottle was stuck to my hand for like, a second. But I got it off, so it was ok.
I got started with the glue and the wall. The glue proved to be a little tricker than I thought, it was getting all over the place. After holding the thing in place for 15 seconds (like the label told me to do) I saw that it was holding, and, self-satisfied, pulled my hands back. Or at least, tried to. I had accidentally glued my hand to the wall. Luckily, I had seen The Wedding Planner, so I came prepared with nail polish remover. Sadly for myself, the movie doesn't honestly depict what happens with super glue and remover. It does help with the removing, but it definitely pulled some of my skin off with it. I did get unstuck from the wall though, so it worked out for me.
Now that the whole ordeal is over, I realize it was not one of my brightest moves. But I learned something: those "Keep away from children" warnings are really meant for me.

Things I have learned

This was an educational weekend for me. I'll share some of the things I learned.

1. In Grand Theft Auto, you can hit up to four people with your car before the police get mad and chase at you. And if you hit one of them, they'll send a lot of officers to get you. Also, it just makes good business sense to take back the money from an "escort" after you've retained her services.

2. You can accidentally play a video game for like five hours before you realize that you haven't really moved in a long time.

3. PJ will cheat at a foot race to win.

4. If you tackle PJ to the ground in a fight, don't just walk away. She'll get up and come after you, you need to be on your guard.

5. Real can blow a 2-0 lead in a game in three minutes. At least we didn't lose, but we totally should have won.

6. Patrick Dempsey + romantic comedy = blah
Robert Downey Jr + comic book hero = fantastic

7. I'm a champion at YahooAnswers. I'm already on level 3. In your face, Tyler.

8. Guys never sound more like an idiot then they do when they're trying to impress a chick. Most of the information they're giving the girl is wrong, but she doesn't know. I'm tired of sitting through soccer games, listening to the guy behind me trying to seem like a macho guy.

Thats a lot of stuff to learn in a weekend, I know. But now that I know all this, I can use all this knowledge to my advantage. I encourage all of you to learn new things as often as you can.

I almost came home with no hands!

Last night was the first Open Cup game, Real vs. San Jose. I love the Open Cup games, because they can’t end in ties. So even if there is a tie at the end, there has to be overtime, with the possibility of a shoot-out. And even though shoot-outs are the most intense thing ever, they’re very much one of the best things about the game-I love when they happen. We got to the stadium about a half hour before the game started. It was a little chilly, but nothing we couldn’t handle, of course. We grabbed some food (I gotta say, I love the concession food at the stadium.) Holding the good, though, made my hands so bloody freezing. I couldn’t wait to be finished to get some heat to my hands.
The game started, and our boys were in top form. We had possession of the ball the most, but I will say this for San Jose-their boys are feisty. They don’t give up on anything-they attack over and over again. The funniest bit of the game happened…oh, I want to say about 12 minutes in (I could be totally wrong on that) their was a ball up in the air, and a San Jose guy went for it…not realizing his teammate was also going up for it. They smashed heads in a spectacular crash that put both of them on the ground for several minutes, and finally, left the field, ice packs to their respective heads. I laughed when it happened, and even harder in the replay. I wish I could find a video to it, it was so awesome. Our team was on fire though, and about a half hour in, we had scored 3 points. Halftime started, and we felt pretty confident we’d win.
The second half started, and with it, the snow came. At first, it was light flakes coming down, but after a few minutes, it was heavy, thick snow, and it was hard to see anything. After a few minutes, Real busted out the famous orange ball-used in weather conditions that make it hard to see the ball. The temperature was dropping still and I was getting really cold. My shoes were doing nothing for my feet-my toes were frozen. I thought I bundled up pretty good with my two sweaters, my gloves, a scarf, and a blanket, but I was cold. I didn’t see a lot of the second half, with the bad visibility/it was too cold to move a lot to follow the ball as good as I normally do, but it was still fun. We scored again in the last few minutes, to make our score 4-0, and with that goal came the jumping and screaming and everything, and we got a little warmed up. After the goal, we had about a minute left of time, and the game ended with us being the victor(ine). It was awesome-and totally worth sitting out in the cold and snow. And as an added plus, we made friends with the people that sit near us-so we’ll have soccer buddies for the rest of the season! And after the game, even though we had frozen the past few hours, we got some ice cream.
It was delicious.