May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Yes. I love the Hunger Games.
Yes. I read the books. Twice.
Yes. I saw the movie...twice...so far.

I've waited to write about this so I wouldn't get too many complaints about spoiling the movie or the book. Which, BTW, the book is the spoiler for the movie.

Everywhere I turned The Hunger Games was in my face. I bought Marshall the first book for Christmas and read a few pages, so I picked myself up a copy also. I loved it! I couldn't put it down. Or Catching Fire. I read that one so fast that I had to hunt down a Barnes and Noble while I was in NY so I could read the conclusion! (Now a day that I will never forget due to a Carrie/Big scene that may have played out on that street corner...and I'm not talking one full of love and nice stuff.)

Leading up to the movie release I reread The Hunger Games so I would be able to make a fresh comparison. Yes, I'm a little intense, and yes, I did this will all of the Twilight movies.

Well, I took the liberty of marking all of my favorite parts of the book so I can share them with you! I'm totes the best, right?

• "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" pg 22
• "I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed."pg 32
• "A kind Peeta Mellark is far more dangerous to me than an unkind one." pg 49
• "As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve."pg 52
• "I take a sip of the hot, sweet, creamy liquid and a shudder runs through me." pg 55
• "I'm glad now I have Peeta to clutch for balance, he is so steady, solid as a rock."pg 70
• "And them he gives me a smile that seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me." p72
• When Peeta is talking about how good Katniss is at hunting. p89
• "She has no idea the effect she can have." p91"
• "I have kept track of the boy with the bread." pg 93
• "I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun." p121
• "Winning ...won't help in my case...Because...because...she came here with me." p130
• "Sick and disoriented, I'm able to form only one thought: Peeta Mellark just saved my life." p194
• "Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true/ Here is the place where I love you."p235
• "I press the three middle fingers of my left hand against my lips and hold them out in her direction." p237 (Where I think the rebellion really began)
• When district 11 sent Katniss bread. p238
• "Remember, we're madly in love, so it's ll right to kiss me anytime you feel like it." p263
• "I do not want to lose the boy with the bread." p297
• "This is the first kiss that makes me want another."p298
• "Because if he dies, I'll never go home, not really. I'll spend the rest of my life in this arena trying to think my way out." p343
• "Nice job, sweetheart." p352
• When Haymitch tells Katniss about the Capitol being furious with her. p 356-357
• "Maybe...because for the first time...there was a chance I could keep him." p368
• "I want to tell him how much I already miss him." p373

You.Are.Welcome.

About the movie...I loved it!

Yeah, there were a lot of changes: cutting our Madge, behind the Hunger Games scenes, Seneca and Snow, Haymitch's anguish (which I feel was setting us up for the explanation as to why he's the way he is and is drunk all the time...I hope they cover that in the following installments) and getting sponsors and talking to Seneca, and the commentary on the games.

A lot of the changes were good since they didn't want to do Katniss voice overs for the whole movie. As always, there are some things I wish they had done differently.

• At the parade there should have been more fire. That's all.
• More of the scenes about how Katniss is supposed to act like they are in love, but Peeta doesn't know she's acting.
• The last convo between Peeta and Katniss. They did it all kinds of wrong in the movie.
• Katniss' interview dress having flames on the bottom..just because they use that trick in one of the other books...and it's kind of a big deal.
• They should have explained the mocking jay...but surely they will eventually since the last book is called that so it's obviously important.
• Peeta kept his leg. Obviously good for Peeta, but I feel that is adds to the impact of things that happen to him over the next two books.

What did I love?

• Behind the scenes of the games
• Seneca talking to Snow.
• Haymich selling the whole "star crossed lovers" bit to Seneca, therefor changing the rules.
• The reaping.
• The hallucinations.
• Rue.
• The cornucopia scenes. Also sad, but nicely done.
• The sequence after the games are over when Haymitch is telling Katniss about how the capitol is upset with her and the victors are getting crowned.

Now I am even more excited for the next one than I was before! Bring on Catching Fire!

Oh, do you want more Hunger Games? Then check this out!

What did you think? Did you read the books? Did you see the movie? What did you like? What didn't you like? How pumped are you for Catching Fire?

Have You Seen Hunger Games Yet?

Me: Uhhhh...have you met me? I've already gone two times!
BriBri: It just opened on Friday.
Me: Yeah, I know.

One

Naturally I purchased my tickets for opening day well in advance. I skipped the midnight showing (never again!) and went to an 8pm Friday showing instead. Studio Movie Grill.Reserved Seat. Boom. Oh and Jessica made these awesome shirts, so I HAD to have one of those. Seriously, how awesome are these shirts!

I don't get too crazy with my dressing up, so I wore that and my Katniss braid...which I wear a lot anyway, but this time it was in tribute to her. Who did I go with? Myself. Is that weird? Maybe. I get a little intense and overexcited for movies like this, Twilight, and HP, so I may have gotten a few looks from the people on either side of me. I can't help it that my friends aren't into awesome stuff like this!



Two
The second time was impromotu date night with S+J. After pump Jes said she didn't feel like cooking so she wanted to go to go to SMG instead. I told her that if her+S went to something good then I would either invite myself along or just show up and sit a few seats down from them. After looking at the movie times the only thing that worked was Hunger Games. Lucky me!! I told her it was good, she hadn't read the book (gasp! I know.). I may have taken a few short naps because I can't handle late movie showings especially during the week. BUT I still loved it after the second time! Jes liked it too. I think Steven just thought it was alright. Whatevs. This was the first opportunity I had to discuss with someone who had watched it, so I was super hyped. I even went into the book info, which they were probably wishing I would stop, to explain some of the parts and continue to show them how amazing it was!

Three
I was supposed to go with Kyle and Croc on Thursday, but I was so tired I had to cancel. :( Sorry guys, but I was literally in bed by 9.
 

What can I say, when I like something I really commit to it! I'm like this in all areas of my life whether it's stuff like Harry Potter/Hunger Games/Twilight, hobbies (going to the gym, WW, PLT, baking), or relationships.

Baby I'm A Be Your Motivation

This weekend was so good....with the exception of the whole missing my 5k thing. Whatever. (Yeah, I'm obviously sometimes a little delayed with my posts.)

Friday night I stayed in and watched a little DVR.

After missing the race on Saturday, I got in a solid 5 miles then a really good BodyPump session followed up by some stationary bike with the Hunger Games. The afternoon was full of errands and napping.

Saturday night? Oh, you know, I got super crazy organizing my room and doing this:

I'm still rusty since I started reteaching myself from my 8 year hiatus, and I had been neglecting lately...Yeah, totes not like riding a bike.

Sunday. Oh, Sunday. It was almost the perfect day.

Since I stayed home Sat night I was able to get adequate sleep! I can't even remember the last time I slept in...and by slept in, I mean 8am. I got up, did some laundry, then hit the park. 

The weather was perfect. Mid 60s, low humidity. Perfection. I've been working my legs pretty hard lately between adding in more running and miles, and increasing weight in bodypump, so I didn't get in as many miles as I was planning. But it was so beautiful I wasn't even upset by it.

Then I made it to BodyFlow. I'm so glad my gym now has Sunday hours (seriously? Yes, seriously.)! I never make time to do flow during the week because it's offered too late and I'm ready to get home, so I'm psyched that I can work it into my Sundays! Then I did more of this:

I love that The Hunger Games is even better the second time through!

When I got home it was 80 and still low humidity. Houston, what is going on? So I enjoyed my first pool day of the Summer. Yes, I'm aware that it's technically winter. But in Houston it's practically Summer 10 months out of the year.

And we finished the weekend off with some of this:

 Kyle went to NOLA for work and brought us back masks and beads.

 Glasses?

Who needs em?

Not us!

Adam made a delicious seasoning and garlic butter sauce for the steak. I'm glad he willingly let us rope him into our lives. And Croc brought us homemade chocolate cake from his Mom's bday. AND she made it herself. OMG, I found my older self because I love making my own bday cake too. It's just that other people can't be trusted with such a precious task.

I'm also glad that Adam let us have surprise dance lessons, and Croc kinda got tricked into it. We worked on the pretzel because I still need some help. 

I also worked on it with Croc because I never know what's happening when he tried to pretzel me...I might have it down now, we'll see! And I let Croc flip me. It went surprisingly well. Maybe I'll even let him do that to me in public soon...maybe.

• "I've already run 5 miles this morning, and I'm about to head to the gym. Does that make you feel Lazy? No? Just think about what Mother Theresa would have accomplished already today. How about now?"
• "You are being 2011 B right now. Maybe 2012 B's role model should be Mother Theresa." WWMTD.
• "Yeah probably....not." Croc in response to me saying I'm sure we'll meet his mom someday. Geez, rude!
• Dessert Ninja
• "Do I have to show you my boobs for those? Because that's not going to happen." You can tell Kyle is comfortable around us because he doesn't even flinch at most of the things that I/we say anymore.
• To Brittany regarding the workout plan we made, "Don't let me down, but better yet? Don't let yourself down." Followed by "That totally sounded legit, right?"

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

Why, thank you for sharing creepy mustache man!

While at WWW (Wild West Wednesday) the boys all left to get another drink, so B and I held down the table. Mustache man saw this as the perfect opportunity to put the moves on B.

MM: Hey, you should come boot scootn boogie.
B: I'm not going to because I'm watching the table.
MM: What? Is it going to explode?
me:  Actually our guys are grabbing us another drink, so were holding our table.
MM: (decides to put his arm around B and caress her back) We'll you've had something old, so you should try something new. Variety is the spice of life.
me: (as B looks scared and we notice his friend creepin in the wings to get the ok to come over) Uh, we are here with 4 guys and we keep them on rotation, if you know what I mean.

His face? priceless. You could tell he was trying to decided if I was serious or not. Luckily Adam and Kyle came back at that time, so mustache man fled the scene.

Kyle, April, Adam

Carlyle/Croc/Twilight/Carlilly/whateverwemakeupnext & Kyle

Me & B 

Other notables from the week:

• When Bri came over on Friday: "So, where are we going to put the bunk beds?"
• "Hi, Have you met me? No? My name is Momma Bear and I will claw your eyes out." - B
• Croc's response to why I'm running the Woodlands 5k and not half marathon, "You do know that you need to train for that, right?" I know it's shocking that I actually have hobbies and do stuff like, uh, run. I am more than just heart hands you know.
• "I can feel you resisting" - Kyle on my ability to follow...I swear I'm working on it.
• Leap day came and went and I managed to not propose to anyone. How did I let this glorious opportunity slip by?
• Your butt was out.
• "Are you a good dancer? Can you pretzel?" Well, tonight I have a 50% success rate. Yeah, this lead to a major fail on my part...I absolutely can not pretzel if you don't start it off by holding both of my hands. The second you break lose and expect me to find it behind your back is the second shi gets cray.
• This is the last season of OTH (yes, it's still on). And it has been rocking my world! with the Clay thing, at first I was like "OMG. Clay gave his baby up for adoption and never told his OTH friends." Then I was like "OMOTH! Clay had a baby, blocked that info our of his memory from the trauma of his wife dying, and it turns out it's that super cute kid he's been flying airplanes with?!?"
• OTH again - Dan has earned my redemption. I love him when he's in crime solving mode. Julian, "what's next?" Dan - "I'm going back to prison." He's so hard core! After all, he did kill his own brother. That's an OG fo sho. And I'm surprised that they haven't even brought that up this season! They usually throw the Keith card around any chance they get. (this was obvs written before last weeks ep).
• OTH - last one - The ep preview where it's all, "and now the only person they can always count on is back" and they are talking about Lucas...Hold the meffing phone. He can be counted on to 1. cheating on his gf, 2. never putting the needs of the girl he is with first, 3.leaving the show because he wants more money, and then not really doing much since then, 4. looking like a hobo. Lucas Scott, you were not missed!
• BPBrian was having a rough time on the shoulders track since he had worked them out already that day, so I gave him a "You can do it Brian!" He said, "Thank you. I really need that sometimes." And that? is why Jes and I are front row status!

Hot Chocolate Trafficking

My grandma makes the best hot chocolate...ever. No really, EVER!

When I went home for Christmas (yeah, I know, I thought I had already shared this...but I hadn't) she shared the recipe and mixed up a batch. We filled up two gallon zip lock bags so I could stuff them into my carry-on (I didn't check anything this trip) and get it back to Houston.

Grandma said it looked a little suspicious, so I put the recipe face up in one of the bags so they would see it was hot chocolate. Yeah, because that's convincing? I also tried to reassure her by the fact that I look way to young and innocent to do something like that. But then I realized that may be exactly why I would be a smuggler, because no one would expect it. Crap.

I get to the airport, and as my bag is going through the security scanner, I notice that they stop the conveyor and the security guy calls someone else over there to take a look. I know it's my bag because I'm the only one in the area, so I volunteer the info about how it's hot chocolate mix.

They basically look at me like I'm crazy, which I obviously must be if I'm smuggling hot coco across Texas.

They moved my bag to another area so they could open it up and have a look at the goods. I wish I had a picture, because yeah, my bag did look a little suspicious. But surely people are more sneaky when trying to transport drugs, like they probably don't put it in their carry on. I told him that if he flipped it over he would see the recipe and it's so delicious that I'm trying to take it home. He sniffs the bag and sends it back through the scanner. While he's over there I over hear him tell his security friend that it does smell pretty good and he should write down the recipe. haha.

In the end I made it home with my stash hot chocolate and basically enjoyed it at least twice a day for the next month.

Want the recipe? Check it out here.

Hot Chocolate

Growing up I spent a lot of time at Grandma's house (as I'm sure you can tell because I think I write about it in almost every entry). One of the things that I loved to do was drink her hot chocolate! It's way better than a mix you buy at the store, and warms more than just your body, it warms your heart and soul. How is that even possible? Because it's made with love, duh.

I like to mix mine with milk and leave enough room at the top of my cup to overflow it with marshmallows!

So Delish! Even when you are out of mallows.

Hot Chocolate

* Powdered Milk - the side of the box will say how many quarts the powder mix makes. get enough for 12-16 quarts.

Serve: Heat mug of milk, add appx 1/4cup of mix, marshmallows (optional). enjoy!

Every Day I'm Shufflin

My shuffle. I can't workout without it. I can't get ready in the morning without it. I can't make it through the day without it. I.can't.live.without.it!

During BodyPump, the music is provided, and most days it's good. But every now and then I find myself giving Brian the "WTF is this music, and how do you expect this to get me pumped?" face.

That face is a slightly softer version of my "You said we could handle more weight but now I can't lift my bar" face. Just ask Jes, that one could kill. In those moments, I wish I had snuck in my shuffle.

Anyway, when I'm doing cardio, running, or anything else, I need some jams to keep me pumped.

If I'm going on a long run I'll set up my play list to be 3 upbeat songs, then 1 mellow. This helps to give me a mental break because my breathing can often get caught up in the fast beats.

So what am I listening to now? I'm glad you asked because I have picked out a few of my faves so they can become your faves too! You're welcome.

• Feel So Close - Calvin Harris

• Cinema (ft. Gary Go) Skrillex Remix - Benny Benassi

• Louder Than Words (feat. Niles Mason) [Radio Edit] - David Guetta & Afrojack

• Take Care - Drake ft. Rihanna

• Run The World ( Girls) - Beyonce

• Sunlight - Modestep (please disregard video contents...)

• We Found Love - Rihanna

• Ni**as in Paris - Watch The Thrown

• Motivation - Kelly Rowland

A few more?

OK.

• Northern Lights - Cider Sky
• Neighbors - Theophilus London
• We Are Young (ft. Janelle Monae) - fun.
• Heartlines - Florence + The Machine
• Heavy In Your Arms - Florence + The Machine
• The Motto [Fyve Mix] - HiGyve Feat Drake & Lil Wayne
• Glad You Came - The Wanted
• Make Me Proud - Drake
• Dark Paradise - Lana Del Ray
• This Is What Makes Us Girls - Lana Del Ray
• Little Talks - Of Monsters And Men

If you don't already have those, you should get them now! I download mostly from Amazon. Their songs are usually a little less and they have loads of good deals on whole albums. Why pay more when you don't have to?

Any good song suggestions? Please share!

Now that we have music covered, don't be lazy and go work out!

Give Me My Face Back!

Back during the summer I went to Finish Strong to get some new running kicks. I've been in the shop a few times before, but it had been a while. The owner was helping me and started asking me about how school was going. At first I just thought he was assuming that I look young so I'm probably a student, when I told him I had graduated a few years back he started saying things about how he thought I was at Uof H and last time I came in I was still in school. Yeah, that must be someone else.

The next time I went in was March. He started asking me about school again. Right off the bat I told him that he's mixing me up with someone else and he did that last time too. He looked so confused and asked me if I usually shopped at the other location because he swears it's me/I'm her/whatev.

Now I'm curious as to who this other girl is that has my face!

THEN when I was at the cook-off, S introduced us to some guy that he knew. What does he say to me? Something about how he's already met me before, and how have I been? Say what? I don't know you Sir. He was like "yeah, you are friends with so-and-so." I just looked confused like maybe I have a whole other life that I'm living and not realizing. He told me that he swears I look just like this other person that he knows.

WTF? I wonder if it's the same girl that Finish Strong guy knows too. I should have asked for her name so I could google and Facebook stalk her.

The moral of the story is someone has my face, and it isn't just me. Be careful, she could be armed and dangerous. Or not as cool as me, whatever.

Is This Russian For Engagement Chicken?

If so? Then I DO!

Marina invited the girls to come out to the country for some crawfish and country dancin Saturday night. I had the rodeo run that morning, was pretty beat, and don't like crawfish, so I come out later for the dancing. I put my best country outfit on and made the 45min drive out to Baytown/Crosby/I have no idea, but it was country. Everyone else kinda bailed on the plans, so it was me, Marina, her hubs, and BFF. Luckily they are all pretty cool, so it was a good time.

I know, what a creepy myspace pic. Deal with it!

We met at Stevie's house and took back roads to Rowdy Bucks - the most country bar I have ever been to. It was almost like something out of Sweet Home Alabama. There isn't anything wrong with being country, but I'm not country. I am from Canyon, TX, a small town in the panhandle, but I wasn't raised country. I don't hunt, fish, shoot guns, have too much of an accent, and am just now getting reaquanted with country dancin. (Yes, I do the Texan thing where I end my words with 'in' instead of 'ing,' whatever), I'm not that familiar with Texas Country music, and I don't live on a ranch/farm. Anyway, I did feel a little out of place, but it was still a great night! One thing, I forgot that once you leave the city you can smoke inside bars, so my eyes were on fire and I basically smelt like an ashtray when I left. Delicious.

BUT at the end of the night one girl told me I was the cuttest thing she had ever seen and that I was a pretty good dancer (no she wasn't coming on to me, she was with a boy). BOOM! I have mastered the basic country dance and art of apearing country!

Get in my belly!

I stayed the night with Marina because I would probably fall asleep at the wheel making the drive back at 2am. I woke up about 7a the next day and took myself to breakfast on my way home.
Sunday Night Dinner notable moments:

• I don't remember what we were talking about, but Kyle called it a dinner date. I said something about how it's funny you should call it that because the boys don't know, but last week was actually a double date, and we thought it was the same thing this week, but then y'all showed up, so I figure we'd just go with it! Everyone's face (except for neighbor Adam's) was like WTF?
• Croc was pointing out our BJ on the wall to the two that hadn't been over before. And you could tell that they didn't really know what to think of it. So I told them that this was BJ house, but we don't give BJs away as initiation the first time you visit or anything.
• OMG, did you just propose. I didn't even make the engagement chicken tonight because I was saving it for someone else.
• I made these for work. Seriously delicious!

Rodeo Run 10K - Yeeehawwww!

It's rodeo time here in Houston. This basically means that every Texas stereotype will be on display for the next few weeks.

Yes, I have even become one myself. Check out those sweet boots!

Yes, they even had a live longhorn for a photo op after the race. I swear we aren't all a bunch of hillbillies.

Going into this race I just knew it wasn't going to be a good one. My legs were tight from continuing to break in my boots the whole day before. But I'm not one to give up, so I figured I'll show up, take it nice and slow, and make it a respectable finish...Yeah.

The weather was great for running and I listened to "Proud Of You" by Drake on repeat most of the race with "Cracks (Flux Pavilion Rmx)" by Freestylers Ft. Belle Humble mixed in a couple of times. Who knew Drake was such a good running buddy and so proud of me. He's so sweet!

This is the first race where I have been really irritated with a few things.

The Cons:

• Since we are downtown, you have to show up early and park far. Really, NBD. The problem is that even though I went to the bathroom twice before I left the house, I still needed to go again by the time I drove, parked, walked to the start. And this isn't a problem due to my dislike or port-a-potties, but rather because I could only find 1 at the start line. ONE! There are 15,000 people running this race, surely they didn't figure one would cover it? The line was too long, so I started the race and hoped for the best. There was def a moment in that first mile that I thought, "Great, today is going to be the day that I pee my pants." Luckily There were 2 right after the first mile. And there was a line. I waited in it because I didn't know when I would get another chance, and being that we were in the city, I couldn't just squat on the side of the rode.
• The race was so crowded. There was a 5K and a 10K, so they them 15min apart. Totally didn't help with the congestion. It was so crowded that I started behind the 10:00 corral. I figured this would only be annoying for a little while, but I basically ended up dodging people for all but the last mile. It was really hard to have room to find my stride and it really made me grumpy. And if you decided that you are going to need to take a walk break, that's fine, but please move to the side because dodging these constantly stopping bodies is like navigating a mine field.

The Pros:

• Good water station spacing.
• Great volunteers. It was great to see their smiling faces handing me water and cheering us on at the mile markers when really I just want to shank the guy that just stopped in front of me.
• Good after party. They had bananas, bagels, candy (heck yes!), ice cream, soda (WTF?), games for the kids that ran, Cliff Bars, etc, and tons of port-a-potties (they probably could have spared a few for the start...), etc.

Would I run this race again? Totally because when I finished and saw they had a live longhorn, it made it worth it and I hope they will have one again next year! He was so cute and soft. I wanted to hug and kiss him, but was afraid he'd get scared and stab me with his horn.

She's In The Vault Now

Funniest thing said to me this week: "Jessica stop flirting with my team or I'll effing headbutt you."

Really, Henns? 1. You are crazy. 2. I wasn't flirting with your team.

Anyway, this week has gone by so fast! I have been way busier than usual and have only watched 2 shows off of my DVR. Which usually means a weekend full of relaxing and DVR dates, except that my weekend is already pretty packed too! I need a nap just thinking about it.

I carpooled with Adam to WW where B had a surprise! She somehow tricked Taffs and Bri Bri into coming for a bit after their work get together. Bri basically looked like he was being held hostage, and I'm pretty sure he was going to stab someone with a beer bottle if we tried one more time to get him on the dance floor. And Taffs almost got kidnapped by some guy that didn't ask her to dance, so much as he grabbed her, took her out there, and held her hostage for 4 songs.

I wore my boots out for the first time. It was def an adjustment. I do prefer dancing in heels if it didn't jack up my joints so bad, but these will have to work. I did notice that I stepped on Adam & Croc, but I figure I'll become one with them and adjust. Whatevs. Adam finally busted out the pretzel and he said I did a good job. Yay me! One step closer to becoming a country western dance champ!

But I couldn't seem to get it down with Croc...need.more.practice. Croc likes to kinda dance in circles around the dance floor, and I usually don't mind, but last night I swear we were going hyper speed and I felt like I was going to fall over when we would stop! Must.take.Dramamine.

Best moment of the evening (other than the obvious of me owning the pretzel):
Locking Taffers into the vault.

Back story: A few months ago we had girls night out and this is when heart hand was created. I wish I remembered what was said to start it, but B said something worthy so I extended her half a heart. She didn't understand, so she extended her half heart, but then turned it so we were linked. It cracked me up and made me think of little Lego men.

Me & B

Taffs & I love to dance

Laffy Taffy & Me

*Please excuse our shiny faces, but Houston is just so hot and humid!

Anyway...we have basically been lady dating Taffers for a while now, but last night we did the heart hand ritual and officially locked her into the BJ Vault. There's no escaping us now...or we'll find you (in creepy Wedding Crasher's Voice). The guys all looked at us like we were crazy, which we are, so I guess it's ok.

Taff, Me, B = BJ&T

A Year Ago

Andrew, Timmy, Me

If you know me in real life or started reading before November then you know my brother, Andrew, died last year. (Does it sound too harsh when I say died? I always start with 'passed away,' but I just don't like it).

A year ago today I had no idea it would be the last time I would ever see him or hug him.

I was home for Mom's wedding, it was supposed to be the best time ever. Unfortunately I was like an empty sad shell because Daniel had surprise dumped me the day before I flew home for the festivities. Great timing. Whatever. Andrew said that he would be there, but honestly, I doubted him. He was anything but reliable, but he shocked me by showing up for the rehearsal AND the wedding.

He showed up at the rehearsal looking like a hoodlum. I feel like he did that for shock value which drove me crazy. At the dinner I was sitting at Mom's table, I think Marshall was on the other end of it, and Andrew was sat at the next table with Grandma & Papa. He shocked me again when he wanted to sit with us. He pulled up a chair, actually interacted with us, and we had a great time.

It was unexpected just how excited Andrew was that Mom was getting married. When we were getting ready he wanted to hang out in the girls room instead of with the guys. During the vows he even started to cry so he made Marshall laugh to distract him. Mom was happy to have all of her kids there and happy, so she didn't get irritated with that, but you know I gave them both the stink eye.

Cracking jokes during the wedding. (Baby brother Marshall & Andrew)

This picture was actually Andrew's idea. (Marshall, Mom, Andrew)

The next day Andrew and I went to lunch at Dad's house (Marsh was being too lazy to get up and go with us). It was the first time I had been there to see Andrew's new car and his new dog Timmy. Andrew was so excited to drive us over to Dad's. We talked about music, life in Houston, his job, and he tried to race someone (I was scared to death). We had a wonderful lunch where we talked for hours (well, really they talked, I was still reeling from the shock of the breakup and the dread of going home to the apartment I shared with Daniel that night. Oh, and I was bringing Marshall back to stay for spring break. Michelle asked me if I was sick because I was acting funny and looked extra pale.)

Andrew, Dad, Me

When we got back to Grandma's house, Andrew was leaving to probably hang out with friends and he almost left without saying goodbye. I went and grabbed him and made sure to get a hug because I thought I wouldn't see him again until Christmas. If only I had realized I would never see him again at all, then I would have hung on more awkwardly long than I already had.

Literally the last moments we had together.

Obviously this been a hard situation for me, my family, his friends - everyone. It feels like it's getting better and worse at the same time, if that's even possible.

When it happened tons of people reached out immediately and sent me encouraging messages, and every now and then I'll still get a random one. I tried to respond to most of them, but if I missed one, I just want you to know that I really appreciated everything you had to say.

Recently Alyssen sent me a message. I have known Alyssen since I moved to Canyon in 4th grade. We were never really friends more of acquaintances I guess. In fact, I really can't remember us interacting much during our school years. I know that sounds rude, but I promise that's not my intent. We went to a somewhat small school so everyone knows everyone, we just didn't hang out with the same people is all. I always thought she was nice, and she has the most adorable daughters now (yes, my name is Jessica, and I'm a facebook stalker), but we just didn't really have the opportunity to get to know each other.

Anyway, back in February she sent me a message and it was just so nice. It really meant a lot and came at a time when I really needed it. I wish I could fully express in words how much it meant to me, but I can't seem to find anything that would cover it. She had lost her brother about 7 years ago, so she wrote me how it gets better and she commented on the dreams since I had previously posted about that. It was good to get some encouragement for someone that has dealt with loss first hand.

It's just amazing to me, in the best way, how when shit things happen that people you hardly know are there to help you through it. So thank you to everyone (family, friends, and acquaintances) that has been there, you will never fully know the impact you kindness has had on me.

The Ultimate Goal Is A Back Flip Off The Pole

Whaaaa????

Adam, you be talking loco, but I like it!

When I got home from the gym B and Adam were having dance practice in our living room! I can't believe I forgot that he was coming over for this.

He taught me the pretzel and we worked on the flip.Oh, the flip.

*flashback time*

My Jr. year in high school is the first time I encountered the flip. Seth was my partner for the guy/girl pep rally, and apparently had no strength whatsoever (sorry Seth, but it must be true if you can't life a 120lb girl)! He dropped me mid flip so many times that I'm surprised I'm not seriously more damaged. I was traumatized for life! The next year I asked Lance to be my partner. He was basically everything that a partner should be: super cute and strong. He flipped me and threw me in the air with little to no effort. It was the best.time.ever! It was so nice to finally have a sturdy guy to flip me without dropping me on my head!

I don't have pictures of the flip, so these'll have to do.

Me & Lance. Best Partner Ever.

Partners in the back: Mikal, Robert, Matt, Lance, Travis, Jason, Luka, & Hubbel
Sr. cheer girls in the front. Role Call: Shanna, Lindsay, Me, Ashlee, Kara.

Well, it's been almost 8 years since then, so now I'm super nervous to do that kinds of stuff. When I was first talking to Adam about the flip I had to make sure he was aware that I weight probably 30-40 lbs more than B, so it was going to be an adjustment. I really figure that I could have told him I weighed 300lbs and he would have been like, yeah, sure, no problem...as he flips me onto my head. But I decided to trust Adam, and he actually flipped me with no problem...other than my body not wanting to act right. On the last flip we did, my body tried to spin out of it and I almost kicked him in the head. I honestly don't even know how that happened. But I told Adam that I'm more than willing to learn whatever he requires as long as he'll work with me on it and keep taking us to WW.
I told Adam I wasn't ready to level up, so we stuck with the pretzel. B couldn't help but laugh at me. She said my expressions were funny and that I looked like a ballerina since I was on my toes. My facials go through a few stages: concentration, joy (when I'm getting it right), then so much happiness that I start laughin (and messing up).

We were looking up video's for some more moves when we came across this:

And I fell in love! I told Adam that this was the new goal...along with the back flip, I suppose.

Breakupiversary

A year ago Daniel surprise broke up with me. At this point it's just tomato, tomatoh. (I'm over the bitterness and anger about 99.99% of the time).

When we were dating we didn't really do the whole gift thing on the anniversary. I think that was even my idea. It's just too much pressure, and I preferred to have some of his time instead of something that sparkled. Oh, but I do love flowers, and that totally doesn't count as a real gift...future reference to my future boyfriend.

Anyway, now that it's a breakupiversary I decided to celebrate with gifts for myself...mostly because I spend enough time with me as it is, so I didn't really need any more of that...and I was already buying this stuff anyway, so I decided to make an occasion about it.

In honor of this, I even sent Daniel a gift request. He rejected that and probably thinks I'm crazy - I prefer the term eccentric. We maintain a friendship of sorts, so it's really not that crazy for me to ask him for things. What I mean by that is we still talk, so I'm not calling him out of the blue asking for stuff. In fact, this is probably the most normal request I've made yet. The others included ex-girlfriend support, him paying off my student loans (this was part of our together forever plan, so I was trying to work it into the breakup settlement), paying off my car (why not?), etc. I just figure that the answer is always 'no' if you don't ask, so why not ask anyway to try and get a yes? (I also do this with my Dad sometimes...I don't know why he won't agree to send me daughter support so I don't have to work? Don't be so selfish with your hard earned money, Dad!)

At first B was looking at me like I'm crazy. But then she loved the idea and I think she's going to celebrate her noniversary (another event that I celebrated back in July) by buying herself presents too!

This day also marks my 2 month anniversary at my new job and B and I are still loving working together! (I haven't seen you in 10 minutes!)

Don't worry, I won't always celebrate this anniversary, and I do hope to have real anniversaries someday...sooner than later.
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Do you try to turn any occasion into a celebration? Or is that just me?

On a scale from 0 to Lindsay Lohan, where do you think I rank with the crazy?

Fair Food - Fried Obesity

We kicked off the Houston rodeo with Go Texan Day at work. Basically you just dress like a cowboy/Texan. It was so weird walking through the tunnel at lunch because the majority of the people were wearing cowboy boots and looked a little country. Love it! I was super glad I finally caved and got boots so I fit right in.

That night I went to the cook off with S+J (sister wives date?). S had tickets for Club No-Minor. We cabed it over to Reliant because Parking was a hot mess that we didn't want to deal with. The BBQ was pretty good. The sausage was spicy, but delicious, and the brisket was pretty legit too. Jes wore high heeled boots (my fave of hers) so her feet tired pretty quickly. Since there were hardly any chairs, we ended up just sitting on the ground in the corner. Yes, we do like to keep it classy.

Eventually S helped us hunt down the fried food! He said that I would have to ride the spinny ride that made me cry last time in order to get the food, but I'm glad he didn't enforce that. I really do like roller coasters and rides that go upside down, but not at the fair. Fair rides make me feel like I'm going to die, and death by fair ride is not how I want to go out.

While I waited in line with Steven, Jes decided to go reserve us a table.

NBD - just VIP at the fair.

We ended up getting fried Fruity Pebbles, cookie dough, Reese's, and Oreo's. I was prepared to have my world rocked by the awesomness...but I wasn't. Turns out I'm not impressed by the ability to fry anything you can think of. Maybe if the batter wasn't so thick it would have been better? But I doubt it. At least I can now say that I've had it...even though I wasn't in love.

What do you think about fair food? Love it? Hate it? Gotta have it?

Did I Get Friend Dumped And You Forgot To Tell Me?

I hadn't seen Jes since last Wednesday. LAST WEDNESDAY!

That's really long for us because we usually spend M-TR night together at the gym.

I figured she'd skip Monday because it was her first year anniversary with the hubbs. So I emailed her about it and she didn't respond.

She's a lot slower with the response these days because she's busy living the dream of a stay at home Jes. (How did she jack my life?)

When I hadn't heard from her by Wednesday morning I was starting to think she friend dumped me without notifying me. Please just call me the paranoid parrot. I started to rethink our last few convos, had I done something wrong? Had I become a toxic friend? Impossible since I often peer pressure her into more cardio and not bad habits. Then I was thinking about how that could be awkward since we are on a couples gym membership (we aren't playin with this sister wife thing) together.

Luckily she emailed me late Wednesday afternoon. Crisis averted! She'd just been busy since she had family in town. Unnecessary panic = my life.

So we Pumped it out, then I was invited to come over for Wedding cake Thursday night.

Thursday after some quality time at the gym S took us to dinner at freebirds, then home to eat wedding cake, watch New Girl, and watch their wedding video (my idea). Check out the video preview here. It's so good and brings me to tears every time.

The cake was good! I missed out on it the first time because my wedding date made us leave early. But I felt redeemed finally having some!

"When Did This Become A Double Date"

Having Adam as a neighbor is the best thing to ever happen to us.

He's so useful for many things, including:

• Two steppin.
• Grilling
• dancing lessons.
• Valentine's chocolate & funny cards
• Picking up our packages from the apartment since we don't get off work until the office is already closed
• all around laughs

We have def started to use this friendship, nicknamed BJ's Company, to it's full potential by adding Sunday night grilling to the lineup of activities.

Adam the grill master

I'm so glad that Adam has the patience to work the charcoal for us! I can work the propane like nobodies business, but I tap out when it comes to charcoal.

Croc & Adam grilling action shot.

Carlyle Twilight Carlilly Croc came over too. He reminds me of some of Daniel's engineering friends from college. And he was an Eagle Scout...not that surprised. He was telling us about how he has a survival kit. I was super excited thinking it might be, you know, in case the zombie apocalypse does happen. Nope. It's in case the economy crashes, and the country goes to crap, or something.

Workin it for the camera

Adam grilled us up a delicious dinner of steak, brawts, asparagus, brussel sprouts, zucchini, and B made a delicious baked potato salad. While I provided a wine bottle with a straw. I offered to add more straws, but they weren't having it.

Keepin it classy with the straw.

We had a great time finally using our dinner table. At times Croc looked a little shocked by the things coming out of our mouths. I guess he doesn't know the rule that by the third friendship date I'm usually comfortable enough to just be myself, which can sometimes be shocking. Oh, and Adam has now been around us enough that when B and I look at each other and start laughing he just tells Croc that we sometimes do that and to just ignore it. Haha, thanks Adam.

Probably my fave meal

The boys were talking about how having us around will help them meet girls because we make them look less threatening instead of like that random creeper without friends. I hated to break it to them, but if girls approach them when we are at Wild West I'm going to tell them to "get off of my man" (no matter who they are talking to) because B and I don't like to deal with stranger danger when we are out. Yep, Croc might officially think I'm cray. And with that he got the official invite to the friendship circle.

In other news:

I spent most of Sunday afternoon with Brittany & Emma (Cole was there for a bit too). I just love Emma. Maybe part of it is because I got to watch her grow in Britt's belly on the daily for her last few months, but I just can't get enough of her. She really brings out my baby fever urges. And it's always good to spend time with Brittany. We talked about her new painting hobby, took Ellie & Emma on a walk (where we got attached by wiener dogs), and made Brit a workout plan. I came up with some pretty good and cheesy (duh, it's me) motivational phrases for her. I wish I would have written them down. And Brittany asked Cole if they can get one of those things to drag a baby behind the bike. She's so funny when she isn't intending to be.

I swear these are laced with crack or something crazy addictive

On my way back to Houston I hunted down some girl scouts at Kroger. I was so excited to find them because I hadn't yet had any of their delicious crack filled cookies this year! I bought 5 boxes. Does that sound a little OTT? It does? Then I probably shouldn't mention that I usually end up buying about 15/season...except for this year. I managed to eat only 2 boxes in 2 days (those tag-a-longs should be illegal!), so I brought the other boxes to share with work...except for the thin mints because I split that pack with B.