allergies.

This has been a really bad year for allergies. Before I left for church camp I went to a drug store to purchase Claritin-D because I had been miserable before Claritin-D and was so happy after I tried it. I took two of the little cards for a package of 10 Claritin-D's to the pharmacist. She happily got my drugs for me and said I was lucky because they were the last two in stock. Nice! But then when she tried to ring up my purchases the register said, "NO! SHE IS CLEARLY A CRYSTAL METH MAKER AND CANNOT HAVE 20 CLARITIN-D'S AT ONE TIME!!" The pharmacist couldn't believe the cash register thought I was into producing crystal meth so she tried it again. The register said, "CAN'T YOU READ? SHE CAN ONLY HAVE 10 AT A TIME! WELL, MAYBE 15 BUT I THINK SHE IS TOO LAZY TO GO BACK TO PICK UP THE CARD FOR THE PACKAGE OF 5 SO WE WILL NEVER KNOW!!" The pharmacist apologized and told me I could have 10. And yes, I was too lazy to go back to get the card for the package of 5. Luckily the pharmacist was super friendly and I didn't have to go off on her. Thank you State of Michigan and your oh so efficient ways of getting those crystal meth labs off the street!

wave.

I have a really really really good friend. She is the kind of friend that comes to Las Vegas to our wedding without even thinking twice even though she has two kids that aren't old enough to stay home alone. She is also the kind of person that won't say "I told you so" when she is right and I am wrong, even after I tell her that it is okay to say "I told you so" and I even show her photos that prove she is right and I am wrong. She doesn't send out emails from my gmail account when I forget to sign out after checking my email on her computer. She doesn't mind when I call and invite myself over. If she knows I'm coming to visit she pulls some cow A out of the freezer and grills me an awesome steak. When I bitch about my week she listens and gives me words of encouragement. She lets her kids call me "aunt" even though we're not related. I don't know what I would do without Joanna.

But it doesn't stop with Joanna. Her sister and brother and parents are also friends of mine. They are all amazing people. Tonight I am feeling grateful that I get to be friends with them.

vacation is over.

I'm home!! I ended up getting home way later than I had planned on! I was supposed to take part in a conference call at 8PM yesterday but didn't get home until around 11PM. Since I have a cell phone I could have participated in the call anyway but all the stuff I needed to know was on my email and I didn't have internet access until I got home. I'm so irresponsible!

Camp was awesome! I had a ton of fun. There were some things that went wrong but I think the good way outdid the bad. Don't worry, I'll be sure to post the bad stuff too. Ha! I have a million photos to organize since the campers gave me their digital camera cards to dump on my computer. The plan is to make photo cds for the kids and send them to them. I was amazed that I didn't see any inappropriate photos until I dumped my own! Such good kids!!

After camp I went to hang out with my family at the cottages they rent for a week every summer. The reason I got home so late was that I was having so much fun with them. I just didn't want to leave! The original plan was to leave right after lunch. After lunch I went and played football and frisbee in the water so planned to leave right before dinner. But my brother grilled some yummy chicken boobs and my mom made some awesome red skin potatoes and my brother-in-law made me a really strong vodka and tonic with lots of lime (yum!!) so I decided I had to stay until after dinner. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun in the sun I forgot to apply sunscreen so I am in major pain today. It hurt to wear clothes so I spent much of today in a muumuu. Yes, I have a muumuu. As a matter of fact, I have 3 or 4 muumuus. And they are all super comfortable because they are size 3X and super soft and light cotton. Perfect for summer sunburn lounging!

Tonight we have tickets to the Tigs vs. Houston Astros game at Comerica. I can't wait because not only have I gone a week without watching baseball, I was without access to baseball standings and general baseball news. Right now there is a tornado warning for the county just south of us so hopefully the weather will be okay and they will play!

Hopefully I'll post photos and stories and stuff sometime soon!!

i survived!

No time to post much now but just wanted to let you all (Joanna) know that I didn't get killed or kill anyone.

vacation.

Tomorrow I head to church camp! I'll wait for you to stop laughing before I continue.

...

Breathe.

...

Don't forget, I was there last summer too.

...

The world didn't end.

...

Okay.

...

Saturday was so much fun! Jesse and I went to Grand Rapids for Jen's and Brian's wedding (aka Biscuits). We went early so we could hang out with Joanna's family. Going to Grand Rapids just wouldn't be right without seeing Joanna and her family!! Of course we had a lovely time with them.

The wedding was very nice. And very punctual. The invite said the wedding was at 3PM and the bride was walking down the aisle at 3:01PM! Awesome... And even better was walking out of the church at 3:35PM which included some mingling time. We headed over to check into our hotel. We ended up staying at a hotel instead of with Joanna or Erica because I didn't want to have to have a designated driver. Of course Joanna graciously offered to get up in the middle of the night to pick our drunk asses up but we didn't want to do that to her! She's so nice! And Erica offered her house even though she and her family weren't even home! She is also so nice!! But we decided to bite the bullet and just stay at the hotel. Turned out that was a good idea. The reception was so much fun. Open bar, good food, got to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen in years! After too many vodka tonics to count we left the reception and went to the bar with a woman I used to work with when I lived in the Grand Rapids area and her husband. Only one vodka tonic there. Then we headed back to the hotel and found the wedding party in the hotel bar. My friend's husband brought me a beer. Yeah. Our room was on the 7th floor and getting there was very tricky. I think having to travel in a moving vehicle would have been very bad. Sunday started out pretty rough. There was no puking involved the entire weekend but damn, getting in the car and driving to Lansing to hang out with my parents for father's day was looking like it was going to suck. Luckily once I got a little food and water in me I felt much better!!

Isn't it nice how I start out writing about church camp and then go straight for the fall-down drunk story??

I'm watching the Tigers play the Brewers. I have to get my baseball fix in before I leave tomorrow and have a week without b aseball. Will I survive? Jesse offered me his XM radio but I decided that wouldn't really go along with the "no electronics" rule at camp. I'm already going to breach that rule by taking my ipod along. It will be very instrumental in falling asleep in the dorm! I hope the air conditioner works this year! Last year Joanna and the kids had to sleep in the men's dorm because it was so hot and the women's dorm a/c was broken! Don't you worry, there weren't any men in there. Were there?

Prince Fielder looks a lot like his dad. Oh Cecil. I miss you. "LEAF!! LEAF!! LEAF!!!" Those were the days!

Have a great week and I'll see you all on Monday or Tuesday next week!

detroit tigers.

As I write this post, the Detroit Tigers have the best record in the major league (43-24). To put things in perspective, in 2003, the Tigers had 43 wins all season. While this is very exciting, I have had a hard time getting excited.

This is the third season that Jesse and I have purchased quarter-season tickets (21 games) and I have really grown to enjoy this team. However, I loved going to the games in 2003 because there was something gratifying about not being a fair-weather fan. I supported the team even though they were the brunt of every joke you can think of. Jesse and I met that summer and he even came to games with me. It also helped that there were approximately two other people there in the crowd so we could sit where ever we wanted. I was sad to see Alan Trammell go after last year. He is a hometown hero and I think we all wanted to see him do good things. I felt like due to injuries we didn't get to see what this team could really do. I am, however, glad that the Tigers staff made decisions based on building a team that can win and we are seeing the effects of those decisions. It took me a long time to admit that this team is better off without Tram. He just didn't seem to have the experience to build this club and Jim Leyland clearly has what it takes. The first two years we bought tickets because if we bought them we would be able to get all-star game tickets. We decided to get them this year too and I am so glad we did.

The list of differences between this year's team and last year's team is long. Leyland has made some some seemingly really strange decisions. But those decisions have worked. For example, a couple weeks ago Carlos Guillen, shortstop, was put in at first base. I was shocked because he has always been a really solid shortstop (when he is healthy). We watched Guillen run around looking like he had no idea what he was doing, trying to field balls when he should have been covering first base. Leyland started Guillen at first base again recently and he did well. Who woulda thunk it?? Yesterday I almost shit myself when Ledezma came in to pitch. He was brought up last year but was really bad and was sent back to Toledo. He was called up again on Wednesday. He struggled but pitched the 8th inning and ended up doing well. I see all these things going on but one of the biggest changes is that this team is having fun. They are clearly working their asses off but they are smiling. They are laughing in the dugout and look like they are just having a ball. Of course winning is more fun than losing but it is like they just woke up and realized that they are good and belong in the major league. They look like they really love baseball.

So with all this wonderful stuff happening with this team, why haven't I really felt excited? Part of me is waiting for it to all fall apart. The numbers are great. We all hoped for a .500 season and they are exceeding that hope. It is just taking a long time for me to realize that this team is solid. And after several years of disappointing records, I am afraid that this is all going to come to a sad end. I guess I just need to celebrate and enjoy this while I can.

Either way, I'll still love the Tigs.

And as I write this, the Tigs are beating the Cubs, 4-0 in the middle of the 2nd.

Go Tigs!!

baseball thursday.

I'm getting ready to go to the Tigers vs. Devil Rays game at 1:05. I'm glad it isn't televised because with my luck Mario and Rod would pick me as their victim to mock for their telecast. And I get to see Zach Miner pitch. Hopefully it will turn out better than last nights game. Which I am sure it will as long as they don't put Todd Jones in the game.

jesse.

The salesman at the Verizon store today was smokin' hot. When I saw him my first thought was, "I'd do him..." and my second thought was, "if I wasn't engaged to Jesse." Then when I got up to the counter and looked at his nametag my third thought was, "It must be my lucky day." That's right friends. His name was Jesse.

so sleepy

Last night I had insomnia...again. I hate not being able to sleep! There is a CD that an A.D.D. website suggested. It has nice calm and relaxing music. I think I might need to try that because this has been happening more and more often. Getting out of bed this morning sucked! But I had to get up because I have things to do. I think I'll go to Ann Arbor because I have to buy shampoo (I go to the Trade Secret store at the mall), TJ Maxx (still haven't spent my birthday gift card from Jesse!) and the Verizon store (shopping for father's day) and then I will stop by my sister's house in Dexter to visit my parents and my niece and nephew. But first I will go for a jog on the treadmill once the allergy meds kick in a little bit.

green-ish thumb

Here are photos of my little garden project:

We'll start with the zinnias, basil and lavendar I planted in pots on the porch steps

Apparently I should have gotten closer because the lavendar and basil look like pots of dirt.

Then we have the strip of garden

At the bottom are the tomato plants and cilantro and marigolds and I realize that you can't see any of that in this photo. Then above that are the phlox I bought and this weekend I put down a ton of mulch. Then above that are the new plants that arrived unexpectedly this weekend. And above that is a crazy, out-of-control rose bush.

Here's a better picture of my little phlox garden.

And here are the two tomato plants I planted in a pot. These are the only two that didn't get cut down by those creepy cutworms. And they are the only ones in Miracle Gro soil. They are a lot bigger than the ones in the little garden and the marigolds also look much more healthy.

I'll try to take better photos when they are bigger!

breaking up is hard to do.

The other day I was thinking about how I will never have to go through the breakup of a relationship again. Isn't that the point of getting married? Well, that and health insurance, of course! I was thinking about how sometimes in past relationships I didn't realize how bad it was until something really obvious happened. For example, I had been dating Brett for 9 months before he gave me pearls for Valentine's Day. Before Valentine's Day I hadn't been feeling great about the relationship and knew it wasn't going to last forever. But on that night, when I opened the little leather box and saw the pearls and saw that he was seriously giving me pearls for a gift, I realized that he didn't know me at all. The worst part was that the relationship was so messed up that I felt compelled to lie and pretend like I loved the pearl necklace. I acted like it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. Before those pearls I had never worn pearls in my life. Never. Ever. I don't have anything against pearls. I know people who love them and wear them and look beautiful in them. I, on the other hand, don't. So we broke up. I don't think I ever told him I hated the pearls. But now they are fun to wear as a joke and I keep them close just in case I need to grab them at the last minute.

That's right. That's the calendar in the kitchen. I am such a bitch.

The other time that sticks out is when I went to meet a man that my friend thought would make a great boyfriend for me. The first time we met he offered me a Michelob Ultra Light beer and I knew it was over before it began.

It's so good to know I don't have to worry about receiving any stupid jewelry or ultra light beer from Jesse!

P.S. It is really hard to write a post about pearl necklaces without it sounding totally dirty!!

ta-da!!!

I did it! I changed the look of my blog!! Just kidding. I didn't do it. Jesse did. But it feels so fresh and new. And it's all white. Just like a virgin bride.

Just like...

Oh shut up.

clean up.

I kind of feel like I need to explain my last post because it doesn't really seem very funny. And it probably isn't. But it was really funny when it happened. I said "Mexico" but I really did mean "Africa" and I didn't realize I said Mexico until Jesse said he thought it was a country. And I was completely sober! Yeah. It still isn't funny.

Saturday wasn't a very good day. I had to go to camp for a training that was for all camp staff. Since I'm going to be the dean I figured I should go. The training was from 1PM-4PM. It takes about 3.5 hours to get to camp so I was going to be in the car for 7 hours for a 3 hour training. I decided to go anyway because it seemed important. Unfortunately, I was very wrong. It wasn't an important training. I was the only person there besides the people that live at the camp. And the training was on conflict resolution but mainly talked about active listening and communication. It was mostly stuff that I train people on! I was pretty pissed but I don't even know who to be pissed at. I talked to my sister, who will also be at camp this summer but wasn't able to attend the training, and she said when she talked to the camp director, they said that they were worried nobody would show up to the training. Then I got really mad because if they knew there was a possibility that nobody would show up, they really should have cancelled it. I wasted my day and a tank of fuel to attend a training that I could have presented myself. On my way home I stopped at my parents house. They ended up making dinner for me and I hung out with them for a long time. I was supposed to come back to hang out with friends but I was so tired and didn't end up getting back to Detroit until after 11.

Julie brought plants for me! She is so nice!! Yesterday Jesse and I spent a lot of time clearing out more weeds so I can plant the cherry tomatoes, peppers and jalapeno peppers. I must not have drank enough water because I ended up getting all dehydrated and almost fainted and then got a migraine. Hopefully I'll finish the planting today! I'll have to post some photos because I also put down a bunch of mulch. It looks so nice! If everything lives then I will have 6 roma tomato plants, at least 3 cherry tomato plants (two types!), a couple jalapeno plants, and a couple green pepper plants. I'm not sure what I will do with all of this produce. Perhaps I will start a Parker St. Farmers Market where I am the only farmer. That would be fun!!

Last night Jesse and I made spritz cookies with my Pampered Chef Cookie Press that I have had for a long time but never got around to using. Due to my headache and subsequent "medicine" I wasn't able to read the directions correctly so the cookies looked kind of funny. Apparently you have to click twice for the first cookie and then once for the rest of them. I didn't read the last part so we were clicking twice for all of them. Ooops. But they taste good!

I need to change the look of my blog. I don't like the black anymore. But I can't change it until Jesse gets home because I added some code stuff and if I change templates everything I added gets erased. And really, we all know that when I wrote "I added some code stuff" I really mean, "Jesse told me what to write" and he probably actually just did it for me. He's so good to me!

Time to finish cleaning the kitchen...

who let the retard in?

Conversation that may or may not have been overheard at my house tonight (names have been changed to may or maybe not protect the innocent).

Besse: Where is Angola?
Ben: Mexico?
Besse: I don't think so. I think it's a country.
Ben: Oh. Did I say Mexico? Because I meant Africa.

school junk

This morning I had an interview at my field placement for my school internship. I had never heard of the agency and wasn't sure what to expect. I met with the director of the agency and she was very friendly and easy to talk to. It's a really small agency, I think she said 15 employees total and that includes some contractual therapists. I will be working with families and doing some administrative stuff and working closely with the director. I have high hopes for this internship and hope that it works out well. Unfortunately I don't think I am good at gauging how these things will work. I was super excited for my job at the agency I just left and look at how that turned out.

i'm a little bit slow.

I have been looking forward to 6/6/06 for a long time and I completely missed it. Since I don't have any reason to know the date anymore it just passed me by. So what happened? Did I miss anything? Did the world end? Shit!

I think I'm sick. I've had allergy problems for the past month or maybe longer but I think I'm sick now. It sucks to not be able to tell the difference! Well, there is a difference. I'm feeling like I have absolutely no energy. That's why I think I'm sick. When it's just allergies I can go for a jog on the treadmill. Right now I feel like walking to the kitchen to make chicken noodle soup is a huge undertaking. I was going to mow the lawn today. Maybe that's why I feel sick.

happy june!

All is well on Parker St. The tomato plants are all still around. I think. I haven't checked them yet this morning! This morning I am sitting around waiting for the Claritin to kick in so I can run on the treadmill without having to sneeze and blow my nose every few minutes. I've been waiting for almost an hour so hopefully I'll be able to breathe soon!

Saturday morning Jesse and I went and finished one of our wedding registries. It sucked but I'm glad it's done. Now we just have one more to finish...

Saturday afternoon I went to Ikea with Erica. We thought we were special because the store doesn't officially open until June 7. We weren't special. There were a bzillion people there and they were all in my way! Luckily I took Ritalin and didn't kill anyone. I bought some fun stuff. Maybe sometime I'll take photos. I am embarrassed to admit that I had never been to an Ikea store before. It only took one trip to hook me forever. Jesse and I are going to go back and pick out office furniture and bedroom furniture and tons of fun stuff. Not sure when we're going to actually buy stuff because we're a one income household now. Ikea is cheap but we need lots of stuff!!

I hate allergies!!!