Sexiest man in the world is...

Gerard Butler.  Hands down.  Well, for today anyway.  He just has this thing about him that's so irresistible to me.  I saw The Ugly Truth with Alex, which Gerard is in without his sexy accent, this afternoon and I enjoyed it.  It wasn't anything special though.  But I'd say it was worth my money.  Funny, cute, sweet, predictable - all things expected from a romantic comedy.  I read some reviews and it has been completely ripped to shreds by the critics.  Mostly because it's "nothing new."  Also, I've decided for sure that I don't really like Katherine Heigl.  I don't like her as Izzie either.  She just has this unlikeable quality that I can't put a finger on.  Anyway, what I meant before was that the people who go to see romantic comedies (generally) already know what they want to happen and they just want to see it unfold on screen.  For example, The Break-Up had an unconventional ending, and a lot of people didn't like it.  

The theater had so many posters for movies that are coming out soon that I want to see!  

Like:

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Robert Downey Jr?

And, of course

I thought this poster sums up my life pretty perfectly right now:

"You know what your problem is, it's that you haven't seen enough movies.  All of life's riddles are answered in the movies." - Steve Martin

Don't you know I sit around, with my head hangin' down

I have what some may consider a personality flaw.  Even though I don't think it is.  Often if I discover something new or rediscover something I become obsessed with knowing everything I possibly can about that thing.  I used to try and hide my obsessions, but I am so over caring what people think.  Last post I shared with you my new found obsession for Michael Jackson.  I found this video (FYI, YouTube is does not help my obsession) a couple days ago and I think it's so cute. It's when he accepts his 7th Grammy at the 1984 Grammys.  I like the whole video, but the part that I like the best starts at 3:30.  It's not long.  Watch it.  At least that part.



I love how he asks his sisters if he should take them off before he does.  It's so cute how he gets embarrassed.  It's also so obvious to me through all these videos how truly shy he was.  Which is completely fascinating since he was such a phenomenal entertainer and most entertainers, even really crappy ones, are so outspoken and not shy.

I found another video from the early 80s where Michael's in the car with his family and he proclaims to them, "Salvation Army tomorrow.  Really.  Don't laugh.  You find good stuff!  Don't you Tito?  That other places would sell real expensive.  I'm telling ya!"  He just seemed to be so like-able and funny.  

Through my YouTube watching and my researching I've discovered how much I really admire Michael Jackson and I see what a kind soul he really had.  And the more I've learned the more my heart breaks about how much he was ridiculed just for being different and not exactly what everyone expected a pop star to be like.  How painful it must have been for him to be taken down for his appearance when it was already something that hurt him so badly.  I'm also convinced that he was innocent, even though I never really thought he was guilty anyway.  I'm not saying that he didn't make questionable decisions, but really, everybody does.  I really have a lot more to say about all this but I could go on all day, so I'll just say that I'm so sad that I didn't enjoy him more while he was alive and that I'm thankful for his art.  Rest in peace, Michael.

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with." - Michael Jackson

Who will dance, on the floor, in the round

I have so much to talk about!  But I've had so much to say and then I get so stressed out about what I have to write so then I don't blog and then I stress about all the nonblogging that's piled up so I still don't blog.  Guess I shouldn't go so long between blog posts so that this won't happen again...

We got back from Jersey yesterday.  Some highlights of the trip:

• Chinatown (see previous post)
• Fourth of July with Laura!  I am so glad that Laura could come hang out with my silly family for the holiday.  It was so much fun!  Our matching tie-dye was such a hit with my extended family who didn't make them.  They were all so jealous.  Except my Grandma.  hahaha  It was kinda weird how normal it felt that Laura was just in my Grandma's house and my aunt's house and riding with us to my mom's cousin's house. Since my extended family lives so far away I always assumed the only time any of my friends would meet them would be at my wedding or something like that.  So this was a lovely unexpected chance for a friend to meet my family!  Also, Paige loved Laura (which I was not at all surprised about, I mean, Laura is pretty lovable) and the day Laura left this is the conversation I had with Paige. Paige: Where's Laura? Me: She had to go back. Paige: (really sad face) Her come back tomorrow?
• Yankees game at the new beautiful Yankee Stadium  The stadium was magnificent and beautiful and really really REALLY fancy.  And also, perfect.  And 2 different people were proposed to!!! Pic of me and brothers

So majestic and glorious.

The entryway was so amazing.  On this side of the banners there are black and white pictures of Yankee legends like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.  On the back side are color pictures of modern legends like Paul O'Neill and Reggie Jackson.

The stadium has a Hard Rock Cafe in it and a fancy steak house.  This is Terry sad cause he couldn't go get anything from it.

• Magnolia Bakery Ok, so I don't know if any of you know this, but The Magnolia Bakery is a famous bakery in the village in New York City.  It's the bakery Andy Samberg sings about in the SNL digital short "Lazy Sunday" (The Chronicles of Narnia rap). We went to check out NYU one day (cause Terry's going there) and walked to the bakery since it wasn't too far from campus (which is really boring and ugly by the way).  But some guy at NYU gave us some really crappy directions so we had to walk like an extra mile to get there.  At least the cupcakes were delicious. 

This is the logo on all the boxes you put your cupcakes in.  Isn't it cute?!  The bakery was really really tiny and actually looks like that tiny drawing.

Mmmm devil's food and chocolate with vanilla icing.  And a presh flower!

I have no idea what's wrong with me, but I have become completely obsessed with Michael Jackson.  I can't put a finger on why I've fostered this fascination.  I've always liked his music and thought he was real cute in the early 80s, but I never gave much thought to him before.  I always scrolled right past any post about him on Perez.  But I've bought "The Essential Michael Jackson" CD and the 25th anniversary edition of "Thriller" and seriously, I have been listening to them nonstop.  And while many people have complained about the mass media coverage of his death, I am soaking it up like crazy!  I don't even know how many MJ specials I've recorded on my TiVo.  Aaaand I've just recorded another one... 

"If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change." - Michael Jackson, "Man in the Mirror"

Want CD/DVD?

I went on some adventures with my Aunt Anna and cousin Stephanie in Chinatown today!  It was so much fun.  First we had to take a bus from Jersey to New York, then we took a subway to Chinatown.  That was pretty boring, but necessary. Once in Chinatown we decided to eat first.  We ate at this delicious place called Joe's.  My aunt said that most of the time you sit with other people since it's so busy.  I was really excited about that!  But we were seated at a small table so I didn't get to make any new friends.  The hostess was on her Nintendo DS the whole time she was seating people.  It was hilarious.  I stared at her the entire time.  So Joe's is known for their soup steamed dumplings, which is steamed dumplings with soup in them! They were ah. maze. ing.   

You have to use those tongs to pick them up carefully from the top to put on your plate so you don't puncture them because otherwise the soup will fall out!  And there's an art to eating it, cause if you do it the wrong way the soup will spill all over the place! You can't just shove it in your mouth all at once either like sushi cause you'll burn yourself.  The way I ate it was by biting off the very top then slurp up some soup then eat it in normal sized bites.

My aunt took a picture of me eating it just so I could post it on my blog!  It was probably one of the hardest things to eat ever.  Worth it though.

Next door to Joe's was a place that sold a drink called Bubble Tea, which apparently you can get all over the place but I didn't know that.  They sell it at like every other shop in Chinatown though and they looked so weird that I just had to get one.  It cost 2.25 with my student discount.  It had like a plastic cover on the top of the cup and I was so confused about how to drink it.  Like do I peel off the plastic and stick my straw in?  Nope.  You puncture the plastic with the pointy end of the straw like a Capri-Sun.  The people in the tea place were laughing at me so much when I was taking pictures, but it was so weird that I just had to take pictures to share them!  Those things that look like malt balls on the bottom are really little tapioca balls.  I was expecting them to be crunchy but they were gooey.  Kinda like gummy worms.  I liked them at first but after awhile they got on my nerves.

The whole time I was in Chinatown I just kept thinking how much Brad would LOOOOVE it.  It's like the Asian market but a kazillion times more giant and awesome with the best Chinese food ever.  One of the bakeries had X-rated fortune cookies.  I wonder what they say...hahaha

I got some really cute stuff from the little shops.  A purple wallet, a slouchy bag, and two shirts.  I was going to upload a picture of them all but my camera died, so that'll have to wait I guess.  One place had tons of earrings like the ones Tracy makes!  But hers are better.

So many of the shops had tons of Michael Jackson t-shirts.  I wanted an MJ shirt so badly but I refused to buy one that said 1958-2009 or Rest in Peace and they all said that!  I'll find an awesome one and get one eventually.  And there was Obama stuff everywhere!  He was on all kinds of things like reusable bags and candy.  But the best were these sweet shades.  I refrained from buying them even though they only cost 5 bucks!

I had a really good time with my cousin and aunt today.  I hope we'll go again sometime soon! 

Oh, and here's Paige after she won Pretty Pretty Princess yesterday.  She was a surprisingly good sport about having to put pieces back and give other people the crown.  I was proud of her.  Especially since I was expecting her to be a brat.

"I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown." - Woody Allen

Remakes and Books

This little girl came into work today and I swear, she looks just like me circa 1991.  I couldn't stop starting at her.  It was so weird.  She was so cute too.  Wait, does that make me sound a little vain?  Hahahaha anyway, she had big brown eyes and her hair was the same dark brown as mine and pulled into a ponytail.  Her little baby frizzies were out of control - just like mine were, well, are.  Sometimes it's a lot to wrap my mind around that I was once as tiny and sweet as she is.

I want to try and read as many of the books I own as I can that I haven't read yet before I leave for Disney.  It might seem strange to some people, or most people, that I have oodles and oodles of books to read just lying around, but I literally can't go into Barnes & Noble without buying something.  Or six things.  So far this summer I've read six books.  First was Beastly which is a modern day Beauty and the Beast.  It's currently being made into a film starring an Olsen twin and Vanessa Hudgens (that girl from High School Musical who's dating my boyfriend Zac Efron).  It was a nice quick read, but pretty teen-ish.

The next book was The Luxe which was soon followed by Rumors and Envy.  They're all part of this series called The Luxe Series.  I thought they were pretty good, not the best books ever, not even close, but still worth my time.  I know I would've like them a lot better like eight years ago.  

I also finally got around to reading The Entitled, a book I've had since I lived in 17101, and it was fantastic!  None of you would like it though, it's way too full of baseball, but it was so well written and honest and insightful.  It really felt like I was reading about real people and real baseball players.

Next I read One Fifth Avenue, which was written by the same lady who wrote Sex and the City.  I've had that since the day it came out, which I think was sometime late last summer.  The book's about different people who live in this fancy apartment building and how their lives are interwoven.  The way she told the story through so many different perspectives was interesting and admirable.  It was almost like putting together a puzzle.

The book I'm reading now is The Host, a novel written by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight) and I got that last June I think.  So far I'd say it's the hardest to get into and enjoy, but I'm only 60 pages in out of the 619, so I shouldn't judge it so quickly.  I'm pretty sure the reason I'm not really getting into it is because it's kinda sci-fi and while I do sometimes like that, I prefer sci-fi that's almost fantasy.  I'll take unicorns and wizards over aliens and robots any day.  Harry Potter is just so magnificent and I can't help but judge people a teeny bit who don't like it.  Those books are written so well and with such impressive imagination that I can't wrap my brain around how someone couldn't like them.

The newest Dan Brown book comes out in September and I want to have all these books (that I own) read by then.  Pride and Prejudice, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Dreams from My Father (Obama's book) and Choke.  I know that I have at least 5 or 6 others unread too.  Since I've decided to finally read all these books/really gotten into reading again I've even begun to (gasp!) neglect my TiVo.

"God's created so many people that he probably has to do remakes." - Tracy Gubelin when I told her about my little twin

"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life." - Mortimer J. Adler

"I often feel sorry for people who don't read good books; they are missing a chance to lead an extra life." - Scott Corbett

I'm 100.

My purge has been going pretty well, if I do say so myself.  So far I've filled 7 bags with unwanted clothes and a giant bag of random things I've been hoarding for about 15 years that I don't need anymore.  That's so weird that I remember stuff that happened 15 years ago in such great detail.  I'm starting to feel a little old. 

This is our filled up storage unit.

In other news, I can't believe Laura's in New York now!  I'm so excited for her!  And I'm not as sad as everyone else because we're going to have a fantastic time with my family on the 4th of July!

Lately I've been listening to a lot of the songs I listened to in high school, so a lot of boy bands.  I really miss boy bands.  Sometimes a lot.

Soon I will post some lovely pictures.  I mean, I would've posted them now, but I'm at Kirsten's and I can't take pictures of the things I need to take pictures of.   I've been staying with Kirsten a lot in Norman, and I love it.  It makes me feel like I still live in Norman at least.

I've been working a lot lately and I hate it!  I hate customers mostly.  People are so rude.  And disgusting.  The things they do in dressing rooms are gross.  I've been working in retail pretty consistently since I was 18 and people still surprise me with their rudeness and their stupidity.  I think all people should have to work a retail job at least once in their life to understand how incredibly rude they are.  Seriously, how hard would it be for you to hang up the things you brought with you into the dressing room?  Or at least turn that shirt right side out?  Or, if you see me frantically trying to clear off the rack of clothes from the dressing room, to just put those shorts back where you got them? Also, don't tick your tongue at me to try and get my attention.  I'll probably just keep ignoring you anyway until you say "excuse me."

I want to think of a new blog name.  Well, I mean I have been thinking of a new one.  I guess I should've said I want to change my blog name.  I'm over Once Upon A Blog.  So far I've thought of The Silver Lining and Pursuing Happiness.  But, I'm still undecided.

I really enjoyed Away We Go.  I thought it was refreshing and new and different and beautiful.  Thanks Tracy for the free ticket!  I liked it so much that I might even pay to go see it again.  I thought about writing a review of it, but I've since changed my mind.  I saw The Proposal earlier in the day with Alex and I thought it was a perfectly done romantic comedy.  I laughed pretty hard pretty often.  Plus, I love Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds is pretty to look at.

I don't think I'd want to be proposed to at a ball game, but I've always wanted to see someone get proposed to at one!  And I can't believe I forgot to tell you that one of my many life wishes came true at the Yankee/Ranger game I went to!

"Hugging is the ideal gift...fun to give and receive, shows you care...and, of course, is fully returnable.  Hugging is practically perfect.  No batteries to wear out, inflation-proof, nonfattening, no monthly payments, theft-proof and non taxable." - Charles Faraone

I'm goin' back to the start

I've been in an odd mood for the last couple hours.  Lethargic and cranky.  Sad and mad.  I've just been in my room alone for about 3 hours listening to music, thinking, reminiscing and watching TV, but not really taking in what I'm seeing. A new episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8 couldn't even pick me up.  I can't even remember one cute thing one of those sweet babies said.  I think a big part of the problem is that a growing part of me doesn't really want to go to Florida anymore.  Every day I'm a little less excited to go.  Maybe it's because I work in retail now and I really don't want to work 50 hours a week in a store for 5 months, even if it is a Disney store.  I'm tired of dealing with customers and cleaning up their messes and doing the same thing over and over every day.  And it'll just be that much worse not having my friends and family there when I'm not at work.  I know I'll make friends, but it won't be the same.  Hopefully this feeling will go away soon.  Because if I don't go then I literally have nothing else to do and that's terrifying.  Maybe it's because people keep asking me what I'm going to do now that I've graduated.  And all I can ever say is "I don't know."  That's the hardest part.  I really don't know what I want to do.  At all.  I'm afraid that one day I'll be 30 and suddenly I'll just be working at some store full time and hating my job and wondering what happened and how I got there and how to move forward.

I had the most amazing weekend with all of you.  Which is probably what sparked some of these feelings.  I'm sad that it'll never be the same again ever.  I always have such a hard time accepting change and I think that maybe I'm only now starting to realize how much will change. I won't rehash the weekend since I've read about it already on your blogs.  I loved reading about our adventures.  You know what happened.  You know I had fun.  You know I loved every second - even though I didn't want to wear a dress.  

Sorry to write such a somber post, but I just didn't want to write something that wasn't in the sprit of how I'm feeling right now because it wouldn't be genuine.  

I went on some adventures with Alex today and it was lovely.  Now I'm listening to "The Scientist" on repeat and being sad again and not listening to Brad's cheer up advice.  I do appreciate it though, Brad!  I just feel like it's ok to be sad sometimes.  Maybe it's even good for you.  Maybe I should just get it all out now.  Or at least some of it.

"Nobody said it was easy, 

Oh it's such a shame for us to part

Nobody said it was easy,

No one ever said it would be so hard"

-Coldplay, "The Scientist" 

“Life doesn't always turn out to be your fantasy. That's why you need friendships that are real to get you through it.”

 - Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City