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Saturday was a special day- and we didn't get ready for Sunday

Nope, it was much better than that. We threw P a birthday party and invited the fam-damily over to celebrate. It was the first time that D&C Smith and G&L Smith met. Having the parents meet is always a nerve-racking moment, but my parents met Trav's in-laws the weekend before, and that went swimmingly. So I figured, what the Hell? We've been dating for a couples years now, so it was about time. It went pretty well. My dad said "worm shit" to P's sister-in-law, which was the highlight of my evening.

The best part of the b-day was P and I's complete lack of discretion on spending. His fam went in on a video camera for him, which I picked out and bought before hand (and didn't scrimp on). The idea was to get him one that would work with iStopMotion, a software for making stop-motion films. The video camera I bought doesn't work with it. So we made a special trip back to the Best Buy on Sunday to see about exchanging. Instead of making an exchange, we kept the video camera and purchased a Canon digital camera as well. The still image camera works like a charm with the software, so we are going to sell my other Canon camera on Ebay. So, there went $1000 on electronics in one weekend. Someday, we will learn the fine art of saving money. Until then, at least we are enjoying ourselves.

I spent the remainder of my Sunday lounging around the house, laying out (it was too damn hot for that), and reading "The Power of One". Once it cooled down, we worked on the sprinklers and I finished cleaning up after the party and did some laundry.

All in all, it was a fairly good weekend.

Nanoseconds to insanity....

I came to a very horrid realization yesterday. Every second that I live, I am less than one second away from complete insanity.

This sad, sordid thought entered my mind as I sat at my desk, in the cube farm my company calls an office, right on the verge of a complete and utter nervous breakdown. I was almost at the point when I could have kicked the cold, hard drawers attached to the padded cell walls surrounding me, or thrown something through my monitor, or just cried.

Why, you may ask, had it come to this? NO REAL REASON. That's the part that makes it horrid. I was simply having a harder than usual day at work, started feeling like I was quite possibly the worst account supervisor to walk the earth, and asking myself why I waste time having a job anyway. We're in a rough spot with one client right now, and I take it completely personally, like it is 100% my fault. It's all based on my attitude, what I think of myself, and how I feel about myself, which unfortunately can turn on a dime. So, that was sign numero uno that I'm on my way to insanity.

Number two- I was watching the show "Intervention" on A&E the other night. Usually the people they intervene are drug addicts, alcoholics, sex addicts, etc. Emily, the girl the other night, was Anorexic. I was horrified by how sick and skinny she looked. She was 5'9" tall and weighed 90 pounds. Then I started thinking to myself, "Why can't I be anorexic? I wish I had enough self control to completely deprive myself of something as completely necessary as food." Then I stopped to think about what I was actually saying to myself.

Number three- I am completely turned off by anything and everything that resembles mainstream society lately. Religion? I cringe. Big house and white picket fence? Gag me. Rock and Republic jeans? Giant waste of money. Working to get ahead? Waste of time. I want to become a hermit at home and spend all day reading, writing, gardening, and other solitary activities so I don't have to put on a happy face and pretend I'm not a constantly miserable person.

See? Insanity. How do you stop insanity? Is there a cure for it? I don't know. In the meantime, I will go on pretending that I am not going crazy.

Disney World is a good vacation

Yes, I felt a little strange being at Disney World with no children. Nonetheless, Orlando was a great time. Disney World was a great time. I had fun at the Magic Kingdom. It was pretty magical.

I'm going to devote the next few (many?) posts to my trip to Florida and my first time visiting Disney World, and with a fantastic guy!!

Florida, the beautiful

I am sitting in my hotel room in Dade City, FL, right now thinking about how much I love it here. There are many points of fabulosity that make Florida great. I am sure there are other locations in the US that could match, or possibly even exceed, how spectacular it is here. I haven't been to any. That isn't saying much, considering I could count the list of states I've visited on my hands, but Florida is spectacular.

Here are the reasons I love Florida:

- Spacious skies. That aren't polluted. At least, not here in Tampa...not yet.
- When you drive on I75 to get from Tampa to Dade City, the vegetation is so thick along the freeway, you can't see farther than 5 feet past the shoulder of the road. Everything is so extremely green and lush.
- Temperate coastal climates. Today was 80 degrees and sunny. It was humid, but that just adds to my joy because my hair and skin feel soft, smooth and healthy.
- Southern hospitality. Everyone here is so nice! Everywhere I go, people smile and say "hi" for no reason. I've been called "miss" a lot. I'm not a fan of "ma'am" but I haven't gotten that once yet.
- Cultural diversity. No Ritz effect here. There are so many people from so many various ethnic and racial backgrounds, and yet a sense of community.
- Florida is big, but it's not that big. Aside from Miami, Florida doesn't have a "large" market. It feels very "small town" but without living in the middle of nowhere. It's a relatively short drive from one side of the state to the other and Tampa and Orlando are only a little over an hour apart.

I have to say that I could definitely live in Florida. At least, for awhile. I am sure if I were away from Utah for too long, I would start to get homesick. Of course, if I started to get homesick, I could walk out onto my back patio, take a deep breath of clean, warm, healthy, humid air and remind myself that I live in a state where it will be 60-90 degrees all year long. On the other hand, there's always hurricanes with which to contend. Yikes!

OH...did I mention that Superbowl 2009 is taking place right here in Tampa? Add that to my reasons for loving Florida!

A good joke

Patrick and I are both a little obsessed with a certain "pop-culture" phrase of which I am sure you are familiar. The other day, he told me the best joke that utilizes this phrase so perfectly.

What do you get when you cross a brown chicken and a brown cow?

Brown-chicken-brown-cow!!

Which, when said quickly and slurred together, with just the right amount of sass, sounds like "Bow-Chicka-Bow-WOWWW!!"

I can't get over how great that is.

I coined a new word. This is my official claiming!!

I went to a party last night and met some new people. When asked what I was up to lately, I felt the need to preface my list of things I was "up" to with this simple phrase.

"I am a domestinerd."

Thus, a new word (and identity for myself) was born. What is a domestinerd, you may be asking yourself? Let me give you a list of activities in which a domestinerd would find hours of enjoyment and a great deal of gratification and self-enlightenment. This list defines it better than I could ever put into Webster's form.

- Knitting various clothing or household items. My most recent endeavor is a series of hats that will become Christmas 2008 gifts.

- Sewing clothing. I am sewing myself a couple of aprons to wear while cooking. I have ruined way too many good t-shirts with grease splatters recently. When I finish my own aprons, I have a couple ideas for gifts as well (matching mom & daughter aprons, for one).

- Quilting. I just started my first quilt. I cut all my blocks from 12 fat quarters and didn't want the extra to go to waste, so I cut a series of mini-blocks and sewed them into quilt blocks that will become pillows to match the quilt.

- Cooking. As previously mentioned, I cook. Not because I have to, but because I want to. I decided that since Patrick and I will be out of town for a few days, I will make up recipes from items we have around the house this entire week. That should be interesting...

- Gardening and yard work. There is no better way to kick off a weekend than with a 3-4 hour stint in the yard on a Saturday morning. This weekend, for example, I woke up at 8 on Saturday and sprayed the weeds in the front yard, then fertilized the lawn in the back yard, then blocked out and paved in my strawberry patch, watered my new trees, and weeded the front flower bed. Today, Patrick's dad helped us finish up the bed for our grapes, which we should plant this week. I will finish up the raspberry bed tomorrow. I also started an herb garden and the vegetable garden will start in mid-May.

- Canning. My intention is to grow a shload of fruits and veggies and then can them for winter food storage.

- Decorating. I consider myself to be a fairly decent interior decorator. I'm pretty right-brain enabled. I also love to paint walls and put together color palates for rooms.

There you have it. Domestinerd. It's a perfect description of what I am. Good thing I find balance through reading, playing Nintendo, and working.

I am such a nerd. *tear*

Unfortunately, sir, your groceries didn't survive the accident. Your Apple window decal, however, was unharmed.

This is a picture of Shane's car in its post-accident status. Pretty heinous sight.

He was passing through a stop light (his light was green) when some crazy chick slammed into him. Apparently she wasn't paying any attention to her driving whatsoever, because she plowed through a red light going an estimated 45 MPH. I hate it when women do things to make the rest of us look completely incompetent. Why must they do that? I would like to point out, for the record, that I have actually avoided accidents that others would have caused, due to my impeccable defensive driving skills. But I digress...

Shane was taken to the hospital, after a very tactful police office told his wife, "He's okay now that we got the car cut off him." He ended up with a few broken bones (pelvis and ribs, I think?), cuts on his face and arms, and glass in quite a few orifices. After a night in the hospital, a few weeks in a wheel chair, some physical therapy, and walking with a cane for awhile, he'll be water-skiing in no time!

We are all just thankful that he came out of the situation as well as he did. Looking on the bright side, he did get a brand new iPhone out of the whole ordeal, since the iPod that was attached to the left side of his belt was obliterated.

Shane, if you need a good attorney, I saw a commercial on TV for this one guy. I hear he can get you, like, a million dollars or something. :P

My celebrity look-alikes....supposedly.....

...On turning 28...

WARNING....This post may be TMI for some....

I was standing in front of the mirror yesterday in my swimsuit, because I was going to get in the hot tub, when I realized something completely unsettling. My boobs are starting to sag. You don't realize these things when wearing a bra. Especially if you don the proper kind of bra, one giving adequate lift and separation. Swimsuits, however, are not quite so forgiving. From now on, I will not wear swimsuits, but instead a full-body wet-suit. I can get away with swimming in that, right?

I have always believed that I would never look old- you know, nipples to my knees, skin like the neck of an elephant (only leathery, rather than gray and hairy). I take care of myself...for the most part. I run, I lift weights, I eat pretty healthy, and I try to wear sunscreen as often as possible. I don't smoke, I brush my teeth religiously, I try to get enough sleep, and I wash my face and put on lotion every night. So why do I feel like I'm falling apart? It's like teen angst part 2- late 20's angst.

So here is what I want for my birthday- I want to be 18 again. If that's not possible, I need $20K for a boob lift and micro-dermabrasion.

I'm done ranting about it now. I will face April 16, 2008 with grace.

*sigh*