I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Man, oh, man. Do I ever love this city. More even than NYC. And this post makes me want to have kids and move there really, really badly. Of course I'd also want a townhouse the size of the one on Full House.

Birthday Boy

If you haven't already, be sure to visit Luke's blog to see all the party pics. He's adorable!

Fore!

I think I may start playing golf just so I can get these club covers, the tee belt and/or change purse, and the shoe bag. Slap a monogram on everything, and, OMG!, I'm good to go. I would totally get hot pink shoes though.



(photo courtesy themerrymartini.com)

Let There Be Light—Now!

Thank goodness for Photo Booth. Now you can see how I spent Tuesday night: catching up on my SL reading with the flashlight I finally found. And, p.s. AL Power, don't say you expect power to be back on by 10:30 p.m. when you really mean 7:45 the next morning, k? I trusted you. Instead I slept in a pool of my own sweat.

A New Low

Um, okay. I ate one of these for dinner tonight. The cheesiness factor is good. The little meat pellets? Not so much. Anyone else?

PS: Add a single-serving container of Pringles, and you have a well-rounded dinner.

Hairy Situation

Why, why, why is it that every time I get my eyebrows waxed at a local nail spa, the little waxer lady says, "And your lip too?" No! Not my lip! Leave my fuzzy lip alone. It's not like it's this bad. You guys would tell me, right?

Take This Test

And let me know how you do. My friend Libby sent it to me. I'm actually a little surprised that I didn't do better (worse?). The "cot" and "caught" question messed me up, I think. I definitely don't pronounce them the same, but I do pronounce "caught" more like "cawght." Y'all know I love my dubyas, hence my pronunciation of "frawg." Ribbit.

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/yankee_dixie_quiz.html

Post your scores in the comments.

Spiffy

So, what do we think? I figure this layout can run the course for summer, and I'll choose something more fallish when it's, well, fall. I liked this Cutest Blog on the Block site because I didn't lose all my widgets and extras as I did before.

My other layout came from Pyzam, and apparently they don't want to give up that little header at the top. Anyone know how to get rid of it?

Beach Singalong

Fortunately we chose last Thursday to eat dinner at Harry A's, home of the enormous menu: karaoke night.
(Apparently Harry is a bit of a smarty pants, and when a patron asked if the already-large menus could BE any bigger, Harry proved that, yes, indeed they could.)


Aren't my tan lines sexy? Good thing I don't have prom this weekend.

This dude here was really good. And cute. His name is Shane, and he could flat sing. So my fearless sister accosted him and by the end of the night, we were all great friends. I have video of Shane singing, but it won't load. Too darn bad for you. He actually made it through several rounds of auditions for Nashville Star.





By the end of the night we were just totally silly. Must've been all the sun.




Shane is getting a big hug because he indulged me and sang a Kenny Chesney song, even though his voice is much deeper than KC's. It's rather unfortunate that my arm is all mooshed out like that. I'm lifting weights while I type. And I blame the camera angle. Oh yes, I did.

Hillbilly Game Night

So, SGI (St. George Island, Florida, for the uninitiated) isn't known for it's hoppin' night life, so we created our own fun.

Start with a bucket o' margaritas.



When said bucket is not given time to freeze properly, empty contents into smaller plastic cups and freeze individually. Who has 24 hours to wait? We don't plan that far ahead.



Start a serious game of Uno Attack. Go buy this game immediately.


(Notice, on the island, no makeup or grooming is necessary.)

And, just to show you how silly we got, I present the following. Warning: It's nasty.



See, my mom loves these Dollar Store gumballs, but they lose flavor fast. Of course, we've been trained to chew two or three for a few minutes, spit out, and repeat. I mean, you get, like 90 for a buck. This was news to my aunt and cousins, but they quickly joined in. And then so did the guys. We whittled down a pretty full Ziploc during the game. And this is our colorful discard pile. Don't laugh at me, either. Three of us took pictures. Whatever. It was late.

Exhale

Don't you wish you drank coffee every morning with this view? Sigh.

Just Because...

I love my cousins and we took a pretty good photo at the good ole Cantina. We missed you, Mandy!

Jammin', Man

I lose points for this title, don't I?

Back over Father's Day weekend, we all went to the beach, and we wound up at this show called Clutch at The Breakers. There was audience participation, and after the first chosen guy refused to come onstage, the singer guy pulled up Pete. Pete was a pretty good sport. Pete also had dreds on his chin, and that made me giggle.

How did you spend your Saturday night?

I checked out the Birmingham roller derby a few weeks ago with Amy and Sara. It was...something else. The Tragic City Rollers got a beat down courtesy of the Memphis team. All this went down at the Zamora Shrine Temple, the big gold-dome place off I-459. Always wondered what happens there, didn't ya?




photos used without permission, taken by amanda storey; sorry, my video won't load

After we went to the Garage, and as we sat around chatting, I decided I needed a Krystal. And that's when I found out Sara had never eaten one. So we took her. Verdict? She liked 'em. And, bonus: Who knew the Krystal offered free wi-fi? Score.

Frustrating

We almost made it down the stairs with this thing fully loaded. You can imagine my displeasure. I said something like, "Oh, sugar!"



Bonus info: I used to have a hard time spelling "sugar" until my dad told me all I had to remember was the "s" and the "r" because right in the middle was UGA. Go Dawgs! (I always spelled it "suger.")

Truck Driver

I don't strike y'all as a truck-driving kind of gal, do I? You should've seen me trying to maneuver this thing down the road.

Budding Artist?

First of all, happy belated birthday to my cousin Jessica. She turned 21 Monday. We're all down on St. George Island for the week. We went over to Apalachicola for dinner, then back to play a little Pictionary. Check out Jess's masterpiece below. We didn't get this one. I'll post the answer in the comments.


One hint. When Jessica's sister, Jennifer, yelled out "octupus," Jess said, "close!"

Yeah, not so much. I think Ione has us beat.

At the Beach

And our house doesn't have wireless. Oh, the humanity. I have some good photos to share. Anyway, I'll try to post soon!

Playing

This MacBook is addictive.

My Good Deed

I found some more money tonight. And credit cards. I was putting away my buggy at Target when I noticed someone had left their Coach wallet in another buggy. Coach wallet, I assume, means big bucks inside. And maybe an Amex black. ha ha. I almost just left it there, but then I was afraid someone would come along and steal it. So I walked that wallet all the way back inside to guest services, even though it was time for me to be at Leah and Heinz's house for dinner.

Now see? I am totally a good person.

I Guess Everyone is Cashing In...

On the apple bottom trend. Even Macy's.

I'm a Granny

According to the Wii that is. I took the fitness test. I laughed, scoffed even. I bowled like a [decent] champ. I hit a few tennis balls.

And then I missed Every. Single. Baseball. I didn't hit one. Didn't even come close.

The verdict? I'm 80.

Here's a little perspective. My sister is 59. My grandfather is 43.

If I could capitalize numbers, you would've read that like this: FORTY-FRICKIN'-THREE. MY GRANDDAD.

But I'm newly addicted to the bowling. And I'm good. Got a few turkeys, even. I want a Wii.

I Have a Big Fat Crush

On Bill Hemmer. I've mentioned it before, you know, he goes with my Wedding Bell Blues song. But the flame was recently reignited when I saw him on TV the other morning. Yum. I'm willing to overlook the slight—okay, okay—13-year age difference. Okay, fine. 14 years.

Just My Luck

Yesterday I had to make a quick stop at World Market, and as I got out of my car, I totally spotted a $20 bill on the asphalt. There were no other cars around, no people. Just me and the crumpled up bill. So I took it. Is that wrong? Should I feel bad? Because I don't. I mean, where would one even turn in found money that's in the middle of a deserted parking lot? I'm sure I got captured on hidden camera for one of those shows about people who find stuff and steal it, but I don't think I care.

Alert: New Pet Peeve

Don't you think it's rude when you are standing in a long line at, say, The Hob, and when another register opens, people behind you scurry over to the new short line? Isn't the person next in line to be checked out supposed to be helped first?

Interesting—to me, at least

I've had to factcheck the spelling of "Doritos" twice in the past two months at work. And only one time was I actually working on a recipe. Doritos has a weird site. Check it out.

www.doritos.com

It's a lot of effort for a Web site about chips.

Breast Cancer Isn't Funny

But this bumper sticker is. Especially when you see one on the back of an old lady's Mercedes SUV.

Driving to the Lake

I look like the Unabomber, don't I? It was the only way to keep my hair out of my face and my eyes open. By the way, my grandparents are totally cool—check out their weekend ride!

HA HA HA HA—deep breath—AHA HA HA HA

From People.com

Paris Hilton Making Music with Benji Madden

It's good to have a musical boyfriend.

Benji Madden has already recorded a song about Paris Hilton, and now the Good Charlotte guitarist is helping her with her own music.

Hilton, 27, told E! News that she and Madden, 29, are hard at work on the theme song to her upcoming MTV reality show My New BFF.

"Benji and I have been working hard on it," she said. "He's helping me write the lyrics for the song and then I'll sing it, too."

The couple, who've been dating for four months, are laying down the track at a studio located, conveniently enough, in her Beverly Hills mansion.

Premiering later this year, My New BFF will follow the former Surreal Life star as she chooses a new shopping buddy from 20 contestants.

Hilton also plans to start working on the follow-up to her 2006 debut CD Paris. "I'll have another album come out, for sure," she told E! News. "I just don't know when yet. I only have the summer off, then I'll be taping another season of BFF. But an album is something I'll do."

EDITOR'S NOTE: I will admit to a slight enjoyment of the Stars Are Blind ditty. Slight.

Also, why will she be filming another season of this show? I mean, the whole point is to find a new BFF and stick with her, right?

Amy Wins!

New post title below for the flip flop-pizza fiasco.

Don't Anger the Target Lady

Last night I went to Target to pick up just a few things, so I got a basket instead of a buggy. When I got to the checkout line—and let me say here that the Target on Hwy. 280 never has enough lanes open—I put the basket on the conveyor belt. I wasn't really paying attention, just going through the motions of moving in the line, and when my turn came, I moved on up to the counter and got out my debit card.

As I was fumbling around with my wallet, I heard the cashier sigh heavily and slam a few things out of the basket. I looked up, and all of the sudden, she flipped my basket over on its side with a huge grunt, starting raking stuff out, and then she flipped the darn thing completely upside down. Stuff was rolling everywhere, including glass bottles that were spinning and slamming into the sides of the conveyor platform. I was so stunned I couldn't speak.

Now normally I do unload my basket, but really, does it matter? I mean, either way, she has to pick up my items and scan them, yes? So, sorry, Jessica of Target 280. Didn't mean to put you out. But she better be glad my pickle jar didn't bust everywhere.

Creepy

I took this photo a couple weeks ago when my sister was in town. We were sending a picture message to my brother to see if he liked this shirt because we were trying to decide between it and another one for him. When I took the picture, my phone display only showed the shirt, but when I flipped open my phone, I started laughing. This is just funny to me. Laurie's eyes look so creepy!

Flip Flop Slop

I'll post the most creative suggestion for a title.

Here's the deal. Below is a picture of my new (and cheap!) sandals from Old Navy. I got them at the beach. They're lovely, no?


As you can see, they don't offer much support and little distance between my feet and the ground. No biggie.

Except, as we were strolling around Pier Park at the beach last weekend, I stepped on an uneven part of the pavement, my right foot slipped off the shoe a bit, and my toe sunk into something moist and cold. And when I looked down, I saw that my big toe was encased in a cold slice of pizza someone had dropped on the ground.

People Have Nerve!

I really can't decide who is dumber here: the woman injured by her thong or the lawyer who took her case.

http://www.usmagazine.com/woman-suing-victorias-secret-over-defective-thong+

My favorite part of the Today show interview was when Meredith asked the lady if it was the first time she had worn the thong, or if perhaps it wasn't, and the metal piece had come loose after being washed a few times. Marcrida replied, "No, Meredith, it wasn't the first time, but I have a lot of underwear from Victoria's Secret, and so I had only worn this particular pair a few times."

I'll try to fix the hyperlink from home later.

See Ya Real Soon

I'm at the beach, and I forgot my camera cord. So, nothing till I get back home. But the best news of all is, I'm now posting on my brand-new MacBook!!



photo taken with my phone

Does this only happen in the South?

Because, man, once it gets hot here, out come the gross nasty feet on the dashboard! Ew. Just, ew.

Chick Jealousy

Dude. Does this woman ever have a bad day? I think la Gwen is so glam. I love her. Maybe a little more than is healthy. But, never do anything halfway I always say!

Missed Me, Missed Me

Now ya gotta kiss me.

Sorry.

I always take things one step too far.

I'm back and better than ever. Well. That's a lie, but I am back. I'm actually worse than ever because I'm temporarily unable to upload photos. Hence, the stolen Web pics. I'm working on it. Till then, we're back to blog phase 1 postings, sans photographs. Please don't make fun, Bo.

But I know all you guys really want to see is my witty and charming written word. Yeah.

Help Me Find the Music

So I really dug (digged?) the music in What Happens in Vegas..., but to my dismay (bad luck! misfortune! get the Vegas play?) the movie studio didn't release a soundtrack. Sigh. Followed by much. heavier. sigh. I was able to track down one song, Love by Matt White, but I'll give lots of free blog love to anyone who can find me a comprehensive list. Go!

Just Stop It!

This never-ending trend of big-busted and pregnant (ew, seriously?) women refusing to wear bras? It has to stop. Please. For the love. It's not flattering, and I know it's not comfortable. And, really, Ash, how could you ever make fun of the Britster and then go and pull this? Pot, meet kettle.



photo courtesy of usmagazine.com

Bear With Me!

I'll be back. (In my mind, I said that the way Ah-nold does.) Soon, I promise! Thanks for not being snarky.