Vegas Take Two

So, remember how the boyfriend surprised me with tickets to Vegas and a suite at the Luxor for Christmas/my birthday?

After I drug him all over that place last time we went cause I'm obsessed with ancient Egypt?

We went and it was awesome.

DAY ONE:
::"Move your little Versa!" "Oh my god would you people just drive."
- Okay, so my boyfriend rarely drives the speed limit. When I say that you assume that means he drives like a crazy person, no, he drives 10 UNDER the speed limit. It's a gas mileage thing, I don't know. However, when he's forced to drive the speed limit cause we're running behind his road rage is hysterical. Excellent way to start off a trip.

::Some planes, no trains, few automobiles
-The first flight was from Omaha to Denver and it was fine, the second flight out of Denver to Vegas was a completely different story. While in the airport I heard this kid screaming and jokingly said something like, "they're gonna be right next to us" and was horrified when I was right. Not only were they close by, they were directly behind us and the screaming kid was bouncing on the tray table the whole ride. Pretty sure the dad heard a few expletives throughout the trip.

::Landing
-So, I learned the best way to fly is to not check your bags because once the flight lands you're free and you don't have to wait for anything. This was beneficial because we landed at six and were going to a concert at seven. Turns out, the doors only opened at seven so even though we landed at six, ran to get a cab at 6:15, arrived at the hotel at 6:30, checked in at 6:45 and made it to the House of Blues by 7 we still had to stand in line for half an hour, and the concert didn't start for another hour after that. All that freaking out about us being late and missing stuff and it was all for nothing.

::Pentatonix
-The concert - once it got started - was awesome. But as mentioned, the line to get into it was huge, almost around the entire outside of the inner hotel. Fortunately we met a nice local who advised us on what to do and what to avoid. They sang some awesome stuff, but my favorite was their cover of Lorde's Royals, scroll, down, it's fantastic.
We got out of there around 10 - apparently if you have kids until 16 at the concert there's some sort of curfew that it can only go so late. Was fine by me, I was exhausted, though not as much as the boyfriend. He had been up for almost 40 hours already.


DAY TWO:
::Hoover Dam
-Originally we were supposed to go on a hot air balloon ride that morning, however it was cancelled that day (and the next because of weather, meaning we're going back in the fall to redeem our tickets) so instead we decided to rent a car and go out to the Hoover Dam. It was awesome, we had the best tour guide who had actually taken men who helped build the dam on a tour so he had a bunch of anecdotes from them as well. And of course, there were the dam jokes. "Did they tell you about the camera policy?" "No." "That's cause we don't have one, take all the dam pictures you want!" Hilarious. After touring the dam we walked all over - I drank some dam water out the fountain - and took a ton of pictures.








::Walmart
-Apparently when driving a rental car this is the appropriate way to park.

Or not. Smooth. But at least we didn't get door dinged. We stopped by cause he needed swimming trunks. While we were there we picked up some snacks - bugels, beer, flavored water, chips and salsa - and then headed back to the hotel.

::Hot Tub
-Did I mention how awesome our room was?



It even had a hot tub. Which was perfect after spending all afternoon walking all over the damn dam. After jamming out in there for a while he konked out on the bed. It was humorous cause it was like 9 and he was dead. But as mentioned, he hadn't exactly gotten a lot of sleep that week.


DAY THREE:
::Buffet
-So, when you're in Vegas, hit up a buffet. They are fantastic. This one wasn't as fantastic as the Wynn buffet - holy crap, read last time's post - but it had a ton of food and I could only eat like half of my plate.

::Walking through the desert in the rain
-Of course the day we decide to walk the strip it rains. In the middle of the desert. But it was okay, we just toured a bunch of the buildings to avoid the major pouring. Although so them pouring is like sprinkling in Nebraska. While we were touring we ran across Big Elvis - he was in fact very big and dressed like Elvis so it was a fitting name - and I drug him in circles around Caesar's just to find this massive mythology fountain.
Ancient Egypt isn't my only obsession, I'm also a Greek Mythology fan as well.

We also hit up the M&M's factory, and the Coke store. Have you been in that M&M's place? It's crazy!

Those are all M&M's in those tubes.

::More Hot Tub
-You can never spend too much time in a hot tub. Well, I guess, once you get all wrinkly then it feels weird, but we decided once we get a house we're getting a hot tub. Okay, I decided, but I'm sure he would support that.

::The Mix
-As part of going to Vegas I wanted him to take me out somewhere fancy. Packed a skirt and everything. Before Vegas he even went shopping to get new clothes - tie included. He picked the Mix which is one of the top 5 restaurants in Vegas (inside the Mandalay Bay hotel). The scenery was incredible,


view included:

I had chicken, he had cod, we agreed it was the best food we've ever eaten. My only complaint was that it was packed super tight in there so we were literally less than a foot away from the people sitting next to us.

::Zombieland/Castle
-After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I crashed because we had an early flight in the morning. He konked out in the hot tub - again, would totally have support in getting one. I turned on Zombieland and made it through like five minutes before I was out. Aside from Zombieland we watched a ton of Castle. It was on during the plane ride out there, then that night after the concert, then the next day when we were in the hot tub, and now the boyfriend is hooked. Or I claim he is anyway. The last one we watched there ended in a cliffhanger - they were stuck in the freezer - so when we got back I put in my DVD and we watched the next episode.


DAY FOUR:
::4AM wakeup
-Flying out earlier in the morning is cheaper, but it sure isn't as fun, however, neither flight involved screaming or jumping children in my vicinity so I was okay with it.

::Home
-As soon as we got back we stopped at Amigos for food, he picked up this model train he was waiting on, and then we just slept the rest of the day. Very relaxing.


So that was Vegas take two. Hopefully take three will happen some time this fall cause hot air ballooning sounds awesome. Lots of fun, though it was nice to be back and not have to put on makeup every morning...


Song of the Trip:

Royals - Pentatonix


awesome harmonies

"Responstible is not a word!" "We made it up." "Well, un-make it up." *hides music to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.*

I got to hang shelves at work today, which normally is easy, but this time the support beams were off cause one was upside down.

I didn't hang those.

No levels to be found, and I didn't have enough time - or motivation - to dig through the basement backroom so Bosslady's like, "I have an app for that." Which led to me downloading a free level app.

Which I will never use again.

So, the question is, do I keep it? On some whim that I will ever need it again?

Or delete it and then find myself lacking a good level if the need arises?

Whatever, I'll leave it and forget about it and then years from now I'll be cleaning out my phone and go, "what the crap?" and think back to this moment.

So the boyfriend and I finally saw Saving Mr. Banks.



Scale of Awesome says 9/10. I loved it. Way better than I expected, though I will never watch it again.

Cause it's depressing. But good. And funny. But still depressing.

I am going to put a hold on Mary Poppins tomorrow at work though.


Two of my favorites came back this week - Blacklist and Castle - along with the season finale of Major Crimes.

All three had their holy crap moments, especially Major Crimes.

*Spoiler Alert*

Love Beckett and Castle's wedding planning, but loved the return of his dad even more. I literally screamed at the TV. Pretty sure the neighbors think I'm crazy.

Blacklist was epic as always. I lost count of how many people Red killed within the hour. I'm still curious about the guy behind it all. He seemed to be his 2nd in command in the episodes he appeared in but we still don't know anything about him.

Major Crimes is done 'til the summer, I'm assuming. Crimony Provenza, that was a hell of a shot. And I love that it tied back to the comedy episode with him and the glasses. That was excellent. Plus Jeri Ryan guest starred as the obnoxious lawyer. aka Tara Cole from Leverage. I'm a fan. Even though the shot was epic my favorite part of the episode was probably during the trial when he got those letters entered as evidence. Busted.

Although now that it's done for the season I feel like starting the Closer from the beginning and working my way through to Major Crimes. By the time I finish it'll be on again...

Yes, I'm a nerd. But you knew that already.

Alright, that's all I got. On to the music and I'm out.

Somebody Like You - Tonic Sol-Fa


saw these guys live in high school at choralfest, they were excellent.

There were kicks? I missed the kicks?

Okay, I have to warn you, I'm watching Castle as I type.

Best proposal scene ever.

Okay, what the hell happened to Alexis in Costa Rica?! She went from Ashley to that?!

I want a cardboard cutout to talk to.

Yay for DVR, fast forward.

Okay, sorry. Focused.

Today was dead for no reason whatsoever. I was asleep on my feet as was the library itself, we had a mad rush at closing but that was about it for the whole day. Don't know if it was the weather or if this will represent times to come...I'm hoping it's the former rather than the latter.

But again, was able to get some projects and supply stuff done so it was okay.

THEN! - and I was super proud of myself for this one - I finished one of my MAJOR EDITING PROJECTS before I let myself watch The Voice premiere.

The freakin' premiere, I am a rockstar ninja of awesome, take that world!

And you've read my ramblings about that show for years so you know how hard that was.

I did watch it - commercial free is so much better by the way - and then went on to Castle. I'll save Blacklist and 2 Broke Girls for tomorrow since I have to go in early.

Which means I'm out early too. Training in the morning, grabbing coffee and I'm on the road.

Here are a couple of my favorites from tonight. I'll attempt to keep my ramblings to a minimum.

I've Got the Music in Me - Kat Robichaud


"there were kicks? i missed the kicks?!"

i really like her. she is badass. definitely going in my top 20. kinda reminds me of juliett simms later on in the season. man's man's world with the rasp, you know? but with the attitude of jordis who was my favorite from that season so...she could go far. Team Cee-Lo!

Here for the Party - Shelbie Z


this one blew me off my feet, seriously was not expecting this from a beauty pageant coach.

and that's what the show is about no bias whatsoever. and she deserved to be on Team Blake. as did liz davis who sang it a couple of seasons ago but shelbie did it better.

I'm slowly assembling my top 20. These 2 are on it, along with a couple of others from tonight which I will post later this week. Right now it's looking like Xtina has the strongest team with 2 really crazy talented guys, which is really surprising cause usually at this point that's more of Adam's territory. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

really should be sleeping, training tomorrow so i'm out. hope you had a good one!

"You ever notice when he thinks real hard it smells like bacon?"

Big Bang Theory re-runs at the farmhouse.



One of my favorite Sheldon scenes.


Well, I'm still alive and breathing.

Which is more than I could say about yesterday. Drug my feet around all day today but was successful in making a mockup example jar for our event on Wednesday.

At least I hope I was successful - I painted it but still have to pull off all the tape and stickers to reveal the design. I'm hoping it turns out semi-okay and the tape doesn't pull off all the paint.

That would suck.

But my teens are a lot more crafty than I am. We'll figure it out.


BossLady says my cat is named after a Backstreet Boy.

read that in a whiney voice.

cause that's how I keep repeating it. 

Is not!

He's named after a character in one of my stories.

Mean...


After work the boyfriend and I rented "Killing Them Softly".



Not my favorite but he liked it.

Scale of Awesome says 5/10.


Excited to have a day off tomorrow. Gonna spend it working on camp stuff with the gang. I'm sure procrastination and ice cream will be involved.

Feel a bit like I'm procrastinating at the moment but there's nothing I can do with the homework until I get my topic approved. So gonna enjoy my time off until she gets back to me.

From card tricks to Castle noir.

"he's the cream in my coffee."

Alright, music and I'm out - Throwback Thursday

Anything But Ordinary - Avril Lavigne



favorite retro Avril song. used to listen to it daily in high school.

Three armed cops and a writer makes four. You're under arrest so get on the floor.

You would have been proud of my reference skills today.

Chick came into the library asking about a book she read as a kid.

Here is the description that I got: "this guy moves to town and paints it red and then everyone gets mad so he paints it something else."

Um.

Okay.

NoveList was a bust so I tried Google.

20 minutes later I found it on Amazon.

The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments by Arnold Lobel.

Boom, reference training.


After that it was all about Homemade Book Board Games.

My teens rocked it.

A bunch of TAB kids along with a potential new member who seemed to fit right in.

I worked more on my Harry Potter themed Monopoly style board.

One of my kids made a Harry Potter Apples to Apples which she called "Broomsticks to Broomsticks".

Other books covered included: The Secret Garden, Warm Bodies and Game of Thrones, along with Twilight and a couple others that I can't remember.

My adult volunteer who came to help made one based on Russian folk tales.


After work I came out to the farmhouse. Stopping by the Dorm-mom's fireworks stand for more strobes and  flying fish.

Second-to-youngest niece was here. Playing with the outdoor cats. Mom found a dead bird.

And a not-so-dead-one.

"Are you sure that's not another cat?"
"It has tail feathers and a beak."

We moved inside and decided Candyland was safer.



Aside from that the day sucked.

When you start wearing sunglasses to hide the fact that you just broke down or that you're about to again that's when you know there's something definitely wrong.

But that seems to be the theme lately.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

It is the 4th after all.

My favorite of all the holidays.

Got the fireworks stash to prove it.

Parade in the morning - driving the T-Bird - after that it's all fireworks all day.

Huzzah.


And that's all I got.

Song of the day cause I'm watching the episode:



actually found the full version online:



those guys combined are actually pretty good.

though my favorite part was Beckett playing it on guitar in the end.



by all means. please come in.


and i'm out. happy fourth.

Just Do It, Have It Your Way, What Happens in Vegas Stays In Vegas, Got Milk?

Happy WMC Day!!

Gonna celebrate by watching my favorite episode after I post.

Yes, it is the show that will never die even though the network killed it.

Get over it.

But right now I'm watching Castle.

Had to see the finale before I went to work tomorrow cause my coworkers watch it.

Not liking how this ending is looking.

Oh.

Okay.

Nevermind.

Now it's okay.

Good.

So I was totally productive today even though I only went in 2 hours.

Did more camp stuff.

Updated software.

Paid my bills.

Got cat food.

Did laundry.

Finished Silver Linings Playbook - the book - and then watched the movie.

Sad it's over but I can read it again if I have withdrawals.

Now it's on to finishing Warm Bodies.

On disc 2 and then checked out the book as well.

The movie was hysterical, the book is pretty funny but very very different.

So I'm interested to see how it turns out.

So this week is the week for season finales.

*spoiler alert*

Tonight was Castle's, it turned out okay, at least I hope so I guess you never know what she'll say.

And we have to wait until fall, that's just mean.

I'm glad he proposed, I seriously thought they were gonna break up cause all the Twitter and Facebook feeds said to watch it with kleenex's.

2 Broke Girls was amusing as always. Glad they're gonna open up another shop and this time it's attached to the diner. Which is handy. And Nugget Buddies!! I remember those. Hurray for Happy Meal toys.

I love that every episode when Jennifer Coolidge first enters the crowd always goes nuts.

But she is awesome.

NCIS is tomorrow. I'm so far behind, gonna have to catch up online before tomorrow's episode.

Or I'll watch it when I go home this weekend, Mom records them.

Yes, I actually get to go home, two weekends in a row. Saturday we're having a camp meeting and I'm Sunday and then next weekend Sunday and Monday we're closed for Memorial Day.

Huzzah!

So yes, I was productive, and watched some finales, and then there was the Voice of course.

Top 12 performed tonight. Here are my favorites.

Broken Wing - Holly Tucker

nailed that one.

The Story - Sarah Simmons

perfect song choice. nice job adam.

Elimination episode tomorrow, the bottom 2 go home regardless of whose team they're on.

They're both in my top 20. I'm worried about Judith. She's my number one but I haven't been as impressed with her lately.

The hype was so high early on cause she was Michael Jackson's singing partner, but now she's just being outshined by like Amber and Michelle and Sarah. To be fair, Adam has a really strong team to compete with and then Shakira's got Sasha which will be her saving grace. Blake has Holly and Danielle is rocking it, seriously, and then Usher has Michelle. People seem to like VEDO. He's okay. I'm really not a fan of Josiah. He's a pretty face but that's it, kinda like Dev from last year. Nice enough guy but there are better voices in the competition. He's made it this far cause he's good looking and he's friends with Usher.

So Usher saves him.

Kinda like the bromance between Adam and Tony Lucca from second season.

But I've already made that comparison.

Sorry.

Moving on.

Today was good.

Worked for two hours at the desk and then upstairs.

Have a really great GoPo that's gonna finish her hours tomorrow. And I have my TAB thing, we're gonna mockup our library golf holes so we know what we're doing day of.

On the other hand, apparently the person that I've been watching for over my shoulder showed up at work today. Thankfully I wasn't there when it happened but since they didn't get to talk to the person they wanted to talk to, aka my Boss's Boss's Boss - OH YEAH, it's gone that far - I'm guessing they'll be back tomorrow.

And I'm sure I'll be on the desk when they get there.

Great.

But it's okay. BossLady has designated her office as a safe space. Meaning I'll be running there when I see them.

Alright, I'm out for the night. Gonna need the sleep to keep up with my teenagers tomorrow afternoon.

Legitimate pre-midnight post. Holy crap tag in use.

Blurred lines.

The doors are broken again.

Poor supervisory people had to wait on the locksmith.

But I had to leave right after work cause I had those presentations.

What ended up happening was only 2 of us could make it - but there are only 8 in the class - and then the software wasn't working so I basically sent the professor my stuff and she was able to upload and then I presented.

Which wasn't my intention even though I actually was prepared.

Anyway, so yeah I went first and more people get to go Wednesday and Friday this week.

And I'm done, so take that.

Felt like I rambled a bit in the Q&A section, but the rest I had all written out so it was fine.

That's the nice thing about presenting online and not being on webcam. You can read directly from your notes and not even look up.

Which is what I did, basically.

Today I went over my Powerpoint and wrote down everything I needed to say.

Another joy of having the day off - well, mostly off - is that I have time to work on homework cause by the time I get home I'm so zonked I don't have the motivation to do any of it.

Which is why I'm on here and not finishing my final assignment in the other class.

But it's not due until Thursday so I have time.

I also slept in, only 'til noon, then did homework, then watched some old episodes of Bones, Castle and NCIS - yay Kate. Gotta love TV marathons, they're fun.

Castle tonight was interesting.

Not as epic as last week's.

And I don't know that I'm all that excited about the finale.

*spoiler alert*

I mean she can't leave.

It'd kill the show.

But you know they're gonna make Castle all angsty and heartbroken about her possibly leaving - even though she won't - and those finales always suck.

Just like the Bones finale, you know eventually they will get married but until then Temperance is just miserable because of stupid mr. serial killer man.

I'm hoping some humor will sneak through.

*okay spoiler alert over with*

Speaking of serial killer men on Bones, watched the one with Epps and the head in the fridge.

Love those episodes and Gormagon, see those were awesome villains, this new one...I don't know if it's cause I just don't watch the show as faithfully, but I just don't like him as much as the other ones.

Not that I liked them, they're serial killers, but you know what I mean.

It's not as good of a show as it was before.

And speaking of not good shows, I love the Voice.

You're all aware.

But tonight's was a bit of a let down.

I'm thinking huge standout performances cause it's the first night of the live shows and Judith and Sarah and Amber and Michelle and Caroline performed but I was like ehh.

It was alright.

Gonna check iTunes after this to see how they're doing. Guessing not as chart-topping as last year's.

But it was basically "bare your souls and sing something stripped down" night.

Music stripped down, not people stripped down.

I don't know if they're trying to bring back something like Terry's version of "I want to know what love is" or what, but I wasn't impressed.

This is what I'm talking about.

Epic. 

I'm hoping tomorrow's will be better. It's Team Shakira and Team Blake's turn then.

And that's all I got for today.

Slept in, reruns, homework, work for 2 hours, Voice, Castle, post and I'm out.

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell Williams and T.I.


So I hate that I like this song.

Because I'm really not a Robin Thicke fan.

I mean, "When I Get You Alone" is awesome, but since then it's been complete crap.

And then funny part is that I got this text from Second Sister - see anytime I get a text after 11PM I can guarantee that it's either Sketch or Second Sister - saying that he looks like a pedophile, which he does, have you watched this video? To which I agreed.

That of course led to the conversation of what other things we strongly dislike/find pedophilish to which I replied brussel sprouts.

Not that I find them pedophilish, I just don't like them.

But I do find big beards pedophilish. I mean Duck Dynasty big and disgusting. Cause they are the only beards I see on customers at work.

She said she didn't mind big beards but that thin mustaches and super groomed facial hair creep her out. She says that no one man should have the time and attention to create a tiny groomed area about his lip. She feels it's against God's will. It isn't addressed in the Bible, but it might as well be.

These are the conversations I have with my siblings.

We start random threads during the day, a couple days ago we got a text from Second Sister that said her son was watching Scooby Doo. She said "this looks like a really scary one, should we change the channel?" and her son said, "Mom, it's Scooby Doo. They always win."

That's my Godson.

Take that.

Anyway, my brother replies with "thanks for spoiling it for me."

Today I got pictures of my youngest niece eating a banana peel and my oldest niece driving to get coffee.

Oldest Sister claims it was squirt's idea.

And that you can see the "scared in her eyes."

That's what Dad said the first time he rode with me.

I am not that bad of a driver.

I know a select few of you laughed out loud at that statement.

But we're driving down a country road and Dad's holding the door handle with both hands saying, "you can see the scared in my eyes."

Which I couldn't cause I was a smart enough driver at that point to know not look away from the road.

But it's become a family catchphrase.

Dad has a lot of those.

"Convoy" is another.

It basically means good.

He tells Mom to buy "convoy cherries" when she goes to the grocery store.

I have no idea where it came from.

Or why he calls all of the cats Shaver.

No wait, some are Shaver's Brother.

He also has nicknames for all of us.

Mine is Dude.

Cause I used to say that a lot. Actually still do.

Oldest Sister is Bunny Rabbit or B.R. for short.

Brother is The Claw.

Don't ask, I don't know.

Second Sister is G.R.

That one I really don't know.

And when I asked Mom she didn't either.

I wonder if Second Sister even knows what it means.

Mom called her gr once.

As in the sound not the letters.

Made us laugh.


alright, i should really stop rambling and sleep.

more tomorrow i'm sure.

It's Shakespearean, it's Dickensian, it's Kardashian.

Back at work today.

You could tell it was Monday.

Lots of tired staff and not a lot of patrons so it was a little slow.

Which is fine cause it gives me time to work on other projects like more Summer Reading and volunteer stuff.

Got one of my adult volunteers started on shelving Youth Services.

She's Russian and used to work in a library in Russia so she picked it up very quickly.

So quickly in fact that I barely had to train her at all. When I went through each category she pointed out where they go and when I started her on shelving she put them in the exact space they're supposed to go.

I'm making her tag them so I can look over them, but still, I'm impressed.

That's really all I can remember about today.

Oh, except for the part where some dude asked if he could take a picture of my Green Lantern t-shirt.

But what do you say to that, really?

I told him he could find pictures of it online or find it at Target.

Guess that's what I get for wearing fun shirts.

He's another one that makes up excuses to come to the desk to talk to me. Last week he rambled about some sort of chemistry meteorology thing, I don't know I can't remember.

Tried to block it from my brain.

But Queen of the Known Universe was laughing.

Dangit, just when my stalker count was lowering out.

Castle tonight was epic. Love the flashbacks. Kind of cheesed up the drama part, but she was standing on a bomb so you had to have some sort of comic relief.

And Bones was alright. For a season finale I was expecting more. I am super depressed for Brennan now though.

2 Broke Girls was humorous.

Yes I spent a lot of tonight on the couch watching TV but I need a night off from homework and stress and all that.

Anyway, they filmed an episode - well, fake filmed - an episode of SVU in the diner and hired Max and Caroline as extras.

That's where the status is from, basically they're pimping themselves out as actresses so they can get money to pay for Chesnutt's shoes - he's a horse.

The Voice was also on tonight and of course I'm saving it for last cause I get all rambly.

Battles were last week - check out this video cause it's awesome:


Dropping it down from 12 members to 8.

I love that video, that's cool.

Tonight was Night One for Knockouts - Team Adam and Team Shakira, tomorrow will be Team Blake and Team Usher. Each artist picks their own song to sing and their coaches pair them up against each other. So they went from 8 to 4 members each for the live rounds which will start next week!

Big upsets tonight, I lost 2 of my top 5 - Midas Whale (huge shock) and Monique Abbadie.

But the winners deserved it.

Here's my lineups after Night One of the Knockouts.

Red = Adam
Green = Blake
Blue = Usher
Purple = Shakira

Judith Hill - Adam, defeated Karina in battles and Orlando in knockout round

Jess Kellner - Usher, defeated Taylor

Midas Whale - Adam, defeated Patrick, beat by Amber in knockout round

Caroline Glaser - Blake, lost to Taylor stolen by Adam, defeated Amy in knockout round

Monique Abbadie - Shakira, defeated Luke, lost to Karina in knockout round

Sasha Allen - lost battle, stolen by Shakira, defeated Shawna in knockout round

Michelle Chamuel - Usher, defeated Chelsea

Sarah Simmons - Adam, defeated Duncan in battles and Warren in knockout round

Christian Porter - Blake, eliminated during battles

Jessica Childress - Usher, eliminated during battles

Jeff Lewis - Usher, eliminated during battles

Jacqui Sandell - Blake, eliminated during battles

Karina Iglesius - lost to Judith stolen by Shakira, defeated Monique in knockout round 

Holly Tucker - Blake, defeated Michelle

Garrett Gardner - Shakira, defeated J'Sun in battles and Tawnya in knockout round

Danielle Bradbery - Blake, defeated Caroline

Amber Carrington - Adam, defeated Sasha in battles and Midas Whale in knockout round

Savannah Berry - Blake, defeated Jacqui

Josiah Hawley - Usher, defeated Jeff

Audrey Karrasch - Usher, defeated Jamila

Tomorrow will be the green and the blue as Team Usher and Team Blake are up.

The most epic of tonight's battles was probably Sarah Simmons vs. Warren Stone. You can check it out here:


It's amusing because they post all these behind-the-scenes sort of videos so you can get to know the artists.

Here is my favorite for Team Adam

(Dolly Partner, is that weird? Yes it's weird.)

and Team Shakira

(don't worry I can't tell them apart either Tawnya. and Bruno Mars? I can see that.)

and of course my other music rec of the night is:

Dip it Low - Christina Milian


alright, back to Diners, Driveins and Dives.

making me want a hamburger.

he's into me for everything i'm not according to you.

Ah Monday.

No, today was actually pretty good for a Monday.

So, remember how I took the teens to Barnes and Noble this weekend?

And how some are sad cause they're about to age out?

So I talked to my bosses today a possible series of programs aimed at young adults ages 18-24.

The problem with that age - I say as if I'm not a part of it, which as of a few days ago I'm not - is that they're too old to want to hang out with the teens at the teen programs and yet too young to want to spend the evening with the retirees at the adult programs.

Because of our proximity to the university it only makes sense that we at least test it out. And it's not like it would only be college kids, there are plenty of non-schooler kids that age.

So at the moment I'm coming up with an action plan including marketing strategies - aka specific demographics we can reach with specific programs. It's been interesting. So far some of my programs include: Game Night - board games, Wii, Movie Night, Poetry Slam, Pop-Culture Trivia Night, Repurposed Books Craft Projects, Guest speakers that are actually their age and can relate to about topics of interest, etc.

Any ideas send them my way. Right now I'm in contact with some kids who may be interested in attending some of these events.

But I'm excited, it's gonna be me and Girlscout and BossLady cause Girlscout is basically the head of adult services program planning and then BossLady who's my immediate supervisor is just very proactive. And they're both fun so it should be awesome.

After work Smo came over to stay the night - our Monday routine as she has class tomorrow morning.

What else? Oh Castle was awesome. I held off on watching last week's until tonight because of the to be continued. This way I could watch them both together. I love DVR. Watched that and 2 Broke Girls. Oh Mer Gerd - Han was hooked on memes.

Okay on to the music, I listened to Superhero by Cher Lloyd on repeat today but since I've already posted that you're getting some of this:

According To You - Orianthi acoustic


nice MJ jacket

According To You - Orianthi live


can't decide which one i like better so i'm posting them both - she rocks.

not sure how i haven't posted it before since it was my go-to song a couple years ago, i listened to it on repeat. it's a good jam song.


okay, you're not going to like me very much cause i'm leaving you hanging. i hate the ending so until i can fix it you get to be left in suspense with this as your last chapter. for now. after i fix it i'll post it.


Life of a Teenage Writer: Part Six

Sarah Chase Cameron’s blonde hair shone gold in the sunlight. Her green shirt contrasted nicely with the shiny red car she was leaning on. Charlie had made him wash it before the book launch party claiming, “Image is everything.” Sarah stood up straight when she saw him coming and adjusted her sunglasses. “Damnit Charlie, you’re so fired,” he mumbled, picking up his keys and looking around for spectators. Seeing none he headed toward his car.

“Hi there, A.J., how was school?” she asked in a tone that, if you hadn’t met her, would have sounded sweet and innocent. The problem was that he had met her, so he knew she was up to something.

“What are you doing here?” he asked flatly.

“Straight to the dirt, I like that,” she smiled. “Here’s the deal. I’ve been doing some research on your parents’ case.” She pulled her notebook out of her purse. “Lily and David Smith were killed at the gas station on the east side of Middlebrook. A man in a black ski mask was holding up the convenience station demanding cash from the owner, Martin Springer. David approached the gunman and tried to grab the gun but missed and was shot along with his wife, Lily.”

A.J. flinched and stared at his shoes. He really didn’t need this subject brought up yet again.

Sarah continued speaking, pretending not to notice A.J.’s reaction but mentally recording every detail so she could write it down later. “David was shot twice in the chest and Lily once in the head. Martin Springer was sent to the hospital with a concussion and the gunman got away with almost two hundred dollars in cash and some cigarettes.”

“What do you want from me?” he asked quietly.

“Just an interview. Your parents’ case is still open. With my help we could get the police to look over things again, bring in some new evidence, and interview some old witnesses. They might even find out who killed them. Don’t you want that?” A.J. continued to stare at his shoes. “Okay, here’s my card,” she said holding it in front of his face. He grabbed it reluctantly. “Give me a call when you’re ready,” she said walking back to her car.

“What if I don’t?” he asked.

She turned around. “Then I guess I’ll have to keep showing up. I hear you’re living with your grandmother now. It’d be great to interview her about her son and daughter-in-law,” Sarah said with a sly smile.

A.J. felt like his stomach exploded. “What do you want to know?” There was no way he was letting her anywhere near Grams.

Sarah looked like a kid at Christmas. She pulled out a pen. “Where were you when it happened? Did the police talk to you directly? Is this why you write crime novels? Have you talked to the police lately about any leads?” Sarah continued rambling in a speed that only other reporters could interpret until A.J. cut her off.

“Here’s what I know and what I don’t know.” Sarah stopped talking and nodded. A.J. took a deep breath. “I was nine, okay, and it sucked.” Sarah started scribbling notes in her notebook. “Grams tried explaining it but I couldn’t understand. How do you tell a kid that their parents are dead?” A.J. rocked back and forth on his heels. “I spent every night for a year sitting in my windowsill, waiting for them to come home before I realized that wasn’t going to happen.” Sarah stopped writing and looked up. “I moved in with Grams, but the stress of it all had some affects on her too. We don’t talk about it, not anymore. It was a long time ago and we’ve moved on.” A.J. left out the fact that he still went to visit them in the cemetery every week. “Please don’t dig up something that’s already six feet under.” He opened his car door and got in.

“Their story deserves to be told,” she tried.

“I tell it in every one of my books. You should try reading one some time.” He put the keys in the ignition and closed the door. He sped home, watching Sarah stare at him through his rearview mirror.

but loud crowds and line dancing just ain't what they really want

OMG, Zoe's on Castle.

Yet another Firefly tie-in.

Go here for a list of others.

Did I mention I was a fan?

So today rocked.

Slept in 'til noon, ate chips and chocolate for lunch - too lazy to get up and fix anything - watched some Storage Wars - I set my max at 20 episodes for DVR and it kept hitting the limit. I know, I'm crazy. Get over it. - started homework for Friday, went in to work for 2 hours then headed out to see the boyfriend for date night. Went out to eat then watched New Years Eve.



"There's gonna be more celebrities here than rehab." Katherine Heigl, Lea Michele, Ashton Kutcher, Bon Jovi, Jessica Biel, Seth Meyers, Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry, Avigail Breslin, Ludacris, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Michelle Pfiefer, Hillary Swank, even Alyssa Milano made an appearance but it was Sofia Vergara that stole every scene. Hysterical. Her accent kills me every time.

Only movie I can think of that has more celebrities is Movie 43. Which I still haven't seen. Also on my list, Identity Thief. Purely for Melissa McCarthy. But that's another story. This one was actually pretty good. We had watched part of it previously. Scale of Awesome says 7/10. Michelle Pfiefer was completely un-Pfiefer-full playing a totally insecure single lady who quits her job and wants to fulfill her list of resolutions. Was completely awesome acting, had me convinced.

The boyfriend has been on first shift so we didn't have the usual deadline which means I'm up later than I should be. But I'll be awake enough by opening time. Plus a big TAB meeting in the afternoon to pick out our Summer Reading events.

I love my boyfriend, I'm off all weekend so he's planning his work schedule around me. Oh the joys of birthday stuff. I don't even remember what I did last. But I guess that's the job of having a blog, you can look back and figure out what you did that day. Mostly cause we never really do anything, but dinner with the family is pretty fun. The only thing on my birthday list is to get my curtains hung. Which was on my Christmas list and last year's Christmas list. It's alright, they'll probably get hung right before I decide to move.

Alright, on the music cause I'm zonked.

Ain't Going Down 'til the Sun Comes Up - Michael Saryver cover of Garth Brooks

original is better but I can't find it on youtube. There's rarely anything by Garth Brooks on there. I wonder if that a privacy preference or something. Anyway, Micheael's version is pretty good as well.

and she's out.

Barbie isn't popular. You still have to buy her friends.

"If you wanna get sick, lick a library book." - BossLady-ism

So today was fun.

Actually got a decent amount of sleep last night. Think I was out before 2AM. Shocker, I know.

But it made for a nice relaxing day.

Worked the desk, stocked supplies, came home immediately following to watch more Lie To Me and do some writing.

Even more of a shocker. Lately I've been doing a lot more editing than writing - for my awesome now officially published friend. But I've been looking through some old Sketch and Edits that I'd started and disregarded, may start bringing a few back.

But of course before I can even think about posting them on here I have to send physical copies to Sketch or she would drive all the way out here just to smack me.

Cause the whole thing is really her fault. She refused to draw anything for me until I wrote something for her. And thus Sketch and Edit was born. Way back in 2008. And while they've been on the backburner they're always there in the back of my head.

The problem with that though is you know how you get an idea and then you think it'd make for a great story but then when you go to write it down later you totally forget whatever it was that you were going to write down?

Or is that just me?

See, I used to write things on my hands, arms, legs, wherever.

Literally, my arms from fingers to elbows would be covered in notes, but I have a feeling that SuperWoman would frown on that so I now just forget stuff.

"present company excluded." Beckett's gonna kick your ass.

Yes, I'm watching Castle.

I'm intrigued, thinking that this Senator has something to do with Castle's dad. He seems a bit too young to be his father but I'm wondering if there will be some sort of twist that he's his brother or related or something random.

Unless he dies by the end of this episode, in which case I take back that theory.

The Senator, not Castle. You can't really kill off the namesake.

Well, you could, but I doubt as if people would continue watching the show since it took 5 seasons just to get him and her together.

She let him go?

Oh, she's gonna get busted.

"Drive" movie clips in a commercial. Did you hear a woman actually sued the movie company because she thought there wasn't enough driving in the movie?

Like she was led astray or something so she sued them.

Alright, this is mere ramblings, I know, I'll hit you with something fun.

More Useless Information:
-The term "oxymoron" is itself an oxymoron because "oxy" means sharp and "moron" means dull.

-Eggs sink in water when they are fresh and float when expired.

-The symbol on the pound key # is called an octothorpe.

-Pentheraphobia is a fear of a mother-in-law.

-Butterflies taste with their feet - this one I found out at work, told a coworker who turned, looked sincere and went, "i have a whole new perspective on life!"

-On an American one dollar bill there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper-right hand corner. don't have a one dollar bill to test that one so it could be complete crap

-Every book in the State Library collection is stamped on the top, bottom, spine and page 30.

Alright, on to the music then I'm out.

these guys are great, check them out.

Whatever Gets You By/Drawing Board - The Features

totally underrated, love it.

popsicles, castle keeping score, and some of 2012's greatest hits

Went re-shopping tonight.

You know re-shopping, right?

After you realize all the crap you forgot the last time you go and redo your shopping?

Though this time it was all about the popsicles.

Remember yesterday's post about the epic fail?

Dude, those things were nasty. So I ditched them and went back to my regular ones and guess what, they were on sale!! Score!!

2 boxes of 20 for only $6.00 total.

That'll last me like 2 weeks, I'm stoked!!

Okay, 3 tops.

Did I mention my love of popsicles?

Aside from the day flying by not much else to say.

In kind of a funk.

And it's a guilty funk which is the worst kind of funk.

Cause I'm surrounded by people who have legitimate reasons to be in a funk but they're not and I am.

So what the crap?

Oh well, I'm off tomorrow - good thing as it's 3AM now - so I'll sleep and get over it.

"i'm the worst kind of a cougar, a self-hating cougar"

Name that sitcom.

Irony is I just watched a clip of her back when she was Daphne with Niles on Frasier. I got hooked on that show back in early '11. Still quote it from time to time.

"just passing by, thought i'd stop in for a career."

Speaking of clips, found this one highly amusing.

Yes someone did literally go through every episode of Castle analyzing his theory of him saving Beckett more times than Beckett saving him.

watch and learn.




Alright on to the music.

2012's Greatest Hits: Day Two

Mitt Romney Style - College Humor


listened to this one while voting for Mitt Romney. don't think that's what it was meant for but it worked for me.

Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People


also very popular on the Voice. heard it twice in two seasons.

50 Ways To Say Goodbye - Train


the boyfriend and i agree. we weren't major fans of Train when they first hit it big, mostly because the radio played "drops of jupiter" over and over and over and over, but their latest hits are pretty good.

four italian suits, three former husbands...

Ah Christmas 2012.

An interesting adventure.

As previously mentioned I spent Christmas Eve with the boyfriend's family. Christmas Day I spent with his extended family.

But this was after our traditional Mom, Dad and myself Christmas. In which we got a bunch of snacks and random stuff.

Like ice melt.

And a furby.

It's purple and pretty and Carter will hate it.

I splurged on mom this year. Which she will realize after New Years but she says her favorite present was this massive book of sudoku's.

Is is sudoku or suduko?

I say suduko but I think it's actually supposed to be sudoku.

Oh well.

Anyway, so I got a lot for her and I got dad some music DVD's cause the ones he has he watches repeatedly and then makes other people watch them with him.

Meaning if he likes the Johnny Cash one I gave him or the other one he'll open next week it'll be my own fault.

Which I can't say about Moonshiners.

Swamp People perhaps, but not Moonshiners.

Never Moonshiners.

Run if you hear the word "Moonshiners".

Mom and I attempted but didn't get far.

Yet another one of his boondock reality shows.

I should keep a tally.

First there was Swamp People, then Big Shrimping, now there's Ax Men and Duck Dynasty...

I'm sure by the time I come home this weekend there will be more.

Anyway, so there were some small gifts and a VACUUM, woohoo! - shutup, it was on my list - and some spiced tea and then they were off to church and I was off to the boyfriend's to head out to see the extended family.

Every year they do something similar to ours where all the extended family gets together, eats a lot of food, does a gift exchange and then play cards.

It was an interesting adventure. He has even more family than me which is saying something cause I've got 20 cousins on one side and 11 on the other. But both of his parents have 7 siblings so at this one gathering there were 44 people all together in a room.

And of course the second I walk through the door everyone stops talking and goes, ummm.... introductions?

So I'm his girlfriend.

Which I'm aware of.

But it's nice to hear every once in a while.

He said some names but there are a lot of them and really we just jammed with his brother and sister-in-law.

Whom I love, they're fantastic. His sister and future brother-in-law were with the B-I-L's family, otherwise we would have jammed with them as well.

I was nervous but it wasn't that bad. I walked away with a bottle of Rumchata and he ended up with a cooler filled with redneck beer.

Courtesy of his brother.

We didn't stay for the cards. Our original plan was to head back to the farmhouse for a while to see my parents and then go see Les Mis at 10 but ended up crashing instead.

Not the car.

Crashing from exhaustion.

We did make it to the farm cause I had to get my stuff. Dad forced some reality TV on him and we took a tour of the shop - he has a building in his building.

He's painting a building in his building.

Cause the shop is heated.

He's cannibalizing an old building. They moved it from my brother's place - aka my grandpa's old place - to Dad's shop to be painted and then moved to yet another location.

I'm guessing behind the quonset.

Anyway, after the TV and the tour we packed up my stuff and headed back to the apartment to drop stuff off and the thoughts of Les Mis disappeared and we konked out instead.

Since I had to work this morning and left at 8 he slept in and brought me my keys around noon.

I know, now he's been in both the home branch and the work branch.

Shocking.

Queen of Awesome has met him twice and I'm gonna get so much crap tomorrow from Queen of the Known Universe cause she wasn't around when he came in.

But neither was Slim Shady.

She's ditching me.

I can say that now as it is official.

Which is a total bummer.

First Fearless Leader now Slim Shady.

What's going on with the youth of the library?

Who's next, the New Guy?

Even the chick that got hired the same day I did quit. And we were like the same age.

Anyway, I'm bummed but it's bittersweet for her.

It was nice to see the new AD in action today taking tours and all that. She was my professor I bonded with this semester joking about Koha and all that. The one that let us out early every session?

Anyway hired by the Library Goddess is awesome.

I say as she is my boss.

See how that works?

Anyway, she's great and she'll do great things as AD.

There was a lot going on today since we were closed for two days.

Some interesting stuff but mostly just a single incident was interesting.

An interesting encounter with a patron who claimed I said she could do stuff when I said she wasn't in fact allowed to do so and thankfully I had people there as witnesses, it was a mess.

But whatever, it's over.

The rest of the day flew by. Literally I looked at the clock and it was 5PM.

I think I got about 15 calls in an hour to renew books.

That was fun.

And I stopped by the home branch after work at the work branch cause I checked out a DVD at the home branch when I was there and then proceeded to leave it there.

Woops.

Game of Thrones.

Checking it out previously but never got around to watching it.

Will make more of an effort this time around.

And then after that Oldest Sister talked me into downloading Snapchat.

Which is like text messaging except it's with pictures.

She and Squirt were having far too much fun with it.

But I don't take pictures of myself, I mostly take stuff of stuff around me and since Carter is at the farmhouse - I know I'm super sad he's not here to sleep on my stomach but he likes the farm - it's Richard Castle or random stuff I write down.

Speaking of Castle, I read over last year's Day 12, interestingly enough Mom and I watched Castle again this year. Though last year it was season three, this year it was season four.

Alright, that's enough rambling. On to day 12 of the 12 days of non-sucking Christmas music.

Christmas Music that Doesn't Suck: Day Twelve

So I'm breaking all of my rules about consecutive postings and giving you the exact songs from last year because they're my favorites.

And get used to it cause you'll get the same next year.

If you were around last year it's no surprise that day twelve is The Twelve Days of Christmas.

It's the only song I can say is my favorite even though I hate the original.

Literally, if it weren't for Relient K I wouldn't be able to tell you the actual items given to me by my true love.

Cause I grew up on parodies.

So, here are my favorite parodies along with the Relient K cover.

Indian 12 Days of Christmas by boymongoose

and a totally insufficient dowry

Mashup version by Straight No Chaser

thanks Sensei.

Redneck Christmas by Jeff Foxworthy

classic

Rock version by Relient K

this one plays on my ipod no matter the season

and my personal favorite

Janice Dickinson's modeling version

yep, 1:02 is still my favorite. followed closely by 1:13

The problem with multiple parodies is that whenever I hear an actual version I'll sing a mix of the parodies that goes a little something like this.

12 Pack of Bud
11 Charges pending
10 Minute yoga
9 Years probation
8 Table Dancers
7-11 Workers
6 Cans of Spam
5 Flannel Shirts
4 Italian Suits
3 Former Husbands
2 Giant Breasts
and a totally insufficient dowry.


For last year's day twelve go here: And a totally insufficient dowry. 

I do have one more Christmas song to post but I'm saving it for after our family Christmas on the 1st.

Alright, that's enough out of me.

Hope you all had an awesome holiday.

as you walk on by, will you call my name?

Will be so glad when election season is over. I keep getting those obnoxious automated calls.

That I never answer so they just keep calling.

I don't answer if I don't know the number, especially if they don't leave a message.

Unless it's camp season, then I answer.

Though frantic parents do actually leave voicemails. Quite frequently.

So, I sliced myself twice today.

Both thumbs, same knife, once before work once after work.

There's a reason people don't trust me with knives.

It wasn't like I was aiming for them. The one before work was cause I was attempting to cook something, and the one after was me attempting to open a package.

Now I have both thumbs taped up cause the cuts are at awkward angles and the bandaids don't stay on.

I'm stylin' and will show off my war wounds tomorrow at work.

Today was nice, slept in - finally caught up on my sleep - watched the Avengers all the way through, did a lot of laundry, sliced my thumb, jammed out with my cat. Went in to work for 2 hours, came back, did more laundry, sliced my other thumb, watched The Voice and Castle.

The Voice was rockin' - don't read this if you haven't watched it yet and plan on doing it later cause you'll get spoilers - only lost two of my top 20. With Nelly's Echo, De'borah deserved that win - and was one of my honorable mentions, and the 2Steel Girls got beat out by someone else on my list, who's higher than them anyway, Gracia Harrison. And with the steal factor Collin was saved and went to Blake's team - I can see him fitting better there than he would have with Adam. Cee-Lo's team had the best battle of the night. Amanda Brown was another one of my honorable mentions and she rocked it with Trevin, glad she got saved and now resides on Team Adam.

Check it out, they rock.


With Collin's switch to Blake's team, and 2Steel Girls and Nelly's Echo eliminated that leaves my top 20 list looking like this:

Cassadee Pope

Trevin Hunte

Nicole Nelson

Aquile

Avery Wilson

Bryan Keith
Brandon Mahone

Michelle Brooks-Thompson

Adriana Louise

Collin Mcloughlin

Terisa Griffin

Suzanna Choffel

Nelly’s Echo – eliminated after first battle

Melanie Martinez

Gracia Harrison

Celica Westbrook

Mycle Wastman

Mackenzie Bourg

2Steel Girls – eliminated after first battle

Joe Kirkman

Castle was good, but weird. I could predict part of it, but not at all what I was expecting that prediction to lead to.

More on that later.

I should probably sleep. TAB meeting tomorrow and gotta get decent sleep or those kids will eat me alive.

Joking.

I think.

Where was I on the top 20 list for videos posted? I think I posted the first 6, which puts me at Brandon, Michelle and Adriana.

Yes, this is video heavy and it'll get worse cause there's more later.

I Wish It Would Rain - Brandon Mahone

amazing 17 year old, went with team adam

Proud Mary - Michelle Brooks-Thompson

awesome mother of 2, went with team adam

Domino - Adriana Louise

overcame personal tragedy and went with team xtina

That's 7,8,9 so there will be 11 more, hopefully they'll still be around through next week's eliminations.

Alright, and I feel like I have to include them cause I've been singing them non-stop since Pitch Perfect.

You're Gonna Miss Me - Lulu and the Lampshades

love it. my favorite comment on the video is "50 of these views were by Anna Kendrick"

so true.

but it would be something you'd have to watch over and over just to learn.


Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds

apparently recorded this song and two hours forgot completely about it.
didn't like it or something.
didn't even include it on their album.
which is sad as it's rather iconic.

dudes, you're on your own!

I only went in for 2 hours but it still felt like an eternity.

Don't know why, must have been just one of those days.

Sleeping in was nice. Got up around 11, made some lunch and watched Grimm.

Which is good cause Once Upon a Time season one came in for me today at the library.

After a few episodes I went in, then out to dinner with Oldest Sister for her birthday - we hit up an Indian joint. I have a box of leftovers that I of course left in her fridge. We went over there after dinner to watch the Avenger's blooper reel.

I own it but have yet to open the box.

Then came the joy that is homework. Finished one assignment and posted to some discussion boards. Only one more assignment that's not due until Friday and I'm gold.

Now I'm watching Castle. Dude, it's Jacobi! Totally screamed. I'm sure my neighbors were less than enthused. Carter jumped.

Sadly it wasn't as pathetic as the scream that came immediately following my recognition of Paula Newsome on Bones. Which was literally a split second before she slammed the blinds shut. Meaning I saw her eyes and that was all.

Did I mention I was a nerd?

If you have no idea who I'm talking about go to 0:37 here:

She's been in all the census commercials too and she plays Vance's wife on NCIS.

but it still comes back to Women's Murder Club.

Speaking of, official start date anniversary is coming up. I have Sketch's giant artwork hanging on my door to remind me. It's pretty sweet, pretty sure I posted it at one point or another though I'll repost it on actual date.

Yes, I'm aware this is totally lame.

I did enjoy dinner with Oldest Sister, talked a lot about dating and all that. Apparently Squirt has a new boyfriend and she's in high school so it's so the drama.

But that's all I got for the day.

Back to an all day shift tomorrow so I should crash soon.

Only 11:40 but I'm zonked. Hopefully will able to stay conscious until the end of Castle.



i especially love 1:00-1:07

"again my name is ronald, total eclipse of the heart."

maybe i should hold off posting for another 3 minutes and it'll be a real 11:50.

except I'd never remember cause about 90% say it's 11:50 and it's a bunch of crap.

cause it's way after but i still want it listed as today's.

eh.

posting now, sleeping after.

Very superstitious, writings on the wall...

Alright, Avengers is covered, now it's time for The Voice and Castle finales.

Thoughts?

I'm thinking, awesome.

For the pair.

I guessed a long while back that Jermaine was gonna take it. And he definitely deserved it. He did have a major edge already being on stage with Alicia Keys, and I think people really feared him because of it. Experience means less nerves which means better stage presence.

I like him, I like his voice, and I think Blake's a great coach - he's super picky about turning around during the Blind Auditions so you know if he does they're worth it.

Background singer no more.

I was just seriously excited for Juliet Simms for getting second. When it was announced that Tony got third and she had a shot at being first her jaw just dropped.

She was my favorite of the final four,
"I thought we were gonna make a toast and then we got a car? I don't have a car so I need this!"
"I feel like I'm on Oprah!"

I'm guessing they'll all get record deals, that's what happened last year. I wanna hear more of Juliet Simms. I got one of Automatic Loveletter's CD's through interlibrary loan - that was her band before she made The Voice. It's great. Same gravelly voice, but with original lyrics.

Here's some highlights from the finale:

Notice how I don't include Bieber Fever. Though I did enjoy Erin saying they were going to stalk him backstage.



definitely one of my favorite moments. basically the final four brought back former season two competitors and they sang together. This was Jermaine's bringing back Pip, Jamar and James for some Jackson Five. Love the choreography. And they're all so different from each other. I miss James and Pip, they were great.




such a random pair for Juliet to bring back, I was just intrigued, seriously. but i guess Raelynn was like her little sister and Jamar was just always so positive and as they were the final two for Team Cee-Lo it makes sense.




a little random since they weren't the final four, but awesome just the same. Sera rocked it.



i like this combo, Chris is great with opera but then you've got Lindsay's unique tone and Katrina's powerful vocals, it was great.




"this is what they were afraid of purrfect, they're gonna fire us."this is my impression of purrfect..." too funny.


love it. seriously love it. "i can't say the same."

save the best for last.



okay, i literally jumped up and down. literally got up and jumped. and at that point i was like, okay, Tony can win and i'll be okay with it. all because he brought Jordis back. she's my favorite, unless you missed all my rambles throughout the season.

She's just so great, she has a grit to her voice and serious power, great at both relaxed like "wild horses" and then hardcore like "maybe i'm amazed".

Hope she makes the "best of" CD. Or gets a record deal.

Can't wait until next season.

Speaking of, Castle's finale was huge!

Whilst the case storyline wasn't all that spectacular, actually I was a little let down by that, but the end made it worth it.

Now I just hope they don't screw it up like Bones.

I think they had their season finale as well, but I'm so far behind and for some odd reason have no motivation to catch.

Think it's all because things changed when they got together.

You can tell I'm not the only one. When a show changes nights that means it's at risk. If everybody was tuning in when it was on there'd be no reason to change things, they would already dominate in number of viewers.

Maybe Castle will be different.

I'm wondering if that's part of the reason why they're holding off on Ziva and Tony on NCIS.

And why Penny and Leonard broke up, course I'm behind on that too so for all I know they could be back together.

Too much pressure to keep them together. Plus it takes away motivation to keep watching since they're already together.

That's one of the reasons Frasier did so well. They didn't end up getting together until like the 8th season. And people kept watching because they had to see how it happened and then what happened next.

That's how I got sucked in, it was like finally! But now I have to watch until they get married and then I had to watch until they had kids and then I had to keep watching to see how it all ended.

On the agenda for today was a halfday at work then a meeting for grad school stuff. Basically I'm gonna be her grad assistant and have to take over her current duties. One of them is to lead these comprehensive exam study sessions where you get tips from those who took it and learn how to submit them - we don't have a major test, just a bunch of essays.

It was pretty informal, basically just went over the necessary steps. And then I talked to her about GA stuff, puts me at ease knowing what's coming and how to handle it.

I think I'll be okay. It's just a couple of semesters. Plus you know taking three classes and the homework and working 40 hours and directing a youth camp and doing TAB stuff...yeah, that's not bad at all.

I'd give you a music rec, but I gave you plenty above. I'm out.

"Why was I so blind to see now the biggest fool is me..."

Today rocked.

I basically got paid to eat pizza, play Apples to Apples, and jam with my teen advisory board.

I'd call it a win.

Cause they're awesome.

And they seemed to have fun.

As did all the other teen advisory boards.

Basically, all the branches TAB kids came over to process the paperbacks that they picked out at Barnes and Noble a few months ago.

We fed them pizza - which was late - so we distracted them with board games in the meantime cause the processing went fairly quick.

Assembly line style.

But see, this is when unpacking my car comes in handy, so take that Oldest Sister and the Boyfriend!

As a youth camp director I have all these board games that stay in my car.

Mostly because I'm too lazy to take them out and then re-pack them every year, but also because for some reason we keep using them, like family holidays or apparently teen advisory board events.

My kids jumped on Apples to Apples while some of the other kids were all about catchphrase, or poker, or cranium.

And then there were others who just read the books.

They got first dibs on the ones processed so they were all excited.

But it was amusing to see the difference between branches.

I had 7 show up, which was exciting, plus Mentor and myself, and we all played Apples to Apples.

I ended up with three cards, basically sucked it up for the majority of the game and then got them all in a row, then continued to suck it up for the rest of the game.

Which is actually the norm for me.

But today was just a reminder of the age gap between me and teens.

See, I try to be cool and stuff, but then they ask questions like "Who's Mike Myers?" and I'm like, how old are you?!

It happened at camp as well, Noel and I really relied on each other for cards like Georgia O'Keefe or Richard Nixon.

So it reminds me that I should really invest in the Apples to Apples Junior Edition.

Though that'll probably have cards like Justin Bieber and I won't be so inclined to play it with them.

Especially if they're hard-core Bieber Fever and I use his card on like "lame" or "shallow" or "unoriginal" or something to that effect.

They would probably frown on that.

The boyfriend just called. I got to keep him awake while he was driving back to his hotel. Aww, he loves me.

Apparently people enjoy calling me past 11PM. I must just be that awesome.

He went to some train thing this weekend far far away.

He's lucky I like trains or this relationship would have some serious issues.

But I grew up around them as my dad is crazy obsessive about all things trains, cars, and beer mugs.

Maybe the boyfriend is just in it for the inheritance.

Maybe that's why he loves me.

Cause I get Dad's trains.

Or part of Dad's trains.

Well, when we were surrounded by white walls and sterilized equipment and trying to keep Mom from freaking out by joking about the whole thing I believe the exact deal was:

Brother: "We'll split the trains four ways, Carrie can have the beer mugs."
Second Sister: "I want the Corve."
Me: "Can I have the Bird?"
Brother: "Yes, we'll flip you the Bird."

I meant the T-Bird but I'm sure they'd do that too.

No, he loves me for more than the trains.

And I was so happy the other day, it literally made my day, cause I got to quote Castle.

"How do you know?"
"All the songs make sense."
"You listening to T-Pain?"

Kate Beckett actually.

I don't really listen to T-Pain for romantic advice.

Though my love life was brought up in Apples to Apples today.

Under "exhausting". I did not choose it as I actually like my boyfriend.

I went with "house guests" instead.

And, with that, I'm out for the night.

Big day tomorrow for Squirt. It's her confirmation/examination so we get to watch her and her classmates answer questions then eat a lot of food.

Woohoo!

I bought her a lot of stuff.

And got Mom a mother's day present as well. I'm gonna be the favorite. and that's all I'm saying.

Until she opens it.

Then I'll tell you.

What else?

Oh.

I've started watching "Suits" I got the first season. It's not bad.

Though I just keep seeing Rick Hoffman and thinking "Chapman actually started to talk to me about his feelings. It was like if the toaster started talking about the weather!"

Samantha Who.

I love Christina Applegate.

And it's got Gina Torres. aka Firefly's Zoe Washburne. She plays the bosslady. She's always a badass, I like her.

Somehow Rick Hoffman always plays the jerk you want to smack. Like always the boss jerk person who tries to be a ladies man but really fails epically.

But that was like Jeffrey Donovan who I wanted to smack for years but then he turned into Michael Weston and that made everything better.

Alright, song of the night:

"Hurt So Bad" Susan Tedeschi live

love it


"First of all I didn't pay him off. Second of all, if I hadn't paid him off you'd be in jail right now!"

Like the proverbial cheese I stand alone.

Oh my god did you watch Castle?

I screamed so many times it's ridiculous.

Would've made for an excellent Halloween episode, kind of random to bring it now, but it helped the season go out with a bang.

Next week will be even bigger since it's the season finale.

And the preview makes it looks intriguing. Especially after the conversation they had on tonight's episode.

Finally!

Most likely will suck to have to wait until fall when it picks up again.

I'm assuming it's been renewed for another season.

But I'll have The Closer to distract me.

Though I'm way behind, last I knew there she was just told there's a leak in the department, no idea from then on.

The Voice was great as well tonight.

They're down to the semi-finals so everyone sang, tomorrow one on each team gets eliminated leading to the final four.

I'm guessing Tony Lucca - even though I love Katrina Parker - Juliet Simms - you could tell by the amount of applause - Jermaine Paul - though Erin has grown on me - and I'm hoping Lindsey Pavao moves on, if Christina has a say she would definite favoritism, but I'm guessing Chris Mann will move on and he had a better song then she did.

I'm really really hoping it's Juliet but I'm guessing it'll go to Tony Lucca or Jermaine Paul.

It's interesting though cause it seems Christina really doesn't like Tony that much even though they were on the Mickey Mouse Club together, she thinks the show should be about the voice not about stardom storylines.

Which it should, but she's called it out a couple times now, even tonight when she was promoting Katrina.

Stoked for tomorrow's episode, still gotta buy some of the songs off iTunes to show some support. Tony Lucca and Juliet Simms were the best tonight. Though they're always good.

It's cool that you can vote through Facebook or itunes downloads.

Anyway, slept in, 4-6 at work, was totally out of it as I told Slim Shady I was glad to see she survived Italia. Which I already told her as she's been back since Wednesday. And we sat together at inservice for the majority of Thursday.

Woops.

Remembered another item for my to-do-list, finish editing the stories my friend sent me back in January.

Woops.

Awful editor.

I'm on it though, like 10 pages left in one of them.

Currently I'm watching Big Bang Theory.

Math, science, history unraveling the mystery that all started with a big BANG!

Sheldon is training Penny with chocolate.

I want chocolate.

But I have none.

I'm stuck with cereal.

Not that that's a bad thing.

I love cereal.

The combination of that and chocolate plus apple juice fixes all, but I've posted that already.

Scroll back a few pages and you'll run across it.

So tomorrow is another full day, plus the Voice, but Wednesday I'm going out with a friend to see Hunger Games again, which I surprisingly haven't seen since opening day. You'd think I'd have gone again since I'd talked to so many people about going.

Stoked.

"Oh, big talk for a man who was once treed by a chicken."

I'm out. Falling asleep at the wheel. Well, keyboard.

"Crazy" Relient K cover of Cee-Lo


loving this cd.
Interlibrary Loan man, yeah!

They also cover Bieber Fever, Chicago and the Wallflower's "One Headlight" which reminds me I should go back to Jake/Lindsay depression mentioned here: My Life in Closed Captions: This is a week of my favorite things Day Five: Hob...

Which of course I'm stuck on. Though I have made progress, and figured out how she died.

But it still sucks.

Yes this post was boring.

Sorry.

I'll try to be more entertaining tomorrow.