Happy Dance Time...It's Friday!

I'm so happy it's Friday that if I was still young enough, I might do a back flip (who am I kidding, even when I was young, I couldn't do a back flip). I'm very excited about this weekend. My niece Alice is coming to town for a visit (we are close in age, so it's almost like we are sisters or cousins, instead of niece and aunt). For regular readers of my blog, she is the mother of "C" and "E" (go here for pictures of them). : )

Tonight we have plans to go see the first place Texas Rangers (I love saying that) at The Ballpark and tomorrow night we are going to see Rascal Flatts (insert teenage girl **sigh**, **squeal** and **happy dance** here). We actually saw them together about 4 years ago. I know she is looking forward to a "get away weekend". Her husband is staying home with the kids to have a "guys weekend" (and with a 23 month old and a 9 month old, I'm sure it won't get too out of control!) ;)

Me and Alice at Rascal Flatts in 2006

I don't know how many of you have seen the Youtube videos of Tillman, the skateboarding Bulldog, but I think I've decided along with Pugs, I want a Bulldog. He is too cute!!

It's Five Question Friday Time!! Welcome to all new visitors! Thanks for stopping by!

1. What were your school colors?

I'm assuming you mean high school. They were blue and gray. My junior high colors were purple and gray. Oh, and my college colors were purple, white and gold.

2. What's the best compliment you ever received?

I had someone tell me one time that they could see God's love shining in me by my friendships and the way I treat other people with care and kindness. WOW. The ULTIMATE compliment in my book. :) I'll be honest. I can think of many times where I don't have "love and kindness" in my heart when dealing with people (usually while I'm driving-rush hour is never fun). It makes me want to strive to not only have that kindness all the time, but to be able to show it.

3. Do you buy cheap or expensive toilet paper?

My close friends know that I have no problems going with generic brands of products in order to save some money, but toilet paper is one of those items where that is NOT the case. My freshman year of college I lived in a dorm with a community bathroom. I don't know what kind of toilet paper they had, but I have no doubt it was in the "sandpaper" family. I'm all about the name brands (I'm partial to Angel Soft and Cottonelle). There are some things worth spending a few extra dollars on!

4. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? Or have you had one for someone else?

I have never had a surprise party thrown for me, but I have thrown a few for other people. When my dad turned 60, we threw him a huge surprise birthday party at our church. We were all surprised my mother was able to keep it a secret (she's a terrible liar- I guess that's not a BAD trait to have). But we pulled it off!

5. What is one material possession that you "can't live without"?

I'm guessing my iPhone. It's amazing. I went YEARS without a cell phone (21 to be exact), then after that, NOT having a phone with me felt weird (my family jokes it's surgically attached to my ear or hand, and sometimes, it feels that way). I finally jumped on the "smart phone" wagon last year and broke down and got an iPhone. Now it's like, what did I do before I had this? It's kinda sad. But now with the ability to update Facebook, update Twitter, check my email, check my blog, play games, check sports scores, watch Youtube videos, how did I live without this?

Have a great weekend y'all!!

Think Happy Thoughts...

The news has been filled with sad stories the past few weeks. I'm not going to go into them, because the focus of my post today is to list people, places and things that make me smile. Things that make me happy (and in some cases, downright giddy). Life might not be a bed of roses all the time, but there is ALWAYS a light at the end of the tunnel. ALWAYS. Life will never get so bad that the sun will refuse to come up the next morning.

First, I am happy that I have a Lord and Savior who loves me, ALL THE TIME. I'll be honest, I'm not loveable all the time, but HE is the one who, despite my mood or attitude, loves me. When the world is a dark place, HE is the light shining through. Second, I am happy that I have a big loving family. For those who know anything about my family, you know there are a lot of us (bonus points if you can match up my nieces and nephews to the correct sibling). And yes, it can be kind of intimidating when we are all together. But we love each other. We might not always get along, but we love each other. We love to talk, we love big meals and we love to hug (not always in that order!) I'm also happy and blessed that God has provided me with some of the greatest friends anyone could ask for. Why on earth ya'll put up with me, I'll never know. But thank you for doing so. XOXO!

Okay, enough being serious and all emotional, I'm wearing mascara, I don't want to get all teary eyed.

My list of some things that make me happy and make me smile (in no particular order):

1. Pugs. You can think they are ugly if you want, but I think they are adorable. I hope to one day have a pug, or two. I will name them Frank and Sammy (after Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr).

2. Baseball. Baseball season is now only 38 days away. Some friends and I got our tickets for the Rangers Opening Day this week. Shout out to my friend Stan for hooking us up with tickets before they went on sale to the general public. Wahoo!

Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers

3. Laughing with friends. A friend and I went to the movies on Wednesday night. There were moments when we were both laughing so hard I thought we would be asked to leave the theater. Some of the laughing was at the movie, some of the laughing was at our commentary of the movie. "Hey look, it's Salty!!" Okay, only my friend Monica will get that one, but trust me, it was funny.

Jarrod "Salty" Saltalamacchia. Monica will get the joke.

And possibly Brandy if she has seen the movie Valentine's Day.

4. That I still smile when I see anything about Steve Avery. Before you say, who?, Steve Avery was a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves back in the 1990s. No relation to James Avery or Sean Avery (please don't ask). Yes, I even loved him during his mullet phase (thankfully it was very brief). Last night at the gym I was on the treadmill and Sportscenter was doing a segment on the Atlanta Braves. They showed footage of the 1995 World Series and Steve Avery was on the screen. I smiled.

Steve's rookie card. One of the 196 Steve Avery cards that I own.

5. That Rascal Flatts is going to be guest starring on CSI next week. My favorite band and favorite TV show, together in one. It's like this episode was made especially for me (okay, I know it wasn't, but let me think that).



6. The Dick Van Dyke Show. In case you are new to my blog, one of my favorite actors of ALL TIME is Mr. Dick Van Dyke. If I've had a bad day, or am just kinda feeling, "blah", I can put in a Dick Van Dyke Show DVD (yes, I own all five seasons) and it will turn my mood around. No matter what episode it is, or how many times I've seen it, it will make me laugh. How can you not laugh watching Rob Petrie trip over an ottoman? I'll just go ahead and admit now that I have the theme song of the show as one of my ringtones on my iPhone. There, I said it!!

7. That in some bizzare universe Tom Welling and Shemar Moore might possibly fight over me. Okay, before you think that I've gone delusional and need professional help, I haven't had a Dr Pepper today and I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night, so give me this one. But think about it ladies, wouldn't that be nice?? Go on admit it, you know you wouldn't mind them fighting over you either!!

 

Tom Welling (l) and Shemar Moore (r).

8. Blue Bell Ice Cream. I don't care what you think, it's the best ice cream EVER. In fact just the other night a pint of Dutch Chocolate Blue Bell was calling my name from my freezer. :) I didn't want to be rude, so I got up to see what it wanted. Remember when you were little and your mom made you put the ice cream in a bowl instead of eating it out of the carton? When you are 31 and single, you don't need a bowl. The pint will do just fine!

  


9. Jim Parsons. He stars on the comedy The Big Bang Theory (Monday nights on CBS). He's so adorkable! I **heart** you Jim (even though you are from Texas and mispronounced Jim Bowie's name in that one episode- I have forgiven you and moved on)!



10. Chick Fil A. I've said it before, I'll say it again, it's like manna from heaven!!

11. That Ricky Schroder is still as adorable today as he was back in 1983 when he became my official first crush. And yes, he is going by Ricky again. He was ALWAYS Ricky to me! :)

12. That I get off work at 11:30 today. I have a new schedule at work. I work 8a-5p four days a week, and then either Thursday or Friday (depending on what month, my friend Kelly and I rotate), I only work 8a-11:30a. Thank goodness for flex days!! And today I get to have lunch with my wonderful friend who always finds a way to make me smile! Muah!! XOXO!