Seeing that April and I are on Spring Break, and Janelle has some free time on her hands, we decided to go EXPLORING. "Pashal Pashal" as my parents called it when we were younger. Whether it be going to the mall or visiting a museum... pashal pashal always meant something fun and discovering something new. First stop... OLVERA STREET!

Since it was April and Janelle's first time over there, it was exciting to take them around. We had some TO-DIE-FOR Mexican food and window shopped to our heart's content. Now I know that if I EVER need a Mexican Wrestling Mask (think Strongbad) and leather whips... Olvera Street is the place to go. They also have a Blessing of the Animals in the square sometime next month, so I want to go back and bring Penelope with me. :)

Actually one of my most favorite "eye candy" in LA is Union Station. About 3 years when I walked in there for the first time, I absolutely fell in love with it.... not to mention they had one of the grand hallways set up for a wedding. It was then and there when declared it as THE place that I wanted to get married at. Ahhh... to be young and romantic. Then I later learned how much the actual cost of renting it was... Um. Yeah. Nonetheless, its still gorgeous and a terrific place to sit and just absorb the surroundings.





From Union Station, we took the Redline over to Hollywood and Highland to play "tourist." At least with the LA subway, the possibilities of getting lost are slim considering that the line only goes so far. The entire time, I had Usher's "YEAH" in my head. I sang it quite a bit and April wanted to kill me. It's a damn catchy song. I am sooo pretty. :P

While at Hollywood and Highland, we saw the Ryan Seacrest "studio" (oOooo) AND the obnoxious Ryan Seacrest billboard behind the entire shopping complex (double ooOoo). We also found an uber expensive lingerie store that sold $200 bras and had pearl thongs (a la "Sex in the City") We would have gawked at the expensive panties, but we were beginning to feel how Julia Roberts the "hooker" must have felt like in "Pretty Woman" when the saleswoman in Beverly Hills was bitchy to her. ("Big mistake... HUGE!") SO then we just walked over to the Chinese Theater where we put our hands in the cement (Govna Arnold has some huge hands!) and April got greeted in Japanese by a tourguide. (Too bad she isn't Japanese.)


While walking on Hollywood Blvd, I felt a pair of eyes on me.
It turned out to be a rather creepy painting of Little Richard.

Walk walk walk = tired feet! So back on the subway to Union Station and it was off to Farmers Market for some Philly Cheesesteaks. The last time I had been to there was perhaps my first time on a excursion with my parents when I was 10. I had been to the Grove before to watch "Amelie", but that was at night and I really didn't get the chance to see everything, so I was pretty gosh darn excited to be there. One stand had a MOST ADORABLE DOG PURSE and had I have they money, it would have been mine! Maybe next time?


Its like the Bellagio fountains.... just smaller. Way smaller.

Anyways, all in all a really nice day. We need more free days like this because there are hundreds of places that still have yet to be found. :)

Ahhh... the perks of living in Southern California. :)

After a nice little afternoon and beautiful sunset at Balboa, April, Ryan, and I found ourselves at the Yardhouse over at the Irvine Spectrum... again. It was last call and neither one of us really wanted to go home, so we started walking over towards the movie theaters when lo and behold we found the ROCKBOTTOM. Originally, we thought the place went out of business or something and that was why it wasn't at the spot where we thought it had always been. Well, apparently it HASN'T been missing all this time, and in actuality we were looking in the wrong place. WHO KNEW! :) Anyways, the bar still had a good 2 hours of life in it, so we went in and joined in the KARAOKE festivities. Damn. Those white girls sure do LOVE their Evanescence. Ryan and I, of course, submitted our forms to sing... his song of choice was Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" to which the all the couples slow danced to... and mine was my favorite Madonna classic: "Borderline"... which was a hit with the white girls who love their Evanescence. April got hit on by a oh so cute guy who really gained points with all of us by buying the table a pitcher.

"I need you now tonight. I f*cking need you now forever..."

Who knew you could bond with strangers at a bar with "Total Eclipse of the Heart." :)

"William Hung's music video will be out next week."
"How do you know that? I don't even know that!"

Apparently my Dad's hip. Actually, he's always been hip. It's just weird to be confronted with his "hipness" over a bowl of Mami. Once, long ago, we bonded over the fact that we agreed that Felicity was a dumbass and that both Noel and Ben were better off without her. It was one of those rare Father/Daughter moments that I will always cherish.

Gracious... its HOT. When I was younger, we were fortunate to have a pool in the backyard. Before they built the pool though, we had a Slip 'N Slide, which hurt like holy hell because no matter what surface you put that on, you're throwing yourself onto the hard ground chest first. My sister and I attempted once to go running in the sprinklers to cool off, but my parents had "power" sprinklers that shot out spirits of water at 50 miles per hour. We weren't refreshed at all and instead were bruised and water whipped by them. I later formed a fear of sprinklers. Those things are weapons.

Hello Summer. What the hell did you and Spring do to Winter?

What a GREAT Extreme Makeover: Home Edition tonight.

I love this show.

LOVE!

Ahhhh... Circle K. How I miss you so...

After being in the organization for 5 years, this was my first time to go to the convention not as a "member", but as an "alumni" and seeing that I didn't pay any registration fees, I was also a "crasher." I had spent my Friday night wiring, taping, and wrapping roses into buttonieres for the VIP/Senior reception and for a bit, the fridge bursting at the seams with baggies of flowers.

Seriously, if I were still a member, I would have racked up a LOT of service hours.

Before work Saturday morning, I went to Irvine to drop off the flowers... and let me say I really really didn't want to leave. A lot of people I haven't seen in ages and I just didn't have enough time to sit down and catch up with all of them. It just isn't fair!! I wanted to loiter the halls and catch up with the latest drama/gossip. Argh. Luckily, I didn't have a teardown, so that night I got dolled up and went back to the hotel to catch the last of the awards dinner.



Afterwards, the rest of the "alumni" and I opted not to stay for the dance and went to the Yardhouse instead for some "non offical" CKI drunken madness.


Petey's "Starshot"

The night basically turned into "PIC GONE WILD."
Well not really... but it seemed like everyone got lucky... with Pic




even James Dean.



Jimmy and Jean


Ryan enduring the return of Miss Witch *Hello Picolo"


Manny and Petey unsuccessfully trying to look "thuggish."


So THIS is what it's like to ride in my back seat... Hmmmm

So all in all, a very nice night. :) I'm really happy I got to see Jane... and oh how I've missed Kristin and Anthony!! The night made me nostalgic and wish that I could still be cheering away with the kids. Its only been a YEAR and I'm already deeming myself as "old" and out of the loop... :) Oh wells... On the bright side, a good portion of the "alumni" were folks I still see or talk to every so often so it wasn't so much of a "oh I got married and had 2 kids" sort of reunion. It was more of a good reason for us to get dressed up and go out together. :)

Seeing that it has been quite some time since I have posted a pic of my adorable dog...

Good Morning Penelope!

I met the CUTEST guy today.

He looked a bit like Sean Astin, but taller (I'm assuming. I haven't met or seen Sean Astin in real life so I really couldn't compare, BUT compared to say... Sean Astin as "Sam the Hobbit", he was taller. He was taller than me so that counts) and younger (Think Sean Astin in "Rudy"). As I was picking up dinner for the familia (seeing that my Mom has offically given up cooking), I looked into his eyes and smiled.

"May I have your name?" he asked, with pen in hand... ready to etch it in his heart forever.

"Nicole," I replied in a somewhat throaty but high pitched manner. My aim was to sound sexy AND girly.

He proceeded to tell me that the total was $10.84 and that my pizza was going to be ready in 10-15 minutes.

Go ahead... Roll your eyes. Oh but what a CUTE PIZZA GUY he was... running around the kitchen in his Little Caesar's black and orange trimmed uniformed shirt. The poor thing was swamped with all the orders and was furiously cutting pies like there was no tomorow. He was stressed, but still damn cute. I wanted to hug him and say "You are doing a GREAT JOB!" and continue by reciting my phone number for him, but alas I didn't.

10-15 minutes later (just as he had promised... A KEEPER I TELL YOU!), he held up a box, looked at me and said my name.

Caressing the pizza box and gently placing it in my hands, "Sorry it took so long..."
"Oh. Its alright." I said, smiling of course.
"Thanks for waiting"
"Oh no problem. Thanks for the pizza."
"You're welcome. I love you."

*sigh*

Actually, it just ended with the "Thanks for the pizza" bit, but you can't blame a girl for dreaming. :)

Seeing that I gave up AIM, I'm having a lot of "time." I'm a bit bored because I can't just log on and have a mini "I'm taking a break from studying so I just wanted to say HI" convo or a "What are you doing? Nothing? Meet me at Starbucks in 5 minutes" sort of thing because usually when you see someone online (with no away message) it pretty much a given that that person is free and bored just like yourself.

Since this is the case, I've been pretty "chatty" on the phone... well somewhat. There are folks who I can just call up out of the blue and say "Hi! How are you doing!" and that will just blossom into terrific conversations that you don't want to end. And then there are some where that the moment you say "So what have you been up to", you regret the words the moment they come out of your mouth because maybe they're in a bad mood which leads to screaming rants of hate. Or sometimes they're busy and you've interrupted. Or unlike AIM, you have to actually laugh (or sound amused) and can't just type LOL when they're being retarded. Then you're stuck and feel obligated to stay on the phone because you're the one who called them and really you can't just go "HI! I wanted to say quick hi so hi!!" and hang up because what was the point of calling them in the first place?

Anyways, Laura and I came up with a HORRIBLE way of getting off of the phone with someone you don't want to talk to... and well with that in our heads this little imaginative scenario began to unfold:

"Hey, I gotta go... a guy just walked in with a gun*."
"Oh really now?"
"Really!"
"Is he cute?"
"Um, I can't tell, he's wearing a stocking over his head and his face is all squished up... but he has really beautiful eyes.."
"Really? Or Is this your way of getting of the phone with me? Do you just not want to talk to me anymore?"
"Oh no! Really! There's a guy here with a gun. Want to talk to him?"
"Yeah."
"Hi. I have a gun."
"SEE!"
"Ok. Better let you go. I'll talk to you later!"
"Bye!"

* Don't EVER use this excuse unless its the real thing. We all know what happened to Chicken Little and the Boy Who Cried Wolf... they all got their ass beat. So for the sake of your ass and mine don't. DON'T!!

SET YOUR VCR!!

When: Sunday, March 29
Time: 9pm
What the hell for: THE *NSYNC TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY.

(Insert screaming girls here.)

Sure, ON THE LINE stunk, but there will always be a special place for Lance in my heart. I had his puppet for gosh sakes. That has to mean something. Maybe it's love. Or not.

Oh the memories of driving with Keri, Tina, and Marissa and all of us dancing in sync (HA!) to "I Want You Back". Going to the concerts with pictures of them decorated on car as well as "HONK IF YOU LOVE NSYNC" painted on the window and screaming with delight when people honked. Ditching school and going to a taping of the oh so sucky Howie Mandell Show to see them live... wait. That wasn't NSYNC. That was 98 Degrees. But still Those were the days....

"Yes yes yes here we go... Nsync has got the flow."

Admit it, you know you miss them. :)

"I was going to cheer my way to his heart..."

Oh young love. Life was so simple and secret crushes would be secretly pining for you BACK in your perfect world. Its still the same now... just not as cheesy. It probably will be though when I look back on it, but at the moment, let me have my wishful thoughts.

Not like I'm harboring any secret crushes now. It feels like I rarely venture out of my little hole to interact with the outside world let alone see or talk to a guy regularly to form any notions of "like". Well, unless you count Adam from Average Joe. What a sweetheart he is... telling all the skanky bikini girls to leave because it was unfair to the girls already on the show. If I were seeing a guy who was seeing 14 other girls, I'd be totally happy to know that he'll be loyal to all 15 of us. But really, that was a sweet thing he did. Everyone in the house is in agreement that Adam has the looks of a combination of Ross and Joey from "Friends" and has the same sort of speaking mannerisms as former fridge model, Joe.

Old crushes. There are some that you think about and you smile. Then there are the ones that you remember and cringe. I think things blew up once I got into college... mostly because of the fact that boys were everywhere and cute ones that my friends and I had noticed got "special" names. There was Panda boy: the oh so dreamy one who worked at the zoo and really was the COOLEST guy in the world, Theater guy: the quiet guy I sat next to in my Theater class who looked like the "Asian" version of Steve Page from Barenaked Ladies (glasses and all!), Library guy: the HOT HOT CALIENTE boy who worked at the basement of the Library who looked like Paulo Montaban (aka the Prince from Brandy's Cinderella) and swiped my Titan card like a pro, Gallery guy, Table guy, and so on. Ok. SO the names weren't that all creative, but what's a freshman to do?

Here I am, still young, but "crushless." I miss that feeling of silliness and lingering hope of the possibility that "he's" thinking of me. I want to blush and have "secret" thoughts while listening to a slow jam. I want to be cheesy.

Apparently I'm not too far from that last one.

But still, life doesn't seem to be as exciting when I don't have a crush. It was like I had something exciting to look forward to, even if they didn't know who I was. I enjoyed getting punched on my left arm by Joey B in 8th grade every Friday afternoon in Mrs. Hurt's computer lab. I looked forward to it and thanked my lucky stars that we had to sit alphabetically while playing Carmen San Diego.

He really was a cutie from what I remember...

Hmmm, I wonder what he's up to?

I got new shampoo and conditioner and I'm gosh darn eager to try it out. Maybe its the weather... or maybe it's my car... but my hair, which probably had its peak about a month or so ago, has sadly decimated to "dry, dull and lifeless." All the qualities that make a pretty horrific "before" picture hairwise. So I'm hoping these bottles of Herbal Essence Fruit Fusion with Hawafena work its orgasmic organic magic on my hair, making it worthy of a commercial. I don't plan on "OoO-ing" and "ahh-ing" about in the shower because its just shampoo... but if a pair of burly hands cut through the curtain and start touching my head, I'm gonna scream bloody murder.

It sure does smell good though. :) It must be the fruity Hawafena... whatever it is.

Sweet glorious Air Conditioning... Bring it on Summer! Its fixed and I'm ready!

If funny, after all the times I've had the air conditioning fixed in my car within the past year, you'd think it would work. Well at now it works (for sure for sure) but I am half-expecting another "problem" to arise within the next 2 months. My car hates me and hates to see me happy. It's like a wicked stepsister plotting my downfall. "Oh yeah? You want a ride? Well, you can't go to the ball because I WONT TAKE YOU THERE BITCH!"

Well at least I have Airconditioning and at the moment, other than the check engine light that's on due to some fuel injection crap thingie that ought to be fixed by next week, it's perfect. :)

"I didn't know she could play the violin."
"Yeah. She's from Ukraine."
"What's that supposed to mean? All Ukrainians can play the violin?"
"Yeah. And they can ice skate and do gymnastics."

Her name is... she's SEXY!

Just listening to a preview of the new N.E.R.D. album. I'm trying to get as much as I can in right now because if I start again tomorrow, it will automatically start at track #1. That's the downfall of this whole online "preview." Normally I would scan the songs just to hear the initial beats before determining if its buyable, but since this is all online and I can't skip ahead to the next song, I'm listening to it all now and will probably have dreams of Pharrell's head making beatboxing noises out of his mouth.

But not all in vain... I'm reading while critiquing the album. Well, not now... I'm blogging now. But I was reading for a good portion of the album. Although Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" really deserves some somber "slit my wrist" kind of background music. I hate dislike this book with a passion. I really don't see how this book can be inspiring. Maybe if I wanted to kill manipulating lovers in the woods, then maybe yeah.

Oh speaking of books, I've always noticed this used bookstore near campus but never have I set foot in it until today. What a delicious little used bookstore it is... and we're not talking about textbooks here. We're talking about wall to wall paperbacks. Shelves and shelves of old, wrinkled, spines of books that are at least HALF THE PRICE than the publisher cost. There's nothing sexier than that. It reeks the scent of "old book" and "haunted library." Actually, it quite gross, but at the same time it isn't like you're shoving your face into a pair of construction worker's boots that he had been wearing all summer... sockless. The only let down is that you really can't just plop yourself down on the floor and start reading away. Maybe its because its small and there isn't a lot of people or space to do so, but also it would probably be uncomfortable because of the atmosphere. You sort of just want to grab your finds and leave.

Why is it that its only at Barnes or Borders its perfectly acceptable to grab a book and camp out on the floor for all hours with it and leave? You can't do that at Robinsons May. You can't go to the dressing room, try on pajamas and test out the bed for an hour. But at your local mega chain bookstore you can set up picnic and have your fill with piles and piles of magazines and books. Not complaining over here though. My second favorite place in the world (next to my bed, Disneyland, and my other second favorite places in the world) is the chair that's at the post that separates the Teen fiction and the music section of the Brea Borders with JANE and the newest RedInk Chicklit. *Good Times*

Felt like redecorating a bit. Not an entire face chage... more like painting the walls a new color and some new artwork. Other than that, its the same ole crappy content as usual.

Thanks to my darling baby sister for exercising her wonderful graphic skills on my little corner of nerdom. :) Also thanks to the Canadian kid for helping me out with that Margin thingie. Oh and... Dreamweaver, I believe you can get me through the night and just basic html stuff. :)

Tonight was my last class. I'm CERTIFIED BABY!

Hi. My name is Nicole and I'm a wedding coordinator.

Now I just need Weddings to plan. :) Bring it on cupid!

Aw, I'm going to miss my classmates though. But at least we all shared contact information, so at least if needed, I can have someone who's in the same boat as myself that I can vent to. I admit, I'm freaked by the idea that I won't have my warm little Kellogg house to go for comfort and support, but we all learned what we could and now we just need to venture out into the world and learn the rest by getting our feet wet. Good gracious. What am I getting myself into??

No panic. Lets think of happy "calming" thoughts.

I did have some DELICIOUS "celebratory" wedding cake tonight. The icing was made with a lot of butter, fresh (straight out of the chicken) eggs, and a WHOLE LOT OF LOVE. Seriously. The chef was going off on how he truly loved his job and how he enjoyed baking from scratch with the richest ingredients. So basically he presented us with his newest chocolate lovechild with fresh raspberry fillings. Such a sweet baby.

As of the moment, I don't think I'm going to go into "business" just yet. I really want to find a hotel or corporation to work for. I need benefits. I want a salary. I want a new car basically. But I do plan on doing a wedding here and there just for the experience. Actually, a good portion of my morning was spent with Carlene putting together my business cards. They're pretty f*cking rad... at least we think so.

Anyways, enough gushing. You can stop rolling your eyes now. :P

Baby sister and I went to have lunch with darling Father today, which is turning out to be a weekly Monday ritual. We decided to meet at Sam Woo for Dim Sum. Oh goodness, is it me or are the waitress and waiters really pushy when it comes to the trays? Maybe its because I haven't gone in AGES, but the moment we sat down, it seemed like they all flocked to our table and started pushing shrimp balls and wontons and other delicacies at us.... and no one would seem to accept "no" as an answer. "Its good" they would reply and try to reason with you. "Its good" they scream as they ignore your apprehensive looks. "Its good" they mumble when you finally turn them away, with their fantastical dishes still in tote. Sometimes you just want to say YES to everything just so that they'll go away. You can't help but feel like you're personally shooting them down by their disappointed faces when you don't want the pork. 15 minutes at the table, I just wanted to avoid eye contact with all of them for fear that making it would give them false hopes and it would be another hard breakup. But all in all, it was a good lunch... except for the one weird fish dish that one lady had promised would be "good."

Liar.

:)

:) No work this weekend, but I did get to help decorate for Janine's Birthday Dinner earlier tonight . Janelle had this terrific Buddha bar idea for the occasion, so we transformed the gazebo into a lounge, complete with bed and custom pillows that we sewed and stuffed at 3am Saturday night. :) For dinner, we decorated the canopy with twinkle lights, an actual candelabra, more candles, fishies (since Janine is a Pisces) and lots of flowers and petals. The weather was absolutely PERFECT for dining outdoors and the food that Paolo had been slaving over for 2 days was mouthwateringly delicous.

After dinner, everyone ventured to the living room where Janine played the piano for us just beautifully. Actually, Janelle and her older older sister Jenny performed also and I was amazed by the entire family's talent. They even had these beautiful duets with the two pianos or with the violin. Goosebumps I tell you. :) Oh!! And they even had a Norah Jones piano book, so although I didn't get to sing with the Magic Mic, I did get to sing with real piano accompaniment and I loved it. The entire night was a lot of fun and it reminded me a lot of the days of when my parents would have parties and everyone just sit around the piano and sing along. We even brought out some old tagalog love songs and honestly, everytime I hear "Dahil Sa Iyo", that will put me on a flashback to my youth of parties of the sort.

Oh late Saturday night, I took a break from the sewing and had a "date with Mom" to watch "50 First Dates." What a cute movie that was. :) Nice little soundtrack too, cept I don't think I heard Jason Mraz in the movie. Or maybe he was playing and I didn't hear it because I was so engrossed with what was happening on the screen. Perhaps. But still, it's such a sweet movie.

Anyways, what was I going to say here... hmmm... I don't know. Oh wells, Goodnight! :)

Oh! I forgot! I was driving home when I noticed this really REALLY cute guy next to me. (When I say really cute, I mean CUTE. He was moviestar dreamy.) Well the road merged into the lone lane of the 71 and he wound up behind me. Anyways, so there I was driving and looking every now and then into my rearview mirror... only to find cute guy picking his nose. Wait, not "picking", it was more like "digging for gold." My goodness, I don't think I've seen anyone have so much determintation in picking one's nose. He kept on looking up into his mirror to check out the nasal caverns, stick a finger in, and dig. At one point, it looked like he was trying to shove his entire fist up, all while driving. I guess in the end, he got a satisfactory piece because he appeared to be rolling something with his forefinger and thumb. Goodness knows where THAT will end up.

Hot points out the window. Well, not entirely... I mean he was WAS cute. Just, gosh, don't do that in public guys! Eww...

My eyes are tired due to the fact that I spent a good portion of my evening crying on the couch over EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION. If didn't see it, let me give you the rundown:

The family who got picked had bought their "first" house after living in a trailer for 10 years. But 3 months after moving in, the husband gets shipped to Iraq, leaving his wife with his 3 sons to tend to AND to settle/renovate the home. So here comes the sexy hunk-of-a-carpenter Ty Pennington and the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition designers and they "makeover" the entire house, from the landscaping to the bathrooms in one week while they sent the family to Disneyland. They completely tore it apart, gave it a "Spanish villa" feel, threw in a whole lot of new techie gadgets (flat panel TV's, surround sound and kitchen appliances... OH MY!), and a "car wash" bathroom for the boys. OH, and if seeing the kids go gaga over their new home didn't make you cry, then seeing them get reunited with their father, who they had shipped in, would have made you sob like a baby. If not, you're a heartless bastard. Awww... what a great show. Normally when you see shows like that, you wanna cry "WHY NOT ME! OPRAH, COME ON! GIVE ME A BAG OF YOUR FAVORITE THINGS!! SHUT UP AUDIENCE! GIVE IT TO ME!" but this one was super sweet and you felt genuinely happy for the families that they pick for it.

Wow. Does that sound like a book report or what?? :) Once I did a book report on ANNE OF GREEN GABLES when I was in 5th grade... and I read the backpage "summary" of the book out loud. Don't get me wrong, I really did read the book, in fact I worshiped it. But I was too freaked out with the idea of standing up in front of the class and talking. But not SO nervous out where I peed in my pants... another girl did though. She got really scared and all of a sudden she was standing in pool of pee. A couple years later, when we had to come up with "favorite memories" to put in the 8th grade yearbook, she threatened to kill me because I remembered the incident. Needless to say, it didn't make it in.

Hmmm... that Ty Pennington is a sexy beast...

Anyways, it been HOT. Working at the shop has been pretty painful because of it. Steaming sashes when its raining and cold is actually sort of "fun." But when its icky and sticky in the warehouse and you only have one osilitating fan, its a completely different story. The heat makes me want to drop everything and just go to the beach so that I can put my toes in wet sand. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow... either that or visit and sit by the community pool. Or water the plants and walk barefoot in the grass... with a nice cold Margarita and some slack key guitar playing in the backround. Hmm, "Heat" doesn't seem so bad when you have time to lie about leisurely to enjoy it. :)

Hey Macarena... aiiight!

I've been watching E!'s "101 Reasons the 90's Ruled" where the Macarena dance crazy came in at #101 when really, It should have been higher I think. Really, the Macarena was WAY cooler than Britney making her "Baby One More Time" debut in 99 (#83). That was in 1999! The VERY end of the 90s. Does that even count?? Play her song at a wedding, and not a lot of people will dance. But play the Macarena at a wedding right after "Celebration" and before "Achy Breaky Heart" and EVERYONE, young and old, will start flailing their arms about and "heeey Maracena-ing" about. In high school, Carlene, Melissa, and I had a "cooler" verson of the Macrena that involved us doing the hand movements a beat faster and in the end giving us more time to do the sexy "Hey Macrena" hip shake longer. Oh the good times...

~*~
Burt Bee's Foot Cream rocks! (Lisa is my sunshine!)
Carlene: Where's your footcream?
Nicole: You used it last.
Carlene: WHen do you use it?
Nicole: on my feet.
Carlene: NO. I said WHEN do you use it?
Nicole: On my feet.
Carlene: WHEN do you use it?
Nicole: On my feet.
Carlene: Why are you stupid?

Whatever. Sonny is currently rubbing the footcream onto Carlene's foot while making machine gun noises. ON MY BED. Dammit, why doesn't my door lock!?!

*Carlene intertwining her fingers with Sonny's toes*.
Carlene: Look we can hold hands!

Apparently Sonny has toe hands. I don't want to look. Ew.

Sonny: At least now we know that if I ever loose my arms, you can still hold my hand.

Welcome to my world. No really. My door doesn't lock. I really ought to start shoving my bookshelf in front of it to stop them from getting in. *Gag*

Mammoth... YAY SNOW!

"Drink something, or else we're putting you on the family bus..."
We left West Covina Thursday morning at 8:30am. At 8:35am, the first bloody mary was poured. My mom had told us that she had booked us onto the "party bus," but I seriously didn't have an idea of how much "party" it was until we got on. 2 rows of seats became the "bar" with a chest and many boxes filled with cans and bottles of alcohol. Mike, our trip organizer, became the official bartender... and our shotglass necklaces was our newest accessory. Oh my goodness, it was insane. Everyone was out of their seat, mingling, and drinking away during that 7 hour bus ride.




After several pit stops and a quick shopping excursion at VONS, we were finally in Mammoth, where there was PLENTY OF SNOW. :) Our home for the following 4 days was a sweet condo with all the amenities.



This is a true story of seven strangers...
Mike had paired us up with 4 other roomies: Debbie, the vegetarian with a fistfull of bootlegged DVDs who had a slight resemblance to Michael Jackson's baby's mama, Keith, a 60+ psychoanalyst who sported a ponytail and apparently rides a motorcycle, Pat, the oldest woman on the trip who had the snarkiest comments and indulged herself with massages from the girl next door to ours, and Genie, the quiet one but who always had a smile on her face... maybe it was because of the alcohol. Talk about one weird episode of "THE REAL WORLD." Although Carlene, Sonny, and I were the "youngest" ones in our condo, we all got along quite nicely and celebrated the fact that none of us were hardcore partiers, thus allowing everyone to be able to get some nice R&R during the weekend. That night, we all bonded over Debbie's Bootleg DVDs...

Friday morning, it was decided that it would be better for me to get lessons, so I enrolled in the "Beginner Boarders" class at the Main Lodge. There I encountered my buddy for the day, Penny, a fellow "first timer" who was also dumped at the class while her companions boarded away expertly, a bunch of guys who were with me on the "party bus" and J.D., my instructor (Yes Jean, he was cute.). There I learned how to let gravity do its magic, clamp one foot on the board and slide down the mini hill. Sure, I didn't really master turning or stopping... but at least I got on the board. :)

*holding my hands, teaching me how to stop*
J.D: I won't let you fall. Just lean back on your hips and lift your toes.
*Nicole does... and falls. Again.*
Nicole: You said you wouldn't let me fall!
J.D: *helps me up* I'm a guy. I break my promises.

Sounds like something from a romantic comedy. Comedy... yes. But its not really romantic when you've fallen over a dozen times, your top is wet and cold, you have horrible hat hair, your rented boots are squeezing your toes and smell like holy hell and your jacket is so puffy that it was "in" 6 years ago and could get you in a Puffy/Mase video *bad bad bad bad boys, you make me feel so good*... but at least when you fall, the snow is soft and therefore not AS painful. :) (note: I'm still sore nonetheless...)

Ok.. so where was I? Yeah. I got on my board. But I didn't feel confident to go up to a "real slope", so I decided to practice a bit more before going on the lift...

"I can tell you're freaky... I can tell it in your eyes..."
Anyways, after Carlene and Sonny did their runs (and helped me a bit on my little baby slopes), we met up with Eddie and Peter and had lunch, were we met Jamie. *shudder* Jamie was another guy on our bus, but really had a "sleazy" feel about him. Sonny said something about him having some rancid breath as well, but luckily I didn't have to deal with it. But yeah, he made everyone feel a bit uncomfortable and held my hand in a handshake a bit too long. :( Ew.

I was going to make my run on a "real slope" after lunch, but since I was already beat from the class, it was decided that we do it Saturday morning after some proper rest. So I spent the remainder of the afternoon at the lodge bonding with the musician on the deck while I waited for Carlene and Sonny to finish up.

Overhearing the roomies:
Debbie: We must be good, someone took out the trash.
Keith: No it was the Manic Kids,
Debbie: Oh, I should take give them some chocolate covered gummy bears. Oh wait, no, they won't eat it. They're eating salads... they're so good. I want to meet their mother.

Later on when my dad had called the condo for us, she had answered and gushed to him about what great daughters he had. How cute is she... if only she knew about our hardcore drug addictions. :) Anyways, that night, after discovering a grill on our balcony, Sonny BBQed steak and we all sat around and watched Debbie's bootleg DVDs.

"Um... I don't think I can do this..."
Saturday, woke up bright and early with a bit of the jitters. Shook it off and it was off to the lodge were we got our lift tickets and lockers. So, it was time. Right at the line for the lift, I clamped in one foot into my board and proceeded to "slide" towards the lift. But I kept on slipping... and the whole idea of clamping BOTH feet onto the board and going down a hill really hit me, so I panicked (see freaked out/cry) and decided to spend the day wearing my sneakers in the lodge with my notebook like a silly little wuss, wallowing in my sorrow with a cup of cocoa... which I was completely fine with. :) Sure there were kids just gliding by on their snowboards, but I'm sure they don't have "height" or "balance" issues. ;P

Anyways, after lunch, I went back to the condo for a nap (cause when you cry, your eyes get tired), and later went over to the Village for some shopping and dinner. We also rode the gondolas and got to see the GORGEOUS view from the sky. :)



That night, we just sat around with our roomies talking about the creepiness of Jamie (everyone had a story) and watched Debbie's bootlegged DVDs. I stayed up for as long as I could to see Darling Colin Firth on SNL, but I fell asleep once Norah Jones came on.

Sunday, after cooking and eating whatever leftover food we could and cleaning up the Condo, we packed up and hit up the outlet shops with Debbie, Pat, and Genie. They had a Coach store, but everything was still expensive and after hitting up the one over in Barstow, there really wasn't a need to buy anything there. Actually the outlet stores there weren't that great and I think the altitude was really getting to everyone, so we just hung out at Schats, had lunch, gelato and cheese bread. Back to the lodge and onto the bus, where there wasn't AS much partying (thankfully) and therefore a few extra seats, so I got to have my own row in the front to strech out my legs while watching SCARFACE.

Anyways, so now I'm back, incredibly tired, and very eager to crawl into my own bed. Carlene and I discovered that we are spoiled with our beds because the entire weekend, the beds at the condo were so gosh darn uncomfortable and we were aching more from that rather than the snowboarding itself... sorta.

Although I never really did conquer the slopes OR the chairlift, I had a lot of fun on the trip. Got to meet a whole bunch of new people and PLAY IN THE SNOW! :) You really can't do that everyday, well unless you live in a place that has it everyday, but its a treat if you rarely see it. :) Mammoth was just gorgeous and I really wouldn't mind going again just to soak in all the scenery. Anyways, maybe next time I'll try skiing? It can't be as bad as boarding right? Theres 2 skis and they have poles...

Anyways, now I'm super super SUPER excited for the rafting trip in July. Anyone interested? It's going to be A LOT of fun... If you want more info, just ask. ;)

Um... is it me or is there something wrong with this picture?

Goodness... if you thought Crimson Room* was bad, check out The Mystery of Time and Space*.

*warning, do not click if you have a life.*

FedEx just delivered my "snow" jacket, a terrific deal that I had found on OldNavy.com for only $25. Its blue and puffy and ought to keep me warm with its performance fleece lining. Actually, I was scared that it was going to be a bright bright blue, considering that OldNavy sure does love its bright colors. Bright reds, oranges and yellow are pretty much a staple over there. But luckily its a nice subdued "navy" and therefore when I fall, it won't look like a puffy smuf rolling down a hill.

I got my beanies yesterday. They're cute. :) Too bad the shape of my head really isn't flattered by beanies, but its ok. I'll deal with it.

So it looks like all I need to get now are my thermals, gloves (Hi Jean!), long tube socks, rentals and I'll be set for the weekend. I think...

Carlene said that her and Sonny won't ditch me... until Saturday. :) Its ok. I ought to get it by then. If not, Carlene tells me that I can sled. Sledding sounds great and now I have a nice jacket I can make snow angels in.

:) The weekend should be fun...

*on Dad's bright idea leaving numbers on walls of men's restrooms*
Mom: You should do that Nicole.
Me: Oh yeah. So I can bring him to you guys and say "Mom, Dad, meet my boyfriend. He found my number on the restroom wall.
Dad: That's why you leave it in the restroom at the Ritz-Carlton.
Me: Right. So then he'll be desperate AND rich.
Dad: No, he might just be a restroom attendant.