Resolutions

Hello All! So I know it's been 7 months since I blogged, but truth be told, nothing too exciting is going on in my life. But, hopefully that's all about to change.

New Year's Resolutions, I've never been big on them, but this year I figure it's time to start. I am going to start by blogging about them, to maybe hold myself to them. If in 6 months, I haven't held to them I will do something embarrassing and post it on the web. Now taking suggestions....

#1. This will sound ridiculous, but #1 is figure out my life. I have been saying it for the past 3 days. Figure out my living situation, job situation and the general direction in which I want my life to continue.

#2. Lose weight. I know it can be done, because end of Freshmen year of college I was at a good weight. Be toned and in shape. How I am doing this. Weight Watchers and for the first 60 days - Insanity. Aaaahhhh! Goal #1 - lose 20 lbs in the next 2 months.

#3. Blog and read blogs. I might have figured out an app that helps me to read blogs more often. Or maybe I can just spend some less time on pinterest.

Updates to come. Hope everyone had a great New Year's and I will see you soon!

#1 Reason I Don't Have A Boyfriend

So there are probably many reasons that I don't have a boyfriend, but I would have to say, what you are about to read is probably #1, and if not #1 - top 3.

Everyone knows I love Harry Potter, but I think I took it to a whole new level this weekend. I am going to the Midnight showing on Thursday, which is not out of the norm, but in preparation, we had a marathon extravaganza to get ready. Starting at 8:00 PM on Friday night, we put in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the magic started from there. I'll put this in pictures for you.




The scarf I wore all weekend



(My wonderful sister Jena got this for me when she visited Harry Potter theme park in Orlando. Also earlier in the week, I told my friend Emily that I was going to bring this scarf, she then asked me if I had all the movies, my answer "I own a Harry Potter scarf")

Butter Beer




Pumpkin Juice


(Orange pop and orange vodka)


Pumpkin Pasties



Cauldron Cakes and Botts Every Flavor Bean



Harry's Birthday Cake



(For those of you who are not aware, 17 is the "man" birthday in the wizarding world, you lose the trace and can do magic whenever you want. My sister told me that when I bring the cake out I have to say "O no Harry (British accent), Ginny and I made you a birthday cake and were going to bring it out after the wedding")


Turkey



(Instagramed of course)

Ron Weasley cutting the turkey



(Hogwarts has the best feasts-every movie)

My feast



(Turkey, Cheesy Potatoes, Stuffing - we also had green bean casserole)

And this, this is my crowing jewel, I really can't put into words how proud this made me. This is my poly juice potion invention. Poly Juice potion is in most of the movies, its obviously a potion, but you add hairs from another person and drink it, you then become that person.





(I mixed champagne (for the bubbles), a little midori to make it green, and the genius part-dry ice-to make it smoke. After mixing it all together, it started bubbling-JUST LIKE A CAULDRON OF POTION. It was truly amazing.

We also obviously made it into a drinking game. Times to drink

1. Whenever Dumbledore owned a room
2. When Ron said "Bloody Hell"
3. When someone said Expelliarmus

Etc, Etc.

3:51 PM, Sunday - finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. All 7 complete. We took a couple breaks here and there - to sleep, gym and prepare the feast. All in all it was a great, relaxing weekend and got me so pumped for Harry Potter 7 part 2. I am extremely excited, but also so sad that it's ending.

For all you muggles that would like to have your own Harry Potter themed party, here are a couple links to get you started

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spells_in_Harry_Potter

http://backyardbartender.blogspot.com/2010/11/harry-potter-cocktails.html

http://www.britta.com/hogwarts/recipes.html

Good luck to all this week, and remember, if you hear Avada Kedavra - GET DOWN - if you can.

3,000 Thoughts A Day

Hey kids...I'm back. Don't get too excited because I work in insurance now, so I'm like an adult. And we will see about the first post back....Let me ease in.

I recently saw a commercial that said the average person has 3,000 thoughts a day. Um......dizzzzattt. (For those of you that didn't go to Olathe South-that is "doubt it" Picture your tongue sticking out,well yours-cause I can't, whilst saying it)

Anyway, I think that is a bit much. Then I started thinking about my thought versus the average person's, or a smarter persons. Here is a true documentation of my thoughts in about 3 hours in the correct order, obviously not close to 3,000 but I just realized that if a person has 3000 thoughts, some have got to be ridic....

And the thoughts came on a recent trip to Tulsa, OK so lots of time to think while starring at nothing...intermixed with belting tunes....

*****

I wish I could sing better

I wish I had a helicopter

I wonder what would happen if Justin and Britney never broke up. Would they have ridiculous kids, still be making music, would Britney have gone crazy?

I think that Taryn and I would go on Amazing Race, 1. I think we could win, 2. I think we would be really entertaining.

The star dome in Junior High was awesome, I wonder if they still have it? (For those of you wondering, I texted my sister Aimee and they don't....Lameness) I wonder if you can rent it for parties?

(Then I wrote "Vanessa blog name" but I don't know what that means...)

My thoughts are kinds of scattered

Who gets to name cities? Who gets to name stuff like grass? Who names things?

I wish I had a plane

How do names catch on. Like how did everyone know to call a bar of soap a bar of soap, I mean they didn't have commercials back then.

Why would someone ever put a decal of a wolf on the back of their car.

I wish I could apparate

I just wish I was magic.

Getting older sucks, look at these bags under my eyes.

*****

That's it. That is 3 hours of thoughts....of a 26 year old. Sad City

Top Chef Olathe

I was home for a quick trip this past weekend in Olathe. The whole family loves cooking shows and so we did our own little competition. Previously, the kids had done a dessert round. Cody was ahead by 1 point after round 1. We decided to do appetizers this time, so the kids told us what they wanted to make and then my mom and I went to the store to purchase all the goodies. Each kid got a Sous Chef to help, myself, my mom and my stepdad Scott. After the tasting the sous chefs went down in the basement to judge.

Chef:Sous Chef

Jared: Mom (Paula)



Korie: Scott



Cody: Me!




The following are the final product with judges commentary underneath...



Cody had nice use of the pantry with the tortillas and taco seasoning. He had an abundance of food but his food lacked contrast of color. 12 out of 15 points.



Jared's wings had excellent taste and the presentation was wonderful. Way to know your judges Jared!. However he didn't stretch himself. 13 of 15 points.
(My commentary: these were the bomb.com, we marinated them in lime juice/soy sauce)

And the winner is.....



Korie showed excellent creativity. The donuts rocked! However her ravioli lacked substance. 13 out of 15 points. Appointed winner for her creativity and she took a risk.

It was a really fun activity and the kids really enjoyed it. Cody even told me, he "really enjoyed cutting the cheese", which got a laugh from all.

GREAT weekend

Today at work, I have been doing a lot of manual labor. Fun? No. Necessary? Yes. Well part of that day has been sitting on my knees writing down numbers and organizing boxes. To make this job less fun, my knees are killing me, like I can't even crawl around. Why might you ask? Well let's take you back in time......

(cue harp music)

Friday night I met up with Landon and Ashley to go out. We hit a couple bars and meet up with some more friends later. I may have ended up drinking a little too much.

I wake up the next morning and don't feel well at all. Ashley and I decide the cure is breakfast, so Ben, Ash and I hit up State & Allen. They keep asking if we want mimosas and I think that I cannot possibly bear another drink. Well, Landon shows up and we all decide to get a drink. We finish eating and decide to go watch the rest of the KU game. Ashley ditches us and Hanna meets up with us instead. We watch my boys dominate the #15 team in the country (thank you very much) and decide to stay. At one point, we look down at our bar spot and see about 25 bottles lined up, so much for the not drinking part of the day. I laughed really hard all day, got to meet the Captain Morgan captain and learn that OSU's mascot is a tree. Seriously? We stay at the MAT until about 5PM and run back to my place so I can shower. O did I not mention that I was still in the same clothes from the night before?? Yea, I was. It was gross.

We get back to my apartment (its about a 2-block walk) and we are all feeling pretty good. The boys are jacking around in the elevator. They keep hitting the emergency button and jumping around like 5 year olds. As soon as the doors open, I just want out of that elevator, so I make a break for it. All the sudden...BOOM! I hit the ground on my knees and fall onto my back. Landon had stuck his foot out and I went down hard. The 3 of them all start running around laughing uncontrollably. I'll admit, I was laughing too. But it hurt. We decide to tone down the rest of our night and just do mall, pizza and movie.

I woke up the next morning with bruised and swollen knees and they are even worse today.

But, all in all, a pretty good weekend. One of my favorite Saturdays ever. Minus the way my knees feel today....


O! And I went to the Jonas Brothers/Demi Lovato concert on Sunday. I was working, but had signed up to work this one. :)

(Disclaimer: I know this is not the best blog post, but I am rambling and feel like I should write a post...)

Ode to Technology

Technology is cool. What did we do before email? Blah Blah. My ode is a bit different. Technology allows me to indulge in my guilty pleasures even more. Some of you will probably read this post and not want to be my friend anymore or will probably think I am crazy and the biggest dork ever, but isn't that one of my most endearing qualities??

This email from my sister Jena is how it first started:

"I randomly came across this. There is a wikipedia devoted to HP. It is called Harry Potter Wiki....this is the page that has every spell and hex. How to pronounce it, what it does, and who used it on who.

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Spells

I am going to print off a copy and memorize some that Jordan will think I am an even bigger loser than he already does. "


I've been on Twitter for awhile now. I like it. I can follow celebs and I think I know them. The other day, Avada Kedavra was a trending topic. For those of you not familiar with twitter, trending topics are the 10 most "tweeted about" things that day. Avada Kedavra was #1 for 2 days. (Brett Favre was #2-but the incorrect spelling of his name-they spelled it Farve-different topic). Anyway, Avada Kedavra is the killing curse in Harry Potter, so that made my week. As much as I love Justin Bieber, this one was my favorite tweet...

"And I was like baby, baby, baby ooh! Like baby, baby, baby noo! Like..." AVADA KEDAVRA! *silence* Much better. (via @aSmileSaysItAll)

Another thing I discovered on Twitter was that I can follow Lord Voldemort. And he is really funny. A couple examples..

The final HP movies will be in 3D. If they don't make "Harry Potter style" 3D glasses, they're idiots. If they do make them, they're idiots.

#Datingtips Men: If you hear a woman say she's looking for her 'Edward,' RUN. Women: If you're looking for your 'Edward,' enjoy being alone.

"Avada Kedavra" "Harry Potter" is trending in Canada in that specific order. This is the first positive thing Canada has done. Ever.

iPhone-my favorite piece of technology, and thanks to Twitter, I got a new favorite app. Enjoy the pictures for more details.

App:



My acceptance letter to Hogwarts!



I got my wand at Ollivanders...



And sorted into my house. Gryffindor of course, only the best.



You then get to practice spells. You can either wave your phone in a specific shape or just draw on the screen. I tried waving and didnt get it, so I just draw them on my screen. Its probably not necessary for me to say the spells out loud when I am alone in my room (or out in public for that matter), but where is the fun in that??



My patronus:



And then you can duel (the whole point of the game), but I am not good at all. You have to remember all the spells and their shapes. Really hard.



(Maybe this should have been titled "Ode to Harry Potter")

So, you probably all think I am a huge loser now, but I dont care and you better watch out, because I am getting really good at the spells and I have no problem using an Unforgivable Curse on you.

6 Months Later...

Back in January I had my first dentist appointment in about 2.5 year. I had a looney toons cleaner girl and she was back this time.

It starts with a call the day before asking me to come in 10 minutes early. "Sure, no problem" However, I then proceed to wait 30 minutes for my appt. DHG (Dentist Helper Girl) was "running late"- Strike 1.

She begins cleaning my teeth and once again, points out my lingual fraenum. DHG asks if I went to an oral surgeon to have it removed. Well obviously not, since its still there.

DHG: "I wrote in my notes last time that you had a date around your last appointment"
Me: (In my head) "You freaking wrote it down?!?! Why?! Maybe its good people skills?? No, no...its just creepy"

What I really said "O I don't really remember that date, but it didn't work out"
DHG: "That's so sad. I would hate to be single, its the worst thing in the world"
Me: "I guess"
DHG: "Are you dating anyone now"
Me: "Yup. 4 months now. Its great" (thinking it would be way easier that hearing about how tragic my life is as a single woman.

DHG then proceeds to retell me all about meeting her boyfriend on eharmony when she was 20 because she was so sick of being single. She then tells me a story (about 30 minutes long) about trying to hook up her friend with her bf's friend, but her friend played on her Nintendo DS the whole time. Yes, her Nintendo DS, DHG has to be at least 24 or 25. I stopped paying attention because then she went into another monologue about how tragic being single is.

Next DHG talks about how she hates it when people don't "grind" on the dance floor and when girls do their own thing and dance goofy. "Its just so lame. And they wonder why they are single". So I guess that is why I am single. :) - Strike 3-8.

So I am now in the process of looking for a new dentist. I really like the actual dentist but I cannot handle the DHG. She is awful and annoying. I am convinced her boyfriend is deaf. I mean, he just has to be.

Side note: I hate to look up the word for tongue tied (lingual fraenum) because I obviously couldn't remember it and here is what it said. My favorite part was the "oral play" part.

The tongue
The most important articulator for speech production is undoubtedly the tongue. During speech, the amazing range of movements the tongue can make include tip-elevation, grooving, and protrusion.

Relatively short at birth, the tongue grows longer, and thinner at the tip, as we get older.

As well as having a speech function, the tongue is needed for sucking, chewing, swallowing, eating, drinking, tooth and gum health, kissing, sweeping the mouth for food debris and other particles (such as hairs), warming the air during mouth-breathing, and oral play (for instance, poking the tongue out and waggling it about for fun).

Waggling is about for fun- that's good stuff.