Photographs and Memories...

I have been meaning to upload my pictures all week and post blogs, but I didn't get to it until today. So, instead of several blogs with a few pictures, you are getting one blog with an overly abundant amount of pictures. Enjoi.

First, I have more pictures of the deer that live at my work. We just got word this week that our building is being sold and we are moving elsewhere, so I thought it appropriate to show you these guys one more time. (P.S. The new owners have promised they will take care of our deer after we leave.)

Here is the Mom deer:

Here is one of the baby deer, considering stepping in front of my car:

And here are all three of them, running away from me:

If you click on these pictures to make them bigger, you can see the deer better and see how pretty they are. Go ahead, have a click!

On to last Saturday night. The weekend before last, my good friend Sara had a birthday party, but Cory, Kyle and I missed it cause we were in East Lansing. So we went out last Friday to belatedly celebrate and wear dresses. I told Sara I didn't care where we went or what we did, as long as she got drunk, cause I love me some drunk Sara. She did not disappoint.

Here are Sara, me, and my lovely sisters at Easy Street:

Sisters again...

Bobby Thunder:

We're getting gigglier...

And then....

Me and Lauren...

Sara, at last call at Wesley's...

I love this picture of Lauren because look very closely at those dudes on the left, checking her out as she walks by... I think there were a few more behind her, too... That Lauren, she IS a looker...

Sara, back at me and Cory's, attempting to play cards...

Lauren, obviously thinking someone's silly but I don't remember who...

Here I am on my way to the movies on Wednesday, trying to take a picture of my new dress (it's kind of a long drive to the movies)...

Here is my super cute, super giant new bag that I ordered off Etsy...

And here is Cory, wondering "what the hell I am doing" after I took a picture of my bag...

And on to Lauren's art show last night... I couldn't get Lauren and Kyle to understand the concept of keeping still when I was taking their pictures...

See? No stillness.

I know how to stay still for pictures.

Lauren is making masks for a charity event. One is finished and the other is not. Both are kinda creepy...

Tweet?

Now I'm going to be a sister brag-a-boo and show you a bunch of pictures of Lauren's art work, because she is awesome and I am proud of her.

This picture is titled, "But I Love Him." The elephant on the left has a black eye and is buying concealer and a pregnancy test.

Here is a pimp elephant and his prostitute. Lauren's elephants are misbehavors. Once, a lady came into Lauren's studio and asked if the prostitute lady was going to a cocktail party. No, ma'am, she is not.

This one is called, "Don't Take Candy From Strangers." This one made a child hide and cry yesterday.

These are Lauren's mix n' match monsters...

This monster painting depicts what it's like to work at a bar.

I like these guys...

This guy is super cute. I forget his name.

And lastly, here is Lauren in the middle of her studio, surrounded by her creations, the way she likes it. This was my second attempt, because guess what she did during my first attempt? That's right, moved.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Squirm

My home page on my computer is MSN.com, and everytime I have opened up my internet today, I have been confronted by the headline: "Man Gets 9-Foot Tapeworm" (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26290797 in case you wanna be icked out). Seriously, this disturbs me on so many levels. So many, in fact, that I feel the need to disturb the 2 or 3 people who read this blog by sharing. You're welcome.

To take this a bit further, let's picture this worm swimming around inside your body, and then peeking out of your throat and butt at the same time (well, it is 9 feet long, after all- it could reach both orifices at once).

Now you're really welcome.

Dear Erin...

Received in this morning's e-mail from my dear friend Mike...

Line-Dancing Burgers

So. I've realized I like to start a lot of sentences with the word "so".

So. On Friday, Cory and I went to see Ted Nugent at the Rib Off. It was super cheap and you know how I love me some big Toledo gatherings. This was THE big Toledo gathering to end all Toledo gatherings. You have no idea. Yet. But you will. Because I'm going to tell you.

First of all, this is the guy we were originally standing behind. That mullet is a real beauty, if you ask me. And do you see the fuzzy American flag hat to his right? Oh, yes, that is his girlfriend. She was at least 10-20 years younger than him, though, so apparently that hair works overtime. In the front.


In abundance in this crowd: American flag apparel, do-rags, cowboy hats, Ted Nugent hunting camp hats, vests, short-shorts (on girls AND guys), leather (even though it was hot out)- eh, you get the idea.

Later, we ended up behind a dad, his son, and the son's girlfriend. The son and dad were wearing matching Nugent tour t-shirts and were both matchingly wasted. They both bounced up and down and high-fived at the beginning of each song, and the dad did some impressive air-drumming and air-guitaring. Everytime the son started air-instrumenting, his girlfriend would pull his hand down and whisper something in his ear, presumably, "Knock it off, you look like an idiot!" Later the girlfriend got in front of them to take pictures for them, and dad and son moved a considerable distance away from her without letting her know. She turned around about 5-10 minutes later to say something to her boyfriend, then looked panicked when she realized he was nowhere to be found. No worries, though. Thanks to dad's air drums, she located them soon enough. I miss those guys...

Because it was the Rib Off, Ted Nugent made sure to add the word "ribs" to every song, and talked about ribs between every song. He also loves America, dead shit, blood brothers*, and blessing America and dead shit. And he shot a flaming arrow through a guitar.

*By the way, if you are from Michigan or Ohio, you are Uncle Teddy's blood brother. You also qualify as his blood brother if you like to hunt.

Oh, and I may have screamed so loud I almost lost my voice when Fred Bear started. But seriously, that's a really good song.

Anyhoo, on to Saturday. After waking up and baking a ham, Cory and I met up with Nicole and Kyle for a trip to East Lansing. Cory's sister Dawn is moving to Livonia this week, so it was her last weekend there. On the way there, we were listening to a song that has the lyrics, "Lolly, lolly, lolly, lolly, let me see that body-body" and I commented that saying "Lolly, lolly" over and over is kind of hard. To which Kyle replied, "See, rappers are talented!" Touche.

As soon as we got to Dawn's apartment, it was raining, so Kyle ran from the car to the door. And tripped and fell, right on the deck. She hurt her tailbone and her ankle, but not to worry- she felt better after a few beers. She's in some pain today, though.

It was also Brew's birthday, so we all went to a bar called the Riv. Brew is really good at dancing the Thriller dance. Here he is mid-Thriller:

That kid to the right is Miggett, who is really good at dressing like Wayne Campbell.

And I know no one was wondering, but in case you ever wonder why I don't post many pictures of Cory and I in the same picture, it's because this is what I have to go through everytime I ask him to take a picture together. Here he is "winking":

Here he is, um...I have no idea, really:

And finally, I get the exaggerated eyebrow:

It's not just me, though...look at how he takes pictures with Nicole:

And here is what happens when you play a line-dancing song, even at a "cool" college bar:

When we got home on Sunday, I went for a bike ride with Mike and Stephanie, and we got caught in a rainstorm, all because I wanted to show them ponies and a donkey. It stopped raining once we crossed the state line back into Ohio, so we decided to have a BBQ. Stephanie makes the most delicious burgers in all the land. Seriously. Usually I just think hamburgers are so-so, but this burger was freakin' delicious. AND she gave me corn on the cob with it. Fuckin' sweet, for reals. Mike and Stephanie also have a movie projector in their backyard, so the four of us (Cory came over for the BBQ, etc.) snuggled under blankets and watched an Australian horror movie called Wolf Creek. Nothing like a nice slasher movie in a dark backyard on a cloudy, windy night.

Speaking of cloudy, windy nights- hello, summer, where did you go? I'm enjoying the nice weather, I am, but I also kinda miss the heat that I thought I was scheduled to receive every August. I'm not done with swimming yet, what gives?

Sincerely, E.

So Long, Passions...

Oh, the times we've had....

Shakes Fist

At the library during my lunch break today, there were two teenage girls- they couldn't have been more than 13-14 years old. They were both wearing matching short-shorts and tiny tank tops, and they were both LOUD and obnoxious. Talking to each other, and on their cellphones, and then flirting with and talking to a guy who was MUCH older than them, with the one girl also showing said guy pictures of her sister "at the beach". Then they asked the guy if he was gay...I couldn't quite follow the logic of that one, except that the girls were, you know, 13-14 years old and I guess that's teenage logic? I dunno. The beach sister girl was on my left, and a middle-aged gentlemen was on my right. The guy on my right leaned over at one point, when the girls were being especially obnoxious, and dead-panned, "Oh, to be young again." and I laughed and said, "Ya know?" I left a few minutes later, mostly to avoid the increasingly growing urge to suddenly shout, "Shut the fuck up, you little squanches! No one wants to hear about your Myspace page! And for God's sake, put some pants on!"

On my way back to work, it suddenly occurred to me: Does it mean I'm old when a middle-aged man looks to me for solidarity against the youth of today? And does it mean I'm old when I totally feel that solidarity and was even thinking it first?

Anyhoo, on to a subject that is the opposite of solidarity: The cleaning people at my work don't like me. I didn't just come to this conclusion; I've suspected it for awhile, starting with the time they broke a lamp in my old office and continuing with the multiple times they've thrown my stuff on the floor and knocked things over on my desk, all in the name of "cleaning" my desk, even though everyone else says their desks never get wiped down. My latest "message" from them was clear: they want me to kiss their asses. What makes me think so? The fact that they moved a tiny toy elephant on my desk into this position, and left it for me to find the next morning:


And on a completely unrelated note, I was looking through the pictures on my cellphone yesterday whilst waiting for Cory to finish a game of Halo 3 and pay attention to me, when I came across three pictures I can only assume were taken by me accidentally pressing the camera button on the side of the phone without noticing:

This is me leaving work with a cup of water...

This is the corner of my coffee table and my cat...

This one took me a minute, but it's my arm and what looks like my work bag, presumably getting ready to get out of my car...

I should totally be a photographer.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Goodies and Good Times

First things first! Last week, I received a totally bitchin' package FULL of super-awesome goodies from my best gal Angel. I got 2 books, some candy, soap flakes that are NOT candy, toys, super-cute charms that I made into a necklace (and got lots of, "OMG! Those charms are SO cute!" when I wore it), a really pretty flower pin, little origami papers, and some fake beer which has a bunch of Japanese writing on it, but also says in English, "This is *joke* beer. Enjoy the bubble!", which entertains me to no end. Here is a photo of my loot:

Yes, my pink sheets are lovely, I know. And big thank you, Angel!! :) You're the greatest! I showed off my package of fun all weekend!

Now, on to the weekend recap...

On Friday night, our friend Tim wanted a Boy's Night cause his wife is out of town, so I scheduled myself a Girl's Night. Sara, Bethany and I got together and ended up going to Mickey Finn's so that we could all see Lauren and also because Thuy was back in town for a couple of days and she was heading up there. Kyle got dropped off to hang out with us, and our friend Kayt also came. Here are Thuy, Kayt, and Bethany, out on the patio:

Our old friend Brett came with Thuy to the bar, and wins the prize for Drunkest Guy in Toledo on a Friday Night. This is because he was found by Moe, the Mickey Finn's Security Guy, laying in the middle of the parking lot. Shortly after that, Thuy and Brett realized that the girl who had driven them there had left, leaving them with no ride home. Brett was carried back inside and given lots of water, and Kayt was sweet enough to drive the two of them home. Now, I don't know this "Becky" girl, and have never talked to her before, but I gotta say...she's a bitch.

After I drove Bethany and Kyle home, Lauren met me at my house where Cory already had some of the guys over. Hijinx and an epic misplacing of Bobby ensued (I didn't find out where he was until Saturday afternoon, and his car was in our lot till Sunday night- sneaky SOB!).

Stuart finally got his cast off, which indirectly led to this:

The above directly led to this:

Friday was also Justin's birthday, so when we woke up on Saturday, I bought him Birthday Breakfast. Which was much better than the stale "Birthday Pizza" I gave him Friday night:

On Saturday, Cory and I went to Mike and Stephanie's for drinks with everyone before we all headed out to the Black Keys show. Quick side note: I got a splinter on their gate when I walked in and it was so deep into my finger, I had to dig it out with a razor blade. Picture that, then continue reading. You're welcome. In downtown Toledo, they have turned the old Erie Street Market into the Toledo Civic Center, and the Black Keys show was the inaugural concert. The Kills opened up for the Black Keys. Both bands were SOO good, and I really like the venue. The stage was big, there was a huge floor area with clear views from the stage everywhere, and there were food AND beer vendors. My only suggestions would be to switch the food and beer lines cause the beer line will always be longer, and it led into the crowd watching the show; someone needs to keep an eye on the soap and towels in the restrooms cause they ran out pretty fast; and they need to seriously chill out on the door stamp ink. EVERYONE was covered in blue about 5 minutes into the night, and it's now 2 days later and I can't get the giant C off of my hand. People had blue arms, blue fingers, blue noses....

The show was a huge success, though, and I was proud of Toledo for finally opening up a good venue and bringing in such great acts. The place was packed, and I saw people there I haven't seen in years, along with tons of friends who were equally as happy for such a good show coming through our town.

Unfortunately, this is the best picture I could get from the crowd, with my cellphone:

Eh, oh well. At least it's clear he has a beard, right?

After the show, a bunch of us went back to Mike and Stephanie's. Here's me with Cory and Mike...

Lots of beer and Jager bombs happened, then people starting dropping off one by one. Greg was first, but we all saw it coming when his friend asked, "How'd you get so drunk?" and he answered, "I'M UP!"

Cory and I still didn't make it home till around 6 a.m. I slept in till about 1:00 p.m., then my dad called to see if I would hang out at their house for a few hours while he and my mom went to see Polka Floyd downtown at the Rib Off (they like someone to at least be at the house when they're not, on account of my grandpa and all). So I went over, hung out with Gramps for a little while, then headed out to the backyard with a book. Lauren came over and the two of us spent the entire afternoon laying on cushioned lawn chairs, reading, chatting, snacking on our parent's food, and sharing the love of a fickle cat.

When my parents came home, they joined us in the backyard AND later bought us J & G's pizza for dinner. All in all, a sweet f'ing day! I have not been that lazy in SOO long, if ever, and it was awesome. And free food is always cool. Oh, and Lauren thought I poisoned her, but hello, she is totally still alive. So there.

When I did finally go home, Cory and I rented and watched The Darjeeling Limited, which was really funny in Wes Anderson's subtle way.

Hope everyone's having a lovely Monday!