Girls rule, boys drool

Tuesday night YPW was having a mingle at The Alley and I was invited to go bowling with my friends Beckstar, J Dogg (Back story on the name: J Dogg is because Jason was chosen as Snoop Dogg in an ice breaker at the mingle. Becky chose the other names, and you'll have to ask her for her reasoning), and J-Rod. The first game I had invited two guys to play with us that I knew from YPW. It made the price cheaper for all, so why not? They left after the first game, so the second game the odds were perfect for some battle of the sexes. And oh yes, the girls came through! Beckstar and I (Mandalicious) beat the guys. For a few frames I wasn't sure that we could hold our lead, but here's the proof that teamwork pays off:


Beckstar and J-Rod left after the second game but I continued the winning streak. No picture was taken of that game though, so you'll have to take my word for it that I won by 8 pins. Score!

Matt went to a wedding without Liz

This post made me laugh, then cry, then laugh some more.

Common Sense

No time to breathe

Do you ever feel like life is moving too fast? I remember when I was little and summers would go way too fast, and the school year would d-r-a-g on and on. But as we get older, time just keeps going faster it seems. When did 2009 arrive? When did I get to be this close to turning 25? Where did my childhood go? I feel like events are happening right now and keep piling on and someday soon I'm just going to crash and finally have to say "no" to a commitment. I hate saying no. But this week requires a no somewhere, and Pathways is getting nixed. This week it's like I don't have time to enjoy things because I'm just preparing for tomorrow night's events. Work, go somewhere, sleep, work, go somewhere, sleep, work, go somewhere...

This week will be over before I know it. And I'm not ready to start a new one yet.

Monday : shopping for TSP with a friend.
Tuesday : YPW Mingle and bowling with friends
Wednesday : life group
Thursday : HCHS volunteer appreciation dinner
Friday : Thrift Store Prom
Saturday : going to see Dave Ramsey in KC.
Sunday : driving back from KC and unpacking.

Then Monday begins a new week.

A little bit of humor from JC

¹One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. ²"Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?"

³He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, ⁴John's baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?"

⁵They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' ⁶But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet."

⁷So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."

⁸Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

Luke 20:1-8

I've heard this story many times before, but yesterday when I was reading it, I decided to pause and imagine myself in the situation. During a recent sermon on the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Luke 13:18-21), Pastor Dave made the observation that we read the few verses one right after the other, but maybe Jesus asked his question, "What is the kingdom of God like?" and just waited for an answer. None of the disciples knew what to say, and maybe shuffled their feet, because they knew that whatever answer they would give would show their ignorance.

I think something similar happened when Jesus' authority was questioned by the priests. Except this time, I can see Jesus letting out a little laugh when he answers. I think that sometimes we imagine Jesus as more serious than maybe he really was. But don't you think there was some humor in this? How often do we talk about God having a sense of humor when He works in our lives? Don't you think Jesus had a sense of humor too? Imagine the priests huddling like they are on Family Feud, weighing their options and wanting to pick the right answer so that they don't get their third strike. Then Jesus asks, "What's your final answer? Don't expect me to spill my secret if you're not going to share yours." And then he laughs as he shakes his head and walks away.

It should be called "DeMo's Weekly Digest"

The "daily" part of the Daily DeMo seems to be lost somewhere in time. So instead, I just keep writing everything in my google notebook and then post it all in one big whopper of a week's worth of learning.

So here it is. Don't be overwhelmed with knowledge:

The Daily DeMo - Edition 3

DD#11 :: Monday - This one is for the typography lovers. The interrobang is a combination of a question mark and exclamation point, used to combine the two symbols and avoid using ?!?!?!?

DD#12 :: Tuesday - My neighbor writes programming for restaurants like Long John Silver's, to make sure that they get all the food that they need and that their computer system handles the changes when a new promotion comes up.

DD#13 :: Wednesday - Today I learned that I am capable of receiving a ticket for 10-over the speed limit.

DD#13.1 :: God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.

DD#13.2 :: When "To the Colors" is played on MAFB, you must stop what you're doing until the song is over. I did some more research on this and learned more stuff here.

DD#14 :: Thursday - Free admission for Earth Day at the Zoo will bring out all sorts of people. It's a great opportunity for people-watching, and made me want to be a SAHM so that I can take field trips with my kids. There's just something fun and different about the SAHMs.

DD#14.1 :: There are 500 congregations in Sedgwick County, and 27 of those are taking part in Love Wichita this year.

DD#15 :: Friday - Tonight I learned that volleyball is way more fun when there isn't a score to be kept.

DD#15.1 :: My left hand tends to want to play more volleyball than my right hand. It kind of just sticks itself out there and gives the appearance that I am left-handed. The only way to prevent that is to play with my hand behind my back, and that is really hard to do.

DD#15.2 :: I'm not the only one who struggled with a Pampered Chef can opener her first time using one.

DD#16 :: Saturday - Some things after WWII really did happen like in the movies, with the waitresses dancing with the soldiers after they came home from the war.

DD#17 :: Sunday - A group of 20 people laughing loudly on one side of a restaurant will get suspiciously quiet once the food arrives. And then the laughter continues after the plates are taken away.

What did you learn this week?

I'm working on personalizing my links around here, and currently have the DD in two places. Up there at the top, and also in a link list over on the right side. Trying to decide which I like better. Any preference? I'll offer my opinion and reasons for it after I hear from the most important people, my Readers. :)

Bring on the groupies... I'll still leave comments :)

Ok, so maybe I'll miss some along the way, but I'll try my best!

DeMo's Short Shorts

[Sorry to disappoint. There will be no pictures of my super-white legs to be found here (This will be fun to see what kind of google hits I get for this one). I'm talking "shorts" as in animation shorts, like what Pixar does. Except this is a blog and there is no animation involved, so it doesn't really apply...]

Despite the fact that
1. it was POURING rain last night
2. and my hair got soaked
3. because I had a "screw it" attitude
4. and refused to use an umbrella
5. and struggle to bring in my laundry basket
6. from the car when I got home
7. and I slept on wet hair (which actually looked pretty cute),
my hair looks pretty good today. A flat iron and hairspray are miracle workers. Why didn't I know of these tools on picture day all through high school?

~::~

What do you think of this new layout? I like the simplicity of this one and might keep it for a while, until I beat Lindsay out of the next drawing for a free blog LO. I'm trying to find the code that makes comments from me show up with a different background.

~::~

I'm really horrible at sending stuff on time. I still have Mel's birthday present (to possibly be delivered in-person? I think so!), and still haven't sent Sara K her coffee. Both items are sitting on my kitchen table as a reminder, yelling at me "please send me away and get me out of here!"

~::~

Lindsay wrote a great post about our Love Wichita experience. She said it much better than I could have. Just makes us all appreciate our grandparents and want to help the elderly. After all, isn't that what we're called to do?

~::~

I've been out of college for two years, but occasionally I have this crazy fear that I really didn't graduate because there is a math class that I never went to because I didn't know that it was on my schedule until halfway through the semester, so I'd been marked absent and there was no way to make up those points. Nightmare.

~::~

Give me a little bit of time to get over my new celeb crush, but until then, I'm going to let you know that I think Zac Efron is h-o-double-t hott. I have a feeling that I'm a little behind all the hype b/c I haven't seen any of the HSMs, and might not ever. But for a little while on Saturday night, Becky and I reverted to our teenage selves.

~::~

Remember me talking about pulling out all of the dead leaves from the flowerbeds? What I didn't mention is that I did my own, and also did the neighbor's. And my legs are yelling at me every time I move. I feel like I'm recovering from a full day of lunges and squats.

~::~

I'm really thrown off by Google's new look today, honoring Samuel Morse. There is a video that you may have seen already of guys doing morse code vs SMS. This is the only site I've found where the vid hasn't been taken down, and you have to wait for it to download, but it's worth it.

~::~

With all the depressing talk and worry! worry! worry! about the swine flu, this is a good reminder to just seek the Kingdom and not worry. Maybe my attitude is a little bit too "meh" for you, but I just think that if you let every little thing get you down, and only look at the negatives, life gets pretty depressing. Find comfort in knowing that God is in control.

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

A good day is...

::waking up before the alarm goes off
::spending 30 minutes on the powerpoint instead of 2 hours
::going to help with Love Wichita and meeting Shirley.
::gathering in a circle to pray for Shirley, but instead hearing Shirley pray for all of us. there were many tears shed.
::finally making it to Sonic during happy hour and only paying 79 cents for a medium slush.
::finding out that my deodorant is on sale at Walgreen's, giving me enough money to buy a Reese's.
::getting a phone call from Becky to go see a movie.
::finally getting the leaves out of the flowerbed and uncovering the new sprouts of the gladiolas.
::making a killer batch of spaghetti and catching up with Becky.
::only paying $4.50 for a movie b/c we had a half-price coupon.
::crushing on Zac Efron for 2 hours.
::ending with a spontaneous stop at McDonald's for ice cream.

Tempted and Loving

I'm tempted to just sleep outside tonight since it's much cooler out there than it is in my apartment. I'm holding out on turning on my a/c because I really like my $15 electric bill and want to keep it that way for a while. This window unit is definitely not high on the efficiency scale. What keeps me from sleeping outside is the possum that I see nearly every night around 10:00 when I'm outside. I wanted so badly to scare it, but it was across the sidewalk on the porch of my neighbors, and I thought that might look kind of weird for a completely sober someone to be creeping outside a door, looking for a huge possum. Explain that one to the cops.

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I've spent a lot of time outside today. It was Earth Day at the zoo, and my company had a booth making "living necklaces". I scooped dirt and tied string, and directed kid-sized traffic (what is it with kids [and some adults] not noticing where the end of the line is?). Fortunately this year I wore sunscreen and a hat, and only have a slight reddish glow to my arms instead of the lobster "can'tmoveithurtstoomuch" skin that I had last year. This is a little bit more pleasant to deal with.

I went back to the office and worked for a couple of hours, leaving 15 minutes early to beat traffic and get a head start on getting ready for Love Wichita orientation. I managed to take a shower and get ready in less than 45 minutes. A-ma-zing. Love Wichita is happening on Saturday. 27 churches from the city, regardless of denomination, are coming together to show Christ's love and do service projects for people and neighborhoods in need of service. There's more info on the website, and I think it will be a great opportunity to take pride in Wichita and the people here.

After orientation we headed over to Jason's Deli (for those of us who wanted real food) or Marble Slab Creamery (yummy, but I can't eat ice cream for dinner and still feel good in an hour). (You know how good a Dr. Pepper tastes after you haven't had one all day? I drank water the whole time I was at the zoo, and held out for fountain DP. Lovely.) I definitely walked off my dinner because I went for a walk with Emilee, Ginger, and Jennifer around the lake at Bradley Fair (and we all decided that we'd be summer concert series buddies), then we joined the rest of the group for a longer walk. It was the perfect evening: calm, not humid, not windy, slightly breezy, and I didn't feel like I needed a jacket (which means it was pretty nice outside). I got to spend some time with girls outside my normal circle of friends (hello, S, HY, J!) and maybe someday soon, while spinning clay, I will tell them all about the contents of my anonymous blog...

1:43:41

When I got off the phone with my BFF, this is what I saw for the call time: 1:43:41. All thanks to Mel having too much coffee before bed, and us both having the attitude of "it's just too good of a conversation to stop talking and we have so much to talk about." That's what happens when two weeks pass of only having 15 minute windows of phone calls, when we're used to at least an hour a week. I love that I've been blessed with such a good friend that even 5 years later I'd still consider her a good enough friend to be in my wedding. Some of the best talks happen when we're ready to get off the phone but each think of 3 "just one more thing"s to talk about and each lasts another 15 minutes.

Christann is my other "pick up where we left off" friend, and she's also a blessing to me, even though we seem to never be in the same city at the same time. Some day we'll get that scheduling thing worked out.

Do you have friends like that? I hope that you have some friends that you can count on to laugh with and to cry with and to talk about hard stuff with. It really does make life sweeter.

I'm all for free stuff

And this place really needs a makeover. I could spend time doing it myself, playing with HTML and learning more XHTML, but if there's an opportunity to get a redesign for free, sign me up! Oh, how convenient that Life of a Busy Wife is having a contest! The more social networking you do for her blog, the more entries you get to enter to win a free LO from Krizzy Designs. Heck yes.

And if by some unfortunate unluck-of-the-draw I don't win this contest, I will be searching for a different LO. If you come across something cute, that you think fits presentlydemo, please let me know about it. I might even let you guest post if I like what you find. :)

Someday I'll dance like Shawn

You guys are so funny! I loved reading all of your responses to the Daily DeMo. I was trying to decide whether to write you back in the comments, or just make my replies a feature of the DDs. How should that work? Should each edition of the Daily DeMo have it's own post? Or do I just add it on to the end of whatever else I'm talking about? Does each need an edition number? How should I comment back? Ahhh so many questions! I'm just thinking out loud, but if you have good advice about how I should handle this new feature (so exciting!) I'd love to hear it. For now, until something better comes along, I'm just going to add it to the end of whatever I'm posting about. But first, I wanted to reply to you all because there was some funny stuff learned this week!

@Silvy - I'm glad you figured it out! So did you learn that or had you just forgotten what IRL means? :)

@Mindee - Your adventures are so funny! I got a good laugh at your discovery. Those kids sound so cute.

@Dad - Well, at least you tried to get it out. Poor fishy.

@Veda - The guys sounded awesome this morning!

@Jenn - Your comment reminded me of how I used to love watching the medical shows, but now I get squeamish.

@Amber - Haha. You actually tried it! I'm glad I wasn't totally off on that observation.

@Sara - I think I have something that will make you feel better...and it won't cost you a thing.

[side note: does it annoy anyone else that when someone using blogger leaves a comment it links to the person's blogger profile instead of directly to their blog URL? ugh. pet. peeve.]

The Daily DeMo, Edition 2

DD#8 :: Friday - I learned how to Salsa! Some friends went to take Salsa lessons at a local dance studio and we learned the back basic, the side-together-side, the mambo, and some turn that I'm still working on getting right. (I've been turning too far, or not far enough.) A friend made the comment last night that she finds it easier to Salsa without a partner, unless the guy knows what he's doing. I'd have to agree. And I kind of try to lead the guy if I think I know more about the steps than he does, and that just doesn't fly with Salsa dancing. The guy is in control (ha!) and the women are expected to read the guy's mind and follow his lead (ha!). With enough practice (and a partner as cute and funny as Mark), I will be dancing like Shawn:

Am I the only one who feels like watching Dirty Dancing now?

DD#9 :: Saturday - Salsa dancing will make your whole lower body ache and give you sore calves. Dancing on your heels is pretty much off-limits!

DD#9.1 - Next year please don't keep score on your first round of golf. It will only make you depressed. Also, try to hit the range before committing to a full round.

DD#9.2 - Even though you aren't the type to run and hide from spiders, you will still check for spiders in your bed and around the toilet after watching Arachnophobia.

DD#10 :: Sunday - I visit my grandparents every Sunday and I learned that it doesn't feel like a Sunday to them until I show up.

DD#10.1 - Love is a decision. Like is an emotion.

I might have more on that last one in a little while. Tonight's speaker at Pathways got me thinking, and I want some time to reflect on what he talked about. It reminded me of Jason's post on that very thing.

Time for me to go read through 1 John 3 and then head for bed.

You're gonna learn something new today

For anyone who has been around me IRL, you've most likely heard me say "You learn something new every day!" and sometimes ending that with "and if you don't, you're not paying attention." I think it's one of those phrases that people hear from me so much that maybe it annoys them, but they're too polite to let me know how they feel. :)

If you have been paying attention, you may have noticed that I changed the tagline on my blog to say "you're gonna learn something new today." The "regular tea" thing was cute, and is sentimental because of a great night at Applebee's with friends, but it didn't really say much about PresentlyDeMo. Not that my blog is only going to be all about learning new things, but I thought I'd give it a try. I thought it might be fun to see just how much I can learn in a certain time. A month? A year? We'll see how long I keep this going.

But before posting about this "learning new things" thing and saying "I told you so!" I wanted to make sure that what I'm saying is actually true. So I tried a little experiment and kept a Google Notebook of things I learned every day for the last week. Sometimes it was hard, and at least one of these things is just a matter of lack of common sense at the moment *coughsaltcough*, but it required me to think back on my day. How often do you do that? I know that before this week, I mostly just lived my day and went to bed, ready to start a new day. Sure, sometimes I'd think about funny stuff that happened and get another laugh, but not every day do I look back on just the normal stuff to find what new piece of knowledge I gained from it. It was also fun to remember the things that I taught other people. At work, this mostly involves something simple on the computer, but just last night I taught a friend how to properly break open sunflower seeds to get to the goodness inside.

So here's my list. I'm going to keep this going, and might just make it a short daily thing: The Daily DeMo! (Although at the rate I'm going, this blog seems to be a Thursday-Sunday-Monday blog. Where does my time go? I have no time!) Feel free to add your version of Daily DeMo in the comments.

The Daily DeMo, Edition 1

DD#1 - Friday :: McConnel AFB uses a coding system to report what is wrong with the planes after they come in. For example, every piece of material on every section of the airplane has a numeric code that gets put into the computer so that the mechanics will have a simple way of knowing what needs to be fixed; even something so common as a cup-holder has a code assigned to it. It's someone's job to take what the pilot has logged as needing repair, and translate that into numbers that the computer can understand, and then the mechanics take it from there. [kevin, if you read this and are laughing uncontrollably because I haven't explained it very well, please correct me :)]

DD#2 - Saturday :: Big hooks catch little fish, but don't come out easily. There's a baby catfish swimming around Lazy Creek with some lip jewelry.

DD#3 - Sunday :: Don't confuse the salt for the sugar or the deviled eggs won't taste very good.

DD#4 - Monday :: At least two bulls and a horse live at Cowtown, and they have stinky poo.

DD#4.1 - If you feel like giving up on a bike ride because you've ridden too far, you have to keep going because that's the only way to get home.

DD#5 - Tuesday :: WD-40 is so named because it was the 40th attempt at getting the perfect product.

DD#5.1 - When performing chest compressions during CPR, if you break so many ribs that the chest cavity is mushy, you're doing it correctly *shudder*.

DD#6 - Wednesday :: A bottle of water at a Shocker game costs $3.25. Insane.

DD#7 - Thursday :: The number of telemarketers on any given day is equivalent to the pieces of junkmail that are tossed. [Confession: This is my own frustrated observation, but I'm sure that it's true at some point in time.]

Here's to September

This weekend I bought a dress.

In September I'll be going to a wedding in said dress that is currently fitting snug but will be perfect by September.

I've been living quite the sedentary lifestyle lately. Working in front of a computer for 8+ hours, and then coming home to limited cable (Friends every night at 6 & 6:30!) and I can totally feel it affecting me in certain places.

Hopefully by doing a little less of the sedentary thing, and a little more of the biking thing, I can make a change.

Here's the route that I took on Monday night. Then I ate 8 Oreos -- but they were reduced fat, so I'm ok, right?

The Rock & Worship Roadshow

Friday night I met some friends at the Rock & Worship Roadshow. If you have the opportunity to go, you should. You can see Hawk Nelson, Jeremy Camp, Addison Road, Tenth Avenue North, and Mercy Me for only $10. That's a pretty sweet deal for a 5-act concert. The Coliseum was sold out. So awesome. The only thing missing from this show was a woman! All of the bands have men. Ok, ok. I know that Addison Road has Jenny, but she actually wasn't there b/c she just had a baby. So instead, The Afters stepped in last-minute and they did a great job.

It felt like a really personal concert. Bart Millard from MercyMe came out between each band to talk to the crowd, and I was impressed by that. MercyMe is such a huge name in Christian music, but Bart made it a fun time.

Here are pics! (Thanks to Jennifer & Shaun)

We had some awesome seats to the side of the stage, and Shaun hooked us up with some WAYFM tshirts. Yay for free stuff!


Shaun to the Johnson. The giver of free stuff.


The Afters! You may have heard their song Ocean Wide on Grey's Anatomy. Josh sang God of This City while they passed the offering buckets during one of the intermissions.


Tenth Avenue North. The songs that I hear most often on the radio are Love is Here and By Your Side.


Hawk Nelson. Meh. I feel really old saying that, but I felt like I was at a concert in middle school. Sorry, guys!


Now Jeremy Camp is more my style. (Is it wrong to be totally crushing on those guns?) I'm such a huge fan that I joined the neverending text messaging mailing list just to get my free ringtone.


And finally, MercyMe. I'd never seen them in concert, but this was definitely worth it.


Look at all those people! I've never been to a venue that was so packed. It was awesome to hear everyone singing a capella at the very end. I can only ask God what it's like to hear so many people praising Him at one time. Sweetness to His ears.

Shawty got too low, too young

Only Three

"Stop it! You're hurting him!" I couldn't get the words out, but my heart was aching for him -- so much so that my tears wouldn't come. I wanted to tell those men to leave him alone and just let him be. I wanted to run up to him and kiss his face and say, "Me instead."

But I held back.

He was her son. And she just stood there and watched; she couldn't do anything. She knew it needed to be done. She knew that he was the only one who could save her -- could save us. She had accepted that the circumstances of her life would some day require her to give up her precious child. Her life called for obedience, and she obeyed, even though her heart broke with every down stroke of the leather.

He was in so much pain, but he just let them keep going. Let them keep whipping him. Let them keep digging into his flesh. Wordless. Bleeding. Exhausted. Beat down. Knowing that he had no choice but to suffer.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

But through all the suffering and pain came new life. It would take a normal man over 30 days to heal from that. But He did that -- and so much more -- in only three.

Today's wants

Today I want to:
::Watch a WSU baseball or softball game
(I get a daily reminder of baseball when I drive by the Wingnuts stadium. I have yet to make it to a WSU game though)
::Play golf
(it's a bit chilly today!)
::Take dance lessons
(perhaps inspired by DWTS last night and my daily drive past Care to Dance?)
::Throw some pottery
(throw = make on the wheel. But throwing just to throw might be fun and relaxing...)

I'm on Douglas & Main!

A big welcome to you if you're visiting from Douglas & Main! It's nice to read blogs of the locals, and to be one of the locals. I learned from Brandon last night that the intersection of Douglas & Main is where Wichita is split north, south, east, and west. I'm temporarily the center of attention. :)

Matt, you're doing it all wrong!

At some point on Friday I told Matt that I'd mention him in a post. He didn't know he'd get the cake recipe.

I feel so dirty actually typing out the name of this cake, so I'm going to go the route of the abbreviations and let you figure it out.

[Feel free to make this cake for my surprise birthday party that I'm sure you're planning for June 19 or 20 and you can send monetary donations to me via paypal, or just go ahead and buy me that iPhone. Oh, and don't forget the 25 candles.]

BTS? Yes! From Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons
one package chocolate cake mix
one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
one 6-ounce jar caramel or hot fudge topping
8 ounces cool whip
some sort of crushed candy bar

Make the cake according to the directions and bake it in a 9 x 13 pan. Stab it all over with a toothpick. Pour the milk over the cake, then pour the caramel over the cake. Chill it. Before serving, top it with the cool whip and sprinkle on the candy.
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Now I'm going to go buy some Reese's eggs. Yay for easter.

3 guys and a girl

This weekend I spent some time with a group of my guy friends. I wasn't supposed to be the only chica, but that's how it worked out. We had a hilarious dinner at Granite City, complete with a few awkward turtles on my part. (Would you expect anything less of me?) It felt good to laugh and be myself with friends.

I lost at Card Roulette. But fortunately for me, I was with two gentlemen who insisted on paying for their own meal; they "can't let the woman pay." I only had to pay for Matt's b/c as he says, "a bet's a bet." That's fine! I got in the game, and I paid up. (If you don't know what Card Roulette is about, everyone who wants to participate throws their credit card in a hat [I emptied out my purse, in this case] and someone draws a credit card. The card that loses pays everyone's ticket.) It wasn't too bad of a loss.

I had a new cake recipe that I wanted to try out so we went to my apartment to have some cake and play games, but ended up just eating cake and talking for a few hours. I never do much entertaining, but Friday night turned out to be pretty fun over here! I was kind of amused when Andy called Shaun and had a hard time believing that there were people! At my apartment! Having fun! That never happens.
--
Saturday night I didn't go solo to the wedding. I ended up taking my friend Phil to the wedding with me. I could have gone alone, but I invited Phil and became a friend-date for him to add to his Professional Wedding Date resume.

And for possibly the first time ever, Phil showed up to a wedding before the bride hit the aisle. (Those of you who know Phil {Heather Y & Amy} will know how big of a feat this is.) I had insisted that we not be late. We were 20 minutes early. Leave it to a woman to make the impossible happen. :)
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Oh! And I recommend that you see Duplicity, though Jeremy classifies it as a chick flick because it doesn't have any guns, car chases, fight scenes, blah blah blah...

Coffee winner! (and other updates)

The winner of the coffee giveaway is SaraK! I will send the coffee to you (if you're ok with grounds, it's not whole bean) if you send me an email or facebook message with your addy, and the coffee is all yours!

To the rest of you, thanks for the comments! It was fun to read them all. My next drawing will be for the mug from my 8th grade graduation. Ha.

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I haven't been writing much because I feel like the significant things that I want to share take time to process and write out, and I feel like I don't have that much time. Plus, I have deadlines! at work and my brain is tired when I get home.

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Saturday night I'm going solo to a wedding. That should be a confidence-boosting adventure.