I'm a Little Miss

I can so relate to this song right now.

Little Miss by Sugarland

Little Miss down on love
Little Miss I give up

Little Miss I'll get tough, don't you worry about me anymore
Little Miss checkered dress
Little Miss one big mess
Little Miss I'll take less when I always give so much more

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
Yeah, sometimes you gotta lose 'til you win
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
It'll be alright again
It'll be alright again, I'm okay
It'll be alright again, I'm okay (I'm okay)
It'll be alright again, I'm okay

Little Miss do your best
Little Miss never rest
Little Miss be my guest, I'll make more anytime that it runs out
Little Miss you'll go far
Little Miss hide your scars
Little Miss who you are is so much more than you like to talk about

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
Yeah, sometimes you gotta lose 'til you win
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
It'll be alright again
It'll be alright again, I'm okay
It'll be alright again, I'm okay (I'm okay)
It'll be alright again, I'm okay

Hooooooooooold Ooooooooon
Hooooooooooold On, you are loved
Are loved.......

Little Miss brand new start
Little Miss do your part
Little Miss big 'ole heart beats wide open and she's ready now for love

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
Yeah, sometimes you gotta lose 'til you win
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
It'll be alright again
It'll be alright again, I'm okay
It'll be alright again, I'm okay (I'm okay, it'll be alright again)
I'm okay! (It'll be alright again)

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

First day back to work after a holiday off is always a little rough. Having to be up at 5 in order to be at work at 7 is a little rougher too. But our office motto is No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up! and show up I did. To make it even better I had a present waiting for me from 'Old Lady' when I got there. The perfect gift!

Work sucks and I thought to make it a little easier I could maybe talk the boss man into letting me have a fish if I was careful. Apparently it's against some company policy so that was shut down before it started. Then I wanted to have some sea monkeys but anything "alive" is frowned upon. Sadness. All I wanted to do was put a little joy in working for the man. No such luck.

'Old Lady' remembered this conversation and found me the perfect solution. A desktop Aquarium! A beautiful sunken shipwreck background creates the perfect ambiance for my little fake fish friends. They are magnetic and have a magic wand that makes them move about their aquatic wonderland. People are jealous, it's understandable. It is awesome. Thanks OL! I'm taking suggestions for names for my new little friends.

and a BIG Thank You to everyone else who gave me a great gift this Holiday Season. Get ready to gear up for 2011, it's going to be a good one! (hopefully)

Christmas Day

In my family, my brother, sister and I always exchange stockings instead of getting gifts. We find all kinds of cool things to put in each others stockings. This year I found a mentos geyser tube for NiBo. If you didn't know, mint mentos and diet coke will explode. I've done it before but it was messy because you had to drop the mentos and run. This handy little device allows you to put them in a tube and a pin attached to a string allows a safe distance to pull the string which then drops the mentos into the soda thus creating a 25ft geyser. It's awesome.

Check out our YouTube video for the full effect. Hope Santa was good to everyone, Merry Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas

It really is beginning to look like Christmas here at North of 10th. That picture was taken about an hour ago outside my window and we've gotten more snow since then and it's still coming down! At last check we are up to about 4" of new snow with 2 more expected. It's been awhile since we've had a white Christmas so I'm not complaining...too much. After Christmas the snow can vamoosh!

I hope everyone has finally got all their shopping done and are getting ready to start their own family festivities. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and be safe if you are traveling!

Christmas Band

NiBo's Senior year Christmas Concert

He's the one in the red shirt/black tie over our band directors shoulder. He is rockin' out on guitar for Jazz Band.

Rockin' the Ugly Sweaters/Holiday Festive-ness

Old Lady- Most Festive, TT- Most Creative, Me- Runner-up Ugliest






Life's Natural Highs

I ran across this on a new blog that I stumbled upon bitsotruth. It has daily great quotes, and I so love me some quotes. Until I am creative enough or experiencing a life high (come to work with me for a day and you will understand why life highs are in short supply these days) but I thought this was cute...



You'd Think...

You would think that on a weekend where I was pretty much snowed in and didn't leave the house at all I would have blogged. I did not. Instead I watched many many movies one of which was Leap Year for literally the 10th time in a week.

I recently recieved the news that GC schools are closed tomorrow, plows in neighboring counties have stopped plowing and don't expect to resume until 4am AND winds are expected to countinue until about noon tomorrow. BLIZZARD!

But at this time work is still on for the a.m. I am hoping for a legitimate call off from work, but as last noted my main aka only way out of town to work was drifted closed so unless the sun comes out and the winds cease to be I don't expect to make it to work tomorrow, not worth it. I at least had the foresight to give up my 7am shift so I don't have to be up too terribly early to make an attempt.

At this moment I am watching Roman Holiday (it's in black and white <3) starring my favorite Audrey Hepburn. I don't know why but I have been optimistic and not as cynical about love stories. This is a good thing.

Well I wish everyone safe travels if they must venture out to a soul-less company that puts their employees lives in danger to earn a few bucks, ok that was a little harsh, but everyone be safe. Old Lady if you read this before tomorrow or before you venture out, let me know if you know about the roads or if you'll venture in tomorrow.

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."
— Audrey Hepburn

"Your heart just breaks, that's all. But you can't judge or point fingers. You just have to be lucky enough to find someone who appreciates you."
— Audrey Hepburn

"Pick the day. Enjoy it - to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come... The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present, and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future." — Audrey Hepburn

Damn You Hollywood

It was recently brought to my attention that I may not be "getting out there" enough and that my current habits are not the best way for me to meet someone. So my new plan of action (you can blame Hollywood) is to go to Ireland meet an nice Irish boy and fall madly in love.

This may seem like a completely random search for love thought and it probably is, but it could also be the fact that I just recently saw Leap Year and loved it and watched it like five times this weekend and that I've loved P.S. I love you since the first time I saw it or the fact that both of these movies involve girls going to Ireland and just happening to run into terribly sexy Irish men and their accents and fall in love. Damn you Hollywood.

Anyway this won't happen but Irish men with accents are sexy and Ireland is so pretty and I like several Irish bands (which in case you didn't know pretty much makes me a citizen)... it could happen. These movies along with Disney fairytales have created false expectations for my love life and I may never recover, can you sue for that?

And on top of my lonely existence being brought to my attention 'Old Lady' is trying to rent out my uterus for the little people on TLC who can't have a baby. She just won't let it go..lol. But at this time my uterus is not for rent, thank you for your inquiries; I will be sure to put you on the mailing list when it becomes available. Until then if you know a nice young man aged 25-30 about 5' 11"+ (Irish accent a plus, but not required) keep me in mind ;)

Puppy Chow Cookies

First run on the puppy chow cookies ended in a slight detour from the original recipe that you can find from The Pioneer Woman. They were supposed to be dipped in chocolate entirely and a little thicker but we made it work and these look better to me anyway. They are richly delicious :)

Move a Chair, Change your perspective

I've been feeling extra optimistic lately. It may have been the fact that I cleaned this weekend, threw some things out and organized. And I moved my bookshelf by the window and my chair where my bookshelf used to be. It's amazing that two little changes have totally changed my perspective; both literally and figuratively.


" Wake up every morning with the thought that something wonderful is going to happy"

"Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful"

"Change is the essence of life; be willing to surrender who you are for what you could become."

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Fill your life with love. Spread sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by."

"If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today." - E. Joseph Cossman

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Old Lady is Disappointed

I told 'Old Lady' today that I was reading Harry Potter and that I saw the movie this weekend with my little brother. You should have seen the look of shame and disappointment that quickly came across her face. I was so sad. She said she's glad I can read at an eight grade level. Oh the humanity. Now I need to double read a good interesting adult reading level book to balance out the magic and make believe, and trust 'Old Lady' I will not be a midnight movie viewer. I don't think I've been to any midnight movie showings for epic movies. I do remember coming out of a late movie and seeing all the freaks dressed up when the first or second Pirates of the Caribbean came out, not my cup of tea.

Anyone been to a midnight release, or better yet dressed up for a movie theater? and is it better to be a nerd and stake out a bookstore for a midnight release or be a nerd and camp out in a movie theater?

So I Might Be a Little Behind the Times

Last night in a last ditch effort to find something interesting to watch at 11 o'clock at night I ran across the end of a Deadliest Catch marathon, the last few episodes from the season that aired this summer. It was the episode that showed the fleet getting the news that Captain Phil Harris had passed away. It was a very sad, I can't stand to see guys cry, it just breaks my heart then of course I start tearing up too.

I don't really remember how it came up but my brother let me borrow the first book of Harry Potter, that came out when and I haven't read it yet? Oh well I'm on it now. I've seen all the movies I guess I was just a little nervous about how big the books are, they are a little intimidating. But I have read the Twilight books and they are big too, and since I've been a part of 'The Page Turners' I've been a little less scared to tackle the bigger books. Back to the movies, NiBo and I went and saw the latest Harry Potter movie it was good I even got a little teary-eyed when the one little elf fella died, well it was sad.

and now here I am catching a Hallmark movie after it's already started. So I guess I'm just in a catching things in the middle and after the initial "everyone is doing it" has worn off. I don't know if I can stick with this Hallmark movie too much longer, I don't like all these sad sappy things, but I do love John Corbett.

I also have a habit of getting into TV shows a little late it seems. I picked up 'The Walking Dead' with only two episodes left (caught it on a marathon too) Wow it seems that mulitple hours of television sucks me in, Dirty Jobs alsmost got me earlier this evening too. And a show set in high school about a group of teens who like to sing (I'm embarassed to admit I watch this show, so I feel that if I don't mention it by name it's not really something I have to admit to, lol) but everyone has already been on that bandwagon and here I am getting into it a little late.

Oh and we had the annual GC Christmas parade last night. We had it a week later than we normally do, it makes it feel more like the Holiday season is here. We also have a tree in the middle of town this year. I have mixed feelings about it, it's in kind of a random spot and it has concrete barriers around it painted like presents, we wonder how long it will be before some crazy drunk person runs into it. Our little town is all busy with the holidays, the lights uptown are lit everynight now, Christmas songs are filling the radio and my mom is requesting Christmas lists already. I don't know if I'm quite ready for it yet, it doesn't quite feel like it just yet.

Did you miss me?

Hello again my loyal followers. I hope you all were busy with your holiday festivities and didn't notice my little cyber vacation. But I'm back after a week off. I'll get back to regular posting this week.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. It's back to the daily grind tomorrow (sadface) but we aren't that far off from Christmas! Whose an overachiever and has their shopping done already?!

Definately a Country Mouse

Mom's rocking the perm, I've got the overalls and gma is rockin the jean jacket. Classic.

Book Club, Party Time, Excellent

The Page Turner's Society turned 1 today! Hooray! We voted on our favorite spot that we'd had dinner at the past year and the food was delish!

It's no secret that I love bookclub, even if the book ends up sucking I have one night a month to hang out with some great ladies and talk and drink and stuff our faces with food. Everyone brings so much to the table... I know you've heard that all before but it's so true. They are so much fun to sit and chat with, as usual we will veer off course but we all like to read and talk, perfect combo.

This month we read Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. It's tells the story of Charlie, a man in his 30's who is mentally challenged and Algernon a lab mouse who scientist used in an experiment to test a procedure that would make him smarter. Needing a human trial they found Charlie and gave him the same operation to increase his IQ. The book is from Charlie's perspective through his progress reports he rights to chart improvements. This book was also a Hallmark movie with Matthew Modine and there is a nice cliff notes version for you as well.

The book starts out with grammatical errors and misspelled words since Charlie isn't too smart. As the book progresses his dated progress reports become more correct as we see that the operation has worked and Charlie's IQ is increasing. As the story continues the author challenges to see whether or not intelligence makes a person better. We follow Charlie through his struggles as his mind outgrows his emotional and social "smartness" It's a sad story as you see him struggle through these changes. But it's one of those books that you have to read to see if you'll like it.

I actually had "read" this book back in High School so I knew the general premise of the book. I gave it a 3 and our discussion a 4 this time around. We have already read 12 books, it's crazy to think about. December is my month and we will be reading A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. You may remember this being my secret submission for the one year anniversary meeting. I really liked the book, it's a different style/direction for the club and it's a good short book for a busy December (can you believe it's almost December already?! crazy!) So read along with us and tell me what you think of the book if you ready it. It's also a very pretty movie directed by Tom Ford starring Colin Firth (love him). Happy Book Club Night everyone!

Make Mine a Double

As I sit here stuffing my face with Doublestuf Oreo cookies, I feel really bad for the guy who invented the original Oreo, he got the ultimate one-up. I mean really when you go the grocery store and you see "singlestuf" Oreos sitting next to Doublestuf Oreos have you ever really found yourself saying, man there is too much stuf in the Doublestuf, I think I'll pass. Nope never. Poor single stuf Oreo fella. There is a lesson to learn from all of this.

Go Big or Go Home.

Happy Veterans Day!

My dad served in the Navy for 20+ years and served in Vietnam

Happy Veterans Day Dad!

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with lots of pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations." - Woodrow Wilson

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.  ~Author unknown

While we enjoy the benefits of living in the greatest democracy in the world, we must be ever conscious of the fact that none of the achievements or freedoms enjoyed in America would be possible without the price that has been paid for by our servicemen and women. --Mark Kennedy

My Hot Toddy

According to good ol' Wiki a hot toddy is: a name given to a mixed drink, usually including alcohol, that is served hot. Hot toddies are traditionally drunk before going to bed, or in wet and/or cold weather. They were believed to help cure the cold and flu.

So last night with the urging of co-workers I went ahead and tried a hot toddy to see if it would clear up what I got's going on with my symptoms. So I made some hot tea, added some honey, added some whiskey, and added some lemon. It actually wasn't too bad, I added way to much lemon which made it gross so I didn't finish the whole thing so I think that negates it's purpose but I'd try it again. I've also heard you can add peppermint instead of lemon if that's your thing, so I might try that if I make one again.

It smelled really good and look at how pretty that mug is with my old timers concoction of get well (aka Whiskey, which oddly enough seems to have been used for many ailments) I'm still sneezing, have a runny nose and sound like a man, so I'll keep trying. But I wouldn't rule this out as a future possibility.

10 Things: The nighttime sniffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever so you can rest medicine edition

It seems like cold and flu season is officially upon us. 'Old Lady' and 'TT' were out today and I was left to hold down the fort all by my lonesome. Somehow I managed. My nose is a little runny and I've been sneezing but I'm going to chalk that up to allergies? I have no known allergies (well Vicodin makes me vomit) is that something that you can develop as you age? I suppose that means my immune system is slowly breaking down, I guess that's why old people have to get flu shots all the time. Not looking forward to that.

But in honor of using your PSL days whether it be legit or not I give you 10 Things: The nighttime sniffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever so you can rest medicine edition. 10 things to get you through cold and flu season.

* Kleenex [we discussed at length one day box preferences, I prefer square]

* Warm tea- helps ease a sore throat

* A safety perimeter- don't get too close to those with symptoms

* Soup- stock up, it makes you feel better

* A warm blanket

* NyQuil (or your drug of choice)

* Did I mention Kleenex?- your going to need em, don't be cheap your nose will thank you

* Hand sanitizer- Use it.

* Cold/Flu germs can live up to 48 hours on hard surfaces- clean your desk!

* No brainer- wash your hands and as a courtesy do the sleeve sneeze

I can tell you what we don't need really is this heatwave. Sure it's nice but now we are all going to be dodging the sicky's and picking up their slack at work. :)

Try to stay healthy!

Cowboys, Chaps and Chicago

Friday Night:
Rodeo/Fuedin Hillbilly's
Time I should have been at friends' house: 5:30pm

Left the House: 5:45ish-pm

In my bed: 1:30am
1-10 Scale: 9

Friday was a fabulous night out with the girls. Dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants (in a different city though) then we were off to the Rodeo. Rodeo events are the Mecca of farmboy/cowboy/wrangler/cowboy hats/boots types. I was in heaven. I love how you don't have to get all cutesy'd up for an event like this. The thing that amazes me the most at the Rodeo is how frickin' huge the Bucking Bronc's are. They are HUGE, you think my little pony with a kicking problem but these things are ginormous. You'd have to see them in person to do it justice. More than anything the Rodeo is a fun time to drool at the eye candy.

After the Rodeo ended about 10:30pm we ventured to our favorite Country Bar to check out a favorite local band. I was a little worn out so I didn't get my drink on or shake it country style because I had to be up "early" the next day to head to Chi-town.

Saturday:
Chicago-Financial Seminar w/Bill & Giuliana Rancic/America's Got Talent
Left the House: 8:20am
In my bed: 11:30ish-pm
1-10 Scale: 10+

There are not enough words I can put together to explain how much fun was had on Saturday. Luckily for a friend we were heading up the Chicago the same day as the America's Got Talent Chicago open auditions were held, so he was able to hitch a ride up there with us. The way there and back was the quickest (felt like it anyway) trip to Chicago I have even been on (which hasn't been too many times actually) but me, 'Willie' and 'It's Sew My Style' in one vehicle = too much fun and a major ab workout from laughing so hard.

After we dropped 'Willie' off at his huge mile long line outside of McCormick place we realized that we neglected to print off our confirmation email that would allow us to enter our seminar. No big deal.

We found a parking garage (PS I may have broken every traffic law on the books. It's hard for a country girl to know where to go and avoid potholes AND taxi's AND other cars who can't drive. No ticket no foul, we survived and Simon didn't get a scratch on him). We then located the nearest hotel which turned out to be the Marriott off Michigan Ave. Very nice hotel and I'd recommend staying there if you have the means to do so, very nice decor. We found the business center and got our email printed off.. good to go. Now we were starving too, neither of us had eaten anything yet that day. So we hike it to Watertower place to the food court, we only had about an hour to play with and the line was huge. (everyone and their brother must have been in the city that day) so we decide we should probably head to the other side of town where our whole point of the day was.

With my crazy mad traffic skills and awesome navigator pointing the direction we were hoping the parking that was available for the event wasn't full already or we'd have to find the other place that would require a shuttle to take us and we were only 15 minutes early. Since the parking was in a Catholic Church lot, I said a Hail Mary and hoped for the best. SCORE! Open spots left. So we waited in line and ended up being fine on time since it started an hour late so everyone had time to get in line. Meanwhile, we checked in on our good friend 'Willie' who informed us 3 hours later he was still outside waiting (it wasn't a warm day in Chicago either)

Bill and Giuliana Ranic were the main draw for the MB Financial Bank/Mastercard sponsored Financial seminar. They took the stage and talked about some financial stuff. Giuliana is a twig, very skinny and OMG her ring was blinding us when it caught the light. They are so cute and funny together, a great couple. Giuliana told the story about how she took all the snack bars they had in their green room stating that in this economy you have to take advantage of every opportunity. They were very funny and cute and Bill (who was the winner of the first Apprentice) had some great points to make. The whole time we were listening to all the speakers talk we had a camera guy up in our face with a bright light on top of his camera. What they were filming for we don't actually know, it could be for Bill & Giuliana's reality show, we didn't sign any releases so I don't know how much of our face they could use. Hope I looked good and didn't pick my nose.

There was a Q&A section at the end and this douchey guy (who supposedly went to school with Bill and was probably wearing an Armani suit) really had no question but wanted to brag at how wealthy he was and that he is starting a consulting company and has a 3.2 million dollar contract lined up and doesn't know why he has to put his $700,000 home up for collateral blah blah blah. The crowd turned on him, love it. Then at the end there was a raffle of two tickets to an upcoming Bears game and guess who one. Yep Sir Douche, I'm sure there is a lesson in there somewhere. If we wanted to wait probably another hour or so in line there was a meet and greet with B&G, but we were worn out and too hungry to stay. We ventured back towards downtown.

We decided to have dinner at the Cheesecake factory and parked conveniently on the 10th floor of the John Hancock Building. That was a crazy ride up a spiral parking garage entrance and had to have the underside of the car and the trunk checked before we could enter. We didn't even have to step outside, just a few steps and an elevator trip down we arrived.. finally food... well sort of. We had to wait an hour for a table. It's been awhile since that hungry. Since we had time we checked back in with 'Willie' we had earlier received a text picture of the sign confirming that he had official reached the front of the line. He was now about ready to go in and perform in front of some of the producers for the show. We wished him luck and our table was ready. (Timing was amazing in Chicago too!)

We were so starved that once the waitress came back to get our drink orders we were ready to order (food would make it to us quicker) and we wanted our bread stat! After we had stuffed our face, we ordered our cheesecake to go and 'Willie' had called and said his audition went well he thinks and the friends he made in line were going to give him a ride to downtown where we were, perfect! Just as we exited the restaurant he was there too and we began our venture home.

The ride home went just as fast with tons of laughs and conversations that I can't repeat. We had so much fun on this trip. It's part of our plan to be a little more spontaneous and try different things. We decided we like to be a little more planned out ahead but we did good. I'm trying not to stress out so much about the unknown (aka not knowing my way around Chicago for this example) and anyone who knows me knows that I get a little stressed and uneasy about places I've never been or don't know exactly where I'm going. But this trip just goes to show that if you don't stress, laugh a little, and don't worry so much, things have a way of working themselves out.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” -Greg Anderson

B-I-N-G-O was Not This Girls Name-O

The Bingo mistress of luck can be cruel or merciful to beginner bingo-ers. Tonight to me she was not nice. TT she gave $100.... grrr.

Let me run down the scenario for you. We attended the weekly Thursday night Bingo game(s) at the local Moose Lodge. As 'Old Lady' and I walked in the door, there was already too many options for us to choose from. There were technical looking computerized cards and the good ol paper cards. We did note that they were selling daubers there (I searched all over creation for them last night to at least be kind of prepared when we walked through the door) There was a price list off to the side but it's a tough decision to decide how much money do you want to spend to try and win some more money. As we stood there looking perplexed people (clearly pro's) were walking up buying their cards throwing down 40 bones at a time!?! Craziness.

We finally decided on a hybrid purchase. I think we ended up with, actually I don't know how many there were, on the high-tech computery version of bingo and 6 cards per game paper. I chose a green dauber color, while Old Lady had a purple and TT had pink. The computery games were the easiest just type in the number and it does all the work for you, it will even play a little song when you have bingo (although I never heard mine).

We made some friends who are regulars and they helped us out, everyone was so nice. But I could tell there were some hardcore folk there, you know the kind. Kind of butchy old ladies that are probably retired PE teachers, they were there too. Our friends were the sweet old bingo ladies you'd expect to see at any bingo hall.

Once we got in our rhythm we were rockin and rollin' I think the money went to TT's head and she wanted to keep on adding cards like she's a pro because she won a measly $100 game. She's going to cry when I eventually win the big pot. I may be 90 but winning is winning! ;)

Those ladies (and a few men) will through down their whole social security check in hopes of winning a game (about 40-60 dollars assuming there is one winner) but good for them. I hope that at their age I've still got my wits about me to know what numbers are and if I can I'll crank that hearing aide up, rub my little troll's belly for luck and daub away and yell BINGO at the top of my little old lady lungs.

Bingo night was lots of fun, now that my nerves have settled I'm totally ready to go back for more. Watch out because I may just have an official bingo bag to take with me if I keep it up.

10 Things: Favorite Holiday Movies

I had to make a stop at Target this evening to snoop to see what they had and to see if I could find anything that I couldn't live without. But what to my little eyes should appear (if you're expecting eight tiny reindeer you're not too far off) That's right folks the Holiday season is officially upon us. There were "Holiday" trimmings all around the store, hanging from the ceilings, in the form of trimmings for your tree... the whole shebang. And I think I mentioned in a tweet way back in September that the winter scents candle commercial kind of makes me want the holiday season to be here..ask and you shall receive. With only 52 days until Christmas (thanks iphone App, yep there is indeed an App for that) and the holiday songs getting stuck in my head already AND the stores forcing it upon us early... I bring you 10 Things: My Favorite Holiday Movies (meaning a MUST watch every season or it's not Christmas yet) in no particular order...

- A Christmas Story (annual tradition to at least try all 24 hours, thanks TNT!)
- Frosty the Snowman & Frosty Returns (a back-to-back must)
- Rudolph
- Charlie Brown Christmas
- Christmas Vacation
- Home Alone
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (classic cartoon edition)
- It's a Wonderful Life
and the last two are actually Halloween movies, but a Holiday must none the less
- Hocus Pocus
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show

It just isnt' a Holiday Season without these movies.
What are you're must-see Holiday Movies?

Say What?!

I cannot honestly believe that it is November already. At least we get to 'fall back' this weekend and get our lost hour back.

Busy weekend up ahead. Friday is gma's birthday!! She doesn't like to be reminded. Friday is also the annual Rodeo/girls night AND added bonus our favorite band is playing at our country bar Friday night and bonus free admission if you show your ticket stub from the rodeo.. score!

and Saturday I'm heading to the big city to see Bill and Giuliana speak at a financial seminar, it's free, (I'm all about the free and discounts) it's just something spontaneous to do and on a whim.

I'm pretty much at writers block but at least wanted to give you something to read. Oh and I voted.. good job me!

PS. I missed Old Lady today (she was being governmental official today)
PPS. We are going to Bingo Thursday, it shall be fun, wish me luck.
PPPS. I have began putting one less dollar of gas in my car to buy a $1 scratch off.. gotta play to win so far I'm 0/3. It'll pay off one of these days..hopefully!

* Happy Halloween * & Let's Catch up!

Sorry blog peeps, it's been over a week since I've blogged. I know you were probably worried about me, I'm ok. I was actually busy getting my Halloween costume finished and it was going to be awesome. But sadly after all that hard work, my sister ended up being sick yesterday so I didn't go out.  Instead I sat my happy self at home in my PJ's and watched TV. I'm sorry she was sick but it makes me very sad that I put all that work into the costumes and didn't get to go anywhere... as always. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Friday at work was costume day. I actually won "Most Creative Costume" with my crazy cat lady get up. Complete with cats, pictures of cats, and talking about how awesome cats are. Here are some pictures from the other people who dressed up too. We had Darius Rucker, Thinkin' Arby's girl, and a few Merlottes waitresses and a Halloween edition of the Three Wolf Moon shirt. Epicness.

On Friday, we participated in the "Screaming Pumpkin Race" it was so much fun. We participated in the 10k Run (which we mostly walked, but hey 6.55 miles is 6.55 miles) needless to say I was a little sore. The course was set up through the historic Springdale Cemetery in Peoria, IL. We finished in just under 2 hours. (that's about an 18 minute mile if you were wondering) It was very neat. The cemetery was full of old Mausoleums and old stones everywhere. The course was pitch black except for glow sticks lining the path on one side. It was a grueling course too, for the people that say there are no hills in Illinois, go to this cemetery wand wog (run/jog) up one and get back to me. Needless to say I was a little sore yesterday. It was lots of fun and I hope to go back and do it again next year and try to actually run the whole thing. Google map the cemetery though and you'll see how absolutely HUGE it is. They also ran a Marathon and a Marathon Relay as well (that means 4 laps on the grueling course..eek!) There are pictures but my friend has them on her camera so I'll have to wait to get them from her, then I'll post them for ya.

Today is the official Trick-or-Treat day here in GC, so I may or may not be passing out candy. I may just repeat yesterday I haven't decided yet.

I am very excited for next weekend though and cannot wait! Friday is the annual Rodeo that me and my country gals attend AND after that one of our favorite local bands is going to be at our country bar, Double Awesome!! I can't wait for that. THEN on Saturday It's Sew My Style and myself are heading to Chi-town for a free financial seminar that we decided to attend on a spur of the moment impulse and Bill and Guiliana Rancic will be guest speakers. I'm proud of us for being spontaneous.

Thursday was Book Club night! This month we read "The Brief History of the Dead" by Kevin Brockmeier. It was an interesting book and I liked it alot until the end. The basic premise of the book is that when you die you go to 'The City' which is just another city like the one you came from except everyone there has died. You can remain in the city as long as someone on Earth remembers you. It's an interesting thought, you are only "alive" as long as you are remembered by the living. The book ends with you wanting more and asking a lot of questions. It was a little deep for us to figure out the exact meaning of what the author was going for. In other news apparently the new goal for The Page Turner if to find me the love of my life just look here. From all the conversations we had that night, this is what stuck. I don't know whether to be excited, nervous, or depressed lol. I'll let you know how that works out. Our November book (our 1 year anniversary!) is "Flowers for Algernon" by David Keyes. I read it before in High School, don't remember the details but know the general premise. For December, my pick is "A Single Man" by Christopher Isherwood.

I think that is all for now, see you didn't really miss that much in my absence. Don't worry I'll be back on it now. Happy Haunting!

Halloween Is Upon Us

Halloween is almost here, where the heck has this month gone?!

Would you believe that I have not been out on Halloween as an adult? Both sad and tragic I know. I was all ready set to go out with the girls last year but for the second time in a year I had a kidney stone and unfortunately had to miss the festivities last year. Very sad.

Next Friday I will be partaking in a 10K jog (more like walk) 'The Screaming Pumpkin Race' through a cemetery and the trail is lined only with glow sticks! It should be a pretty fun night out, and of course costumes are encouraged!

So all of the above mentioned, I'm on a mission to find/make a costume AND to get my booty out on Halloween. Luckily enough a friend who has a band will be playing on the 30th for a spooktakular show. There has been murmurs of possibly getting a few awesome people together and heading out to see him or at least out to a few bars. As an adult you don't get too many opportunities to get dressed up and hit the town, so that is precisely what I plan to at least try to do.

What are your Halloween plans and what are you dressing up as if you are?

Dream Board

While perusing the Internet at work today I came across Oprah.com and her infinite wisdom and inspiration sprung forth from the screen. I cam across her Dream Board, Envision your own life section. It's filled of ways to help you figure out your life's passion, purpose and anything you have possibly questioned about life's mystery.

But the thing that I thought was really cool was a Dream Board. Turns out it's not just an Oprah thing. There are lots of sites devoted to creating your own vision board, even places where you can create a digital one. I'm going to be working on a little more creative version and my own interpretation of the Dream Board, because, well that's how I roll. I like to make something my own. So I challege everyone to make their own Dream Board and send in a picture to [ northof10th.gmail.com ] along with a story if you'd like and I'll post them on the follow-up post. Ready to get started?

I know it's a little corny but it's something to try. Google "dream board" if you need some examples.Here's how (from Oprah's site)

How Superstitious?

I came across an article today about the Titanic. You know the ginourmous ship from the early 1900's known for it's glamorous design and "unsinkable" status and overall hugeness? Oh and that little thing that happened on the maiden voyage where it sank in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and 1500 people drowned?

Well now you can relive the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic thanks to the "Titanic Memorial Cruise" It's sold out a mere 18 months before the voyage to retrace the doomed maiden voyage of the Titanic.  It's a 12 day cruise through the Atlantic stopping in several European Ports, departing from the UK. Did I mention they will be at the exact spot the Titanic sank on exactly the 100th Anniversary of it's sinking. (um hello time/space continuum portal, that's just asking for trouble, I hope they don't get there at exactly 2:20am the exact time she sank too, AY YI YI!)

I don't consider myself to be a big superstitious person, people go on cruises all the time, and I don't think anything has sunk (without pirate help anyway) as of late so I'm sure it's completely safe. Something just seems a little off about the whole idea. I know it's a memorial but it seems a bit much?!

I am a huge Titanic fan (shout-out to Leo! <3) not just of the movie (I saw it like 4 times in theaters, yep one of those) but of the whole story. I'm kind of a closet history buff when it comes to stuff like that I guess. I would be all about going out there to investigate the wreckage with scientists (Oh! I can add that to my wish-I-had-this-job-instead-of-the-one-I-have list but I don't know how I feel about parading a whole boat ship of people over the site where the largest passenger steamship of it's time found it's demise. Just like I don't particularly want to fly over the scene of an air crash.

I don't know though as I'm reading the itinerary, it actually sounds pretty neat, historically of course and taking out the fact that it's exploiting the doom.

But I'd be just as excited to go to Branson, MO and visit the Titanic museum there! There you will navigate through twenty rooms holding 400 valuable museum artifacts and personal items, an exclusive photo collection and hands-on-activities, including touching an ice wall! Man now look what I did, I want to go to Branson!! It's a 7 hour drive, weekend trip?!

The questions I leave you with today are:
- How superstitious are you and what are you superstitious about?
- Would you take the "Memorial Cruise" and be there exactly 100 years later to one of the deadliest peace time maritime disasters?!
- Who's going to Branson with me?! lol (I know 'Page Turner' is going soon!)

Luck Be A Lady?

According to Merriam-Webster luck is..
1 a : a force that brings good fortune or adversity b : the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual



2: favoring chance; also : success 
 
We are on a mission to find a serious game of Bingo. That's right you heard me right. Old ladies, luck charms, alcohol and b-i-n-g-o!
 
You know the old ladies get hard core about their lucky items, so while we search out the perfect game I need to get my collection of lucky items in order. What actually makes something lucky. It has to start as unlucky and get lucky right? I used to have a lucky Canadian quarter in middle school. then I lost it..lol. Nothing bad happened whiles I carried it so does that make it lucky?
 
So I need to get an arsenol of lucky items going so I can kick some old lady arse and win me some bingo. Interesting site I found regarding what makes something lucky. Stay tuned for my lucky items.
 
What are some of your lucky items?

Sometimes I feel Lame

It's true. Here I am 24 on a Friday night, I had plans, but decided I didn't want to deal with a crowd and my Pjs won the coin toss so I went home after work instead of a night out with some peeps from work. Sometimes I feel lame but them I'm like whatever, pj pants free dinner and tv who could resist that?

I've been trying to get out and take some more pictures and also decide where I want my life to go. So yeah the Flower shop isn't really a feasible idea and true I never studied plants or really had the dream of owning a shop (although it would be cool and I'd prolly be good at it) If only life were as easy as Futurama and they just told you what your job was (Hail Mary and pray for the good job). I'm still brainstorming possible career paths. But until I find my dream things (dream man/job/life/car/financials/etc/etc.) humor me and hop over to the photo blog and check out my spooky photo I took today (because I'm bored and I bought a fancy new camera so I make excuses to use it) Our current photo contest that ALL of you should enter is "Signs of Fall" Check it out!

To All you nay-sayers

I have bangs. Yep I did it.. what now?!

Please note if you are not lucky and cool enough to see me in person tomorrow you will need to kindly hold your patience for a proper picture to present my new look. The self-phone ones were horrid.

10 Things: First Frost Edition

I am a fan of the cooler weather, but it does make me a little bit sad because it'll be no more motorcycle and snow will soon be here but there are plenty of things to love about cooler weather here's 10!

- soup
- cozy blankets
- warm fires
- my fleece jacket
- scooby-doo slippers
- snuggly cats
- an extra 5 minutes under the covers in the morning
- my comfy pj pants
- leaves changing
- NO MOSQUITOS!!!

of course I could list 20 more reasons why colder weather sucks, but that would be counter-productive now wouldn't it!

Road Trip

Our original road trip plans were aborted after yesterday's morning rain. We had hoped to make it up to Starved Rock and check it out. Then we thought about postponing the Starved Rock trip until today, but again the weather really wasn't on our side aka cold and wind.

I have not yet upgraded my cold weather gear, because well I haven't really needed it. But today I wish I did have some chaps, that would have been really nice. Instead I had to improv which consisted of... long sleeve t-shirt, t-shirt, sweatshirt, and leather jacket. My track years paid off in the gift of long spandex which were worn under my jeans, thickest socks I own and boots. Full face helmet (which I always wear anyways, but especially useful on days like today), bandanna over my mouth and tucked in my sweatshirt (which ended up being a godsend anyway your neck can get very very cold) and my heaviest motorcycle gloves which will definitely need to be upgraded if I plan to adventure much more into the bone chilling cold. 1st annual Frozen Turkey ride anyone?! lol

So since we were too chickenbutt to brave the cold too much we decided a closer 50mi trip would be better suited for a cold day road trip. So we ventured off to Pontiac. There we checked out the Route 66 Museum which had lots donated items true to the Route 66 routes. Stories, pictures and memorabilia filled the cases. The building was also home to the local War Museum. It was one of the best collections and personal war stories I've seen for a small town. Everything there was donated and listed the person's name and story. Particularly interesting was all the uniforms with medals earned on display.

One story really stood out to me. A young man who stormed the beaches of Normandy was hit three times by a machine gun upon arrival, the third shot had ricocheted off his dogtags and St. Christopher medal (the dogtags with bullet hole were on display) as the young man lay wounded on the beach he was struck two more times by enemy sniper fire, one shot grazed his head. He was rescued and spent two years in the hospital and make a full recovery. The picture showed him when he came to visit the display as an old man. He lived to be 85 years old. It was an amazing story, I highly recommend checking it out.

We had a good time and a nice ride despite the cool weather. This was my longest trip thus far on the bike and I'm only getting started. Each time I venture farther and farther. Sadly it will soon be time to park it up for the winter, and dream of that first warm day to start the season all over again.

http://www.visitpontiac.org/

More Bang for your Buck?

I used to rock the bangs until middle school. I'm thinking about doing it again, it's the hottest fall look right? I might be a chickenbutt and just talk about it. What do you think?