Its hot. I have bug bites... my skin is dry... my hair is in shambles... and my legs are in dire need of shaving.

AHHH. Summer. Don't you love it!!

Awww... I'm making myself all sick with sadness and pity looking at animal shelter websites. These pets are just too gosh darn cute... if I could, I'd adopt them all and just shower them with love and hours of hugs. But alas I can't have them all... I'm allergic to cats and I have white carpet. CURSE THE WHITE CARPET! But if YOU are able to adopt, go check this site out.... it has pictures of cats and puppies all over California who needs a good home. Uh huh... spread the love.

So about 4 months ago, I read "The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club" by Laurie Notaro... and I really really liked it. REALLY liked it to the point where I emailed the author and gushed on and on about how much I enjoyed it. It isn't a life-changing work of fiction nor a grand epic... it's just a collection of short, funny stories that she had written about her life. :) Anyways, so yeah, like I said, I emailed her. But I didn't get a response... which was fine because I assumed that she had a life and well had better things to do than to write back to me. It makes sense...

Anyways, when I got back from Indy, I found this letter in my mailbox that TOTALLY made my day...

Subj: Re: I just read your book...
Date: 7/3/2003 6:13:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: laurie notaro
Sent from the Internet (Details)

Hi Nicole!!
Okay, I am indeed quite embarrassed. Now, I'm not exactly sure what
happened, but when I was cleaning up my email folders, I came upon some
letters that have just appeared, as in time travel, with old, ancient
dates on them. I changed webhosts some time ago, so maybe that explains
the time warp, but I must send you profuse apologies for not responding
to you in a timely, polite manner, because I am guessing that I did not.
In essence, I am indeed the idiot I profess to be. If it makes you feel
any better, I got married seven years ago and never sent out the
thank-you cards. They're written, sealed, addressed, some of them are
even stamped. But mailed? no. Of course not. That would mean WALKING TO
THE MAILBOX!!!
OK, so my point is thank you so much for your note that you wrote me
about seven hundred years ago. I am a dork, but I am so happy you liked
the book, thank you extensively for reading it. Again, I'm so sorry I
lost you in the email vortex--I've been wrapped up trying to finish
number three (deadline was April 1st--see what I mean?) My house is a
wreck, the trash needs to be taken out, my mother thinks I've been
kidnapped and I'm freaking out big time. Anyway-- you rock, and I can't
tell you how much I appreciate your taking the time out of your day to
let me know that you liked my dumb old book!

Rock on,
your pal,
laurie n.

:) Awwww... How exciting is that!! YAY! =:) :) :)

HOME SWEET HOME!! YES!!

OK. Let me break down the last couple of days since I know you are all "dying" to know what I've been up to. Ha. Ha. Ha.

My Trip To Indy







"Hello.... helllo"
July 2 -
After going to the children's museum, Norma, Maritza, Jean, and myself probably got into a cab with a psychotic cabdriver. He kept on insisiting that we were Mexican (only Maritza could hold that title), then got into a fight with Jean over "differences" about Taiwan and China and other countries... THEN proceeded to mock her while she was on the phone. We were dying of laughter in that cab... not to mention EXTREMELY eager to get out of it. After crazycabbie got us back to the hotel, we met up with more folks who had just gotten in from California, and it was off to STEAK AND SHAKE (the somewhat Denny's of the east) and then to the Indianapolis Convention for Opening session and DANCE. The dance was ok... music was bleh. But still a lot of fun.


I like Pic.

"He may be short... but he has a tongue like a rattle snake"
July 3- Caucus during the day. Because of our long and late dinner at "HOOTERS", Beth and I took quite a while getting ready for the awards session... and when we were finally finished and over at the convention center... it was over in 30 minutes.


Carrie and Jean


The roomies... Irene, David, and me!


Twinzees! Yay!


I was taking a pic with Rupert when new guy interrupts the pic. Who is this guy!?!


Thats the money shot Petey!


Awwww!

Grreeeeat... back to the hotel (do do do do dooo) to change once more and back to the convention center to watch a hypnotist make Hanan and Alice as well as a whole bunch of other folks do some things I'm sure they wish they hadn't. (Alice rubbing her face against a giant globe... yeah.) That night, Jean, Tonya, and myself attempted to go to the Sunshine service "party", but instead went to the "hugs and toga" party. While we were there, we looked outside the window and saw that the streets below were littered with people and motorcycles... so we decided to ditch the CKI goodness and went out with the commoners instead. With Pic, we went over to this "Tiki Bob" club where it was skanky GIRLS GONE WILD night over there. Serious, I don't think I've seen so many bare breasts (and stickers), girl ass, and whipped cream in my life. Once again, music was kinda bleh... but it was only $5 and at least we got to play with the locals as be able to say that I got to turn down a free shot from a big midget a top of a bar. Oh yeah.

Sorry. No pics here.

"I feel like we're on MAID OF THE MIDSTS"
July 4- This day started off on the wrong foot. Irene, David and myself were all delegates and so we needed to be at HOD at 8. What time did we wake up? 8:27. Actually my alarm clock went off at 6:30am and I completely remember looking at it and saying out loud "We have to get up in 30 minutes..." well almost 2 hours later, I woke up feeling rested and I know something was wrong. I think the moment we woke up, everyone else in the House woke up as well and discovered that we werent there because thats when all our phones started ringing off the hook. The funny part was although we were late... what does David do? He hops into the shower. Ahhhh! :) Anyways, we eventually made it. Afterwards, it was the joint Key Club and CKI session where more awards were given out and Rupert gave a cool speech. More caucus after that... and then we walked over to VICTORY FIELD for baseball and fireworks....

Oh my gosh, I was so excited for the baseball game because it was my FIRST EVER! I got CRACKER JACKS! Anyways, at first, it was sunny. Rupert threw out the first pitch and we were all very happy looking at the cute baseball players. But then during the 3rd inning, the ground crew came out and started rolling out a tarmac onto the field... then thunders started rumbling... and it got DARK. Then... it was raining. At first, the rain wasn't really tounching us because were swere sorta under an awning, but then it started coming in sideways and the stadium folks starting having us go into the box area. After an hour or so... the storm passed and game was back on.




Rupert throwing the first pitch... note how sunny it is.


Uh oh...


and it gets worst...


and worst...


and worst...


Get the idea?


While waiting for the storm to pass... Jean falls asleep.


But the storm passes...


Not a bad view huh...


You need some rain.... to make a rainbow.


*pretty*


GAME ON!

The Indianapolis Indians lost, but the game was still good. Late into the game, fireworks started going off in the city which made an awesome sight.. and 15 minutes after the game finished... we had our own fireworks. Granted they weren't as impressive as the big city ones but their display of 2 ships battling was EXTREMELY memorable. :)






"I'll shake your steak..."
After the district pow-wow... we went over to STEAK AND SHAKE where I had my life flash before my eyes. First of all, when went walked outside the doors of our hotel, it learned it was POURING RAIN. So we ran down the block to the Steak and Shake... I was wearing flip flops and while running into a puddle, my shoe fell off and started to float away in the mini-river. Luckily, I got it before it could get too far. Now, we're soaking wet and inside the restaurant... our waitress is a herculean of a woman. She looks she can BEAT ME DOWN, has a slight resembalance to like Pink (the singer) and had a booming voice. Anyways, I ordered a turkey melt. I REMEMBER saying TURKEY MELT. So when another waitress came by our table asking who ordered the Turkey club... I didn't answer. But our waitress, came over, pointed to me and said "its from this side of the table." Confused, I said "I ordered a turkey melt". The waitress glared at me and boomed "YOU ORDERED A TURKEY CLUB." I didn't want to die... so I agreed with her. I ordered a turkey club. Don't kill me. Anyways, she asked if I wanted a melt... I replied "yes" and she stormed off. A while later, she slapped a plate with a melt on it in front of me. I ate as fast as I could and ran out.

"I only stand when Carrie stands..."
July 5- Woke up in time for the final HOD... which had to be the LONGEST HOD EVER. EVER. EVER. In the end, we had to stay in the convention center just a bit longer because of a tornado warning. After the sirens stopped... went over to Hard Rock cafe for dinner and then back to the conevention center for closing. The new International President and Vice president have got to be the GOOD-LOOKING duo... or like Ryan says "Zack and Slater." :) THe dance afterwards... um... ok... I didn't like much because they had a live country-type band that was alright I guess. We just couldn't dance to any of the music. On the other hand, those who typically couldn't dance at these events were in their element while the rest of us felt... um... "white." Lets just say it was side step clapping galore!! :) But it was held in Union Station which itself was beautiful... so that was the good part. OH and seeing Jean collapse onto the floor in laughter at least 3 times... don't ask. :)

"Draw 4 b*tch..."
July 6- After staying up the whole night (which the exception for a 15 minute nap in which I learned that I snored...) playing Harry Potter uno, chit chatting, and mistaking no smoking signs for awards I left the hotel at 6:30am for my 8:30 flight for Dallas. My cab smelled. Bad. Eww. Anyways, the moment I sat on the plane, I knocked out and woke up slightly to find that we were in the air and finally landing. Same thing happened on my flight to Ontario. HOME SWEET HOME! :) Waited at the airport for an hour or so because the family FORGOT ABOUT ME... and once they did get me, they kidnapped me and took me to Sears to look for a new stove and fridge. Finally though, I got home... (YAY SWEET GLORIOUS BED) and went to sleep. And now I blog and upload my pictures.




My last picture. I had to run right afterwards for fear of being struck by lightning.
That Indiana weather sure is moody!
(more ICON pics could be found HERE)

And that was my trip to Indy. :) There were UPS and there were DOWNS... but it was definitely memorable. :)

Whooohooo!! I'm here in Indiana blogging live from the CHILDRENS MUSEUM! :) Its pretty cool over here... A lot of things to do and see... not to mention a LOT of kids just running around. :) They have this Titanic exhibit where they give you a name of a person on the Titanic and you get to see if they survived or not in the end. Ok.. that's not really THAT EXCITITNG... it was darn right depressing, but in a way... it was still fun! :)

Hmmm... I left Ontario at 12:50am, got to Dallas at 5am (their time) stayed there for 2 hours, and got here at 9am. :) The weather here is pretty ok.. kinda humid and warm, but not like ILL muggy like Florida. :) Since then, I checked in at my hotel (The Omni), registered, had lunch at the mall that next door to the hotel with Petey, Ryan, and all the other LSSP foolios who got here early... and now... I'm here at the Children's Museum! And well... Norma, Maritza, Jean and myself just found this neat section of the museum that allows us to check our emails and take care of our true *computer* nerd fix.

Ok. I'm gonna go play!

HI MOM! HI CARLENE! HI SONNY! I'M BEING GOOD!! LOVE YOU!!

"So why are you going to Indiana again?"
"I have a convention..."
"Trekkie?"

ohhh yeeeeah. ;)

"Just say one word and tell me if you're killed!
No... but I think I've been rendered unconscious."

So apparently Sonny, the CANADIAN, has never seen "ANNE OF GREEN GABLES." I thought that was a national treasure over in Canada or something. That and Alan Thicke. Oh.. and Celine Dion. But anytime Carlene and I say that we want to go visit Prince Edward Island... he'll say "there's nothing there"

Carlene and I are gonna fix that. There are 4 video tapes downstairs with his name on them. He will KNOW the magic of "ANNE OF GREEN GABLES." :)

Anyways, I'm leaving for Indy tomorrow (er...tonight) and my room has BLOWN UP. Actually, it isn't as bad anymore, but a few hours ago... it was horrid. I was also organizing my new tall bookshelf (oOooOo.. shelves are sexy) and so it was just a mass pile of clothes, books, and then some just laying about. So while that pile has minimized considerably... its still pretty ill. But just a few more things and I shall be done packing and ready to go to. :) YAY!! I really can't name all the cool places that I'll get to go visit while there (because I really don't know whats there) but I'm just excited to hang out and play with all my lovely *oh so cute* friends! :)