Zwei Wochen!!!

Zwei Wochen bis Deutschland!!

aka... Two weeks till Germany!!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Yes, Kyle and I are going to GERMANY!! For World Cup!! And we have tickets to TWO games and everything!! In TWO WEEKS!!!!

Again, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

:)

I can't believe June is here already. We applied for World Cup tickets roughly a zillion years ago... but we didn't get them. :( But we did decide to go to Germany anyway (Kyle has a friend there and I have a TON of family there)... AND THEN... a letter came in the mail saying more tickets had become available and that Kyle and I would get to see TWO WHOLE GAMES!!!

Woo-Hoo!

So it was set... and then all we had to do was wait... and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait for June to get here and for school to end.

Well... June is HERE!!!! And our last day of finals is June 12th!!! And on June 14th (exactly two weeks from today) Kyle and I will be hopping on a plane for our FIRST REAL VACATION TOGETHER!!

(Note the excitement by my overzealous use of capitalization)

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

But wait... there's more...

We're flying Air Canada... which requires a mandatory lay-over in Canada for one night... so we decided to make a little vacay out of that too! After 12 days in Germany, we'll be spending 2 days in Montreal!!

YAY!

And!! We'll be home in time for Fourth of July ... which is hands down my favorite holiday!!!!

Hello, BEST SUMMER EVER!!!!

Happy Courtney. :)

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Two weekends ago, I asked for sunshine… and the weather was glorious.
So this past weekend it only seemed fair that I ante up my end of the bargain… I went to church. Mormon Church. With my very Mormon friend, Margie. And it was pretty cool.

Sunday morning, I woke up, showered, put on the sweetest, most conservative, outfit I could pull together – with a headband and everything – and was (nervously) off for church. Me. Church. On a Sunday. Wow.

Seems that in the Mormon Church they divide the service up… families attend at one time and “Young Adult Singles” attend at another time. So there I am, in church, surrounded by mostly attractive, single, 20-somethings… I’m pretty sure they divide everyone up to facilitate coupling off and getting married, because the whole scene had a strange singles bar familiarity to it – except with less alcohol and more bibles.

After the Taking of The Sacrament service, we had Sunday school (Ok, I’m not sure it’s actually called that… but there were lessons and a teacher… so I think it was Sunday school.) Anyway, Margie and I attended basically a Mormon 101 class. I think it’s aimed at newbies – so I fit right in. There we watched a video about how Joseph Smith came to start the Mormon Church. It was very informative… and really high quality! Those Mormon’s take their educational videos seriously. I was impressed.

After that, everyone split up again (they seem big on splitting up here) and all the girls went in one room – to a group called Relief Society – and all the guys went in another – I don’t remember what the boys’ group is called… but I’m glad I’m a girl because I heard that boys group is boring. Anyway, here we sang, we ate cookies, I got candy because I’m new, and Margie’s old roommate, Mikila, taught a lesson about the gift of Agency. It was nice. And I must admit, I kinda liked having it be all girls – it felt much lighter.

So that was my experience with the Mormon Church. All around a very pleasant 3 hours. Lots of emphasis on happiness, and how to find happiness, etc. I went to another type of Christian church when I was 12 or so and all I remember is how the emphasis was totally negative… like “Do this or suffer!” instead of “Do this and be happy!” So while I don’t plan to become Mormon anytime soon – 1. I just don’t believe in it like they do, and 2. I really enjoy a nice glass of wine and can’t imagine living the rest of my life without alcohol (does that make me an alcoholic?) – the Mormons still get a big thumbs-up from me. :)

Flickr Concerns Me

Not 3 days after I posted my Bay to Breakers photos on Flickr.com, one picture has had over 600 views. SIX HUNDRED!!!

Which picture?

This one:


Why?

Because the title is "Yes, Those are Giant Vaginas"

Ewe...

Too Tired To Shower

This morning I was too tired to shower... litterally so tired that the thought of standing up for 15 straight minutes was more than I could handle... so I took a bath instead. I don't think I've bathed to get clean (as opposed to bathing just to relax) since I was 10 years old.

I really need to get some sleep this weekend.

Pictures Pictures Pictures!! B2B 2006

As promised!

The whole Boone's Farm Posse!

See all pictures here: B2B 2006!
Warning: There are a LOT of pictures! Best set aside 15 minutes or so for this...

Enjoy!

With Functional Udders And Everything

It's Sunday morning. It's 5:45 AM. It's 5:45 AM and I'm awake. I was up till 3 AM the night before. I DO NOT want to be awake. The Stanford boys are trying their best to be quiet, but they are failing. Miserably. Why am I awake?

Saturday was spent costume making with Christine till 2:30 in the afternoon... at which point we decided that if I didn't get started on the barn float soon, we'd have no beer-mobile. So up the street we went and barn raising began.

My friends and I must come from a long line farmers... because I'll be damned if we didn't raise an entire barn in one day. Wow.

Now some people may have just wanted to give the *appearance* of a barn - engineers with tools are not "some people". We designed and built a BARN! A serious 4 x 4 x 8 ft barn. It was huge (for a barn on wheels). And structurally sound, thank you very much - with a hay loft and everything. :)

So like I said, the barn building began around 2:30pm... I planned on being finished by 7. HA!!! We sawed... we painted... we bolted... we engineered... around 12:30 in the morning we FINALLY put the finishing touches on it! TEN STRAIGHT HOURS! Ugh. And while some of us were working on the barn, the rest of the posse was busy build a cow. Yes a cow... with functional udders and everything!!! Basically they sewed together some black and white material, attached a stuffed cow head, and then stuffed the body with pillow stuffing. They then attached several "straws" to the udders... the straws went through the cow and fed into three buckets of liquor below- Pina Colada, Fuzzy navel, and some cranberry-gin concoction that should never be created again. IT WAS AWESOME! I so love my over-achieving friends!

So at 12:30am we loaded up my roommate's truck and drove the carts and a few bails of hay to our friend's house - he lives right by the starting line of the race. After we dropped everything off I left to return the truck but made a wrong turn and ended up ON THE BAY BRIDGE ON MY WAY TO OAKLAND!!!!! NOOOOOOOO! Luckily I was able to get off on Treasure Island, and after 10 minutes of driving around aimlessly I was finally headed back in the right direction towards SF.

Around 1:30am I arrived back at Kyle's house... but did I get to go to sleep??? NO! I still had like 400 cotton balls to hot glue!!!! A few burns, several tears, one clump of glue in my hair, and some much appreciated help from Kyle later, I finished the FRONT of my shirt. Who knew gluing cotton balls could take so long!!?? Partly because I ran out of cotton balls, and partly because it was 3AM, I decided to leave the back of my shirt un-cottoned... I would tell everyone I had been sheared.

So at 3 am, I go to sleep... and that bring us to 5:45 am. Three of our Stanford friends slept over and were VERY excited for the race to begin on Sunday... So they got up at the BUTT CRACK of dawn to begin the festivities. They knew I'd be bitter... so they brought me breakfast in bed - croissant, strawberries, and a mimosa - which was so beyond cute that I couldn't be upset. Kyle got up and made bloddy marys for everyone... and I slowly dragged myself into the shower.

By 7:30am we were out the door and headed for a train to take us downtown. From there it gets bit fuzzy... and by fuzzy, I'm mostly referring to the fuzzy navel filled cow udders...

I know we drank a lot, I know the barn and cow were amazing, and I know we saw MANY MANY naked men. The race can really only be described through photos... and they're coming... I swear.

But you want to know the coolest thing? It didn't rain a DROP. Not all day Saturday while we were float building- even though there were menacing looking storm clouds looming over head - and not all Sunday morning while the race was taking place.

(Incidentally, I think I owe the good weather to a little prayer said on my behalf by my Mormon friend, Margie... and I also think I may have to go to church with her on Sunday in return.)

Anyway, so like I said, no rain during the race... YAY! But as soon as the race ended... oh the flood that fell from the sky! It's like we got a day and a half's worth of rain in 2 hours... and I was walking around outside for both them. Kyle and Brian decided that we should go to bar and watch the Piston's game. Seriously guys!!?? A BAR!? I'm dressed as a lamb, hello.

So we walked and walked and walked - in the POURING rain - until we found a bar. Where I proceed to fall asleep. Freezing, I woke up and decided I was DONE. TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY DONE. There were NO cabs to be found (62,000 other people were also trying to get home at the exact same time) so Kyle put me on a bus (he couldn't leave our very drunk friends at the bar alone... and they were NOT leaving till the game was over) and told me where to transfer. 2 buses, a train, and a 2 block walk and I was HOME SWEET HOME!!! I showered, ate, and went to bed.

What a day!!!

Whew... the best part of the story (the actual race) to follow as soon as I upload all zillion pictures... stay tuned.

Soggy Poodle

:(

Weather update for Sunday: "Mainly cloudy and rainy. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the low 50s."

:(

The pictures may be less than optimal this year, as I'm not entirely sure I want to drag my pricey camera around in the rain all day.

Please please please don't let me catch pnemonia...

And On This Farm He Had A Poodle?

Hmmm... So I started making my sheep costume last night for B2B... I'm hot gluing 500 cotton balls to a white tank top and a white skirt (I hope 500 is enough). Anyway... so mid way through the process I tried the tank top on to see how it was coming along.

Well... it's coming. I suppose.

But I sorta look like a poodle.

Hmmm.

Hypothetically Speaking

Hypothetically speaking, if a person were to go dumpster diving in their company’s garbage to, ummmm, “re appropriate” several dozen used cardboard boxes for use as building supplies for an AWESOME Bay to Breakers Beer-Mobile (think giant cardboard structure, painted red and white to look like a barn, zip-tied to a shopping cart, filled with beer) … could said person get fired??

Why?

No reason, just checking.

Happy Cows

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!!!

Bay to Breakers 2006 will be here on Sunday May 21st.

I have been counting down the months, weeks, and days since… well, since Last Year’s B2B. Check out my post from last year…
B2B 2005

If you are unfamiliar with B2B… here’s the gist:
75,000 or so people get together and “race” (slow drunken crawl is more like it) for 12 kilometers through the streets of SF… from the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Hence "Bay to Breakers"… on the third Sunday in May every year. :) Read this guy’s account of the festivities as I just could never do it justice like he does… http://www.pubclub.com/specialevents/breakers.htm

Seriously, read it!

This year my friends and I are going as Boone’s Farm (as in the makers of Strawberry Hill). We’ll be dressed as farm animals… farmers… scarecrows… stalks of corn... You Name It!

And we’ll have two floats – A Barn and a Drunken Cow. (And by float I mean pimped out shopping cart to haul our beer around with us)
See Plans here...
http://www.chopstork.com/wordpress/2006/05/11/bay-to-breakers-the-carts/#comments

Yours Truly will be covered in cotton balls – I’m going as a sheep. :)

All week we have had STELLAR weather… so of course I got myself all amped for great weather this weekend too… but alas, as is so often the case, SF has a mind of its own. Weather.com tells us that it’ll be cloudy with a chance of rain.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!Publish

I spent the whole morning blue – see how excited I am for this day??? My whole mood was altered because I found out it might rain.

Well luckily I have great friends!!
AJ pointed out:

Did it rain on our lab at last year's Urban Iditarod? Heck no!
Did it rain on our volcano at last year's b2b? Heck no!
Did it rain on our fire engine at this year's urban iditarod? Heck no!
Did it rain on our syphillis at the Go Games? Heck no!
Did it rain on our big wheel at the Bring Your Own Big Wheel? …… yes, but only for the first heat and it wasn’t much.

Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California. This is California - we'll be happy cows. (and sheep and farmers and corn and roosters).

:)

And my friend Christine reminded me that rain will lead to mud… which will inevitably lead to mud fights…. And who doesn’t love a good mud fight??

:)

I heart them! And I CANNOT wait till Sunday.
Rain or Shine!!!

Shameless

Shameless post to show off how adorable my cat, Gus, is...



Ok, I'm done now.

:)

Cute Mommy Message

I love my mom!! While deleting old voicemails from my cell phone, I came across the one my mom left for me on Easter. It went like this:

(To the tune of Happy Birthday)

Happy Easter to you!
You belong in a zoo!
With big long floppy ears…
And a little bunny tale too!

Hi honey, I was just calling to wish you a happy Easter.

I hope you’re out with your honey… doing something wonderful… eating chocolate… being reverent.

Be glad you’re alive. Enjoy the day. I love you.

How cute is that message!!??

:)

Was so nice to see my mom and step-dad (and sis and her boyfriend) this weekend. Kyle and I drove down to Paso Robles EARLY EARLY Saturday morning. We spent the day wine tasting, eating, and watching movies – a perfect relaxing day. Then we all went to dinner at my mom and step-dad’s restaurant. Delish!! Sunday morning we slept in, my parents fed us breakfast, and then Kyle and I headed back up to SF. Was a quick trip, but still very nice. I’m totally spoiled that my parents live only 3 hours away. I do not take enough advantage of seeing them. Shame on me!

Anyway, hope all of the mothers out there had a FANTASTIC mother’s day. (Especially the first timers!)

Six Months

When Kyle and I first started dating we were crazy about each other. I literally COULD NOT get enough of the boy. 24 hours in a day were simply too few. It was such a high. :)
We'd joke about it - "It can't possibly *always* be this good" "We're in the honeymoon phase" "This is soooooo gonna pass"

But what if it didn't pass? What if it really always was THIS GOOD!?

"If it's still this good in 6 months, we're in trouble..."

* * *

Well, here we are... 6 months later... and you know what? It's not as good as it was back in November... It's WAY better.

:)

I have never been so totally and completely in love with a person. When it's right, it's SOOOOOO right.

YAY!!!

I *Also* Like To Move It Move It

A big hug to Katrina (Notes on a Napkin) for reminding me what GREAT FUN and what a GREAT WORKOUT dancing can be!

I was sitting at home last night debating whether to go to the gym or to clean my (unbelievably messy) room. And then it hit me… why not do both?!

I put on my adorable new pink workout shorts… grabbed some CDs… cranked the volume on my stereo… and proceeded to shake what my mamma gave me for almost 2 straight hours while picking up my room! (My compliments to Madonna and Black Eyed Peas for producing some awesome booty shakin’ music). As my room got cleaner, I had more space to move in, so I was able to get more and more into the music. By the end, I was kicking and jumping and flailing around like a total nut job. I so hope my neighbors didn’t see!

And if that wasn’t silly enough, during the last 20 minutes I had a BRIGHT GREEN facial mask plastered all over my face – as long as I’m toning my abs and butt, why not give my face a little lift too, no?

I was dripping with sweat when the second CD ended… I felt fantastic… AND my room was clean! Not bad for a Wednesday night!

Ewe

Will someone please remove the sign from my back that reads:
Strange Creepy Men, Please Hit On Me

Ick!!!

Was at Target today... trying not to spend too much money... when this guy in the aisle with me, with a sorta confused look on his face, innocently asks me if he was in the correct aisle for kids games and stuff... we were in the arts and crafts aisle so I told him he should probably check up stairs in the kids department... he told me he was just there and they sent him downstairs... "Well" I said "I guess this is it then." I then smiled and walked away. As I left he called after me but I didn't really hear him so I just kept walking... 2 aisles over I ran into him again and he says to me "Hey, did you go to San Jose State?" (Local university) and then it hits me... this was the SAME CREEPY GUY who tried to hit on me LAST TIME I was at Target!!!!! He opened with the same "excuse me, am I in the right aisle" line last time too!! Ewe Ewe Ewe. Last time he followed me around the store (ewe!) for a solid 20 minutes asking me all sorts of questions about myself, and pretending to have all sorts of things in common with me... (Isn't that convenient.)

Hey, did you go to San Jose State?
No.
Oh, me neither... So what do you do?
I'm an Engineer.
Hey me too! What kind?
Mechanical.
Hey me too! Where did you go to school?
Berkeley.
Hey me too!!

Yuck.

This guy was a textbook slimy creep. Old and gross and just all around yucky.

I eventually told him to please go away. (After he asked me, repeatedly, to have coffee with him so that he could get me a job... his buddy is the head mechanical engineer at NASA, you know, so he could TOTALLY get me job... you know, uh, engineering... ummmm.. stuff.)

That time, I got all creeped out just being in the same store as him so I left without purchasing anything. :(

Well TODAY... as soon as he started in with "Hey did you go to San Jose State?"... I grabbed my shopping cart and literally ran to the security guard in the front of the store to report the guy. The security guard man was super friendly and went to scope out the situation... I bought the stuff in my cart and promptly left the store. Yuck.

WELL THEN!!! At Walmart (Yes I went to Target AND Walmart today... I needed supplies for a school project... don't ask) a man asked me if I knew where the wrapping paper was. I told him, "Ummmmmm... no." And then he told me, trying to kid around I guess, that I was "fired as his personal shopping assistant." "Ummmm, ha ha, ok" I replied and went on my way. As I turned the corner I ran smack into the wrapping paper, so I called back to the guy "Hey, actually, it's over here." He smiled, nodded, and told me I was rehired. I smiled and went on my way. On my way out of the store, I ran into him again... recognizing him, I nodded and smiled in his general direction as I started to walk past him... Then! he side stepped so he would be in my path and so that I couldn't get around him (stupid skinny aisles at Walmart!) He says, with a new disgusting creepy man smile on his face, "So, what's you name?" (complete with the uber gross sleazy man eyebrow raise.) YUCK!!! I pushed passed him and just said "EWE!" and ran to the check stand, bought my stuff, and got the heck out of the store.

WHAT IS UP WITH THESE MEN!!!???? And why were they EVERYWHERE tonight!? Gross Gross Gross!

I Mostly Hate

I mostly hate anyone on the semester system who is done with school for the year. Stupid Stanfurd and their stupid quarter system... I'll be rotting in class till mid June! JUNE!!! Yuck!

Thanks for listening.

Groan

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.

This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.

The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

As A Matter Of Fact

... I am pretty secure! :)

And for that, I’d like to thank my mom… for teaching me to truly love myself. (I really do think I’m quite awesome.)

And I’d also like to thank Kyle… for telling me *each and every day* how wonderful I am and for making me feel warm and fuzzy and fabulously loved all over.

I am a lucky girl.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Awwwww... barf, gag. I know. But I'm feeling sorta sappy today. Don't worry, we'll return to our regularly scheduled, non-vomit-inducing, blogging tomorrow.

Raise Your Hand If You're Excited

So while I waste away at school, trying to finish a homework assignement for the world's most tedious Finite Element Analysis class, Kyle will be spending the evening with his Ex-girlfriend. Awesome.*

Hands? Anyone?

------

*Note: Normally, I wouldn't really care... I'd grab my roommies, go out for beer, and all would be well in Courtney-Land. Mostly I'm just bitter that I have to do homework while Kyle gets to go out and play. Plus there's that whole they've seen each other naked thing.