Birthday to Remember

So I returned from my long red eye back from Vegas at about 8 am. Well due to the snow storm that hit the Carolinas while I was away, Charlotte and surrounding areas were white!

When I got to my car at Long Term 2 Parking, it was covered with ice and snow. I had to scrape, and then scrape some more. After all that, the roads were manageable...Thank you City of Charlotte.

When I finally get home...NOT a thank you to the city of Huntersville, as they did not salt the road and cul de sac of the main road that goes to my house.

Attempt #1. I drive to my house like I normally do. But don't make it up the hill as my car starts sliding backwards

Attempt #2. I back down the hill and get my tires dry, and then gun it and aim up the hill and into my drive way. SUCCESS!!! I made it into my driveway. I park and pull the emergency brake, sit in the car for a bit, and well, all seems well, its not moving.

I go into my house with my bags and unpack, change out of my clothes that I have on since I left Vegas. Let my dog out and feed him. Just normal stuff I do around the house in the mornings. As I walk past my large front window and look out, I DON'T SEE MY CAR!!!! Well I could see it when it WAS PARKED IN MY DRIVEWAY!!!! I grab the first shoes I could find (bedroom shoes) and run out the door with my keys. I see two neighbor girls that were at home because school was closed, they were coming over to tell me that they saw my car rolling down the hill. I looked at the little girl horrified and asked, "Did it hit anything?" She said no that it just stopped in the middle of the road.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU GOD!!!!! It hit nothing!

About 5 hours later when the sun had been out for awhile and melted the snow of the road, I was able to drive it back up the hill, this time to park in on the culdesac behind my boyfriends "extra" car (it's a POS). This time I think it's not going anywhere, at least if it rolls it will hit his car and not go anywhere.

After about 30 minutes I look out the window to see how it's doing, oh What the HECK....it's touching his car! It slid yet again.

What fun? After that I spent the rest of the day de-icing my driveway with a shovel and water, and I was finally able to get the car up the driveway and into the garage.

What a birthday!!

Birthday Trip to Vegas

“Happy Birthday make a mess, Happy Birthday wear a dress, “is the text message I got from my sister the night before we depart for Vegas. If this is any indication, Vegas won’t know what hit it! Why you ask?
Because first, It’s the Annual Girl’s Birthday trip.
Second, my sister turns 30.
Third, my sister, drunk, in Vegas!!! My sister is the type that will grab your drink and finish it if you are taking too long to finish it yourself. You may ask what is too long. Well, to my sister if you are sipping on your cocktail of choice like a sophisticated lady instead of guzzling it like a freshman sorority girl, then you are taking too long. Just think, if you are gambling, the drinks are free, which will equal a very drunk Rachel!!
Fourth, two redheads and one Italian, experiencing Vegas together in adulthood. My sister and I were both in Vegas together once, but we both were still wearing kids clothes. I have been to Vegas twice in adulthood, and Daniela has been to Vegas a few times in adulthood as well. But, we will be going together this time.
We arrive noon Vegas time on Friday and leave at 11 pm Sunday night. I don’t feel like doing the math on how many hours that is, because frankly I woke up at 5:30 AM and am on a plane (posting when I change planes in Houston, cause NO Continental Airlines doesn’t have wifi), and haven’t had enough coffee to make my brain function yet.
Oh yeah, and I strategically picked seat 1A on my flight to Houston so that I could be the first off the plane. I am a person that really hates waiting (trying to work on the patience thing in life, flying patience will be attended to later), so I like to sit as close to the door as possible so that I can get off the plane quickly and not have to wait for all the slow people to get their luggage out of over head bins. Well, due to some weight balance issues they had to move people. Okay, just me! I am not sure if I should be offended that my weight is throwing off an entire airplane. Hmmmm…..

Year One

I made it, I actually survived it. Who would have thought it? I didn’t, and guess what; there wasn’t medication beyond month one.

I lost my Daddy (any man can be a father, but only a special person can be a Daddy) a year ago today. A piece of me died with him. I won’t lie, I really wanted to curl up and go with him. I never thought I would know this world without him. Of course, I didn’t want to know this world without him in it, what little girl wants to experience marriage without her Dad giving her away on her wedding day? What girl wants to bear children without their grandfather to dote on them? I won’t lie, I felt cheated out of life the day he died.

Here is the weird part; the reality of him being gone has never set in. I still wake up every day still in shock…"holy shit, he is really not here anymore”. It’s like the movie “50 first dates.” I am sure that it’s me trying to cope and of course, having a major case of denial. Who wants to start facing reality that one of the most Important people in your life, someone you consider a best friend, a person that is an inspiration in your life, is no longer on this earth. So I think to myself, he's not really dead, he just went on one of his trips to Biloxi, this time for extended gambling!

I wish I could have better memories that run through my mind, but I am conflicted with rerunning his last day over and over. The memories of the hospital, the looks on everyone’s faces when my sister and I arrived to the hospital, the thoughts running through my mind when the doctor talked, me wanting to shake to doctor to speak English and not medical, I remember thinking over and over, “this can’t be happening”, and the I remember just wanting to run out of the building and get as far away as possible. If I am not there then it’s not happening!
Despite all that, I survived “Year One” without my Daddy. His phone number is still saved in my phone, but I survived, didn’t say I was willing to change some things!! Check back and see how “Year Two” goes. Maybe next year I can report that I can go back to wearing regular/non water proof mascara on a daily basis.

“You can shed tears that he is gone, or you can smile because he has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that he'll come back, or you can open your eyes and see all he's left. Your heart can be empty because you can't see him, or you can be full of the love you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. You can remember him only that he is gone, or you can cherish his memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back. Or you can do what he'd want: smile, open your eyes, love, and go on.”

College Game Day...The Big Finale

Today is the big day in college football. The day that all teams start out in August working toward, it's here.

Of course I am always sad when my UGA Bulldawgs aren't it in, but I am always happy when there is a SEC team in the game to represent our conference.

Everyone is getting pumped up for tonight's game, even celebrity spawn...Matthew McConaughey, who is very showy of his Texas Longhorn pride, even decked his son out in gear.

Hats off (A hounds tooth fedora to be exact) to AlaBAMA tonight. Bring it on home and keep in in the SEC!!

All bets on the Longhorns getting Roll(tide)ed over tonight!!

Sex and The City- EPISODE 1

Do you remember it?

I don't really remember the content, I just remember that it was horrible! The filming format was just terrible. They all talked to the camera, as if it was a documentary. I just watched it, as TBS is starting over again from the very beginning. She met "Big" in the first episode, I had totally forgot about that.

I love the revisions they made after the pilot. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for your changes, without them, the show would have never made it past Season 1 and become the MEGA hit it is now.

Can you imagine if we had to deal with them staring into the camera to tell us their thoughts? Carrie's voice overs were fabulous. Her thoughts and columns were shared to us via a voice over.

Oh well, you must go watch it if you aren't sure what I mean (I tried to find link to it on here, but I guess HBO did a good job from keeping clips of youtube)

Wanting: Bad or Good thing?

Life is about wanting what you have, not having what you want, right? Well come on, we all have to want something more than what we have, otherwise we wouldn’t strive to work harder to get it. I know some people probably work harder at cheating to get what they want instead of putting time and effort it to achieving it.

Well here are my wants, some realistic, some frivolous, some practical, and some downright absurd (who really needs a $800 pair of Louboutins, but every girls dreams having a pair in her closet, and to be honest…do you store them sole up?)

My #1 2010 want:
1. A JOB (and with this I might be able to get some of the things below, and in no particular order)

My Retail wants for 2010 (some of these are a reoccurring thing…will most likely be on 2011 as well)
1. Louis Vuitton purse
2. Kuerig coffee maker (told myself when I get a new job it will get one as a gift to me…I will be getting up early again and need a coffee maker that requires little effort)
3. Kitchen Aid Mixer (most likely won’t get this until I get married…so who knows…will 2010 be the year?) I really want a mixer…see a prior post (A Mixer Proposal)
4. A new bed for my king size mattress and box springs (head board and foot board….foot board the most important…I don’t like for my comforter to slip off)
5. Really expensive pair of shoes
6. A new dryer…my current one puts black marks on my clothes…it’s also the same dryer that use to dry my clothes when I was still in kid sizes.
7. A pair of Uggs… I have the knock offs and starting to want the real thing…I think my best friend made me want them when she got them for Christmas.
8. I KNOW MOST OF MY 1-7’s won’t happen anytime soon…or EVER!!!

My 2010 projects
1. Build fire pit area in backyard
2. Re-Tile master bath shower
3. Train my dog…he’s five and I have been trying to do this for 5 years now…maybe a shock collar will be the magic trick!

My 2010 Politically correct wants
1. World Peace (this should now entitle me to receive some pageant crown…correct?)

What do you want this year?

New Years Resolutions

These are bars that we set really high for ourselves and then in a month or two forget about it. I would like to make not so much resolutions, but try to take actions to do things better, be a nicer person, not stress as much, etc. Here are the things I would really like to do:

After the last year (my Father died unexpectedly in January, and I lost my job in early March) Let's just say that 2009 goes down as a year I want to forget. I spent most of 2009 crying and carrying a handkerchief with me wherever I go. So first thing on the list to do for 2010: STOP F'ING CRYING ALL THE TIME.

I love receiving mail. I don't know why, I love going to the mailbox and I get really disappointed to not have anything in there (even bills, which sounds crazy because no one like bills). So I want to share that excitement this year, I have made a list already with 52 slots for names, one for each week of the year (this year trying to accomplish at least one a week...if I do well, I will step it up in 2011). So second thing on the list to do for 2010: SEND HAPPINESS VIA USPS TO 52 DIFFERENT AND DESERVING PEOPLE.

During the holiday season I feel like I became a much nicer person, I would let people in line go in front of me if I hadn't made a decision, I would hold doors for people, I asked people if they needed help, I said Merry Christmas to several strangers, I let a car having a hard time turning go while I waited. So third thing on the list to do for 2010: BE NICE TO COMPLETE STRANGERS ALL THE TIME...NOT JUST THE HOLIDAYS.

I have realized through this blog that I love writing, and I don't think that I write enough. I want to make my self write at least once if not twice a week on here. (Share my website with whoever you know...my life is crazy and sometimes my words are blunt...enjoy) So fourth on the list to do for 2010: BLOG MORE OFTEN

Well I think that's enough, I think if I overload myself with things then I will start slacking off. So the KISS method it is (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Hopefully everyone will pick a few things to do better and do for others in 2010. I think 2010 should be the year for doing for others!

To some of my friends, yes this is really me, the pessimistic, "I hate the world", go suck on an egg, bitter, ME! Just trying to be better to others!