Out of Commission

 Starting tomorrow morning (at 4:30am) im traveling until late afternoon on Wednesday. I hardly ever travel, but when I do, it seems to all happen at once. Luckily, I will just be going to Atlanta, and I get to stay with my awesome cousin Jana while i'm there. I never get to see her, so this should be fun. So, i'll be off the blogosphere for a few days. Since I need to get some sleep before my waayyy too early wake up call, i'll wait to post about the weekend, which included: kitchen painting, Shutter Island, & Ragtime. It wasnt too eventful, but I do have comments. night.

CURLING!

Been loving the Swedish curling team. unfortunately they just lost the bronze, but it was fun while it lasted.

I know, I know

St. Paddy's is over two weeks away, but here on my blog, we like to celebrate it a bit early. Hence the updated look. Stay tuned for fun Ireland pics over the next few week. Sláinte!

Insert Meredith Brooks Lyrics here:

It's been a long week yall. I am physically and emotionally drained. Physically because I have been going, going, going nonstop. Mentally, because there have been specific issues arise at work when I (once again) have to deal with the fragil egos of my male coworkers. If my work day was a sitcom, my character would be a mix of Veronica Corningstone 

and Peggy from Mad Men.

It's unbelievable to me that certain men think they are entitied to anything and everything because they have a penis. I dont care what you have, it doesnt mean you can treat me as a pushover. You will be glad to know friendly blog readers out there, I did stand my ground this week. But, because of my stubborn feminist nature, i'm sure the word 'bitch' will be mentioned by the watercooler, but I really dont care. I CANT WAIT to be more successful than these complacent assholes.

To make maters worse, as I was leaving work today and got to my car in the parking lot, a very large truck had backed into the spot next to me and left me about a foot to get into my car. In order for him to get out, he had to scratch my car. ICING ON THE CAKE. He couldnt have just readjusted his vehicle? no, too strenuous. And i'm not assuming this was a male. As I backed my car out of the space, I see the car's male owner walk up and wait for me to back out, so he could get in. If i hadnt arrived before him, he would have had to ding my car again just to get back into his car. I'm pretty sure he didnt miss out of my feminist ranting as I tried to get into my car.

In all my male hating anger, I do have positive news about someone that knows better than to assume i'm a weakling of a woman. Jordan has made it to the final round of his interview process for the management training program at Regions. He goes in next Friday for this last round. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers! I might need prayers too. Pray that I dont go Mauy Thai crazy on some people between now and then!

New Blog and bla

Money Saving Madness- I'm getting even more obsessed with couponing, but i'm seriously saving around $200/m at this point, and i'm thinking i can make it more....

Competition update: what competition? I gave up two weeks ago....sad.

Counting Calories: yeah, i need to start doing that again. 3.5 lbs gained. (damn you mardi gras) sigh. This is getting old.

Lent update: one week of no nail biting! (most impressive for me)

Work: making me stress eat because I cant bite my nails  neverending cycle....

Always Sunny update: Dennic & Mac: Manhunters= my fav episode so far

Rotary: a warm fuzzy feeling

I get "warm fuzzy" feelings from various (non sexual) events in life. ie:  smelling burning firewood on the first day of fall, homemade icecream,the touch of sand on my toes on a hot summer day at the beach, holding a  baby, flying into Dublin, and seeing underdogs overcome obstables...to name a few. Another one to add to my list is anything involving Rotary. I feel completely indebted to Rotary for my lifechanging experiences in Ireland, so it was a no brainer to get involved when I got back to Birmingham. Because of my age, I was able to do that by joining Rotaract. During my first year membership, I was able to give back tremendously to my club by strengthening the bond between the club and our parent club, the Rotary Club of Birmingham. If you dont know, the RC of B, is the second largest club in the world, hosting several Rotary International Presidents. Lets just say even my club in Ireland had heard of them. They are kind of a big deal.

So, we started a mentorship program between our club and the RC of B. This has allowed me to meet so many fantastic members of both clubs, and even get the honor of sitting at the head table of the downtown club to talk about this program. WOW, it was cool.

This week I also got to help out as Rotary played host to the National Large Club Conference. Since the club is so large, they have much to teach other clubs about the functioning of a large organization. Sunday night 150 Rotarians from all over the country landed in Birmingham and were driven (by Rotaract members) to Ross Bridge. These Rotarians were overwhelmed with southern hospitality, and that was just the beginning. Sunday's dinner was an introduction to the "tastes of the south" with a family style meal complete with a bbq, fried green tomatoes, black eyed peas, grits, collards, fried okra, chow chow, ect... Chris Hastings even contributed his white bread pudding for dessert. Then they were shown some of the best music the south can provide; from a jazz band, to a world renouned pianist, a gospel choir, and then finally Rubben studdard. That's right, Mr. American Idol himself.

He wasnt extremely impressive, but it was neat to see him.

Last night they took the whole group to Highlands (Frank Stitt is a Rotarian) and wined and dined them to death. Tonight, I helped as we bused the 150 Rotarians to 5 (large & impressive) houses on Birmingham's Crest Road which overlooks the city. At each house Chris Hastings (hot n hot), had a kitchen and staff, and prepared an impressive feast. I got to meet so many new people, and I think it was one of the few social events where ive dragged Jordan and he's actually really enjoyed himself. Everyone was so friendly and appreciative for everything. Enter the warm fuzzies. The great part about it is that you dont have to be at a lavish mansion with these people, because they are just as welcoming if you call them on the phone, or see them at a meeting. The ideal of "service about self" is ingrained in them all, and their cup is overflowing.

So, i come back to my main point. This is why I love Rotary. check it out, it will make you happy.

(Huntsville trip below)

Havoc!

Last Friday I got the hell out of dodge and went to visit two of my best friends who live in Huntsville, Liv & Jensi. We hit up our usual mexican restaurant and then went to a Huntsville Havoc game. I have never been to a hockey game in my life, so it was def a first. However, I had a blast. How can you not like grown men with sticks who basically beat each other? Plus, they serve beer, so i'm a fan.

I took lots of pics.

Above and below are halftime where they sling children on a round disks down the ice to knock over large bowling pins. creative and desctructive, i like it.

hey jensi :)

FIGHT!

This is a picture of the "Wolfman" a.k.a: a grown man dressed in a wolf outfit with a flag, chased by small children around the collusium.

SPACE SHUTTLE (my nerd self takes over at this point)

I spy a phallic reference...yay for NASA!

On a side note, the current plan is to head down to Orlando around July 29th to see Endevour, the 2nd to last shuttle launch of the current fleet. Road trip anyone?