Work = Messing With My Weekend Plans

By "work", I mean Boyfriend's not mine this time. As you recall, it was my work schedule that prevented us from going to Playa del Carmen while in reciprocity, Boyfriend's job is interfering with having friends over to his house for some grilling Saturday afternoon and going to a dinner Sunday night. As of 10:10am this morning, he was notified by his bosses that he was scheduled for a flight at 4pm today to fly out to their headquarters office in Greenville, SC for a meeting tomorrow morning with the intent to stay through Friday of next week. Grrrr! I understand that he needs to go, and that the deal he is working on means hundreds of millions of dollars for his company, but it doesn't make make me any less disappointed about it since we had a few things planned.

For those of you that I went to high school with, you may recall a friend that we use to call either "Shorty" or "Weenie." She was one of my bestest friends growing up, and it was not hard to see one little Filipino midget walking around school with her equally height-challenged Hispanic friend. I know you all recall her now! She will actually be in town from today through the end of the month before she leaves for four years to Japan. Her husband, who is in the Air Force, is being transferred there. Thus, Weenie and her husband with their 3-year-old son in tow are headed off for a great adventure in a far off land! I wanted very badly for Boyfriend to meet Weenie this weekend seeing as we have a planned dinner Sunday night with a group of old high school peeps. The last time she was in town, Boyfriend and I were on our hiatus around the same time last year. She was pretty interested in meeting him before our "break" as well as now more than ever. Oh, well... I guess I'll play "single girl by default" when I attend the dinner.

The upside is that the real Single Girl and I are planning on attending a Zumba class Saturday morning. I'm pretty excited! I hope I don't die or trip over my own feet. I guess that means no late Friday night partying for me. Although, I am thinking of doing a happy hour and turning in early. It's Friday! I can't imagine going to bed without a few alcoholic beverages in my system...let's be real. I think my body actually rejects my blood if it isn't thinned out a bit. So if anyone is interested, let me know :)

With Boyfriend gone tonight, maybe I can FINALLY finish cleaning my apartment. Lord knows my dust bunnies are starting to become dust Godzillas.

I survived!

Boyfriend and I attended my niece's 3rd birthday at Pump It Up this past Saturday. It was great fun for the kids...and even the adults. I got to bounce around in a couple castles, slide down a 20-ft inflatable slide (which I called "The Slide of Death" - how the heck these kids went down that thing multiple times is beyond me!), and then stuffed our faces with pizza and cake. Can you believe that those two short hours between 4:30pm-6:30pm had me so exhausted and snoring in bed by 9pm on a Saturday night?

Here are pictures from the party...



To work off all the pizza we ate, Boyfriend and I went to Rice University and ran the 3-mile trail. It was such a beautiful day that I refused to be in a gym. Luckily, we were able to finish our jog before the rains came.

Hope you all had a fun weekend as well...

Random Ramblings

No specific title for this post simply because I will be ALL over the place in subject matter.

• I've been moody...again...thanks to "Aunt Flo" (who came up with that code name anyway???). I think Boyfriend starts to sense the mood swings coming, checks his calendar, then hides at the far end of his walk-in closet hugging his knees while rocking back and forth in hopes I will not find him. Luckily, my psychotic episodes are subsiding and therefore I will not direct any frustrations on him but simply to strangers unsuspecting of the ass-chewing they are randomly about to receive. Waiters, grocery store workers, telemarketers... BEWARE!


• I've learned that I, too, suffer from road rage. Wednesday after work, I was driving out of the downtown area onto I-10 West towards Boyfriend's house. Seeing as I was in a lane that merged towards the left, I did just as I was suppose to and began my slow merge into the combining lanes. I'm guessing the woman behind me was unaware of the basic rules of merging, was in a hurry, or just plainly being a biotch because when I glanced in my side mirror she was shooting me the finger. The FINGER, people! Who even does that anymore? Even if I did do something wrong like cut her off...which I did NOT... don't people simply resort to yelling obscenities in the confines of their cars nowadays?!?! I guess it's just me then. Apparently, I did not take to that lightly. So I was a bit childish....ok, a lot childish. When I noticed that she was trying to get over to possibly exit, I obliviously (because heaven forbid I actually do this purposely - insert maniacal laugh here) would speed up and slow down in unison with her not allowing her to switch lanes. I was completely into proverbially shoving my foot up her arse that I even passed Boyfriend's exit just to get an extra one-two punch in by making her miss even more exits than she wanted. Aaaahhhh.... it was amazing how refreshing that was! And, yes, I know...therapy could help me, but why spoil all the fun? And again...it's better I take it out on stangers rather than my loving Boyfriend. Trust me, he'd agree.


• Yesterday I spent a very painstaking hour in Arne's to buy party favors for my niece's 3rd birthday party tomorrow. Goodies for sixteen boys and six girls all ranging in age of 3-7 years old. Looks like my niece takes after me with not being able to handle girly drama and not having nearly as many girlfriends as she does guyfriends. Interesting...must be a DNA thing. Since it is a princess-themed party, I chose tiaras, bubbles, princess lipgloss, and princess pocket mirrors. Boyfriend picked out bubbles, soft sports balls (baseballs, footballs, tennis balls, and soccer), and toy airplanes for the boys...and a big inflatable punching balloon for himself. Yes, himself. And of course, loads of candy to crack these kids out on sugar and send them home with their parents.


• I bought my outrageously priced ticket to Tampa today. I shall be spending Thanksgiving with Boyfriend's family. You realize just how spoiled you are from working for an airline for so many years when you have to pay for a ticket during a major holiday season when flying stand-by isn't an option. He will fly out a couple of days before I do to get some extra time in while I arrive Thanksgiving day. I'm sure you're wondering why I'm not spending Turkey Day with the Spice family. We don't necessarily celebrate Thanksgiving basically because The Mayflower never made it all the way to the Philippines. Granted, the Spice family usually does try to get together for dinner simply because we're all off from work at the same time, but it's not detrimental that I not be there. Should be fun visiting with Boyfriend's family again... not to mention that we'll get to go to the Florida/Florida State game, too.


• Tonight I plan to check out my friend's new restaurant in Midtown called LeMond's. I will let you know how it is. I'm all about helping my friends promote their business ventures.
  

I suppose that's it. I will report to you later about how I handled twenty-two rugrats running around...if I survive. Gotta give Boyfriend props because he's walking into the lion's den with me tomorrow and meeting the "extended" Rice Family - cousins, aunts, and uncles galore.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Weekend Review

Boyfriend and I did some apartment hunting this weekend. With his home officially being put on the market last Friday, we figured we needed to start getting ideas of places we'd considering living. The idea of buying a house is on hold for the simple fact that (1) Baby has no clue if relocation is in the cards for him, (2) which area he'd want to live, and (3) why not save a little money for a year? We decided that since my lease ends at the end of January, we shall get a place together - I know...that's like commitment and stuff...haha! More than likely it will take that long to sell the house...unless he is really lucky, so we're going to estimate a December/January move-in - basically the worse time of year to move. It always seems like that's when everyone's leases end, so apartments tend to jack up their prices around that time. Oh, well...such as life.

We are looking more in the 59-S/610-Loop area. Since Boyfriend works in Sugarland and I work downtown, we figure that this area is our best bet. Although mileage-wise I will be closer to work, driving into downtown in rush hour will be the equivelent time-wise of him driving to Sugarland since he is driving in the opposite flow of traffic out of town. There are a cluster of apartments in that area, so there were a few we checked out. There is a townhome coming available at one of them that is 941 square feet and three stories. The bottom level is a one- or two-car garage (depending on which one we decide to get), the living room is relatively spacious for an apartment, I can live with the kitchen, the bedroom is decent, and the bathroom and closets will work for two people. I really like the idea of a garage though. If we get the one-car garage, Boyfriend can park his car inside while I park mine out. I could care less about parking the bumper car in the communal garage or in the uncovered areas since my car in not nearly as nice as Boyfriend's - especially since he just ordered the new 2008 BMW 3-series Coupe (I think that's the one...I never know which is which...so non-car savy). Hopefully, we will figure things out about the living situation before the house sells.

As for the rest of the weekend, college football was bad for all my choice teams. Houston lost to 'Bama (no heckling, Sparky!), Texas lost to Oklahoma, and Florida lost to LSU. Damn...I'm glad I didn't put money on anything or I would be even more broke than I am now!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Too funny!

So one of my favorite gossip websites, Dlisted, posted about this link to Careerbuilder's Monk-E-Mail. I had to check it out. I had too much fun playing with it.

Check out my Monk-E-Mail...

HERE

------

If only I could get it to sing the Flashdance Song...She's a maniac, maniac, on the dancefloor...dancing like she's never danced before....

Gotta love SPAM (the emails...not the meat product)

I currently have four email accounts in existence. The primary being my work email in which I have linked directly to my blackberry. I am accessible 24/7...which isn't always a good thing for me. Second, I have Gmail for my personal use and is only given out to friends, family, and bill collectors who remind me each month of how much money they suck out of me for car insurance, car payments, student loans, etc. The third is one I set up in the event that Brad Pitt finally leaves Angelina and realizes how his life has been incomplete without the love of a 5'0" Filipino living in Texas - I needed to secure "brad_loves_rice" on one of the email domains before it was taken...you know, so that we have a contact email for our wedding website and all. And the fourth, an old Hotmail account dating back to my college years. The Hotmail account is what I give out when I either (1) don't like you, (2) have signed up for some giveaway that requires an email address, or (3) I don't like you. I probably check this account once a month only because it is constantly filled with spam mail. I checked the Hotmail account today and found an interesting email I wanted to share.
-----
From : Vasilisa Austin
Sent : Thursday, September 27, 2007 12:53 AM
To : Rice Spice
Subject : FW: periphrases myopic lrzv wsptqx

VlAmGRA $2.68
ClmALlS $2.83
AMxBlEN $2.53
(contact website I refuse to give free advertising)
expensive humanoid robots that money can afford. Which money will not
in your honor. Will you be so kind as to follow me?
Stainless Steel Rat, end of everything.
All of which I was very happy to do. With one last look at my
friends safe as well, and that for which you seek, the strange
remaining strength to crawl out onto the ground. Dropped with a groan
-----
First off, I'm bothered by the fact that they must word-play Viagra, Cialis, and Ambien. It's almost like buying a watch off a street vendor in New York's Chinatown. Instead of a Movado, you get a Morado kind of thing. Can you imagine getting half-assed Viagra? You're ready to go, things are going great, and then...Nope. Sorry. Shoulda bought the real stuff.

However, my interest is extremely piqued by the idea of "expensive humanoid robots that money can afford." How expensive is it? Do I have to go through a credit check for one or take out a bank loan such as purchasing a house or car? So many questions. What exactly would I do with an expensive humanoid robot of my very own? And if I could actually afford said expensive humanoid robot, could I get it in my likeness? That way, it could go into work for me or stand in for me at birthday parties or other social events I never really wanted to attend to begin with. At the very least, I would want to take my expensive humanoid robot look-alike to the mall and have it try on outfits so that I know what the clothes look like on me. I hate having to go back to the mall and return things. This would cut my gas expenditures for return trips for sure. I think I might click on the website to find out. Hopefully, they have a toll-free hotline with customer service agents that will have all the answers I need. I may even ask them if the Stainless Steel Rat does any tricks. If you ask me, that's a Christmas white elephant gift just waiting to happen...

Brokeback Yard

No, I was not having some lesbionic relations in the front/backyard or anything. I think I really broke my back doing yard work. Ok, broken may be a bit extreme, but I definitely hurt it. As some of you might know, I have had some extreme back problems dating back to high school. Although my back is relatively healed of all major damage, I will forever be susceptible to both minor and major back pains depending on the activity or wear that I put on my body.

Boyfriend is planning on putting his townhouse on the market this next month, so he needed to take care of some beautification measures to the outside of the home in order to increase its marketability. Namely basic yard work and some minor landscaping - mowing, edging, weeding, planting some small shrubs, and laying out mulch. We thought we could get this knocked out in about two...maybe three hours tops. We. Were. Wrong. It took us a total of six hours and two trips to Lowe's to complete the project because we ran out of mulch. SIX HOURS! Jeez!!! Granted, the front yard and the side of the townhouse looked phenomenal upon completion, but I think I may very well have done some serious damage to my lower back from being in a bent-over squatting position 85% of that six hours and lugging around heavy bags of mulch.

I popped three Advil right after we were done because it finally hit me when I relaxed long enough to realize, "Wow, I may very well die if I turn to the left or attempt to reach for anything lower than my standing arm's length." Once those kicked in, the back stopped searing with pain and simply remained sore. I was sure to take three more Advil before bed. As I was leaving my apartment this morning, I decided to take a muscle relaxer instead because my back was merely staring Advil in the face and LAUGHING. Needless to say, I've been a bit loopy all morning at work and have finally started feeling more lucid after lunch. Sadly, the pain is starting to rear its ugly head again, but I guess I'll survive until I leave the office. Man, I'm getting old!!!

Wish I had taken pictures of the yard...it looked so purdy and stuff.

Also, I found this funny picture while I was searching for an image to accompany this post. It made me giggle a bit, so I thought I would share. I have no clue what this animal is, but this is a good depiction of how I felt all morning on the muscle relaxer. *tee hee*

Effing Theives!

I'm always the first to neglect the safety in particular places. I suppose that it's because when you are use to living by yourself, coming and going at all hours of the day and night, and too busy to be in one place for an extended amount of time, you become desensitized to inner city living.

As I have noted before, I live in the Montrose area. My block is filled with beautiful historic colonial homes book-ended with shady old apartments. So even though I am in a pretty neighborhood, hooker alley is only a couple of blocks away. We all should recall my run-in with the poor tranny prostitute who lost her way in an older post. Well, Wednesday night, someone broke into my car. Poor bumper car! Just look at her... Minding her own business then violated by having her rear driver-side vent window busted out so that the despicable piece of excrement can rummage through my glove box. And for what? Insurance papers, receipts, kleenex, and pennies they didn't even bother to steal??? Bastards, I tell ya! Effing bastards! It's not like I had anything in plain sight other than a pair of size 5, brown wedge sandals and a couple of empty water bottles on the floor board. Although my wedge sandals are to die for, I'm guessing who broke into my car felt a bit like an ugly step-sister in Cinderella because NO ONE can fit into my midget shoes.

The ironic thing about it is that I am currently in my "please hide all sharp objects because I start next week" phase, but I walked out of my apartment yesterday morning thinking, "Wow, I'm not in the least bit moody today. I may not go psycho this week after all." Then I walk around my car to get into the driver's side, and WHAMO! I'm smacked back into the reality of just how angry I can get. Definitely not the best start to my day... So I'm off to spend moolah on something I wasn't anticipating...again! I couldn't find time to do it yesterday, so I was a bit ghetto driving around with no window. Although...I refused to put a plastic garbage bag and tape over it. A girl has to draw the line somewhere. Thank GAWD it didn't rain!

Name Change

From now on, I will be addressing Baby as "Boyfriend". It's kind of a stupid reason why I'm making the name change, but I never said I wasn't a bit goofy. I bumped into an acquaintance a couple of days ago who informed me that she is now a proud owner of a hairless cat. I was dumbfounded. Some might say speechless. I've always thought that hairless cats reminded me of warm, raw chicken. Disgusting. Let alone that anyone would actually want to own one. Guess what the kitty's name is... Yep, "Baby". With that in mind, when I started a couple of posts I never finished earlier this week, my brain would flash to pictures of a shivering naked, hairless feline every time I mentioned Baby. Or sometimes out of sheer comedic craziness, I'd envision a hairless cat with a bad toupee tap dancing on its hind legs with a cane. Don't ask. I know I'm a freak. So this day forward, the title of Boyfriend will have to do.

Resolutions Have Never Been My Strong Point

I decided to back-track to see what I posted as my New Year's Resolutions this past January. This interest came about as I realized that the year is more than halfway over. Wow, time is flying! So I wondered...What have I accomplished this year? I have a running list of things that I will note in December, but I was curious as to how well I was keeping with what I had listed as minor goals for 2007 thus far. I've come to the conclusion that resolutions are just set-ups for failure. Dare say, tools of the devil.

• 2 drink and 1 shot minimum - Hmmmpf...let's..errrr...move on to the next bullet point, shall we?
• Going to the gym more regularly - This I have been doing. Although I slack here and there, I do find time at the very least two times a week and at an average of 3-4 times weekly. Not bad, not bad...if I do say so myself.
• Less cursing - In my opinion, I have shaved this a bit. Remember, I said "less" not "not at all." However, Baby has his own opinion of the matter as he fears he has become involved with less of a delicate flower and more of Sarah Silverman-Lite.
• Visiting out of town friends more - I have been traveling quite a bit lately, but I'm guilty of it having been more trips for just me and Baby going away together rather than visiting friends. I do promise to try to see Pocahontas and J.Smith, Doc, and Sparky SOON!!!
• Giving up all things that bring me down or bring nothing positive to the table (activities, people, and stuffs) - I have, as Doc so upbruptly puts it, "written a few people off." These were people who either have hurt me beyond the realm of forgiveness or have a knack for being petty about insignificant things. Although some of them will be missed, life is much easier not dealing with drama. As for the activities and stuffs, let's just say that I'm a lot more of a goodie two-shoes than Rice Spice '06.

Two out of five isn't too bad. I still have three more months to make good on some of these, so we shall see. Maybe next year I will be a tad more realistic. For example:

• Date only Caucasian men who love the Florida Gators, are unbelievably ticklish, and always forgets our friends' girlfriends/boyfriends' names
• Eat Chicken
• Buy more shoes
• Be Short
• Be Filipino

With a resolution list like that, I'm positive of success in 2008!

Like you need more diversions from actually working...

You all know that when I start getting addicted to particular blogs, I try to give a shoutout to them so that others can indulge in their witty repertoire. There are two I'd like to give a bit of free promotion. No, they did not pay me for the free plug...although if they are willing to send a check, I wouldn't make them feel bad by declining it. Momma always needs a new pair of stilettos!

• AndyBiggart.com - Baby's childhood friend who I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times. He's a Gator fanatic like Baby, but I suppose I can't hold that against him...or can I? Watch as this guy takes Tampa by storm!
• Mindy Does Minneapolis - Sassy broad I stumbled upon while stalking other blogs. Although I don't know her personally, I'd definitely love to grab a beer (or six) with this chica!

So go forth, my readers, and check 'em out!

When things just don't work out...

Baby and I had plans to meet up with Pocahontas and J.Smith in Playa del Carmen tomorrow through Sunday. It appears that work-related matters on my side are going to keep us here in H-town after all. Too much is going on with both jobs for me to take any time away. Sad...I know! The upside is that Baby is relieved that he will get to take a breather before he leaves for San Juan and St. Croix on Monday for the week...especially since he's been in Kingston all week and not getting back until tomorrow morning. It's been over a year since Pocahontas and J.Smith moved to Denver, so I'm extremely saddened that this is the second time that plans to visit with them haven't panned out. I'm so upset!!!

In order to make up for it, I'm trying to think of something Baby and I can do that will cheer me up. Something we can do Saturday evening or some place we can go. Seeing as college football is on Saturday, I am sure that we'll be doing that most of the day, but I would like to do something else. Hmmmm... I heard of a new bar called Blue Label Lounge that opened near Baby's house that sounds interesting. The website is pretty cheesy with it's "see and be seen" attitude, but whatever. We tend to always like new bars when they just open before they get over-saturated with the early-20's crowd who are still into overly-impressing each other. When it gets to that point, we usually stop going. Strange, huh? It really comes down to hating when bars are so crowded you can't stand in one place without someone bumping into you and spilling half your drink. Ridiculous.

Anyway, I hope the rest you guys have had a good week so far. Any fun plans for the weekend?

Thank The Almighty for Hot Men in Boxer Briefs!

Yesterday, I went to the Human Rights Campaign 2008 Gala Kick-off Party sponsored by The World of Calvin Klein at Macy's in the Galleria. They hosted a mini-fashion show and served hors d'ouevres and cocktails.

So let's be honest here. I really only went for the free food and drinks because we ALL know that these mall fashion shows never have models that look like their advertisments. Be real. If that were the case, I'd be a mall fashion show groupie. Regardless, I had a fantastic time. It's not hard to have a great time when you attend an event like that with four catty gay men...two of who believe they are so fashion-forward it's ridiculous. Let's just say there were a lot of "blue steel" looks (aka the Zoolander pose) given every time a magazine photographer took pictures. I met some interesting event promoters and HRC members/Gala chairspersons. I even signed up to get more information on becoming a member of the Houston chapter as well as possibly getting involved in helping with their Gala. You know me and getting involved in causes. Granted, I can't imagine where I'd find the time to participate, but we shall see if it's something I feel strongly enough to want to be a part of. I'm still undetermined.

After the event, our little entourage headed to our local gay watering hole for some Drag Queen Bingo and, of course, a few more cocktails. Giant actually won in the first round of bingo along with one other guy. Because there were two winners and only one prize given per bingo round, he had to choose a number between 1 and 100. He didn't choose the closest number so he got a "consolation prize" of three cd's (which were all three pretty sucky selections) while the other guy made off with a year's membership to 24-Hour Fitness. How's that for getting slighted? Drag Queen Bingo becomes a pretty big drag (pun completely intended) after the first round, so I headed home and was in bed before 10:30pm.

Although I didn't stay out super late nor did I drink copious amounts of alcohol, I definitely feel worn out today. Testament that my age is catching up to me. Gone are the days of going out on school nights and not feeling any twinge of wear the next day. What sucks is that I have a going away happy hour for one of my favorite guys in the office right after work today. It is only a 6pm-7:30pm thing since he has dinner plans with some of the senior guys at 8pm, but I would rather just go home and be lazy on the couch. Oh, well...

(And YES, I changed the template...AGAIN!)

Finally...I've settled on my template...for now

It's not great nor extraordinary, but at least the colors go better than yesterday's red, yellow, white, lavender, and hot pink - WTF kind of color scheme is that, right?!? I settled on red, white, and orange for the time being. I figured the red, white, and yellow was a bit too McDonald's for me ;)

I shall try to post more once I become inspired. The coffee hasn't kicked in yet...

I suck at this template thing!

As you can tell, I have been fooling around with my template today. I've pulled a Diana Banana by changing it at least 15 times today. I've tried the standard blogger ones as well as a few I've shifted colors on my own. Damn this process takes forever...AND...I still don't like it! The scolor scheme sucks!!! I suppose I should've known better that if Diana Banana couldn't do it, I was destined for failure. I like the red, white, and yellow together so I guess I'll keep working on it. It's hard not to become obsessed with perfecting it. Grrrr!!!!

Oh, well...to make me feel better. I will post a picture that makes me happy and will probably have to be pulled off should Baby EVER look at my blog.

I caught Baby snuggling with his parents' dog Morris yesterday morning. Aren't they too cute?!?!?

Fun game...even if I sweat my arse off!

Yesterday was a blast. The Gators won over Tennessee 59-20. It was awesome!!!

When we arrived into Gainesville yesterday morning, we had to make a quick stop at a Gator shop because the coach made an announcement that he wanted all the fans to wear blue. EEKS! I only brought an orange shirt with cute blue beaded accessories. Damn it! Thank goodness I found a cute shirt at the shop. Baby bought a blue shirt as well since his Gator shirt was white...had to show our support and all!

Once we were done with the impromptu shopping, we headed to one of Baby's friend's tailgate. These people weren't kidding around. As you'll see in the pictures below, they were completely decked out in orange and blue Florida Gator paraphanalia. Reminded me a lot of fun days of going to a few UT (Texas NOT Tennessee) tailgates. A big THANK YOU to AB (for lack of a better nickname at this point) for all his and his family's hospitality!!!

After a few beers, hot dogs, and other munchies, we headed for the stadium. OMG...it was soooooo hot! We sat on the west side of The Swamp, so we were in the shade. However, one of Baby's friends was sitting on the east side students' section which was directly in the sun for almost the entire game. We were absolutely drenched in sweat because of the heat, humidity, and surrounding people's body heat that we could only imagine how miserable the east side of the stadium must have felt. Luckily, there were a few open seats next to us, so we text Baby's friend to join us in the less sweltering section. By the time he showed up after half-time, he was half-dead and his shirt was completely soaked. Poor thing!

After the exciting game, we headed back to the tailgate for more food and to wait out the massive traffic. After a couple hours, we headed back to Brooksville. The drive wasn't too bad coming home, but we were exhausted from the heat and definitely did not smell the greatest. It was a good thing we both smelled gamey so that we barely noticed the other's aroma...haha!

Now we're crossing our fingers to get on a flight home. Baby has to leave for Kingston tomorrow for work, so it would put a major kink in things if we got stuck here an additional night.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. Hope you all had a great weekend as well!

Off to Gator Country

I have been absolutely slammed at work all week. Ridiculously slammed. Thus, neglecting this poor little blog...and neglecting to read my fellow bloggers' updates. Which, by the way, a huge CONGRATULATIONS is in order for Diana Banana. She is now a newlywed! WOW!

I have found time to FINALLY post. Granted, I am currently trapped on a plane right now on my way to Tampa, but that is besides the point. I arrived for my flight sans book, magazine, or work to do. EEKS! Two hours on a plane with nothing to do?!?! What am I going to do???? I can only read this Continental Magazine so many times (although it currently has a story about Costa Rica - a place I hope to visit one day). So I decided to write something and post it once I land and get a chance to log into blogger.

Anyway, I will let you kiddos know how the game goes. We're getting into Tampa at around 8pm and have dinner plans with Baby's folks. Tomorrow morning, we're getting up early to drive two hours to Gainesville for the game. It's going to be a freakin' blast. I can't wait!!!

Ok, gotta go...the booze cart is making its way to our row, and I've still got to dig in my purse in hopes for a $5 bill so I can have a personality drink (aka vodka cranberry) before dinner.

Now I've seen it all...

Drop EVERYTHING! Ladies and Gentlemen, I must introduce you to....

OhMiBod

You have to click on the link and read for yourself the wonders of this gem. I think this would make a great Christmas/birthday/you just feel like buying me something gift, don't you agree?

Finish the Meme

I got this off a MySpace post and also saw something similar on Scarlet Hip. Since I'm uninspired again today, I figured I could use it to fill the void...

My ex is still: a jackass.
I'm listening to: thunder outside.
Maybe I should: finish some more work.
I love: traveling to far off destinations.
My best friends: make more money than I do, but I'm okay with being "the pretty one."
I don't understand: Chinese because I'm not Chinese, people!
I lost respect for: Whoopi Goldberg. **She defended Michael Vick saying saying something similar to that "he was raised in the South and didn't know any better about how wrong dog fighting is". I don't see the excuse of "being raised in the South and not knowing any better about how wrong the KKK is" flying as a valid excuse, do you? People "KNOW" right from wrong...so stop making excuses. End of story.**
The meaning of my screen name is: that I want to tell you what I want, what I really really want...although Rice never made the Spice Girl cut.
Love is: a beautiful thing if it happens at the right time with the right person.
Somewhere someone is: wondering why I'm bothering with this meme.
I will always: wonder why I was cursed with such a huge noggin.
Forever seems like: commitment.
I never ever want to lose: my sense of humor.
My mobile phone is: often dropped on the floor.
When I wake up in the morning: I have to go to the bathroom.
I get annoyed at: people who encroach on my personal space. **Why you gotta be all up on me when we're standing in line, mister?**
Parties are: better when you (1) don't have to pay for them and (2) don't have to clean up after them.
My pet: now belongs to my mother.
Kisses are: amazing.
Today I: ran down the hall and tripped on my high heels. Typical.
I really want: to win the Texas Mega Millions Lottery - not picky about the jackpot amount, but the more the better.
I live: in a tiny apartment and have a landlord who calls me if he hasn't seen me for more than 3 days for fear I am dead in a ditch.
I work: a lot.
I think: too much.
I smell: Avon hand creme.
I listen: to all kinds of music, but mostly 80's and early 90's stuff.
I see: too much violence on the local news.
I sing: even when I shouldn't - karaoke, anyone?
I can: plan things with ridiculous amounts of detail in a short amount of time.
I daydream: about being happy, financially sound, and living on a remote tropical island writing a novel.
I fall: all the time.
I want: to be stress-free.
I cry: when I get frustrated.
I love: having my crazy family, Baby, and my high-maintenance friends in my life.
I sometimes: feel guilty for being unhappy about things in my life when others have it so much worse than me.
I fear: midgets.
I hope: to one day have a job in the PR industry again.
I eat: all the time.
I miss: Doc and Sparky
I forgive: almost no one once I cut them out of my life.
I drive: a Honda that bears a striking resemlence to a bumper car.
I dream: about the strangest things.
I kiss: Baby every chance I get.
I hug: just about EVERYONE.
I have: too much going on at all times.
I remember: when I had no responsibilies.
I don't: like unappreciative people.
I believe: in karma.
I know: more than I let on sometimes.
I hate: when people use derogatory terms and think it's either funny or okay to do so.

Thread v. Wax: The Big 'Brow Debate

Apparently, I have sparked some interest in the topic of eyebrow threading. I can't say which would be better for you, but I will let you know my experiences. Personally, I have very sensitive skin. Wax tends to rip layers of my skin off in addition to the hairs, so I end up looking like a red, blood-splotchy cromagnon as my forehead swells like a caveman.

With threading, the only downside that I have experienced is that the constant rubbing of the thread over the skin around my eyebrows tend to irritate it enough to create a bit of a bumpy, diaper rash-looking thing. I know, it sounds horrible, but this lasts for only about 2-3 days, but (to me) is totally worth it when it goes away. My brows are better shaped than with wax and I think that the hairs don't grow as fast. I usually end up needing to tweeze a few strays in about 2.5-3 weeks, but not many. As for pain, it makes your eyes water a bit, but nothing extreme. I guess it depends on your pain threshold. The concept is very much like those old Epilady products. The ones that would just basically pluck a bunch of hairs off of you at the same time. It's a smaller version of that. OH, and it only costs $5 to do. Not bad, eh?

I would suggest everyone try it at least once. It's such an experience to try things that other cultures do for beauty that are now being saturated in America. I'm sure every beauty regiment has a downside, so I suppose it depends on which ones you are privy to handling.

****

Also, here is another article about threading, if you're interested.

All Refreshed

We have lift off! As of Saturday morning, an end came to my horrendous PMS and Baby's reasons for questioning my "demon-like behavior" (as he so eloquently put it). All the ladies can relate to the weight being lifted off my shoulders and my sanity being restored.

Baby went fishing this past weekend in Jacksonville, Florida, and caught all kinds of stuff. He had great stories about their boat trip out in the Atlantic that I almost regretted not going. Almost. I am glad he had such a fantastic time. I'm sure it was well-deserved and very much needed after dealing with me and my mood swings for the 10 days prior. I am also glad I got to spend the weekend here in Houston I got caught up on some well-overdue one-on-one time with Grove and relaxed. Grove and I talked a lot about life and relationships on Saturday in between football, buckets of beer, and water moccasin shots. Who would've thought that we would've gotten so deep watching football? I blame the water moccasins. The conversations were a strong reminder of just how lucky I am to have Baby as well as how much I love him. I'm glad he came back Sunday night because I missed him so much!

Baby and I ran errands and then lounged most of yesterday. He accompanied me to the "Indian" part of town by Hillcroft and Harwin to get my eyebrows threaded. I love how perfectly clean threading gets your eyebrows. Baby was a sport by sitting and waiting as the woman went to town on my brows listening to Indian music wailing loudly throughout the little salon. I occasionally caught him staring at the ceiling with a perplexed look as if to try to understand what the Indian music was saying...too funny! Afterwards, we picked up a few things at the store and decided to hole-up at his house for the rest of the rainy day. We watched the movie Shooter with Mark Wahlberg. Pretty good movie even though the ending was a bit unrealisic, but it's the movies, right? And Mark Wahlberg being pretty easy on the eyes helped a lot, too.

Baby also made me dinner last night. He seared some sirloin steaks that he had marinated and made potatoes au gratin. He's such a great cook. I'm lucky I have a man that likes to cook as much as I do. Since I got off work from Job# 2 tonight, it's my turn to make dinner. I was thinking about this recipe for Pan-Seared Sea Bass with Olives and Tomatoes Baby and I saw on the food network yesterday while flipping through channels. It looked very tasty. Wish me luck...

:(

Last night at around 3:45am, I woke up and started having panic attacks, so I have basically been awake since then seeing as falling back to sleep never really happened. I'm beginning to have those "What am I doing with my life?" thoughts again. I'm sure it was emphasized by my moodiness of late, but I need all of you to send good mojo my way. I feel so out of sorts lately. Maybe I just need a drink...or eight. Baby will be gone for the weekend which should give me more space and time to put my life into perspective. Part of me is upset that he will be gone over the holiday weekend when I specifically asked "we" stay in town, but the other part of me is glad he'll be away as I'm thinking we're at the point where we need some time apart...or at least that I need some time apart. I'm not going to carry on and bitch a whole "woe is me" about how I've been feeling lately any more than I already have. Let's just say that although I put on a great face for the general public, I've been pretty sad lately. Makes me miss Doc living in Houston more than ever!!!

Reminder of why gay men make the best of friends!

I have officially entered the PMS zone. I've been irritable, mood swingy (is that a word?), and down right physically miserable with the swollen body, tender breasts, full-blown cramps, headaches, and massive fatigue. With that said, I am normally a very easy-going person. I usually take a tremendous amount of caca before I blow my top. But of course, once I do, RUN! HIDE! SEEK SHELTER UNDERGROUND!

Lately however, my tolerance level is at an all-time low. Every little thing sends me over the edge in about 15 seconds flat. That doesn't help with me and Baby considering he tends to not pay attention to my initial requests. Therefore, having to repeat myself leads to visions of pushing him down a flight of stairs. Often times I feel guilty for not being as laid back as usual, but then I have Doc right there by my side as my personal PMS cheering section in my near-homicidal tendencies. Short of helping me push Baby down those aforementioned stairs, Doc has been the perfect "Yes Man" in supporting me in my anger management issues lately. "Yes, you should put him in his place!" "No, you did the right thing by saying how you feel!" Even if I'm not right and completely irrational, Doc supports me in my manic behavior. There is something about the unconditional love of a best friend that makes your bad days all better.

Just an example of the ridiculousness between Doc and myself that reminds me how much I love him is the following excerpt from our catty email exchange yesterday when I was kind of feeling low (and, yes, I am a pretty superficial bitch in this email...and yes, I'm okay with that):

*****

Rice: Even these people found love... (attached photo of unattractive couple on their wedding day)

Doc: Who are these people? The boy is kinda cute -- in an ugly way.

Rice: I know the girl. I have no clue who the goober is, but they look so happy in love. I think I'm jealous...

Doc: "Happy in love," huh. See that's the problem. People like you, me, and Beyonce are always trying to be crazy in love. The ugly losers are only trying to be happy in love. Maybe there's something to learn from this picture. Shit, you know (head bobbing), none of us three could handle just being happy in love. It's just not fun and doesn't have a good beat (i.e., doesn't have that good ol' porn rhythm).

*****

Now who can deny such sage advice coming from a licensed psychiatrist?

We have pictures...

Since I have nothing to contribute today for blogging, I decided to post pictures from our trip to Brooksville. There really weren't many pictures, but I thought I'd share a few...

Because our 5pm flight was cancelled, we hopped on over to a completely different terminal to the Fox Sports Grill in Terminal E to watch football, stuff our faces with nachos, and have a couple of frosty beverages until our 9pm departure. That's Baby's sad, "What can you do?" face.

This is Baby giving his dog Morris (aka More Head) kisses

Doggie Butt *hehehe*

*Smiles*

Baby's family with a side of Rice Spice! My head looks HUGE in this picture. Why does my head look 3 times bigger than everyone else's?!?! I don't think it looks like that in real life...or does it? Hmmmm...

Brooksville Trip

***Written yesterday on the plane, but forgot to post it when I got home***

Our trip to Brooksville was a whirlwind. Sadly, our 5pm flight out of Houston on Friday was cancelled. We were unable to get out until 9pm. Seeing as we didn't arrive into Tampa until a little after midnight, there wasn't much we could do but go right to sleep. Arriving 5 hours late ruined our plans to eat at a premier steakhouse in Tampa Baby's parents were planning to take us, and it made the almost hour drive to Brooksville even that much more exhausting. Oh, well.

Saturday was more eventful. Baby and his sister took me on the "grand tour" of Brooksville. For those who grew up with me, let me give you an idea of what Brooksville is like. As my previous suspicions were that it would be a lot like Channelview, I was relatively correct. It is CV, a sprinkle of North Shore, and a lot of Pasadena/Deer Park minus the refineries. Strangely, it may very well have been smaller than CV - amazing, huh? Needless to say, I wasn't taken aback by the "small town" premise his family thought I would find so different from inner loop Houston. Being smaller than CV, everyone literally knew everyone. No joke. Driving down the streets in one day, they recognized at least six cars driving of which they knew the drivers. We even ate at a restaurant of which Baby went to high school with the owner.

After the driving tour, we headed back into Tampa about 50 miles away to go shopping at the International Mall. You all know my dislike of shopping, but Baby's mom did end up buying me some gloss and lip liner from Chanel as a gift. I argued back and forth about not wanting anything, but I had made the mistake in mentioning that I needed new lipstick that morning, and she remembered. It was extremely sweet of her. I actually ordered them two bottles of wine as a thank you for all their hospitality - an Italian merlot for Baby's dad and an Italian pino grigio for for his mom. Unfotunately, they won't receive it until the end of next week (damn holiday) because it was almost $30 more to expedite it to arrive only 2 business days earlier. Ridiculous, don't you think? I hope they like it regardless.

Anyway, after the mall, we headed to a steakhouse for dinner. Baby got a steak while the rest of us got seafood. It was fabulous by the way. Then, we headed home to watch some of the Tampa Bucs pre-season football game against the Dolphins. That was about it.

This morning, we had a quick breakfast and visited with Baby's grandmother who lives directly next door to Baby's parents. Afterwards we were on our way back to the airport for our 11:35am flight. I wasn't kidding that our quick trip could give someone whiplash. Baby got stopped by security at the airport because he triggered the explosive materials detector. They took him to a secured area to check him and his carryon with special scanners and hand picked through his bag. Crazy. Wonder if his chapstick in his pocket or the new cologne he was wearing that his mom bought him at the mall the day before had anything to do with what the machines picked up. We almost missed the flight!!! It's always something when Baby travels - cancelled flights, delays, missed connections, and NOW... cavity search for explosives!

To much saddness, I got some terrible news while catching up on friends' blog pages on the drive to Tampa airport on my blackberry. Banana had a horrible 30th birthday on Friday. I send her all of the mental hugs I can possible give. Also, I offer a supportive ear and a surprisingly super tear-absorbing shoulder if ever wanted or needed. I need everyone I know to send good thoughts and positive mojo her way!

Happy BIG 3-0 to Ms. Banana!!!

Seeing as I can't be there to help you throw back a couple of cold ones because I'm heading out of town today, I wanted to send you my birthday wishes via the best way I could think of...



Hot, huh?!?! Lots of love to you on your birthday, missy!

I'm officially a hot piece of ass

I'm sure that title caught your attention. Let me explain. You know how people randomly take pictures of or with "hot" people they really don't know or don't even talk to anymore and then love to show them to people to basically brag that they were around "all these hot people"...kind of like, "Check me out! I'm popular! I know all these people...and a lot of them are girls!" Usually that annoys the hell out of me, and I would consider that I would be offended. HOWEVER, it sorta happened, and I am flattered.

Again, let me explain... Many (and I mean MANY) years ago, I went out with this guy we'll call Wanderer because he travels and has lived all over the world. Before he left to live in London, we had already downgraded whatever we had to a friendship so we've stayed in touch from time to time. We've become more like that acquaintance that we only speak to if we've somehow bumped into each other (usually because we had been on the same mass forward email...or when either of us sends out mass email contact updates for when we move). He's a phenomenal guy. Very handsome, fun, exciting, a true goofball, etc. He has the same "settling down issues" that I once had. Although now I'm at a point where I have found someone to be with, Wanderer is still a soul out for having fun and globetrotting to find his next adventure...and his next conquest *wink, wink*.

As I did some stalking on MySpace, I searched him out. Low and behold, he was there! I looked him up. He now lives in Brussels, Belgium. Mind you, I haven't spoken to him since my London trip for work last year, so I was curious to see what his page looked like. As I scanned the pictures, it was the same ole goofy Wanderer in different places with tons of different people. Somewhere buried within pictures of bikini-clad Brazilian hotties was a picture of Wanderer and Rice Spice from the last time he was in Houston. How awesome is that! He has never told me he was on MySpace, so I thought about actually emailing and teasing him about needing to ask my permission to use my likeness or something retarded like that. Looking at his current photos, he's gotten pretty thin for my taste. Last I recall, he became a marathon runner and stopped eating all kinds of unhealthy stuff so he leaned out tremenously - give up fried foods?!?!? The HORROR! I actually preferred him better when he had more meat on his bones. Anyway, I apparently made the cut to be shown on his page. I know it sounds cheap and all, but hey... no one can pretend it doesn't give them an ego boost to know that an ex still keeps pictures of you...AND shows them off!

Tampa Here We Come!

Well, not exactly Tampa, but a small town outside of it called Brooksville. That is Baby's home town. Since our plans to Denver for whitewater rafting were nixed because the flights looked terrible and because Baby preferred seeing his family over visiting with friends in Jacksonville, we settled on a mini-vacation back home for him. The impression I get from his description of his hometown is eerily similar to Channelview. It's a small extremely Southern town about 45-minutes outside of a big metropolitan city. Sound familiar? Although CV isn't any more than 20 minutes outside of downtown Houston, the "feel" of the different areas are very evident. I'm guessing that's the same thing I will experience there.

I'm not sure if we'll be staying with his folks or if we'll be staying over at his sister's place. I prefer staying with his sister seeing as I'm still a traditionalist at heart (don't choke, but it's my Filipino upbringing), and I feel strange staying at a boyfriend's parents' house. Although I use to stay at my ex-fiancee's parents' place all the time, I knew them better and saw them almost every month if not more. Basically, it took a while to get to that comfort level. I've met Baby's parents once...and we all remember my lovely projectile vomit at the museum story during the weekend of me first meeting them. So I guess I'm still not at the point of feeling comfortable about staying their house. Is that odd? I can walk into a room full of corporate executives and city officials to present keynote speakers, I can sing karaoke (poorly at that) in front of God and everyone...but I feel strange about spending the night at a boyfriend's parents house.

Regardless, I have never gone to Brooksville with him and feel obligated to do so since he has visited with the bizarro Spice family a handful of times in CV. Even though there is less travel involved to see my family (20-minutes by car versus 2.5 hours by plane), he nevertheless has sat through entire days filled with dealing with a rambunctious toddler niece, a baby who does nothing but spit up, a mother who subtly asks Baby why we're not closer to an alter without actually using those words, and a lecture from my father about how it will take a strong man to deal with his hard-headed and very independent second daughter.

Other than that, there isn't much going on the rest of this week. I have to work at both jobs today and tomorrow though...ugh! However, I can look at the bright side - at least it's not raining a torrential downpour like it had been over the last few months and it's not in the triple digits either...

5 Things About Me

Every so often when I browse through blogs or scan my friends’ MySpace pages, I notice a few people doing filler surveys or “About Me” things that often time are filled out simply out of sheer boredom but sometimes provides interesting information about the person I am reading about that I truly never knew. For example, Single Girl has an aversion to seats pre-heated with butt warmth. She will wait for a seat to cool off rather than sitting in it immediately after someone gets up. I found that, although highly unusual, quirky and a funny fact to know about her. I read another girl that I went to college with (no nickname for her yet) couldn’t stand any types of jelly or anything of the gelatainous nature. She must really hate the movie “The Blob”, I’m thinking…

Instead of doing the standard “10 Things About Me”, I decided to do “5 Things About Me.” It was taking way too long to come up with just five.

1. I can’t stop staring at Tom Cruise’s mouth. It’s like a train wreck I can’t take my eyes off. Have you ever really looked at him? Once I tell you this, you will never be able to watch a movie with him in it without staring at his mouth. His teeth are all shifted to the left where he has this one huge tooth right in the center of his face. Directly in the center! How bizarre is that?!?!? It creeps me out!

2. I fall all the time. Yes, at least 1/8th of my life is spent sprawled out on the floor. I have mastered the art of falling to where I don’t hurt the important parts like my face – very stuntman-esque of me. My lack of depth perception is to blame. This accounts for me bumping into things a lot as well. Door frames are usually not my friend.

3. I love to travel. Some of the domestic destinations I have visited are (west to east): Honolulu, HI; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Scottsdale, AZ; Tulsa, OK; New Orleans, LA; Birmingham, AL; Knoxville, TN; Atlanta, GA; Panama City Beach, FL; Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Miami, FL; New York, NY. Some of my international travels have been to: The Philippines; Peru; Cancun; Cozumel; Playa del Carmen; Acapulco; Nassau, Bahamas; Montego Bay, Jamaica; London; Paris; Berlin, Germany; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

4. I have a fear of midgets. Mind you, I am barely over the legal limit to qualify as a midget myself. However…there is something about those circus freaks that literally makes me freeze and stop breathing. There is no need for people to be smaller than me unless they are toddlers. They have those little toddler sausage fingers that send chills up my spine. Daresay I could probably be medically diagnosed of having phobia of them if I ever actually went to a therapist and discussed my issues regarding the matter. **Sorry- no photo included. Photos of midgets are not allowed on my blog. I apologize if you are a midget and are offended, but this is my blog...so there!**

5. I’m allergic to most shellfish, but I still eat them because I L-O-V-E them!!! My reactions aren’t severe, but I may swell around the lips or get a rash. Sexy, huh? I keep allergy meds at all times in case I break out, but I refuse to give up on my love of seafood.

Effing Mood Swings

Friday night was blah... Baby's flight delays and cancellations landed him in Houston seven hours later than he was expected. By the time he got home and I was off work from a shift I picked up at Job#2 for a friend, we were both too exhausted to meet up with our friends. We grabbed a late dinner at BW3 in Midtown and called it a night.

We were much more productive on Saturday. We did a little shopping for Baby, went to the gym, and then met up with our friends at Grove's parents place to swim around in the pool and have a few drinks. The day turned out relatively nice.

As for Sunday, that was a whole different story. Do you ever just have those days where everything and anything annoys the eff out of you? From the second you wake up until you finally go to bed. Sunday was that day for me. Poor Baby didn't have a prayer. Everytime he said anything, be it "do you want to go out for lunch?" or "can you hand me the remote?" I just wanted to say, "Shut up! Please stop talking! GAWD you're so annoying!" Hehehe...how horrible, huh? Not that Baby was doing anything wrong because he didn't... I'm sure it would've been directed to anyone in my close proximity. I may have been PPMS-ing (seeing as it's 2 weeks before my "time", that would make it Pre-Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, right?). It got to a point where Baby asked if he did something wrong and why I was so mad at him. I finally told him that I should probably go home and have some alone time because I was irritated for no reason whatsoever and shouldn't take it out on him. He was ok with that, but I'm sure he spent some time yesterday afternoon replaying his actions in his head to double check that he, in fact, did nothing to spark the mood I was in. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading my book Middlesex, and doing laundry. I finally called him this morning to tell him the cloud has passed and I wasn't such a raging biotch today. I'm sure he's extremely relieved.

Poo!

Baby and I were originally scheduled to visit Pocahontas and J.Smith in Denver next weekend. Unfortunately, the return flights look like caca to go on standby, so the trip has been cancelled. We are so disappointed because we were looking forward to seeing the guys as well as seeing Coors Field for a baseball game. Oh, well... What can you do? However, we still have a possibility of seeing Pocahontas and J.Smith next month in Playa del Carmen - cross your fingers that our flights remain in our favor.

As an alternate trip for next weekend, Baby and I are considering going to Jacksonville, FL. He has friends who live in JAX while my good friend Sparky and his family live a little less than an hour outside of JAX. We've both been trying to coordinate seeing these people for months. If all works out, we could kill two birds with one stone. We can fly in Friday night and spend time with Baby's friend and his wife, and the next day Baby can go fishing with his friend out in the Gulf while I rent a car and drive my happy arse to Southern Georgia to spend the day. I'd come back to JAX by dinnertime though. Good idea, huh? Hmmmm....hopefully, Sparky doesn't already have plans. I emailed him, but have yet to get a response. Baby is checking with his friend's schedule as well.

If all else fails and everyone in Florida has prior commitments, we plan on actually...wait for it...staying home on our free weekend! It would come as a welcome turn of events for Baby who has been traveling so much as well as for me to be able to actually clean and do ALL my laundry not just the necessities as I need them. I starting to wonder if my coworkers are noticing that I dress according to the colors that I wash. I'll go through a week of wearing nothing but lights because that's all the laundry I've accomplished doing, and then next string of days I wear nothing but darks. Soon I'll have to come to work in towels because that's the only load I finished over the weekend...teehee!

On a side note, I am meeting Blondie for dinner tonight. We haven't had a chance to truly catch up over the last few months, so it will be nice to see her. She's been dating this mystery dude for a couple of months that only one of our friends has managed to meet because of all our scheduling conflicts. The only thing I hear about him is that he's a big 'ol beefcake - huge muscles...must be nice ;) We have decided to meet at Zake for sushi after work. I LOVE SUSHI!!!

Lastly, I am on the hunt for some new reading material. Any suggestions? I hear the book Middlesex is good, so I think I may pick the book up after dinner tonight since Bookstop is right next door to where I'll be. I figure reading keeps me out of trouble, and it's cheap! If only books came with a side order of Blue Moon and orange wedges...I'd never leave the house! Diana Banana knows what I'm talking about!

MoBay Update

Montego Bay was gorgeous!!! Our resort was a typical all-inclusive with tons of kids running around, but we made the best of it regardless.

I arrived in Jamaica at around 1pm on Friday and waited patiently with my Harry Potter book for Baby's flight to land at 3:45pm. (Sidebar: Yes, Diana Banana, I FINALLY finished "the" book while I was in MoBay!) Baby had a driver take us to the resort, but by the time we got there after taking FOREVER to get out of the airport, it was already getting dark. Mostly it was because of the overcast that it was getting dark relatively early. Baby and I decided to have dinner then laid on some loungers on the beach talking and listening to the waves. I guess both us were pretty beat from our work weeks, so we decided to head back to the room and turn in by 10pm. WOOHOO partay animals! Hehehe.

Our view from our balcony facing the wedding gazebo and the ocean on Saturday morning

The next morning, we were up and out the door by 8:00am. We had breakfast and sat outside one of the restaurants watching the extremely calm water. We were very fascinated that there were absolutely no waves breaking on the shoreline. It was almost as if we were staring at a never-ending lake versus an ocean. We made our way to these very awesome floating rings that were anchored a bit offshore. These things were amazing. In the center of the floating rings, there was a trampoline-like bed which, when you sat/laid in it, the lining would sink into the water letting enough water in while you floated around staying cool but still getting sun - not that I need any more of a tan, but it was still refreshing for me and perfect for Baby's pale self ;)

These are those floatie rings with the trampoline beds in the center - we laid on the one in the far left. I've been trying to find them on Google, but have had no luck whatsoever

Another floatie ring thing with a woman about to get inside one - what the hell are these things actually called?!?!

Sun-drenched and sweaty after floating in the ring for about an hour

After lunch, we decided to do some kayaking. The resort offered free non-motorized sports such as the kayaking (one- and two-person kayaks), snorkeling, and paddle boats. We took a two-man out to the furthest buoy and realized after looking down into the crystal clear greenish-blue water, we should have grabbed some snorkeling gear and done some exploring while we were out there. Sadly, we decided we were too lazy to paddle all the way back to shore then paddle all the way back out and tie the kayak to the buoy and snorkel. We decided to just chalk the snorkeling to a loss. Once we got back to shore, we grabbed a few pina coladas and walked around the property. We did some over-priced souvenir shopping at the resort gift shop, and even stopped by the resort casino. Yes, there was a casino on the property. Albeit, it was the size of my living room and was strictly electronic slot machines, but we had fun there anyway. We played with $5 in quarters and got up to over $25, but since Baby doesn't know how to cut his losses, we walked out of there with nada. It was entertaining for about 30 minutes regardless.

The paddleboats and kayaks along the beach

We eventually headed back to the room and took a brief nap. It appears Baby and I have had the first vacation in a long time where we were just absolutely lazy. We usually have all kinds of sights to see and places to go, but this time we just hung out at the resort being leisurely. Later that evening after having dinner, we headed to the English Pub located at the resort. This Pub was really neither English nor a Pub, but I suppose since they had pictures of soccer players and horse races, they can call the place whatever they wanted. All they served beer-wise was Red Stripe and Red Stripe Light - what kind of English pub doesn't serve Guinness?!?

Here we are on the watching the sunset and some incoming storms slowly making their way from offshore

No make-up and all shiney...why does he not tell me I look like that before we leave the hotel room? I think I had too many pina coladas

Baby had this "bright" idea to buy the local's very popular Overproof Rum (126-proof - EEKS!) to mix in our frozen drinks ourselves - dangerous!

Yep...too much Overproof Rum. They were setting up the stage for the outdoor nightly performance. I decided to jump up on stage for a picture. Baby convinced me not to start an impromptu karaoke sing-along. He can be such a killjoy sometimes ;)

Baby and I headed back to our room thinking we'd take it easy for a little bit (and come down from our rum high) and then head out for more drinks at one of the resort bars later that evening. It started to rain pretty heavily and Baby fell asleep. I decided not to wake him, pulled some covers over him, got myself ready for bed, and turned in myself.

Sunday morning, we got up early. We packed up our things, had breakfast, checked out and spent our early afternoon at the airport. Baby's Air Jamaica flight back to Kingston left a little after 12pm, and my flight was scheduled for 1:30pm.

It was really nice taking a quick getaway weekend to meet up with Baby. I wish it could've been longer and that we could've enjoyed the city a more. But, what can you do? We both had to get back to reality. Work is so overrated, don't you think?

Ya Mon!

As I mentioned before, Baby is working out of Kingston, Jamaica until next Friday. Meaning he will be there through the weekend - our only time we get to really see each other due to our work schedules. He has called me everyday watching the flights into Montego Bay like a hawk since Job# 2 flies there. In a perfect world, the flights would remain open enough for me to fly standby tomorrow and return on Sunday. He would take a local carrier and meet me in MoBay - as the Jamaicans call it. The flights have remained relatively open (more than we expected), and Baby has been pushing me to meet him there.

Unfortunately, I would have to call in sick to Job# 1 (*cough*cough*) to pull it off. (Thus I will probably remove this post after today just to cover my tracks but still keep it on file to repost at a much later time for memory's sake...not that I think anyone at my office has my blog address, but you never know). The reason for this is that one of our HR people kind of screwed me over. Seeing as I have been with the company for 3 years as of this year, I was told I would be upgrading to 3 weeks vacation. Thus, I had already spread out a week earlier in the year and then took that whole week off last month to help my sister post-birth while my mom was out of town and her husband was off job-hunting or whatever...which left me with one full week at my disposal until the end of the year. Sadly, I was notified by the head honcho HR person that my intel was incorrect and that my 3 weeks doesn't start until January 2008. 2008?!?!? That meant I had already exhausted ALL my vacation for the year. YIKES! Me with no vacation time?!?! Had I known I only had 2 weeks, I would've only taken 2, maybe 3, days off to help my sister rather than the whole week in order to at least save a couple vacation days. However, I still have a week left of sick days. Therefore, I will all of the sudden become miserably ill tomorrow - granted, I've been building up looking like crap all week and barely wearing make-up (courtesy of Doc's suggestion to pull off said plan).

So with a lot of convincing and planning, I am heading to Jamaica tomorrow. Woohoo - although a nervous woohoo - a woohoo nonetheless! Baby has already booked his Air Jamaica flight to MoBay and made our reservations at Sunset Beach Resort & Spa for two nights - at the suggestion of some of his Kingston office coworkers. It looks amazing! Nothing like an all-inclusive resort where we can sit on the beach or by the pool and do nothing but stuff our faces and drink to our hearts delight.

Wish me luck that the flight home stays open so that I can make it home without having to call in again on Monday. That would be a bit more difficult to pull off, so I need all your fingers crossed for me!!! I feel a bit guilty about having to lie at work, but I consider this my good karma payback for helping my sister for a week. Even Sis says it's (1) a well-deserved break since I have been working my arse off, (2) I blew my weeks' worth of vacation not doing anything relatively relaxing but instead nursed her post-Cesarean self and played nanny to a 2-year-old and 2-week-old, and (3) I shouldn't pass up on an opportunity if the free flights were in my favor to meet up in the Caribbean to a hotel Baby already booked when all I have to do is show up - it's rare that the stars align that well. Probably why I'm so nervous that something is bound to go wrong. However, that conversation with my sister last night was the deciding factor that pushed me over the line of indecisiveness and into the "what the hell" side of the fence.

Again WISH ME LUCK!!!

A couple of things

Seeing it's been a while since I've posted anything of tangible value on here, I've decided that I will give a recap of a few things that have been happened in the last couple of weeks.

Two weekends ago, Baby's sister came into town. She was coming out of a pretty sad break-up, so Baby and I decided to fly her down. She visited for the weekend, and it was my first time meeting her. The meeting went well, and I had a lot of fun with her. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed herself, so we're hoping she will return for another visit.

The work weeks are boring so I will move onto this past weekend. Baby and I had a tame Friday night. We bought the movie 300 and snuggled on the couch while watching the Spartans kick some Persian arse. When the movie started, I was fascinated with the special effects, but it was pretty slow. Then as it progressed, it turned out to be a fantastic movie. I highly recommend it. Saturday, I had to work but met up with Baby and Grove for drinks at Molina's in The Heights after I got off. We later ended at Dark Horse. Let's just say that margaritas should never be your "starter drinks" for the evening. Yesterday, we had lunch with our friends and lounged at Grove's pool at his new apartment. We ended the evening stuffing our faces with wings at BW3 in Rice Village. The day was so full of activity, but it was leisure activity - the best kind.

Baby left today for 10 days in Kingston, Jamaica again for work. Sadly, the flights to Jamaica don't really look in our favor for me to meet him there for the weekend, so I guess I'm a single woman for the next 10 days...hehehe. Seriously though, I realized something yesterday. That after a few really nasty bumps in the road, Baby and I are getting to a good place in our relationship. A lot of changes were made on both parts (mainly his), and things are getting better every day. Of course now that I've typed that, the whole bottom will fall out. But honestly, I think I've fallen even more in love with him in the last couple of weeks which I didn't think was really possible. For the first time in a long time, I'm more than content in a relationship. I'm actually happy.

On a completely different note, I'm slowly chipping away at the last Harry Potter novel. I'm about halfway through with it. I know that I'm a bit slow compared to all my other friends, but the ONLY time I get to read is at bedtime. By that time, I only make it through a handful of pages before I wake up in the middle of the night having fallen asleep with the book on my chest or next to my head. So far, it's excellent! I wish I wasn't so damn tired in the evenings that I could stay awake long enough to read a good chunk of it.

Proposition for Diana Banana & Single Girl

I think I've come up with a way for us to still chime in our witty thoughts when we have no inspirations to blog on our own. How many times have you wanted to post something for the day but just can't think of anything blogworthy? I've been coming across that a lot more than usual lately.

So.... I've decided to try something if you ladies are willing to help. I was thinking since the three of us are blogger regulars, we could ocassionally combine our savviness in one blog. I'm not sure what the absolute direction of it would be, but we can start off by taking a current event of the day and going from there. Whether the topic is from the local/national/world news, entertainment/gossip pages, or separate notes of interest that have come up...or just something we want to bitch about. We can each take turns starting the topic and then the other two post within. Doesn't have to be a daily thing, but an "every-one-in-awhile-sure-why-not" kind of thing.

I have already started setting it up, and will forward you both the passwords to get in. What do you think??? Are you in?

I'm Not Getting It

I love the picture I found for the profile, don't you?

Another Harry Potter Funny Video

So SILLY... teehee