Know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em

It appears that we've all made it back from Grand Casino Coushatta in one piece for Chris' birthday trip. Some with lighter wallets, but still all in one piece. I, the non-gambler of the group, thoroughly enjoyed bouncing from one person to the other to touch base on their progress to beat the house. With some disappointment I can report that no one came away with much success. Although I did entertain Chris with my casino theory - I'm convinced that casinos hire a handful of midgets to sit underneath the roulette table and spin the wheel manually...they are the ones to know, I tell ya. I tried to explain that concept to Chris, and even talked to the midget through the table right before each spin to be kind to the birthday boy. Unfortunately, I think the midget sensed my phobia for people smaller than myself and purposely chose every other number or opposite color that poor Chris chose to spite me. I offered to kick the roulette-spinning midget's ass as his birthday gift, but we chose not to create a scene. It probably wasn't that great that the women standing next to me kept thinking that I was calling THEM "little midget" either.


(And, yes, the picture is what you think it is...we rented a mini-van so that the kids could all ride together, and Lindsay could "soccer mom" us all the way to Coushatta. Mini-vans are so hot, huh?!?!)



My favorite thing to do in casinos (usually this can only be done in Vegas) is to admire the architecture of the buildings. Since this was a lone free-standing casino in the middle of nowhere Louisiana, my attention was focused on my second favorite thing to do in casinos - people watch. It's been a while since I've seen such a parade of mullets/she-mullets all under one roof. There was also a lack of deeming front teeth as a necessity - I suppose they might've considered such things as dentures a luxury item. I know, I know...there I am again being a bitch! Through it all, the experience was worth it 100% to celebrate a birthday for a good friend. Happy birthday again, Chris...we hope you enjoyed yourself!

Now we have three weeks to recover just in time for MJ's 30th...

Kiss me!

I'm not Irish, but kiss me anyway! Or, better yet, just shower me with gifts of Guinness...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

The New Monogamy

Who would've thought that I, of all people, would be such a traditionalist???? I can't remember what I was reading on MSN that led me to a Q&A with relationship experts about the idea of "managed monogamy," but it piqued my interest. So in order to find out where this all started, I searched for the article that started the controversy titled "The New Monogamy." This entails having open relationships/marriages. Already, I was a tad confused because doesn't "mono" mean one? Hmmmm...

At first I thought, wow! It's like living the dream - having a wonderful husband, my house with the white picket fence, the 2.5 kids, yada, yada, yada...and to top things off, an open arrangement to play nookie with other men with my husband's consent. The hemisphere of my brain still clutching on for dear life to the idea of being young, sexy, and single screams, "That's awesome!" While the other hemisphere of my brain (the one that's been slowly trying to take over the entire cranium as I toe the line into my 30's - damn you, responsible part of the brain) takes a reality check and wonders whatever happened to the sanctity of marriage or even the sanctity of a serious relationship for that matter? Again, hmmmmm.....

I understand that we're in a time where 50% of marriages end in divorce, the feminine mystique has become the feminine takeover, and our fast-paced lives often leads us to swapping out partners as quickly as we upgrade our software because we "don't have time" to enjoy, nurture, or allow relationships to gestate to their full potentials. Then for those who truly want to maintain such a non-commital way of life, why not just stay single and slut around avoiding subjecting oneself to a relationship that is suppose to be mutally exclusive? I can totally accept and respect that decision. Don't get me wrong...I'm all about kissing (and then some) all the frogs in the world before you find that prince. But, c'mon now! It sounds to me like The New Monogamy has been around forever - it's called staying single.

Skinless bodies? Why, yes, thank you.

Last night my brother, his girlfriend, and his best friend accompanied me to the museum to the Body Worlds 3 exhibit. It was phenomenal. If you ever get a chance to see this bad boy, you should. Basically, it's real life humans who've donated their bodies to this exhibit of which show the human body either stripped of skin or body parts and organs disected for viewing - tumors and all, in some cases. They put the bodies through this plastination process where they preserve the bodies with a hardening material. I'm not even going to attempt to explain the process, but it's cool nonetheless. I thought it was extremely interesting, but I could tell a few people were a bit queazy. The only thing I didn't get was if they got all that funding in order to preserve these bodies for viewing, you'd think they'd hire some minimum wage high school kid to at least clip the toe nails of these human specimens before displaying them...yes, there were some funky toes in need of some serious attention!

Fried Twinkie Anyone?

So I went to the rodeo last night with Matt, Chris, and Lindsay. Maroon 5 was performing, so I couldn't miss one of my "if I could marry a famous person" husbands - the band's lead singer Adam Levine. I'm so that cliche groupie in love with some "guy in a band who plays guitar and sings and stuff." I even enjoyed the bronco and bull riding competitions pre-concert (see photos).




Going up the never-ending escalator











The infamous Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at the Reliant Stadium












Moi and Lindsay













Bull Ridin' - That's gotta hurt!










I've always wanted to be a rodeo clown!!!











Maroon 5 - yes, I was a gajillion miles away...and no, it wasn't by court order






The one thing I did not partake in at the rodeo this year is something that's been growing in popularity which was to have one of an array of fried food items - twinkies, oreos, Mars bars, Snickers bars, etc. Sound disgusting? It is. Basically, they batter these items and throw them in the deep fryer. If I remember correctly, they serve it covered with the optional powdered sugar and chocolate syrup. Imagine a Snickers corndog. And they wonder why Houston was the fattest city for a couple of years! Some people look forward to the rodeo all year for an opportunity to eat these monstrosities. Although, I suppose I'm a hypocrit because I look forward all year to that bigass turkey leg at the Renaissance Festival. I may not have a sweet tooth, but sistah likes a good piece of bird!

4 Things

Apparently, there is this thing going around in the blog community. So in an effort to succumb to "jumping off a bridge because everyone else is doing it," I figured I needed to participate as well. That, and I have nothing of great wisdom to spill into a post tonight. So here goes--

Four jobs you've had in your life:
1. Receptionist for a psychologist - who, by the way, had some pretty high-profile clients...you'd never believe how interesting the files were on some of his patients!
2. Contributing Reporter for Houston Chronicle
3. Public Relations Coordinator
4. Administrative Assistant

Four movies you'd watch over and over:
1. Dirty Dancing (Can you believe Matt has NEVER seen Baby being put in a corner?!?!?)
2. Blade (Stephen Dorff- so hot in this movie)
3. Breakfast Club (Nothing beats Ally Sheedy's dandruff-covered drawing...nice)
4. Better off Dead ("For dinner, we have Fr-ah-nch fries, Fr-ah-nch dressing, and to drink...Peru...")

Four places you've lived:
1. The Philippines (technically, for only 4 months though)
2. Houston, TX
3. Channelview, TX
4. (and back to Houston, again...I'm boring)

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Sex and the City
2. Lost
3. Desperate Housewives
4. 24

Four places you've been on vacation:
1. Island of Oahu, HI
2. The Netherlands - Amsterdam, Delft, The Hauge, Rotterdam, Leiden
3. Nassau, Bahamas
4. Berlin, Germany

Four websites I visit daily:
1. www.google.com
2. www.cnn.com
3. www.people.com
4. www.espn.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Sushi - unagi is my favorite
2. Almond croissants
3. Grilled salmon
4. and I hate to admit it...KFC original chicken (my guilty pleasure/comfort food)

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. Having the Seafood Luau dish at Duke's Canoe Club in Waikiki and staring at the beach
2. At the Spa being pampered and fed
3. Taking a much-needed nap
4. Having a beer at an outdoor cafe watching the tulips blossom in Amsterdam

FINALLY...The wedding pics

Here are just a few pictures from the event...

The Historic Jekyll Island Resort on Jekyll Island, GA











The Groom with Jeff, House (his Best Man), and Scott...aren't they just dashing?











Me and Emily - not bad seeing that I walked about a mile in the rain to get to the chapel, huh?

















Nathan and Susan making their bubble-filled exit













What a photo!

Lauren takes her act on the road

Here we are at a Chinese buffet... My beautiful little niece, Lauren, and her thoroughly exhausted "Tata" who just got in from Nathan's wedding














I tried to tell her to keep her hands at 10 and 2...she prefers one-handed driving though - bad, female Asian driver in the making...hehe.











"I hate this song! Where are my jams?!?!"











Can't see over the steering wheel...just like her Tata ;)







I can't wait until she's old enough to be my DD...hahaha...

1 Week down, 5 to go

So I made it though Weekend 1 of liquor-less Jacky. Maybe I'm not as raging of an alcoholic as I thought because through it all, I only had 3 beers Saturday night. HOWEVER, I think the key was that I (a) did not go out Friday night and (b) got a late start Saturday. If I keep this up, I might, just might, make it through. I think the tough weekend to worry about is in two weeks for Chris' birthday weekend at the casino though. Now that will be a challenge!

A lady doesn't drink such things...

As you've guessed from the title of this post, I've decided to give up my dear friend whiskey (and, yes, Scott...even whisky spelled without the "e") for the season of Lent. No loop holes...quitting my favorite inhibition destroyer and every other hard liquor for that matter in exchange for a dainty glass of vino or it's lesser alcohol content brother - beer. The main reason I have to give up all hard liquors is because I know me. I'll just switch my vice to some other ungodly imbibement worse than the former (i.e., "151 on the rocks, please" YIKES). Wow, between no shots for my 2006 resolution and no hard stuff for 40 days, my circulatory system won't know what to do with the thicker consistency of blood flowing through its veins seeing I've done such a great job of thinning things out over the last few years. I may very well choke an artery with real blood...Memo to self: must consult physician regarding the ramifications of my lifestyle change.