Monday, June 30, 2008

Jenny Sue Where Are You?

So this little note is specifically for Jenny. Why can't I access your blog? For some reason it says that you can't publicly view it? Anyway, I wanted to comment back. I miss those reunion days too. I haven't seen you for years! I've never been to Washington that I can remember, maybe I'll have to save up :) I write a lot of insurance in Walla Walla & always think about Erin every time I see that name :) Talk to you later!



P.S. for all those who are wondering, yes, I will be at the reunion. I'm coming out with Mom & Dad. I think we leave the 11th and will head home on the 17th so I think I'll be out there when Olivia is. YAY! See you all in a few weeks. Except for Jenny Sue, who knows when I'll see you....hey that rhymed.

BYE

Thursday, June 26, 2008

You Asked, I Delivered! Actually, Steff Is The Only One Who Asked So You All Get a Freebie :)



So this is Tyler & me. We were on our way out the door to go see a movie & I snapped this super quick. He doesn't like pictures much which is okay because neither do I. There's not much to tell except that we've been dating officially for a little over a month & unofficially since October (I think).

I met him at a friends house. I was actually pretty brazen, surprise surprise. I was sitting on the couch & he was walking by. Without thinking, I reached out & grabbed his belt buckle (I know, I'm a hussy) and asked him if he had earned it. It's a team roping belt buckle. After I realized what I had done, I decided I'd better introduce myself. We've been semi inseparable ever since. Actually, that's not true. I'd hang out with him for a week or two and then flip a 180 on him & avoid him for a while. I guess he saw something worth getting dragged through the mud over & stuck around.
That's about all I have to say about that. Anything else you wanted to know but were afraid to ask?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

No News Is Good News, Right?

Yeah, I got nothin. Life in my neck of the woods has been pretty uneventful. Aside from the weekly tornado warnings, things have been pretty quiet. I'm in my 4th week of training at my 'new' job. It's going okay. I'll be glad when it's over.
I guess there is one exciting thing going on.....my roommate and best friend is getting MARRIED!!! Her boyfriend of 5ish years proposed to her 2 weeks ago. The date is August 1, 2009. I get to be the Maid of Honor. If you all know me even a little bit, you'll know I'm going to be a terrible Maid of Honor. BUT it's the thought that counts, right?
Oh, and I guess I should mention that I'm seeing a guy. His name is Tyler & he's a super sweet redneck, right up my ally. We're spending the 4th of July together so maybe I'll get some cute pics & post them in my next blog. I guess if you want to know more than that, you'll have to call & ask, although there's no guarantee that I'll answer :)
Until next time......

Monday, June 9, 2008

Nationwide Is On Your Side?

For those of you who don't know, I started a new job last week. I still work for Nationwide Insurance but instead of working commercial accounts, I now processes personal accounts. That means, if you had Nationwide, anytime you send in a request to update/change your policy, I put it into the computer. I left the commercial department because they are eventually going to move all commercial operations to Des Monies. Lincoln will still be considered a growth site for personal lines so maybe I'll have some opportunities there. I'm a bit sad about the change though. I loved my job & the people I work with.
I'm in training right now so it'll be about 15 weeks before I actually get out on the floor and fly on my own. I gotta be honest, I'm none too excited about this new position. It's not as challenging as my old job. I don't know, maybe it'll pan out, it's only been about a week. My hours changed from 8:15-4:30 to 7:00-3:15. It's nice to get off early but I haven't been up that early since high school!
Other than that, nothing new on this end of the line. Super excited to see everyone at the reunion! My roomie Katie might come with. It should be a good time. Although, and I know I'm preaching to the choir right now, I'm a little miffed that it's only one day. I drive 14 (give or take) hours to see my family & have to take off more time from work just to drive to & from that any of them do just to be there. Not cool. 28 hours to drive so I can hang out Friday night & Saturday day? I suppose time must run differently in Nebraska since it seams that it's 'easier' for me to make time for these things. That might have been a bit harsh but oh well. It's only the Internet, not like anyone will see it :)

Thursday, June 5, 2008

I Love Stormy Weather

Check it out - this is what we've been experiencing the last few weeks! Yesterday, the sirens went off in Lincoln (that hasn't happened since I moved here forever ago). For you westerners that don't know the joys of severe weather, a siren only happens when we are in a tornado warning (a warning means take cover now! A watch just means conditions are favorable. Warnings can be pretty serious).
So I'm driving home from the southwest side of town to where I live in northeast Lincoln. It's nice & sunny, albeit cloudy (figure that one out), and I look to the north - dark as night! I flipped on the radio to see what was going on. The DJ said we were in a tornado warning. The most dangerous part of that warning? Northeast Lincoln - right by my apartments!
Then, I hear the sirens. That's almost a guarantee that a tornado is on the ground. I start to drive a bit faster. I called Dad to make sure he was aware of the situation, he never pays attention to these things & the warning stretched all the way to Milford. While I'm calling him, I get a whole bunch of text messages and voice mails.
Then Kate, my roommate, beeped in on the call waiting. When I answered, she said, 'I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do.' I said, 'You're fine, I'll be home soon.' She said, 'Everyone is out in the hall, what do I do?' I told her to grab a blanket & go into the hall with everyone & I'd find her when I got home. We don't have a basement or storm shelter in our apartment building & Katie & I are on the 3rd floor.
Back to driving. I was actually pretty nervous. To get home, I had to turn off of what seemed like a safe road & head directly into the storm. I had goosebumps and the hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up. I kept thinking, 'Oh my gosh! How will I react if a tornado drops down right in front of me?!?' So what did I do? The same thing I always do when I get that kind of ominous feeling. I sing 'A Child's Prayer' at the top of my lungs over and over until I get out of the situation. I'm sure the people at the stop lights thought I was crazy! That's okay.
As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, & got out of my truck, the rain and wind started. It went from being perfectly still to torrential down pours. The winds were blowing in circles so the rain was horizontal & kept switching directions. I walked into the 1st floor hallway to find Katie & she wasn't there. My blanket was sitting on the floor so I thought, man that must have been a super selective twister to suck her up & not touch the building :) A nice girl that lives on the first floor let a few of the people in the hallway into her apartment.
So, we sat there until the warning expired. I kept walking out the porch door to look at the clouds. There were some amazing shapes I'd never seen before. I can't even describe it. The warning expired at about 9:30 so we went back upstairs. The night was far from over. There was an amazing lightning storm, the likes of which I have NEVER seen in my ENTIRE life. Katie & I sat on our balcony and watched it. The storm was only lightning & a little bit of rain. It stayed right on top of us for about an hour. That's pretty unusual for a storm. The usually move on their merry way.
We got lucky, no tornadoes in Lincoln last night, at least not any that actually touched down. There were a few in the towns around us though.
Tonight, we were supposed to be in for one of the worst storms in Lincoln's history, according to Katie. I'm pretty sure it moved to the northeast of us & will mostly miss us. However, it is super cloudy, muggy & dark so you never know. We're in a tornado watch until 1 am (see explanation above). It should be pretty cool to see what we're in store for. While your waiting for my weather updates, check out these photos!





Lightning around Seward County (where Mom lives)
This is crazy! This is a tornado that went through
Kearny last week (where we had our last Nebraska reunion)


These clouds were actually right near my
apartment last night!

This is what went on ALL night last night!
Amazing!

More Lincoln skies.


Just makes you feel a bit awed and maybe kind of small :) I love it! I'll keep you posted all through the summer!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Judgement Day Synopsis

Alright so not much happened at the WWE Pay Per View. No titles changed hands, no one was injured. But all in all, it was a fun time. We saw a steel cage match, always exciting. There was a super cute little boy sitting kity corner behind me. After about five minutes, I wanted to rip his legs out of his sockets! Quit kicking my chair!! Then, there were the super cute, super drunk college boys behind us that kept making fun of the wrestlers, they were actually pretty entertaining. Then, Katies cousin, bless his heart, sat two people away from here, one of those two being me. It was constand, "Katie, Katie! What do you think.....Who do you think....Which do you think.....?" Binoculars being shoved at me while I'm trying to take pictures, spit flying in my face, you name it. It was a blast! :) After the show was over, we went to the car to leave. It took us like an hour to get out of the parking lot! Some 'de duh de' in front of us kept letting people in front of us. Now I'm all for being courteous but this guy was letting cars in that had cut in front of people & didn't deserve to be catered to. THEN, we were starving so we stopped at McDonald's. The most Ghetto Micky D's I have ever been to. We had to wait for ev ver to order & about 5 minutes into waiting for our food, the power went out! It was out for a few minutes & then came back on. The incompetent, albeit cute & flirty, employees couldn't figure out how to get the computers to come on or how to stop that infernal beeping! It was a disaster! I didn't think it would ever end.

So there ya go sports fans, that's Judgement day in a nut shell.

Until next time!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Judgement Day Baby!

So it's Judgement Day in the WWE. The clan & I are headed to Omaha to watch. This is the first time I've been to a pay per view live. I've been to Monday Night Raw a few times and some un-televised events in Lincoln but never a pay per view. I know this probably doesn't mean much to you guys but pick your favorite sports team or music group & imagine seeing them live. I'll make sure & give you a full recap & pictures when we get back.

Other than that, there's nothing exciting going on. I start my new job (same company) on June 2ND. I'm not very excited about it. It'll be nice to have job security and be able to keep my benefits & of course, meet new people. BUT, I really like what I do now. I love the people I work with in the office, they're some of my closest friends. We have a really unique office dynamic. I've never worked in a place that was so social. I'm going to miss some of the underwriters too. There's one that lives out in Pennsylvania & he almost made me cry the other day. He just such a sweet guy. It's nice to know I've had an influence on some of the people I work with.

OOOO! I almost forgot! The pool in our apartment complex opened yesterday! I'm super excited to go swimming! I got a cute new swim suit (a few sizes smaller than last year!) and I can't wait to break it in!

Alright kids, off to Omaha I go. Talk to you later!

Friday, May 2, 2008

New "Mug Shots"




A Little Left of Center

This picture has been strategically placed 'left of center'. I'll give you three guesses why.
Any of you who know Savanna know never to leave her alone with your camera. Or, in this case, your camera phone. My phone is quite literally plastered with pictures along this line. One is my background, another my screen saver & still others caller ID.
If you happen to see this woman, immediately move your cameras and phones to a safe place. She is beleived to be dangerous when within reach of any photographic equipment. She was last seen in Rexburg, Idaho but could be anywhere. If you see someone matching her description, call your local photocryme stoppers immediately. Her weapons of choice include digital cameras, disposable cameras, Polaroids, camera phones and even blackberries.
If you have any information regarding her whereabouts, please call 1-800-mix-a-lot and help us keep our streets safe.





Wednesday, April 23, 2008

WWE for President?

So I'm home sick today & you all get to listen to my discombobulated thoughts.

So I know you all laugh at the fact that I'm a WWE fan but apparently the WWE has become a respected political forum. That's right, the presidential candidates made a visit to Monday Night Raw. Hilary Clinton, Barack Yermamma & McCain addressed the WWE fans complete with wrestling lingo and all ("Can you smell what Barack is cookin'") Yeah, I'm serious. It didn't end there. Later on in the night, the actually had a match between Hilary & Obama. Or at least people dressed up like them. Bill even made an appearance in the match. So I haven't decided if having the candidates on Raw is a mockery of the WWE or of the presidential elections. After listening to their incredible orations, I'm more confused than ever about who to vote for; dumb dumber or dumberer. I think we should all write in John Wayne :)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

So I'm off work the rest of the week! Yay! I'm going to Idaho with Mom & Dad for Savanna & Daven's graduation. I'm kind of excited. I've never been to that part of Idaho. It'll be fun to see where she's been & what she's been up to these past few years. Yeah, so that's about it - I better go finish packing.
Laters!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Shark? Seriously? Come on!

So today is Saturday. I had to work today - boo.... I'm not fond of working on the weekends. Actually, I loathe it. But, it's over now. I'm home, and happy watching the Discovery Channel: Jaws of the Pacific. I love shark shows. Thy fascinate me. I'd never want to come face to face with one though. I have this reoccurring dream that a Great White swimming miles beneath me launches itself up out of the ocean taking me with it in its mouth. I don't think it's an irrational fear, do you? Anyway, on TV, they're interesting. I practically live for Shark Week every year & since I've discovered the beauty of DVR, I never have to miss any of it! Wow, that was a whole lot of pointless talk....let's shoot for something more serious.....

Ever had a good friend make it virtually impossible to be their friend? I have this amazing friend that is strong, caring, kind, trustworthy and super fun to be with. This friend, like all of us, has a past. This friend's past may be a little more troubled than most. One of the things I respect about this friend is how they've been able to rise above all of that and maintain for such a long time.
Recently, this friend has kind of slipped up. I can feel them starting to slip back into how they used to be. This, by default, makes it impossible to continue and 'every day' kind of friendship. If this friend continues on this course, I'll be lucky if we're the kind of friends that meet once every few months for lunch.
The sudden absence of this friend has been more than slightly depressing. I'm really not sure what to do now. I feel kind of lost. I've always thought it weird that someone can be a part of your everyday life and then, in the blink of an eye, all of that changes. I can't imagine not talking to this friend every day. To have them be such a huge part of my life and such a strong support system and then not to have that anymore is a bit unnerving. The hardest part is that I'm the one who controls this distance. I'm the one who won't allow this friend to be a part of my life anymore. Even though I believe it's with good reason and there can really be no other way, it's still sucks to know that if I really wanted to, I could pick up the phone and call just like nothing is out of the ordinary.
I feel hurt and a bit disrespected. Like I'm not important to this person. I know that's not the case but when someone makes a decision that they know will hurt you, how can you feel anything else?

Whew, I've been trying to figure out how to get that off my chest for a week now! Much better. Sorry for the dramatic babbling. Such is my life :)

Thursday, April 3, 2008

What it do?

Random expressions:


1. What it do? To be used when you want to inquire about some one's well being.

2. Holly buckets of (anything), Batman! To be used when you're surrounded by a bunch o crap

3. You don't know me (emphasis on 'know') Just say it spontaneously, people love it!

4. Are you calling me fat? Particularly hilarious when the conversation has nothing to do with you, food or weight. i.e. Q: 'Wanna go to a movie?' A: 'Are you calling me fat?!?"

5. Speak words A great way to answer your phone or use as your phone mail

6. You are sexy face quote from American Idol - say it with an accent - hilarious

7. Insert any Anchor Man quote here? (who put the question mark in the post?) Always appropriate

8. What it is and what it oughta be The correct answer to #1

9. Buckets Variation on #2 can be substituted for Crap, Dang, Darn etc.

10. What the deuce? Actually from Family Guy - euphemism for what the heck?

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The Lady Bug










I made this cake for Katie's cousin this last December (Katie is my roommate). Her theme was lady bugs. I love this cake. If you look close, you can see a lady bug in the cowboy's hat and one in the toole by the bride. It was fun. It was also the first time I tried my hand at sheet cakes. I made 4 of them. Those are a lot of work & not quite as much fun :)

The Squiggly Cake





This is the first cake I made money off of. I made it for a girl at work this past February. I made the cake topper too. The flowers are the same as the one's that were in her bouquet. It took about 10 hours, give or take, but it was a lot of fun!

Monday, March 31, 2008

Technical Dificulties

So I was going to post some cool pictures of the awesome wedding cakes that I've made but my computer has decided not to cooperate. I tried to negotiate but alas, to no avail. Believe it or not, that's all I have to say. I'm going to go watch wrestling now. Don't judge me!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Lazy Sunday.....or is it?

Now that I have you all enthralled, let me continue where I left off. Ah yes, the demo derby. It was AWESOME! It started at 3pm, but we got there at 1 to save seats. I left at 7pm and it was still going on. It probably went on until 10 or 11. Crazy huh? I have been to my fair share of demos in by day and this one took the cake, by far. I saw more fires and hard hits at this derby than all the others combine. We were sitting dead center and one of the cars practically exploded right in front of us! Ok, not really, but we could feel the heat from the fire. It was nifty!

Today is just a lazy Sunday, I'm watching Scarlet right now, cheap rip off of Gone With The Wind but oh well.

I went for a walk today. 30 minutes and I really pushed myself this time. I'm 2 pounds down!!! Wohooo! Not that I'm counting. My actual goal isn't to loose weight, it's too easy to fail at that. My official goal is just to get up at 6:30 Monday through Friday and walk for a 1/2 an hour. Then walk for at least another 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes when I get home from work, gradually increasing the speed and time as I acclimate myself to this new hard core physical regime. My second goal is to eat more fruits and vegetables and less junk food. Mom says not to have carbs after lunch because they're instant energy and if you don't use them, you store them. During the week, I concentrate on fruits and vegetables and not so much meat. On the weekends, I try to go for at least a 20 minute walk on Saturday & Sunday both. Today was a good day, I hit 30 minutes and went a lot faster on the treadmill than I usually do!

Tonight is Wrestlemania, the biggest stage of them all! I know, I know, again, red neck & pointless. But I love it! So now, I have to tidy up the house. We usually have a few people over to watch with us so everything needs to be in tip top shape.

Adios!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Hmmmm It's Saturday.....

So it's been a long week. Work is stressful. They are phasing our office out, we don't know when our last day is but it probably won't be until next year. It's funny because they can't afford to loose us. We are working 24 hours of mandatory overtime this month and they're closing our office. Silly bureaucrats. This past week was the last week to get new business on the books for the month, always crazy. It was also the last week to book new business for the quarter, super crazy.
Besides work, I've been walking a lot lately (and by lately I mean the last 5 days - hey, it's a start!). I'm tired of being fat (gasps from all the 'polite' people in the room!) That's right, I said FAT! Not big boned, not thick, not curvy, FAT. I'm tired of it! So, I'm doing something about it. Don't patronize me by saying I'm not fat or I'm perfect the way I am. I'm not! Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States, I have diabetes on both sides of my family. This is not a joke. This is not something people should feel they have to give lip service about to make someone feel better about themselves. So don't do it. Just say 'good for you' or 'way to go' or 'keep it up'. But don't you dare try and sugar coat anything and say 'you're not fat, you're bigger but you're not fat' (direct quote from a patronizing friend) OR 'You don't need to loose weight, you're fine the way your are' (another direct quote from another patronizing friend). ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?! I'm 5'4 and weigh.....wait, I'm not posting that on the Internet! Let's just say WAYYYYY TOOOO MUCH!

Wow! This blog thing is kinda therapeutic. Anywho....back to my day. I'm going to an all day demo derby! I know it's red neck & pointless but I love it! Love it! Love it! Love it! I'll keep you guys (not sure who 'you guys' are yet) posted on the action.

Laters!

So this is me :) One of my better pictures I might add.

Hello?

So apparently, this is the new thing.....Steffi seems to think I need one of these so we'll see how it goes......