Trunk-or-Treat

It has been a while since I've blogged... I have had A LOT going on with work and church and stuff. This weekend was Trunk-or-Treat a church. The 20-somethings (our Sunday School class...we don't have a name yet) went above and beyond: we didn't decorate a trunk...we decorated a whole TRAILER!
Our theme was "Made in the 80s" because we all were...funny huh?

Side note: I mentioned to my mom that we talked about putting our pictures on a poster and writing "made in..." Mine would say "Made in 1986" She said, "Actually, you were made in 1985" GROOOOOOOSSS. While, I know it take 9 months to make a baby, I find it quite disturbing to think about when exactly I was made.


Anyways, so we decorated the trailer really cute! I worked FOREVER on the Pacman wall. I think it turned out pretty amazing.





We were so proud of ourselves! In the end, we were crowned "Adult's Choice!" woo hoo! We are supposed to be in the newspaper sometime this week! I freakin LOVE the 20-Somethings. They are a BLAST. They make being in Slidell so much more enjoyable!

I'm officially a "grown-up"

I started my job a few weeks ago at Easter Seals in Covington, LA. I love it! It is a lot of work...paperwork, very specific details and such. The people I work with are wonderful. The office is filled with 36 women and 1 man. It is really like a family. It is pretty great!

The first week I worked there, I was really shy for some reason. I guess I was a bit overwhelmed. I left for lunch everyday to avoid the breakroom (sad I know). I have since gotten over my shyness and look forward to lunch each day. I work in an area of the office with 6 cubicles for us "newbies." We are all learning the ropes together. I am the youngest person in the office (go figure...I'm fresh out of college), and I feel like I have something to prove. Although it is a very relaxed atmosphere (most people wear jeans and flip flops), I have tried to dress professionally on a regular basis. I know that dressing professionally does not make up for my lack of experience, but it kind of makes me feel a little better about the situation. I don't know why.

The other day, my boss called me in her office freaking out. She wanted to confirm my birthday for some paperwork. She thought there was an error in the year. I told her no...I was born in 1986. She said "that makes you 22. I am old enough to be your mother!" I did not believe this because she looks so young! Anyways, I did not realize that I had gone so long age-unnoticed. I have now been outed. Hopefully they won't hold that against me... haha.

Overall, it has been a great experience working for Easter Seals. I love the encouraging environment! However, I do hope to go back to school part-time starting in the spring! I'm pretty excited about that! That is prettymuch all that is happening in my life right now. I just wanted to post a little update...although I know hardly anyone reads this! Laters

The House Bunny Scandal

My rant for the day…

When I was watching the preview of The House Bunny, I noticed some familiar rose colored Greek letters: Phi Iota Mu...very similar to my own Greek affiliation, Phi Mu. In researching online, I found that the Phi Iota Mu sisters are portrayed as the villains of the plot. There is another sorority who has denounced the movie: Zeta Tau Alpha. ZTA is blatantly referenced throughout the movie. The main reference evident in the preview is that the sorority house has the turquoise letters ZTA hung above the door frame (the “E” is missing to spell out "Zeta" for the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority).

You will see the ZTA letters on the house around 50 second mark. Check out the preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVL5Mfgw7Pw

I believe that we should be able to have a sense of humor about Greek life, and I admit that I do enjoy fictional Greek themed movies and TV shows because they are sometimes accurate but often over the top and mostly exaggerated. However, having sorority and fraternity names that are directly linked to those that truly exist is taking it a bit too far. With the movie The House Bunny, Sony Pictures is making a direct attack on specific sororities and not making a joke of Greek life in general. The Greek letters, colors, and common titles of these sororities were chosen purposefully. These allusions are intentional, and that is the main issue. While The House Bunny looks like it could be a funny movie, I will not spend my money to support a movie that would purposefully defame the names of two wonderful Fraternities for women. I hope that you will do the same.

Just a little bit of car trouble

Today my engine coolant warning light came on for about a minute. It had come on briefly a few days ago, but I didn't worry about it. When it lit up again today, I called my mom (since I know nothing about cars and with her age comes car wisdom, right???). She told me to wait until she got off of work and she would fix it. I asked her if I should take it to a shop, and she said "no, I can fix it." My mom gets home around 9, and I go outside to get schooled on engine coolant car repair. She gathers a few flash lights and a pitcher of water, opens the engine door, twists open a lid and begins pouring the water in. She says "you see, it isn't that hard." Then she tells me to go inside to get some more water. I come out and she says "I don't need that water. I think I did something bad." I said "what do you mean???" She points to the lid of the compartment that she poured the water in.

FYI: DO NOT add water to compartments whose lids look like this:




Yep, that is the oil compartment...greaaaaat. So, needless to say, my car will be towed in the morning to have this little problem fixed. Thanks for the help, Mom. I learned a lot!

UPDATE:
We have another genuis on our hands. Early this morning, AAA sent a tow truck to come get my car. I explained the situation to the man and told him not to start the car. I stood outside for a few minutes and asked him if he needed any help b/c i figured we would have to put it in neutral and push it. He said no, he did not need any help. I went inside the house and back to bed for a quick nap before I had to get up to get ready for my job interview.

I called the Saturn dealership (which was where we had it shipped to) to check on the status of the repairs this afternoon. They said that the car had been STARTED and the oil/water mixture had passed through the entire engine (or wherever oil goes). Excellent. They have been flushing the lines all day and still cannot get it completely clean. So, this repair is going to cost a pretty penny and I sure hope that there is no permanent damage to my car. My mom called and filed a complaint against the tow truck driver. I doubt anything will come of that. UGH! Why why why?? Like i need this stress in my life!

Also today, my phone decided to die, so I had to go buy a new one. Yeah. Like I have money for that...whatev.

Money, Jobs, and Cardboard Boxes

So, I got a job offer today, and I accepted it. Then, I started thinking logistically. (hate it when i have to do that!) So, the job is in New Orleans and I live in Slidell. Therefore, I will have to pay for gas for commute 5 days a week. Plus, I need somewhere to live. Rent/mortgage if I buy a house will probably run me around $700 a month. After tax deductions, insurance, utilities, and stuff, I will be left with barely enough money to live on. So, after all of that, I don't think that I will be able to take this job afterall.

An option to save rent/mortgage money would be to live at home. The problem is that if I live here too much longer, I think I may go crazy. Seriously. I HATE it. I love my mom, I really do, but she drives me crazy, and I have got to get out of this house!

Another option is to be homeless and live in a cardboard box under the bridge...I dont think I care too much for this option.

It seems yet again, I will trek forward with the job search. This totally sucks because I had started to get so excited. My life is now full of "should haves" like: I should have gone to grad school. I should have majored in something different. I should have accepted that job in Houston. I suppose I can't change any of that now, but I turned down some great opportunities.

What if this is supposed to be a great opportunity? I dont know. Am I making a mistake? I wish that I knew what "the plan" for my life is. For real. I'm not good at this stuff at all.

I do have a job interview scheduled next week and a few job leads. So HOPEFULLY something will work out soon.

Weekend of Leisure

My grandpa has been in the hospital for the last 2 weeks because of heart problems. He was just released to come home on Thursday. My mom volunteered our house for his recovery. I love my grandpa, but I can only stand to be around him in small doses.

Luckily, I was asked to house-sit this weekend (Thursday-Monday)! This gave me an excuse to be out of the house and away from Paw Paw. The Peffley’s are a really great couple in my Sunday School class, and they went out of town this weekend. I stayed in their house to care for their precious golden retriever named Sierra, their fish, and a plant. I enjoyed swimming in their pool and vegging out! Their TV room has a MASSIVE plasma HD widescreen with about a million channels. I watched a whole mess of movies that I have never seen before…it was prettymuch amazing! A weekend of relaxation and leisure...bliss!

Here are the movies I watched as well as my reviews in case you are interested:

*Lucky You- made me wish that I could play poker and hold a poker face

*Over the Hedge-really cute!

*Step Up-pretty freakin AWESOME! I want to see the 2nd one now! Very similar to Save the Last Dance though...

*How I Married My High School Crush (Lifetime movie)- same story line as 13 Going on 30

*Superbad-hilariously inappropriate

*Evan Almightly-not as good as Bruce Almighty, but funny and inspiring nonetheless

*Babel-pretty good. It was very similar to Crash with the whole systems theory storyline. It was a little long for me. I get too A.D.D. with long movies.

*Wild Hogs-really great light hearted movie about male bonding!

*Freedom Writers-LOVED this movie. I fought back tears the whole time--not because it was sad, but because it was just SO moving! It reminded me of when I started working at the LA Methodist Children's Home.

*Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix-pretty good...sadly though, I'm kind of over Harry Potter.

*There's Something About Mary-I have actually never seen this before. What a funny movie! I just LOVE Ben Stiller!

*Becoming Jane-Well Anne Hathaway is one of my FAVORITE actresses...and James McAvoy ::sigh:: he is just SO dreamy! I really want to see Wanted now! This movie was great. I've always wanted to live in that time period! It seems so romantic on film, but I suppose after a few days without air conditioning, I would want to come back to the present.

*Georgia Rule-Lindsay Lohan is pretty annoying, but Dermont Mulroney mmm. mmm. mmm. That lip scar! He's just so gorgeous for an older man! The plot of this movie is MESSED UP! But, it is a touching tale of mother/daughter love throughout the worst of times.

*American Dreamz-Pretty great cast: Mandy Moore, Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid and Chris Klein. Really funny spoof on American Idol! Cheezy but in a good way!

*Batman Begins-Nope, I had not seen this one before either! AMAZING movie! I really want to see the sequel now, but I've heard it is scary so idk!

*Monty Python's The Meaning of Life-funny stuff. gotta love those brits!

*Hanson: The Walk Tour Direct TV Exclusive-WONDERFUL!!! LOVE these guys! They are so talented!

Doug and Liz

Here are a few of Doug and Liz's engagement pictures. It was a really icky day whe we took these, so I didn't get very many that I am satisfied with. Also, Doug makes weird faces (on purpose and naturally) which makes shooting him very difficult. I can say that because he is my brother. lol. We hopefully will get to take some more sometime (the problem is that both of them work all the time and I am now in Slidell). Like I said, I am not all that great. I have a lot to learn about aperature and stuff. I never really grasped it when I was a photog major...haha that was why I changed my major. The film strip to the right was for their save the date cards. It has a film strip and a larger picture of them on it.