Sandals and Snowshoes

I went out today in search of new sandals. And new sunglasses. And maybe a few other summer outfit items. There was hardly anything left.

I mean, it is still summer right?

That's one of the many things I hate about the retail world. They rush things. It's only a matter of weeks till they put out the fall clothes. Maybe I'm one of those instant gratification people who like to wear the clothes immediately after purchase. I don't like to have to put them away until the weather suits.

The spring is not only full of rain and 50 degree weather, but shorts and bathing suits. The summer is in the 90's, sweltering, and humid enough to make me temporarily retire my flat iron. Not exactly the kind of weather that makes me yearn for the wools and cable knits in burnt oranges and browns that are so cozy in the fall.

I remember growing up my mother would take us school shopping. We'd buy corduroy jumpers and new jeans and other school type clothes. Then we'd have to wait what seemed like an endless amount of time until the weather got cool enough so we could wear them. I mean, what good are Guess Jeans or an I.O.U. sweatshirt if you cannot wear it immediately to school? How will people know that you've advanced in coolness over the summer? How????

Anyway....I implore you, retail world, to SLOW DOWN and let us enjoy the current season.

And try to keep the Christmas decorations put away until at least after Halloween this year.

It's wrong.

So...What Did YOU Do On Thursday?

When I was in Chicago for my Avon Walk recently we passed the Borders on Michigan Ave. There was a sign in the window advertising a book signing by one of my mostest favorite authors: Janet Evanovich. I could NOT miss this!

So this past Thursday, after working an excruciatingly long day at work, my mother and I drove into the city. We sat in traffic for what felt like FOREVER but finally made it. When we walked into the store, I hardly saw any people at all. I thought Bonus, we're one of the first one's here! But sadly that was not to be. As we purchased the books and went up a level we saw what we later found out was 500+ people lined up to meet her. It was actually pretty organized, I was impressed.

Her latest book is called Finger Lickin' Fifteen. That explains the chicken, I hope, as I haven't actually started the book yet. I'm saving it for my upcoming stay-cation in three weeks. As we got in line an employee told us that Janet would only sign her name nothing personalized, but she would pose for pictures and chat. I figured that sounded like a fair trade off.

We waited in line for 3+ hours so we got to know the people around us pretty well. I mean, we had time to kill and all, and my mother and I are pretty chatty. It made the wait bearable and we met some fun people. So much fun, in fact, that we felt we had to pose for a picture to commemorate our time together.

Finger Lickin' Friends

We laughed, talked about books, and held each other's place in line for potty and beverage breaks. We tried to convince the other people in front of us that it wasn't worth it and they should leave. Just when we were beginning to think it was all for naught, there she was.

As we got closer in line, her daughter Alex was handing out pins. I picked an I heart Ranger one and my mother chose I heart Joe Morelli. It was awesome.
I actually felt a little sorry for Janet. She was in a wheel chair after breaking her foot the day before at another book signing. By the time we got up there she looked tired and a little like she was in pain. It didn't help that some people had brought every. single. book. she'd ever written for her to sign. Also, one lady freaked out on her and demanded a personalized autograph. WTF? We were all told the rules. I'm sorry, but I didn't know her last name was SPECIAL. I mean, don't people have any kind of manners?

Regardless, when it was our turn, Janet was gracious and awesome. It was like meeting a rock star!

So, what did YOU do on Thursday night?

This Book Should Come With a Warning!

If you're already down and feeling depressed, you should NOT read this book.Don't get me wrong, it's a good book and all, but it's kind of a bummer. I was already having issues (as we all know) and this book is so damn depressing.

I'll still probably go see the movie though.


Have any of you read it? What did you think? Will you still go see the movie?

Monday Eye Candy

Last week Spiderman and I went on a much needed date. We went to see The Hangover. I laughed my ass off! (which I needed)

Because I enjoyed the film so much I thought two of its stars would be perfect eye candy.

Bradley Cooper and Justin Bartha

Bradley was in one of my former favorite shows, Alias, and most recently in He's just not that into you. Justin you may recognize from Failure to Launch, or the National Treasure films.

Have any of you seen The Hangover? What did you think? Totally inappropriate or hysterically funny?

It's Official.....

The air conditioning at the Chamber has been broken all weekend. It is humid and about 90 degrees throughout the hospital. This new development combined with my day of 4 code blue's has confirmed my long held suspicions.

I do in fact work in hell.

I'm feeling a little more together today and more posts will follow.

I Promise I'll Be Back

I'm going to take a brief blogging break while I try to pull my shit together.

I hope it doesn't take too long....

I am not Pregnant.....again

Motherfucking-son-of-a-bitch.

I'm done.

I'll just get another cat.

Ready. Set. Hope.

As promised, here are my pictures from this past weekend's AVON Walk for Breast Cancer. To see last year's walk click here. After registering at the Hyatt in Rosemont and handing in our final donations we headed to the city for our traditional RockStar team dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.The RockStar Fans

The next morning, at the butt crack of dawn we gathered at Soldier Field for opening ceremonies. From there we began our walk down the shore line.

It is a sea of pink, and everyone gets REALLY into the whole experience. Note the dude wearing a pink tutu. He's carrying a pink ribbon banner. Every mile or so they have rest stops set up. At each stop, there are bathrooms, refills on H2O and my favorite.....
Snacks!! I especially love the fact that if you go to one side of the table the oranges and banana's are peeled for you. I felt like I munched all day long. I did as much walking as I could on Day 1. I had to stop around mile 16 though as I was having severe cramps. Apparently when my doctor said "take it easy" after this last round of insemination I thought it meant I could walk a marathon. My body disagreed with me. I was picked up by one of the many "sweeper" vans and taken to the Wellness Village where I was met up with by Spiderman to wait for the rest of my teammates. I don't have too many pictures of the Wellness Village this year because it was pouring rain for most of my time there.

Eventually the rest of my team met up with me and we crossed (me mostly hobbling) the finish line together. That evening we went out for pizza (another tradition) and back to the condo for a showers and a good night's sleep. All except for Craig and Karen who went back to the Wellness Village to camp out withe rest of the walkers. Brave souls.

On the morning of Day 2 I woke up with even worse cramping and I decided to rest the morning and meet up with the rest of the team at lunch. Let's just say Day 2 was "sponsored" by Tylenol 3. The rest of my team didn't seem to mind taking a break to wait for me at a cute little restaurant were we had a gorgeous brunch.

I had a crab cake burger. It was awesome. Then it was off to finish the walk.

There were many supporters along the way cheering us on.

Everyone in the city was supportive and many dressed in costumes again the second day.

I was able to get some really great pictures of the city while I was walking.

I kind of think the person who designed the path for the walk should be shot. Whose idea was it to put a hill at the END of a 2 day walk of 39.3 miles?

I mean, Dude. What. The. Hell? Here's the view from the top. You really can't tell how steep it actually was from the picture, but believe me. It was.

Here's the RockStar Fan's at the finish line of Day 2 back at Soldier Field. Basically, we walked from there to Skokie and back. Everyone was fine until we sat down. Then no one could get back up!

At the end of Day 2 we had Closing Ceremonies where we were told how much we raised and where the money was being distributed. In our 2 Days we raised $7.6 Million.
Many of those who walked with us were survivors of breast cancer. They were given white pom-poms to wave and they did so proudly.

For 2 Days We Walked As One.

And we made a difference.

Monday Eye Candy

In honor of my Avon Walk this past weekend, today's Monday Eye Candy is Patrick Dempsey. He is involved with Avon for several reasons.

1. His wife makes a line of make-up specifically for Avon.
2. He is the face of a new fragrance for Avon.
3. His mother is a breast cancer survivor and he is involved in the walk.
4. This year's highest fundraiser got a chance to meet him. (sadly, it was not me)

I will post pictures from my weekend as soon as I recover.

It may be a while.

Preparations For This Weekend....

Today I'm getting ready for my AVON Walk for Breast Cancer this weekend in Chicago. We go to Rosemont today to check in and tonight my team, The RockStar Fans, will have our traditional dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I'm pretty excited. All morning I've been packing. I like to be prepared, or at least more prepared than I was last year. 40 miles in two days is a lot. Here's what I have so far:

• 5 pairs of moisture wicking, anti-blister socks.
• Dr. Scholl's Blister pads..... Just in case the socks don't work.
• 3 pairs of shorts, t-shirts and yoga pants. I like variety and you never know what the weather will be like. I'm also including this:

The team jersey we had made last year.

• Two kinds of sunscreen. One for my face and one for my body. I Will remember to put some on my ears this year. Last year they were burnt to a crisp.
• My pink camera so that I can record the weekend for you all!
• My new awesome Nike shoes (they're pink and white) that are super comfortable and I have broken in specifically for this event.
• My lightweight rain jacket. Stupid Chicago weather forecasts rain for Sunday. I can't imagine I'll be pleasant if I have to walk 13 miles in the rain.
• Two sports bra's, one of which is pink.
• My flat iron. Just because I'm spending the weekend walking does not mean I can't be cute!

It will be like pink overload all weekend. This year's walk is especially important for me since my sister's doctor found a lump in her breast yesterday. We're all hoping that it's not cancer. I do NOT want to have to walk for her next year in addition to my friend Rachelle.

So tell me, do you have any suggested items for me to pack? Am I forgetting anything?

Wordless Wednesday

What? I always sit up here.....

My Addiction Has Gotten Out of Control.....Again.

So today I went to the grocery store. What's so interesting about that you ask? Nothing.
When I opened my trunk though, is when I realized that I really have a problem.

It's full of books.

In fact, not only is my trunk full of bags of books, but so are all my shelves and most of the floor in the mess-i-call-an-office. Many were given to me by other people, and most were bought. There are a few of these books that I haven't read yet, but the vast majority have been. So why do I keep them? I mean, space is a valuable commodity in my house.

Why can't I get rid of them?

Don't get me wrong, there are several books that I do intend to keep as I reread them over and over. The Twilight , Shopaholic and Outlander series' for example. I love them. They are like old friends. But the rest? I'm ambivalent about.
It's almost as if I keep them around like a badge I proudly wear.

One that says LOOK! I. CAN. READ!

So here's my dilemma: What should I do with all of them?
I would like to start sorting through them and getting rid of any previously read/unwanted books. Here are the options I have come up with.

1. Donate them to the public library. Has anyone done this?
2. Hand them out to any delivery man, pizza guy, or solicitor that comes to my door. Like a parting gift of sorts.
3. Throw them all away.....which kind of breaks my heart a bit.
4. Raffle them off on this here blog. One a week until they're all gone! (well maybe not all, but most)

What do YOU think I should do?