5/27/2004

"And sometimes, the things that do come, are more than anyone should have to take."

These last couple of days have been tough for me.
I'm trying to be a strong Jenn.
But I'll tell you what, having good friends and family that surround you,
make things just so much easier to bear.

Today was wear patriotic clothing/grill-out day at work.
I enjoyed a tasty cheeseburger and oh, beans and slaw.

Tonight I am going to see Dashboard and Thrice play at City Market.
I'm really excited for that.
And Brian gets in tonight. I can't wait to hug him.

5/25/2004

Last night Brian was in a tornado. In Glennoak, Iowa. He said they had to lock all the doors and huddle in the bathroom. Me and my fam had to go into the basement, too. The sirens were going off, Dad was outside looking up at the sky, and Mom was scrambling around the house gather all of the "valuables". Checkbooks, jewelry, purses, pictures. My dad gets kind of mad when she does this. I mean she also fills big water coolers, brings down food, 6 flashlights, candles, batteries, and a radio or two or five. She even made us put on shoes so that we could climb through the wreckage after the house had fell down.

Luckily, though, me and Laura were still able to catch the finale of the Inferno. Luckily.

I got to work this morning at 6:45 am. And I'm probably going to do it again tomorrow. Word on the street is, we're getting out early on Friday, so I need to get motoring if I am having Monday off and mailing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I was pretty excited for my bagel and cream cheese duo for lunch today. Too bad it was frozen and it tasted like I was eating a bagel with glue on top of it. Yeah, not so good.

Tonight, Mr. Treadmill, I will own you.

5/24/2004

Sound the alarms.
There is a beached whale in cubicle two, the second row from the elevators.

Goodnight, I have just eaten the entire China Star buffet. Not really, but the rice inside my stomach is expanding at an illegal rate per minute. Not to mention the large volumes of water that I have been pouring into my mouth. I went to this place with my friend Kelly. Hadn't seen her in quite some time. She calls up and suggests that we feast at C. Star. That we did. I must admit, I was a bit freaked out before I entered the golden doors to that Chinese palace. But is sure was tasty.
In fact, I'm quite surprised I didn't eat the table.

It's kind of funny. Because this is what my fortune cookie read:
"You have great physical powers and an iron constitution."

Funny, I don't really feel real "physical" or "iron-like" lately.

This weekend was rather graduation-ish. Brian came to the door on Friday with a dozen roses. That was definitely the highlight of the weekend. Friday night we met up with some pals at Canyon on the plaza for some bevies, chips, and loud acoustic guitar playing.

Saturday morn, Laura woke me up at the butt crack of dawn to go get embarrassing large amounts of donuts and bagels. I did all this while still in my pj's, last night's make-up still on my face, and sleepy slits for eyes. Then I came home and woke Brian up and we partied it up, breakfast style with Laura, family, neighbors, and the cool high school kids.

After a serious nap, later that night, me and Brian ate at Elephant Bar, with special guest, Kelly Prochaska. It was a grand time. The grandest continued as me and Brian went home to watch the freshly rented "You Got Served" DVD.
Hold me back, I want to buy it.

Sunday morning, we woke up, feasted on the leftover doughnut shop in my kitchen and went up to Lawrence so Brian could walk the hill. Good God, was it hot. I definitely roasted my skin off. I used the Wescoe Men's bathroom. I took tons of pics with the help of Justin Utt. I also saw a lot of friends, which was so good.
Also, I saw my friend Chipolte.
Yeah, saw it go into my stomach in 7 only seven minutes, tops.
I didn't even barely taste it. It was more for absorption.

That night, Sunday, I watched little Laura graduate. Dad definitely thought it would be the best idea to spend 30 minutes posing for pictures on the very stage that program took place from, the very stage that the graduates walked on. Yes, we were up there,
as a family, while millions of graduates buzzed around down below at normal level.
It was indeed a tad unnecessary and embarrassing. But I did it for Laura.

I need a life.

5/21/2004

1.) Who does this?

2.) Call me a big homo, but my lands, I really want this shirt from Banana Republic.

Today is me and Brian's 2-1/2 year anniversary.
He answered the phone this morning with: "I love you. Hi."
:-)

Well, let's start off today's log with a picture of that rad soapdish and matching toothbrush holder that I purchased yesterday. I mean, didn't you want to see one?

Last night me and the working girls had a nice dinner at Houli's.
Our waiter was missing a brain, but miraculously had it replaced with a tattoo featuring a jester head on a stick. Classy, yes. Necessary, no. We also met Justin: General Manager. Little man, little pee pee. Thankfully he gave us 1/2 price apps, even though we weren't at the freaking bar. The gloriousness continued when Steph got her part of the bill for
-$6.06. And they served us breadsticks from Pizza Hut. I left that place feeling like I had just solved a really hard math problem. And I have no idea how I got the answer.

Here is a picture of me and Jenny. I forgot I'm in a Houlihan's booth and not resting my chin on a carpet-covered box at the JC Penny Photo Studio.

The following picture is something I'm really proud of. I either look like Herbert Hoover, John Lennon, or need to make a T-shirt out of this puppy.

After the meal, we power-shopped at the mall. Near the end of it all,
I saw one of my best pals, Ted Martin. The girls left and we went on to purchase
590 doll hairs of clothing and accessories for Mr. Martin. Clothes make the man, I guess.
I also saw what I thought was a hooker in the women's shoe section.

Today feels like a Monday. When you deal with 4 dumb clients in a row, you feel like punching your own lights out. But I can't do that, because I have to be there for Laura's graduation weekend 2004. Apparently, she's going to "raise the roof" when she walks across the stage to get her diploma.

5/20/2004

Well, last night I watched the Bachelor.
Thank God Jesse put on his thinking cap and picked the right girl.
As for psycho Tara. Oh my God she lost it. Mentally lost it.
I almost threw up on HER. Go back to your firearm father.

Then I got kind of sad for no reason last night.

But I planned to have a good day today by first sporting my sweet new pair of shoes:
So I put them on and trotted out of the house, opening the garage door, only to find too many young Mexi men who are currently replacing our roof. So here I am in my sexy shoes and gross I don't even want to know what they are thinking as they undress me with their Spanish eyes. Ok. But I got a few compliments on these pointy devils.
Actually, they still now look good, however, I can now see my heel bone as all of the flesh has worn away. But I feel very beautiful, and as I walk down cubicle row,
I feel like doing a point-kick-point in the air with these gorgeous specimens of footware.

In continuing with me and trying to have a great day,
I accidentally slipped a Silver Spoon Egg/Cheese/Bacon sandwich down my throat.
And maybe I washed it down with a tasty diet orange sunkist.

Tonight, me and the work gals are going to Houli's for dinner, drinks, and womanhood.

Oh yeah, and me and Meliss went to smelly Wal-Mart over lunch. Not only did I end up purchasing the sweetest new soapdish and matching toothbrush holder plus toothbrush, but yes, we did purchase a lovely lip gloss stick made by Mary Kate and Ashley Olson.
I thought it looked all pretty-pretty-princess, but it smells like B-hole.

5/19/2004

Well today is rather slow-mo.

Yesterday, I spent literally two hours on Laura's new blog. I didn't even change out of my work clothes. I just couldn't get some things right. I literally had to stop at 8:30pm because my eyeballs were burning and I was seriously going to throw up. Eww.
That's gross.

Yesterday, I downloaded some Usher as well as some "Dust Your Shoulders Off" by Jay-Z. It's currently my new anthem. Giddy-up.

Today is too busy. But tonight I'm going to a new Mexican Cantina with my friend Tyler.
I just have to wait for him to get back from this store called "Fantastic Plastics".
Who knew there was such a store so brilliantly named.

Um, is THIS what a piece of food does when they know I am coming for them?

Well, dudes, it's a pretty un-eventful day in the land of media. I can see the light though. That's real good. My Grahmcracker is coming in town from Chicago today. This means from time to time the whole house will somehow shut down and it will be "nap time".
You won't be able to find any one. They are all napping. Not me, man.

Today, I let spunky and elderly Sonja at work listen to "Lola" by The Kinks on my iPod.
I think she about wet her pants. She did that thing where you totally forget that you have headphones on, and you try to talk. Well, she kept frantically pointing up, meaning I had to bring it with the volume. So she tried to say something and just about screamed it to the entire nation. Then she was like bopping her head and singing outloud and asking if weird Liz would like this music.
It was a great thing.

5/18/2004

So, I ran yesterday in an effort to be "healthy".

I woke up this morning in my bed from a dream. This was not normal, however. My dream consisted of Jessica Rice leading a HUGE number of angry people with torches, guns, pitchforks, rifles, bows and arrows, and rage. They were all stationed outside of my house. They were forcing me, my mom, and my dad inside and away from all windows. Because if they could see us, they could kill us. Me and the fam were seriously preparing for death. And it was dark, and like the Alamo, I peeked outside and saw hundreds of people lining this white-plaster wall surrounding my house. And they had their bows and arrows and guns locked and loaded and ready for me. All of the sudden, Dad reacts like he has this brilliant idea, and apparently tells this middle-man (who was relaying messages and in our house) to tell Jessica Rice that we APPROVE OF USING BIRTH CONTROL!
He thinks this will stop the war.

Oh my God, that's when I woke up.

And anyway, I went to get out of bed and I realized my legs had apparently turned into concrete blocks. They hurt, man. While in mid-run yesterday, my eyeballs looked like someone had colored them with a red crayon. I looked scary-central with those allergies. Thanks to everyone who conveniently mowed their lawns on the same day from 5:30-6:30 pm.

On a lighter note, I'd like to welcome the new Sex & The City DVD, season 6 into my DVD collection. It's excellent and I haven't even watched it yet. I also bought the new,
New Found Glory CD that came out today. So, um, party at my place.

5/17/2004

Dudes, I'm back.

*++* Make sure you check out the Indi-Pop link. Over there on the left. *++*

It was quite a great weekend. Brian's sister Holly and cool kid Jon Pader came to Omaha. Thursday night, we picked them up from the airport. Thursday night, Brian introduced us to the "Easy-Tab" during a special hour of power. No shot glass, no problem!
It's simply a piece of tape, attached to the glass at one end, but folded over to make a pull tab at the other end. Then he drew a marker line on the tape.
He did this all without our knowing and he is brilliant, but highly made fun of.

On Friday, we visited Old Market where a lady watched me pee right through a crack in the stall. We also shopped, where I purchased the most sweetest pair of lenses, shown on the left. We also managed to visit the mall, where we saw plenty of yobangersons.
We also went to Best Buy where I purchased the great, "Lost In Translation" DVD. Excellent. We dined at Upstream Brewery, where I ate a large quesadilla, filled with almost nothing but corn. You can only imagine the consequences I was facing.
But I fought the corn and won.
Late that night we watched my DVD. Along with two space bags of Franzia.
Well, you know what that meant:

A re-enactment of Bozo The Clown's "The Grand Prize Game".
Yes, I didn't stutter. We actually made our own version of this beloved game show. Brian cut and labeled the bags and Holly concocted the foil ball. I am serious in saying that we all played for about an hour. Too bad there wasn't any Archway cookies, or red wagon, or annoying crashing sound when the $100 bill was dropped into the last bucket. Yep. Call me cool.

Saturday, we went to another mall, and eventually to the restaurant that would serve me the greatest Filet known to man. And the most perfect garlic mashed potatoes. And a salad, crossiant combo to write home about. And spin/art dip that tasted so lovely, you wanted to smear it all over your face. This, is Charleston's. Later that night we quietly watched the Olson Twins host SNL. Listen up, they're no Lindsey Lohan.
They were in like a 1/2 a skit. I hate them. But we did get to hear a live
"Everybody in the Club Gettin' Tipsy" by J-Kwan. 'Changed my life.

The next morning, Sunday, we had to take Holly and Jon back to the airport. After that, me and Brian decided to go on shopfest 2004. I don't know why. Wasn't a smart idea.
I think the highlight was Lowes.
For some reason, I felt obligated to buy Brian a small tabletop plant and this:

People, it looks nice. And its kind of nice to have a couple of living plants in your home.
Well, this were Brian's comments in the middle of the nursery:
- "Jenn....I just don't think I'm ready for this."
- "Why don't we wait. I wasn't preparing myself for this."
- "I don't think so, I don't think I'm ready for this type of commitment."

Hahahaha. Amazingly enough, we went home with two plants. And we love them.

And that was basically the trip.
This morning, my boss took us all out to First Watch for breakfast.
Now I am listening to a lot of techno, floating in a sea of e-mail
and you bet your life if I had glowsticks, I'd be twirling them.

5/12/2004

It's a dangerous thing having a freshly opened box of wheat thins next to Jennifer Hall.
Man, my blog has received some very nice attention. I love that.
It's like my blog is this dog and I am petting it because it is doing so well....


So today is basically like all of the others. But seriously, let's talk about my fashion sense. I mean, what the F am I wearing today? It wouldn't be a day if I didn't wear a plain,
short-sleeved T-shirt. Someone help me. I mean, maybe if I squeeze hard enough, a pile
of clothes will fall from the skies of God, right onto my head and lap, here in the cube.
And people will walk by, and there will just be this heap of fresh clothes in front of my computer. But I'll be under those clothes....like eating them because they are so cool.

Tonight I'm going to Jenn and Ab's for some Italian food and a movie.
Maybe I'll wear my sweet Royals jersey, maybe I won't.

5/11/2004

I thought it would be a good idea to eat those buttery Keebler crackers with the rounded edges for breakfast this morning. They sounded tasty, but after about 7,
my stomach hurt bad. Probably from the morning butter.

Work today was hectic. That's all I have to say about that.

I picked up my car today. It's done. It's like you pay all of that money, and then you get it back, and you expect it to be a brand new car or something. Well it's not. It's really not. My car made me really sad today.

I went shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond today. I bought Brian decorations and gear for a whole new guest bathroom. If I don't say so myself, it will be sharp-looking.
At least it won't be the empty bathroom that's all white, with an echo,
that always has the seat lifted all the way up. No. Now it will have class.
People will love it, and I will bask in the glory of it.

So after this shopping therapy, I dined at the Elephant Bar.
On the patio eating my Tai High Salad.

Beat that, beatnick.

5/10/2004

Ah, I think it's so cute how Brandon Boyd does a cover from the Jackson Five.

Well, it's Monday. And that stinks. But I'm excited, for I will take off Friday
and get to go to Omaha on Thursday night to see Brian, Jon, and Holly!

A few things I have discovered about myself this weekend:
1.) If I don't take sweet, sweet Claritin D every single day, my eyes know it.
2.) I think I have a slight crush on the new song "Fire" by Usher. Ok I love Usher.
3.) Ok, when you speed up in the Focus, your music gets louder.
When you slow down in the Focus, music gets softer. That's just plain gay.

*++* Make sure you check out the Found Magazine link. Over there on the left. *++*

So this weekend I frequented Omaha. It was a rather quiet weekend, except for the rainstorms that threatened to break the windows in every single night.
On Friday, me and Brian feasted on Chipolte. It just opened across the street.
I'm convinced they make the best ones. After that, we watched some music dvd's and prepared for THE GRAND 20. Yes, this would be where our 9:40 movie was showing.
It's this ghetto movie theater across the street that has a light up sign similar to something you would see on the streets of the Las Vegas strips.
When I'm sleeping at Brian's, it's my night light through the window.

So we saw Envy. With Jack Black and Ben Stiller. It was horrid.
You'd think it would be brilliant. I fell asleep during the middle of it. I mean, I zonked out. Brian had to wake me up at the end. That's weird.
This never happens to me. Thanks a lot, stupid movie.

Saturday, we woke up early, bought me a tank top,
and headed to the Henry Doorley Zoo. Man, I was so excited. It was bloody hot outside, but that didn't stop us. We covered the whole place. I won't say too much about the Omaha zoo-viewers. Only mainly that they smelled like ripe B.O. and many had tattoos on places like their ankles, neck, or forearms. Ymmmm. I even took a nice picture of Brian sitting next to a bronze orangutan statue. That one's in honor of the jubblies.

Basically, other than that we did an assortment of activities such as: making the famous Chicken Casserole, cleaning the crap out of his bathroom, visiting Red Robin,
burning my finger, and having a cracker fight.

I love the song "Fractions" by Emery.
I also love listening to the old A Perfect Circle in the Focus.
People stare at me and I think I'm so cool.

5/05/2004

Well today has been quite the day.
Yesterday I was given a Ford Focus as my "courtesy car". It's an elderly-beige color.
Honestly, I don't think I will ever buy a Focus.
Um, here's why:
1.) When you use your turn signal, it makes a sound like you are popping your knuckles. Or perhaps a sound similar to tapping on a woodblock.
2.) When you go to push on the gas pedal, it's hard to locate with your foot.
Maybe this is because it is the size of a pencil.

But seriously, I'm thankful I have it and do not need to resort to the ol' Schwinn.

Late this afternoon, little Kevin called me from the Ford dealership. Apparently, they cannot fix the transmission issue. No, they have to completely take it out and replace it with a new one. Actually, he didn't quite say it like that. Over the past few days,
I have learned that the car dealership does not refer to the transmission as say,
"the transmission", but rather as "Ewwww...the TRAMMY." Yes this is completely true. Every time, eww. Every time, trammy. And they wrinkle their face when they say it.
So Kev actually called and told me that he's sorry,
"but we'll have to replace your trammy."

However, it was cinco de mayo. This meant me and Meliss went to Taco Bell?
Let's just say, it was the sickest thing we have ever done. Big mistake. Huge.
We walked in, inhaled that plastickey-cleaning product, Taco Bell smell. We looked around. It looked like a mental hospital. People just like stared forward and off into taco space as they unwrapped their tissue-paper wrapped double-decker bean burritos.
It gave us the creeps. But we were champion eaters. And I drank mild sauce.

We came back to the office and were offered bevies and all the cheese dip our bodies cold hold. Remembering Taco Hell, I decided I would pass on the dip.
Not the bevies, people.

Oh snap. I'm enjoying my second cold one. Right in my cube.

5/04/2004

Cripes. Car needs a new transmission.
I guess that little prayer I said to God last night didn't really work out.
Ah well, it's okay, I have to get a new car.

I bought a new and blue iPod gel case yesterday with pal Court Campbell.

So, back to this car issue. They are giving me a "courtesy car" in about 4 hours.
I wonder what it will be? Perhaps a zippy little number.

I'm feeling a little stressed. Duh.
Oh, and the Miz needs to tone it down a few notches.

5/02/2004

This weekend was wedding extravaganza 2004. Friday, Brian came to see me. We didn't really do anything note-worthy, except I feasted on some excellent fajitas at Cozymels. So, we woke early on Saturday morning. Stephen's wedding was at noon. We got all fancied up and met Jenny Harman and Jason Sweet at Primedia. We headed out, to downtown KC to the church that two guys peed on at the A Perfect Circle Concert. Anyhow, the church was absolutely a dream, the bridesmaids wore hot pink, Stephen cried like a girl, oh and me and Brian saw a city worker picking up roadkill on the way to the church. She had her little truck and gloves on and like a sanitary suit, and she was picking up a bald eagle/hawk bird by the claws. You don't see that every day.

After the first wedding, we walked out back to our car and I mean dead through the Homeless Convention of 2004. It was a little awkward. I'm not gonna lie. We got back on the road and headed up to Lawrence for wedding numero dos. To kill some time, me, Jenny, Brian and Sweet watched about 5 episodes of VH1's "It's Good to Be...Brad and Jen, Britney Spears, the Hilton Sisters, the cast of Friends, etc.

Then we booked it on over to the famous Danforth Chapel, located right up on campus. Steph's wedding was so cute. I'm nominating them for couple of the decade. I wanted to marry her wedding. I mean, really.
Click on the picture and let's have a look at the blushing bride and her manly man:


After their wedding, let's just say the party really got started.
We all hustled over to Panchamama's for a little spoonful of heaven.
Here's a couple of snap shots of Primedia's beloved workforce:



So, things really started rolling. We met one of the waiters. His name was Conrad.
Or also known as C-Rad. Or Connie. Or C-Unit. He provided us with excellent service, beef bouillon, spinach salad, mushroom caps, and might I add a tasty coffee ice cream.
Of course we were photographed with this fine specimine of waitership.



But alas, I needed to remember my Brian: Territory Salesman extraordinaire.
According to Meliss, this is our engagement photo:


And apparently, someone needed to remember that Sweet needed to be "cut-off" :


This picture is entitled, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Um, why are we crouching:


Later, things started getting out of hand. I'm kidding. I'm messing with you.
Here, is a photo of Melissa and I, lovingly feeding each other rose petals:


After munching on these, the girls and I needed to take a picture with Steph and her guns. Holy cheese and rice, she has the hugest, skull-crushing, flesh-ripping biceps in all of Kansas City. Women fear her and men want to be like her. And for some reason,
I felt the supreme need to squeeze the muscle and make a face like I just ate 32 lemons:


Here's a cute one of me and Meliss waiting to catch the bouquet.
We want it so bad we can taste it:



So, after Steph's fantastic soiree, me, Meliss, and Brian um, drove to Duffy's, a local pub inside the Ramada Inn. Apparently, Meliss used to frequent this place. Well, we walked in, walked around and instantly had all of the locals eyeballs attached to Meliss and my gi-normous boobies. It was not too long after this that we met, Chops. Apparently, Chops likes to rock. He even opened up for the wide array of bands that are, Maroon Five, John Mayer, and I think he even threw Lincoln Park in there. Sure Chops, Sure.
Please do us all a favor and shave your face. Please notice how in this picture,
I am like "what is happening, get me out of here" and Melissa, while snuggling up to Chops, is like "ymmm Chops! I want to pour some gravy over you and lick you!" :


And that's about all she wrote. I had a swell time this weekend.
For now, it's back to work and reality television. Moo.