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.

It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding.

This weekend we traveled down to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to get my little sister, Stori, Hitched!

No seriously we really got her hitched. We went to this old time place and dressed up like people that worked in a saloon. I looked like a Class A hooker. I'll post pictures when I get them developed, in the mean time I'll just describe my outfit:

I had on all the essentials:

• White bloomers with lace trim...Check!
• Fishnet Stockings.....Check!
• Black High Heels........Check!
• Corset.........Check!
• A push up brassiere tied so tight around me I couldn't breathe....Check...!

It really was a blast, we had so much fun. I had my picture taken with Colby as well, I'll post that as soon as I can.

So?

Ok, I got creative and tried my hand at creating my own template. The only thing I hate is the size of the font. Its way too big. I cannot seem to find it in the html to change it, so until then it shall remain very large...bleh!

I would like comments on what needs to be changed, or what looks good.

Thanks!

*&%$#@%

I am absolutely drained. I know I say this a lot, but I'll say it again.... I REALLY DISLIKE MY JOB! The problem is right now I cannot quit because they have allowed me the time I need off for this summer: Weddings, Graduations, Baby Showers, Wedding Showers, Baby Deliveries, etc... As soon as I can I'll be searching for a better job. One that's less stressful. For those of you who don't know I work at Wal-mart. It's pretty much a sweatshop. I'm so aggravated, because I do my job I am constantly taken from one area to the next and it is so frustrating for someone who likes to get one thing done before she starts another. At the end of the night I end up having 30 'irons in the fire'.

I am physically drained. Emotionally drained. I told my manager, the one that is nice to me, that I was tired of working my ass off to be taken advantage of. He agreed with me because he sees that we're *Hollie and I* are being shit on.

I hate the fact that I get so pissed, I hate that I can't be respected for the good work that I do, I really hate the fact that I get aggravated enough to let it come home with me. It's not like me to be on edge because of a job. I'm going to take the initiative and look elsewhere even if it means a pay cut.