Tonight my sister very kindly made me my very own belated birthday dinner. Yummy pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms! It was really good. The best part of the dinner was probably when my niece turned to me and said, "Kristi, are you 32?"

NO! 28! 28! Don't deprive me of my last 2 years as a 20-something!

That was followed by Coca-Cola cake....problem solved :)

Million Dollar Ribbon

So today Jackie and I went into Michael's with two things in mind. Jackie wanted ribbon and I was going to buy a tube of paint....both purchases were going to be made with our 40% off coupons. Some how we walked out of there signed up for a cake decorating class, I had no paint, and Jackie bought the worlds most expensive ribbon at $5.75 a yard....no joke. In her defense she did not know the price and we were so distracted that when she made the purchase we didn't realize how ridiculous this ribbon was. Anyway, we are both excited about the cake decorating....maybe now I will have something to blog about!

Confession

Today I yelled at the UK Visa lady....pretty sure that is going to be denied now.

Dear Butterfinger,

I'm sorry it's been so long. Your are an excellent candy bar.

Love,
Kristi

For Jenny

There are a lot of things at Macy's that amuse me....people lying about their size....blatantly, people walking around with strollers with dogs in them rather than small people, but nothing awakens the 13 year old in me more than when a customer asks me this question:

"Can you check me out?"

I know, clearly I need to grow up, but whenever someone asks me that I just want to step back, look them up and down and say, "yeah, you look ok....now how about you pay for that stuff."

String

My bookbinding teacher has lots of fantastic sayings, one of them being "how long is a piece of string". I've been having a string of bad luck....I'm hoping my piece is coming to an end. Last week I was driving to the Amon Carter and my car stopped running on the highway. Thankfully a highway worker guy was right there and used his truck to push my car to the next exit. Almost $2000 later it runs again.

Then on Saturday morning I woke up with a bunch of goop in my left eye.....pink eye. So I got ready for work and headed to a nearby clinic where they charged me $250 to tell me what I already knew. So far this is all that's happened.....hopefully the string is coming to an end.

Think the picture is big enough?

So some of you may know I have a thing for William Shatner.....who I like to refer to as "The Shat".....no I don't think he's hot or anything, I just find him entertaining.

I turned the TV to Boston Legal this evening and once again was entertained by the man. I mean this show had some quality actors, James Spader, The Shat, Candice Bergen....good stuff. Why I never watched it while it was running originally I will never know, but I gotta say I was thoroughly entertained with the three episodes I watched tonight.

The highlight had to be a line The Shat (Denny Crane) said while working on a case regarding the teaching of creationism in school...he was on the pro side.

Denny Crane: You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane."

I love that he is so self absorbed, it's hilarious. Anyway I have no real purpose behind this post other than to reiterate my love of Mr. Shatner and possibly to get you to watch an episode or two should you come across one.

I tagged myself

So nobody tagged me....to my knowledge, but I love lists so naturally I participated.

Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Jill and Alex coming on Thursday
2. Seeing the new Harry Potter
3. Finding my real job
4. Going to pilates
5. Dog-sitting Ho-ho and Maxi-pie
6. Going to Northern Ireland for a month
7. Jackie coming to Texas
8. Other fun stuff

Things I did this weekend:
1. Worked
2. Went to dinner with my parents
3. Worked
4. Checked my email several times
5. Worked
6. Workout
7. Slept in a little
8. Worked

Things I wish I could do:
1. Have my own conservation studio
2. Become a real runner
3. Be really skinny
4. Own a dog
5. Be really good at budgeting and saving money for the future
6. Hang out with my friends more
7. Have a real life
8. Sleep in every day....that one was Annalise's but ditto.

Shows that I watch:
I don't watch anything religiously anymore, just a lot of HGTV shows

Places I'd like to travel:
1. Easter Island
2. Hungry
3. Iceland
4. Greece
5. Hawaii
6. Boston
7. Panama
8. Anywhere I can see the Northern Lights

Not in the cards

Well ever since I went to my first pilates class I have wanted to go back...one month later I still haven't made it. My work schedule seems to foul this up every week....except this week. So I go to the gym after work excited for my second pilates class only to find out that on the first Tuesday of every month they do not have pilates, instead they have a "taster class" where the aerobics director does a little step, a little kickbox cardio and a little Latin flava dance non-sweat-producing thing. Since I was already there I decided to stay and do the class, which turned out to be very entertaining. Two men showed up and it seemed like no matter how many times we repeated a move they were always behind, going the opposite direction or just standing there in confusion. I imagine this is the kind of entertainment people had the pleasure of enjoying at my first step class....hate to admit it but it was pretty fun to watch them. Maybe I'll get to go to pilates next week :)

I need a translator

I recently decided to go to my first Step Aerobics class at LA Fitness. I'm in pretty good shape, I used to take dance so I'm somewhat good at picking things like that up....so I thought. Apparently you need a translator to attend this class. See how everyone in the picture is in sync....add one Kristi and that picture is ruined.

Things I didn't know about step aerobics:
1. People who take step are dedicated, they come EVERY time and they know EVERY move....as in they look awesome and Kristi is facing the wrong direction while tripping over the step thingy.
2. You NEED to know the lingo.....phrases like "repeater three" and "corner corner knees" should be a part of your day to day speech......when you don't know what these things mean it causes you to decide to just step up on the bench and back off while the people around you are doing cool stuff.
3. It causes you to sweat....a LOT. As in I was embarrassed to go from the aerobics room to the main gym area because people would see the huge sweat ring on my chest.

All that said it was a really good workout, and I did return for a second session which went a little better than the first.

Something to entertain you at work

My sister showed me this link today and I found it highly amusing. It's a message board called FMyLife where people can post funny things that have happened to them recently. Sad, but I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the misery of others.

Big News!

I bought a ticket to fly to Northern Ireland to volunteer for the month of August! Yipeeeee!

My future personal ad

I recently received a very nice "Tell Us What You Think" message from a customer I helped last week. Basically when you finish a sale you are supposed to write your name on the receipt and ask them to visit our website to rate your service. This was my first one, and to tell you the truth it made me feel pretty good.....that was until I saw the "description" line where the customer is asked to describe the associate. The following is going to be used in my personal ad should I ever post one:

Description: Heavy-set (ouch!), long, straight hair (am I long or is my hair?), dirty blond (when I hear that all I can think is dirty), fair (true), clear complexion (the one part I consider to be complimentary)

So there you have it, Kristi in a nut shell. I'm sure the prospects will be lining up based on that description.

Something's Missing

As most of you know I often go to the gym before work. This means I have to shower at the gym, which is not too bad really. The only bad thing is my memory....as evident by my forgetting socks and on one occasion shoes to wear to work. Last week I did it again, only this time it was not a clothing issue. Instead I forgot to bring a towel....and I realized this after my workout. It is this reason that caused me to casually go up to nearly every paper towel dispenser in LA Fitness so I could slowly and secretly load up on paper towels so I could dry off after my shower. I did manage to pack in enough to get myself sorted out, however all I could think about is how the "Naked Asian Lady" does the same thing, because for some reason she does not even bother to bring a towel to the gym....ever.

A Slight Obsession

Ever since my road trip with Jackie I have been on a search for these pretzels we bought at some random gas station in New Jersey. I've checked Target, Walmart, Tom Thumb, and EVERY gas station I actually go into. These things can NOT be found. So, if by chance you come across a bag of Rold Gold Pretzel Waves with Vanilla Yogurt Drizzle, buy a package for yourself.....and a second one for me. Although lets be honest, I'm not gonna see that bag because they are so good you will most likely eat both bags yourself.

A Situation

So today I was sitting watching You've Got Mail when I heard a sound I thought was leaking water. I walked around the house looking for a puddle somewhere and found nothing, so I went back to watching the movie. About 30 minutes later I heard this sound again.....this led me to believe I was not as crazy as I was thinking I was. I start walking around the house again looking for the source of the noise when I see something moving on the floor out of the corner of my eye.

It was a bird! In the house! On the floor! AND I was home alone!

Those of you who know me know I HATE BIRDS! Needless to say this freaked me out, but at the same time I felt sorry for the bird. My first reaction was to text Catherine, she tried to convince me that I could help the bird by putting it in a box until my dad got home. I didn't like that idea as it involved me touching the bird, so I called Jackie....she did not answer her phone! I left her a message briefing her on my situation with strict instructions to call me back.

I couldn't sit in the house knowing the bird was in the next room so I found a box, a pair of my mom's gardening gloves and sat down in front of the TV to psych myself up for the challenge. 10 minutes later I walked over to help the bird.....I use the word help loosely in this case. With box ready in hand I reached down for the bird, but it started flapping around and got one birdie foot latched onto the side of my box. I tried to set the box down, but that meant putting the box on its tail feathers....this was no good. After 20 seconds or so the bird perched on the side of the box. By this point I was so traumatized I set the box down and let the bird be. I also decided I did not really want to be in the house with the bird so I proceeded outside to wash my car until my parents came home. 20 minutes later I walked back in and peeked around the corner to find the bird was no longer on the box! It had found a new perch on the toy chest.

When my parents came home my dad calmly walked over to the bird, cupped his hands around it, walked outside and let it fly away. If only I had inherited those genes.

Monster Craving

I recently watched an episode of a show called Unwrapped on the food network. Basically they show you how certain types of foods are made, well this particular episode was all about ice cream. The segment included an in depth analysis of the Dairy Queen Blizzard: how it's made, how the new flavors are invented, the testing process to make sure it can withstand the up-side-down test. Ever since this show all I can think about is Blizzards! Chocolate ones, Oreo ones, Reeces Peanut Butter cup ones, you name it I have thought about it. I thought the only way to rectify this was to go out and get one, so I did. THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! Now that I have the very recent memory of just how truly good these things are I want them all the time! No bueno!

Wish List

Lately I've been thinking about some of the things I want in my house.....once I have one that is. So far this is what I've got.

Striped carpet on my stairs, not necessarily this particular color, but you get the idea.

A closet like this....but with a better shoe rack.

A garden like this....ok maybe not quite as grand but one that is wild yet organized.

Some white roses....more specifically "Iceberg Roses" they climb and smell REALLY good.

And of course one of these :)

Kharma

So during the last week I started feeling more detached from people than usual....this led to my decision to use Facebook a little bit more than none, which is about how often I use it now. What did this get me? An opportunity to change EVERY password, all because I was dumb enough to fall for the fake Facebook sign in page that looked exactly like the real Facebook. Will I make Facebook a bigger part of my life.....seems like a bad idea as of right now.

People Suck.....put that on a pillow

Ok, today a lady was carting around a butt load of clothes to take into the dressing room. I walked past her and she told me flat out that she was going to make a mess out of the dressing room. As in she was planning on trashing the place so I could go clean up her royal mess. She then put a ridiculous number of items on hold, pushed in front of another customer when she returned for her clothes, spilled cinnamon and sugar all over my check out area and then got mad at me for brushing away her detritus before laying her clothes down. SERIOUSLY! This is not an uncommon occurrence. It's events like these that have spawned my new life saying, "people suck" (said in a sarcastically happy sing song sort of way.....if you want the full effect).