Archive for May, 2007

Just now…

Loren: Mandy, are you sometimes a damsel in distress?
Me: Do I look like I’m in distress?
Loren: I know, I said SOMETIMES.
Me: (chuckle) maybe

love!

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Oh Memorial Day weekend, why’d you have to be over so soon? This was the second year in a row that I have not been at the Lake over M-Day. Sunday while I was tidying up the back patio in preparation for what I fondly refer to as the “sangria soiree” (we made sangria from this mix I got at Linens’n'things), I swear I caught a sniff of the Lake. I asked Cecilia if she thought Memorial Day weekend smelled the same all over America. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m crazy, but has grown accustomed to it. I love when I catch sniffs of the Lake, it’s one of my most favorite smells! I will admit that I had my doubts about any Memorial Day weekend being as great as when I’m at the Lake. Those doubts have been put to rest now though. I’m constantly marveling at this phenomena we call “growing up”. I know we complain about the responsibilities, the money, the “real world” etc, but, unfailingly every week I find another secret joy about being a grown-up. Okay so really I probably just find the same one over and over again, but hey, it’s a great one!

So, 5 days until I leave for Alaska!! I’m getting excited. I kind of wish I had someone a bit more familiar going with me (volunteers?), but I know I will have a great time! Col. Reda informed me that he got a “regional upgrade” for the boys’ tickets so they may be sitting in first class on the way there, leaving poor ole me in economy. Okay I don’t feel that pitiful because I may get to sit by myself, which means I am responsible for entertaining only ME, which, as fate would have it, I am VERY good at, hehe. I predict much reading of The Brothers Karamazov will occur.

Okay I’m off to scrapbook!

LOVE!

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Last night might just have been the best night of my life, thus far. This weekend might just have been the best weekend of my life, thus far. Both are at least contenders in the top 5 best nights/weekends. AHHH! Can next weekend be Memorial Weekend too?

LOVE!

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I love being a young American. I know I’ve said it before, but you know what, I will say it again! I was thinking about it last night at the Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers concert, how blessed I am to be alive and living in a country where I have so much freedom. I know that I tend to talk about lighter subjects on xanga, but don’t think that’s because I’m shallow. I can be shallow, it’s true, but I just want you to know that I appreciate the freedoms I enjoy in America. I know how indebted I am to those serving to protect me in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yesterday was a wonderful day to be alive, as most days are! We headed off to IKEA in College Park and did some shopping. It’s funny, I was telling Cecilia, when I go into that store I realize all sorts of organizational and decorative problems I never knew I had and would be immediately remedied by buying everything in that whole store. So we loaded more stuff into the already heavy-laden car and headed to Annapolis. Our first stop when we got there was the Naval Academy. It was stinkin’ 95 degrees out. We saw a newly wedded couple come out of the chapel and go off in their horse-drawn carriage. We also saw a lot of young men in their dress whites, yeah I liked that A LOT, not gonna lie. We went on to walk around Annapolis, and sat leisurely on the dock and watched the sail boats. I really like Annapolis, it is a very quaint and cute town, reminded me a bit of Europe.
The Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers concert was the perfect ending. I can’t tell you how amazing these guys are live. Even if you don’t like their music, you will love them live, you won’t be able to help it. By the time the concert ended my cheeks ached from laughing so much. We made friends with the couple at our table and they gave us their phone number so we can go sailing with them the next time we are in Annapolis! We hung around and talked to Goose (one of the Sixers) and then Stephen Kellogg, and of course got a picture.

So yesterday cemented what my ideal man needs to be. A nerdy, God-loving, guitar-wielding naval academy graduate! As always, if you see this man, and he is single, send him my way!

OH and I promise to post pictures once I get them developed!

LOVE!

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School of Rock Edumacation

I once asked a friend of mine, “If you could go back to any time and place, where would you go and why?” He said, “I would take you to a Beatles concert.” I thought that was a pretty darn good answer, of course I think he was trying to date me, even though I had told him from the start I didn’t date boys who weren’t sold out for Jesus, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
I love the Beatles, and have for about 11 years now I think. Loving the Beatles in sixth grade was about the only thing I’ve done before it was cool, seriously. Although I still stand by the fact that I am solely responsible for bringing the “your mom” back, and totally before Napoleon Dynamite!! I became immersed in Abbey Road, listening to it over and over in the summer of ‘96. The Beatles “like totally got me”, I was in love with their music, and I even fell asleep to Abbey Road. I think I liked The Beatles because they gave me hope, as silly and cliche as that sounds. They sang songs about being in love and I, being a prepubescent girl, thought my life’s mission was to fall in love. So I would dream of the kind of love that inspired “Something” and “Oh Darling” and “Here Comes the Sun”, it didn’t even matter if these songs weren’t originally written about romantic love. Cecilia and I were talking this past weekend about a quote she saw somewhere about music being the closest thing we have to a time machine, and I really think this is true. When I listen to Abbey Road now, I still feel hopeful and like a starry-eyed 13-year-old waiting for my George Harrison to come and write beautiful songs about me. Okay I don’t really want that, although George is my favorite Beatle and wrote the BEST songs. Don’t even try to argue on that one, just don’t, okay? It’s just funny because sometimes I LOVE how a certain song can bring back an EXACT moment, with smell, how I felt, even what I was wearing! But then there are those other songs that you’d rather forget because they remind you of your ex-boyfriend or that awkward moment, etc. Thankfully the I-want-to-remember songs outweigh the I’d-rather-forget songs.

Okay all that to say I have begun to broaden my horizons. I want to be cool like Alex and Cecilia and know more about classic rock. So now I find myself listening to a strange mix of The Who, Beatles, Queen and Led Zeppelin whenever I get the chance. I must say I REALLY like LZ, or at least the mix Alex made me. My favorite songs are Immigrant Song and Ramble On, if you wanted to know. So whenever Cecilia and I are driving around and listening to the classic rock radio station, she will ask me who sings a certain song, and I must say I’ve been doing PRETTY well, even on Pink Floyd, whom I’m not at all familiar with. Yeah, why is it I prouder about being able to name the artist of a random rock song than being a college graduate? It’s something to do with cool points I think.

So if you feel like making a xanga-friend a mix of your favorite classic rock songs, I’d like to strongly encourage you! I need all the help I can get.

“And in the end, the LOVE you take is equal to the love you make.”

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Okay I just GOTTA put this on here. I’m currently watching Alex try to lasso Koda, his dog, with the the rope we tie her outside with. This just may be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. Never have a I seen a sillier 13-year-old boy or a more terrified beagle puppy. HAHAHAH! This is so great! The greatest part is watching Alex chase her down then stop to pull up his purposely sagging jeans. Some days I really love this job…i mean SERIOUSLY!

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I spent a great deal of time today being sidelined by the ickiness. Which means I reclined in bed watching the rest of Anne of Avonlea, checking email and dozing off intermittently…ahh the marvels of modern technology. I have to say that lying in bed while watching AoA is one of my most FAVORITE things to do. You should try it, really. I then realized my boss was desperately trying to contact me and thus, it was time to wake up and face the (dun dun DUN) real world. Funny thing is I didn’t really feel ALL that icky this morning, I just felt sorta icky and used it to legitimize the fact that I’d been in bed for way too long. As soon as I got up and faced this so-called real world I live in, the sorta-ickiness upgraded to full blown really-ickiness. All my well-laid “real world” plans were put aside until my painkiller kicked in. It must be said that these well-laid “real world” plans consisted of procuring some of those consumable items mentioned in yesterday’s entry. I guess you could assume that they weren’t all that well-laid or “real world”ish, but more plans made in a fevered, desperate state. Thankfully I started feeling better and said items were safely procured, well safely probably isn’t the right word, because they have been devoured and I think we can all agree that doesn’t sound very safe for the consumable items. Sorry consumable items, rest assured you were sacrificed for the greater good. You’re probably thinking, “but why was your boss so desperately trying to reach you?” To rent a car for when we are in Alaska, that’s why. The rates went up, he has no time to research and that’s where I come in. I like to think of myself as a sort of house manager/nanny.

Okay I MUST share with you some of the wonderful interaction I’ve had with my dear Eshaan lately.
Last Tuesday he comes over while my friend Matt is here. Eshaan asks if we want to hear some jokes. We of course say we do, because no one can say no to this kid, seriously!
Joke #1: “Do you take karate? Cause your body is KICKIN!” said very enthusiastically!
Joke #2: “Is it hot in here or is it just you?”
You’ve hopefully noticed that these jokes were more like PICK-UP lines. They were directed at me, said with a huge smile, a little giggle and I was totally his at “do”. Matt and I laughed with Eshaan, the 6-year-old mack-daddy and of course asked where he had heard such “jokes”. He didn’t remember.

Yesterday I ran into E again where he uttered, “You’re just SO hott!!” Oh Eshaan, how I love you!

LOVE!

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Yes, yes I DID have an eventful day, thank you for asking.

I began the day with some previously agreed upon obligations/errands. I had a tennis-date with Matt (a tennis date in no way stipulates a date-date, so don’t you even think it!) prearranged on Sunday. Cecilia asked me last night if I would take her car to get its Virginia safety and emission certification. So as soon as I woke up from going back to bed this morning (this is a judge-free zone), I got my butt in gear and headed to Alexandria. I encountered a roadblock though and so was thus forced the “back way”, aka the non-highway route, to the townhouse. This “back way” delightfully took me by Costco where OF COURSE I stopped in to purchase a beloved berry smoothie, and OH MY was it stinkin’ good! Berry smoothie made the longer, back way drive to Alexandria MUCH better. Thank you berry smoothie. Did I tell you that Target now sells smoothies at their snack bar things? They are a bit more expensive and not as large as Costco’s, but HELLO, I LOVE Target and I LOVE smoothies, so I LOVE that they are now joined as one. But I digress. Got to Alexandria, took the car in where I encountered a very, very nice man who gave possum it’s emission test.
After that, I headed back here for my tennis non-date date. By this time I feel I should mention I was not feeling well, but in fact sort of icky. I gave my word and was looking forward to practicing my game. I’m bad at tennis, oh so very bad. I played freshman year of high school on the team and have retained obviously NOTHING from that year. Alex and I attempt tennis what seems to be every summer. Now Alex is the athletic sort who can, in my eyes, accomplish anything sporty, because he’s a sporto. I was the academic sort, nuff said. So Alex is decent at tennis because he can hit the ball hard (oftentimes AT you, don’t say I never warned you) and it goes flying past you and YOU LOSE. Mostly during our tennis outings we just laugh because we are such goofballs. I usually make grand swings at the ball only to miss completely by a foot, which proves to be pretty funny. I also do these little hops before I swing, hit or get hit by the ball. So our abs usually ache from laughing and that is all the workout one needs really. I find myself, therefore, only agreeing to play tennis with people who proclaim to be not-so-great (I hope it’s okay that I’m saying this C), such as Cecilia and now, Matt. It makes me feel not so ashamed at my utter uncoordination. As we pulled up to the tennis courts, my not feeling well was elevated to plain icky, so there was that. Matt is a sporto, which I knew before I involved, but I was hoping that when he said he really is bad at tennis that he really is, in fact, bad at tennis. He proved to be decent. He hit the ball hard, he hit me hard with the ball a few times (poor hand and ear), but mostly he laughed when I made a fool of myself, which is what it’s all about. After an hour of doing this in the BLAZING sun, I was feeling REALLY icky. We hung out for a while at the house, because Matt is the boys’ new favorite person, and he got macaroni and cheese out of the deal.
After he left I practically collapsed out of sheer “I feel really icky but I’m gonna put on my game face because my friend is here” exhaustion and pulled a partial, sort-of sick day. I don’t have REAL sick days because I live where I work, so I just yell at the boys from my couch or bed instead of yelling at them from their couch or the kitchen. I finally finished season 1 of Scrubs, which makes me feel way more fulfilled than it should. Now I have moved to my bed where I am posting this unintentionally WAY long xanga, watching Anne of Avonlea and thinking of all the consumable things that I wish I had right now. What’s that, you would like a list of them?

* milk chocolate ritter sport
* a milka bar…or several
* chocolate chip cookie dough
* chocolate chip cookies
* berry smoothie, yeah about a gallon of berry smoothie
* a DP, a BIG, fat DP
* chocolate ice cream
* chocolate silk pie
* chocolate-dipped strawberries
* raspberries
* papa john’s breadsticks with pizza dipping sauce

but instead of eating/drinking all these things, I had some Rice Krispies and water, yum.

Sorry if I lost you in this extremely, almost PAINFULLY, long post.

LOVE!

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Weekend Update

In approximately 54 hours I:
* consumed 3 cinnamon dolce lattes
* played cheerleader twice
* developed and BEAT one cold
* almost went to a Nationals game twice
* took one glorious nap
* got stuck in yucky, horrible Georgetown traffic for what seemed like 1 hour
* got to pick 2 jukebox tunes (Revolution by the Beatles and Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin), I think I did a pretty good job at that
* went to two bars in DC
* played one game of pool very badly
* spent 2 hours and 20 minutes at a movie
* fetched about 5 foul/stray balls at C’s softball practice
* researched things to do in Anchorage for 30 minutes via Blackberry
* formed a new lil foursome (yay for friends)
* saw one racist statue (or so it said)
* yelled hello to GB once
* participated in one 30-minute “shoot-the-breeze” phonecall
* walked to Old Town for a two-scoop cone
* spent about 40 hours laughing
* coexisted with one pretty stinkin’ awesome BFF for 54 hours, woo!

LOVE!

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WE’RE OFFICIALLY GOING TO ALASKA! I have a ticket, so it’s DEFINITELY official!!

LOVE!

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