Rehashing the weekend...

I do not even know where to start with this entry...It was a weekend that was made for a spectacular 24th birthday celebration. It all started Friday morning when I picked up Sanjida from the ariport and drove she and Jenne to Iowa City.

It was a fun filled adventure all the way down the road. Along about tollway 88 a very guido looking man driving a tan Lexus around about the age of 65 kept passing us and pulling up next to us. This went on for about 10 miles and he would smile from ear to ear, as if he had never seen 3 girls in a car before and went as far as to blow us kisses. He even tried to flash us hand signals, but we had no idea what he was doing. Before too long, he exited off the tollway and we all had a good giggle about how we always manage to attract randoms...even on the road.

We arrived in IC around 4pm where we picked up my brother and his friend TJ at his apt and drove them downtown where we checked into the Sheraton and prepped for the night. There Sanjida presented Aaron and I with a nice birthday gift. She gave us hot pink cowboy hats that have tierras on the front(you can see them in almost every picuture). Since one of rooms wasn't ready when Aaron had checked in earlier, we had free drinks at the hotel bar.

The first stop on the schedule was It's Brothers(1/2 price drinks and $2 pitchers) where we ate dinner and had some refreshing beverages from 5-7pm. There I had an incredible long island ice tea and an amaretto sour. There lots of friends stopped by and joined us for the night. Aaron and I had a deal that we would not buy eachother birthday gifts this year, instead suprise eachother with one shot throughout the night that we had to take together. Aaron used up his turn early in the night when we took a lunchbox together. Leaving Brothers, Aaron did a series of cartwheels for the camera.

Moving on down the street we did our 2 hour shift at the SpoCo. There we enjoyed $2 pitchers of beer and $1 bottles. (Try and find those specials in Chicago!) There the fun really started. There was dance and lots of posing for pictures. The place was packed before 8pm and there was lots of spillage due to people bumping around. Jill the thrill joined us there and I saw a few people that I went to high school with and Jenne even felt the need to stick his pitcher of beer and stir it for him. Jenne also made friends with John the old man that is always at the bar and likes to buy us shots. We took a picture with the giant wooden indian that hangs out in the bar. Aaron and I recreated the infamous beer pouring from the pretty in pastels party at UNI and Aaron felt the need to use his cowboi hat as a beer bottle holder. After a glorious and crowded 2 hours at the Column we crossed the street.

Atlas welcomed us with open arms down in the lounge. After doing a 14 person round of the traditional sexy alligator shot...I did another. While Mel did 3, after getting a free shot because the bartender accidently spilled water all down the front of Zimmer. There Aaron and I recreated the napping picture on teh leather couch from the night he got accepted to med school and he did a solo of pretending to vomit over the side of the couch. We teamed up for another pic shortly after to recreated flying on the pool table as we did the night of formal my senior year. I attacked Jenne on the leather couch and we cuddled for a moment. The time at Atlas was short lived, but bursting with memories.

At 10 bells, we meandered over to Bo James for $2 big beers. Jenne and I took a small detour through Whitey's so she could get some of the good ice cream for the first time ever. While Jenne sat on a park bench and ate the treat, I headed on in to find the crew. Mel popped on out of Bo James with her gin and tonic still in her hand and joined Jenne on the bench. Melita and Jenne popped on into Panche's and Mel ate her burrito straight off the table and headed home for the night while Jenne joined back up with the crawl. At Bo James, I ran into former RA Jason Bouska...now a dental student and I had him look to see if I had a cavity. Yes, imagine me with my big mouth wide open at the bar with Jason sticking his whole head in my mouth trying to see to the back in a dark bar. Quite the funny scene and no, he couldn't see anything. We all piled in a booth and had some nice chats and I got cozy with my girl Sam Brown who I hadn't got to chat with in a long time. Josh and TJ called it a night and I ran into Angela and Tim(who was wearing some spiffy new glasses) and Kori(who is in law school with my brother) gave us a bunch of free beer(Thanks Kori!).

Aaron called and said that he had ran to the Summit so the whole crew rolled on over. Things had started to get pretty crazy byt that point. Some people started to mellow out while others were just getting amped up. Aaron and I were feeling adventuresome and decided we soudl dance on an table in the outdoor patio of Summit. When the man came to ask us to get down, I just responded "You lived in Burge." Sure enough, he did. We left the Summit and headed back to Brothers...always and ending spot. There I saw "new Matt" and tried to convince him that we shoudl hang out and go to a Sox game when he is back in town...ha ha ha. That'll never happen. We didn't stay at Brothers for too long before heading to Pancheros where I got an incredible burrito to go and ate it at taco bell. The clan really split up there and the city dwellers headed back to thier respective places and we out of towners went to our hotel. We brought Vanis with us where we had a good long heart to heart. At some point, Aaron got an energy surge and and felt the need to pester us all. Aaron jumped on my bed to I tickeled him until he fell off the bed. When he pounced again, I flew back and my head SLAMMED into the headboard. It hurt so bad that I thought I was going to cry. Jenne being a health science major came up with the great idea to slove my aching head issue by taking me to the ice machine and sticking my head under whiel she held the ice button in. Thre ice pelted my head...which didn't make it feel better. Aaron got jealous and wanted his head in the ice machine too...you'll just have to wait for Sanjida's pictures on that one. Back in the room I was sitting on the bed and Aaron felt the need to pick up the whole mattress adn flip it over with me on it. There I sat on the ground with a mattress on top of me. We all settled down after that and got some good sleep.

In the morning Aaron flexed his big arm muscles for us and we said our good byes. I drove Jenne and Sandy back to Chicago where I dropped Sandy off at the airport. The drive back was much less eventful than the one there. It was a great weekend overall.

I am sure I left some stories out that will have to be added later.
Thanks for a great birthday weekend everyone that came and added to the fun (sorry if your name didn't get specifically mentioned...I am sure you are in one of the pictures!)

See the drama that occured...pictures galore(listed as 24th Birthday). Sandy's to be coming soon!

We ain't no holla back girls

See these hot hats...Sandy bought them for Aaron and I to wear out on our birthday. She even came all the way from Columbus to celebrate with us. Love her.

I'm warning you.

To whom it may concern--

I will be in Iowa City this weekend. If a ruckus occurs, do not be alarmed...it is I, just having fun.

Stawojo Lens

Oh, Home on the tennis court?!?!

PIKESVILLE, Md. (April 26) - A herd of buffalo somehow got loose and wandered around an upscale neighborhood Tuesday, disrupting traffic and alarming homeowners before officers managed to corral them in a tennis court.

Full Story and pics...

CNN Daily News Clips : Buffalo Get Loose in Baltimore

U.S. hybrid sales rise 81%

I am big fan of the new hybrid cars on the market...well, a big fan of everything except the way they look. U-G-L-Y! Fortunately more and more models are coming out in near future, including a hybrid Lexus. By far, the ugliest is the Toyota Prius. Until a more visually pleasing hybrid comes out, I am going to stick to driving the Taururri.

Full story.

bah humbug?

Dear Mother Nature--

Why is it late April and snowing? Please bring back the 70 and 80 degree weather that you teased me with last week.

Sincerely,
Stacey

Is it so?

Today, I had two separate conversations with friends about being single. While, in general, I don't mind being single...Related to the love of my independence. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I can be very stubborn(not always a good thing) and my impatience for people that do not want to partake in fun adventures that I think up. Sometimes, I think I have great ideas to do random things, when they may not always be the best ideas in retrospect(don't worry...Nothing illegal).

However, during one conversation the question of "Is there one person for everyone out there, or are some people meant to be alone forever?" While everyone has varying opinions on this subject, I agree with Mel. I do not think that there is just one person out there that is your one and only true love. However, I will add the disclaimer that I do not think that you should be trying out every flavor at Baskin Robbins, either. And yes, I do think that there are some people that should be single forever....Well, maybe not single, but just not procreate.

The one question I do pose is...Why do I know so many freaks that have significant others when I know plenty of great normal people that are single...And looking? Not that some of my friends would want to date any of those freaks**, but is there a shortage of normal people out there?

Anyhow, I am just tired and rambling now. Please leave your thoughts on this subject.

**no, in general, I do not think that some people are better than others and are too good to date some people

Are the stars in line?

According to www.astrology.com this is going to be my day:

Rest up today. Forget the chores, forget the errands. Take several power-naps, and have coffee ready to go. Conserve as much energy as you possibly can. You'll want tonight to go on forever, but it can't if you're tired.

I was just about to clean my apartment, but maybe I shouldn't according to my horoscope. Also, I have to work tonight, so I doubt that I will want it to go on forever...Unless I go out after work. Highly unlikely though.

Take me to St. Louie

On Wednesday, I met Josh and Jill in St. Louis for the Cubs/Cards game. After an 1 hour 22 min rain delay, the game finally got underway. Unfortunately, the Cards lost, but there was a lot of entertainment during the game and I got to see Erika Frank! The boy in this picture will Jill is named Cody. He was the lucky guy that got to sit next to Jill. He ate A LOT. We encouraged him to eat his Big Kahuna(two massive chocolate chip cookies with ice cream inbetween them) as fast as he could while Jill timed him. He downed the sucker in 2 minutes and 50 seconds. He stated afterwards "I can't feel my throat." But denied having an ice cream headache. After the Big Kahuna he devoured a funnel cake, which he refused to be timed while eating it.

It was a zoo

I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Tuesday. Here is a picture of the penguins. They were playing in the sprinkler. I wanted to play with them too.

Pita Taco

Jenne used to live in Mt Pleasant as a child and her family would get pita tacos when they would go to Burlington. During my trip home last weekend I picked up a pita taco for jenne on the way out of town. Here it is. The worlds best taco.

I'm a Pot-head

I have never had a green thumb, but I always like to try. I have a long list of things that I have killed, including a very low maintenance cactus. With the weather being gorgeous yesterday, I thought I would give it another shot. I planted some oregano, cilantro, sweet alysum, and chinese lanterns. Hopefully, I will remember to water them.
Today, I am off to Home Depot to buy a giant planter that I can plant plenty of vegetables in. My apt is starting to look like a green house. Maybe I'll but a few other plants too.
What is that they say in the movie 28 Days...if you can keep a plant alive for a year, get a pet. If that pet is alive in one year, you can start a relationship. But that advice is only for people getting out of rehab. Good thing for that, otherswise I would never be able to date. I have never kept a plant a live for a year and don't plan on getting a pet.

My weekend

I left the big city of Chicago(Gas $2.66/gallon) around 9am on Friday to head to the homeland of Burlington, IA(gas $2.15/gallon). Pressed for a timely return due to a 1pm auto body appointment, I became a little distraught when I was in the express lane (yes, one lane due to construction) on the great Illinois tollway 88 and there was a four car accident a few cars in front of me. After sitting there for 20 minutes, the cars finally drove until we were out of the construction zone. I made it to Burlington by 1:10pm. After dropping off my car, my dad and I went for a delish lunch at my former 2nd home, Subway. It was good to see some of the old sandwich artists, especially Sharkbait. After lunch, we headed home and I got to hang out with the mom for a little while and relax...not to mention get started on my mountain of laundry that I brought home. A few loads of laundry later, we headed out for a nice dinner.
Coincidently, Friday was also Catfish's 50th birthday. So I convinced my mom to head over to the new baseball stadium where he was celebrating. I got to spend someQT with Shiner, the Peach and the Fish, while drinking beer and watching baseball...even better. What a great night.
Saturday morning came early when my mom woke me up at 7am to help out with the garage sale to rid the house of my brothers belongings, since he will be moving to STL in less than a MONTH! The sale went well, I got a chance to socialize with neighbors that I haven't seen in a while. Perhaps the best part was walking around in the grass with no shoes on. You really take a nice yard for granted when you have it, but give yourself a few months in the city of cement and you will be yearning for a little nature. After finishing up the laundry I packed up the old taurarri and headed back to Chicago. After unpacking the laundry, I headed out to Midway, picked up Jenne on her flight back from San Diego and headed down the street to our favorite watering hole. It wasn't a late night, but it was a good night for catching up with each other.
Now I must get in the shower and head in for 8 hours of work.

Flush that! I'm not going to China until this problem's fixed

Shanghai to lift lid on high-tech toilets
World Toilet Expo featuring upgrade of China's public privies

Updated: 10:15 a.m. ET April 13, 2005
SHANGHAI - China is coming clean about its filthy toilets, first hosting a world toilet summit and now about to hold its first ever toilet exhibition which will lift the lid on new technology.
advertisementThe World Toilet Expo will run from May 8 to 10 in Shanghai, China’s most fashionable city, with some experts going potty about a dial-a-loo phone line people can call to find the nearest public toilet, the Shanghai Daily said on Wednesday.
"It’s expected to solve the long-lasting problem that tourists, cab drivers and people unfamiliar with the city cannot find a toilet when they need one," Han Yurong, a Shanghai Public Sanitation Bureau official, was quoted by state media as saying.
Shanghai officials said the city planned to revamp 500 of its 3,900 public toilets this year, build new ones and reserve two thirds for women.
"The current 1:1 ratio is not reasonable," Han added without explanation.
Beijing, eager to freshen up its primitive privies before it hosts the 2008 summer Olympics, recently added high-tech, self-cleaning toilets near tourist sites like the Forbidden City and Summer Palace and promised to keep them stocked with toilet paper.
Most of China’s public lavatories are squat-style pits with no running water, toilet paper or hand-washing facilities.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

I get spit on all the time and it doesn't make the news

Police: Man Charged With Cabbie's Death Assaults Nurse
City Worker Allegedly Spits At Emergency Room Worker

Secret Service Agents arrive at Chicago Art Exhibit

A controversial piece of art at Colombia College's art exhibit drew two secret service agents. The piece of art was a sheet of fake US Postal stamps which showed President Bush with a gun to his head.

Full story.

There's a bun in Britney's oven

I am personally not feeling tooo confident in Brit's maternal abilities.


Britney: 'I'm Pregnant'
Associated Press

Britney Spears has revealed what might be Hollywood's worst-kept secret: She's pregnant. In a posting on her Web site, Spears told fans that she and husband, Kevin Federline, were expecting their first child together.
Spears' publicist, Sonia Muckle, confirmed the singer's pregnancy Tuesday but refused to provide additional details.
"The time has finally come to share our wonderful news that we are expecting our first child together," the singer said. "There are reports that I was in the hospital this weekend, and Kevin and I just want everyone to know that all is well. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers."
The couple were married in September. Magazines and tabloids have speculated for weeks that Spears, 23, was pregnant, documenting her expanding waistline and fuller figure, but she remained mum on the subject.
However, she has previously expressed a desire to start a family. In an interview with People magazine last fall, she said: "I want to be a young mom. I can see us as parents."
While this will be Spears' first foray into parenthood, Federline, 27, has two children with his ex-girlfriend, actress Shar Jackson. Spears and Federline met last year when he was a backup dancer on her tour — and Jackson was pregnant with their son.
Spears wed Federline just eight months after ending a 55-hour Las Vegas marriage to her childhood friend, Jason Alexander. Her second marriage has provided endless fodder for tabloids, which have speculated that the union is in trouble — prompting an angry outburst from Spears on her Web site last month.
Yet the couple have hardly hid from the limelight — last week, the pair announced they would document their courtship in a new reality series on UPN. The network promised "exclusive, never-before-seen private home videos" of their "personal love story."
Spears' impending motherhood may be the ultimate indicator that the former teen princess is all grown up. Spears was cast as an innocent with a bit of sex appeal when she made her debut at 16 with the multiplatinum " ... Baby, One More Time" and became a youth icon. As she grew older, her image got sexier, and more vampish.
Her last album was a greatest hits collection, which has sold nearly 1 million copies.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

XxxxxxxxxxxxBOX....2005 style

LOS ANGELES - Microsoft Corp. Monday said it would unveil the next generation of its Xbox video game console in a May 12 special on cable music and entertainment channel MTV.
The unveiling will be a first, as video game companies usually take the wraps off their new consoles at exclusive industry events like the trade show E3 -- which will be held the following week in Los Angeles.
“I think we need to signal a change that things aren’t going to be the same in the next generation,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president in the Xbox division, in an interview.
"While it’s gaming at its core, there’s a much bigger and broader entertainment message that we need to get out there.”
(MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)
Microsoft said the special would also air in Japan the morning of May 13 and across Europe that evening.
The special will include footage of next-generation Xbox games and also online play, Microsoft said. Actor Elijah Wood will host the show, with local hosts for each country.
The company has not set a release date for the Xbox successor or even announced a name, but the new hardware is expected to be released later this year.
RELATED STORY
Microsoft offers details on new Xbox
Market leader Sony Corp. has said little about the timetable for its next-generation PlayStation console, but there is speculation it will offer details at E3 next month.
Last week Sony advised it would hold its E3 press conference a few hours before Microsoft’s, a break with tradition that some saw as a sign Sony wanted to steal Microsoft’s anticipated thunder.
Moore said Microsoft has been planning the MTV launch since last year and only found out about the Sony schedule change last week.
Moore said the show will be “live to tape,” meaning it will be filmed as though it were a live event, and edited later to add celebrity interviews and the like.
© Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Pizza Party...cha cha cha

Liz decided that laying on my kitched floor while the pizza cooked would be a good idea. Halleh walked by and Liz also thought giving her a tap on the tush was a good idea.

A little of this and a little of that

Halleh, Kate, me and Liz.
The girls had so much fun at Hawkeye's on Friday night that they wanted to go back on Sat. What can I say? Is it me? Ha ha ha.

Everybody knows what's going down...Ed

Bedbug and her rugby clan came into town to beat some serious University of Chicago rugby butts. I took them out in Chicago and showed them a good time. Here they are about to tackle Ed, the bar owner.

Ms. Wheelchair stands up, loses crown

Miss Wheelchair Wisconsin, Janeal Lee, from Appleton, Wisconsin was stripped of her title because she is able to stand. The board ruled that she is "not disabled enough." The crown has been given to the runner up and will will compete for the national title.

Here's the full story.

It's a beautiful morning...

I for one have been suffering from a bought of cabin fever lately. A few weeks ago, we had one nice day then the weather went south again. The past few days have been absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't resist taking advantage of them. I started out my day today with a 3 mile walk. The birds were cherping...oh wait, I couldn't hear them over the clang-clang, rattle-rattle of construction equipment, cars and busses. That is the one thing I miss about Iowa...nature. However, when I got back from my walk I opened up my back patio door and could hear birds cherping from the park behind my apt. Maybe I should get one of those nature CDs and listen to it while I walk.

Enjoy the weather.

It was the quick relase button

This man's name is Owen. He is apparently a law student at Northwestern. More importantly, he brought an umbrella(you know the kind with the quick release buttons!) to the bar and it wasn't really even raining out. Since he was sitting next to me, I asked him if I could use his umbrella. Being the nice person that he is, he let me borrow it and I proceeded to press the quick release button and let the umbrella fly out and hit Jenne, repeatedly. Don't worry, the umbrella didn't open up, it just shoots out. It was all quite humorous, really. Jenne might try to tell you she didn't like getting poked by the umbrella, but I think she really did.

We're just social

For those of you who may not know, I like to have a good time.
So does my friend Jenne.

On occassion, we head down to a bar a few blocks from my apartment called Hawkeyes. While at Hawkeyes(an other places), very random things always happen to us. They don't seem to happen to anyone else, but US, and only if it is just the two of us. If more than Jenne and I go, we are safe from freak occurances. From this, we have decided that people are most approachable when they go out in set of 2 people of the same sex ( a theory Erika and I tested in undergrad that held to be true, as well).

To illustrate this, I will give you a few examples of things that have happened to us:

**An ER doctor poured his heart out to us after he lost his first patient ever.
**Two men and a lady talked to us for about 3 hours one night about Harleys, in which they somehow thought I owned one with a sidecar that Jenne rides in. They gave us thier e-mail so that we could go riding together when the weather gets nice.
**Some guy gave me a Brandenburg Construction t-shirt(don't worry, it was new).
**One man tried to eat Jenne's shoe.
**One man played a guitar for us.
**Thumb wars have occured.
**One man did the Michael Jackson Thiriller dance for us.

Not everything on the above list happened at Hawkeyes...or while alcohol was being consumed. Frequently, these freak occurances happen mid-day. Anywhere Jenne and I go together people are magnetized to us...and let's just say, it's not always a good thing. Jenne and I find them all quite humorous to reflect upon and most people don't even believe us when we tell them the stories. Oh well.

Enough blabbing.

Stolen

One of the more interesting posts that I have read today, comes from http://twotermslater.blogspot.com. I am stealing it and posting it on my blog, because I think it is amazing. Thanks for posting this APK.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh, and I awlyas thugoht slpeling was ipmorantt.

Bset rgaedrs,PUAL

APRIL FOOLS!

Did not get a tattoo...not getting a tattoo.

All tatted up

For the past few years I have wanted to get a tattoo, but could never decide what I wanted. I felt the lower back and chinese symbols were way overdone. I always joked that I would get a potato, because potatos never go out of style. I even had many a fake tattoo potatos drawn on me this past summer by my bosses daughter. They usually centered around a mole on my arm, so it looked like an eye on the potato. Well, I finally took the dive in to tattoo land this past Wednesday and got a celtic symbol on my inner ankle. This is what is looks like.

http://www.celticlady.com/flash/ts-7.html

Hope you all like it as much as I do.

ps. The inner ankle really hurts.