04.16.2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
What did I do today?
- Got an award! Yeah! And this is the reason I am MIA most of the time… but hard work eventually pays off, right?
Picture(s) of the day:


Oh my… It’s pretty sad when you can’t even follow through on a project you assigned to yourself. But really, I’ve been so busy with projects assigned by others that I either haven’t had a chance or just haven’t felt like posting.
So, what we have here is a months worth of photos in one post. For those of you who are following along, sorry for the delay. I’ve been a little uninspired lately and it’s all I can do to just deal with life in general. Overall It’s been a rough month, but an enlightening one… and once I get over this latest speedbump It’ll all be a-ok.
Required job fairs are more fun when you get toys. I always avoid the freebies because I don’t want to look like I’m shopping… but I couldn’t resist this little guy.

I always wondered what Alan would look like as a lion. Cute.

Heterosexual life partner Rachil does not like her picture taken. I am determined though, and WILL get one by the end of the year.

I included a “Big Hunk” in the valentine’s gifts for the girls at work… but did not read the instructions:


Evidently, it is necessary to smack your big hunk. Who knew!
Fun with iPhone apps.
Chewy has her own TV show:

Brittney is a pirate:

Ben is a gladiator:

And I’m trying my best to look like Luigi’s insane cousin:

I got a much needed haircut today… and there was this lady in Ulta with this tiny pup. I was in the chair and couldn’t get a pic, so I sent LaDonna to snap one. Thanks LD!!

No picture today. Instead you get a video of a horse, no wait, it’s a a butterfly and I’m told it very well may be a moth. ![]()
Slacker radio gave us a blast from the past this morning…

No picture today either. *bad lala!* So, to fill the empty space, I give you Chicktionary. Warning: I’ve been playing it on the iPhone and it’s addictive!

Today we had the first of two baby showers at work. This one was for Stacie, our boss. I know she probably doesn’t feel cute about now… but she’s so adorable with her baby belly!!

No official pic today… so here’s a blast from the past! Yes, I did attend the prom… but only long enough to take a picture. Yes, the necklace is actually a cat collar that happened to match my dress, and if you could see the shoes… you would know that they were actually white patent rave style shoes with silver stripes. I was so (not) cool. Geez… Anywhoo… the date was my HS sweetheart, Jamie Poovey.

No pic again… and the filler for the day will be a random pic from flickr!!
It’s my dad with his model A truck. My brother and dad are into cars… and this is one of the collection. Cute, eh?

NOTE TO SELF: In the future, if you think you may fall asleep on the couch… hide the camera from Alan.

We shall call this one “Self portrait blur no. 1″

No pic again… random flickr picture!! Is this cheating with the whole pic a day? Well, until someone invents a time machine so I can go back and snap a pic… it’ll have to do.
My big brudder and me… aren’t we cute!?

Surprise! No picture!!
Oh Noes!!! I’m not sure who this is… the disguises are so good! Oh, it’s just Alan and me…

Baby shower number two was today. Stephanie threw one for Adrienne at California Dreaming. A good time was had AND I got to have my favorite “Hot Vegetable Salad”… noms galore.

Here’s the mom-to-be, Adrienne, opening gifts:

Bill was a trooper, he’s her supervisor and as such was obligated to be the only man at the shower. He doesn’t look too scarred by the event. I imagine some men might enjoy going to lunch with 20 women!!

No pic… INSERT FILLER!!!
This is an old one… but it was such a great day. Alan and I went for a ride, and then got lost temporarily misplaced on the way back. It was so beautiful that I didn’t want to be “found” again…


Today was just one of those days… I learned something about someone that I suppose I’ve been blind to for a while now. It saddens me, but at least I know where I stand. I will never forget this feeling…
I know it’s not a picture, not really, but it works better than any image could:

Ikea day!!! The new ikea in Charlotte opened, so while visiting Lissa, Rob, and the girls, I stopped by.

Filler picture:
NOTE: this is not mine… but is one of my flickr favorites.
Wrong on so many levels *shakes head*…

No picture today… such a slacker. Another filler pic will have to do. This one is really special to me… It’s my oldest brother, Paul, with my mom. I found out about his existence almost a year ago, and just met him this past thanksgiving. He and his wife are such wonderful people. I’m glad to have finally met them!

Who looks grumpier, Kristen or Grumpy Smurf??

Wednesday, March 11, 2009
No picture today, so I’ll give a shout out to Lego Star Wars. Alan and I have been playing it lately. Love it!

Another rough day today… no picture, but this:

A few of us took a field trip to the new corporate office building today. It is going to be AMAZING!!! I can’t wait to move in.
Highlight: color scheme/overall design of the building
Secondary Highlight: We had to wear hardhats!!!!
Here’s Stephanie, Me, and Diane (the IS - billing crew!):

The rest of the gang (some of the billing peeps) from left to right we have Deborah, Karen (billing mgr), Me, Diane, Vicki, Anitra, Stephanie, and Jessica:

I found Joss Whedon’s new show, Dollhouse on Hulu today. We watched 4 episodes… I really like it, but am afraid to get to into it. I was so sad when firefly was off the air. We’ll see if this one lasts.

Today’s agenda: Homework. Spring break is over, and it’s back to the grind tomorrow… no pic, but since I’m on the subject… school friend Nick is now featured on the homepage for our college. He’ll probably kill me for drawing attention to this… but he should be proud of himself!! You rock Nick (please don’t give me a cease and desist…)!

Not much going on today. Schoolwork… and then Brit came over in the evening so I could do her taxes for her. Some of the pictures I’ve posted here have not been the most flattering (sorry Brit!!), so I promised I would put a good one up. It’s uncanny how my camera seems to catch her in JUST the right moment when she has a weird look on her face. This one is MUCH better:

I volunteered for the Create IT Computer Camp at school and had a really good time. The camp was for 20 area high school kids, and I was really impressed with how bright the kids were. One of the girls I worked with, Morgan, was so smart. I was talking to her about what she wanted to do in the future, and she told me she would really like to design products… things like cell phones and other tech. I have no doubt that she will be able to accomplish this… she was awesome! Anyway, the camp is really neat. It is the first 3 weekends of February. The kids learn about technology and get to build their own laptop. That’s what we were helping with today, the laptop building. I was really expecting base model machines, but these laptops were NICE. Overall, the camp was a great experience.
Here’s some of the kids after the laptops were built. They were installing windows 7 and Ubuntu on the machines. Morgan is the one in the striped shirt:

Dr. Norris snapped a pic of me, Nick, and Elizabeth. Those of you that have been following the “Year in Pictures” have seen Nick before, but Elizabeth is a new face. Shes the third of the 3 girls that are in my classes. She’s pretty awesome. Then again, most of the girls in our major are.

Dr. B lured us volunteers into the event by promising a free T-shirt, nametag, and pizza for lunch… I pretended to be excited about the nametag, but really I would have done it regardless. This is Carl, with an ironic collar pop under his IT computer camp shirt. At least I’m hoping it was ironic…

After camp, I headed home. Alan was napping on the couch after having breakfast at his mama’s house. I waited until he woke up and then we headed out to Best Buy. LaDonna and Travis were also at Best Buy, so we hung out there with them a few minutes before going to pick up some Thai food for Valentine dinner. Noms! We ate, and I gave Alan his present - A calendar that has a bubble wrap bubble for each day. He loved it:

I inadvertantly discovered one of his presents from me when I was getting a drink from the fridge… A heart shaped cheesecake from Junior’s in New York. Seriously the best cheesecake you will EVER eat. Get one if possible. Anyway, it was sweet of him and even if I have to work it off later… It was quite a surprise!

He gave me something else too - A giant fortune cookie… with a message from him! It even came in it’s own takeout box. Adorable.

Both of the goodies came with messages, but I won’t share the cheesecake one here. Here is my fortune:

And just because I HAVE TO… the key words girl-brain focuses on in that one are “spend the rest of your life with.” Heh.
Later, LaDonna and Travis stopped by. We all ate Cheesecake and hung out for a bit before they headed back home to Camden.

We also took a picture with the iPhones (Side note to Travis: Are you happy now??). They will probably have many play dates in the future.

Kristen and her Valentines lips… Isn’t she cute!

After work we went over to Brit & Ben’s house for Battlestar. Ben went ahead and gave Brit her Valentines day present… First, the box with more directions: A note to tell her to look in the entertainment center:

So she looked… and she had no clue what it was. I think her exact quote was something like “oh, a white box? What is it?” This was the face that she made the moment she realized it was a Wii:

It was way cute! Then, the hug and thank yous began:

Good Job Mookie!!
Afterwards, we played Raving Rabbids 3. I brought my Wii fit board over in case Brit wanted to play.

Bags? Yeah… but they are bags filled with yummy goodies for my work peeps. I love them, so what better time to show it than Valentines Day… or the day before? So this was my project for the night:

I am determined to get a picture of my best-est school friend, Rachil. This might just happen at some point before we both graduate in December. If not, this might have to do. This is Rachil, blocking my camera. Where’s the love?? Robbie (left) and Joel (right) are in the background. There really are more than 4 people in this class… being the dedicated students we are, we were early. Way early.

I got my Accounting test back today… with two smileys! How cute.

Since I didn’t have to work today, I finally had a chance to swing by Mom and Dad’s in between classes. Here’s Mom with Pixel and Liesl in the sunroom. According to Mom, the sunroom has become Pixel’s favorite spot in the house:

And here they are, making their debut appearance on the blog… two of my favorite people in the world (and not just because they gave me life, though that does help), my Mom and Dad:

Just a garage? No, this is SO MUCH MORE than just a garage… This is the Park Street garage. With USC’s parking situation getting worse semester by semester as new building projects take parking away, this garage has been my saving grace. It may cost a couple of bucks to park there, but it saves me from wasting gas circling the coliseum lots like a buzzard…

Today we found the source of Hammy’s energy.
