Feelin' hot Hot HOT!

I have been recently inspired by Mindy Kaling's new book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns)". Here's the link: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

It's a series of lists or funny stories or concerns she has for the world: Rights/Privileges of a Best Friend, Why Does it take SO long for men to put on shoes?, etc.  I have since decided to make a list of my own that addresses a VERY important topic. It is very near and dear to my heart, and I would like to share it with you all: Women's negative self image. STOP IT!! LOVE YOURSELF GOSH DARN IT!!!

Granted, it took me a whole twenty years to love myself for exactly what I am, but hey, it takes loads of people a lot longer than that. So if I can make the process easier for anyone, I've done what I intended. Here's the List:

How to be Smokin' Hot

1) Bare Escentuals - skin care and makeup. I know it's expensive, but I PROMISE, it's worth every penny. I never felt good about my face until I used this stuff... It feels like you don't have anything on at all! I understand that some may find it poor judgement to include makeup in a list that's intended to promote self love, but who doesn't love themselves more when their skin care is doing what it's supposed to?! AND what woman REALLY goes out feeling good about herself without at least a little makeup? So you may as well pamper your face with the good stuff. If I have not yet gotten you hooked on this miracle product, here's the website - Bare Escentuals - check it out. You can thank me later.

2) Wash your face twice a day - Can you believe some people actually can go to sleep at night with makeup STILL ON THEIR FACE!? I can't. Bare Minerals brags that theirs is "makeup you can sleep in". Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Seriously. TAKE IT OFF. Your face will thank you when you're fifty and still have the skin of a thirty year old. And don't forget to wash it in the morning when you get up. You'd be surprised how much dirt and oil accumulate on your face overnight thanks to your lovely, womanly hormones and that janky pillowcase you always mean to wash. Wash your face when you brush your teeth - that's what I do. And Dont' Forget to Moisturize!!

3) Brush your darn teeth! - This seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people skip it. SICK. Twice a day, every day or I promise your dentist and the good Lord above will know and be mad at you for it. Don't be gross people. Brush your teeth and wear your GOSH DARN RETAINERS. Your momma paid good money for those teeth, don't screw them up again just because you don't feel like putting plastic in your mouth over night. Your smile says a lot about you. Do you really want it to say "Hey, I'm really gross!"? 

4) Shower daily - YES, I understand that this also seems like a given. But I've lived in dorms, I know how often people don't shower.... it's appalling. And you're stinky. You know who you are. You may think your eau de Funk is a-ok once in awhile. You're WRONG. Use a happy little Bath and Body Works Shower Gel and your friends will thank you. Not to mention your beau that you're obviously too comfortable with if you're not bathing.

5) Keep your living space clean... Seriously - Ask my friend, Sam. She understands. The cleaner your living environment, the better you feel about the space and yourself. 

               a. Vacuuming once a week is NOT that hard. 

              b. Giving up your old clothes you never wear anymore may be traumatic, but someone else will love them more than you do, I promise. 

             c. Do laundry once a week - keep that hamper from overflowing onto the floor. Dirty clothes on the floor is not only nasty, but it prevents vacuuming (see a).

           d. Dust when it gets dusty. I understand that this chore is annoying, so do it when that fuzzy layer shows up on your nightstand. That's how you know it's time.

              e. As soon as you finish a meal, do its dishes. I personally find doing dishes very relaxing... I am also aware that I am a member of an extreme minority here. But it saves the hassle of a ton of nasty, crusted-on, congealed-mysteriously, foody dishes at the end of the week. I have lived with people who did not believe in washing dishes. Grow up. Even if you live at home, your momma is NOT your maid. Do you own dang dishes. It makes quite a difference.

             f. Learn to like living cleanly. It makes a-e seem much less threatening to you lazy bums out there who think this list is intimidating.

6)  Have Honest Friends - I, honestly, have very few people in my life that I consider to be my friends, and that's A-OK with me, because they're top-notch. Most importantly, they're honest - something that I think everyone values in a friend, but perhaps not to my extreme. I treat them the way I want to be treated. For example, today Sam and I went shopping at TJ Maxx, and found some cute-on-the-hanger dresses. When we went to try them on, we weren't afraid to tell each other (gently) that these dresses were ONLY cute on the hanger. I also have no trouble telling my friends when I think they're being treated poorly by any person in their life, if that color really just doesn't suit them, or if they're babbling on for WAY too long about something I just don't care about. These friends are important, because then you can honestly believe them when they tell you how beautiful and spectacular you are, inside and out. If you have wishy-washy friends that say you look good in everything, even if you're wearing a bleached out jean jacket and leggings as pants, you could NEVER believe them when they tell you that you're gorgeous. Have Honest Friends - the kind you'd trust with your life... that's why I have so few.

Leggings = EVIL

7) Know what looks good on you - this one is pretty self explanatory. Know your body type, hair type, eye color and skin tone so you can find the right clothes and makeup to suit you perfectly to make you feel as beautiful as you are. I understand that we don't jump out of bed in the morning feeling gorgeous (although you probably are), it takes some convincing of ourselves. That's why I put myself together every day. To remind myself how pretty I am.

-------------------> This does NOT mean ANY person for ANY reason should EVER wear leggings as pants. Remember, I am your friend, I am saying this because I love you: It is hideous on everyone, I don't care how skinny you think you are.

8) Learn something new every day - when you learn something new, you feel smarter, which automatically makes you feel sexier because who doesn't love intelligent people who actually know how to socialize?!

9) Learn Music - seriously. It's been voted the hottest thing on the planet. It's well worth your time, plus it'll change your life forever.

But most importantly,

10) Confidence - this includes a lot of factors. You MUST love yourself for who you are on the inside before you'll ever emit true confidence - which is always voted the most attractive trait a person can possess. The things you think you hate about yourself? Embrace them - they make you special, unique. Let them become your favorite things about yourself. 

I'll get all personal here to get the message across: I used to hate how overly/extremely emotional I am. I overreact to the little things, wear my heart on my sleeve no matter how much it'd hurt me and tell everyone exactly how I feel... I even cry watching Harry Potter because it just makes me so happy... and every time I read it even though I know what's coming. I am moved by the small things - that's how I see it now. I appreciate every tiny aspect of emotion in the world. Something I used to hate so much about myself has become my favorite thing about me. I don't waste time thinking rationally, but I feel to my heart's fullest extent. It makes me the loving, caring, passionate person that I am, and I would not be anything close to the same person without that.

So seriously, stop hating yourself. Don't hate ANYTHING about yourself. You are who The Big Man Upstairs made you to be. If you don't like it, then you should - because other people genuinely love you for it, whatever it is. It is what makes you who you are, and loving and being who you are will turn you into the beautiful being you were created to be. Once you see it, everyone else will see it clearer. I know so many women who will deny their beauty to the ends of the earth because they just refuse to open their eyes to the mirror and open their hearts to their true selves - to see what I see. Like I said, I would not lie to you. 

Girlfriends tell me they wish they had my confidence - I wish they did too, because that would mean that they give themselves the love they deserve. Everyone is capable of that kind of confidence. Once you love yourself, and put on your makeup, brush your teeth, shower and get dressed only for yourself, you've made it there.

I hope that this will help some of you to make it there.

Once you've accomplished all 10 of these items, you will, officially, be SMOKIN' HOT!

I also realized that this list would work well for men too.... some of them could use the hygiene and cleaning bits...

In case you didn't know, you should be your greatest love... not some man. You only have as much love to give as you have for yourself. Love yourself first, so you can give love to all those you wish to.

Please let me know if this has done anything for you at all. It'll tell me if this particular post has served its purpose.

Love you

Clean Giraffes

So lately I've been completely head-over-heels in love with a show I found on Netflix: Clean House. For those of you who, like  me, had never heard of it because you live in a cave without any kind of cable, it's a show where a team of people come in to people's nasty, clutter filled homes, clean up the clutter, address the real problem, have a yard sale to sell these people's crap and use the money to clean up, renovate, organize and decorate three rooms in their house.

Typically, the people are grateful and adore their new homes, and sometimes, they act like a real pain and complain about what was done. I'm sorry, but if I lived in a hovel of clutter and nastiness (or Foolishness as Niecy calls it), I would LOVE to have a chance to start over. 

I have to say, my mother always gave me a hard time when I lived at home about how cluttered my room was. And I have to hand it to her, she was right (savor it, mom). I had SO much stuff packed into such a tiny space, that I was definitely overflowing and in need of some help. That help came in the form of... dun-dun-duhhhhhhhh... College. I was forced to go through everything to pack up the essentials to move into the dorms. That was pretty much impossible. Most of my clutter stayed behind for my mom to go through at her leisure... which she has done even more so since she got Athena - who now lives in my room and claims it as her own. Mom had to get rid of all of the shoes I left behind just because Athena didn't like where her litter box was (out in the open) and wanted a more confined peeing space (in the closet) and took it upon herself to make that known by peeing all over my shoes. For those of you that know me, you understand how TRAGIC this was. I LOVE my shoes, and now I'm down to probably fewer than fifteen pairs. Which all reside safely with me now. This has proven to be quite a pain. 

Side story: I went home last week sometime to see friends and my fam and decided that two of my favorite pairs of heels was all that was needed. When I got home, my friend Jeff decided we needed to go to the zoo... I can NOT say no to the zoo. I have since learned a very important lesson: NEVER wear heels to the zoo. You WILL regret it, much sooner than you think.

Anyhow, since I now live entirely on my own, clutter is a thing of the past. My mom can't, or refuses to believe it, but I have a pristine living environment all on my own. I vacuum once or twice a week, dust at least once, pick up after myself, keep up on laundry, do dishes as soon as I dirty them, and overall just keep the place immaculate. It's FANTASTIC!!! I don't have anything I don't need, and life is good! 

So, my latest expensive wish-list addition is a Roomba Vacuum. It vacuums FOR you!!! And it's a cute little robot that zooms around once a day and vacuums your whole house! I would vacuum once a day if I could, seeing as the day after I vacuum, there's already somehow more crap on the floor. I see this as a magnificent way of compromising with myself. I pay a butt-ton of money ($150 on Amazon, don't worry, I won't cough up $400 for a full priced one), and I get clean floors every day for forever! Seems fair to me! Now I just need to find work to make the money to cough up for the vacuum. I also need a new phone since mine's breaking, but I do believe that the priority is the vacuum. Clean Floors before contact with the outside world, right?! hmmm....

Anyway, I understand that this post is unbelievably random, but hey, Clean House has taken over my life for the last couple of days!

Also, one of my very best friends has returned to my life!! Sam!! She spent the semester doing an internship with Disney in Florida and is full of good and dramatic stories. She and I are equally overly-emotional people, so we understand each other in a way that no one else could. I'm SO glad she's back and that I get to spend the summer with her!! 

Also, below you'll see a picture of two giraffes. One normal looking, and one that looks like it's on crack. The normal looking one I got from the zoo after complaining that no one has ever gotten me one, and EVERYONE knows how much I love giraffes. A few days later, I got the crack giraffe from Sam!! She knows me so well, and I nearly cried when she gave it to me because I had just been whining about how no one had ever gotten me one. Their names are Truman and Trudy. They're fabulous.

Hopefully my Hometown friends will make the trek down here in their fuel efficient cars to hang out with me a bunch as well as my Cape friends! It should be a fantastical summer if you don't count the incredible amount of work I have for my summer classes. So I'm pretty pumped. There's some graduation parties to be attended, a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater to see with the girls, and loads of good times to be had all around. 

The END part III

So where was I?.....
                                  ah yes, moving out.

Well, as previously mentioned, the plan was to switch rooms with the girl whose roommates didn't party enough. Sounds easy enough, right???

WRONG

My dearest twin brother, Eric, made the trip down to assist me in the move, bless his heart. As I had packed everything in my room up as much as I could the night before, all we had to do was throw everything in boxes and trek down the hill to the new place. I had already discussed with G why I was moving, and she completely understood and was SO cool about it all, and so was B2. B1 was NOT. G helped Eric and I move to the new place, while New Girl moved her crap into my room. I'm not entirely sure why, but New Girl decided to move in a day early, so when I arrived back the night before the move, all of her junk was sitting outside my door. Whatever.
So we eventually got all of my things out of my bedroom and bathroom, and all that was left was to try and separate my kitchen stuff from the everyone else's and move that down the hill. G, Eric and I were making great progress while B1 sat silently on the couch watching TV as if we weren't even there. I really didn't care at this point, because the less I had to do with him, the better. While I was separating my silverware from the drawer, Eric asked me if the toaster on the counter was mine, and I absentmindedly said yes. I had brought down the EXACT same toaster on move in day and was the only one that used it, so I totally forgot that it wasn't actually mine.
What happened next will be forever burned in my brain.

B1: "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!? THAT'S MY F*****G TOASTER! YOU'RE TRYING TO STEAL MY F*****G TOASTER" (as he comes flying across the room towards me)
me: "Woah.. time out. No one's trying to steal anything" (as I back away into the wall)
B1: "YES YOU F*****G ARE! THAT'S MY TOASTER! THAT TOASTER HAS COME EVERYWHERE WITH ME!! IT'S MINE!!!!!!!!"
Eric: "Dude, calm down. It was just a mistake."
B1: "WHO THE F*** ARE YOU?! YOU CAN'T F*****G TALK TO ME! YOU DON'T LIVE HERE"
Me: "He's my brother and HE's helping me move, unlike YOU, so BACK OFF. It was just a mistake, I brought one just like that when I moved in, so I thought it was mine"
B1: "WELL IT'S NOT YOURS, IT'S MY TOASTER"
It went on like this for awhile and then he stomped back to the couch and stared at the TV while we continued to pack.

So I got myself moved into the new place. I now lived with three girls, and my cat. Then, one day in November while I was napping peacefully with Athena, someone just barges into my apartment. I was there alone, so I kinda got freaked out. Then, I heard "EMILY, IF YOU'RE IN THERE YOU'D BETTER COME OUT NOW!"

It was the TEAC's manager.... she's pure EVIL. So I threw Athena into my bathroom, shut the door, and opened the door to my room. She walks right past me and starts looking around and opens the bathroom door and out walks my little kitten. I insist that I'm only watching the cat for a few days for a friend and she says, "Well you'll have to give me $100 and she has to be gone by tomorrow". Awesome. This whole experience was incredibly traumatic, as I had had several experiences with TEAC staff barging into my apartments unannounced - they had been given master keys by evil manager lady. It's a very scary experience to have a stranger just walk into your apartment... I wonder how often they get pepper spray in the face?....

Well to say the least, I'd had enough of this place; so over Christmas break, I started apartment hunting - technically I was looking for a place for once my lease with TEAC ran out. It just so happened that I stumbled upon the most perfect apartment imaginable, and it was open right then. It had just become available from a masters student who had graduated in December. I couldn't believe my luck. So my dad and I came down for a look. It's owned by the neighbors, so I don't have to deal with any evil manager lady. It's a non-smoking building, which is nice, AND I'm the only student living here, so it's super quiet!! Granite countertops, ceramic tile, jacuzzi tub, plush carpets, walk in closet, stainless steel appliances, river view from the windows... what more could a girl want?! So I wrote up a letter of termination of lease, including how the management broke their lease with me, and I therefore had a right to terminate. It was GLORIOUS. They were trapped!... or so I thought.
Eric and I came down to Cape once more to hand in my letter to Evil Manager Lady and go and sign a lease for my new apartment. When I arrived, I handed her the letter and told her I would hand in my keys by the first of February. She asked me if I had found a sub-letter and I told her no, that that would be their job and the reasons why were listed in the letter. She had not once looked at the letter I handed her, that I and my parents signed. This was about the time that Eric returned from the bathroom. He stood by and listened to the conversation as it became more and more heated and Evil Manager Lady got louder and louder. I cited passages from the lease and basically re-iterated my letter for her verbally and she just continued to  say that she would be sending the letter to her lawyer. I continued to tell her that was fine with me, but she just kept saying that the situations I mentioned had somehow been remedied - which they hadn't. Eric cut in and said "Yeah, but you never actually remedied any situation for her". At this, Evil Manager Lady help up her hand and said "Oh no, I was not talking to YOU, I was talking to HER".

I thought Eric was going to END HER. He was obviously furious, and so was I - my ears were red and hotter than Hades. Eric finally ended the conversation with "Fine, send it to your lawyer, but as you're talking in circles, we may as well not waste any more of your time or ours", and we made our leave. When we got in the car he asked if I wanted to call dad, but I told him to, seeing as the anger was overflowing into tears of RAGE. Dad was also furious upon hearing what had happened, and called her to speak with her once more. She played dumb with him and when he said, "My son said you seemed upset" she floundered around for words until the line suddenly went dead.
To give the short version of the rest of the story, my Papa Bear fought with management until we got back our pre-paid rent, and I was sworn to secrecy - that was the condition for getting our money back, that I would never mention what happened. Well, I've stuck to that, considering I never said the name of TEAC! LOOPHOLES!!!!
So now, I'm living happily ever after in my glorious, downtown, riverview apartment by myself with my fish, Perseus (he's the demigod who killed Medusa).

THE END (of the End)

Side Story: Amanda is now in New Mexico --- I am there in spirit.

Side Story 2: I now have my mixer and everything I need to make this angel food cake!!

Side Story 3: My Grandparents now read my blog, so it's officially awesome (LOVE YOU GUYS)

The END (continued)

So continuing on in my tales of woe and whimsy...

While my cat was being operated on by the great Dr. Flaum, there were, of course, epic parties being thrown in my apartment. I desperately tried to keep my cool about the whole situation, and made a solid attempt at watching a movie with my boyfriend - the volume as high as it would go just so we could hear. Around 2am, I was trying to sleep, when the banging on my door began. My roommates knew that I don't party, because I had explicitly told them so when I moved in, but that definitely didn't stop them from trying to get me to. They were drunk enough to be blissfully belligerent and thought banging on my door and shouting at me was the most effective way to get my attention. Unfortunately for them, I was SO over the situation, and had invested in a nice pair of earplugs - which STILL did not manage to keep out all the noise. The banging continued, but I stayed firm in my bed, refusing to answer the door. Eventually I fell asleep, regardless of all the noise. The next morning, I awoke to a silent apartment.... very ominous and foreboding.

I got up to go in my bathroom and take a shower, and stepped in a mysterious powder-like substance... except it congealed on my foot - NASTY. This substance appeared to start at my door and expand into my hall and all the way into my bathroom, covering everything within. I vacuumed as much of the unknown substance up as I could, which wasn't much as it was very happily and firmly rooted in my carpet, linoleum, rug and towels. Finally, I had to wet down and completely destroy one of my washcloths to clean up the mess. After my shower, I went to survey the damage done to the apartment.

By this time, I knew pretty much what to expect: beer cans and bottles littering the floor and counters, something new broken, shards of glass from broken bottles and some new stains. Don't get me wrong, all of these expected things were present, but so was a nice, thick layer of the dusty stuff I found in my room... all over everything.

So here's what happened the night before, according to B1, B2 and B1's friend:

              The party was going on like normal - loads of noise, alcohol, visits from the courtesy officer, peeing off the balcony, etc. Then, while B1 and friend were out on a beer run, they noticed that the door to the first floor's fire extinguisher was ajar. Now, being the belligerent drunks they are, they decided it was a FANTASTIC idea to bring it on up to the apartment and shoot it off the balcony... FUN!! YAY!! SARCASM!!!

              They quickly tired of this, however, and decided to go ahead and hide, with the fire extinguisher in B2's bathroom and wait for someone to come in so they could attack (another brilliant idea). So one of the many people finally needed to use the facilities, and were attacked by the fire extinguisher upon arrival. I imagine that by now you have some idea what substance I found all over my room. Well, as you can predict, the attack in the bathroom was SO enjoyable, that it was high time to douse the apartment in flame retardant powder!! And that's exactly what happened.

That was about the time that they decided they missed me so much that they had to wake me up - so began the banging on my door around 2 and 3 and 4 o'clocks. When I stuck to my stubborn, non-alcoholic ways, I had to be punished... and what better way to punish your sober roommate, than to spray a fire extinguisher under her door!

Well, as charming as that story was, I was FAR too crabby at this point to find any humor at all in the situation. I explained what a total pain in the neck it was to clean up that mess, and that I believed that I deserved an apology for being treated that way. B1 had the nerve to laugh in my face for this reasonable suggestion, and laughed even harder when I told him off for doing so (you'll come to learn that B1 is the problem child). The more I thought about it, the more mad I got, and I finally decided that someone needed to be informed that there was an empty fire extinguisher on the first floor that needed to be replaced in case of emergency. I named no names, and didn't even say who I was, but just insisted that I knew that it had been used up, and needed refilling.

Eventually, it came down to the manager coming to our apartment and inquiring about said fire extinguisher's emptiness as our apartment was the known troublemaker. B1 fed her this wonderful story about how "this guy they didn't even know just showed up with it and discharged it all over the place... they couldn't stop him.. he was crazy"... Yes, I'm serious. That was the story. She told him that it was still his responsibility to pay for the refilling fee ($30.00, oh no!). He got all hacked off and threw a big fit about it, but he still had to pay for it. I must admit, I'd thought he had had a lot worse coming to him, but oh well.

After that, I'd had about enough. As you may know, patience is not a virtue I am in possession of, so I called the office and asked to be moved, or I was moving out. They told me that I wasn't ALLOWED to move out, and I said, "Oh, Really?" Seriously, how could they stop me?! Anyway, a compromise was reached and a girl who lived in another building was looking to move because her roommates didn't party enough... I know, but I'm not making this up. So about a week later, we were ready to switch apartments, but that's a story for another day.

To be continued.. again....

Also, I'm dying to make my grandma's chocolate angel food cake. It's the best thing in the entire world, and it takes SO long to make and is SO worth it in the end. You'll want to come down here just to get a slice!

I may have to make the drive home to finally move my baby down here... I just miss her SO much!!

And yes... my baby is my Kitchen Aid Artisan Series Mixer that I got from my grandma for Christmas when I was 17. I don't know what I'd do without her.... or what I AM doing without her. I'm dyin' here!! must..... make....cake....

the END

I can not believe I made it.

The end of this big stupid school year... Finals week is officially over, and summer has begun. Let's take a few posts to review all the fun and dumb crap that happened this year, shall we?

Well now, let's see.... August 2010.

I moved into The Evil Apartment Complex (TEAC) - which will be so named from here on out because of what ensued this year with said complex - and met my three roommates: Two boys (B1 and B2) and a girl (G). They will also remain named this way in case anyone decides to get mad about this... I have named NO names. So there... try to get mad about that, sucka!!
Upon entering the apartment, my mom, brother and I realized that we were the only ones there, and also that the cabinets were COVERED in liquor bottles. For those of you who know me, which all of you should, I don't drink. I think drunks are ignorant and obnoxious... and my beliefs were only further affirmed after my experience here. But hey, do what you want. It's your life.
We moved all my stuff in, and the lovely Sam and Chance stopped by to assist with the process (LOVE THEM!!) and all seemed well. Things started off pretty normal. I met G first, who was moving in around the same time as myself, and met B1 and B2 later on - like three days later.. which was weird. Anyway, as I said, things began rather normally, but as we settled in, the parties started. Like I said, I'm not going to tell anyone how to live their life, but when I am continually woken up at 2, 3, 4, 5 (!!!) am, I begin to lose my patience.

While living there, sometime in the beginning of September, I went to my car so I could go to class, and while I'm opening my car, I feel something fuzzy on my leg, look down and see this little tiger calico kitten staring up at me. She meowed at me and let me pick her up without running away - which is REALLY weird for a stray cat. I put her down in my front seat to figure out what on earth to do with this little thing, and decided that I needed to get to class, but leaving her outside was NOT an option, as an enormous hawk had just swooped down into a nearby tree (like 8 feet away). I was pretty sure that this kitten had been Mr. Hawk's idea of a fabulous lunch, but I wasn't having it. No sir. So I took her up to the apartment to B2 and asked if he would mind watching her while I went to class and figured out what to do with her. B2 said ok, and let her roam around while I was gone. When I returned, she was asleep in his lap and we decided that the only thing to do was keep her. So G and I went to Petco and stocked up on kitty supplies.
I should probably mention here that TEAC is a No pets apartment - so we had to be sneaky. I'm sorry, an innocent life should not be sacrificed for some stupid no pets rule.

We soon discovered that this sweet little kitty was COVERED in fleas. I'm getting itchy just remembering it. She had four baths within the first two days that we had her, and that seemed to have pretty much done the trick. She waited to go to the bathroom until we had a litter box set up for her - about seven hours after she was brought inside - the smart little thing! And she slept with me once she was flea-free. She really enjoyed sleeping on the pillow right above my head and being a little furry sleeping hat for me.

A week after I found her, I made an appointment with my boss to get her shots and get her all checked out. She was as healthy as could be - which was surprising considering what circumstances she came from! She got all of her kitten shots, and met my family during the process - this is around the time my mom and brother fell in love with her. They wanted me to bring her home even if she didn't have an appointment, just so they could see her. She was about 12 weeks old when I found her, so once she had all of her vaccinations, it was time to get spayed and declawed! She pulled through with grace, and had a lot of fun hanging around the office while she recovered.

I think this is where we'll stop for today.

To be continued.....                  


Oh, the public should be informed that I live with a ghost now. She has been named Pauladine by Casey, in reference to my baking idol, Paula Deen. She goes bump in the night, every night and scares the begeezes out of me.-----------Fun Fact of the Day.

Going to the Hospital

It's that time of year again, folks! Time to plan vacations, spend time with your favorite people, relax and just enjoy yourself! Finals are coming to a close and so is the school year, so it's time to kick back, soak up some sun, and love every minute of it. For me, summer means four classes - and being a full time student, time with my girls, and the opportunity to work at my favorite place in the world!!

So in case it hasn't occurred to you yet, I have not tragically injured myself or fallen fatally ill and needed to visit the emergency room, the title of this blog refers, in fact, to my fabulous place of employment: Columbia Animal Hospital.

I started working at this wonderful business in May of 2008 and I learned right away that exceptional care was the standard to always be achieved. I worked at CAH until the end of the summer after my senior year; I worked until the day I moved away for college. Since then, I've been lucky enough to stay on as an honorary member of the staff and I work whenever I'm home for vacations or breaks. I really can't even begin to describe how much I love this business and how amazing everyone there is. Because it is a small business, we are all good friends and know each other really well. 

Every day is an adventure when you work at a vet's office. You hear all sorts of strange things when people call with questions, and see every bizarre situation as it comes through the front door, and Dr. Flaum will help any and every pet that he can. One story I will never forget, was the day that someone called and told me that their goldfish wasn't eating. I honestly thought that someone was just being ridiculous and prank calling the office or something, but this lady was adamant. She assured me that this fish was very important and that something was wrong and needed medical attention, so I told her to bring her fish in. A little while later, a lady came in with a giant clear plastic tub full of water with an enormous goldfish inside (one of the ones who has a smile permanently plastered on its face). Dr Flaum had a look inside the goldfish's mouth with the endoscope (which shows the image on a TV screen) and ran into something hard and black. As it turns out, the fish had eaten a part of the rubber from the tank, and couldn't digest it or spit it back out, so it was just trapped in its little fish belly. So Dr. F got out his forceps, reached in, and pulled out the piece of rubber. Then we had one last look into its belly with the endoscope, saw that the fish was empty and advised the lady to return her fish to its tank and feed it. Evidently, this particular fish lived a long and happy life after its rubber eating trauma - and Dr. F allowed that to happen! The man can even rescue FISH!

On top of his incredible abilities in the exam room, Dr. Flaum also plays a role in the Humane Society. He is on the board to help make decisions for the HSMC (Humane Society of Monroe County) and does spays, neuters, and routine check ups and vaccinations for pets in the system to be sure that any adopted pet is at its healthiest. Along with all his work for the Humane Society, he also opens up the hospital to one dog at a time who is in need of some socialization and love before he/she is fit to be adopted. That pet hangs out in the front reception area to help them learn to trust people and that where there is people, there is food!! To the right here is Yodie, who spent a lot of time with us last summer and found a home thanks to his socialization and his exposure to the public at our office! Below is Mulder, who Jess, one of our own, adopted after he spent a lot of time at the office and the two fell in love with each other!

Also in the office, we have three house cats: Flounder, Priscilla and Max. Each of these three has their own story and their very own, and very unique, personality. They're always happy to welcome clients and patients into the office, and are more than willing to beg for attention. 

After I found Athena, I knew there was absolutely no where else in the world that she would go for veterinary care. I took her there within the first week that I had her to get her initial kitten check up, and she's gone there ever since. She tried a few times to be a "house cat" like Priss and Flounder, but she's WAY too much of a brat for that to work out. Everyone thinks she looks just like Priscilla, and that may be true, but they are very different on the inside. Priss (below) just wants to lay on your shoulders and give you a kitty massage, but Athena would bite your face off for even suggesting it. When she was introduced to the house cats, she threw herself a nice little hissy fit, hissing and spitting and swiping at the cats, but she absolutely LOVED Mulder! She rubbed on his legs and sat down by him while he sniffed at her. Apparently she has issues with things that are near her size, but anything bigger, and you can be friends.

So, to get to the point, summer time for me, means going home and doing the job I love most in the world. Thank goodness they still want me! We've recently gone completely paperless with our super cool, new, high tech computer system... Although I think my favorite part of the system is that you can apply pictures of the pet to their file that prints out on all their labels and invoices!! It's SO cool!! 

So if you're in need of a vet, or would like to meet the most exceptional vet in the St. Louis area, you need to take a visit to Columbia Animal Hospital and see Dr. Flaum... you may just see yours truly there! At any rate, you should check out the cool new website!! 

Columbia Animal Hospital

I can't wait to see what great stories this summer brings, and you can be certain that the best ones will be shared! So keep your eyes open!

Hope everyone is having an amazing start to their summer... look out midwest, it's supposed to be mild and humid this year (what else is new?)!

 I officially have five days off until my first summer class starts.. BRING IT ON!

And I love you for following my blog! ha ha ha ha ha!!

LYLAS

So there are two people in my life who can no longer avoid recognition: my sisters. You may say, "But, Emily, you don't have any sisters" and that's where you would be wrong.

Over time, I've discovered that there are many different layers to friendship. When you meet someone, they jump to a certain level and continue to either work their way up or down on the friendship scale. Rarely, you find someone who continues to attain new levels of friendship until you can no longer just describe them as your best friend, but your family - your life would not be complete without them, and neither would your soul. I am lucky enough to have found two people who have attained this level in my life, and maintained it for as long as I can remember. I was born with a brother, but within the first few years of my life, I found my sisters.

These two ladies are commonly known as Amanda and Casey, to me they're Panda and Casers and they are my sisters and I love them more than words. 

The three of us met when we were in preschool. That sounds absolutely ridiculous, how can anyone be friends since preschool... well, when you're soul mates, it's meant to be. So here's a really crappy picture of us when we first met:

I'm the third from the left in back, Amanda is second from the left in the middle and Case is third from the right in back.

We have been together since the Bowl Cut Days; now THAT means something. We've stuck together like glue through bad hair cuts, braces, acne, boyfriends, bad decisions, good times and bad. It's been seventeen years, and we're still together. 

These are two of the very few people in this world that I can know for sure that I will always be able to count on for anything. It honestly doesn't matter how much time goes by between times that we talk, when we get together, it's like we saw each other yesterday - that's why we're like sisters. All three of us know that, if ever there's a need, we will be there for one another.

Things are definitely different now: Casey's getting married, I live a hundred miles away, and Amanda's constantly on the go, so it's hard to get together. But I know that it doesn't matter. We ARE together, all the time in spirit, because I know part of me is with them every day (as incredibly corny as that sounds).

Loads of people are born with sisters. Casey and Amanda, in fact, both have sisters. I always wondered what it would be like to have one. But to be perfectly honest, I think I've always known what it's like, if not something better. Normal sisters fight, we never have... in seventeen years. That's not normal! So I suppose I have something even greater than sisters and I've gotta say, it's pretty incredible.

I hope everyone has friends like these two. Now, this is not to say that I don't have other best friends in my world, but these two have just been around FOREVER and deserve to be put up on a lovely blogging pedestal for that. I'm really not sure where I would be without them. It's a little scary to think about. But we are fabulous, and have been keepin' it fresh since 1994 and will continue to do so. So now A song comes to mind... I think it's also worth sharing, as it is a classic - and describes our friendship perfectly.

Enjoy

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Nothin' can keep me from gettin' to you girls!

Hair!

So a little about myself:

For those of you who don't know, I have had just about every natural hair color you can imagine... and some not so natural. This post is coming about because I'm going to get some highlights done here in a bit, as I am working my way back towards being a blonde. Here, I will attempt to include a photo of almost all of my hair colors in succession... I'm not sure if this is possible, but hey, I'll try. Enjoy!

So this may well be the only picture in existence of me with my natural hair color - you know, except baby pictures. Let the fun begin.

First stop, Black hair and braces

 The day I got my drivers license, I decided I was through having black hair, and since my parents were leaving town for the weekend, it was time to bleach my whole dang head. And that's exactly what I did.

\

From there, we somehow ended up brown again - but darker.

 Then I tried going a little bit red

 And once again back at dark brown (with the lovely panda)

 Make it redder again

And back at dark brown, but add bangs for the end of senior year!

 Bored of brown once again, we went for the million colored highlights! And that's what I looked like when I went to college.

But never fear, within a few months, the long hair was hacked off once again and dyed dark brown (WHY did I keep doing that!?)

 I've always had a fondness for red, evidently, so I put some back in. It stayed that way from Halloween until around easter.. that's a long time in hair for me!

 Then it got longer and needed some highlights.

 And by that summer, I was nearly blonde again!

 But that didn't last long, I decided auburn was the way to go soon after that - late summer.

 And then, surprise, surprise. I cut it all off again. This was a very eventful sumer for hair. But it stayed about like this until very recently.

 Near the end it looked like this.

Until I got a nice asymmetrical cut with nice highlights... this is what I look like today.... Not for looong!!

I'm off to the salon in a few hours to get half-priced highlights. Totally worth it in my quest to be blonde this summer! Wish me luck!

I hope you enjoyed my hair presentation. It has never before been presented in this format and only lived on in the memories  of those who have been around long enough to see it all go down. There will be much more to add to this in my lifetime... if all my hair doesn't fall out from the strain I put on it!

Mama Mia!

It just occurred to me that I nearly forgot to pay homage to one of my all-time favorite people in the universe on her day of recognition! My mom! Mother's Day! I understand that Mother's Day might have ended for normal people about forty five minutes ago. However, I do not look at time the way most people do. To me, the day does not actually end until I go to sleep. So, yes, it IS in fact, still Mutters Tag, and I can still recognize my mutter without being late. So there.

Now, I could go into the extremely mushy "my mom has inspired me to blah" and "my mom has always done blah for blah", but I won't. Oh no, I will just tell short, silly stories about her to show her just how much I love her.

Short Story 1:

So last September, I found a cat, named her Athena, got her fixed and declawed and then she got kicked out of my apartment (full details to come at later date). Anyhow, by this time, my mom and brother had grown quite attached to the little demon (see left), so when she got the boot from the evil apartment complex (also to be spoken about later), I took her straight home to them. 

Now, if you had told my parents a year ago that they would have a cat, they would have laughed and kicked you out of their house for suggesting such nonsense. Look where they are now. My mother is officially a crazy cat lady. She buys "Cat Sip" - which is milk that cats can digest without getting sick - and gives it to her every morning. Athena has her well trained. She wakes her up at 5:00 am every morning, meows at the fridge until she gets her milk, takes a shower with my mom, gets her food bowl filled, and then allows my mom to go about her business. They are now best friends. My dad, however, is a different story.... I don't think THAT much can change in a household.

Story 2:

My mom is hilarious. This year, I got my first ever birthday to myself with my 'rentals. They took me to an astounding seafood restaurant (this is a HUGE deal since my brother's fatally allergic to seafood), and we had a brilliant time. All three of us ordered the same thing: Parmesan Crusted Fresh Chilean Sea Bass, with Amaretto carrots and goatcheese mashed potatoes. That's right. I remember the whole thing, it was THAT good. Here is a charming photo from that evening:

Ok, so when you take my mom out to eat, never - I repeat NEVER - believe for a second that she is going to finish whatever she orders. Her coined phrase is "For Lunch Tomorrow" and one hears this whenever they're in an eatery with this woman. Don't worry, we make plenty of fun of her for this. :)

Story 3:

         Not really a story, but a bit of truth.

My mom is HOT. I know that sounds weird, but seriously. I never have to worry about what I'm going to look like when I get older because I'll look like her and that is most certainly good enough for me - be jealous, it's understandable. In high school, I was mostly friends with guys, which led to hot mom contests, and my mom always won! 

So all in all, I just want to thank my mom for being the absolute best, and for the great genes - they will be greatly appreciated every year of my life! In all seriousness, my mom is and always has been one of my very best friends, and I love her for everything she is.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Oh How Exciting!

Well, hello blogging world! I've been meaning to join you for quite some time now.

My name is Emily, and according to my friends, I lead a relatively interesting life. So I shall begin to share some of these fine times with my.. well.. one  follower. My best friend, Amanda. So my first story will be about her!

Amanda, or as I know her, The Panda, has been friends with me for the last seventeen years - since we were three years old. Really we've been together much longer because our dads were best friends in high school, and we took this to mean that we were technically friends before birth through the X chromes we got from our pops - however disturbing that may be. We met in preschool and quickly figured out that we would never be apart from each other. All through grade school and high school, we have been together, and even after I moved away to college, we still sit here and skype every night, like we're doing right now. We also take marvelous and incredibly embarrassing pictures of each other whilst skyping... like this:

Ohhh how the blogging war has begun. I'm sure there will be a lot more to be said about the panda in the future, like about how she firmly believes my Chocolate Bear needs to be washed, but for now, it's bed/ Harry Potter time. That's right. She's a Harry Potter freak. Deal with it.

And never fear.. this was taken five years ago. I no longer dress like this, but I DO still get this excited about HP.