Life in Review...

It seems I've been either too busy or too boring to blog. Here's a rundown of what's happened since I posted that cute picture of Brenna. :)

Tuesday was Cinco De Mayo. I met the Tuesday dinner crowd for, well...dinner. We ate at Hooper's. Didn't think we'd get near a Mexican restaurant.

Wednesday was choir practice. FAIL. I'm not even going to get started on that. SO aggravating.

Thursday we had pre-Mother's Day dinner at Meredith's (sausage casserole-YUM!) and then I went back home to watch Thursday night tv and make a cake. I am pretty sure the writers of my favorite shows are trying to put me in an early grave. Bones...Booth has a brain tumor?!?!? Are you kidding me with that?!?! Writing. Fail. Grey's Anatomy....tease me all week with Meredith and Derek's wedding and then they don't get married?!? Fail. Ok, yeah it's real sweet that Izzie is dying and all, but still. Season Finales of my two favorite shows this Thursday. I'm probably going to need a valium.

Friday night, G and I went out for dinner. We switched things up and went to Firebonz instead of going out for Mexican. It would have been lovely if not for the unruly children at the table next to us. Seriously. Why can't parents control their children? Or at least pretend like they're trying?!?

Saturday. Stupid. It was my first cake-free Saturday since February, I believe. And I had to go to Chester to the Spring Carnival at school. Four hours of sno-cone scooping. UGH. But then I got a new phone. The poor pink Razr had seen better days. The screen was cracked, the 5 button rarely worked, it wouldn't hold a charge...Phone. Fail. Mom and I got Blackberries. Mine is pink. I love it. Phone. Success. :) Saturday night I went over to check out the new porch decor at the O'Neill residence. Lovely!

Sunday. Hooray for Mother's Day! I love my mom. :) Bestest. Mom. Ever. We did the church thing,, had a quick snack, and I went to take care of Sadie. Then we went to Lancaster for the larger family celebration. Hoppy cooked burgers on the grill (Go Hop!), Kathy made some potatoes and baked beans (Yay, Kathy!), there was some corn on the cob that I didn't eat, Katie and I went to KFC and got slaw (Hooray for us!), and there were several yummy desserts. It was a great time with the family!! :)

There. Now you're all caught up. :) I'll try to be more interesting or at least do better with the blogging...

Hands

Weekend Recap

It's May already. Seriously.

I thought I'd do a quick blog about the weekend. It wasn't a particularly exciting weekend, but I haven't blogged in a week and thought I should.

Friday: I came home from school and decorated Tracey's birthday cake. Then I met her to give it to her. I came back home and decorated a cake for my sister to take to a baby shower on Saturday. I was decorating at warp speed so I could reclaim my life. :) I got the crumb coat on an anniversary cake and then stopped to get cleaned up. Then, I had a very yummy dinner and a lovely evening at El Cancun. :)

Saturday: I woke up super early to finish the anniversary cake and then I drove it to Lancaster. I picked Katie up at GMA's so she could ride with me to the party location. Thanks, Kate. :) I set up the cake and the people were happy. Yay! :) I spent some time hanging with the grandparents. Kathy, Bobby, and I went to the Wheel Inn for lunch. YUM. We also went to the SnoBiz for snocones. Again, YUM. Katie gave me the Avenue Q soundtrack and I nearly choked to death laughing on the way home. Again, thanks, Kate! :) Saturday night was low key. I stayed home in my pjs watching movies. Rent, Nights in Rodanthe, Dirty Dancing. I seriously do not know why Nicholas Sparks has to be so depressing...

Sunday: Church. I had lunch with Meredith, Colin, and Brenna. YUMMY burger at the Hickory Tavern. Then we shopped. I bought four pairs of shoes at Old Navy and only paid $9.83!! You gotta love sales and gift cards! Then Rack Room and Super Target!! I love Super Target. :)

I am now ending my weekend the same way it began. Baking cake. *Sigh*

Music and People Who Love You Make It All Better

Wow. Last week was seriously the worst week EVER. I won't go into detail because you never know who is reading these things, but seriously. Week. FAIL. By Friday afternoon, I was in such a bad mood I was ready to punch somebody in the head. Literally.

When I got home Friday afternoon, I took a nap with Sadie. Step One to healing. I love that dog. Seriously.

Friday night, I had a super yummy dinner (Mexican!!) and a great evening! (Thanks, G!) Step Two. Definitely starting to feel better.

Saturday, I went with Jilly and Chris to the lake. Step Three. The Elks were having a fishing tournament and it was lovely to sit by the lake with friends and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Sunday, I went to church with my family. Several good friends were there to tell me that they love me and are there for support. Lunch at Mom and Dad's is always good for what ails you. I got to hang with Colin and sweet little Brenna, who has finally decided that she loves me. It only took some cake and a few milkshakes. ;)

Sunday night, I went to see Legally Blonde: The Musical!!!! :) Definitely feeling better! I met Kathy, Katie, Katie's friends Brett and Sara Ashley, and SA's mom at Ruby Tuesday for dinner. SLOW. SLOW. SLOOOOOOW people. Then we headed off for Ovens.

Omigod, omigod you guys! What a great show!! The cast was great. I love going to shows. :)

When it was over, we went to the stage door to greet the cast as they came out. They were all so nice! Here are some pics from the stage door:

Me, Brett, Katie, and Sara Ashley at the stage door!

Sara Ashley, Becky Gulsvig (Elle Woods), and Katie. She signed autographs with a pink pen. :)

Me with D. B. Bonds (Emmett Forrest) He had a lovely voice!! And as Kathy said, "That's not all that was lovely!"

Girls' Night! Woo!

Yay! Krystle, Tara, and I had a girls' night out on Friday night! They left their husbands at home. I left Sadie at home. Heehee. It was SO fun!! :)

We met at Tequila for dinner. They had chicken quesadillas and I had chicken fajita nachos. SO GOOD!! I love the food there. Yummy!!

Then we headed over to the Longbranch to see the Truckstop Preachers. It was Tara's first TSP experience. Heehee. It's hard to prepare people for the boys...I think she loved it. :) Tara and I did some Wii bowling too. They've got the big projection screens on both sides of the room. She beat me most of the time. :(

It was a super fun night! Here are some pictures:

The boys. Yes, Nathan has a deer on his head...

Girls' Night--Woo!

Glenn came over to say hey.

Zoo!!!!! :)

Yay! Friday we went to the zoo!!! Corey, Meredith, Colin, Brenna, and me!! :) It was Brenna's first time. I love the zoo.

First stop at the zoo, the bears. I think Brenna liked them. She giggled. Then we walked over to the creepy bird place. I stayed on the little bridge while everyone else went up close to them so Colin could read the signs. OK, so maybe it is an irrational fear. Maybe it's ridiculous that I'm terrified of birds that are clearly contained in their little zoo habitats. I accept that it's kinda goofy. But rather than place myself in the path of an anxiety attack, I just stayed on the bridge. Then we headed over to the sea lion habitat. It was almost time for the show, so we hung out there for a bit. Zuma was waiting very patiently for his trainers to come out. It was very cute. When the show started, Zuma was very cool doing all of his tricks. I like that the keepers at Riverbanks work with the animals so much to keep them stimulated. Here's Zuma working it for the crowd:

After the show, we paused for a diaper/potty break. Actually, I went to hang out with the flamingos while everyone else took a diaper/potty break. I was trying to get new/more pictures for my bathroom, but didn't really get any that I like any more than the ones that are already in there. I did get to see some pretty fun flamingo fighting though. Heehee.

Moving right along, we tried to see the gorillas, but they weren't out. Gorilla. Fail. We moved on through the small animal tunnel where the cute little monkey like creatures hang out. And oh yeah, the bats. Eep! (Yes, I know...another irrational fear. So sue me.) Outside the tunnel, Aunt Steppy started to get excited. The elephants were right around the corner. :D



After a brief stop at the meerkats (SO CUTE!), we were in my favorite spot in the zoo. The elephants! Happy day! All four girls were out. They're so pretty.

We stopped for a minute at the baby elephant statue for pictures. Brenna wouldn't let me hold her long enough for a picture, so it was just me and Colin. He's getting so big. Not at all the tiny little dude I had my picture made with in this exact spot just a few short years ago. *Sigh*

Next up, the giraffes. There is a new baby giraffe at Riverbanks. Absolutely adorable.

We cruised past the zebras and ostriches and the alligator, who, contrary to the opinion of the genius parent who was talking to his kid was, indeed, quite real, and made our way to the Riverbanks Farm to see the goats, cow, owls (ick!), bunnies, and the llama. I don't know why the llama is on the farm. Whatever. Then it was on to the psycho monkeys. One of them was SO loud. They're super funny to watch, swinging around and looking mad at everyone. Heehee. Silly monkeys.

We headed around to the koalas. Thankfully the lorikeet feeding place was closed for the day. That seriously creeps me out. All of those birds flying around your head and sitting on you and stuff. TERRIFYING! Ugh. The koalas were super cute as usual. They were sleeping when we went in but their keeper came in and they woke up! They're never awake!!! It was very exciting. Of course, my camera chose that exact moment for the batteries to die. Camera. Fail. Anyway, here's a sleeping koala...

Apparently it was naptime at the zoo. Most of the next animals were asleep. The tiger was asleep. Most of the lions were asleep. The hyenas were asleep. Whatever. Brenna, Meredith, and I waited very patiently (mostly) while Colin and Corey went into the reptile/aquarium complex. They were in there forever... Then it was on to the Birdhouse. Not my favorite place, but that's where the penguins live. They're so cute. It was hard to get good pictures of them though because the glass was so dirty! Boo!

Last animal stop: the lemurs. Also hard to photograph. Then it was gift shop time and out!

We had a great day at the zoo!!! I'm so glad Meredith and Corey let me tag along on these adventures!! :)

Reason #83372837481724 Why I Love This Dog...

She watched Gone With the Wind with me last night. :)