Monthly Archives: July 2007

packing…

Posted on by
Reply

I loathe packing. I loathe unpacking even more. Usually, Fishdog packs /unpacks for me (cuz I’m a spoiled little princess diva…but at least I know that about myself and am totally okay with it. And c’mon, you’re only calling me names because you’re envious. It’s okay. I totally understand. You can’t help it that you’re a hater.) Anyway, since I’m going to RWA’s conference next week without the Fishdog, I’m packing solo. It sux. So I thought I’d procrastinate take a break from packing to blog about packing.

People tend to get a little knotted up about what to wear to these conferences. We’re all writers. Many of us roll out of bed and into the chair only changing clothes when we have to leave the house. So it cracks me up when I hear the “this is a professional conference so you must dress as a professional writer would” argument. Um. You know I write in my underwear, right? does that make me less professional because I sit at the computer wearing my Hanes Her Way? Frankly, I’m thinking that you guys want me to wear more than that when I’m at the conference. I could be wrong. I suppose we’ll see next week…

Professionalism is in the eye of the beholder. It’s in how you carry yourself. It’s not in what you wear. I promise. If you’re confident and happy, you’ll present yourself as such, even if you’re wearing a potato sack. If you’re a dried up negative bitty who can’t bother with a sincere smile but you’re wearing couture, the only thing people will notice is your grim attitude and then comment on what a shame it is to waste such nice clothing on such a rotten egg.

This year I’m packing a few dresses and skirts because those are the clothes that fit me. (did I meantion I’m a size smaller this year?) The last two years I wore jeans and capri pants and nice shirts. (usually low cut shirts because that’s how I roll. When you have tits like mine, it’s best to show them off–you know what I’m sayin’? And I’m not the only one, as witnessed from last year’s conference… Don’t hate us cuz we have great cleavage.) So I’ve packed my nice clothes in my hang-up bag and now I’m working on the suitcase. Did I mention how much I hate packing?

Okay, I’m done. I’ve procrastinated put off packing long enough. I’m totally looking forward to the conference but I’m not looking forward to the rest of the night filling my suitcase.

what’s going on?

Posted on by
Reply

How was your 4th? Mine was fun, but fairly uneventful. We went to the movies and to a pool party.

I’ve seen two movies this week. Both were fun, action packed summer flicks, but I have to say, Live Free or Die Hard kicked Transformers‘ butt.

*there are some spoilers below…so if you don’t wanna know, go here.

First of all, I’m a huge Die Hard fan so I was skeptical about the fourth movie. Even with the ridiculous stunts (fighter jet anyone?) it was a fun, totally fast paced flick. John McClane is an awesome character and this time he had an awesome geeky side-kick played by Justin Long (you know “Hi, I’m a Mac.”) I’ve always had a wee crush on Justin but now it’s full blown. They worked well together and the dialogue was never stilted. I could (and probably will) go see that movie again in the theater.

Now, Transformers was another movie filled with action. But it also had so many more eye-rolling moments for me than Die Hard. The graphics were absolutely phenomenal and worth seeing the movie for. It also had a great cast. The Whitwicky parents were perfect and so was Sam. Sector 7 (the government agency that didn’t exist) was fun and very Area 51. But for me, the movie ranked a B…maybe even a B-.

First of all, there was this ridiculous comic-relief evil robot that I called the Jar-Jar-Binks-Bot. I wanted to stick a fork in my eye every time that metallic bug came on the screen. And as amazing as the graphics were, there are only so many times you can watch the cars transform. It was phenomenal–the first 6 times. But after that, it got to be a little redundant. Oh, and can anyone tell me why Optimus Prime always transformed from Rig to Robot and landed in the Ninja stance? Totally corny.

The dialogue was sometimes so cheesy it had me craving crackers. Now I’m a huge fan of the cartoon…I loved watching the original Transformers and I loved watching the newer shows when my boys were young. And I know that sometimes the cartoon dialogue is so cheesy and preachy and over the top…But they really didn’t have to go there with the movie. Many eye-rolling moments during some of the big speeches.

This movie coulda been an A if they would’ve cut it by about 30 mins. They could’ve easily done that. Hell, they coulda just cut 10 mins from one of the last fight scenes and I would’ve been happy.

Oh, and if there had been more Josh Duhamel, then it would’ve been an A+.

You guys see any movies this summer that you’ve loved, hated or could care less about?

pretty in pink…

Posted on by
Reply

Pretty in Pink is not just one of my all time favorite movies anymore…now it is also the color of my hair. Well, part of my hair.

I never knew pink hair could be so subtle.

It’s not exactly how I had imagined it, but I really like it. And I love the cut, my hairdresser is the best!

man, sometimes life is hard…

Posted on by
Reply


I don’t know how these guys kept their hands off me. Somehow they managed. I’m sure it had everything to do with the fact that Fishdog was standing right there…Right? (work with me people…)

Yes, this is Del and Rob…the two British coaches who stayed with us last week. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. I will volunteer to host as long as Challenger continues to sends quality coaches to the states…

Here’s the whole crew…plus Fishdog… Rob, Chris, Del, Fishdog, Danny, Eddie, Blaine.

The last night they were with us, we went dancing…Well, Fishdog and I danced, the lads spent time with a couple of tennis players. I guess my continuous rejection was just too much for them so they had to lower the standards. Poor lads.
Okay, so we’re having a good time… Chris, Clay (local boy) Blaine, and Mel


After camp Friday, the lads said goodbye to Rader with a loving hug.

They packed up their roomy car…

And drove away.

They were great guys. We hope to cross paths with them again. Soon. Very soon. 🙂

miss me?

Posted on by
Reply

Yeah yeah, I know. Bad Mel.

Sorry.

I’ve been really busy. REALLY busy.

Mark had his 20 year reunion, so we were in Little Rock for that. We were busy all weekend long and frankly, I could’ve used another couple of days to recover.

The next weekend we drove the boys to camp, also in Arkansas. So we drove to Little Rock, spent the night, then drove to Subiaco to drop the boys off. Rader for 1 week, Ian for 2.

During the week without kids, we started working on the house…because we’ve decided to move and we want to put the house on the market by the middle of July. Where are we moving? you ask. Well, back to Arkansas, of course. It’s not like we’re not really living there already this summer.

Since Rader was only going to be at Camp for one week, we had to go back to pick him up the next weekend. Mark went so I could stay and paint trim and clean.

We had to clean because that next week, we were hosting the British Soccer Camp coaches again. Remember last year?

So, all last week we hosted Rob and Del. They were super great guys. I’ll be posting some pics soon. I faltered in my British Lad blogging this year. I feel like I failed our newest family members. Sorry, guys. There were 6 coaches this year, and one night, they all came over for pizza. (we were supposed to grill out but Mother Nature had other plans, so Papa Johns came through with some online ordering and pizza delivery…) The other guys were Blaine, Danny, Chris, and Eddie. A good lot, but not as rowdy as last year’s group. Probably a good thing since I never quite recovered from last year. LOL

I left early Friday to head back to Little Rock (seeing a pattern here?) I did a little shopping because I am one size smaller and don’t have a lot of clothes. (Yay me. Like how I worked that in?) On Saturday, I picked Ian up from camp and we had lunch with my BFF from high school and her son, then we went to the liquor store to pick up some economy size booze for my other friend here in Oxford (not good prices here in town) then drove the 6 hours home–where we proceeded to have a Die Hard movie marathon to prepare ourselves for hitting the late matinée today for Die Hard 4.

Next weekend I drive back to Little Rock for a baby shower for my college roommate and then fly to DFW for RWA’s National Conference. I will be blogging much more regularly, I promise.

So–if I have any readers left, tell me, what’s new?