Wingnut World

You Are a Martini

There's no other way to say it: you're a total lush. You hold your liquor well, and you hold a lot of it!

Alright, first apologies for infrequent blogging. Like most projects in my life, I let something go for too long and the task of just starting it again becomes so overwhelming I avoid it. Need to work on that. Like the boxes I still haven't unpacked in my house or the filing that is piled on my desk. It's not nearly as bad a project as I think it is, but I haven't started because I think it is going to take more energy and time than I have at the moment.

I digress.

Woah moment last Saturday. I bought my wedding dress. Trying on wedding dresses suddenly brought the wedding concept into full force view. I'M GETTING MARRIED! For real...I felt so grown up and beautiful and sad and happy and nervous all at the same time (nervous probably because I was standing in my underwear in a room full of brides-to-be and their family and friends and salespersons). It was a super happy day, nine dresses and the last one was it. We even came in at budget, including the veils. WOOOHOOO! Amanda, Tara, and my aunt Nancy were there. They cried when I put the first one on. Leah the saleswoman kept calling Nancy "Mom." Just a reminder that for the rest of my life special days will always be a little bittersweet.

Since we found the dress in record time, then came the hunt for the bridesmaids dresses. Wow, there is a global conspiracy to make them look ugly! I think 95% of the dresses are tacky. So, I put it to you, the bloggers to help me make my decision.

Dress #1 in brick or sage (click on the color box to change the picture's color)
Dress #2 in brick or cornflower
Or mix and match separates. The only stipulation being they all have to come in the same color and fabric and and skirt must be full length.

I am at a loss. HELP ME MAKE A DECISION!

So this morning Andy says, "I was going to surprise you, but..." To which I said, "You know how hard I am to surprise and you were well on your way to succeeding. Don't blow it now by telling me!" "...but you're trying to make plans for Thursday night. I made reservations for us to have dinner on our Negative One Year Anniversary."

Think hard.

We're getting married July 15th 2006. I'm working Friday July 15th so he wants to celebrate on Thursday night.

HOW SWEET IS MY FIANCE?!!?!?!?

...when you're working 12 hour shifts! Since we last spoke I worked Wednesday night, Friday through Sunday day shift, and last night. I can't complain that I don't have time to spend all the money I'm making. Oh wait, somehow I still manage to do that pretty well.

My friend Heidi and I went shopping last week. My favorite four letter word was plastered all over the stores: SALE. Especially when that word is plastered across a poster of a supermodel in her underwear at Victoria's Secret. This Angel spent a pretty penny on underwear and lotion. And sandals. Summertime means we must buy a pair of sandals in every color and pattern. And these weren't dollar deals at Target.

I had a very interesting conversation with one of my patients at work about accents on Saturday. Just to give you an idea of what I go through each time I work, some patient makes small talk by asking me where I'm from. Of course, I reply that I'm from Tennessee. "But you don't have an accent." Always the same reply. Why is that the first thing that people should associate with someone from the South? I don't think "Yeah, you sound like you're from PA." Even though they do. I heard another Pennsylvanism-You'ns. Instead of the much more efficient y'all. And a perfect example of Pennsylvanese in action was my coworker's cell phone message "Hi, this is Tammy. Let a message and I'll get back to you." Let instead of leave. And I'm supposed to be the one who talks funny? I just heard Boot Scootin Boogie on the radio and it made me further long for a night out at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Broadway in Nashville with a longneck and a honkytonk band. Ahhh, but you can't go home...

Ya'll don't think I talk funny do ya?

For everyone in London. John, if you read this, I was thinking of you yesterday. Hope you and Marissa stay safe and sane. I can't imagine what it's like to feel so vulnerable and violated by terror.

Love and prayers today,
Jen

Everyone jump up and down! Jenni got a holiday off. A real live three day nationally recognized Holiday weekend OFF. I worked until Fri AM, then slept a bit, then Andy and I went to Baltimore for a fun 4th weekend to ourselves. What better way to celebrate the independence of America than in a cool Northeastern port city going to baseball games?

Friday night we ate at a restaurant called City Lights in the Inner Harbor and stuffed ourselves silly on crabcakes. I love crabcakes. I could eat them every night. And on the trip I swore I would.

Saturday we went to the Orioles vs Indians game at Camden yards. Andy swears he had the best tuna melt of his life at the sandwich shop near the stadium. I gave my Miguel Tejada bobblehead to a woman from Virginia whose birthday it was, and she in turn bought me a beer. Andy taught me how to score the game. We ate peanuts, got sunburn, and the home team won. Then that night we went to Fell's Point via water taxi and ate Bertha's Mussels. Remember when I said I'd eat nothing but crabcakes? I lied, the mussels were way fun and Andy's scallops were divine. Then we had several microbrews at another bar and enjoyed live entertainment (which for Brentwoodians, consisted of a very Leonard twins-like pair of twentysomethings playing Matchbox 20 and Journey covers). Taxi ride back to the swanky downtown hotel at 2am and ate the free gourmet chocolates. Watched the end of A Few Good Men, again, very Americana.

Sunday morning was hazy, not as hot. We decided to take in the National Aquarium down at the Inner Harbor. Andy and I blended right in with all the rugrats pressing noses up against the glass ("look, Nemo!" "where's the electric eel again?" "how many poison dart frogs do you see?") My favorite was the JAWS moment in the shark room. When I walked up to look in the tank, a sand tiger shark with a mouth full of snaggly sharp teeth bared swam right up face first to the glass at eye level. It was really creepy. Andy liked the turtles. And we both wish that sting rays could make good pets. We're such nerds.

Sunday the Indians won big, we ate dollar dogs, saw some homers, and drove back to State College listening to Live 8 on the XM radio in the truck. The London line up included Sting, the Who, Paul McCartney, and the first and only Pink Floyd reunion performance in decades. IT WAS AWESOME. I may get ill with Andy's time warp of classic rock every now and again, but I must admit that Pink Floyd and the Who ROCKED. Paul McCartney is always good as well.

Monday night we barbecued in State College and watched the fireworks from the roof of Deike Building on PSU's campus. AHHHH. Jenni got to drink some beers and chill with friends on a HOLIDAY. Good Amerian summer fun all around.

Now I'm back in the grind. Working and rotating this week, yuck. Time to go to sleep for a few hours. How was your holiday weekend?

Ok, it's been way too long since I last blogged, but summer hit and there's just not much sitting in front of the computer happening anymore. JR and I have bonded and love riding on the pretty days. Andy and I have started wedding plans, making several trips to Columbus to get things rolling. My dad got married Memorial Day weekend in West Va. Andy and I went to Georgia for his family reunion, stopped in at Lone Mountain and the family cemetary to visit Mom on the way back. I've come to the conclusion that I could live in Virginia and be happy. It's beautiful down there!

Andy is crazy about his fantasy baseball team, working hard in the lab during the days, and looking forward to OSU football this fall. We were able to buy a pair of season tickets thanks to Nana and her booster application so anyone in Columbus for the games, give us a call :-) At least Andy will be there, I will come when I'm not working.

I went to Target today, GASP! I made it out without purchasing anything. I am looking for a very specific storage unit to double as a pantry for our kitchen. They didn't have anything like what I wanted so I just walked out. It was hard, especially since the bargain shelves had some cute flip flops. I wasn't so controlled at Walmart though, I bought a shelf for the bathroom and a storage container for the living room. Now I've imprisoned myself in the apartment until I get things cleaned up a bit.

This weekend we're going to Baltimore for two baseball games at Camden Yards vs the Indians. I'm totally psyched since I've never been to Baltimore and this is only my second MLB experience of memory. I went to a Tigers game as a kid but I don't remember it. Hot dogs, beer, baseball caps, scorecards, soft pretzels, home runs. I can't wait. And it's 4th of July weekend, how much more American can you get?

I'll try to blog more often, maybe instead of watching tv when I come home to veg after work. Here's some funny happenings of recent:

Andy and I had a heated discussion the other night which movie to watch: Elf or Harry Potter. 24 years old and we sounded like we were in grade school. Harry Potter won, now he's rereading book 4 while I reread book 3 in preparation for the new book to arrive. He preordered it from Amazon.com. We're just a couple of big kids.

I tried to feed JR strawberries the other day and he just flopped his lips and let the fall on the ground. I guess after feeding him gumdrops and jelly beans while he rehabbed his cut leg last month I'm stuck giving him processed sugar treats.

I noticed something today: I might be the only girl I know with acrylic nails that shops at Lowes. I also might be the only girl I know that goes to Starbucks in cowboy boots. I clean house while watching baseball and watch soap operas while paying bills. I blast Justin Timberlake in my truck with the windows down. I thought I wouldn't care about the color of the drapes at my reception site, but I do, and yet I am still contemplating wearing sandals under my dress if I can get away with it. I am stuck in this funny development of identity somewhere between happy-go-lucky teenage girl, fierce tomboy, and mature woman. I guess that's where 24 is.