Fashion goes to hell in a handbasket

You would thinking dropping that deadbeat husband of hers would allow her to somehow win back some chic and classy brownie points. But, alas... Ms. Spears is quickly becoming another Mariah Carey - flashing way too much for our poor eyes to see.

Now if this new look she and Paris are sporting - the one-legged thigh-high fishnets - actually take off, I will personally shave my head. Ok, maybe not shave my head as I will look like a small Buddah training for Shaolin Monk school, but maybe just gouge my eyes out. Am I becoming so old that I have become appalled with the younger generations' fashions?!?! Oh, jeez...what has this world come to?!?!

(Photo is courtesy of People Magazine)

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to all my loyal readers (all 4 of you...hehehe)! I hope you are all getting an opportunity to spend time with family and/or friends over this holiday. If not, I hope that you are at least enjoying the time away from work to relax and vegetate.

I've decided to use this post as my own chance to list a few things I'm thankful for this year - some profound things, others just minor things that still touched a special part of my heart.

• Family - Don't get me wrong, I want it duly noted that my family has the undeniable knack to annoy the hell out of me. However, I am thankful they are the first to stand by my side to support me and to protect me...sometimes, even when they know I'm wrong. Now that is love. My family went through a lot of tragedies and disappointments this year, but also a lot of wonderful milestones. My brother got engaged, my niece turned two and learned to say f*%$ and sh!t all in one bold statement (amusingly in public...lol), my sister has another little one on the way, and I have managed to not kill myself as I still struggle to juggle two jobs and play equally as hard as I work.
• Friends - Dealing with some major life-changing family events and also some personal emotional challenges, I realized that I'm one lucky little lady. No one will understand how thankful I am to have friends that will drop plans at the drop of a hat to console me, travel great distances just to physically be here for me, and stay up all hours of the night talking nonsense just so I don't suffer my insomnia spells alone. It's never hard to find someone willing to catch a drink with you, but it's those who just want to sit with you and do nothing that make you realize how valuable their friendship is and how you never want to experience what life would be without them.
• Work - Although I'm a constant broken record about the difficulties of keeping two jobs, I'm thankful I have them both. Some people can't even say that their one job is fulfilling, exciting, or rewarding. I, on the other hand, have two jobs that have allowed me rewards that make me quite the envy. Job #1 has allowed me to meet and interact with some major power players in the energy industry and have never let us forget how grateful they are for the work we do while Job #2 has shown me (and some of my friends) the world. Who can knock that?!?! So let me rant and bitch, but don't ever take me seriously ;)
• Love - I struggled with putting this on here simply because I make it a point not to put anything too personal in this blog. You never know who's feelings I might hurt when I vent off about how upset I am with a friend or loved one only to regret that I posted it for everyone to see. Also, it makes you pretty vulnerable...which you all know is not a color I like to wear often. However, I do want to give thanks that this year I realized something that I wasn't sure was ever possible again. I fell in love. Although things didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped or turned out how I had dreamed, I learned that I, in fact, was not dead inside - an inside joke with Sparky and myself.
• Health - I've had a few medical issues this year, but luckily nothing life-threatening. I'm thankful to say that I am as physically able as I am, and never want to take that for granted

I've decided to leave it at that. I think that I could go on about the small stuff, but I think this is enough for now. So I hope I didn't bore you with my list...I could've made it more interesting if I mentioned how thankful I was Britney FINALLY left K-Fed, but you already know that...hehehe.

So... Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, and go stuff your faces!

Big Hugs and Kisses!!!

Weekend Update

Ok, folks...this weekend was "interesting" to say the very least. To save you from some of the unnecessary dramatics (which by the way is becoming so second nature in my life right now that you'd think I was making it up...but whatever), let me give you some of the finer points.

THURSDAY

BigOil arrived. We had a great Mexican dinner sprinkled with margarita goodness followed by meeting up with Blondie and some of her friends at Pub Fiction. Fun, fun. At some point I blacked out, but here is proof I had a great time...yes, I'm standing on furniture...again. My mother can only be so proud.

Prior to losing lucidity, I did get a few shots of the other ladies who joined BigOil and myself...

Here's Bartendress (i.e., my Bartender Goddess), myself, and BigOil - I just ran my crotch into the corner of Bartendress' chair...thus, the forced smile hiding my wincing pain...yes, it still hurts a girl too! (albeit, probably not as bad as for you boys)

FRIDAY

That night was a huge celebration for Midtowner's 30th birthday. The sky-diving was nixed due to Midtowner's sinus infection that wouldn't clear up. However, we are merely postponing!!! Stay tuned for that in the near future!

We rang in Midtowner's big 3-0 with a stretch excursion and a number of good friends. What a night!

The Gang celebrating in style...why can't we do this every Friday night?!?!

Me and the birthday girl

Me, once again proving to my mother she raised a classy broad. In my defense, I'm multi-tasking...who else can sip-sip pass, hold her own drink, and pay the limo driver all at once????

The evening eventually ended, on a dramatic note on my personal level...BUT, nonetheless, a very fun night for Midtowner's birthday!!!

SATURDAY

This day was a whole different story. By the time I met up with BigOil and Grove, they were 5 hours into drinking. Needless to say, I became designated driver extraordinaire!!! Let's just leave it at this...This is what I woke up to the next morning in my living room....

They look so peaceful...and sweet. Why can't they always look this sweet? The rest of Sunday really didn't change from this picture. We pretty much slept the whole day away... I don't know if the boys have yet to fully recover. From what I hear, not so much...

Dear, Liver...Please forgive me...

BigOil's plane lands at approximately 5pm. Although I'm excited as one little Filipina can be, my liver has it's proverbial hands wrapped around itself, rocking back and forth in the fetal position trying to hide itself behind it's small neighbor Mr. Kidney for shelter. I think the last visit included people passed out before 9pm. Hopefully, this visit will be less "in yo face" and a little more relaxing. However....I REALLY doubt that.

Spicing up the blog

After blogging yesterday, I sought out the help of The Madame, Eurotrash!, and Pocahontas on ideas of how to give my blog that little bit of "je ne sais quoi." Some write about politics, others focus on child-rearing, while others simply use blogging as a way to chronicle the mundane trivialites of their lives. I, personally, have been using this as a documentary so that when I'm old and gray, I can look back and say, "Those were the days when my boobs didn't hang to my waist!" Or, "Wow, I can't believe I never got a staph infection from falling into a roadside ditch!" Oh, how those things sound trivial now... but when I'm 60 years old and looking back, I really will want to remember how much I actually enjoyed the men I dated, the places I had traveled, and the friends I don't speak to anymore.

Eurotrash! had long ago suggested a Cheese of the Month bit, but seeing I'm lactose intolerant...I may very well just end up writing about the effects these yummies have on my digestive system. I'm thinking that can only go so far...imagine....

"Dear Blog, Cheese of the Month will be Broccio. It is a French cheese made of goat's or ewe's milk and is unpasteurized, whey cheese of various shapes. Some broccio are salted and dried for a sharper flavor and is similar to Italian Ricotta. However, after eating said cheese, I was curled up in the fetal position within the hour praying to all that is holy for the gut-wrenching twisting of my stomach to stop, followed by frequent trips to my new porcelain best friend. Please, for the love of God, do not eat this cheese should you have a function to attend within the next 8 hours. People will start to notice the faint noises coming from your backside no matter how hard you clench!"

Hmmmm....actually, that could be pretty entertaining.

Anyway, so I'm thinking I will choose a Photo of the Month. Seeing as I am a true Asian in the sense that I almost always have my digitial camera with me, I snap pictures at just about every opportunity - major functions, evenings of debauchery, harrassing the gas station attendant on why they don't carry super glue. (Sidebar: Why doesn't the gas station by my apartment have ANYTHING???? No Visine, no Pepto Bismal, and today...no super glue. Don't ask...long story!) So, yes, I took a picture of the said gas station's shotty "supplies" section. In between the chips and the motor oil. I'm thinking Photo of the Month...maybe Photo of the Week. What do you think?

I'm alive!!!

Ok, a lot of you have called me out because I haven't blogged since September. So here I am trying to get back into blogging. We must thank Banana who reminded me most recently....like a few minutes ago via MySpace.

Just a bit of an update... a lot of my lack of desire to blog has spawned from a number of personal issues which is best summed up of as family tragedies and dramas along with my re-introduction into the single world...all in a matter of 2 months. So, yes, I decided it best I not become one of those emo-like blogs talking about being depressed/wanting to kill....something (seeing as I can't kill myself...Jeez, NO!).

Anyway, today will be a boring blog. I suppose I can re-enter the blogging community by outlining my week. Yes, I know it's pathetic, BUT it's a start until I get my momentum going. Tomorrow, I will have 2 events I have to be at all at the same time. Seeing as cloning is not legal, I must make a choice - an all-volunteer meeting for American Cancer Society Starlight Gala (of which I'm a member of the Social and Membership Committee) or dinner at the phenomenal restaurant Mark's with co-workers for a birthday. Hmmmm... I'm sure you know I lean to the latter. HOWEVER, there is another glitch to the plan....I'm still on the schedule to work at Job #2. Now, I think that I can take care of that, but errrrr....that means I have to kiss someone's butt to work for me :( After that, Wednesday is just another day of working both jobs, then comes the fun part....

BigOil gets in on Thursday!!!! WOOHOO!!! How do I miss BigOil? Let me count the ways? (1) No one allows me to throw up in the back of a cab, carries me to my apartment, cleans me up, and still loves me in the morning (2) No one talks to me at late hours just to keep me awake during the ride home from Job #2...especially when I'm dumb enough to pop a Xanax before getting behind the wheel because I'm having a freak out session, and (3) just because he's "so good-looking, he's unapproachable" (inside joke). Anyway, I guarantee there will be lots of funny pictures to post after this weekend.

Also, Friday is one of my BFF's birthdays!!! Happy birthday, Midtowner. For her big 3-0, she's making a few of us girls jump out of a plane. Yes, I might be permanently pressed to asphalt if all things go tragic...so pray for me...or cross your fingers, if you don't pray to a diety of choice. I'm still trying to convince BigOil to jump with us, but I don't think he'll budge on his stance of "HELL NO!"

Ok, that actually turned out to be a pretty long blog. Good start... Are you happy now, Banana???

Are you ready for some football?!?!?!?!?

College football season started last week...WOOHOO! And this weekend is NFL! I'm so excited. I get to watch a bunch of big sweaty men collide on top of each other. Is that badass broadcasting or what?!? Haha. Seriously though...I am quite excited.

As for this weekend the Texas v. OSU game is the big buzz. Can't wait to see what happens.

Unfortunately, I have nothing else to report right now because the info is either out of date or just not that interesting. I will try to be more captivating next time.

Damn those roadside ditches!

So I have always had this fear of ditches. Not like a diagnosed phobia or anything, but more of a paranoia that I will either slide into one in the rain or not clear one when turning into a narrow street like Baby's. Anyway, I have a funny story to tell...

Saturday night after getting off work early, I head over to Baby's. By the time I get there, the boys were 3 shots and a couple of bottles of wine into the evening...yikes! So what's a girl to do in this situation? Options only lead to one solid solution - catch up, of course. After realizing that the evening will be 'one of THOSE nights', we head over to Dark Horse to see 'Lil E. You would think that we would know better than to take this train wreck to a public arena, but alas...not so much. As the nights progressed and the alcohol flowed freely, we decided it was about time to take it back to the house. Baby, Grove, Noodle, Noodlette, and myself are thinking...wow, home by midnight...good stuff. UNTIL...

Grove pulls into Baby's driveway without pulling all the way up, so we are near the edge of the street. Poor Noodlette is beyond coherency at this point so I walk around to help her out of the car. In that instance, her dead weight brings us both toppling over in the grass. As we laugh hysterically, I begin to realize that I am slowly sliding down. "Where am I going?" I wonder. Until it dawns on me that I am not in the flat grassy area, but in fact, on the edge of the grass near the ditch in front of Baby's house. As I realize that I am only seconds away from swimming with every bacteria known to man and that none of the guys are going to get to me in time, I just start to laugh even harder. Seeing as I was a lost cause about falling into the ditch with no way of avoiding it, I try to at least save Noodlette from joining me. In my effort to push her up from my disgusting fate, I only slide myself down the slope even faster. I eventually hit the water and can do nothing but scream, "Good GOD, I'm in the f-ing ditch!" The guys are cracking up, and Grove fishes me out. Jeez!!! Baby missed the debacle entirely except to see me waist-high in ditch water. I end up shedding my jeans, running upstairs and showering immediately. These were the moments where I wish I was so wasted that I wouldn't have cared, but what can you do?

So the moral of the story is: If you ever feel like you had a crappy weekend...just rememer that you were NEVER in a ditch!

(Man, I wish I had pictures to go with this post!)

Could I be anymore half-assed about updating this thing?

Lately, I've been really busy. Work has been insane on both fronts. My day job just made a major business announcement that has apparently made us the talk of our industry, and my evening job just suffered a major national security issue that has us bogged down with more work than ever! It's always funny how I spend 8 hours of my day amazed at how well my company is doing, and then spend the last 4 hours of my evening watching the company I work for part-time be in such dismay. Oh, well...enough about that!

Let's see...what's happened since my last post? Well...a lot. But the condensed version is:

• My brother is now officially engaged! Yay!!!! Picture below is from my parents' house at their engagement dinner :)

My brother and his fiancee holding an overly-priced bottle of Christal
that Baby and I bought them for their engagement gift

• My friend Wanderer was in town to visit from London on business and squeezed in a little beer-drinking with me

I wish he'd visit more!!!

• I helped out with a Young Professionals in Energy event that was an absolute success - the mayor was there...see my cheesy picture below ;)

I find it ironic that two days after his daughter gets arrested for a DWI,
he speaks at a cocktail reception...priceless.

• My great-aunt just completed successful life-threatening surgery that will allow her to continue her dialysis treatment - big sigh of relief! :)
• Sparky & his wife just gave birth to their first child - a healthy baby boy!!!! Sparky is oh-so excited! Poor kid looks just like his proud papa...heehee!!!
• My mother is en route to the Philippines as I type this to say her final good-byes to my aunt who is in hospice care :(

I guess that's about it. Like I said, busy! Oh, and I've also been on this crazy health kick lately with working out, running, and eating healthy. I'm trying to see if this will alleviate any of this growing stress. If not, I may very well end up back on a leather couch staring at the ceiling and telling a shrink how my otherwise mundane problems have been stacking up all at once and driving me to rip all my hair out...including my eyebrows...not pretty in the least. I don't want to look surprised all the time like Whoopi Goldberg.

As for this weekend, tonight I'm meeting up with Banana and her new dating-type person. I haven't seen Banana since probably high school so it'll be fun to catch up. We're going to see a guy we also went to high school with perform in some rock band he's a part of. Wow, I haven't gone to see a specific live band play at a bar since college...how nostalgic. I would say retro, but apparently "retro" is anything 7-yrs or older. That's according some article I read some years ago. I've still got a couple of years before I can say my college days were "retro." ;)

Other than that, I'm trying to figure how I'll squeeze in relaxing. I have to work the entire weekend, but I'm trying to maneuver around that. I have to check on my great aunt at some point as well. You would think my schedule would have some kind of break at some point or another, but alas...not so much.

Until next time, dear readers...

What does it mean?

Last night I had a strange evening. I went to bed relatively early (for me, that is) sometime after 11pm. In the course of the evening, Baby tossed and turned seeing as he's been nervous about going into work and giving his answer to not accept a counter-offer from his present company because it falls short of what the new company is proposing. So, yes, Baby is on to better and brighter things.

Anyway, other than dealing with his sleep issues....around 5am this morning we heard about six or seven gunshots. His neighbors have this obsession with shooting firearms in the middle of the night. In the past, Baby and his other neighbor have disregarded these noises as firecrackers. But last night was absolutely NOT firecrackers!!! I told Baby to call the police to complain. It's such a pain for Baby and Noodle to live next to such thugs, but they are one of two houses left on his street that have not been bought out to tear down and build luxury townhomes. Although, I'm sure it's ONLY a matter of time. I think it's such a great idea that Baby has chosen to buy in an up and coming neighborhood like he did with his previous home in Midtown seeing as he profited so well when he finally sold it, but I am so glad that I don't live there on a daily basis.

On top of that...when I finally fell asleep, I had this strange dream. This part of my night is more about the title of this post. I dreamt that it was raining really badly and flooding everywhere. In my dream, I lived by a big bridge. It was night time, and still a bit drizzling. I was driving a school bus (yes, a bus again...for those who don't know, I use to have reoccuring dreams about all kinds of different buses - driving them, riding on them, waiting for them...so bizzare). I go to take the bridge to get to the next town since we and my passengers are evacuating, but when we get through the fog, there's no bridge. But, it's too late. I can't stop, so the bus goes off the bridge into mud...not water, mud. The mud proceeds to envelop us like quicksand. Somehow, I must've survived because we flash to me doing something else. Or maybe I went to another dream. Almost if I were having a new dream sharing the similarity of the rain, flooding, and evacuating.

In this new dream I was trying to evacuate an office-like environment with a bunch of older people (maybe coworkers?). We packed our personal items and were trying to escape out the window...don't ask...to get to the evacation buses. I threw my bag out the window so that I can follow right after it, then something made me stop as I threw my legs over the windowsill. I actually waited for the cloud of fog to move so that I got a better look at the ground I was going to land on (it was only the first floor window, but still high). The next thing you know, I'm staring down on that same muddy mess hundreds of miles below me as if I were on the bridge from the previous dream...or earlier in the dream...whatever it was. I watched as my bag was sinking into the mud. Then, that's when I woke up to the alarm. So strange! I'm thinking I need to go to some dream interpreter to figure out what that all means.

Au Revoir, Pocahontas and J.Smith

This past Saturday was busy as usual... I had two places to be, so of course, I did what I do best...spread myself thin. Saturday night, I had to go to a purse party at Blondie's and then to a going away party for Pocahontas and J.Smith.

Midtowner and I went to the purse party with all intentions of not buying anything seeing as I'm trying to save money and all, but that plan wasn't as successful as I had intended. I ended up buying the cutest green-ish colored clutch purse! I couldn't say no to $30 when it was originally over $100. C'mon...now you see that I was backed into a corner. I blow $30 doing nothing a majority of the time...at least now I have something tangible to show for it.

Anyway, I headed back to Baby's to pick him and Grove up on the way to the going away shindig. So off we were on our way to the party...eggroll appetizers and bottle of champagne in hand. The Madame, Eurotrash!, and Egypt were already there. As always, I try to arrive fashionably late...actually, I was busy frying the eggrolls, but fashionably late sounds so much better. Pocahontas and J.Smith had a phenomenal tablescape (landscape of food on the table) as usual...such the great hostesses! I did the standard pigging out, and then imbibed a bit more than I should've. Those at the party are probably all scorning a hideous bottle of booze called 99 Bananas - 99-proof of banana-flavored hell.






Pocahontas and Me...this will be the last picture of us partying at their house :(










You know Baby loves me when he entertains my snap-happiness after a few drinks








Eurotrash!, Egypt, and Grove...and the kitchen island of booze











The Madame and Me - she taught me everything I needed to know about working the street...heehee









You know it's time to go when we look like this on the way home... Baby is such a good DD





I had a great time that night saying adios to mis agimas as they move to Denver. However, I look forward to visiting them seeing as I've never been to Colorado. I wish them so much luck in their new city....Although, they will never find as colorful friends as the ones from "The Dungeon."

As some of you know, I went to Acapulco for the holiday weekend. It wasn't the absolute best destination I've been to, but it had its charms. Baby and I had spent the 4 days sitting on the beach, drinking Coronas and frozen drinks, and taking in all the local flair.

Our first day, we arrived at the hotel around 1pm - after our airport driver was harassed by police on the way to dropping us off. Apparently, he was looking for a nice little bribe, but our driver was having none of it...so we sat there as the went back and forth for about 15 minutes before the cop gives up and lets us go. So, Baby and I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon dividing our time between one of the many pools at our hotel and vegetating on the beach.





View of Acapulco Beach from our balcony












View of the Adult Pool at the Emporio Hotel









The view we woke up to every morning












Baby and me relaxing on the beach...we even had guys bringing us coolers filled with frosty goodies whenever we needed. Nice, huh?


The next day, we headed over to a local Mexican restaurant close to our hotel that was suggested to me at the Maria Hacienda Eugenia for breakfast. The buffet was really good...lots of different foods. I gave Matt props for trying things he had no clue what they were. Overall, a good place. We even squeezed in watching some World Cup action there. Afterwards, we headed to the beach and rented an umbrella, two chairs, and a table for $3 and stayed on the beach all day for the most part. There were vendors coming by every 2 minutes trying to sell us everything from fans, massages, and sunglasses to henna tatoos, barbecued oysters, and hammocks. Sad to see people being so desperate, but you got use to it after awhile. Baby got great use out of the phrase, "No, pero gracias."

Friday night, we went to La Quebrada which is the awesome cliff diving. These guys jump up to 10 stories into a crevice in the mountain only 20 feet wide and 12 feet deep. Can you believe how insane that is?!?!?! Afterwards we headed to El Amigo Miguel for some more authentic Mexican food. It was in a shady part of town that made Baby a bit nervous, but the food was definitely tasty. Afterwards, we headed to the hotel zone strip to try a few bars. We ended up at Paradise and some pirate bar. We had a few drinks and decided it was time to go home and turn in.







The sunset at La Quebrada












Here we are stopping at Paradise for a cool beverage on the way back to the hotel





On Saturday, we did pretty much the same thing except we rented a palapa (thatched-roof hut looking things on the beach) and some loungers. This was spectacular. People brought us food and drinks nonstop onto the beach while we dozed in and out between vendors trying to sell us stuff. We headed over to Mango's that night for dinner and some undercover drinking as most places were already taking effect of serving no alcohol on election day, which was that next day on Sunday.

On Sunday, we went to go Pie de la Cuesta which is a beautiful beach about 30 minutes outside of the hotel zone. We were literally the first people on the beach that morning. We secured our hammocks and did absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, it was election day so they weren't serving alcohol...and these people at Tres Marias were actually law-abiding citizens...ugh! Who ever heard of laying in a hammock on the beach without a beer or some other frosty alcoholic beverage???? Eventually, our driver came back and got us and took us back to our hotel. Although alcohol was prohibited to be sold...Baby convinced a bartender at one of the pool's bars to be a rebel and pour us a few cold ones ;) And, yes, that's why I love him...Baby shows up on his white horse to save the day when my hopes were shattered by sobriety...lol.






Pie de la Cuesta - we were literally the first people that showed up














Don't I look like a happy, round-faced Asian?!?!? Hahaha










Anyway, that last night (mind you the night no alcohol is to be sold), Baby and I partied like it was 1999. We even took a horse-drawn buggy down a major avenue because it was the closest thing to us to ask for a ride rather than wait for a taxi. Now that was hilarious...clip clopping all the way down say a street like Westheimer next to all these cars as we're going a mile down the road for an illegal margarita....CLASSIC. We ended up at Carlos'n'Charlie's and that's all she wrote. (Smart move that I didn't bring my camera to take pictures of the evening's events)

The next day, Baby and I were struggling to make our way to the airport...but we got there and even got first class on the way home. Yipee!!! All and all our trip was another success. I survived, rode a horse to a bar, and lived to tell about it.

Luckily, I won't be traveling for a while. It's about time I stayed in Houston for a change. Poor Baby has to fly this weekend to a wedding in Tampa. Better him than me ;)

What do you think?

My horoscope today:

Taurus (April 19 - May 19)
A big decision may need to be made in your professional life, dear Taurus. You are eager to use your capacities fully and are casting about for ways to do so. If your company has a relationship with countries abroad, can you take advantage of this to expand your professional role? There is no question that you are in a phase of expansion, and that includes your confidence! Even so, keep an eye on your finances.

I broke down...but mainly out of principal

I know everyone and they're grandma has heard of MySpace. For years, I've protested getting on that site for the sheer reason that I don't like the idea of people reading about you without you knowing they're looking at your profile. Plus, I'm a firm believer that you're exposing yourself way too easily for the masses to look into your life. By no means am I an introvert or super secretive person, but I also know how some things you write/type on the internet can come back to haunt you...personally and mainly professionally.

Yes, I know it sounds hypocritical for me to say that seeing as I have a blog, but my blog is not set to be openly viewed. Only those who have the direct address can access it, meaning there's no way to just search it via a search engine or search through my blog host Blogger...thank goodness! I accidently dropped that security feature for one day, and my profile views went from 13 to 173. Wow....never gonna do that again!

Anyway, I finally broke down and set up a MySpace account Friday. My reason: anger at ridiculous parents. I heard on the news how a mother from Austin was suing MySpace because her teenage daughter was raped by someone she met on the website. I ask: When does a parent start blaming others for either neglected parenting or for their bad parenting skills altogether? Granted no girl should be forced against her will, but can a mother blame a website for her allowing her child to play on the internet unmonitored for hours on end? Is she so busy she can't check on what her child is doing every once in awhile...maybe take 5 minutes out to pull up the history of what her child's been doing on the computer? Come one, people! We're in a technologically advanced world here...this is just the new age version of teaching your kids not to open the door for strangers, not to get into cars with strangers, and not taking candy from strangers. How can you blame a website for not enforcing your authority to teach your kids these basic rules or for laziness as a parent to check on your teen? Too busy? Whatever, then you shouldn't have had kids to begin with if you couldn't make time for them. I know I don't have time for kids and that's why I make every precaution to not have any right now.

So yes, there is my rant. I enrolled on MySpace as a "stick it to the man/bad parent." I know it sounds retarded, but hey...it made me feel like I was getting back at bad parenting skills...sue me.

Finally!

Baby and I have FINALLY decided on a place to jet away for the July 4th holiday - ACAPULCO! Back in the day (I love that saying), Acapulco was supposedly "the place to be" but had suffered some downslide in tourism in the last few decades. It still ranks as a big spring break destination (as ALL Mexico cities tend to be), but seems to be picking up more general tourism steam lately from what I've been reading. So far, our flights look good (so cross your fingers for us), and I'm hoping the rain clears away by then. Yes, it's been raining like gatos y perros out there the past few days (like that spanglish?).

As I've been doing my standard OCD routine of scouring for all destination info and insider info on the location, I was able to come up with some great things. I decided not go with an all-inclusive (AI) plan as it was strongly suggested not to do one by locals, frequent visitors, and Aca aficianadoes. Apparently, unlike Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, there is more to do and see in Aca outside of your hotel/resort so hiding out at your hotel loading up on drinks and not-so-good food is a waste of your vacation. I was a little nervous about the decision not to go AI in Mexico, but the other travelers from Tripadvisor's Acapulco discussion forums were quick to ease every concern by telling me where to go and what to expect. My log-in is "travelflip" if you ever go on there.

I was told where we are staying, Emporio Hotel Acapulco, is right in the center of everything and a walk away from really good cheap restaurants and all the beachfront bars. Now that's what I want to hear! The more and more I thought about doing the AI, the more I thought it wasn't going to be the best bang for our buck seeing that one day we'd be away from the hotel at a gorgeous beach/village 30 minutes away from the hotel so that would be a waste of lunch, dinner, and drinks for the day. We're also not big drinkers except for maybe one night of our trip when it's just me and Baby (occassional beer here and there, but no typical weekends in Houston...haha), so the boozing it up wouldn't be beneficial. And I forgot to mention, we're a 50-cent and 5-minute bus ride away from the Wal-Mart there if we want to buy snacks and stuff we would actually like rather than whatever we'd be limited to at the hotel. Wal-Mart is taking over the world, I tell ya!

Anyway, here are a few things I'm looking forward to:

• Pie de la Cuesta - the beach/village mentioned above
• La Quebrada - Infamous cliff diving
• A massage at the hotel spa
• Just lounging by the pool with Baby and doing nothing!!!!

I'll be sure to tell you peeps exactly how it all turns out. I'm sure I'll love it, but if I don't... I'll be sure to tell you how much I hated it. Luckily, I have a few more days to fine-tune my itinerary ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG SISTAH

Lauren's been practicing saying "Happy Birthday" all week. Although, all mom could manage out of her was "Happy Happy" it's still an awesome display.

Weekend Update

I don't think a Monday has felt this exhausting in a while. The rain isn't helping, but I can probably blame the fact that I feel like I need another 10 hours of sleep on too much of...well, everything over the weekend.

BigOil showed up on Friday raring to go. We met up with the guys at Kentucky Club and then headed to 702. Baby, Grove, Noodle, Noodle's g/f, Aussie, and Aussette were all in attendance. The following day we (sans Noodle's g/f) continued by starting out at BW3 for some World Cup action, then to Brian O's and Twelve Spot for some nostalgia. You'll never believe this...but we were actually kicked out of Twelve Spot. Alba would be so proud. Sunday ended up being a lazy day of falling in and out of sleep on the couch before taking BigOil to the airport.

It was definitely great seeing BigOil again, but I'm so glad these visits are few and far between. My poor body feels like it was beaten within an inch of it's life.

Surprise!

Luckily, NONE of the guys this pertains to (even my Baby) reads my blog - which is very good since I can talk/vent about them on this website, so I will tell my loyal readers the surprise I have in store for them. For those of you who remember BigOil (the guy who left us to go back to Ft. Lauderdale in pursuit of internet domain brokering success), I convinced him to FINALLY come back and visit us for the weekend. The guys don't know this, and this may very well backfire. I'm hoping that they don't all have distinct plans this weekend I don't know about that would prevent them from seeing BigOil during his visit. Oh, well...we'll see.

The major hurdle I'm coming across is that I need to be at two places at once. I'll be at the YPE HH around the time his flight comes in today, and can't ask anyone else to pick him up...Hellllloooo, it's a surprise, remember? I decided that I would send a car to pick him up to meet me at this HH. I guess the post after the weekend will recount some crazy stories. Stay tuned....

Break out the bubbly

Congrats to J.Smith on getting the new job in Denver!!! (insert my favorite old-school twink dance move here - the one where you have your arms raised and spinning around wildly to the the song "Ah Rin Tin Tin Tin") I can't believe you and Pocahontas will be leaving H-Town, but I wish you all the great successes in Colorado.

So does this mean one of you are going to teach me how to snowboard when I come out to visit in the winter???? If not, you can at least scout out cute instructors for me...just don't tell Baby ;)

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Deville...

My beautiful little niece has already mastered her "I'm the most adorable 20-month-old you've ever seen" look.