Miss Moo

Ok, I had to put some of these on here because she is the most precious little thing I've ever seen! Here are a few pictures of Miss Moo:

Random me this, random me that...

Yesterday I went out into the Christmas rush. Yes, Its not a surprise to hear that I've just started my Christmas shopping. I do this every year. I can't help it, I feel so much like I'm chasing myself anyways that it's the norm for me. Next year I'm going to start Christmas shopping in July. That is one of my goals. I didn't really have any wants this year, I'm so excited for the wedding I just want that to be taken care of and planned.

I'm having a super hard time finding a church that will marry us since we do live together, and are not members of a church. That isn't because we don't want to become members, but I'm never able to go to church during the morning hours. Once I start teaching and Colby and I are half way settled we'll definitely join a church, but right now I think it would be wrong to join a church if we aren't able to attend. I called the park board today and its 250.00 to rent a park for a wedding and if it rains the lady basically told me that I'm Shit outta luck. I'm so STRESSED OUT! I want it to be planned for me. Ladies feel free to input on this I need it.

Things I have:

• Dress
• Reception Site
• Colby's Wedding Band
  

Things I don't have:

• Everything else.

Oy!

So i'm sitting here at the computer and have been since 10 o'clock... I've been listening to John Legend, and Michael Buble to name a couple to make time pass. I have ONE standards paper to pass, and i've been waiting to see if its passed or not ALL MORNING! I have to have it done by tomorrow morning at 8:30am! I'm tired and mad, i'm missing work for this crap.

Tis' the season

Tonight I found out that I passed my third standards paper. ONE MORE LEFT!!! I'm super excited. Tonight I've just been waiting to get those results so I've not really known what to do with myself, because I have nothing to do but WAIT! Next week I should find out if I passed the praxis exam or not.... Its up in the air, it was a really tough test.

In other news: It's that time of year again when the wal-mart customers are at their cheeriest. Today I had this lady looking for Moon Shoes, boots that you strap on and can bounce in-I always wanted a pair as a child..., I found a pair on the very top shelf. The shelf that says - Get an associate to help you. I started to get the box off the riser, and the lady shoved me out of the way and said, "I'm taller I'll get it." I looked at the lady in amazement because she was all of 5 foot 6 inches tall and here I am 6 foot and she's taller than me. People are so weird. So I moved out the way and watched her jump around until I stepped in and finished the job.

At last....

This day will be marked as the OFFICIAL last day of classes at Missouri State University! I cannot believe I have actually survived this! Today I passed standards paper number 2. I have two more to go and I'm DONE!

WOOOHOOO.... oh and I'm getting sick as well. So there won't be too much partying...not too much..

Vulnerability

I am extremely exhausted! I've had such a busy day today at school! Today we had "Showcase" it's where everyone has to present a piece of writing that they've been working on all semester. I decided that I would create a letter for my dad telling him how proud I am for how far he's come.

I sat down in front of tons of people and tried to explain why I wrote this letter, and that I wasn't going to write it all because I wouldn't get through the whole thing. As I sat there so vulnerable, I attempted to read just one paragraph. I didn't even get through that. I started getting a lump in my throat put my hand to my face, and when my voice started to squeak I knew the water works had been turned on. I had to stand up and quietly go to my seat. I've come a long way this semester.

Curse of the skinny jeans...

So tonight as I was doing laundry looking for my favorite pair of jeans, that I have yet to find, I opened my closet and there they were...not my favorite pair- my skinny jeans. Every morning when I open my closet I look up and there they are, nicely folded sitting on the top shelf. I say all this while I'm eating a bowl of honeycombs, but I want to burn those jeans! I've not been able to fit into those jeans for two summers now. So I take the jeans down out of the closet tonight and try both pairs on. It was ugly. I did manage to get them over the thighs, but It took an act of God to get out of them. I started to feel claustrophobic and thought I was going to have to call in reinforcements, but then I peeled them off and put on a much more comfortable pair of scrub pants. Afterwards I threw those jeans in the back of my closet, and came downstairs to put on Sex and the City season 4.

I've stopped drinking soda, which was a HUGE step for me now I think I've found the wedding dress, and I have motivation to work my ass into shape.

Snow Day

SNOW! Yes we finally have some crazy weather. Yesterday it was 70 degrees right now it's sitting at 20. We have tons of ice falling sticking, soon it will change to snow and we're expected to get 12 inches or more. I'm excited. This morning I woke up and ran downstairs to open the front door, it was SO cold! I love it! I got the guys up and we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I took my shower and decided I would bundle up and go to the store, it was a crazy thing to do, but I needed some oreos to go with my milk. Now I'm back home and warm sitting on the couch. I'm going to start doing some homework in a minute....bleh!

This really gets me in the Christmas spirit! I bought a brownie mix to make later on for dessert. Mmmmm I love the cold...but only when I can stay inside in my pajamas on the couch.

In Other News...

Today, I received an e-mail saying that I had passed my first standards paper! This is fantastic...three more papers to go and I've finished the semester! I've got three or four more things to do for this semester and I'm done......DONE! No more MSU campus for me. Student teaching here I come! I'm ready.


In other news. I miss my wicked cool fiance, Colb. COME HOME!

Isn't it funny how when you're young it was always about the food?

I hope everyone had a fantastic Turkey Day! I had the best Thanksgiving ever! Lets recap the events from last year shall we?

Last year at this time, I was the saddest girl you'd have ever known. My dad was in a hospital fighting a crippling case of depression. I say crippling because that's how it felt to me. Not being able to do something more for people you love is the worst pain of all. We sat in that hospital on Thanksgiving day and talked with him, I cried...Mom and Uncle Daddy talked to him. We went into the music room...something that was supposed to help my dad, he brought his guitar to pass the time. I remember very very clearly hearing the nurse tell all of the patients that David had brought his guitar to play for everyone. In a sterile room I sat and watched my dad play with my Uncle Daddy a bluegrass melody. I felt like I was suffocating. I wanted to drag him out of there and knock some sense in him. WHY was he playing for all these patients, why wasn't he home? Why was he acting like them? That's not my dad he's too strong for this. It was a heavy heart day. There are no ways to describe the hurt I felt that day.

Jump forward to this year:


I went home and enjoyed a fantastic meal with my Mims, and Dad. Stori and Kyle and Moo was there, as well as my Granny Carol, and a few other family members. I did think of Uncle Daddy and Gran, it was the first Thanksgiving we'd spent without Uncle Daddy, and the second without Gran. Not one single day goes by that they're not running through my mind. Still today was one of the happiest Thanksgiving's in a long time. We all had each other, and I danced in the sun room with my mom. It's a great day for thanks, and everyday I'm thanking God.

Dear Readers,

I feel like I'm never able to do this anymore. It bums me out because, I'm still able to get online and see all of the blogs that I enjoy reading on a daily basis. School has been so crazy and I'm just counting the days until I'm able to just to breathe. This is all the time I have I'm getting ready for ANOTHER class.

XOXO
Char-Marie

Life.

Well, I'm officially 23! I've actually made it to my twenty third birthday, not that I wasn't expecting to, its always nice to make it one more year. Some people think of getting old as such a sad thing. "Oh no! One more year has passed and I'm not where I feel like I should be in life.." There is only one way to fix that. Do something! I find every birthday better than the last. This has been my most favorite birthday yet!

Not because of gifts, but because of where I am in life. I never knew what would happen year after year, I knew what I wanted to happen. I do not think we're floating aimlessly in life, you have to help to guide yourself. This year I feel like a grown up...sorta. I say sorta because I'm still a child at heart. I definitely giggle at the wrong times, and I am known to be immature on a few occasions.

Anyways, this year I feel like I'm a grown up. I'm working with small children who pretty much think I'm it. I mean every single day I have a small child walking up to me telling me that I'm going to make a great teacher, and that they love me. That means more to me than some adult walking up to me saying you're doing good. I am a teacher at Wonders of Wildlife, and even though I thought I might puke when the bird hocked something up, I kept my composure and BS'd my way through it. I'm very close to finishing this semester and coming up on my last semester of student teaching. I'm also planning a wedding, and I'll have to admit it makes me want to throw up. It is very stressful, and even though I've been thinking about this day since I can remember it doesn't come close to actually sitting down and crunching numbers.

I feel very alive right now. I am the happiest I have ever been. I'm 23.

OOOoooo Ahhhhh

Isn't it beautiful?

Engaged

This is a day I will remember for the rest of my life! Today I woke up just like every other normal day and went to work. I'm sick and barely have a voice, I come home and the apartment is SO clean, Colby and Jacob cleaned from a little get together we had this weekend. Colby told me that I had 30 minutes to get ready because we're going to go eat at a little Italian restaurant that we love.
I remembered a funny story and I was trying to explain it using Colby's hands and he accidentally hit me in the eye.. It'll probably be a little bruised in the morning.. Anyways, my eyes start watering and I go and get dressed to eat dinner.

The whole time during the meal its like any other time we've gone to eat dinner together: talking, laughing, me spilling things- the usual. On the car ride home we turn down a different road, and I asked him where we were going. He told me that he really didn't want to start on his paper that he had to get done tonight, and I said, "Oh, so we're procrastinating are we?" He said that it wasn't procrastinating that he wanted to spend more time with me. So we started talking about getting married and how there was this little park we had in mind. We drove around the park three times, and then pulled into a little rose garden that was across the street from it. He told me that he wanted to pick a rose for me, but that I needed to stay in the car because I was sick. I sat in the car laughing at him, because roses shouldn't be on the vine this time of year. He looks and looks and looks, and I'm still laughing. He comes back to the car, and hands me this tiny red bud and I grabbed it and was like, "Wow, how did you find this? That's so odd." while I was examining the rose bud, Colby drops to his knee... keep in mind that I'm still in my seat belt- I look over really quick because I thought he fell down...

Then he proposed. I have the most beautiful vintage engagement ring ever. It was hand made 80 years ago....It screams my name- my wicked cool fiance did a fantastic job.

WoW School

Today was a big day for me. I woke up really early took my shower and threw on my Wonders of Wildlife polo shirt. I taught two classes today- all on my own. It was really exciting. For the most part most of the students listened really well, but my second class was by far the best class out of the two. During the first class when I was talking about the falcon that was on my arm he started making this weird hacking sound and out came a really nasty green ball of shit. Well it wasn't really shit, it was bones and fur- but it was disgusting and even I caught myself being like the kids saying, "ewww! What is that?" I had no problems with the snake, however, during the second program I reached in the bag to get him and I guess my nail poked him because he jumped and then I jumped. I thought he was for sure going to bite me. He didn't though, I lived to tell about it.

Somehow during the first class we got off on the subject of king cobras instead of king snakes. One little boy piped up and asked me, "Do king cobras have red eyes?" I got another question like, " What happens when a king snake meets a queen snake?"

Aww...

Love

Tonight Colby and I took out Stori, Kyle and Miss Magpie out to eat at TGIF. It was to be our last dinner together for a very long time. Stori and Kyle are moving to Fort Campbell, KY on this upcoming Friday. I was holding back tears all through dinner because I'm going to miss my sister, and Miss Magpie very very much. I'll miss Kyle too, and I'll pray everyday that he is safe. This is the very first time my sister and I will be separated. When we were younger we fought about everything, I would fight with her about the color of her hair if she'd allow it- she usually did. Since this past year we've both done a lot of growing up, my sister had a gorgeous baby girl, who happens to pee all over everything, and I am finishing up my last semester at school.

So I just wanted to say - Stori, you've really became one of my best friends and I'm so glad for that because we've seen how siblings can act, and I never want to end up like that. So here's to always looking out for each other no matter what anyone else had to say! I love you, and I'll always be here no matter what.

I have a few pictures of Miss Mag from last week when she stayed with me. I'll miss her soo much!

One Chicken Achee-nee Please.

So right now my world revolves around 20 Kindergartners that think I'm quite possibly the coolest think since sliced bread. Well, I do look like a mermaid and all. So what do I do when all of a sudden I'm blindsided by three kindergartners who are bound and determined to kiss me? This morning I was sitting down watching them sing their alphabet songs, and all of a sudden I'm tackled by three girls and kissed. Then one yells out, "HEY EVERYONE, I kissed Ms. _____." After that I was blown kisses all day. I am so exhausted. Today I was walking behind the line coming back from lunch and I feel like all I'm doing is saying, "HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK, BUBBLES IN YOUR MOUTHS!" They walk down the hallways like little monkeys!

Yesterday-

I got to play with them during center time, and I sat down at a table and ordered something from one of the students, and all of a sudden a hush fell over the crowd of germ infested children. Like, Is she really going to play with us? They were all so confused. I ordered Fettuccine with chicken, garlic bread with cheese, and an ice tea. The little girl looked at me and said, "Umm, we don't have achee-nee, we do have unsketi and a meatball though." I agreed to have 'unsketi and a meatball.

Week 2 still going strong.

I thought to myself How ironic for us to be doing a lesson on Germs. I have a few hanging out in my chest. Nice. I've been sick now for 2 weeks. Granted it's not near as bad as it has been, but I still have to blow my nose every 10 minutes and my chest feel like I have someone sitting on it all day. I've been trying to kick this now for a bit, and today when I had recess duty it was 40 degrees and it started raining- I'm sure that helped. I'm so tired, but (for your information Mims) I have been taking my flinstone vitamins every morning.

Sick.

Last Tuesday I stared working at a school near Springfield, and let me be the first to say that kids are GERM MAGNETS! I'm so sick. I've been sick for 4 days! Nothing is helping me, I've done Dayquil, Nyquil, Chloritabs, Actifed, Chloreseptic spray....I've taken them separately, together, and NOTHING works. *Warning: do not Drink chloreseptic spray from the bottle. I didn't think it would be a big deal until half the bottle was gone and I was walking around tipsy at work.

My nose hurts so bad, every 5 minutes I'm blowing it and its raw. I sound like I've been a smoker all of my life. Not the sexy raspy, the raspy where people say "Sir" when you get a phone call- assholes. When I cough my chest burns. Ehh. I'm whining, I know, but I know there's at least one person out there who can relate.

The second day of working at this school I brought home a painting from one of the kindergartners. The picture is of me, I have to tell you- it looks just like me. I'm a mermaid for starters, and I have fire red hair, purple sea shells, and a head band. I'm moving up in the world.

This is for you Mim.

So tonight I came home to an empty apartment. Colby, Corey, and Jake were surprising Mary Beth for her birthday. On the way home I called my mims, because that's what I do, and she convinced me to go to the grocery store and buy some food before I came home that way I didn't have to get out after dark. My family worries about me, and I've gotta say sometimes I worry about myself.

One night when I was home a large man tried to get into the apartment, I grabbed my trusty hammer and ran upstairs to sit on my bed. Eventually I fell asleep with the hammer in my hand....that's a story for a different time. I digress.

So I went to the grocery store and found all these great things I HAD to have, paid for them and lugged my goods into the dark, empty, lonely, cold....are you getting it....apartment. I cleaned the fridge and *yes mom* took the trash out AFTER dark! I know you're clutching your chest right now...its OK mom... Only two guys hollered at me, breathe easy.

After I made a delightful frozen dinner *healthy choice* I sat down on the couch to watch Monday night t.v which is very weird because I never watch t.v anymore. I sat there and flipped the channels for about 30 seconds before I realized I only have 5 channels- it wasn't just the same show on every channel. I got bored and decided to do some laundry, but soon decided I didn't like that either....Now I'm belting out my favorite tunes in my raspy *sick person* voice.

I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm sick, and I want my mom!

PG-13

Man, school is really kicking my butt. Yesterday I got off work at 5 p.m and fell asleep shortly after on the floor of the living room. I woke up 2 1/2 hours later to Colby telling me we had to go pick up his friends computer. I pulled myself off the floor with the help of a lazy boy recliner and headed up the bathroom, when I looked in the mirror I threw my hands up in the air,

"Colb, I can't come with you!"
"Why not?"
"Well...."

I walk out of the bathroom. Laughter ensues.

"I fell asleep on your jacket and I have a permanent imprint of the zipper down the right side of my face! Not only that, but It looks like I've got a button on the left side of my jaw."

"Oh Char-Marie, he won't care if you look that way."
"Well, I do care. I look like got in a fight with a Ginsu!"

So we travel across Springfield, and we step into this guys apartment. I am trying my best to keep my head cocked to the left so my hair falls over the zipper gash in my face. Then Colby introduces me.... "Hey, Nice to meet you. Disregard the crease in my face. I fell asleep on Colby's zipper." (I fell asleep on Colby's zipper? Uhh... you didn't just say that!)


Sometimes I feel like I need someone to screen my mouth...blah blah blah!

Another quick glimpse....

So I have a few minutes time to talk about myself for a bit. ;) This week has been hectic and its only the first day of classes this week. For starters I've already had a big assignment I turned in for today. I got a B on my paper from last week. I worked on it for about ehh...30 minutes, I was rushing because I have 20 more papers due. I guess I can't complain too much about a B.

I got my schedule for Wonders of Wildlife, I'll be teaching starting in 2 weeks. This Friday I have a quiz over my animals. I took a picture with Elvis, for the most part people don't really like it. The snake is really close to my face, and my sister's reaction was, "You're Effing Crazy!" The consensus has been a scrunched up face with a dropped open mouth. I feel awesome for actually caring around a king snake while I go through my daily routine. (It's not like I'm brushing my teeth with him.)

Thursday I am babysitting Moo overnight. That should be fun, the last time I babysat Moo I slept in baby pee all night. Hopefully she's straightened up her act and asks if she can go to the potty this time. I'll have her all day Friday and we're going to Barnes and Noble around 11:30ish....Come by and see us, we'll be there for a few hours. I'm always nervous about watching her, and lately she's been a real grump.....I might take her to the mall and put her on parade. --Hey Stori, she'll be great friends with Elvis, maybe she'll bring him home for show and tell.

In other news: This weekend we had a great time! Mary Beth came to see us for the weekend and we went and saw Jackass 2.....If you haven't seen it, PLEASE DO! It's way better than the first one. After we went to Jackass 2 we went bowling. We all had drinks, I had red beer (my dad got me started on it.) I actually won the first game with a 118! Which is freaking awesome for me considering I actually bowled an 11 once- With bumpers! The second game I lost horribly.....ehh

Wrapping up the week.

So today I went to Wonders of Wildlife and walked around with Elvis- the California king snake. I'm not as afraid of him as I had been. I think he's vibing with me now. Although today he did wrap himself around my arm again and I'm just really not OK with that.

Today I went home and watched the Mag Pie. She is getting so big, I'm afraid she may have inherited my booty. Poor baby.

Since I never get to sit down and write in this I'm just summarizing my week. I had my third check point on my huge unit plan. The teacher seemed to love it. I'm not sure if she liked it because it was really good, or because her family was in town and she was saying anything to get away from us. Either way I left feeling pretty damn good. And those of you who know about the "unit plan" know why.

Mary Beth is going to be in town tomorrow, so tonight we've cleaned and cleaned. I don't know about you all, but I feel so less stressed and more clear when everything is in order and not so cluttered. Now if only I could tackle my car....

Katie, when you get into town call me! Maybe if there's some miracle we could go get a drink or something. Linz, this goes for you as well. We can drink sparkling cider. ;)

Yesterday I felt really really sick, I think I'm just getting to the point where my body just wants to give out. I'm so tired all the time, I don't eat the way I should because I'm never anywhere to fix something good. I need a vacation.

wiggle while you work

So, I have 5 minutes before class starts and I had a quick second to sit down and write. I honestly feel like I have my head in the game as far as school goes. I love my Wonders of Wildlife internship....Although on Friday I had to hold "Elvis" the California King Snake. California definitely knows how to grow snakes.

Elvis and I are not considered "friends" I'm not fond of him, and I'm pretty sure he's not very fond of me. The whole reason I had to hold Elvis is because Arthur was shedding and he would bite me. So I get handed Elvis and my heart jumps into my throat because the whole time I've got him his tongue was flicking on my thumb and I just turned my head so I couldn't see him. I'd rather just feel the pain from him biting me than see the strike.

He was WAY TOO squirmy! Then he wrapped himself so tight around my left arm I thought I was going to pass out on the tile floor while he tried to eat my arm.

Any who.....I just had a little time to sit and chat.

Someone Once Told Me, "Life is Good."

Is it odd that I'm sitting in a sweater, wearing a sweatshirt, and sipping butterfinger hot chocolate that my gran got me, and alternating that with cranberry juice--- while listening to Christmas music. I'm in the spirit. I'm so ready for that time of year, because that means the school stuff I'm dealing with is about over, AND the fact that it's my very favorite time of the season helps a lot!

This year I'm truly hoping for a miracle. I want everyone who reads this post to say a little prayer for my dad, who's having a little difficulty dealing with some things. He is really falling back down into the depression, and with everything I have I want him to be better. I want him to love life, and the people who are in it. Throughout a lot my parents have been my rock, and I'm desperately trying to be his. I just need to know the way. I know one way or another I'll find it, and bring him back to where he needs to be, my dad once said the reason he was gifted with Stori and I were because we were going to do something great, and I believe him. My greatness will come when my dad is better and back to loving life.......because, isn't that what it's all about?

Running On Sugar Water, And The Possibility That I Might Really Make It Some Day.

So today I had my second checkpoint for the HUGE project I've been working on. My partner and I sat down to talk about what we had done with the teacher, and she absolutely tore it apart. I sat there listening to her rant and rave about how we didn't do anything and why weren't we doing this and this looks like a third grader done it.

Sometimes I wish I had never stepped foot into the education department. The stress is insane, and I feel like I'm treated like a first grader- at times. I wanted to scream and tell her that there aren't enough hours in the day to make this assignment "Perfect" instead I just let my eyes well up and started trying to hold back tears. She asked me if I had a job, and I barely got out-"Yes, I have two jobs." She looked at me and said, "I have a new found respect for you, you can go now."

I feel like all my time is devoted to this and I feel so strongly for the career I have chosen to take on, at times it is overwhelming, but eventually it will all be worth it.... It has to be.

Zonked.

I feel like I'm working 24-7 and I'm FREAKING BROKE! Uhh it's awful. I just wonder sometimes where it goes, because I never do anything, but drive back and forth....ohh yeah I drive! I'm living in my car. I'm so glad that it's dependable (knock on wood!)

My days are running together. It's all I can do to wake up in the morning and put a jump in my step. I am a walking zombie. I could literally sleep standing up, and have on a few occasions. The other night I had a moment of free time and Corey, Jake, and I were watching lost and Corey looked over at me- (Apparently I was starting off into space with this horrible look on my face) He asked if I was alright, and I blurted out something about the constitution. You see, I'm working on a 6 week unit plan teaching the constitution and Missouri Gov't to fourth graders and it's all I can think about.


If you're reading this and remember ANYTHING about how you were taught the constitution/gov't *a fun way* PLEASE- an ideas will help.

Just Another Day in the Life of Miss Marie

Every Friday morning I'm so excited to get out of bed and go to Wonders of Wildlife and see whats in store. This is how I want my career to be... I picked something I'd do for free, but I'll be getting paid for it so it will seem like I've never worked a day in my life.... Right? I hope that's how I feel once I start teaching. I'm so excited about teaching the second grade students about the life cycle at Wonders of Wildlife. I'll be teaching all by myself! Kinda scary, I'm learning all kinds of cool animal facts, and this morning I spent most of my time with Arthur the speckled king snake. He seems to be pretty well mannered. As long as he doesn't bite me we'll be friends.

Today I worked on crating the animals, and learned how to crate Arthur. This was kinda scary for me, because I have to put him in a pillow case, tie a knot in it, set it down inside an insulated lunch box, and when it's time for me to take him back out I have to unwrap the pillow case and stick my hand into a bag and pull him out! I'm really really nervous about doing this in front of a lot of second graders.....if he bites me I'm dropping him and running- Good luck to all the second graders..huh.

Such is life.

Oy! Thursdays are such long days for me! I'm at school from 8 in the morning to almost 7 in the evening, it's such a long time to be roaming around campus with an eighty pound bag on your back. Cheap Date Night Thursdays are no longer existent, I rarely see Colby- only in passing usually. Even when we're both home we have different things to do and he's usually in the basement working on homework, and I'm upstairs doing the same thing. I hate it. It really just bums me out, I have absolutely no free time, and the tiny bit I have isn't when he does....I guess that's life. I guess I can stick this out for one more semester. Until then, I probably won't post as much, I don't think the teachers believe in having jobs and paying for college. The professors pile on as much homework as they possibly can to take away every ounce of your time.

No pearls for me.

Tonight I was thinking about something that I stumbled across this weekend while in a shop with lots of different nautical stuff. I was shopping around picking up all the different shells, looking at the different jewelry, and pearls... Then I saw a tank with clams in it. On the tank there was a sign that read: -Pick your pearl! $15.99.- I watched as a woman said, "I'd like that one." The person behind the counter grabbed the clam, and pried it open with a knife and then in one small sweeping motion with her hand, pulled out a small pearl. When she had the pearl, she discarded the clam into a large trash bin.

I was really thinking about this, I know it's odd, but bear with me. I'm writing for my Communications Art class, and decided I'd write about the pearl and the clam. It was very sad to watch as the clam struggled to stay shut, and guard its treasure. A clam holds a tiny grain of sand, it holds it for so long that eventually it becomes something beautiful. In one sweeping motion it is all taken away. It made me think of how things that we shelter could be taken away, or even the things that shelter us. Am I making any sense, I'm really tired, and it's late....

Yeah....I did it.....So

So I landed an internship at Wonders of Wildlife! I heard about it through one of my teachers and thought that I might try to see if I could get it. I went in for an interview and was thrown questions by three people, and I guess my answers were pretty good because I'm an intern!

Job Description:

I'll be a teacher in the Wonders of Wildlife classrooms teaching about life cycles...etc. Some of the things that I've been doing is animal handling. I'm required to be able to hold the animals, crate them, and bring them into the classrooms.

These animals include:

1. Frogs/Toads: American, Marine, and Bullfrog.
2. Salamanders: Tiger
3. African Millipede
4. Pink Toed Tarantula .....EWWW and he's really hairy!
5. Hissing Cockroaches
6. Turtles: African and Box/water
7. Iguana named Chevy
8. Bearded Dragons: Sydney, and Melbourne
9. Snakes: Speckled King Snake, Rat Snake, Corn Snake, and some more king snakes.
10. Angora Rabbit: Fitzgerald
11. Kestrels: Orion, and Buttercup
12. Hedgehogs
13. Birds: Turkey Vulture (Socrates), Screech Owl (Caesar), Hawk (Hawk Eye), Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl (Owlbert Einstein)
14. Ferret (Fannie)
15. Possum (Frannie)

And others I cannot think of at the moment.

I'm really really excited about this it gives me a great opportunity to teach in a classroom by myself. :)

Ohh and Did I mention I held a few of these including: Buttercup the Kestrel, Melbourne the Bearded Dragon, Toads, Bullfrog, and


Arthur: The Speckled King Snake!

The Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider....

I almost dislocated my shoulder trying to get away from a spider tonight. I was working on my resume and out of the corner of my eye I see the arm of the couch moving, but as I straighten my spectacles I realize that it's not the couch, its a freaking HUGE spider. Ladies and Gentlemen this spider had to be the size of a quarter....well..thats big to me, and it was headed right for my arm. I let out a scream that probably woke the neighbors and Colby jumped up, "What's wrong, What's Wrong....?!"

"Ahhh....GET IT, it's huge....SHIT, shit shit shit....."
"Ohh Honey, that's not huge, it's a baby!"
"GET IT, GEEEEEEEEETTTT ITTTTT! HURRY IT'S Moving! *insert panicked scream here* HURRY it's trying to hide!"

In walks my superhero boyfriend, 'Colby the Right Hand of Justice', and annihilates the evil 8 legged creep with one crash of..... the box that held our called in dinner.

Like you didn't know...

And so it was said
that on the grand and glorious
eighth and extra day,
God did indeed create beer
to keep the Irish from conquering the world.

MISS MOO

This is Miss Moo at 3 weeks old. PRECIOUS! This little girl has really gained the weight. I love the bottom picture it looks like she's posing!!! Awwww.......I couldn't believe they had bikinis to fit her!

White Noise

Ok, I know I've talked about it in the past, but who here believes in ghosts? Who here believes in people trying to make contact with them? Raise your hand. A couple days ago I had a dream about my Uncle Daddy....I couldn't understand what he was trying to tell me, I could see him plain as day, but it sounded like we were under water.

Tonight my parents came over and informed me that my Aunt Beth had a missed call on her caller I.D from my Uncle Daddy. For those of you who know me personally, you'll understand why this baffles me.

Any thoughts?

Somebody is definitely watching over us....

La Hacienda

A rundown of all the things that have been going on since I've posted last. First things first , the new town house is really cool. We live very close to campus, and that's fantastic for days that you don't wake up in time to wash your hair. Everything is moved in and in working order, we can wash our clothes in our washer and dry our clothes in our dryer....who would have thought?!
A firecracker just went off in our front yard....at least that's what I'm calling it, I'm praying it's not a gun. People are soo festive here!

Today in Springfield, it rained really really hard and we've also discovered that the basement is not only a basement, it doubles as a swimming pool! See, I told you....it's so affordable. Yes folks, we are living the good life. Ahh....College Life!!


Moo is doing absolutely fantastic! She's gained a lot of weight and has a double chin....*everyone all together now...Ahhhh!!!!!

I was like, "AHH TURN HER OFF!!"

Wednesday night I had Miss Mag............ Overnight. She is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen, but one dirty diaper later I was saying, "You're too pretty for this! What happened?" At one point in the night I was changing her diaper and I look away for a second to grab a wipe and turn back around and It looks like Mag has installed a sprinkler system!

"Ahh COlby HElp!"

"What do you want me to do?!"

" I don't know, TURN HER OFF!"

So then we proceeded to change her outfit, and clean up the piddle that was now on our new carpet...*I love you Mag* Then we went for round two.

After our excitement little Mag was worn out, so she went fast to sleep. I slept on the pull our bed, with Mags next to me....Securely next to me. Every time she would Coo I'd be looking at her to make sure everything was ok. See its not just the crying that keeps you awake it's knowing that you have a tiny baby you're taking care of, so for the next eighteen + years of your life you'll never have a restful night cause you'll always be worrying. That's why I'm going to have puppies instead.

Around 1:45 she started to figet and I picked her up and gave her a bottle, then I decided to change her diaper, she whizzed all over everything again. So now it's 3:30, I've changed her outfit again, and I'm lying on a wet sheet- Wondering if I'll tell anyone about this.....You knew I would.

Mag is currently on her way to Ft. Benning, GA to see her daddy for the first time, I'm so happy for Stori and Miss Mag. It's family day in boot camp! Yeehaw.

Cheap Date Night Thursday

Well last night we went on our cheap date night. We really didn't have any crazy things happen like most cheap date nights, but it was a fantastic cheap date night. First we went to J Parinos a small Italian restaurant here in Springfield. The food was excellent, we had shirmp florentine with flash fried spinach to start off with. Colby had chicken marsala, and I had tilapia in a white wine lemon sauce. Mmm soo good.

We got to sit and chat just a little bit, then decided to go to Barnes and Noble to look at some books. While at Barnes and Noble we had some starbucks..A grande coffee for Colb, and a Vanilla Bean Frap for me. I bought: The Cement Garden by Ian Mcewan, it sounds to me like a very good book, I'm going to get that read before school starts on Tuesday. Oh and I also bought Women's Health magazine, I'm really serious when I say that this year I'm toning these thighs.



Oh yeah, and might I add that it wasn't really cheap date night, because it wasn't cheap. Colby took me to a fantastic dinner. I love my boyfriend, he's wicked cool.

Still Here..

Just a quick post to say i'm still alive. I've been so busy, we just moved and I love love love our new town house. NEW CARPET! Such a huge deal. Miss Mag Pie is absolutely the most beautiful little lady i've ever seen. She's gorgeous. I have tons of pictures and once I have access to them i'll be posting like crazy. She's a rockstar.

Yes or No? I found a little black shirt that says: My Mom Puts Out... I love it!

Couldn't you just eat her up?

Ahh its good to be a baby
Originally uploaded by Char-Marie.

Look at those lips! She is the most precious thing i've ever seen. The birth was amazing! She is very good natured...so far. She never cries, just looks around to see what's going on. She snorts too, which is adorable.

Ohhh man I love that little girl!

Look who graced us with her presence..

Lil Miss Mag Pie
Originally uploaded by Char-Marie.

Holy Crap! It has been a crazy two days. Last night at 6:00 pm Stori and I went into the hospital thinking that she was only going to have her cervix thinned. Little did we know...

Stori was supposed to get induced this morning around 6:00, but this morning around 5:00 she was dialated all the way to 10. This morning at 7:12 we had a little baby girl.

Maggie Marie * 7lbs 9oz * 20.5 inches long. She is absolutely gorgeous!


I'm an Auntie!!!

Cheap Date Night Friday

I'm aware that it is indeed Monday, but I've been busy. Cheap date night-Friday went pretty well. Colby and I hit up some more book stores in Springfield. I bought: House on Pooh Corner, Huckleberry Finn, Stellaluna, and Trump. We went to the 5.50 bin at walmart and bought the movie Basic, which is pretty good. We also took a walk around a park that we have considered getting married at next summer. Its a very pretty park with a rose garden attached. All in all a pretty perfect end to a pretty perfect cheap date night.

Oh yeah and we went to this one book store named: Book Jungle. It was SCARY. It had no windows, we walked in and there was a man sitting to our left and he spoke very very softly. Creepy. So we go into the "book jungle" Actually it was named rather well, because it was a freaking maze. It was very hard to get through on the itsy bitsy path. I felt like the farther I walked in- the farther I got away from freedom- and the closer I was to having some sort of bars slide down behind me locking me in. I was scared, but I managed to find the children's books, and Colby came around the corner and I started laughing....A nervous, I'm scared of the creepy soft spoken guy in the corner, can we go now - laugh.

Me: "heheheee?"
Colby: "Shhhh...he might kill us."
Me: " I know I'm getting that vibe too!"
Colby: "Let's go."
Me: "BUT look how freaking cheap these books are!!!"
Colby: "Sir, do you take debit cards?"

Creepy Side Show Guy: "No cash only please, or I'll be forced to grind your bones."
Colby: "Char-Marie he only takes caaassssh."
Me: "Are you Effing kidding? Look at all these books I have!" *they were stacked to my knees.*
Colby: "Aww well, some other time, let's go."
ME: "Ok.....But..."
Colby: "Let's go!"

I have a feeling that we'll never go back.

The Art of Pill Popping

I've always been a pansy when it comes to taking any sort of pill. Big pills, small pills, in between pills. Once when I was highly medicated, due to surgery, my mom came into my room with some ibuprofen. She handed me a smoothie and told me to take these pills. I proceeded to put the pills in my mouth and begin to chew. Now mind you that I was so drunk on meds to begin with that I didn't listen when she said "DON'T CHEW EM'!" Needless to say it was a horrible experience and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Now I can't even take very very tiny pills. Here is what I recommend to help ease the pain. I walk into the kitchen grab the big bottle of apple sauce that Colby and I keep on hand and stand at the sink with it like it's a bottle of rum. I tip up the apple sauce jar and throw in the pill-one at a time is always the best route- Then normally I can't even tell I've swallowed a pill.

But...

Occasionally it back fires and I'm left in the kitchen with the apple sauce jar coughing and pounding my chest because the tiny pill, the itty bitty little thing has gotten lodged in my throat... Sometimes you never win.

Mag Pie

Another thing- Baby Maggie is scheduled to be born on next Wednesday, August 2nd.!!!! HOLY CRAP! I'm going to be an auntie very very soon!

Here's her sweet little photo. She looks just like ME! Look at those cheeks, don't you just wanna bite em'?

Thursday

Today is usually cheap date night, and I'm sorry to inform you that today will be look for a job day instead. Cheap date night has been set back until tomorrow, and it's my turn to pick what we're doing....So A little help would be awesome, cause all I can think about is finding another job!

The very hard part about finding another job is the fact that my school schedule was already made out for me with no way to change it because this semester is my last semester for classes and its block scheduling so basically the middle of the week is impossible to deal with!

Well Everything's Starting Off Ok.

Well this morning started off me stumbling out of bed, walking to the kitchen for my frosted flakes that I have EVERY morning before work. I took a big bite of frosted flakes with sour milk. Ehh. The milk said July 29th....someone lied, I'm going to find them.

Se Habla Espaniol.

Well, after careful consideration Colby and I have took a turn for places to consider for Peace Corps. We are really hoping for Latin America now. First of all you have the rain forest....That would be amazing. *I'll need lots of care packages of bug spray. The kind for really really big bugs.* Another thing to consider is Spanish. I've had 3 years of Spanish in high school, but if you don't use it you lose it. All I can really remember are all the "bad words". I'm sure some day those will come in handy. There is a guy that I work with named, Jorge, and every day I tell him to speak Spanish with me. I need to brush up.

I was in a used book store on Thursday and saw a program to learn Spanish in three months....I took Spanish for three years, and they're going to teach me to be fluent in three months? Coincidentally that's all the time you have to train for the Peace Corps as well.

A list of all the possibilities:

• Belize
  
• Bolivia
• Costa Rica
  
• Equador
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Guyana
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Suriname
  
• 
  

LOVE IT

I found this surfing this blog:

Irish girls are unique in their character.
They're a combination of a girl, a mother, a hooker and a nun.
They go from Bambi to Banshee in 3.7 seconds.
They can bat their eyes or blacken yours.
They can love you with a passion and make you feel like a king.
Depending on their mood, they'll chastise you for drinking, or match you pint for pint.
They keep men from killin' themselves and each other.
Incomprehensible but indispensible, those Irish girls.

Friday Installment of Cheap Date Night Thursdays

Colby and I had about our 7th cheap date night since we decided to start having it. This time it was Colby's turn to take me on cheap date night. We went to Captain D's, which is great! I haven't been to a Captain D's in a long while. For some reason it is packed with older people all the time--but we had a great time. I had chicken and fish, Colby decided on shrimp and crab cakes...Mmm. I spilt ketchup all over me because I thought I could carry 7 of those cups filled with different condiments. I love getting those cups, but I think we went a little overboard.

After our fantastic cuisine we traveled to the $2.50 movies. This particular movie theater plays the movies after they've had the 15 minutes of fame. We picked out our movie and had time to go to a used book store across town, I bought: Charlotte's Web, and Bridge to Terabithia- Both fantastic children's books. Colby bought Life's Greatest faces or something to that nature- It was only 1.00. Then after shopping the bookstore for about 40 minutes we traveled back across town to our movie: Mission Impossible 3...Good in my opinion. After the movie we came back to the apartment where I enjoyed some Tin Roof Sundae.....I love that ice cream.

Dinner: $14.00
Movie: $ 5.00
Books: $ 1.00
________
$ 20.00

Seeing the look on Colby's face when I said I was hungry again: Priceless

Four Things

Four Jobs I've had:

1. Video Dynamics. It was my first real job. Basically I worked with 5 guys renting out videos all day. I also got in my first and last tanning bed there. I fried.
2. Mazzio's Pizza. I was the best damned pizza girl ever! I had a lot of fun working at Mazzio's. It was a dirty job--huh Mark!
3. Gadzooks- Yes I worked at the mall. Ehh! Christmas in the mall is enough to make me stick my hand in a blender.
4. Wal-mart. Enough said.

Four Movies I can Watch Over and Over:

1. Wizard of Oz. I loved this movie growing up. I still love it! I'm reading the book Wicked right now about the Wicked Witch of the West and how she became so Wicked!
2. Rat Race- This is a fantastic movie, and i'm not sure why I like it so much, it just makes me laugh!
3. Boondock Saints- LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! One of my favorite movies of all time, it NEVER gets old. Plus I'm Irish, what can I say?
4. What Dreams May Come- This is a great movie, I love thinking about what it will be like up there, I hope thats how it turns out.

Four TV Shows I Love:

1. Sex and the City. My absolute all time favorite! I have every season, and Colby and I watch them religiously...Oops sorry Colb!
2. Lost. Colby and I just went out on a limb and bought the first season without knowing anything about it and its awesome!
3. A&E City Confidential.
   
4. Survivor- I would love to be on that show!

Four Dishes I Love:

1. My Mom's Lasagna- SO good. Mim you're awesome!
2. My Mom's enchiladas--Again genius Mims!
3. Mary Beth's Chicken and Baked Potatoes!- Not a Dish exactly, but sooooo gooood.
4. Colby's Spaghetti! Mmmm.
   

Four Sites I Visit Daily:

1. Google Mail
   
2. Dooce.com
3. Sweetkindoflife.com
4. Facebook.com
5. smalltowngirl44.blogspot.com

Ok so there's more than four...

Four Places I Would Love to Go:

1. New York in the fall.
2. Ireland.
3. Japan.
4. Tuscany

Four Places I Would Rather be Right Now:

1. I'm absolutely content right where I am, but if I have to choose....
2. Eating dinner in a fantastic new restaurant in NYC
3. A Broadway Show....Any show...Anywhere.
4. Traveling Europe.
   

This Post is for Jill.

The other night at work I was having to work on the cash register....Go figure. It was very busy, it was very hot. I noticed that my very first customer was a lady in her late 60's wearing: Starting from the top this lady had rollers in her hair! IN PUBLIC! Her makeup was so incredibly dark...Think Mimi from Drew Carey. She had on a tube top, cut off jean shorts--basically the shorts were just TOO short (they were right up around her wahoo), and to top off her outfit she matched gray tube socks. *Tube top/Tube socks.....ONLY IN THE 70's!* The socks were pulled all the way up and matched rather nicely with a pair of pink canvas shoes. Where's Steven Cojocaru when you need him?

The customer directly after her was an Amish woman in her 50's with HICKIES on her neck! My first thought was Wal-Mart caters to everyone. My second thought: What else would they do with no T.V, Phone, Computer?

"Oh, I'm getting DIZZY!"

This weekend Colby and I decided to be more outdoor-sy... We found out that we had a Saturday together and I told him that we could go to roaring river and go for a hike. So on a day where the news was telling everyone to stay indoors if you can, because it's going to be freaking hot, we journeyed to Roaring river to hike. When we got there we pretty much started right away. It was noon and already 90. We each grabbed a bottle of water and started our hike STRAIGHT UP- to the fire tower trail 3 1/2 miles long. Everything just gets blurry after this. The trail was literally straight up for the first half mile. then it evened out a bit, but not much. After the first big climb I had already drank half my bottle of water. So we're going along and after a while the woods really start to take its toll on me. First the bugs...THE MASSIVE BUGS! They kept dive bombing us and I'd scream and flail my arms, I knocked off my sunglasses many many times. Then the other creatures---Snakes. Colby and I saw a snake and he PICKED IT UP! I thought I was about to lose it. "Colby-Colby-Colby don't touch it! COLBY I SAID DON't TOUCH IT! Alright FINE if you get bit I'm running, and I'm not looking back!" The snake was about as big around as my little finger, and about 2 feet long. Then shortly after that we decided to walk back towards the beginning, we hadn't seen the fire tower yet, and we knew the beginning of the trail was way the hell out there. I was beginning to get claustrophobic. So we're heading back and at every rustling of the leaves my heart jumps into my throat and I have to stop and listen. It was hard to listen though because all I could really hear was my heart beating so fast. To make a long story short, we got lost. Our 3 1/2 mile hike ended up being a 7 mile hike with no water.

Colby had to put up with me: "I think I hear a bear...COLBY I think I hear a bear...." "It's a squirrel Char-Marie." "Oh." "Ewwww I just walked into a spider web."
"Ohh I feel like I'm going to hurl."
"I'm seeing spots."
" It's So HOT!"
" DAMN BUGS!"
"I don't care where we go I NEED OUT OF THE WOODS RIGHT NOW!"
"I can't breathe!"

We ended up on the highway and had to walk it for a ways. I think next time we'll just rent deliverance and call it a day.

Cheap Date Night: Part 2

So Colby and I had a delightful cheap date night. First we went to Imo's Pizza, I love the pizza there because they're cut into square pizzas..Bite Size. We sat there enjoying the atmosphere. Espn was on TV and Colb had his beer. After we were finished we decided that we would go watch a movie, and went to see Pirates of the Caribbean, because Colby hadn't seen it yet.

I have to tell you some of the random events that unfolded throughout the night. First off the ticket stub person, she was acting all cool and ripped our tickets with ONE hand! Oh yeah she just snapped the ticket stubs right in half. Colby said that if he had her job, he'd look for a way to jazz it up as well, I agreed. Then I had to use the restroom and upon exiting the restroom I ran into a real life PIRATE! She was looking in the mirror fixing her buckles and hankies and what-not. I ran....I mean ran out of the bathroom *because all night colby and I acted like complete dipshits* and I told Colby,

Me:"I just met a pirate!"
Colb: "What, are you sure?"
Me: "Yes I'm sure she was saying YARRrr into the mirror and, I don't know she may have really killed someone!"
Colby: "Well lets wait, because I didn't see a pirate go into the bathroom."
Me: "Just wait, you'll see. I don't joke about these situations."

Sure enough here comes the pirate out of the bathroom....

Colby: "Oh my gosh you're right, it is a pirate!"
Me: "Hurry lets go, she might stab us!"

So we mosey into the theater and it's pretty packed so we finally find a seat towards the top in the middle, and guess who we sat by! The freaking pirate...And not just her like 12 more pirates. She brought her whole pirate family with her to see the movie. I was very very scared for Colby's safety, sitting next to a pirate and all, So I told him not to let go of my hand because I was afraid he might get asked to join the pirate clan.....And I can't date a pirate- always pillaging and stuff.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen.... For a night I felt like a celebrity because I got to sit next to pirates, and although I was scared and unsure whether I'd make it out alive, here I am able to tell the whole world that I'm cool by association.

Cheap Date Night

Colby and I have come up with a solution to monotony. We call it Cheap Date Night. Every Thursday we go out on a very inexpensive date. Tonight I think it's my turn to decide. Last time we had cheap date night we went to Fazoli's and had dinner, then we went to the movies and watched....?? something *I can't remember. Anyways, I think tonight I'd rather make it not so cheap date night and take Colby to eat SUSHI!


I love sushi. If I could eat something 24-7 it would be a jurassic park roll, or spicy tuna, or hmm the possibilities are endless.

Blah.

Colby and I sat down last night to figure out how much my books will cost me for my next semester in school. *cue the crickets in the background*




$500.00

Yes ladies and gentlemen.....$500

I wanna puke.........

Oy!

Tonight at work I "effed" up my wrist! I felt a pop and the rest is history. All in all a very successful night.

Colby and I have been working out the details of moving in together...Again. Hopefully by mid August we'll get everything settled into a three bedroom 1.5 bathroom...full basement apartment. Corey, Colby, and I. Jacob will be living in the dorms, but he'll be in Springfield so he'll pretty much live there too! I'm super stoked. Oh yeah and did I mention there are washer/dryer hookups...And *drumroll please... A DISHWASHER! WOOOhooooo.

I'm going to be doing dishes like there's no tomorrow! I love dishwashers...And I really love washers/dryers!

To some this may not be a big deal, but to someone who lugs laundry all around God's green earth it's MAJOR!

Nobody in particular.

Here's a question...

Why is it that when you have so much, you always want more? Why is it that nothing is ever good enough? How is it that when you have so many people backing you, you'll always end up biting the hand that feeds you?

In my opinion.. I believe that family is your greatest support group. That no matter what you do or say family will always be the ones who are behind you 100%. So why is it that they're the one's who suffer? Think about this.... Very hard, you're losing this.

A Message to a Good Friend of Mine:

Betty Crocker,

Hi it's me, you're good friend Char-Marie. Listen, I just thought I'd write to tell you that you're fabulous! I mean what would I do without you? However, tonight I was making cookies for my boyfriend, and I have a complaint.... I noticed that the cookie packets were supposed to have 24 cookies, but the package only had 17 little cookie balls. I will admit that there was a short period of time where I blacked out, but only for about 2 minutes. If you could, please send me another package of your fantastic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough....My boyfriend would greatly appreciate it... And if you want throw in some peanut butter cookies because, although I love your oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter is my all time favorite!

Thanks!

Love Always,

Char-Marie

My Boyfriends Back...

Yesssssssss! My wicked cool boyfriend, Colby, has returned from Hawaii. I'm sure he was ready to come home and see me....Why wouldn't he be? I haven't seen him yet, but I'm waiting with great anticipation! I'm so stoked. I really thought 2 weeks would be a lot easier than it was. I missed him like crazy! I hate being apart and I hope we don't have to do that again for a long while.

Hurry home Colb!

A List

I have compiled a list of all the things that I miss... in no particular order.

1. I really miss waking up on Saturdays for cartoon marathons.
2. I miss not having to figure out how much gas will get me from point A to point B..It's so expensive!
3. I miss performing in front of large crowds of people. I know this labels me as a nerd, but I loved colorguard when I was in high school.
   
4. I miss having big family get togethers.
5. I MISS MY BOYFRIEND SO MUCH! THIS IS DEFINITELY TOP OF THE LIST!
6. I miss not having new episodes of sex and the city.
7. I miss those shoes I cannot find.
8. I miss Lindsay and Katie. Call me girls!
9. I miss talking on the phone for hours with Colby.
10. Last, but not least I miss my cinnamon dolce latte from starbucks! BRING THEM BACK! Lindsay pull some strings!
    

Happy Birthday from the Comfort of my Own Vehicle.

Once again I was forced to watch the fireworks from my car on my way home from work. I just got to thinking tonight how sad it is that for the past 3 or 4 years I haven't set off any fireworks and I have to work late on every fourth of July.

I can remember a handfuls of 4th's that I loved. One summer we were in Arkansas at my Granny Maggie's and we had this 5 foot sparkler, my cousin Joan set her bra on fire with it. I'll always remember that year...A year just being happy. The entire family was together and there was lots of food, singing, and fireworks.

I can also remember going to my grandpa's for the 4th. He had a really big pond and we would always have a barbecue and set off fireworks by the pond. When it got really dark there were bats that would swoop down at us as we were lighting them. Good times.

I always used to love picking out the fireworks.. There were chickens that screamed while they layed an egg, Chinese lanterns that i'd always end up hanging in my room, snakes that left black marks for weeks, parachute jumpers that I always ended up running after and tripping over some other fireworks in the process, Every year I managed to sit on a lit punk. The process of picking these things out was definately part of the fun.

Now it seems that I'm always admiring fireworks and other peoples get togethers from the comfort of my own vehicle. I realize as you get older people have responsibilities and things never stay the same, but sometimes I wish I could go back to those moments.

Katie

Yesterday, I spoke with my friend Katie who now lives in San Francisco. She graduated in December and is now an intern...She wants to come home. I miss ya Katie. Anyways it was really nice talking to her. We were discussing how everyone around us is either pregnant or married....Neither of us are drinking the water.

Chili for breakfast

Today we celebrate America's Birthday....DAAaaa HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

As we speak I'm eating chili for breakfast. I've never been one for the breakfast foods. I can hear my dad asking my mom where I am....My mom replies probably cleaning her room or something.... hahaha....if they only knew.

I'm waiting right now for my friend Kody to pick up my car because it needs the brake pads changed. I sound like nails running down a chalkboard when I try start to slow down....eww

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!

Dad,

Happy birthday to the coolest guy in the whole wide world. I love you and miss you and can't wait until you're home! I hope you're having a fantastic birthday while you're in Alaska! We all love you! Can't wait until we get to come get you on Sunday!

MWAAAAAAAAAAAHH!

-Char-Marie

A Note to my Two Favorite Men....In the Whole Freaking Wide World

Dad.....Colby.....


I MISS YOU BOTH SEVERELY... PLEASE COME HOME!

Colby, I know you've still got a while until you come home, you and your family have a blast, tell everyone I'm thinking of them, and this may sound selfish, but I can't wait until you're all home. Because I miss you guys already and I can't wait for pictures and stories!!

Its very hard when my two favorite men are gone. Someone has to come home! I'm going crazy on this end.

Dad, You'll be coming home this Sunday!!!! YAY! Hurry home and have a very safe trip!

I love you both So much! Have a blast while you're away, but think of me often ;)

I heart my car.

Tomorrow my sister and I decided we'd have a garage sale....I guess I should call it a Yard Sale, since we really don't have a garage. I've decided to sale anything that isn't nailed down. I'm just in that cleaning mood....and so is Stori, she's nesting. Hopefully we really do good with the sale tomorrow because I've been eyeing these shoes that I have to have.

We cleaned out my storage shed the other day and holy crap the things I forgot I had. I had tons of stuff...stuff that I really don't need. I like to save everything and then about three times a year at best, I go into cleaning mode. The next order of business is cleaning out my car because I am always running back and forth to places and I end up looking like I camp out in my back seat. Really I have everything you'd ever need to survive.

Let me compile a list:

1. I have shelter: For one the car (obviously), but I also have an umbrella actually three, I have 2 jackets, a coat, and some sort of tarp thingy that came with my car...still not sure what that's used for, I also have blankets...
   
2. Food/Beverage: I have a gallon of water, plus a 24 pack of nestle water-with the squeeze top bottle!, I have some mints from the Japanese restaurant that Colby and I frequent, a bag of peanut butter kisses from valentines day....and I'm sure some french fries..and those never go bad, ohh and a tin o'cookies.
   
3. And what about Entertainment you ask....?!: My cds, Ipod, and the aforementioned tin of cookies that could substitute for a drum, or a maracas, I have books...lots of books, pamphlets, and papers that I have written long long time ago.

I could live at least three weeks in there. Maybe I shouldn't clean it out. Oh and I forgot about hygiene.... I have those wet wipes that they give you from restaurants I could splash some of the water on me and there you have it folks...

Let's Get Mauied in Maui....ehh

I'm sitting in my chair with my hair pulled up, my glasses on, in my scrub pants that are oohh so comfortable wearing a KISS shirt...and crying. I'm such a baby. Colby called my from Honolulu a few minutes ago. I miss him so so much! Its only been yesterday....but it's a depressing feeling knowing that usually at this time I'm snuggled up to him sleeping or watching a movie.

It's ok though Kitty is sleeping in my lap keeping me company and Hollie promised me a girls night next Wednesday--We're watching Sex and the City, while eating pizza, and drinking beer ... probably. We should think about changing it to cosmopolitans if we're watching sex and the city. Colby bought me the very last season and I watched it in one day! I LOVE THAT SHOW! Speaking of Sex and the City...Colby and I have a new addition to our family a red beta named Mr. Big. I'll post pics later. But I digress....

He was on his balcony on the 21st floor talking to me about how gorgeous the mountains look. I'm so excited for him and his family they very much deserve a nice little vacation, it couldn't happen to better people. I'm so excited for Colby to bring me back the pictures, they're going to Maui on Sunday. I saw a t.v special on Maui it was absolutely gorgeous, they threw out this little catch phrase like "Get Mauied in Maui!" I thought it was funny, but after the twelfth time they used it I changed the channel.

Family Portrait

Here's the family: Colby, Kitty, and I. Kitty is the sweetest little dog. This was taken right before we all went to bed. Look at how tan Colby is, I look like I just stepped out of a cave. Pasty white, but that's ok I'll look like a porcelain doll at 40....Hopefully.

Daa Dumm Da Dummm

This is a picture of the dress I had made for the wedding I was in on Saturday, the dress went all the way to the floor. I love to dress up, especially when I get to do my hair all pretty! I thought the sunglasses were the perfect match.

Luck. Bad....Luck

GEEZ... I feel sometimes that everything is 'just my luck'. I just took my car to get the oil changed and they said that my brake pads are worn down, and that I need to get them changed. Yeah, it'll be about $200 dollars. How long are those things supposed to last? With all of my other cars I never had to do anything really major, except change the starter, and this car is a 2001. The rest of the cars were old. Just my luck! I sold all of my Wal-mart stock so I could comfortably pay for it. Not to mention Missouri State decided that I'm not eligible for student loans this year.


I hate stressing out about money, but it seems that's all I do lately.

Baby This, baby that...

Oh man, this weekend was so very very busy. First off, I was in a friends wedding on Saturday and it was beautiful, very stressful though. Then I put together a baby shower for my sister. It turned out great, but there was definitely drama before the party started. What do you do?

This entire summer has been filled with tons of parties for lots of different people, and although I've enjoyed them all...I'm ready to relax. I can't wait until I get to have the parties: engagement, bachelorette's, bridal, baby shower. Going to all these things really makes you think. I couldn't help, but be a little giddy walking down the aisle at Teresa's wedding thinking about when I really get to walk down the aisle. It'll be about time.

I really feel like the summer is over for me. I'm done with all the things that were planned a long time ago. Now what? Colby's leaving this Wednesday for Hawaii....I'll be lost.

Sleepy Towns on Rainy Saturdays

I feel like it is so very hard to sit down at my computer in the summer time. So many things are going on right now and it's like if I sit down and start typing I'm going to miss something. However, I want to be able to look back on things and remember them.

This weekend Colby and I had a blast we went on a train ride through the Boston mountains. I had bought tickets for the two of us as our Valentine's gift, but you could only use them from April-October so we went this weekend. We had a great time since neither one of us had ever rode a train before. The conductor, however, could have talked the paint off the walls. I'm sure the reason he kept telling people to put down their windows was because he'd had a few jump. Anyways, we stopped for a layover in Vanburen, Arkansas- a three hour break so we could shop around this sleepy little town. It was raining so Colby and I decided to buy an umbrella. There weren't any places to buy such a thing, so we went into a thrift store and found three umbrellas. We decided on the rather large umbrella with Michelangelo's "The Hand of God" painting on it. Halfway out the door with our thrifty little purchase the handle fell off, and the rain stopped.


We also came across a FANTASTIC used bookstore. I bought five or six children's books: Stewart Little, Anne of Green Gables, James and the Giant Peach, Maniac Magee, The Indian in the Cupboard-book 1 and 2, and The Road to Avonlea.


I love finding fantastic things for fantastic prices!

Kitty

I feel like a horrible mother. I have a little Shih Tzu named Kitty. He's so sweet, and likes to prance around-hence the name Kitty. He's been having "issues" with his kidneys and we've been taking him to the vet just about every month. He's been passing a little blood and we were very worried about our baby. We kept thinking something else has to be wrong, because he'd get all of his medicine, but nothing was working. He was taken to the vet one more time because he started to pass a lot of blood and was trying to pee 20 times every time he went outside.

He ended up having bladder stones!! POOR BABY! He had one very big stone that was jagged. The nurse said he was a trooper. I can just imagine him gritting his teeth and cursing in his Spanish Accent that I know he would have. I'm a shitty mom.

Pretty Creepy..

My cousin, Joan, sent me a cool e-mail. You have a list of birthdates, and the tree that is supposed to correspond with the birthdate.

Here's my birthday: November 12th- The tree that is "my" tree is the chestnut tree. Here's what it says: Chestnut Tree (the Honesty) -- of unusual stature, impressive, well-developed sense of justice, fun to be around, a planner, born diplomat, can be irritated easily, sensitive of others feelings, hard worker, sometimes acts superior, feels not understood at times, fiercely family oriented, very loyal in love, physically fit.

Its so creepy! Here's Colby's

April 4th-His tree : Rowan Tree (the Sensitivity) -- full of charm, cheerful, gifted without egoism, likes to draw attention, loves life, motion, unrest, and even complications, is both dependent and independent, good taste, artistic, passionate, emotional, good company, does not forgive.

I LOVE IT! SO SO TRUE...except for the not forgiving part..

Trouble with the R's

Tonight I bit my tongue, REALLY hard. Now I cannot properly pronounce my R's. I was telling Colby about this thing that I found about trees, but ever time I went to say Trees it came out Twees. Its horrible! Make it stop.

Rockfest 2006.......aka Boob Fest

So this weekend the whole gang went to Rockfest in Kansas City. It was absolutely crazy! We all went up to Kansas City around 1ish and it was blazing hot. There were 15 bands total from noon to 11ish. 36,000 people attended! It was so amazingly packed. We started off by going to see Nonpoint, and then we went back to the blanket we had on the grass and rested for awhile. Then we decided to go see the band Hurt.

Let me give you the events that took place:

• We went towards the front of the group closer towards the stage in the dead center. Colby and most of the guys were really close to the front, Lindsey and I were told to stay farther back so we wouldn't get hurt.
  
• Sergio, and some other person were standing behind us sort of like body guards.
• A group of disgusting individuals came up on our right, and wanted to see boobs. We said no, they wanted us to "earn our beads". They started talking about forming a mosh pit.
• I started to feel claustrophobic because everyone started filling in around us, and Colby wanted us to come even closer forward so we wouldn't be in the middle of the mosh pit.
• We ended up two people away from the gate around the stage, just about as close as you can get. Then the band came on stage.
• ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE!
• People were being launched in the air and I'm pretty sure two of them came right down on top of me. My industrial piercing was grabbed and I felt like it had been jerked out of my ear, that sent me to the bottom of the crowd.
• Someone crowd surfing knocked me down and one of Colby's friends fell on top of me. Jacob didn't know it was Colby's friend and noticed someone on me and proceeded to grab him and launch him off of me. Poor Heath.

Needless to say I got hurt watching Hurt.

Then at the end of the night we got to see Staind. It was so great. It had been smoldering hot all day and by this time it started to pour rain, it hailed, there was thunder and lightning. A perfect ending to a crazy day. I'll leave the steak and shake story for another day....

Rundown

Oh man, I feel like I've been gone forever! Sorry for not posting, but I've been so busy. Here's the run down.

Stori had her reception and for the most part everyone got along really well. I was so stressed out for this because Colby's parents came down for this 'special event' and It was the first time "really" that our parents were in a room with each other for an extended period of time. Colby and I have been together for 5 years and our parents are mingling! How exciting. It makes it really hard for them to sit and chat when they live 200 miles away from each other, but at least they all make the effort.

The Grooms mom got a little tipsy, but that's alright I suppose, she also hit on one of the younger guys, but we'll blame that on all the vodka....Huh Debbie!

Stori's husband, Kyle is now in Fort Benning, GA he'll begin bootcamp this Friday...Say a little prayer. He's really homesick and Stori's really bummin'. :(

is it odd that i think dressing like this is fun?

I said I'd post pictures of my sister, Stori's Wedding when we got them uploaded. Here ya go. These are pictures of the actual ceremony. We had so much fun. She's 7 months pregnant in the picture. I did say that I looked like a hooker, see for yourself.

Elvis has left the building...

Today while I was covering a lunch break in jewelry, I noticed a man by the sunglasses display. He was standing there looking in the mirror and combing his hair over, and over, and over. I was watching him for about 20 minutes comb his hair and pat, comb and pat...Then he put on the biggest pair of white sunglasses you could imagine. After about 20 minutes of this he left to go shopping. After the lunch break I walked towards the back of the store to take my lunch break when I noticed this couple just busting up laughing. Apparently this "guy" had been talking to them for about 10 minutes about how he was Elvis. I started laughing and said, "Did he have big hair and bigger glasses?" They said yes.

Believe it or not this man really thought he was "The King"! No one in their right mind could even compare themselves to Elvis. That's just something you don't do. Especially this guy. Here's the worst picture I could find, he was 20x worse than this impersonator:

Life After Breakup

I was talking a best friend through a break up this week and she was absolutely broken, I didn't know what to say to her to help her. I was wondering why it was that nothing helped, because I've been in a similar situation before.

Why is it so hard to move on? I realize the given, you were in love, or you were with someone for a long time and its a routine now...What do you do with your life after breakup? It's so easy for someone to say to you that they would move on, or forget about that person. But I know for a fact that what we say and what we do are two totally different songs.

You can never really know until you're in it, and sometimes when you're in something that you said you'd leave, you won't leave because essentially you're not really seeing the relationship from the outside. People find it so easy to throw in their two cents, *I've heard it all before- "It's easy to see when you're on the outside looking in, but when you're inside you tend to see what you want."

Why is it that *most girls seem to just grieve and grieve until they're absolutely making themselves sick? I've done it, I'm sure some of you have. You can't eat, can't sleep, are walking around like you've lost everything you have. Why do we waste so much time crying? Men seem to be very good at hiding their feelings, when they're young that's what we instill. Big boys don't cry. -So they don't.

I realize this is a big rambling- I've had a long day at work, and I'm sleepy, but I had a lot of time to think about it. My dad always gives such great advice he would tell me, "Char-Marie, take it from a guy who's been there, done that." I never would, I guess I like to learn the hard way. We never want advice unless its what we want to hear, when I say we I mean...Me, and maybe a few of you reading this.

I'm not sure where this post is going, so I'm going to go to bed and think about this some more. I'll get back to this later.