Until the Stars Are All Alight

I'm caving to the obvious; his name is Darren.

1. This car is male; stick-shift innuendo aside I just get that vibe.

2. Also he's a bit of a flirt/show-off.

3. And maybe kinda loud? Maybe it just sounds that way to me because I've always driven automatics but I feel like he runs louder than Laurien.

4. Also, baby looks good in red (click for fullsize, if you're so inclined):


Just like:


SO THERE.

So for Christmas, I want one of these. Because it would just be hilarious if Darren-the-car also had the eyebrows.

I keep looking at myself in the mirror and going "Where the heck was I storing all that extra weight?"

And then I look at old pictures--from my wedding, or Michele's little sister just tagged me in one from Michele's wedding--and I'm like Oh, there it is.

I don't remember looking like that.

Thinking back to where I was at weight-wise when I was in college, I understand now why people were honestly surprised when they realized "Oh hey, you actually are smart." Not that there actually is a connection between fat cells and brain cells, I know this, but, well, assumptions are made based on appearances, even by myself, admittedly.

(I think this is why I like the internet--for better or for worse, you're 100% in control of how you present yourself.)

I just feel the need to point out that I know this guy. Used to work with him, friends on Facebook, etc etc. Was quite surprised to see him pop up in my Google Reader!

So I put these on Facebook and totally forgot to link. I suck at life.

Engagement pics!
Ice storm pics!

In other news, someone used the microwave in here to heat up leftover pasta of some sort (I didn't see it, I just smell it) and now I'm STAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRVING.

So I got to go down and see Cody on Sunday. I could think of plenty of worse ways to spend my half-birthday, lol.

The drive went really well--I won't need a map ever again, lol, and the weather was nice enough that I drove with the window down. I would have put the top down if it were working. =( Oh well. The sky was gorgeous ALL DAY (as it was Monday and today, too, but seriously, it was amazing).

I actually got to meet a lot of his family--obviously his mom, stepdad, and sister, with whom he lives (and yes, Nico, I did have to go back and rephrase the prepositional part of that), but then he took me to meet some of his other family: his favorite aunt and her husband and son, and while we were there said husband's parents dropped in, lol. His aunt told me that he'd been warned that he wasn't supposed to bring girls around unless he really liked them, because she didn't want to get attached if he was going to break up with them. =) She also gave me iced tea, and a picture of Cody from when he was a kid:

Hee. Cody said he's about five or six here. Adorable! (And yes, it's now hanging right above my screen. As soon as I get back from St. Louis I'm going to print off a copy and put it with my other photos, and also one of the other ones of him and me to go with it.) Then he took me out to meet his dad and grandparents, who were also really nice to me (his dad referred to me as "the lucky girl"). His grandparents reminded me of my Crawford grandparents.

Then we went to dinner (Chinese, and I swear it was better than the Chinese around here--though it might have been the company), and then, since I'd asked him earlier in the day if we could go out to his school, we went out to the campus and he gave me a little drive-through tour. =)

When we got back to his house, his mom wanted him to take a plate of food to his great-aunt, so I talked him into walking over there with it. The walk was nice--it's finally pleasantly cool outside!!--but when we got there no one was home. We called around and we waited on the porch for about 45 minutes, but finally gave up and walked back to his house, though on the walk back it was dark. His parents had made cake at some point while we were gone (not while we were walking, but earlier) and so we sat in the living room with his parents and had cake. (Rich, delicious, chocolate cake...mmm...) Of course in this timeframe his great-aunt called to say they were home, lol, so his stepdad ended up driving the food over. There was a movie on while we were eating (I don't even know...it had Matt Damon in it, lol), and then when the movie ended it was getting close to nine, so I had to go. =(

Goodbyes suck. Cody walked me to my car and I had him help me put on my hoodie, and I just didn't want to leave. Of course I finally got in my car and went to drive off--and as soon as I had gotten safely out of the driveway, my phone rang and it was Cody. =) "I miss you already!" "I miss you too!" We talked for about 45 minutes, until my battery started beeping and I was like, "I want to keep talking but I probably ought to let you go, just in case I get a flat tire and need to call someone to rescue me..."

My parents and I are leaving for St. Louis tomorrow, and I am so glad that I'm going to have them to distract me for five days. I'm not so sure now that every other weekend is going to cut it. I mentioned to Cody that he could totally move to Mountain Home and go to ASU... =P

Anyway. Cody called tonight to tell me his great-grandfather died (not the grandfather I met). I was seriously tempted to drop everything to go be with him, and if it wasn't for St. Louis I might have done it. I don't know where I would have stayed, though, lol. Probably in my car... *yawn* Is shower time for Sarah. Might be back in a bit, or in the morning. Not sure.

So my brother was in a pretty rough car crash. (Jason T. Strobel, obviously.) He's okay, glass in his arm, but had quite a scare.

The article says:

Debris from Woehler's truck hitting the median struck two vehicles. The first, a 1999 Chevrolet Astro van, driven by Jason T. Strobel, 41, of St. Peters, stopped on the shoulder of the highway. His van was extensively damaged, police said.

Yeah. The police were totally right about that:

(click to enlarge)

A couple of inches either way and he'd probably be dead. *shudder*

Thank God.

Week in the Life

Aim of the Game:
For one week you are to post photographs taken during the day.

Rules:
* You must take between 6-8 new photographs each day.
* Your WITL must be CONSECUTIVE. No skipping days.
* You must post your photographs at the end of that day, sometime after the last picture is taken.
* Each photograph must have the time taken beneath and ...a title, with no other explanation
* You must post these rules at your first entry, then link back to it for the other 6 days so people know WTF you're doing. Your post must say "A Week in the Life of ((Your name/username)), Volume ((whatever day you're up to.)).



~*~
I'm cheating insofar as I'm going to set the digicam to timestamp the pics, but I'm doing this. Taking pics now. ^_^

You all just got lucky--imageshack has debuted its free multi-image uploader! 'Bout freaking time. All click-to-enlarge. ^_-

Kristy sent me a link for virtual pumpkin carving, and I made this. Get it?? XD

This is my boss, "Detective Lebowski," and the dead body he found in the hallway.

He spent all morning telling anyone who walked by that "Careful! This is a crime scene!" So someone got yellow tape from the construction workers and roped off his office. EPIC LULZ.

Nico Suzi Trash and Liz the vampire.

Me and Liz, the big tree! I'm SO pimpin' it, lol.

This is everyone that was at the party, Ryan, Nicole, Omar, Nico in the back, April, me, Liz, and Kevin.

Kevin, April, Nicole, and Ryan, all as Batman villains. Pretty schweet. (Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and the Joker, respectively.)

Ashlyn was sooooo cute!!

Ashlyn with Nico. ^_^

Nico may look positively (haha I typo'd posiTIT) scandalized, but I assure you, he's enjoying every second. XD

They fired up the Wii after a while and started playing golf. I'm mostly posting this because I'm jealous of Nico's legs. The man has less cellulite than I do, and given our comparative heights and weights...yeah, jealous. I told Nico a couple of days later that when he got into drag he turned into kind of a whore, and he looked at me and indignantly said, "What do you mean, when I'm in drag?" Haha.

Closeup!! ^_^

There are more, but I am lazy. If you REALLY wanna see them you can go look on MySpace.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Not quite the color I was going for. (It's not as purple as the photo is making it, lol, it's really red.) Maybe I should have started rinsing sooner? Love it anyway. Will post more when I have batteries for the camera.

ETA: Looking at the before pic again, the eye half-hidden by hair looks BLIND. Weird. Cool.

Actually, the Ozark Choral Society concert in review first--selections from Phantom of the Opera, selections from Beauty and the Beast, a few solos. Too much choralizing and not enough solos, IMHO, but then I guess everyone needs their moment and the director has to play fair. They had to condense both, and rearrange, but they did a good job. (But the Phantom kidnapping Christine right after "Masquerade"?? WTF??!)

Three-and-a-half stars out of five, for local theater.

Saw Karen briefly, which was nice, but we really didn't talk other than for her to say that I was looking good--both weight-wise and my outfit. Lol. Yay. Right afterward, me and Jacqui headed for the club. (Well, okay, Mickey D's pitstop--drinking on an empty stomach is BAD!)

When we got there, Nico, April (who wrecked my battery, lol, if you'll recall), her husband Kevin, their friend Ryan (who I'd met twice or thrice at April's place), Ryan's little (underage) brother Chris, and Wigz were there.  Candise and Kelly showed up not too much later.

I kind of sat there for a while, soaking it in. The music was WAY louder, there were a few people dancing, but it wasn't crowded (at only 10:30ish). Nico finally dragged me to the bar to get drinks. I wasn't sure what I wanted and just said "something fruity." "Two something fruitys, please!" XD I guess Amaretto Sours were on special because that's what we got. GOOD STUFF. Amaretto, sweet and sour mix, and Sprite. Mmm.

While I was sitting there drinking it, a woman came around offering Jello shots, and Nico bought a round. Wasn't so impressed by that--it ONLY tasted of Jello, and not at all of alcohol (despite the fact that it's made with vodka). If I wanted to taste that I'd make plain old Jello! Two bucks for THAT? No thanks, I'd rather save my money for a REAL drink.

The girl that was selling them was Asian, so after she walked away Jacqui was all, "Lick Poop...take Jello shot..." But then that's not funny unless you've seen the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show. Ahem.

So anyway I just kind of sat there for a long time. Candise was all, "Why are you just sitting there? You're supposed to be down there, moving!" (We had a table elevated from the main dance floor.) And I just shrugged and held up my drink. "More of this first!" Lol. (I found out later that the Amaretto Sour is actually really low in alcohol, lol, but whatever.)

About the time I was finally finishing it (not that I drink slowly by ANY stretch of the imagination!) Bri, Tab, and Rackle showed up, completing our little group. When THEY were there, THEN I had the guts to go dance--we were all dancing in a group.

I started off dancing in little bursts, then going and sitting, then dancing again for longer and longer...all told I think I spent about three hours on the floor. In THREE INCH HEELS, thanks.

There was a lot of dancing going on purely for shits and giggles, girl-on-girl (not me but the other girls), girl-on-Nico, lol. At one point I was sitting on a stool against the wall (but not at a table) and Ryan, who was pretty crunked by that point, backed up to me and danced for a second, but it didn't last long, lol.

But the dancing and all was building up my confidence...I went to Nico and asked him. "Dude, I know you called dibs, but would you be upset if I danced with Ryan?" (Ryan is straight, lol, but still.) Nico kind of laughed me off and said to go for it--so I did.

Dancing with a guy is completely different--even if it's a guy you don't care about. It was fun, and intense (if you get my drift--I wouldn't have done it if my mother was there! ^_^). I fully enjoyed it, but a large part of me kept wishing it was Duncan, lol. (Practice for when it IS, hopefully.) It was also kind of funny because of HOW drunk Ryan was. It was crazy, he not only kept his feet but was moving them way more than I moved mine (I'm more of a hip- and shoulder-shaker)--so long as no one bumped into him. If someone did, then he kind of headed in a floorly direction, lol. One time I was all, "Are you okay?" and he did this motion to indicate that he was seeing double, then indicated that his vision was centered again, and nodded, then carried on dancing right where he'd left off. Lol.

When the song ended I sat back down, but then they announced the Cha Cha Slide ("Only losers like you would request this song! You're the only people in the world that like it!" And yet everyone danced, lol), so I got back up and found myself dancing with Ryan again. I thought I kind of sucked but Nico said I did okay. Jacqui pointed out later that it's kind of hard to screw up as the instructions are IN THE SONG, but then I reminded her that I doooo tend to get left and right mixed up. (At least when told them verbally--I do okay on DDR because it's a visual representation.)

We kept dancing through the next song, and then I sat down. Nico pushed a drink to me, something red and fruity--something called a Southern Mother Fucker. I tried to look it up online later and since I couldn't find it, I'm thinking it might be a Firehouse specialty. (There are other drinks such as the Purple Mother Fucker, so I'm guessing it's the same thing, just with Southern Comfort in it.) Whatever it was, it was good. I downed it pretty quickly, and good thing, too, because not too much later the club closed.

Out in the parking lot I thanked Ryan for dancing with me--I was glad he was there, I wouldn't have had the guts to ask a total stranger to dance, and I would have missed out!--"Sorry I sucked..." He gave me a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. ^_^ (Five o'clock shadow, up close and personal, lol.) Everyone had decided to meet back up at McDonald's here in Mountain Home, but as me and Jacqui were on our way Nico called me from someone's cellphone (Wigz or April, I'm not sure, lol) and told me April's car had broken down, so plans were off.

Jacqui and I came home and I changed, then we turned around and went out again because I had to get a Mother's Day present for Mom, lol. As we were passing, we saw someone turn in at Taco Bell, so we circled back to say hi--it was Tab, Bri, Rackle, Candise and Kelly, all eating Mickey D's. We chatted for a few minutes. Jacqui fell asleep, lol, so I left her in the car while I got Mom's present. (A book I thought she'd like. She hasn't said anything yet.)

When me and Jacqui got back to my place she went right to sleep, I went online for an hour or so.

The next morning we got up and had lunch with my parents (Jacqui's mom was out of town), which was funny. I told them I didn't know the name of the red drink and Jacqui said it had been at least an hour between when I finished it and when we left. ^_^**

And that's pretty much everything...except the PICS! All of the following gacked from Nico and Rackle, the little shutterbugs. Also all click-to-enlarge.

 This is almost everyone--Kelly with her back to the camera, Wigz in the strapless top, Bri with her back to the camera, Tab above that, Rackle in the blue top, and me with my back to the camera, too, lol.

This is April, whose birthday we were celebrating.

Someone must have said something funny to Tab, because this is not alcohol, lol.

Me and Jacqui and my Amaretto Sour, lol.

Me and Nico finally have a smooshy pic! ^_^

Nico and Chris, who barely said three words all night, lol.

This is my new favorite pic of myself, it's my default pic on MySpace and my MSN userpic. My headline on both: "I may not be a ten, but the boys say I clean up good...I'm here for the party!"

Nico shakin' his groove thang. ^_^

Wigz, Tab, and me. I have NO idea why I look so mad, lol. Or why I thought that that move resembled dancing.

This is NOT a pic of Tab dancing. It's a lovely photo of my shoulder. Lol.

This is me dancing with Ryan. My mother must never know of this pic's existence.

The man's a brilliant dancer, no matter how drunk he is. (I didn't do that, I swear!)

 So yeah. I had fun. ^_^