The days are growing short.

Back from Des Moines,

A Weekend of good fun :) I had Asian inspired Pizza!http://www.fongspizza.com/ It was really good also tried some interesting Japanese beer. The trip overall was a success, but gosh it show's me how life is changing!

My friend Sandra has a real job, and a real apartment, and will probably be engaged in the next couple years ( I love Jeff her bf) ... It's just weird to think that I'm actually growing up, this is what people are going to do. They get married and move away and get real jobs and such, well some do anyway, no right or wrong! But on the bright side, she did say I'd be a part of the wedding party! hehe

On a sad note, I've been pissed about the electionthis past week---> WTF IOWA?

I don't know what to say, other than that was the least progressive decision that I've ever seen

and that if GAY RIGHTS are taken away... Iowa would be one of the first states in history to TAKE AWAY RIGHTS ! Lets not Have a Cali repeat Please!This is crazy talk! Well that's the end of my rant about that, I'm glad its over I want to see what life will be like with out volunteering etc.

This election lead me to drink, in fact I tried one of those energy malt liquors that the news has been raving about, states trying to make them illegal. I read this and thought, I WANT TO TRY!.. before it becomes illegal of course.... I can see why they're being made illegal ( we'll leave it at that)

RANT TWO:

CHRISTMAS IS ALREADY HERE ? no, but walking into any establishment you might question it! Christmas is everywhere, it just gets earlier every year. I feel like Halloween was completely disregarded, when Christmas are already up the day after (or same day)... GROSS! "Santa, what I do in the fall is SNOW business of yours!" (Ashley R)

THE WEATHER has been GORGEOUS!... I'm OK with an Indian summer :)

I will leave you with my favorite vid of the week oldie but goodie! This is for my friends!

You Bring Me Joy from Zach Galifianakis

time is on my side?

Its hard to find the time to talk about the times I've had this summer, it's not over yet but the creeping sound of cicadas and crickets tells me the end is near.

The good news about going back to school is seeing all the sun kissed faces return happy to see you and return to a place of friends and fun. With that fun comes school work and responsibility but in my mind its and even trade. Oh and the thought of being a senior, when you're a senior the world of school is not a scary place at all after all this place has become my home and I do feel very much at home here in my new apartment in this City around people I know.

With this comes the fear of loosing the care free attitude that I have in the summer, back to being on deadlines of tests and reading and group projects (yuck). Lets just cross that bridge in a few weeks and see how the rest of the summer goes. (I'll just avoid it while I still can).

So my mother finally came to visit to see the new apartment. I love my mother so much ( as most of you probably do your own mothers) she's the most wonderful person and I really can't express what it meant to have her visit even for a short time. Now for a funny story, so I bring my mom to a local bar where my friends are and there is karaoke, this guy that cannot be more than 24 comes up to my mother and I and offers to buy us drinks. He was very persistent, and proceeded to hit on my mom for a good hour. It was a riot, and my mom humored him the whole time but never allowed him to buy her a drink. Oh what a few nights it has been, there must be something in the air I think I would use the word Twitterpatted if twitter hasn't taken it over already..

Good news I have a part time job lined up for the rest of the year I will continue to work as a lifeguard for the Parks and Rec. at the indoor facilities. I'm so excited that I won't have to job hunt :) It won't be many hours , but it will do the trick!

I went on a pretty epic bike ride today, it was a beautiful day, I hope you're enjoying your lives as well :)

Feeling Trashy.

So I was queen of the trash heap yesterday at work

we're hosting a swim meet (ends today) and people are filthy, not intentionally... but they are, we had more than thirty large trash cans each had to be changed a few times a day.. Anyway the good news is that I got to ride a three wheeler. One of my managers hopped on the back to help with trash pick up and we tipped over! I was covered in all sorts of trashy juices... eww

Now I've been baking cookies for my neighbor's Birthday as Pillsbury says, "Nothin says lovin' like something from the oven!" Which is also the quote on a new decorative piece in my kitchen , here it is :)

I'm obsessed with bargain shopping if you didn't already know... this is only one of the fabulous items I've picked up from Goodwill, or as Ashley's mom calls it "Goodies" They're starting to know me by name .. true hehe

I also recently hung out with my friend and his band Phinehas , if you're into a hardcore sound you'll like them plus they're all great guys! http://www.myspace.com/phinehasrock They recently added on a member that is an old friend from highschool.. Jason Combs , he's really talented and will melt face with the guitar!

Future plans for the summer are uncertain, probably continue working and hope for a small vacation if I can fit it in... we'll see!

Independent on Independence day.

Imagine a 300 lbs. man with a mustache

Imagine him in a lazy river

Now imagine him spinning himself off the wall as fast as he can.

Now he falls, and is so disoriented he cant walk strait and falls several more times and again while tying to return to his tube.

This actually happened, it is probably one of the greatest things I've seen in a while.

All I said to him was , " Did we learn a lesson?"

Moments like this make me love that job, people are ridiculous and you get to see it in action.

It's the fourth of July, which is an American holiday. It is tradition that I spend this day with my family, however this year nothing was planned for the holiday. I didn't receive and invitation to a family event until today at 11, the event being at 12 PM .. Driving home takes about 3 hrs. I just figured it wasn't worth the effort, but I feel a little discontent, it feels weird not being around family.

I have also become obsessed with the show Dexter, it's phenomenal, and I should have taken people's advice sooner to watch the masterpiece.

It would be a rainy day when I have work off !

I'm on a cleaning craze right now, I've vacuumed, scrubbed floors , cleaned the fish tank, the bathroom is spotless. I really feel like I'm getting a hang of this whole adulthood job, clean, cook, pay bills etc. I'm glad I'm becoming so self reliant it makes me feel liberated and tied down at the same time. I wish somebody would do it for me, but I'm glad I can do it and know how. Knowledge is power , so they say!

Well Stefano certainly kissed his wife! - Leap Year

I'm feeling a sense of adventure lately, maybe its the summer heat giving me a bit of cabin fever..



I have decided to travel on Tuesday night for my 3 days off.
Clinton, Iowa ( the court house pictured)once the "lumber capital of the world" it now can be regarded as the "armpit of america" because of all of it's in town factories... Cedar Rapids has nothin' on this shit, but it's comparable I'd say. It wasn't a bad place to grow up, and I can't wait to go back and relax with my family and puppies!. Also I'm brining Ashley :) I'm going to show her all the hot spots This includes, but is not limited to:

Sweet Heart Bakery

Eagle Point Park

The infamous Dyke

Farmer's Market

A few of my favorite restaurants,

I'm pretty excited to say the least. I hope she brings her camera and acts like a tourist , it'll be fun!

I was dancing last night and decided to go into the splits , it's good to know I'm still flexible in a literal sense .

For my buddy Chris' birthday we went to Galleria De Paco, where we were seated by a man with a indistinguishable accent, what a host! We ended up in the Catacombs having steaming drinks and Martini's with appetizers. They were delicious, and there's so much to stare at and it's naked and provocative. Good choice for a birthday I'd say, later that night he was tap dancing for strangers at Sudd's , it was a good night.

I've worked at the Holmes' indoor pool for the last two days. Come to find out there is a ghost story about the place. Supposedly there was a husband and wife in an altercation when contractors were digging the foundation for the pool. The woman went missing and they found her car on the construction site. Rumor has it that the husband killed her and buried her under the foundation, the next day cement was poured. So there could be a woman under the pool. Creepy huh? my new tag line for the place is

Holmes Pool : If the Ghost doesn't get you Boredom will!

that's only if you're guarding of course, the pool doesn't see much action except for a few families here and there. It's fun for the families , but it's been so hot and humid it's hard to just sit and watch everyone enjoying the refreshing water.

Final note, it was Father's day but I will be celebrating late due to work.. My sister took care of him though :) I'd like to show this as a tribute to dads

LOVE!

Jascenna says " Great thongs are coming your way!"

Who's to say great thongs are not coming my way I believe it's the Victoria's Secret Semi Annual sale :)

The other day when I was guarding I threatened to kick a teenage boy out for the offensive language he was using. He replied, " Do you know who my dad is ?" and so I snapped back at him , " I don't care you your dad is, and find a name for yourself and stop using his." He swam away, these moments are lovely :)

I've been teaching teenagers how to use adobe premiere pro and photoshop for the past couple days. I've had mostly 12/13 year olds. The girls want to make everything pretty and make sense, lots of colors and willingness to improve, The boys want to make everything ugly or evil and funny, and it doesn't have to make sense and they don't want to change it. I had a kid make what he called a narrative bee, which consisted of an audio clip of a man talking with a bee on the screen, let me tell you all the boys in the group thought it was hilarious. I know it doesn't sound funny but they really loved it. It's been a fun combination. Keeping kids at a computer off YouTube can prove quite the challenge, they all want to watch music videos, I've had rap to Mama Mia playing on the speakers.

On another random thought, went out last night and my roommate and I see this guy everywhere, we've made it into a drinking game we just say " There's the guy" and we drink, it's been quite entertaining. ( Thanks Random Guy) I'm sure this isn't the last we've seen of him!

Leave you with this oldie but goody :)




I'm excited for the rest of the week, but need sleep now!!!


- Hattie

I don't know about this ya dingus!

I don't know who reads this crap but it's a fun little journal that's in the CLOUD FOREVER

people fear this internet cloud with all of our information stored in it ( internet etc.) Little do most people know we've probably had the government keeping tabs on us for years anyway....

So a couple days ago I went out for a Birthday party and a few drinks were bought for me one was a bloody mary at 1 in the morning . I know what you're thinking who has that drink that late. Well when some guy is offering to buy you any drink... what would you do?

This guy also told me my name was sexy, and I told him my parents were trying really hard to have a sexy kid name, I applaud their success!

I think that it's the new tan I'm getting from this life guarding gig that's getting me the drinks ;), my dad always told me fat looked better tan. (true statement)

I was called off work yesterday, so I naturally decided to get my long time needed hair trim at La James with one of my roomies. Well the trim goes ok and i also decide to get an eyebrow wax, well this girl had never done the waxing , so I'm pretty sure I was her first customer in this department, and there was wax everywhere, needless to say my eyebrows look like 20's 30's throw back, believe me! She tried, oh well, its at least it wasn't a bikini wax, however less is more in that arena.

I also watched a great jaws spin off PIRANHA ! This movie was made in 1978 and it isn't obvious at all ( sarcasm) Anyway, when the Piranha attack they sound like a heard of flies and bees and they wiggle around, it's pretty much the greatest thing I've seen in a while.

On a depressing note, Tim and Eric's frequent guest Richard Dunn passed away this past weekend, I just wish I could have sent him my bones in time. He was a great asset to that show!

Check it out with Dr. Steve Brule is easily one of my favorite summer shows thus far .. watch a little if you don't believe me

Also my friend sent me an interesting article on headlice, it made me feel weird but also was rather educational :) http://www.27bslash6.com/nits.html

I don't have anything else and I want to eat some tomatoes... thanks for stopping

:) Hattie