Up Up and No Way

I need to gripe real quick about airlines. Kenny lives in Georgia, so the only way we get to see each other is to commute...by air. I love flying, and since he's in the AIR Force, he doesn't have a huge problem with it either. The difficulty we have is finding decent fares. This is where my rant comes in.

I'm a Southwest girl. It's pretty much all we ever flew when I was younger, and even today I rack up enough Reward points to get free flights. That's all dandy, except my loyal airline doesn't fly into Georgia.

There are a few other airlines I have the same problem with. Take AirTran, JetBlue, and ExpressJet. I would gladly give my money to these three airlines. In fact, they're all having pretty great sales today, but unfortunately they don't fly where I need them to go. The first two aren't in New Mexico yet (maybe they don't know that we're in the states and they wouldn't have to charge an outrageous fee) and the last one doesn't fly to Atlanta.

SO FRUSTRATING.

In the meantime, before another low-cost airline can get their tale in gear and create a flight from Albuquerque to Atlanta, I get to travel on Frontier. It's not a bad airline, it's just that twice now I've almost missed my flight, I have to fly into Denver and literally run across the airport to catch my flight (outside for part of it in Denver because the plane's so tiny it can't park at a regular gate), no carry-ons are allowed (to Denver) and their prices aren't all that impressive. But, I am racking in the frequent flier miles and it's cheaper than Delta.

This rant all came about because I can't find a flight cheaper than $250 to go to Las Vegas (go figure) in about three weeks on my lovely Southwest...and I've been checking prices for over a month now.

I just want to travel, gamble and drink a little and see my boyfriend. Come on airlines, help a girl out!

mmmm. Coffee.

Jenna is requesting a new post from me, but I would really like to point out (to her, because I think she's the only one who reads this) that she hasn't posted anything new since the 22nd either. Just saying :)

So to give Jenna, and whoever else may stumble upon my blog, some "words," here you are. I'm addicted to Dunkin Donuts coffee. Addicted like, have to drink it every day. I have the French Vanilla flavor, and it's by far the best ground, flavored coffee I've had. As a second runner up, I'd give credit to New Mexico Pinon Coffee. Coming in last place (but I'd really drink it anytime because it's so delicious and about two minutes away from me now) is TJ Cinnamons. They have a cinnamon/hazelnut flavor that is ridiculously yummy. I discovered the last one when I was still down in Cruces and needed new places to study, and since Arbys, yes, the roast beef sandwich fast food joint, had wireless internet, I made frequent stops.

Mmmmmmm coffee. I think I need some now.

I recently spent quite a lot of time redoing the layout on here, and now I don't think I like it, but I don't have the time to change it again for awhile. Oh well, you all will be stuck with it until I have a few extra minutes.

With that said, I think I'm done with this entry. I'll try to write more later.

Red Light, Green Light

"Aw, dammit," I said as the light turned red and I was in the middle of the intersection.

Thanks, Marty, for turning the red light cameras back on and making me wonder if I'll receive my first ticket in the mail sometime in the next three to five weeks.

Great.

American Idol

Oh man. I'm addicted.

I could leave this blog just at those two statements and be completely content. I've never actually followed a season of American Idol. I thought it was a silly show. To be completely honest, I saw the very first show - first as in, one of Kelly Clarkson's first auditions, and I said outloud, "Wow. She's gonna win this thing." Low and behold, the only other show I saw that season was the finale...when she won. Fast forward a few years to when I lived in the house with Natalie, Em and Laura. They all watched it, so I'd catch a few episodes here and there, but it was nothing special.

For some reason, my mom and I caught the very beginning of this season and got hooked right away. How can you not love a show where people who are tone deaf honestly think they sound like Frank Sinatra or Whitney Houston. It was hilarious. I laughed, I cried (seriously...there were tears for more than a couple of the auditions) and I already fell in love with several and picked my favorites.

Right now I'm watching the Top 12 boys and I'm blown away. I missed the first several, but my mom said that David Archuleta was awesome; I was floored by Jason (the one with dreadlocks) and I could barely control myself with the last guy, Michael. Damn. These guys are good! They've got the charisma, they've got the look and boy, oh boy, do they have the voice.

Tomorrow the girls go on, and I can't wait to see them.

You better believe I'm going to follow this to the end, and most likely pick up some new songs on iTunes along the way.

LET THE COMPETITION BEGIN :)

If I die.

In case I get sick, or die, tonight, I know the reason why. It's because I left my frozen tv dinner meal in my car this morning. It says clearly on the box to "keep frozen." But I didn't. It was almost all thawed by the time I stuck it in the microwave. I must say though, that this is one of the best frozen TV lunch I've had. It's a Smart Ones Chicken Parmesan. MMmmmm.

Anywho, I hope I don't get sick because I'm going to see Kenny tomorrow and that would kinda ruin things. I also hope the weather holds out tomorrow - it's supposed to snow all day here and in Denver (where I'm flying into), and that would really put a damper on things if my flight is delayed.

Woot woot for Valentine's Day :) He sent me a gigantic bouquet of flowers in a margarita glass on Monday - does this guy know me, or what?! It's freaking awesome. I'll get a pic up here as soon as possible.

Ok. I have to go finish eating my yummy, no frozen lunch.

Stereotyping - A rant

***** I'm about to rant AND stereotype. Consider this your warning****



Last night after work my mom called in a pizza to Peter Piper. We used to go there for every birthday as a child, and I personally like their pizza, so we occasionally get it for dinner.

So. I drive to PP and after circling the parking lot once, I finally find a spot. I walk through the doors and the first thing I notice is a picture very similar to this one off their web site:


Interesting. Three white kids.

I continue into the restaurant towards the register to pick up my pies, but get stuck in a line. In front of me I smell cigarettes (the kind of smell that sticks to clothes after awhile) and behind me I smell pot. I can smell marijuana in a children's amusement restaurant.

If that's not bad enough, the woman in front of me is with her two kids. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with this except that she was born in 1989. I know this because she was taking FOREVER trying to decide what to order and left her ID on the counter. The oldest child looked to be at least four - they were both calling her "Mommy," which is how I'm assuming they're hers. Ah! It was just crazy to see someone so young with two kids.

So with the cigarette-smelling, young mother and pot smelling guy behind the situation, there were still more things upsetting with my Peter Piper adventure. It turned out that I was the whitest person in there. Seriously.

EVERYONE else (with the exception of looking in the "game" area) were more Hispanic looking than I am. A lot of the guys in there were the type that scared me when I was younger (I was a scaredy cat a lot) - they wore the three-sizes too big for them jeans with equally as large shirts, three guys I saw had hair nets on (and I doubt they just came from working at a cafeteria) and tattoos covered their arms (nothing against tattoos, it just would have scared me when I was younger...and maybe last night a little bit too.).

Anyway. The point of this whole thing is that the demographic there last night surprised me. A lot. The experience was almost like the time I went to to the WalMart in El Paso, it was a little bit of a culture shock in a way. So that's my 'rant' or stereotyping, or whatever. I don't mean this to be offensive to anyone; it's more of an observation.

...... In other news! Yesterday was Raphael's birthday. Not only is he one of my favorite artists, but I found out that he was left handed. This is interesting because thanks to my new "Left-hander's callendar." This is my favorite by him:

I have this picture hanging above my bed - it's traveled with me everywhere and I absolutely love it!

That's all for today :)

blast from the past

Since we moved locations at work I now have to drive past my old elementary school. This morning I noticed the crossing guards helping children cross the street and it took me back to the old days of Homer. No, I'm not talking about watching the Simpsons, I'm talking about Homer the crossing guard! Homer was awesome. I remember he would always stand in the median area and wait for the little munchkins to walk by. We would go by single file while Homer would raise his stop sign for us to 'hit' as we went by - kinda like "high fiving" the sign. Sometimes he'd put it so high we'd (ok, just me) would have to jump to reach it! He was always such a joy to see before and after school.

Homer died several years ago, but his memory still lives within me just about every time I see a crossing guard.

not up to par

I've been on a blogging writer's block lately. I always think of things I want to write about, but none of them seem all that great. They turn out to be things I would ramble about to anyone listening instead of the type of topics that get a consistent readership. Eh. I'll come up with something decent to write about sooner or later.

I think I need something else to focus my time on. Last year I had the half marathon, which I loved, so I think I need something like that again. I'm going to the gym on a regular basis, and once the weather starts getting warmer I'll pick up my running again. But, I really want to volunteer for Make a Wish or maybe Big Brother/Big Sister. Eh. We'll see.

Do you ever wonder what it'd be like to be Martha Stewart? WOW. Ok. I just confirmed exactly how lame I am. It's Friday night at 10:45 and I just switched over to the Martha Stewart show (for the record, I was watching a movie just before this and I'm about to watch some silly wedding show at 11 - and no...there is no upcoming wedding, I just like the shows!). Seriously though, she's making a "heart scarf." Now, I love scarves, I'd even say I have a scarf fetish, but this one she's making (out of felt, mind you) is hideous. I think she's running out of things to talk about.

Maybe I'll have more to talk about next week. Monday is our first day in the new office (REALLY EXCITED)and I'm going to start working on stories for April. It's really a crazy profession to work months in advance.

I promise good and entertaining blogs to come...

Happy Birthday to me!

Yup. Today is my birthday. Apparently it's my "Golden Birthday," so woohoo for me! So far, things have been good. I'm feeling better - not good or great, just better. I still get winded walking across the street though, that's not fun. I went in to work today for half a day and I actually got a lot done, then I came home and slept for a couple hours. I'll probably do the same tomorrow. Then tomorrow night my mom and I are heading out to VEGAS. :) Despite still feeling ill I think we'll have fun.

Overall, this has been a really good day...so thank you all who read this who made it a good day :)

On a sad note, I wanna talk about Heath Ledger. I still can't really wrap my head around the fact that he's dead. I'm not going to go all "teenager" on you and say how he was my favorite actor and I was his biggest fan, but seriously, he was amazing. I was sad to hear the media assuming it was a drug overdose, suicide or even that he was high on coke. I understand it's easier to assume the worst in situations, especially situations regarding celebrities, but I'm glad all the assumptions are just that so far.

The name Heath Ledger and dead just don't seem to fit in the same sentence. In my generation, his name is up there with Leonardo Di Caprio and...and...I don't know, people like Matthew McCanaughey and Owen Wilson. They're just rising stars! It's just very sad. Very, very sad.

ouch.

I really didn't think being sick and having a cold could hurt this much. I physically can't cough anymore because every time I do it's so incredibly painful. What I do now is just hold the cough in, which clearly can't be good for you because the next time I actually do cough it's just a million times worse.

On a good note: I somehow managed to get an appointment with my doctor in about an hour, but my worst fear is that this is just a cold and she can't do anything about it.

UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! I'm sure I'm not helping myself either by continuing to go out to the Home Makeover Site. Ggggrrrrrrr!!!! Truth is, I'd so much rather go to the doctor in my sweats (because that's one of the only places you can get away with going someplace in your sweats after you graduate college) and then come straight home, take some of the cough medicine my grandma has with codeine in it and sleep the day away.

sick.

I don't have the energy to cough anymore. Every time I cough it's like a violent beating on my body. My throat is raw because I've coughed so much and I feel like every ounce of energy I did have is now gone.

I hate being sick.

house of sickos

It started a few days ago with my mom saying my dad felt bad. I heard him cough a few times, but when his sisters and brother wouldn't let him go stay with my Tia yesterday I knew it was serious. When he stayed home instead of going to the Lobo game last night I knew it was REALLY serious. Ok, well not REALLY serious, but I knew he was sick.

Yesterday while I was at the Home Makeover set I started feeling achy. No good. Then I started coughing. Definitely no good. I came home, took some medicine and slept for about two hours. It was the best nap I've ever had, but I woke up feeling just as bad, if not worse than when I went to sleep.

My mom seems to be healthy, except she hurt her back really bad and can hardly walk today. Chris seems to be doing fine - he broadcasted to everyone that he hasn't been sick in a year. Lucky.

So, today I woke up, took more medicine and fell right back asleep. I'm awake now (obviously. Wow, I can't really write when I'm sick apparently) and trying to decide if I'll be able to make it back out to the site today. It's a sticky situation because they're only here for a week and I have to get my story while they're here. Ugh. I just wish I wasn't sick.

I have a very busy week ahead of me. They're handing over the keys tomorrow and then the family comes home on Tuesday. There's a press conference on Wednesday and my birthday is Thursday. On Friday my mom and I are leaving for Las Vegas, Saturday is the Miss America pageant and Sunday we come home. Yikes. That's a lot of stuff and I don't wanna be sick for it.

....time for more meds...

Albuquerque's on the map!

I'm so ridiculously excited right now for things going on in New Mexico and Albuquerque I can hardly stand it. Seriously.

First: Extreme Makeover Home Edition is IN Albuquerque AS I TYPE. This is their first appearance in our state and I couldn't be more excited. There are only a few shows I watch religiously: Grey's Anatomy (...writer's come back, I need a new show), How I Met Your Mother (woo hoo for Albuquerque native Neil Patrick Harris and Extreme Home Makeover (ABC site). I'm working on seeing if there's any way the magazine can cover it, although truth be told, I don't know how professional I can act around Ty and the gang. It's probably a blessing that the high today is only about 35 degrees, because if that man took off his shirt I may completely loose it. Seriously.

I can't wait to be there and help them yell, "MOVE THAT BUS!!!!" Woo hoo!

In other news...

Just about every girl can remember sitting in front of the TV while watching the Miss America pageant. The girls on our screen were like real life Barbie dolls wearing beautiful gowns. Only a handful of girls actually become 'beauty queens,' and even at such a young age you know you're not one of them, but for one night out of the year it's fun to dream and watch these women strut their stuff in sparkling dresses.

Well, it just so happens that I know this year's Miss New Mexico, Jenny Marlowe. She's a friend of some of my really good friends, and although I don't know her as well as I wish I could say I do, she is still a good friend of mine. Next week she is competing for the title of Miss America in Las Vegas. The exciting thing is that the pageant is just two days after my birthday!! Last night my mom and bought airline tickets to fly out there on the 25th and enjoy a weekend in Vegas. I'm currently working on getting a pass to the pageant with the hope of seeing Jenny win!

Actually, they're doing something really cool this year: they're letting America PICK the 16th top contestant.

GO HERE AND VOTE FOR MISS NEW MEXICO!!!!. Seriously. Do it. You can vote every day, and how cool would it be if New Mexico actually won? I'll tell you how cool it would be. It'd be ridiculously cool - not to mention I'd have a story to write about!

I also urge EVERYONE to watch the TLC Miss America:Reality Check (here's the schedule) on January 25th. Go now and put it on your calendar - you're gonna want to see this.

I think that's about it for the exciting stuff going on over here, and it's plenty to keep me going for the next couple weeks. OH! I bought a ticket to go see Kenny for the weekend after Valentine's Day...CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT!

Have a happy day everyone :)

Schmumfy

schmum.fy (ssshhh-mum-fee)
-adjective, noun
Providing or experiencing extreme physical well-being or relief ('schmumfy' is informal); "schmumfy" clothes"; "schmumfy chair"; "made himself schmumfy off of Southern Comfort"; "the antihistamine made her feel very schmumfy"; "are you schmumfy?"; "feeling schmumfy now?" Also, the name of Jessica's new hamster.

Schmumfy is, indeed, the name of the newest part of my family. She's a little two-month-old teddy bear hamster and I love her!! She fits in the palm of my hand and is sort of black/greyish and white. My mom and I spent the good part of Saturday driving from pet store to pet store trying to find the perfect hamster. We finally found her at Clark's, the same place I got my first hamster.

She's now living in a very tiny house and seems to take after me. This little girl likes to nap - a lot. We were actually afraid she was dying Saturday night because she was sleeping so much (yes, I know they sleep during the day). She's crazy, she'll literally just fall asleep, like she's a little narcoleptic! I, personally, love it! We bought her a little ball to run around the house in (a way for her to get some exercise without us stepping on her), but she hasn't quite figured out the wheel in her cage.

I'm secretly crossing my fingers that my brother will buy one for himself so we can put the two of them together and get adorable little hamster babies. I wonder if you could call hamster babies "hamps" or "hampies."

...I'll get some pictures of Schmumfy up as soon as I take some.

Goodbye '07, Hell-'08

Ah, another year. I was trying to remember what my resolutions were for 2007 and the only one I can really remember was "Learn to knit." Well, I kind of accomplished that, but never kept it up. I made a little piece of knitted yarn and that was it.

I ended up doing more in 2007 than I could have imagined:
I fell in love.
I ran a half marathon.
I contributed to a cause very close to my heart.
I learned to knit.
I landed a dream job after only 6 months out of college.

Here are my 2008 New Year resolutions off the top of my head:
MAKE a scarf.
TRAVEL to England.
MOVE out of my parents house (maybe - I actually enjoy living there)
GET a pet hamster
GET published in another magazine
EAT healthier
DO more spontaneous random acts of kindness
VOLUNTEER for an organization I'm interested in.
CREATE a book from my European pictures
READ at least one book a month.

Those are all I can think of for the moment. Not a bad list if you ask me, and they all seem like they are attainable. Nice.