Memorial Day

So, I kind of failed at doing a post this week about my friend Lindsay who does all of our friends' nails. To make up for it, I'm going to post about Memorial Day and I promise promise promise I'll post about Lindsay's awesome nail art next week! I'm going to make myself write the post this weekend!!!



Monday was Memorial Day! After spending Saturday at seester's dance recital and putting a few finishing touches on her trunk and completely vedgeing (it's a word, I just don't know that it's spelled right) out Sunday, I was ready to spend Monday in the sun with my friends! I went over and finished Sarah's trunk once and for all and then headed out to my friend Amanda P's house for an afternoon in the pool and burgers for dinner! (Side note: I know a ton of Amandas. Apparently it was a popular name in the late 80's/early 90's.)

Kendall, me, Bonnie, Lindsay, and Amanda waiting on dinner

Kendall made us play Sharks and Minnows at one point. I was never the shark because I never swam across the pool. I did make a lot of splashing noise though - haha. Amanda's man-friend, Jonathan, brought his two golden retrievers over to play with Amanda's yellow lab, Fred. The three dogs were hilarious! Fred was hot and liked to sit on the top step on the pool. Willow and Luke, the goldens, weren't allowed in the pool because their hair would clog up the drains so they would get on Jon's float and Amanda's dad's float with them. It was so cute!

Naturally, I ended up sun burned. And yes, I did put on sun screen - I even reapplied (which is kind of crazy for me). My shoulders and upper arms were pretty red and I definitely had a streak down my right fore arm where the sun screen went. But thanks to my summer BFF, Aloe Vera, the red is turning very, very light brown. I'm on my way to being tan - haha.

What did you do this weekend?

7 Questions

I was just reading Michelle's blog and decided to join in on Gentrie's 7 Questions link-up!

a completely disgusting/goofy picture of me from my
senior year of college, we were splatter-beating and
I didn't want my hair to get all painty

1. If you were to start your own business, what would it be? I really want to open up a cute little Camp/Hometown shop. There's one in San Antonio that I love and I'd love to open one up here.

2. You wake up on the wrong side of the bed, do you embrace your grumpiness or try to fight it? It usually gets embraced, but not for lack of trying to turn things around.

3. What's the very first memory you have? I think it's getting ready for my third birthday party? My mom was putting me in a little red, white, and blue sailor outfit and I was looking out my window while she did my hair. Weird? Yes. But I love birthdays.

4. the world is ending, what do you do? Allow yourself to die? Fight? Hide? Etc. Probably take a nap after crying a little bit...

5. What is your favorite meal of the day? Breakfast. I love it. I love it for breakfast. I love it for lunch. I love it for dinner. I love it all day. It's by far my favorite. You can't convince me any other meal is as good.

6. How do you best learn? Visual? Listening? Hands on? I am the definition of a visual learner. To me, visual and hands-on go hand-in-hand, pun not totally intended. I can't explain things over the phone very well, unless I can follow along; for example, if my dad calls with a question about facebook (yes, he's on FB, has been for a while; he has a blog too but he rarely updates that), I have to get on FB and figure it out (unless I know it off the top of my head, which is rare with all the crazy timeline changes Zuck's been rolling out).

7. What is your favorite joke? I am so not a joke person, but here's the lamest one I can think of: Q: What is Bethoven's favorite fruit? A: Ba-na-na-na

Are you linking up with Gentrie?

The Time Has Come, the Walrus Said

Yes, I just quoted the Jabberwocky poem from Alice in Wonderland. It has extra meaning for any and all Mystic girls that might be reading or come across this at some point. At camp, there is this one absolutely insane day called CC Day. All the rules go out the window, the campers can have Coke and candy and the oldest girls "switch places" with the counselors. It's a day filled with sugar highs, insanity, sun burns, and tons of memories. It's a blast and a half. And the way everyone knows it's happening is when the girls in the office get on the PA system and sing "The time has come the walrus said!" and then one of the director's (fully-grown) sons runs around camp in a walrus head. It's amazing.

Said son in said Walrus head doing the Bernie

Well, the time has come for everyone to head to camp. Waterfront training started yesterday and horseback riding starts today. I've never gone for either of these things, but normally I'm not too upset since I'd be going Tuesday morning. But this year, I have a puppy and a part-timey/freelance-y job and I'm not going to camp. It's the second time ever since I started going there in 1998 that I won't be going, only this year is different: my sister is going. Three years ago, we both skipped to go on a disastrous family cruise (we won't get into that because it only makes me sad and my blood pressure rise). Sarah and I totally bonded over it though and how much we missed camp. We went to round up at the end of the term and saw everyone and told them how much we missed camp. It was sad not to be there, but neither was she.

This year will be her first year to go without me (she started in 2005, my last year as a camper so this is like she's come full circle or whatever). She's 18, it's her last year as a camper, she's got an AWESOME cabin (trust me, I've had ALL of them) and counselors, she totally knows what's going on, but the big sister in me is totally worried about her. And what am I going to do for a month without her?!

Sarah and me last Round Up after she received her M

On a less depressing note, the time has also come for SUMMER!!! This weekend, my friend Lindsay, a total nail pro thanks to Pinterest (seriously, I'll do a post next week on all the awesome nail designs she can do), is going to do our nails, Kendall and I are going to see a movie, and Monday is Memorial Day! I'll hopefully be spending lots of time in the sun and by the pool (I know for sure on Monday, but I'm dying to get out in the sun before then).

What are you doing to kick off summer this weekend?!

A Note from the Crate of Napoleon Bone-Apart

Hello there, blog friends! It's been a while since mommy asked me to blog, but she finally remembered!

It's been a while, obviously, and I don't remember what I last told you, so I'll just start randomly. We did a pet class in January/February on the very basics of obedience. There were a lot of distractions and I think mommy wants to retake it in the fall because I didn't do so well with all those other doggies distracting me. Not to mention their treats! I got to go visit my aunt Katie in February, too! I hadn't met her yet so that was fun. We also went to the dog park and played with Paris and Ollie, my very best friends. I wish we lived in Fort Worth so I could play with them all the time. I also wish Tyler had a dog park so I could play and make new friends there, too.

Paris, me, and Ollie at Fort Woof - We're the 3 best
friends that anyone could have!

I haven't been anywhere major since then. Mommy left me with Juju (her mommy) for a night over a weekend in April to go to a party. She wasn't even gone for 24 whole hours, but I missed her very, very much. I was so happy when she got home! I also got groomed again sometime around there... I'm still not a big fan of that. They make me smell good to the humans and my fur gets all fluffy, but mommy seems to like it.

Last week mommy kept talking about my "birthday." I don't know what that is but she was really excited for me. She seems to think I'm one, but doesn't she know I'm more like 7?

Sometimes I see dogs on TV and I don't know HOW they got up there! I look all around the TV and I just can't figure it out. If you know how they get in there, I'd really appreciate you telling me.

Trying to figure out where those puppies are during
the "Puppy Bowl"

OH! Mommy submitted my picture a few weeks ago to my favorite blog, the Daily Corgi. They did a special week (or two) of sleeping corgis and then a week of corgi butts (I think it's kind of weird that so many people like our butts, but whatever...).

Until next time, bloggy people! Baroooooo!

Happy Birthday, Nappy!

It's my little boy's first birthday today! Here's a collage I made with Diptic including some of my favorite pictures of my handsome fella.

Clockwise from top: his puppyfind picture, handsome boy a few days
ago, smiling ad the dog park, and growing into his ears in October

Celeb BFFs: Mindy Kaling

Do you ever connect with a celebrity and think to yourself, "we should SO be best friends!"? I do this at least once a week. A few months ago, I read Mindy Kaling's book, Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? and fell in best friend love. I already loved her from The Office and random movies she'd been in as smaller characters, but this book... We are best friend soul mates.

via

Seriously, if you love her on The Office or if you love to laugh, get this book. She's hilarious and you'll want to be her BFF, too. A few weeks ago, I became aware that she was writing a new show for Fox about herself as a Bridget Jones-type OBGyn and last week it got picked up. A trailer was released for it today (I'm guessing since Fox upfronts were last week) and I'm sold. Tuesday nights on Fox will be New Girl and this:



Will you be watching? I know I will!

Oh, How Pinteresting: Birthday Edition

My favorite link-up on my favorite day!

Source: zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com via Frances on Pinterest

Source: hj-story.com via James on Pinterest

Source: a-ladys-findings.tumblr.com via Anne on Pinterest

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Alta on Pinterest

Source: weheartit.com via Bree on Pinterest

Source: indianhindunames.com via Nawrus on Pinterest

Source: squidoo.com via Allie on Pinterest

Source: fuckyeahcorgi.tumblr.com via Karissa on Pinterest

And next week is my little boy's first birthday! I pan on going to Andy's to get him a pup-cone.

What's your favorite part of your birthday?

Top 5 Tuesday

Yay for my last (less than) 24 hours of being 23! I found a link up through my friend Michelle: Top 5 Tuesday over at Just Peachy.

Source: a-ladys-findings.tumblr.com via Anne on Pinterest

1. Tomorrow is my birthday! Yay! I am the birthday queen! I love to celebrate ALL birthdays, but especially mine!

Source: marchmatron.blogspot.com via Alex on Pinterest

2. I deposited my first few paychecks from my little part-timey/freelance-y thing this weekend and I feel SOOOO rich. Woohoo!

Source: pinner.in via Marya on Pinterest

3. The Hemsworth brothers. If they're not the hotties Aussies since Heath Ledger (Oh, I miss him), then I don't know anything about hot men. I saw the Avengers today and I was swooning over Thor the whole time.

Source: google.ie via Louise on Pinterest

4. After a month's hiatus, I'm back to reading A Feast for Crows, the fourth book in A Song of Ice and Fire aka the Game of Thrones books.

Source: Uploaded by user via Chandler on Pinterest

5. I'm getting so excited for my seester to go to camp (her first year without me) for her Aide year! Their themes are SO cute and I can't wait for her to have a rockin' time. She should find out her counselors this week.

What are your top 5 this Tuesday evening?

The Never-Ending Access-Printer Saga, Part Two

Yesterday I started blogging about my recent work struggle that turned into struggles. So if you haven't read that, check it out here.

Anyway, we left off with the $250 laptop. Friday morning, the office manager, Mary, and I took a mini-field trip down to this computer place and picked up the laptop. It's a few years old, but for $250, it's exactly what we need. We get back to the office and installing Access should be a breeze, right? Wrong. I put the disk in and something pops up and basically says something is wrong with the operating system and it's not 100% compatible with Access. We tried to figure out what was up online but my computer knowledge is uber limited, so Mary calls the computer store back up and tells them they're going to install the program or we want our money back.

Back to the computer store I go. About two hours later, they call and I head back up to the store and pick the laptop back up. Access is installed. It works. I can see the 598 doctor's names in one file and the 250-something in the second file. Things look good. I take it up front to the printer I've used with my Mac without any major hitches and play around in Word trying to insert the doctors' names. Figured that out. Super proud of myself. I figured out how to install the printer online - no problem. Super easy. The laptop battery sucks so I had to plug it in, but that's easy enough. I print the letter and bam, it looks awesome. I am so proud of myself at this point. Nothing could get me down!

Until I tried to print an envelope. This is where many, many problems occur. This printer I'm using a POS. If you look up POS in the dictionary, its picture is there.

via

That's the POS printer. And it's discontinued according to the HP website I just found that picture on. Anyway, it hates envelopes and apparently began to hate paper, too. I printer an envelope no problem, but guess what. It was upside down. (These envelopes are fancy with the logo and address and everything, so upside down does, in fact, matter.) No problem, I should be able to print another envelope easy, right? Again, I was wrong.

I fought with that printer for at least 2 hours and every damn time it would suck the envelope halfway and then get jammed. I tried printing just a straight up piece of paper and that go jammed, too. Since it was Friday, I gave up. You know how the guys in Office Space treat that copier? that's just the beginning of what I want(ed) to do to that printer.



Monday morning was optional for me, according to my boss. But I was determined to get a printer hooked up to this laptop and print a dang envelope the correct way! I tried two other printers in the office before I decided I had two printers at home from school just sitting in their boxes not getting used. So I went home, grabbed my printer from junior/senior years and hooked it up, installed it online, and BAM! It worked. There's hardly any ink in the cartridges and I have go buy some no ink, but I did it. I installed it, it's sitting on my desk at work, I printed the letter and envelope (the correct way) and I feel super accomplished.

Have you ever had struggles like this at work? Or just in general? Did you feel super accomplished when you got it all worked out?

The Never-Ending Access-Printer Saga, Part One

So, my boss is an eye doctor. He's my eye doctor, in fact, which is why last week I told you it pays to complain (hahaha, but really). Anyway, as a "side business," (I promise it's not as sketchy as I made it sound by calling it that) he travels around Texas and helps older people with special eye problems see better with these crazy looking glasses. Part of my job in the last week has been to type a letter, get a list of the addresses of (I want to say ALL, but it's probably not even close to) about 800 eye doctors all over the state of Texas, figure out how to put their names in the letter, print envelopes without labels, etc...

Sounds fairly easy enough if you click around in Word enough. But this is so far from the truth. The list(s) of doctors' names is in Access, a little known Microsoft program. It's not part of the usual Office package, you either have to buy the BIG Office package or buy it separately. Well, I have a Mac and use it at work. And this is how the whole thing started last Monday...

I put the list on my little jump drive, specially purchased for this list. I plug my jump drive into my laptop and problem one occurs: I do not have Access.

via

Since my boss isn't in the office Monday or Tuesday, I left. When I went back Thursday, I spent probably two hours looking for the Access disk to try to install it on one of the office computers and explain that I have a Mac and when we find the disk it won't install on my computer. We finally found the disk - success!

It needs to be installed on a DVD drive because it's a newer version of the software. Ok, good deal, there's a DVD drive a few feet away from me. No problem. Until the DVD drive doesn't open. No matter how many times we push the button. I decide to try one of the computers up front even though they're all ridiculously old. No luck. So we call a local shop that specializes in refurbishing computers and selling them for super cheap. We're in luck. They have a couple year old laptop with a DVD drive and it'll only be $250. We'll be there first thing in the morning Friday.

Come back tomorrow for part two when I begin to question if my life is a joke. And don't forget to help me celebrate my 2-year blogiversary by going here and asking me a question in the comments! I'll answer the questions next week!