Catching up on my blog reading. Unfortunately it is now midnight and I don't have the time nor the ability to keep my eyes open in order to write on my own blog.  Tomorrow...tomorrow...you can wait till tomorrow. It'll be good, I promise.

In the meantime...that damn bird is still kicking my ass in blog followers.   http://frontstreetattackbird.blogspot.com/

March Nablopomo has come to an end.  It was fun getting back into the groove of writing every day and for some reason it wasn't as challenging as it was back in November.  I blogged easily for 30 days. Of course March has 31 days, but I blame that one slip up on the fact that I was so sick and doped up on cold medicine that I totally thought I had blogged, but I must have dreamed it because when I went to blog the following day, there was no post.  Too bad for you, I'm sure a doped up blog post would have been mighty entertaining.

I actually touched a little on this month's theme of "Giving (Up)."  There was the Lenten Promise - giving up swearing.  At this point I go through most days without uttering one bad word or even taking the Lord's name in vain (I sound so religious when I write that).  And with two weeks left until Easter, that gives me plenty of time to come up with more euphemisms.  Today I said, "Holy Cow!" in front of my boss and he gave me the, "Did you really just say that?" face.  Also in my arsenal are words like, Dagnabit, FUDGE!, Holy Cannoli, and Ah Geez (said with a midwestern accent, of course).  Giving up the swearing at the beginning was tough, but I think in the long run I'll start sounding like a demur lady.  Or at least I'll come across as a loud-mouth, sassy, dramatic, wannabe diva who doesn't swear.  I'll go for either I guess.

I also attempted to give up dating for awhile.  I did give up online dating for a good month or so, but as soon as I wrote this follow-up post it was like the dating Gods shined all their light upon me and I started getting asked out on date after date and my Match profile blew up after a month of no one even lazy winking at me.  I have a new date on Friday night with a guy that, at least over the phone, talks more than I do.  And tells longer stories than I do.  Either I'll really enjoy this, or I'll scream at him to shut up by the end of the first course.  And THEN I'll try to give up dating again.

Thanks for sticking with the randomness this month...I promise, I have lots more in me.  I hope you don't think I'm blogging too much about the dating life - unfortunately it's all consuming at times and this is the best place I have to vent my frustrations.  I'm hoping to have a new edition of the grammar nazi soon and as always, there are plenty of Shelby photos to share.

Shout Out! to Miss Sarah Nielson who so deserved a little prize and I was happy to oblige, and then she went and linked to me on her blog.  I heart her blog.  If you traveled over here from Sarah's page, Welcome! and I now Heart you as well...but only if you leave some comment love.
:-)

Totally stole this blog idea from KJ.  Enjoy. THink about doing this on your own blog.

BOLD are things I've done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (Does playing in a marching band or a concert band count?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (DisneyWorld)
8. Climbed a mountain (I suppose...I hiked the Nevada Falls trail in Yosemite.  That must have been equivalant to a mountain.  And I've climbed parts of Mt. Diablo.)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (I don't think this is something I should be proud of)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (no, but I walked around it)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (I think when I was younger, my mom said I could play hooky so we could go visit my grandpa in the hospital getting radiation treatment.  I sat in his room and played Gameboy most of the day.  It's not the best excuse to use a sick day...but I'm a goodie-two shoes.)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (my mom didn't just read that)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (Not sure...I must have, but I don't recall, so I'm leaving unbolded)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (working on it)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (in general)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (check back in with me in May)
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (yes, but I was young and it might have been just a chalk portrait)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (I feel like I must have, but if I have to think about it...maybe I didn't)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (A local community movie...but still...auditioned, casted, acted, had a premiere)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (to myself...probably doesn't count)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (didn't we all do this in school at some point?)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (yes, but I don't remember, I was a toddler)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican (working on it)
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I embarked on the 12 of 12 project back in March, and I surprisingly remembered to take 12 photos on the 12th day of every month except for May.  I blame it on my birthday.  There was just too much to do surrounding my birthday to remember to take photos.  Or maybe I was charging my camera and left it charging when I went to work.  Yeah, that sounds about right.  Anyway, here's a recap of the best of my 12 of 12 (all 9 months).  I'm aiming for all twelve months in 2009.  I encourage all of you to join me - it's FUN!  And check out Chad's blog - he's the reason we do this.



March



April



June



July



August



September



October



November



December

Happy New Year everyone.  Let's hope 2009 rocks a lot harder than 2008.

Most of you are facebookers.  I know I'm new to the FB Scene, but has anyone else discovered the games section called MindJolt?  Holy Canoli.  I could live on that site.  I have been playing mexican train, scarb solitare and other mindless games ALL AFTERNOON when I was supposed to be napping to recover from this cold. 

Hi, I'm Stephanie and I'm addicted to online games.  I started mainly out of curiosity.  Maybe boredom.  It seemed harmless at first, but now it consumes my every moment on my laptop.  Luckily I can't play the games on my blackberry, but if I could, oh man, that would be worse than crack.

Anyway, in order to get back to those games...I mean dinner, yes, i mean dinner, it's 8pm, I need sustenance for more gam....I mean, wrapping.  Christmas present wrapping.  So, I thought you all might enjoy a great little photo NOT from my blog.  Hey, I'm sick, I'm allowed to be lazy.  Plus it's a great photo, and I'm only sharing it because I know all of you have checked out my recent flickr photos.  Right?  RIGHT??  I'm talking to YOU.  Go ahead and check it out.  Right HERE.  I'll wait...

Done?  You sure you saw them all?  There are some good ones.  Feel free to comment too.

OK - here's the greatest little dog on the internetz.  Next to Shelby Roo of course.

Good boy CHUCK.  Courtesy of Dooce.com

I blogged EVERY day for an entire month as part of the Nablopomo group.  They might not have all been long, thought provoking posts (not that I do much of that around here anyway) and most were just a couple of lines and a photo or link, but I DID IT and I'm so glad I did.  The more I blog the more I remember how much I love writing.  That was kind of the whole reason behind starting this thing.  Since I'll never be as famous as Dooce or Blurb or Bossy, the only thing I have going for me here is my writing and hopefully a little wit.  I do hope those of you who read this dribble enjoy it to some extent or least like to procrastinate for a few minutes everyday to read about where I am.

Goodbye November - thanks for keeping it real.

Well, it has been a while since BOSSY started her Poverty Party and this is the first time I've contributed.  So I'm a slacker...I don't think you're really that surprised.  

I finally got my butt in gear around 4pm this afternoon; grabbed my GAP friends and family 30% off card and headed over to Stoneridge to attempt to use it on something I really needed - jeans.  I have two pairs of jeans that I wear most often, one from Lucky Brand and the other is a great pair by Michael Kors that I got on sale at Macy's last summer.  I love both, but the Lucky Brand isn't very work appropriate and sort of a lighter wash, which I don't like.  The MK jeans still look good, but the length is really only good for flats or flipflops and I've been unable to wear cute boots or heels without looking like I'm flooding.  With the cooler weather I thought this would be a great time for me to get new jeans that I can wear more winter-appropriate shoes with.  That's a real reason!!  Thus it must be okay to spend the money.

Sooo, instead of heading to Nordstrom's or Macy's for the more expensive jeans, i head directly to GAP - along with everyone and their mother who also got one of these pretty, green cards:



 I tried on about 10 pairs of jeans and determined that I really needed a 12 regular size, not A (for ankle length?) or L (for long length).  Just R - for Regular.  BUT OF COURSE, they didn't have any 12Rs out on the floor for the pair of jeans that I loved, so when i realized once I was in the dressing room that the other 12 options wouldn't do, I stuck my head out to get the teenage boys' attention to go find a 12R while all the moms in line glared at me.  I can't help it  that they have only a handful of rooms for ALL THE PEOPLE!  Anyway, he came back with what I needed after a minute or so and I loved it, plus I found a second pair that sort of looks like a trouser cut, so that'll be good for casual Friday.  So, for about $98, which is less than what I can get for one pair of jeans from Nordy's, I got two pairs of jeans and with the coupon I ended up saving $38.70.  Whoo! for coming up with a good reason to spend money!

Whaddya think?

 
trouser jeans


regular (or as GAP calls them - the "Essential") jean

Don't judge me by my messy room.

Bossy of www.iambossy.com has revamped her website and started a new section called "The Daily Poverty Party."  You will see a link to that page in my sidebar. Right to the right. Right over there. Ya see it now?

I'm linking to it for two reasons.
1) I've joined her poverty party, which means I'll post every once in awhile about my own struggles with avoiding poverty while still looking stylish. All right, I'm not in poverty, but I do like to shop, and with the current market issues, I should really avoid unnecessary spending or at least shop smartly.  I heard Banana is having a big sale this weekend.  That's a smart time for me to shop, right?  Hello??

2) I couldn't figure out how to put the badge (see below) in my side bar. I got it to peak out from under the border, but couldn't get it to be on top. I messed with my CSS a little bit, but it screwed up my whole design - so I'm just gonna link to the page.   I wish I knew what I was doing...

I'm not saying anything (yet) about the upcoming election, I just really liked this comment from Dooce's recent post in regards to the way Sarah Palin is being portrayed in the media and I didn't know who to share it with, so I'm just posting it as is and ya'll can just take what you want from it.   

But I laughed my ass off.



70. dmc said:

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President. The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.'

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.'

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain. 'You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.'

I want to write a long post. I want to write a good, entertaining, well-thought out post, but my brain and energy are completely drained from my 16-hour day.  I woke up at 5:30am and got home at 10pm.  So I'm off to bed I guess so I can do it all over again.  Augh.  That's depressing.

 Here's something more entertaining:  TREMBLE   ...I read this on my blackberry this morning on the train because my BART rides are starting to be the only times when I have time to do something for myself.

 Jen finished her year long goal to do something new everyday until her 30th birthday.  It's her birthday today, so if you've never heard about her project or checked out her blog, find it HERE.

What's the last new thing you've done recently?  
Me?  I made risotto for the first time ever on Monday night and it was totally delicious!  I actually did learn a few things during my Lenten journey...I'm trying to continue my progress. :-)

...For a variety of reasons. But it's now over and I'm going to sleep. Tomorrow I get to go to my Hike For Discovery informational meeting. Tomorrow is also Ash Wednesday. Guess I'll need to attempt to leave work for a while to go to mass during the day since I'll be at the meeting and unable to attend a mass after work.

For lent this year I'm attempting to refrain from purchasing breakfast, lunch and dinner at restaurants and fast food establishments. I've noticed that I never bring my lunch to work anymore, I don't eat breakfast at home and I'm always too tired or its too late to make dinner at home, so I'm going to the grocery store and stocking up so I have no excuses. Should be an interesting couple of months.

FYI - I no longer have access to any blogs while at work. Stupid firewalls. Another reason to hate today. I don't have great internet access at home. So there will be less posting here and significantly less commenting on friend blogs until I receive my new laptop. This also means no photos on flickr for awhile...not that I've been keeping up with that...

Thanks to Jess for: http://www.peterrussell.com/Odds/RealAge.php

My virtual age is 20.4 and my life expectancy is 80.9.  I am expected to live for another 20,000 days.  Supposedly if I eat better, work out more, drive less and get married I'll lower my virtual age and increase my life expectancy.


On my way to Tahoe for a long work event...could post from my crackberry depending on cell reception, but no promises.  Should be an insanely busy weekend, but hopefully I'll be posting some awesome snow photos when I return.

THIS photo is why women want babies.  Damnit.

My mind is blank for something witty to write about - so here are some blog links of websites I like to read that you might find more enjoyable today.

This is Brian's Website - he recently posted after moving away to Texas and falling off the face of the earth. I'm glad he's back online and he has just posted photos of his new nephew, Kolbe. 

This is a new blog I just started reading.  It's called In the New and it's about a girl in NY that decided to do something new everyday for one year starting on her 30th birthday.  She's pretty quirky - I like it.

During my lunch "breaks" I like to read Waiterrant; a waiter's account of what it's like to serve the masses.  Although he recently quit his serving job at a Bistro in order to finish his novel, he's still coming up with some very well-written posts.  

And my three staples - Dooce, Mighty Girl and Pioneer Woman.  I can't get through a day without them and I've started to become one of those crazed fans who gets all annoyed when they don't post or take forever (you know, longer than a day) for an update.  I've always been a soap opera addict - this is just as addicting.

I have many more that I read on a regular basis, but I don't want you to discover too many great blogs and stop reading MINE!  haha.  Happy Tuesday!

 

http://mightygirl.com/

Take a look at her daily photo from her recent B-day party. Too much fun. I'm so jealous.

Ohmygod - She's just ridiculously adorable and Dooce writes about her so well.  I laugh, I cry, I forward to co-workers, and now, I post about them.

Happy Tuesday!

http://www.thingsmyboyfriendsays.com/index.html

thanks to www.Dooce.com for linking to it.