Happy Birthday Marianne!! :)

Miss you girl! Love ya mucho!

I got some good stuff today.

I got this amazing trench from Target. I also got this cardigan (though it's a much brighter pink than it appears in the picture). I also got 2 sweaters like this one, but they aren't this sweater. I couldn't find the pictures of the ones I got. But they are similar to this (striped, long sleeve, pullover v-necks). One is navy blue and black striped. The other is bright pink and grey striped. And they were on clearance for about $10 a pop. Good stuff. And I got bras. Nothing special, just needed some new ones. Oh and this belt. I currently own the black one, but needed to replace it (I'm on the smallest notch!)

At Old Navy, I got a fantastic black puffy vest--I've been wanting one forever; 3 pairs of underwear; and a pair of navy dress pants. None of which I could find pictures of on the website. *sigh* That's what I get for shopping the clearance section.

At the Gap, I got this T shirt. Yes, it's a lot to pay for a T-shirt (especially since I envision myself sweating in it at the gym), but I'm a supporter of Product (RED) and I love the message on the shirt. And damnit, it's (almost) my birthday. It's hard to read in the picture, so this is what it says:

We are empowe(RED) and inspi(RED) to make a world that is desi(RED) by the next generation and admi(RED) right now.

And that is something I can get behind. *steps off soapbox*

I also got this dress, which I love (and I only paid $40 for it). And a pair of black dress pants. Not exciting enough to hunt for a picture.

Tuesday:

I am at work at the bank and realize the shirt I need for Hallmark work later that night is still at home. I call Matt who agrees to come up and bring me said shirt. When he comes he also brings a package and insists that I open it (no contest). It's an audio book by Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello (the crew responsible for "Strangers With Candy").
He says: I know what you're thinking--'when am I going to listen to an audio book, my commute is about 10 minutes' But I was thinking we could listen to it on a longer trip--like to the Boston Airport.
This is when he pulls out flight information for weekend trip to Ohio to see my friends & family.
I shriek with joy and he snaps pictures. Life is good.

Wednesday:
The promised snow starts falling around 1:30 a.m. It's pretty thick and getting worse when I leave for work, but I had to go because the hotline said so. So I went. The snow keeps falling. We open the bank. One colleague calls off for her road is closed. It's okay because we have NO CUSTOMERS. We're biding our time and waiting for 875 Elm St (our hq in Manchester) to realize we need to go home. Finally around 1:30 we get a call saying we can close up at 2. We're out and scraping our cars by 2:15. I get home around 3 after a careful white knuckled drive. Matt has dug out a parking space for me. I go upstairs to change when my inner 5 year old begs to go out and play in BIG SNOW! So I go back outside. Matt and I throw snow at eachother, trudge to the post office and corner store, make snow angels and come back inside. We make hot cocoa and enjoy our snowed in evening. I start packing for our trick.

Thursday:
Back to work. After work I go home and finish packing, start cleaning up the apartment. Ooh. Exciting.

Friday:
Go to work for 3 hours doing only 1 hour of actual work before leaving at 11. Go home, get ready to leave. Leave for airport at 1:30. Get stuck in traffic. Wait in massive line to get boarding passes until about 20 minutes before we need to board when guy shuffles us to the 2 hidden self-check-in kiosks. Get stopped in security because Matt had shoved a bottle of India Ink in his bag, not thinking about it being carry-on. We get to the gate in time to pee and play musical gate change. The flight is uneventful but ends up with me being home. Yay! We go out with some friends.

Saturday:
Shopping and lunch with my family. Gametime with friends.

Sunday:
Devin's 1st birthday party. Then my extravaganza beings--first to Bucca Di Beppo's for dinner. Then to Sly Fox for some booze and karaoke. The problem with having a lot of friends around on your birthday is that they all want to buy you drinks and you quickly lose the self-preservation instinct that tells them to stop. After 2 Midori sours, 1 Amaretto sour, 1 Sex on the Beach with a double shot of vodka, 1 chocolate cake shot, 1 apple shot, and 3 or 4 shots of Jager (not to mention the 1/2 a bottle of wine at dinner) I'm feeling pretty good. We sing and dance and all is good. I go home and spend the next HOUR throwing up. Yeah. Remind me to never do that again.

Monday:
I was sick all day. Did nothing but alternate trying to eat(I felt nauseaus all day) and sleeping. Got my present (a copy of "Reefer Madness: the movie musical") from Marianne and went to bed (again).

Tuesday:
I feel much better (thank god) and am glad we didnt' leave yesterday (I don't think I would've survived). Hope all is well with everyone in lj land and hope to talk to you again soon.

...or at least it WAS my berfday. And it was a good one. I got pearl earrings from Matt (score) and season two of Lois & Clark from my parents. Went to Buca diBeppo's for dinner with a shitload of my friends and ended up getting drunk. My best girl who lives in Columbus came up to surprise me. And after the restaraunt closed we found a bar that has karaoke on Sunday nights, so even though I'm still fighting a cold and my voice sounds like shit, I got to karoke on my birthday. It was great.

There was the moment when I cried, because a friend of mine who's basically avoiding all of us now, well he just wasn't there. And someone karaoked the song we always sang. And in that moment, I felt his absence in a way that I haven't before. I must say I kind of miss his sexual harassment. And his goofiness. And his hugs. I don't understand it. So last night I shed a tear over Michael D. Hihn.

And I'm better now.

I wasnt' planning to get drunk last night. It just kind of happened. That's how it works with me. If I'm hanging out with the karaoke crew and I'm not driving, but also not planning on getting drunk I probably will end up getting drunk. I haven't been drinking lately, I mean I'll have something here or there, but I've basically done the drinking thing, and with exception of times last night, I think I'm done with it. But I still love hanging out with my friends.

I think my recovery turkey bacon and eggs are almost ready. I'm gonna stop now.

Hang tough, and thanks to all who sent well-wishes my way! Much love, Emme.

Days off are never actually days off. The only time I do nothing productive on a day off is if I stayed at Eddy & Gina's the night before. But it's okay. I've already done my strength workout and cleaned both bathrooms today; caught up on LJs and fixed the schedule for work next week. (Yes, I'm making the schedules for the cashiers and baggers now.)

My birthday was AWESOME!! Thanks and love to all of you who have sent greetings. I appreciate it and they are in my card/picture tree now. Let's see...we didnt' find a place to karaoke, but we did go to this bar and it was fun. I was appropriately drunk (i.e. happy but not retarded) and I had a great time. There was a live band that wasn't half bad and my friends had them (along with the rest of the bar) sing to me . I had a tiara and a button that said "Birthday Girl" bought for me by a friend and I loved every second of the attention. My mom spent a good part of the day cooking for me (I had requested homemade mac & cheese and homemade sloppy joes for my birthday dinner). It was a great birthday.

Other than that, the past week has been relatively uneventful. Matt had a good time at karaoke. My friends like him, even Mike, who has now included him in the group he buys shots for. Which makes me happy, because I was always worried about how it would be with them, but it's good.

Oh, and Whitney, I didn't realize that Ron Rice had left Bethany. He wasn't the best counselor when he was there though but I can't believe they haven't hired someone else yet. I would talk to Sarah Webb, the Residence Life person or even T. Gale Thompson about the situation. Even if T. Gale can't do anything about it, he might be able to help you find someone who can. That's just my two cents.

Okay. I need to finish checking my email. I need to put the schedule in the computer at work. I need to get a shower and eat lunch. I need to do at least one chapter in my GRE study book. I need to get my stuff together so I can go to Matt's right after kickboxing tonight. Yep. That's my plan, of sorts.

Hang tough, kids. More soon...

So other than royally bombing a reading quiz in Hitchcock, today has been pretty good. But I still can't wait to go shopping on Saturday. That is what has gotten me through this week. I'm sooo excited! I have a list. :)

Needs:
*pen refills
*new toothbrush
*deoderant

Wants: (though some of these also fall into the "needs" category...)
*brown boots/shoes
*cords or other pants
*jeans
*a brown belt
*socks
*underwear
*sports bra
*skirt
*fishnets
*cute shirt (or 2)

I soooo can not wait to go shopping! I realize that I myself have turned my birthday into a celebration of several days. I mean, I didn't really get to do anything special today, and I won't get to do much until tomorrow night, and even then it will be movies, hot pinks and laundry [and hopefully a visit from my friend Meghan ;)]. So Saturday is kind of making up for it. Chinese food (my favorite!) for lunch and then shopping. It will be fantastic.

Now if only I can get this damn senior project straightened out. :-/

Thanks to everyone who sent me cards, e-cards, journal messages, wrote journal entries for me, called me, im'd me, etc. I really appreciate it. :)

More later. To be continued...

So far so good. I got up, taught my lab, came home, listened to a message from my mommy and one from Matt (he sang to me :]), worked out, took a shower, read some for Hitchcock tonight, went to cafe for lunch, got a cool card from my little bro Susan, went to the po where I got cards and money and mail from home, and a package full of candy and other wonderfully bad for me stuff from some of the ladies at church :], and now I have a few minutes to write in here before I go back to productivity. So other than the fact I'm getting nowhere on my senior project (through no fault of my own, I might add) I'm having a great day. :]

I have the best friends and family in the world. I have been showered in e-cards and cards and hugs and journal messages/entries and all sorts of stuff. Yay. I love my birthday.

And I get to go shopping this weekend. On a related note, I also found out that my credit card company upped my limit because I'm good about paying my bill on time. Not that I'm going to launch myself deeper into debt because they are allowing me to, but it's nice to know the capability is there if I need it.

Have I mentioned that I love my birthday? :]

More later. To be continued...

So I would've titled it something else, but I realized that it is indeed my birthday, so yay! I'll be 22 in about 8 hours. Woo hoo! Hopefully 22 will be as fantastic as 21 has been.

Wednesday = cool day. Shadowed President Poteat. I know most people will think I'm crazy, but I really like the woman. I respect her greatly and will defend her to just about anyone. I think she's doing the best she can with a bad situation.

Today was awesome. Had a good time with the presdient, my workout was fantastic (I was really frustrated with the stupidity of some people so I got a lot of that out), I had a great conversation with Mandy.

I really wanted to write a kick-ass journal entry...I had a good one planned in my head earlier, but I'm too exhausted now that I've finally gotten around to it. So I'll have to write more later when I'm more alert and my thoughts can process themselves more clearly.

More later. To be continued...