The One About This Puppy

I think I might have changed my mind on the "which dog do I buy" front. Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers have just made the VERY short list.

This guy is really adorable.

The One About The Jersey Shore

I know you're all slightly depressed that I don't look like this in real life, and I know I am personally depressed that in order to have on this slut-tastic hoodie - I had to cover up my fake tattoo. The only one I could really even comprehend was the lovely little bracelet. Lovely? In comparison to the scorpion MTV wanted me to permanently stain on my inner thigh.

I do not understand this show, but it was kind of fun to look at all the horrific hair and the absolutely mortifying (for all human beings in the entire world) clothing options. Link here.

The One About Fake World

This weekend we all went down to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama v. LSU game. Tuscaloosa is the absolute best place to pretend to be in college again. We stayed out late and then woke up early to tailgate and then (along with a lot of other people) watched the game from Gallette's. There were yellow hammers, and lots of red, and a couple of would-be bar fights. I actually said Roll Tide a few times, which I know my dad would have something to say about...oops. I'll try to make up for it with plenty of Go Dawgs! in Athens this weekend.

I got to hang out with a few of my very best friends - some of whom drove in from far away places just for the occasion. Tuscaloosa really is one of the absolute best ways to spend a weekend away from home. The only disappointment of the entire weekend was that I never once ate Pita Pit.

In some ways I'm excited for football season to be over (just the fact that I could really use a weekend home to pick up my apartment) but in most ways, it's going to be completely depressing. Alabama is doing well this year, which makes all of my friends happy and TCU is rockin' out all over the place, which makes me happy. The only downside to this entire season is that Georgia looks like a high school football team. Oh, and that Florida is winning. Which is not good.

This weekend my family is headed to Athens for the Georgia-Auburn game. My brother (who actually attends Auburn) isn't coming because of pledgeship but my little sister is throwing a party for her upcoming 21st birthday...upcoming, as in she's 20. Oh well. Technicalities.

Either way, I'm excited about one more weekend of football. And I'm excited about Athens.

I'm pretty sure I would be more excited if I was headed to Fort Worth, but three plane flights in a semester is an awful lot. Last time TCU was playing in the ESPN Game Day game - this happened. Hopefully we'll all still be happy campers come Sunday.

click for link

The One About My Day

If I had my way, today would have looked like this...

Instead...my day looked more like this computer, on top of this desk, next to this notebook where my pages are starting to fill up with notes for the project I've been working on. Somehow, I'd always rather be wrapped up in a blanket than at work. click the photos for links.

The One Where We Go To The Lake

Jori's family was SUPER wonderful this weekend and allowed us to go down to Lake Martin and hang out in their house. It was fun - we got some sun, and had a few drinks and generally had a wonderful time. I have the best friends - and we're generally ridiculous, so here are the pictures, which is really all I can do to explain. When I left TCU and Fort Worth I was pretty sure that the end of college was also the end of "fake world", apparently not.

There was tubing...

and a few minor injuries...some abuse...many hugs... photos taken while no one was paying attention...one dance party...and when it was all said and done we still like each other.

The One Where I'm Obsessed

If you have not been watching So You Think You Can Dance in the last 4 season then I'm not sure I really want to be friends with you anymore. These people are RIDICULOUS. So - without further ado ( is that how you spell that?).....the top 20 from season 5.

So, last night was the first night where the dancers were paired up and actually had to do a dance rather than their solos a million times. First and foremost, I'm not sure I really think these are all even choices. The people who get to do hip hop get it easier than the people who have to do ballroom or bollywood (with the exception of the ballroom dude who got to do ballroom last night with his former ballroom instructor as the choreographer, but that's another issue). BUT all of the people are freaking unbelievable and I'm sure will all be doing something amazing in the next few weeks. Now, because I am an expert I'm going to give you my expert opinion (and my favorites - which you should not take to mean that I think these people will win, just that I like them a lot).

Top 3 Girls

First, Randi Evans. Her hair was curly last night which I like, and she was AMAZING. I think part of the reason I love her so much is that the choreography was so fabulous, but I also think she's awesome. She got really freaked out about dancing up on her partner because she's MARRIED (at 23) but that's ok - she got over it.

Then there is Melissa Sandvig who is the oldest! She joked last night about being a grandma at 29, and she literally blew everyone else out of the water. She's a for real life ballerina which is cool (i.e. for her solo she actually work a FOR REAL tutu, circa Sam's birthday party II) and she can balance on the tips of her toes, which MUST hurt.

And last but not least - Caitlin Kinney who did the Bollywood routine last night. Her sister went home in Vegas, so obviously - both super talented. She's super tall (which I am not) and she and her sister look completely opposite. I just like that she's a rock star and seem genuinely surprised to be there (unlike some people...)

I feel like the girls are better this year. Last night I really didn't notice any of the guys other than the fact that they were lifting the girls a lot. That's not to say they aren't good, that just means that I really know very little about dancing and can't appreciate how hard it would be to push a girl up into the air, over your head, without dropping here and breaking her face. So...even if I'm not as excited about these guys SO FAR, I'm sure they're only going to get better and better. Based on last night's performaces (and mostly however much face time they got over the period of the auditions) here are the guys....

Top 3 Guys

Phillip Chbeeb has an amazing name. Chbeeb. Like Moe's - if you aren't having fun saying guacamole, you aren't saying it right. I loved him last year, I love him this year. If you've seen this guy there isn't any more to be said. He came in with a girl (who didn't make it) and was her partner for contemporary and he could do THAT.

At the end of Vegas the judges brought two brothers in and ONE of them got to the Top 20, Evan Kasprzak. How cruel is THAT? I like his brother too, they do Broadway, and were such good sports! He was great last night but mostly the is fact that the judges were mean to these guys just for the ratings. BOO YOU judges (and producers).

And CERTAINLY not least is, Jonathan Platero who I just generally rocked it last night (for the boys). I think this guy might have been able to take over his spot - the foxtrot was awesome, but he was a LOT of muscle. Jonathan's cute too, even if he is pulling his suspenders. Surely the photographer made him do it!

The One With The Confusing List

Check this out. WHAT IN THE WORLD? I think there was a computer glitch, there's absolutely no way. That's ridiculous. That is a #2 you're seeing, I didn't make this up. U.S. News and World Report's list is just silly, all around. People living in this town look like this picture - with the exception of my brother who is going their next year, only because they do happen to have a better engineering program that Georgia. Bummer. The list also included towns I've never heard of, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The only ones I really agree with are obvious - Austin, Texas and and maybe Durham, North Carolina.

The One With My Wish List

Have you ever noticed that if you have NO money, you generally have lots more fun things to do and lots more fun things that you need (or want) to buy. It's really becoming a problem because I sit at work, and while a lot of the time I actually do do some work, a lot of the time I play (shop) on the internet in order to maintain my sanity. With that said....here is my wist list. Feel free to send presents.

I'm always cold at work. Always. Don't you think this would help? It's small so I could cart it back and forth, and as much as I would LOVE to have the cashmere one, and I'm sure it would be worth it, its almost a smidge pricier.

This one is White + Warren, from Saks. This one is $88, comes in white, black. grapefruit and sand dune. The cashmere ones come in black, grey and tulle pink, and cost....WAIT FOR IT...$275. No thank you. They have more colors on White + Warren but I'm pretty sure black seems like the most logical choice. Let's remember that I don't really even have the $88. I guess the point of a wish list is to find things you wish you could have but never could, but that would just annoy me. This is more of a "To Buy" list (or a "Buy me presents:" list).

Also, I have been admiring these things for MONTHS. I'm actually in awe of my restraint that I haven't bought one yet. They're SO SO SO not me, but they're fabulous and could really make an outfit. I'm not the type to change my jewelry, ever, but I think I might actually do it if this what what I got to change into! They're so sparkly!!These are my favorites, their all from anthropologie, and they range in price from $98 to $248. Of course my favorite, the water lily is the most expensive but the price jumps are kind of ridiculous. The little elephant is $178 and I think he's precious!! I really like the sea star too (inexpensive...) but I've never seen it in real life. I LOVE the pearl with my little sea creature. There are tons more on anthropologie, in their "flora and fauna" category. They have an owl, an iguana, a bumblebee, an octopus, a butterfly to make Mariah swoon - they're all fabulous but in my person opinion these are the most fabulous (which makes perfect sense since these are the ones I want.)

And, last but not least, the thing I've wanted since LAST summer but have never gotten up the nerve to purchase for myself...The Kindle. This thing costs $359 - that's a lot of money, that's more than an iPod. I just can't decide if I would really use it. I think I would ADORE it. You can download books from anywhere, you can read at night without the lights on (in the car while my dad is driving) and its A LOT smaller than carrying around a whole bunch of books. My question is - does it really work as well as everyone says it does, would I miss the real life book action (I did JUST sign up for a membership to the library) and WHY did this not exist when I was about 8 and wanted to read on car trips. HUGE fail Amazon. Sadly, after much thought and internet research I have still decided that this is not the best way to spend my nonexistant $359. BUT, it you happen to have that amount of money on you....go ahead.

All in all I think this is a pretty good list. I think it's frivolous and amazing and just the types of things I will never buy myself because I do not have gobs of money - but I think they're great presents, just the kind of thing a girl could get really excited about. SO. People who read this - pass the word along to my parents, I think I deserve a "you just moved out of our house" present. Don't you?

The One Where We Go On A Double Date

Guess where I'm going tonight!?

The BF is back in town tonight, and since he's especially grumpy and sleepy and has been driving a U-Haul since 9am, I thought this would be the PERFECT night for crazy downtown beer drinking (poor choice me...) Oh well, he'll be happy when we get down to Sloss Furnace and it's jam packed with crazy Alabamians and people wanting to give us beer. It's completely sold out so I'm going to go ahead and assume some of these people have been before and loved it. Recently Alabama decided we needed more ways to get drunk so Bob Riley signed a bill letting us sell beer that is over 13% alcohol, and now this is one major celebration. Since a few of my friends were poor planners and didn't get tickets enough in advance (by that I mean yesterday afternoon...) they won't be attending, but my best friend (Emmy) and her BF (Paul) are going so it kind of turned into an impromptu, super fun double date.

I'll be sure to take loads of pictures....I can't really imagine what kind of people are going to be at this shindig.