While searching for design-y things...

I came across this cool website:

http://bighugelabs.com/photobooth.php

Just upload your pictures and they turn them into a photo booth strip for you!

I may need to incorporate this into wedding ideas somehow...

Five on Friday

1) I finally, finally, finally got my 2006 taxes refiled. Turns out the government still owed me $490. Take that, IRS! Note to college kids: If your parents aren't claiming you, make sure you get the form from your college that reports how much you paid in tuition that year, including what your loan company pays for you. You'll get waaaaay more back.

2) My sore throat is finally, finally, finally better. The turn came on Wednesday, when I was able to get through the day without pain killers and manage to eat full meals. Last night I yawned for the first time in over a week. Let me tell you something: not being able to yawn, when you really need to yawn, is not a fun predicament. Try it right now. Try thinking about yawning without actually doing it. Don't you want to yawn really badly now? Now imagine giving in to the need and getting shooting pain through your throat and ear when you try. 

I'm really happy that I can yawn again. In fact, I'm yawning right now.

3) On the way back from picking up my newly refiled taxes earlier, I stopped to treat myself to a 79 cent (86 cents with tax) coke at McDonald's. The line was longer than usual, so decided to see if I could come up with the total using just change I had in my purse. I had to count out 36 pennies, but by the time I'd picked out all the change, I had exactly 86 cents. Not one cent over or under. And yes, I apologized to the cashier when I dumped a pile of coins into his hands. He didn't mind. (He also didn't bother counting; good thing I'm honest.)

4) The OSF and I are going camping tomorrow with some of his friends. Should be fun, and a great time for a photo op. Note to self: Charge camera battery.

5) The OSF tried to help me crash the Coldplay concert last night, but they were sadly sold out of tickets by the time we got there. Big bummer, since he already had a ticket, and our other friends were already inside Cricket waiting for us. After conversing with some shady scalpers and putting on our best 'we need a ticket' face, Chris ended up giving his ticket to a pair of girls who also only needed one, and we went up to the overlooking park to listen to the concert from there. Poor OSF! He flew home from his vacation early just for this concert. :( At least the sound reaching the park was better than the Rascal Flatt's concert from March. 

Lost

Ryan's Lost surprise extravaganza turned out to be a big hit. Chris and Andy really worked to pull off the perfect Lost party, complete with posters of Ryan as a cast member of Lost, Quarantine signs, Dharma labels on the sodas and beers, and a great photo booth backdrop. That OSF is so talented, I tell you.

Jenna doesn't know what to do on the island!

Ryan's just happy he's got Sarah to keep him company on the island.

Sorry, Ben, no cell phone reception on the island.

Two TGO's stuck on the island! Track 15 for sure!

We even managed to keep it a surprise, so Ryan was a little dumbfounded when he opened the door to find his friends and family waiting for him in what looked like the Lost wilderness island. Of course, it helped that he was just a wee bit tipsy from the fake out bar trip that Beth took him on. 

Read Ryan's thoughts on his surprise party here!

Why am I such a sucker for these things?

Is it sad that I kind of want this set just because it's lime green?

Oh, have I not shared my infatuation with lime green yet? Hmmm... sounds like it's time for a confession soon....

Have you ever

Have you ever(Edited version, because Jessica found the missing #100.)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8.. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (from the beach)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19.Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Been to Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

100. Been in love

Geocaching

The OSF and I embarked on a geocache adventure Tuesday night after Coffee Shop Tuesday. We made two stops, both of which Chris and Ryan had found before. One was hidden in a fake sprinkler in an island in the middle of the street, and the other was an Altoid box stuck to the bottom of the Cutter's Point mailboxes.

I've decided geocaching is muy fun.

And Sonia was telling me she and Paul wanted to start going on adventures too, so we decided we should go out and explore around camp some weekend over the summer, since no one will be out there to see a group of us searching around anyway. Definitely looking forward to spending some summery days treasure hunting out in the hot dust of Jamul. :)

Happy Friendiversary!

Happy friendiversary to Ryan!

Today marks the beginning of our third year of friendship. It's crazy to think I've only known him for two years, because most of my closest friends have been around for at least ten years. That Ryan. He's just able to sneak in like that and make you forget you haven't even known him that long.

To commemorate the second friendiversary, we took pictures of ourselves looking at pictures of ourselves.

Sounds confusing, doesn't it?

And, I guess technically we didn't take the pictures; that shady-looking guy in yesterday's picture of the day did.

He looks very pleased with the pictures he's taken, doesn't he?

Here are some pictures of our momentous first meeting, which just so happened to take place at (where else) Disneyland:

(This is the picture in the frame we were looking at it.)

Not only is Ryan the most awesome host of TV Thursdays, he is always a willing subject for pictures, has great taste in musical theater, is always up for a last minute movie night, and gets really funny when he's had a couple drinks.

Happy friendiversary, Ryan Prades!

Whew.

Fortunately I managed to figure out what happened to my layout; somehow when I transferred it to my jump drive it actually transferred instead of copying. Dang jump drive. But at least it kept the layout safe on it, and I was able to send it in fairly easily today.

And, since it's now been long enough since the last issue I was in came out, I can officially post the first one from last summer.

Tada!

Get ready, July

Guess who's going to be in Creating Keepsakes again?!

Got an email today that they picked one of my layouts for the July 2009 issue. :)

Now the only problem is that somehow I seem to have deleted the actual photoshop file off my computer! How does something like this happen to me? I'm the queen of back-ups for crying out loud!

So tomorrow may be spent trying to duplicate the file from the tiny jpeg I sent in. Boo.

But at least it was a bright spot in my otherwise weird and lonely day. :)

I am such a follower.

Fine. But only because this one is fun. And, weirdly enough, they do seem to work out pretty good.

And I already have my itunes open anyway.


Rules1. Put your music library on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write that song title as the answer to the question, no matter how silly it sounds! Most of the time they seem to work though, strangely enough.
4. Ok, go!

Here are my answers:

1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OK?" YOU SAY? All That's Known (Spring Awakening soundtrack) (Heck yeah, kicking this thing off right with a Spring Awakening song.)

2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Uncreated One (Chris Tomlin) (I'm not sure how to interpret it.)

3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? If Only (Hanson!) (I've got some old school stuff on this here laptop!)

4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?Arms Around Me (Hawk Nelson) (Apparently I need a hug...?)

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?Big Bad World (Plain White T's) (...?)

6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Star Mile (Josh Radin) (Good ol' Josh Radin)

7) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS? Now That I Know (Sweet Home Alabama soundtrack) (Wow. That one is relevant.)

8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? California (Metro Station) (It's true, I do. I love you, Californiaaaaaa!)

9) WHAT IS 2+2? Pain (Jimmy Eat World) (And I was always so good at math....)

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? You Won't Find This (Carrie Underwood) (This must refer to Jenna cleaning up downstairs and putting our things away in places we'll never find them.)

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Our Song/Love Song (Perry Sherman, Kimiko Glenn) (My current favorite made it to the list! And I promise I didn't stage it, this song truly came up next! And on a pretty good one, too. I feel.)

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? You and Me (Lifehouse)

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Pink and Black (Tyler Hilton) (I don't think I went to school for this...)

14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Stay Beautiful (Taylor Swift)

15) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Meant for You (sung by Christy Altomare) (Yup, I was meant for them. I am their favorite child, you know.)

16) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Faithfully (Eric and Leslie Ludy) (Probably the only song on my itunes that is actually intended to be played at weddings. What are the chances?)

17) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? I Ain't in Checotah Anymore (Carrie Underwood)

18) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Alcohol (Brad Paisley) (Ha, ha, ha.)

19) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Disney's Greatest)

20) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Mama, I'm Alright (Miranda Lambert) (I guess my mom thinks my friends are a bad influence on me. It's okay, mom. They're cool. It's not their fault I have such an interest in alcohol, I swear.)

Super Bowl Sunday

So here's how Super Bowl Sunday went down:

~Britt and I went to Jarrod's house loaded with chips, pretzels, and wonderful Mike's lemonade (for the girls).

~Jess and Mikey weren't there... even if it was a joint party with them and Jarrod. Tsk tsk.

~Lots of other people were there. To the point that folding chairs had to be brought in. And lots of thieving of the good chairs.

~Lucky for me, I stole Jarrod's good spot early and Justin and I managed to hold those chairs for the entire game, cuz we're buddies who've got each other's backs. And we will fight other people who try to steal our buddy's chair. 

~Jarrod was pretty much the only one cheering on the Steelers. It made the party interesting, because he gets defensive. :)

~In keeping tradition, I chose based on color of uniforms. FYI- maroon and white totally kick highlighter yellow pants out of the running. Seriously, who picked that specific florescent color for the Steelers? Was it some kind of game strategy? To blind the other team with ugly? That must have been it.

~ Poor Cardinals. They were so promising the second half...

~ What was up with those lame commercials? I even spotted two that were text only spots. No pictures. No graphics of any kind. No storyline. No laughs. You know where those kind of ads are good? The newspaper. Don't waste my time during the Super Bowl if you can't put your 5 million to proper use.

~ 3D commercials. I don't know what the big deal was, but then, I didn't have the super special glasses.

~ Outrage from the Cardinals supporters in the room, when one of the Steelers blatantly started shoving a Cardinal for no good reason, and after the play was over. Jarrod was in the bathroom for this shining moment and wouldn't believe us.

~ Jarrod's defense when we kept on him about his dirty, cheating Steelers (and the winning quote of the day): "They're called the Steelers, all right! They're not called the Angel Princesses!"

NPH on SNL! NPH on SNL!

So it's a peaceful night over here at the ol' apartment. Andy texted us awhile ago to remind us that Neil Patrick Harris is the host on SNL tonight. Which means we invited him and Ryan to come over at 11:30pm to watch, because things like that are best shared with people, don't you think?

So far there have been numerous "Hey, Neil, wanna know how I met your mother?"' lines, and NPH has come out as an awesome aroebics instructor and Mark from Rent, in a spoof on all the Broadway shows that are closing this month. (I was just lamenting to Ryan about the tragedy of that.)

I do love me that NPH.

Word(le).

I discovered this awesome site yesterday. Or the day before. I don't remember. Anyway, I just noticed that it's popping up everywhere else, in my other favorite blogs and other cool websites I like, so I am apparently way behind the curve here. Or else everyone else is catching up at the same time. Whatever. The site's awesome.




If you want to make awesome word images like my beautiful 'don't do sadness' banner at the top of my spiffy blog, this is the place. Just make sure you read the FAQs or you won't understand how to make certain words bigger than others.





The wonderful world of Wordle.





And since typing the above, I found the awesome blog feature. Instead of typing in all your words, you can copy/paste the link to your blog in the second box and it will automatically make you a wordle based on the words commonly used in your blog. How neato is this! I went ahead and did mine, and here it is:

Look at that... it's me in like 100 words. Apparently 'new' is my most used word on the ol' blog.

I also tried out some of your blogs, cuz I'm sneaky like that, but I won't post them here, because what's the fun in that? But they're good. Real good. So go do your own wordle and post it on your blog!

For those who need help turning it into a jpeg, or just getting it off wordle, the best way I found is: 1) Click 'Open in Window' and then maximize the pop-up window, 2) do a screen capture (the prt sc button next to F12), 3) open some kind of picture editing program and paste it into a blank document. I use Photoshop Elements which I know most of you don't have but I think there's some kind of editing software that comes standard with Windows.

If worse comes to worse, just save it to the wordle gallery, and send me a plea for help. If I'm feeling nice I'll screen capture it for you and send you the jpeg via e-mail. And I'll probably be feeling nice.

Feliz Navidad from Houston's airport

After an endliss list of news pieces that just make your heart sink lower and lower as you think, "where exactly is this crummy world headed?" it's nice to know that this kind of thing is still out there.

I think humanity just might make it after all.

Weekend Recap: The Shoot

Midway through my self-taught class on deviled eggs, Trent and Brittany offered a free round of shooting. All I had to do was ride in the back of Trent's jeep and wear funny glasses at the range. Deal. I've never fired a gun before, despite the company I generally keep (I'm looking at you, Jenafer, Justin, Jesse and Jarrod), so this was sure to be interesting.

Trent teaches Gun Basics 101. I try to keep the protective gear from digging permanent indents behind my ears.

See the three holes in his face? I did that.

Apparently mostly good isn't good enough for Trent.

Don't worry- This paper guy definitely had it coming.

Final analysis? It was a good experience, but I'm not thrilled. I don't like that you can't easily see where you hit on the target- if it's too far back you can't see at all. What's the use of that? I need the instant satisfaction of knowing I shot the paper guy's ear off. I think I'll stick to Halo.

October 22, 2008: In which I flashback to the 90's and get pulled over for the first. time. ever.

Today was flashback day on set. I have never been a part of a flashback. I wasn't sure what it entailed, but I had visions of flashbacks in Friends, with Monica in her fat suit, Rachel with her old nose, and everyone's hair and clothes looking waaaay too ridiculous.

I was not looking forward to it.

But you know what? It turned out just peachy.

First, since the flashback was 1998, the clothes weren't terrible. I got a nice polk a dot dress and the only issue I had with it was that it was really tight around the lung area, so breathing deeply was impossible for about five hours.

Second, since it was a "period" scene, the girls got to hit hair and make up. Which is awesome. We sat our butts in the same seats as the stars and had their hairdressers playing with our tresses, and it was a beautiful thing. When I was on the makeup side, guess who was in the chair just a foot to my right? None other than the star, Elizabeth Reaser herself.

That was kind of cool.

Also cool? The hairdresser picked me to be the "Phoebe" hair-do, the Lisa Kudrow look from Friends. I didn't even know my hair was capable of staying up that long, but I guess 50 hairpins and a bottle of spray can hold anything.

I made Andy take a picture of the back of my head at lunch:

Then I tried to get a self-portrait of the front, but it doesn't look so great:

Then I took a picture of Andy:

Fun things on set today:

Awesome snacks: Goldfish and cheese popcorn. Gene, how did you know these are my favoritest snacks ever?!

Chillin' in hair and makeup like a real star.

Working in Coronado at night, while crowds gathered around the perimeter to ooh and ahh and ask us questions.

Totally ruining the end of a scene when we got sent across later than normal and ended up walking parallel right next to the actors as they vacated the scene. But really, it was not our fault.

The Russians. See, there were these three Russian boys on set who normally work in LA, but came down here for the day. At one point, they started their lap right after me and they guy I was walking with so they were right behind us for quite awhile. So I joked they were stalking us and clutched my purse tightly to me and gave them a suspicious eye. Best line of the night comes from Russian #2: "They make us to be stalker." Then the Russians went into some weird zombie mode and joked that it would be funny if they followed me down the street like that.

The end.

Or is it?

As I was driving home, rocking out to my Spring Awakening soundtrack, remembering I had a load of laundry to do still, even though it was eleven p.m., suddenly something happened that had never happened before.

A cop got behind me and turned on his sirens.

Busted! But I didn't know what for! And I was starting to freak out inside my head while retaining a relatively calm, yet nervous exterior. I'd always figured I'd be the type to start crying at her first ticket, and this thought was not helping.

So I kept my hands on the wheel (I remember that from "What to do if you get pulled over 101") until he came over. He was a friendly guy, probably my age, and didn't seem to mind one bit that I was completely flustered as I searched for my driver's license and registration, which weren't really in their right places thanks to being on set all day and my dad tinkering with my car and in my glove box. Finally I'd handed it all to him, he asks about my address, he looks at my ID, and he says:

"You went to Shadow Mountain, huh?"

And it all changed in an instant. This was no foe! This was friend! A shadow mountain friend! A Christian brother. I was immediately at ease, and quite incredulous that he would remember my name from the days I did go to Shadow, which were the Awana years, which is where he remembered me from. Then he kindly warns me about sliding through stop signs (my apparent crime, though to be honest I couldn't even remember the stop sign he was referring to, so I probably really did drift through it), and goes on his merry way.

And 30 seconds later, when the shock has worn off, I realize I forgot to ask his name. Because if he remembered me, chances were I would know his name, too. Names from the past are my specialty. Alas, I did not, and now I feel sad that I'll never know who he was, this awesome cop who made my first pullover quite a pleasant experience.

So if you're out there, Mr. Patrols the Helix High La Mesa area at 11:00 on Wednesday Nights Police Officer, thanks. (And what's your name?)