LOA

I am headed to northwest Iowa this weekend and won't be back to blogging until Monday or Tuesday.

Have a great weekend.

Stace

Date #1

Ok, ok, it hasn't occurred yet, but I will tell you what I know about it so far.

I am going to visit my grandparents in northwest, Iowa this weekend and my uncle, who also lives there called me today. He asked me if I would be there on Saturday night and I replied with an affirmative. He asked if I would like to meet a guy. I made a few inquiries, receiving very vague replies, knowing that I would have to say "yes", no matter the answers he gave me.
So, if this "guy" is available we might be going out for "pizza or something" on Saturday night...probably with my aunt, uncle, cousin and his wife. Group date anyone?

After hanging up, I called my mom to inform her of this and apparently she knew this was possibly going to go down. He was apparently the best man in my cousin's wedding, but I do not remember him. Oh well, looks like I will be meeting him on Saturday if everything pans out.

I have officially completed the book, The Year of Yes. While it was an entertaining read, I would wait to buy it until it comes out in paperback. The author has a loose definition of what constitutes a date and claims to have gone on 150 of them during her Year of Yes. I do not forsee myself going on anywhere near 150 dates during my year of yes. An intersting concept and read. I give it a B.

Hot men...holla

On my day off today, I decided to go to the gym at 4:30pm. I am never at my gym at this time, because I am usually at work. Well, let's just say that I wish I could be there everyday at that time.

Holy moly, hot men everywhere. Is 4:30 the universal, hot guy work out time and I never knew. If you have previously been uninformed, you are now informed that you should be at the gym at that time to get a good view of the men.

Here in Chicago, there is a radio station that has a thing called "Hot girl check in" and "Hot mom check in" where people that think they are hot girls or hot moms can call in at a designated time and state why they are "hot" and get a shout out. Megan decided that I should set up a table at the gym and have "Hot guy check in". But they would have to give me their number. I think it is a great idea and might set up a booth on my next day off.

It is the year of yes, but he was a "no"

So Friday night, Jenne and I went to Hawkeye's for a little bit after I got off work. Jenne went don't stairs to use the bathroom and this guy, we'll call him "Brad" came over and started to talking to me. He was not attractive, but I am sure a nice guy. He proceeded to talk to me for longer than I cared. During this conversation he continuously mentioned how much money he made, gave me a run down of his monthly budget and informed me that he paid $800/month in child support to his child that he never sees as well as $250 in health insurance for this beautiful child. Talking about money is unattractive to me.

Then he started telling me that he plays in a volleyball league and asked if I ever had played. Being honest, I said that I used to play volleyball. He asked what position I played and told him that I played front row and he he asked how tall I was. I informed him that I am 5'11". He didn't believe me and made me stand up. Brad was only about 5'8". He then invited me to be on his team, on the spot, I had to say "yes"(and it is the year of yes) and asked if he could call me "my giant". Ewwwwwwwwww.

After being completely repulsed by him, he started running down the list of drugs he used to do and the ones he currently does. In my head, I was shouting "Yes!, I have an out! He uses drugs, I can say "No!".

So the long and short of it is, he was my first "no" in the Year of Yes.

She could have had a baby in that amount of time.

It has been 10 months since Jenne's last blog post.

Then, she had a crazy moment and blogged TWICE in the same day.

The Year of Yes

Recently, my roommate was telling me about a book about a woman who went on a date with every man that asked her out for a year. While I am not unhappy with my nonexistant dating life...infact, I kind of like it that way, I was intrigued by the idea. I looked up the book on Borders, and the description for The Year of Yes, read:

"Like many young people everywhere, playwright Maria Headley had had her fill of terrible dates. Discouraged and looking for love, she decided the time had come for her to eliminate her own (clearly not adequately discriminating) taste from the equation. Instead-as she vowed to her roommates one frustrated morning-she would date every person who asked her out for an entire year, regardless of circumstances. It would be her Year of Yes. Leaving her judgment and predispositions at the door, our heroine ventured into a world suddenly brimming with opportunity and found herself saying yes to:
-The Microsoft Millionaire who still lived with his mom.
-An actor she had previously sworn off as gay.
-And finally the significantly older man, divorced with kids, who she never would have looked at twice before the Year of Yes-and to whom she is now happily married.Hilariously funny and ultimately inspirational, The Year of Yes will appeal to every person who has turned down a date for the wrong reason. "

After some consideration and discussion with friends, I too(along with Mel and Jenne) are going to participate in the Year of Yes. Headly did disclude the drunk, drugged and cheating when accepting dates, so I too will put stipulations on my affirmative answers.

--It must be a male.
--He must be between the ages of 21-40.
--He must not be married, in a relationship, or on drugs.

Can you think of any others I should add?

While I am not looking to fall in love or get married anytime soon, my life might become much more interesting.

So, until March 22, 2007, I will be saying "yes".

Aaron and I examining the Golden Tee at Murphy's Bleachers on St Patrick's Day. Let's just say it doesn't appear to have the wear and tear that the one at Jake's in Iowa City had.

Out at Roscoe's on Saturday night. L to R: Matt, Rob, Mel and Me

laying in bed

Yes, I am laying in bed blogging.

Since my last post, the Iowa Hawkeyes have been knocked out of the NCAA tournament by a #14 seed. As I predicted, they would get knocked out on their first round, because they always do. If Steve Alford reads my blog, I would like him to please go to Indiana and coach. I, as well as much of the state of Iowa is done with you.

Jenne's cousin Katie and former roommate Liz came into town on Thursday night with plans for a full day of St Pats festivities on Friday. A few other people came over in the morning and they all headed to Lincoln Park by noon to celebrate all things Irish.

Mel came in via bus about 2pm on Friday, where I picked her up at Union Station, headed to Target and shopped for things to take with us to Jamaica. I was also in need of something green to wear out that night. We came back to the apt, goofed around, watched tv and had a cocktail before heading out for Thai for din din. After dinner we walked down to Hawkeye's where we were given beads, glowing lights, and 2 t shirts. Aaron, Tommy, Chris, Rob and Matt rolled into town about 9:30pm, picked us up at Hawkeyes and drove us back to the apt. The guys got ready and then we took the L up north to Wrigleyville where we spent the rest of our night at Murphey's Belachers.

Saturday promised another day of fun, in which everyone headed to Michigan to shop while I went to work. After work, I met everyone at Nate's apt then all headed out to Roscoe's. After having a great time and overindulging myself on the pink lemonade there, we headed home for some sleep. Tommy's birthday was Sunday, where we headed to Chipotle for a birthday lunch and Tommy got his meal for free. Mel did the snake eating it's prey...she was a water moccasin that ate an electric eel. After eating it, she got electrocuted and seized. It was one of the best I have ever seen. We came back to the apt, hung out while everyone got ready to leave. At 4:43 I dropped Mel off for her 4:45 bus departure. Then I spent a little time with Jenne, watched Grey's Anatomy and headed to bed.

It was a great weekend...and if that was only the prequel to Jamaica...we are in for a GOOD TIME.

BIG TEN CHAMPS!!!

I would like to give a shout out to my alma mater the Iowa Hawkeyes for pulling off a great win against The Ohio State University Buckeyes today in the Big Ten Championship game.

Iowa took a #3 seed and will be playing #14 Northwestern St in Auburn Hill, MI on Friday.

GO HAWKS!!!

Immigrants protest...and block the streets of Chicago

Yesterday I became extrememly annoyed when I had to sit through a traffic light 7 times and I was the 5th car back. No, there wasn't an accident, there were thousands of immigrants crossing the street and disobeying the signals.

An estimated 100,000 immigrants protested a bill yesterday that would make it a felony to be an undocumented immigrant or to help one. Ironically most of the protesters are unable to vote, because they aren't citizens. I have mixed feelings about this issue. I understand that it is a long and difficult process to become a US Citizen, but there is a HUGE difference between being completely undocumented and being a citizen. This bill is just saying that you have to have legal documentation to be here, not be a citizen. So, if I understand correctly, you will be treated as a criminal if you are an illegal immigrant. Illegal means NOT legal and that makes it a crime. While I think making it a felony is a bit harsh, these people have infact commited a crime by not properly registering.

I was also very disturbed at the condition in which these protesters left the downtown area. There were several sanitation workers out cleaning up the garbage that littered the streets that these protestors left behind. Signs, food wrapers, and beverage containers were everywhere. If you want to be in this country, you need to respect it and obey it's laws...and yes, that includes the minor ones like littering and traffic signals.

Read the full story at the Chicago Sun Times.

Spring Cleaning...you should do it too!

Tonight, I dedicated my Friday night of fun and excitement to cleaning out my closet. I recently realized that I had a lot of clothes that I hadn't worn in a while, didn't fit properly anymore, or just were out of style. I also had an excessive amount of t-shirts. I ended up with about 5 stacks that were 2 foot tall each of clothes to get rid of. I thought about saving them for an infamous Monarch Dr garage sale or donating them to the Salvation Army, but finally decided upon donating them to the hospital floor that I work on.

On our unit we have a donation closet of clothes for the kids to wear and keep or give back at the end of their stay. Unfortunately, we have many kids that get dropped off on our unit in only the clothes that they are wearing and do not see their parents/guardians again until they are discharged(an average of 7-10 days later). We also have children "dumped" from time to time. By dumped, I mean that their parents admit them to the hospital and then give them up to foster care and never bring them any of their belongings. In another unfortunate event, IDPH recently informed our unit that having a washer and dryer on our unit was against code, so we are also unable to wash clothes for these children. So, I decided to donate my clothes to the unit's donation closet so that these kids have something to wear. If any of you feel the need to donate clothes as well and will be seeing me in the near future or know someone that will, feel free to bag them up(clean of course) and send them my way. We are always in need of clothes. Thanks.

front view

side-ish view

The 2006 Stacey

Today I spend my morning and early afternoon getting a manicure, pedicure and new haircut. A much needed break from my crabbiness yesterday. My hair is now 5 inches shorter and I LOVE IT! It is cut very blunt on the bottom, but has lots of layers and is very textured on top. IF your lucky, I may put up a pic of it.

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ugh! I am so irritable today.

I am annoyed that I am irritated with myself. My clothes are rubbing on my skin the wrong way. Everything is very tactile and auditory overstimulating for me. I was cringing at the sound of ripping paper! Then, I went to the bathroom at work and realized that my underwear were on inside out all day long.

Now, I can't even type. I have to stop blogging now. The clicking of the computer keys is driving me CRAZY!

Where's the party? In my mouth!

I realized the other day that I haven't used the phrase "that's like a party in my mouth" in a while.

Some things that cause it to feel like there is a party in mouth:

--certain toothpastes
--champagne
--bubble gum flavored mouthwash

I really like parties in my mouth.

It was a busy week

Today was my first day off in 10 days. I was working a lot of overtime last week, hence the reason for minimal posting. Laundry is way behind and I won't be caught up in the near future, because I am working a double tomrorow.

I spent my day off being as lazy as possible and lucky for me, there was a Law and Order:SVU marathon on. Well, I must get back to being lazy...only 10 hours until I have to return to work.