The weekend was great. I got very little sleep, but it was well worth it.

On Friday night, we had a crop at the store from 6 to midnight, so I scrapbooked for basically six hours straight with my mom and some of our customers. We had lots of fun. I got a bunch of pages done for an album I'm working on. Woohoo!

On Saturday, I worked and taught a class. We were super busy, which is awesome. I had a family dinner after work with my grandparents and parents. I also treated myself to Twilight. I went to the late showing, so it wasn't super busy. I loved the movie and thought they actually did a pretty decent job of adapting the book. I actually had to wait in line to get in, but some of the people in line behind me were already seeing it for a second time. It has some pretty cool special effects (the scene with vampires playing baseball in a thunderstorm is pretty awesome). It is a chic flick for the most part, but was definitely fun to see.

On Sunday, I managed to actually get some cleaning done. Jiji organized some football watching too since her and Piscesmama were husbandless and childless for the day (the Broncos so sucked though). We decided that we must curse them when the three of us watch together because everytime we do, they lose. Sigh. It was lots of fun though. We also praticed our dancing skills with a little halftime DDR. Of course, Jiji worked us again ;)

So, the weekend was lots of fun, which is nice since it's Monday already. Today is just the usual, nothing too out of the ordinary. The only thing on the agenda is going Thanksgiving grocery shopping tonight since that didn't happen this weekend.

Casino

Last night I went out and checked out the new casino with my family. My brother wanted to go out and try his hand at the slots since he's newly legal. It is a lot bigger than the old casino with a lot more room on the floor to move around. We also went into the new bowling alley to check it out. I can't wait to go out and bowl; it looks awesome.

I gambled on the quarter machines. I spent a whopping $6 and made $40, so I came out ahead, which is good. I have a little mad money to go see a movie or something now. My bro went in the hole $40 and my dad won $100, so it was a decent night. It was the first time I'd been to a casino in about three years, so it was good fun. I'm excited to go out and try my hand at Bingo too; they have a huge Bingo hall now, so it'll be lots of fun.

This weekend is gonna be pretty low key. I'm teaching a class at our store tomorrow afternoon. I'm gonna go grocery shopping for Thanksgiving to help my mom out and hopefully get some stuff done around the house (yeah right, I say this every weekend and get like one thing done :) I'm also hoping to go see the movie Twilight. I've read the series of books (being the English nerd that I am) and definitely want to go check out the movie. I've heard great things about it. One of the people I know at a shop here went and saw the midnight showing last night with his daughter and loved it, which is a pretty good reference coming from a parts guy. Anyways, I think maybe I'll use my huge casino winnings and go check it out ;)

Have a happy Friday everyone!

Ode to the Bro

This is my bro last spring being a DH for his team.

This is my brother pitching this last spring baseball season.

Since my brother is turning 21 today, I felt like I needed to honor him on my blog. So here are some of my favorite sibling memories.

1. My first memory of my bro is the day he was born. I was six and my dad came to pick me up early from school so I could go see him. I got there just about 30 minutes after he was born. The nurse at the hospital asked if I wanted to go meet him and give him his first bath. I said yes and got to go into the nursury and give my brother his first bath. He of course was pretty mad about the whole thing and screamed the entire time.

2. My next memory of my brother is when he was about two. We were outside playing on our swing set. We had one of those swings that had a bench on it where two kids could sit in it and be swung at one time. We were in the yard by ourselves, my mom was inside and my brother fell asleep in my lap on the swing. I couldn't move him by myself, so I was sitting in the swing holding him in my lap while he took a nap. Luckily, my mom came out and found us in a few minutes. It is a pretty sweet memory I have of my brother though.

3. My other childhood memories of my brother involve him chasing me with his cars and driving my Barbies off 'cliffs' in his Jeep. When he was younger we also would play a lot of catch in our front yard. (Before he could break something by throwing to me.)

4. My next favorite memory actually happened when he was fourteen. We traveled with his baseball team to Aurora for a weekend tournament. We made the drive on a Friday night and came home late, late Sunday. We had exactly nine players for the tourney. It was a twelve team tourney, with some of the best teams in their age group from around Coloraado represented. Our team was pretty rag tag, but managed to keep advancing. We even advanced when we had one player get ejected for cleating a catcher. We played all the way through and managed to win the entire tourney. It was the Demons first gold medal tourney. I was so happy for my brother that day because he had worked so hard to get there. This weekend is also one of my favorites because we took the boys to Hooters to celebrate advancing and all of the waitresses there gave them kisses on the cheek. I have the pictures =)

Anyways, I love my brother to death. He's a pretty cool guy and I'm happy that we get to hangout so much.

This is him at school in Kansas this last spring. He and his engineering friends created a solar golf cart for their campus.

Glazing Over Thanksgiving and Relating to Music

So a weird thing I noticed. It seems people transition from Halloween to Christmas with little thought to Thanksgiving. I've noticed this in the last few day at work. People are talking more about Christmas plans and gifts than Thanksgiving. It's sort of odd. I love both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I guess maybe it's because Thanksgiving isn't as hyped up as Christmas. Anyways, just an observation.

Oh and my other random thing of the day are some song lyrics that I found that I'm sure some of my fellow bloggers can relate to. I absolutely love this song and thought I would share with everyone. Here's the lyrics:

I move on like a sinners prayer
I let 'em go like a levee breaks
walk away as if I don't care
learn to shoulder my mistakes
I'm built to fade like your favorite song
gettin reckless when there's no needl
augh as your stories ramble on
break my heart but it won't bleed
my only friends are pirates,
it's just who I am
I'm better as a memory than as your man.

I'm never sure when the truth won't do
I'm pretty good on a lonely night
I move on the way a storm blows through
I never stay, but then again, I might
I struggle sometimes to find the words
always sure until I doubt
walk a line until it blurs
build walls too high to climb out
but I'm honest to a fault,
it's just who I am
I'm better as a memory than as your man

I see you leanin',
you're bound to fall
I don't wanna be that mistake
I'm just a dreamer,
n' nothing more
you should know it before it gets too late
cause goodbyes are like a roulette wheel
you never know where they're gonna land
first you're spinning
, then you're standing still
left holding a losin' hand
one day you're gonna find someone
right away, you'll know it's true
that all of your seeking is done

It was just a part of the passing through
right there in that moment
you'll finally understand
that I was better as a memory than as your man
better as a memory than as your man

Anyways, the name of the song is 'Better As A Memory'. The artist is Kenny Chesney. I've just been reading a lot of my favorite blogs out there and decided a lot of us could probably relate to the song, whether now or in the past. I love music of all sorts and find therapy in my playlists. Hope you enjoy and definitely share some of your favorite music.

My Random Entry

The weekend was full of socializing again, which is awesome. My friends (Curmudge, N., Jiji, G., and Piscesmama) had a fantastic Wii party, where we got our dance on. It was so much fun, even though Jiji worked everyone over on DDR.

Yesterday, was football with Piscesmama, which luckily the Broncos won. Woohoo! Two weeks in a row. I also went to Farmington with my family to celebrate two birthdays and an anniversary. We ate at the Outback, which I hadn't been to in about a year. It was delicious. We also did a little shopping at Target, Best Buy, and Sam's Club. It was fun to get out of town for awhile, even if it was just an hour away. I honestly hadn't been down there since summer, so it was a nice break.

As for today, well, I'm making Christmas cards for a club I belong to here in town. Our meeting is Wednesday and I have to get my fifteen Christmas cards made, plus four birthday cards for those people who have a birthday this month. It's so much fun though. Honestly all the women in this club are some of the coolest and most creative people I know.

I'm also helping out the Animas Museum by selling there cookbook in store. They put together a cookbook of recipes that are all from locals, some dating back to the 1800s. It's great because it has stories about the recipes and pictures of our area during different periods of history. It goes to help fund the museum, which is great. I'm definitely going to get one =)

Let's see., other cool stuff this week. My brother turn 21, so I want to at least take him out for a drink on his birthday, which is Wednesday night. He wants to go to Franciscos for dinner, so I think a margarita is in order. If anyone wants to maybe go get a drink with us, let me know =)

We're also gearing up for Operation Cookie, which commences in two weeks. My feet already hurt.

Hope you all have a happy Monday!

So it's Friday, which is awesome even though I do have to work tomorrow, it's just in the scrapbook store and not in parts too. Not that I mind doing both, it will just be nice to have a break from the chaos that is the parts store right now.

We've been putting up tons of new display this week on one of the walls. The display is called a waterfall tower. It's made of plastic pegboard and hangs on brackets from the wall. It swings back and forth, sort of like big pages in a book so you can use both side of the pegboard to hang things on. It's actually pretty cool; you can get a lot more in a small space.

The Nook is doing good too. I actually got a call from a woman in Georgia today who wanted me to mail her a gift certificate as a Christmas present to her aunt that lives here. It's my first over the phone holiday order, woohoo!

As far as everything else, things have gotten better. I actually managed to make Weight Watchers last night for the first time in two weeks (work had prevented it the two weeks before). It was actually really great and got me motivated again. The meeting was actually comparing football to weight loss (I totally thought of you Piscesmama). The bad news, is I had gained a couple of pounds in the last two weeks, but hopefully I can take them of this week and get back on track a little better. Exercise has been a beatch this last week too since I managed to catch the gross cold that seems to be plaguing everyone. Luckily, it seems to be going away too.

This weekend is going to pretty cool I think. My family and I are going to go out to eat to celebrate my bro and mom's birthdays. My brother is 21 this year, so I have to take him and get him a margarita or something. He actually wants to try a martini because he's never had one before. I told him I would make him go out with me and my friends, which he actually thought sounded pretty fun. Hehehe...anyways, I honestly can't believe he'll be 21. I think there is also a Wii party in the mix with my friends this weekend too, so that will be fun =) I also need to clean my house, ick.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Lighten Up

Lately I feel like my blog has been way too sad and filled with worry. I really hate that; I hate being in that frame of mind. I decided to do something fun. So, I decided to do a mini survey. If you want, use it for your blog too =)

1. Do you have any goofy nicknames?
Let's see, one of them is JL (duh!) I've been called Jer Ber, Jerri Berri, Jer, and of course, my sibling's nickname for me is Beavis.

2. Name three things you have to do today.
Get ready for a class for next week, work on a Christmas present for someone, and go to Weight Watchers.

3. First thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?
Either that was a weird dream or oh dang I'm late.

4. Craziest thing you've ever eaten?
Alligator. Yes, that's right, fried alligator at a restaurant in Florida. It was not so good, luckily it was just an appetizer.

5. What are some of your future goals?
Well, I want to make my business successful, have a family of my own, and travel more. One of the things I want just for myself is to make my goal weight at Weight Watchers. I've always struggled with my weight. I don't want this for the shallow reason of just looking better either, I want my health to keep getting better and be active when I'm eighty, not in a nursing home somewhere.

6. If you could wish something for your friends, what would it be?
I would wish that all of them would find happiness in life. I love them all so much and happiness is what makes life great.

7. What's the best vacation you've ever been on?
Well, I would have to say my senior trip to Washington DC was great. Followed by a family trip to Florida and being a nanny for a week in Maui. This question really makes me want to get out of town.

8. Are you listening to music right now?
Yup, my iTunes list on my computer. It's on random and is currently playing The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Song: The Dirty Boogie

9. Tell us something about your past.
Well, when I was young I was on a youth group marching team. We actually traveled and competed against other clubs. I even still have the old uniform. I actually found a whole album of pictures from our club a couple of weeks ago (Curmudge, you'll have to check it out, oh the memories =)

10. Favorite memories?
Well, with this question, I have to say something about each of my friends.
Curmudge-I've known you for so long now and we have so many crazy memories. I think my favorite memory of us when we were young is either us staying up all night making crazy mix tapes to listen to in our first cars or hanging out in your garage at your old house in the upstairs bedroom for sleepovers. I also have to say our times together in the youth group were pretty great too. My favorite recent memory of you is your wedding day. You looked gorgeous and so happy. I couldn't have been happier for you.
Jiji- My favorite young memory of you is us doing all of our crazy art projects together, our letters to each other in the summer before the advent of e-mail, and you beating the crap out of the boys at Dare Base. My favorite recent memory of you is also your wedding day. It was so special and I've never seen you happier. I'm so glad I got to be there for all of it and host your shower, not to mention watch you get ready. You were so radiant and gorgeous.
Piscesmama- My fav young memory of you is your sixteenth birthday party at the Iron Horse. I think that's when I really started to get to know you well. It was so much fun. My favorite current memory of you is spending time with you and LB Trick or Treating. It was so much fun to get out there and spend time with both of you. It was so fun to get to spend quality time with LB, Curmudge, and you.
N.- Let's see, I have lots of fun memories with you from crazy sledding trips, staying up till 3AM working on homework, and having Friends night every Thursday night at my place during college. My most recent favorite memory of you is seeing how happy you and O. are when you last visited. I'm so happy for you guys and wish we lived a little closer together.
E.- E, all of my memories of you are fun. My favorite memory with you is going 4-wheeling with you up Missionary Ridge right before you and T. got married. Your Blazer was loaded down with stuff from the move, but that didn't stop us from scaling up the side of a mountain. I also have to say that spending time with you and everyone up at the cabin is one of my favorite memories too.

Cars and Money

I finally got sleep last night, woohoo!! I did still have dreams and they were weird, but at least I feel refreshed today instead of like warmed over death. Last night's dreams focused on magic, more about that later on.

I'm actually really glad I did get rest, since my morning started with a broken down truck. My mom and I went to Albertsons first thing to pick up coffee and stuff for lunch. We came back out to go back to work and the truck would just click. Not sure if it's a battery or starter since it's still sitting down in the Albertson's parking lot. Grandpa had to come rescue us in my truck. The bro and my dad have to go down and tow it back to work so we can hopefully get it back up and running. The only bad thing about the truck choosing today to break is that we have more reps under foot today making more changes and my dad has to go to an appointment in Farmington in about an hour.

I have to say my eye has been trained to the news more than usual today as the government is meeting with the Big Three Automakers to decide if they will get a cut of the bailout money. I also heard that American Express, Circuit City, and American Home Furnishings are looking at bankruptcy or trying to get a cut of the bailout as well. Macys and Best Buy are also showing huge losses. I guess all these companies are having extra trouble because the way the stock market is, their stocks are all in the toilet, and of course no one is really buying stocks, so they are taking huge hits. The car makers have all taken huge hits since banks aren't making loans on cars right now and with consumer confidence at an all time low. The statistic I heard this morning about auto sales is that they are down 43% from last year and the stock prices of each company are at their lowest since the 1940s. The incredibly scary thing is that if they DON'T get help, 1 in every 10 jobs in our country is provided by GM, Ford, and Chrysler. This doesn't include aftermarket stores, shops, or aftermarket warehouses. They are also our country's largest form of manufacturing. The interesting thing about all of this as well is that all of the foreign carmakers are suffering as well, including other majors like Toyota and Nissan. If even one of the three go out of business, 2.5 million people will be out of jobs instantly across the country.

One a random side note on the bailout.

One thing I heard about the bailout this morning that floored me was that some of the banks and financial firms have used the money to pay for retreats for executives (AIG did this). There is also the possibility that it can be used to give stockbrokers a year end bonus. I heard this on the national morning news this morning. Are you frickin' kidding me??

More Dreams

I'm still having crazy dreams. I'm not sure why. I think it's maybe because I haven't been sleeping soundly, so I don't get my deep sleep going on. Anyways, my dream last night was back in ancient times, which is sort of odd for sure. The only thing I really remember is walking along a dirt road with a little girl. The field ran through a field that looked like it was dry. It was definitely fall. The little girl and I were carrying some sort of pack and pots.

So, I decided to look up what some of the different things in my dream represented. A field was listed in the book. A green field represents prosperity and happiness. A dry field represents reversals. Since I saw a dry field, I'm guessing something in my life is about to reverse and change. I'm actually hoping this is my stint of bad luck that has seemed to hang over my head lately.

A girl in your dream can represent innocence and childlike nature. A girl can also represent that you have been behaving prematurely in some aspect of your life.

A pot in your dream can represent the fact that you have hidden anger and frustration about an event in you life.

A pack is representative of decisions and responsibilities that are weighing you down.

I really thought all of this was really interesting, especially when put all together in one dream. I can honestly say I have been feeling angry and frustrated more than normal in the last couple of weeks. I definitely feel like I acted a little prematurely in the recent weeks too, hence the little girl coming into play in my dream.

Whether it's sleep deprivation or my unconscious telling me something, I thought it was fun to try and figure out. I honestly believe that our dreams can tell us some sort of message and maybe help us figure out things that we wouldn't otherwise.

Have you had any weird dreams lately??

Oh Politics

I hardly ever talk much about politics. I guess today I just felt like going off on a bit of a tangent. It's crazy to me the chaos that still surrounds the election on both sides.

First of all, let me say I grew-up in a conservative household. Several of my family members do belong to the NRA, have guns, hunt, and have fairly conservative views. I'm definitely more in the middle. I'm actually registered as an independent because I believe in ideas on both side of the fence. I guess you could say I believe that women should have a choice if they want to have an abortion or not and that everyone has the right to bear arms (if they do it in the right way, not running around shooting anything with a pulse). I definitely love my country and would fight for it if it ever came to that.

Anyways, I guess this is on my mind today because even though the election is over finally, both sides are still going at it. I guess that's what happens when the popular vote percentage was as close as it was (Obama 53%, McCain 46%). You can definitely still feel the tension and fear on both sides. I've heard pretty much everything radical on both sides, from Obama is comparable to Hitler to Obama is the Savior. I guess to me, a new President will definitely bring about change, no matter who he is. I honestly don't think one man can change everything in a mere four years, no matter who he is or how good his ideas are. That's not to say I don't believe in some of the new ideas out there or that we can change nothing, just that I guess I'm being practical.

I can say when I went out on election night, it was great to see so many people getting excited about what was going on and that it's awesome to see so many people actually turned out to vote. For me though, I really didn't feel excited or down about anything that happened. I really just felt nothing about the whole thing. I guess to me I want to wait and see what happens. I honestly don't have a lot of faith in any politician, no matter what they promise. I also think I didn't feel passionately either way because I could see both the good and bad things that both candidates brought to the table and really thought either of would make a decent President.

I guess my whole point is that I really don't think the world is going to end or that our country will be destroyed by either side. I give my fellow country people more credit than that. There are extremes on both sides that like to stir the pot, but there are millions of good people out there who would do anything for this nation and its people, no matter what party affiliation they are. Hopefully the election will be put behind us soon and the whole 'us and them' mentality will be put on the back burner until next election and we can all come together as Americans and strive for a better future for our country and people. At least its a good thought right?

Fun Stuff

Luckily, this week is off to a much better start than last. I'm glad the election is over and that the new President is decided. I went out on election night with my girls and it was definitely lots of fun to see the excitement of the night. I was very tired by the time the night was over though. The days following the election have been pretty interesting as well.

Let's see, work has been good, just the usual chaos, no added drama like last week. I'm so glad about this.

Otherwise, life has been pretty good. I have been sleeping bad, but I think that is just a leftover of the stress in the last few days. I've been having crazy dreams too; the fun part of this though is using the dream book to analyze them. I absolutely love this book because it will even tell you what different colors symbolize. They've been vivid too, so they're much easier to remember. I dreamt of the color purple, which supposedly symbolizes you being at your decision making best. It's funny though, the dreams I had were those crazy ones where you start out at one place and then you're magically somewhere across town doing something completely opposite. I actually started out at a BBQ at a car dealership and ended up meeting someone (not sure who) at a rundown office building to go to a karate class (which is really odd since I've never done any martial arts, EVER). Anyways, you gotta love the subconscious.

Good Friends

I realized again this weekend how much I love my friends. Thank you guys so much for being there for me and distracting me from all the drama in my life the last few days. You guys have no idea how much it helped me. Things could definitely have been worse, but thank you all so, so , SO much =)

This weekend was a whirl of social fun. On Friday night, I accompanied LB, Piscesmama, Curmudge, and a whole group of LB fans on a Trick-or-Treat excursion. It was actually one of the warmest Halloweens I have ever been out on. It was so much fun to watch LB bond with the other girls that went with us. They made out like bandits; there plastic pumpkins were crammed full of sugary happiness.

On Saturday, I worked. I did hear from new guy, but it was a hi, how ya doin sorta thing. Haven't heard from him since. It's weird, I'm relieved in some ways because he would only add drama to my life and is sketchy, but that one side of you is still really sad and broken because you allowed the person in and cared about them. I know it sounds crazy after knowing him for like a month, but we talked a couple times a day, so it has left this weird void. Anyways, I was very thankful that I got to meet up with my BFFs on Saturday night (Curmudge, Piscesmama, and N.) to go have a yummy dinner dowtown, with margaritas and great food. Afterwards, we walked over to the theater and saw W. It was a pretty good movie, definitely interesting to see.

On Sunday, I was also distracted by LB, Piscesmama, and Jiji. We met up and went to a walk on the trail by the river for about an hour. It was absolutely gorgeous, like 65 degree weather, which is CRAZY for this time of year here. I got to catch up with Jiji about all the craziness in her life. We had a fast food lunch at my place and proceeded to watch the Broncos lose to Miami. We also did a little Dance, Dance Revolution, which Jiji totally worked us all over with.

On a random side note, I do think that this last week was one of the worst for pretty much everyone I know. I found out A. was in a car accident last Thursday night. Her blood sugar got super low, she blacked out, and jumped the curb up onto a median. Luckily, she wasn't hurt and she didn't hit anyone else. The only bad news is her car is totalled and she's a little sore.

Let's just hope this week is better =)