Where's My Toolbox?

So! After watching all three hour-long gubernatorital debates I have come to the following conclusions:

1. Dick DeVos is a disgrace to the Forest Hills public school system.

2. He is a tool in the same league as those in the White House.

3. If he's elected governer, I'm moving to Canada.

Make sure you take your ass to vote on November 7, even if it is for a tool, at least you're supporting our democracy.

Jack-O-Lanterns

Well Nik, this is for you. I let the spirit of Halloween inspire me! Tonight I made Jack-O-Lanterns with Mom and Shannon & the kids and this is the end result. The lower right-hand corner is my Martha Sterwart pattern, and the others are just good old fashioned Halloween FUN!

Happy almost Halloween everyone!

In The Navy

So, last weekend I went with Mom and Dad to Chicago to watch Jesse graduate from Navy boot camp. Pretty incredible. If someone had asked me five years ago to name 3 things I never thought I'd see Jesse do in his life, joining the military would have been on the list. Guess that just goes to show you that even people you've known all your life can still surprise you.

He looked outstanding in his uniforms, and he seemed healthier and happier than I've seen him in a long time. I can tell he was tired, probably physically and emotionally exhausted from all the ass busting he had to go through, but he's a better man for it.

And now he knows how to iron his clothes!

For your viewing pleasure:

East Side Maria's. And Shaun's.

So the move is complete. Shaun and I got (most of) our stuff out to the apartment last weekend. It feels weird to be way over on the East Side now. Well, the Northeast side. Our apartment is right on the edge of Sterling Heights, Shelby Township, and Clinton Township. When I was trying to explain the location to my mom, the conversation went as follows:

Me: "Mom, it's right next to Lakeside Mall."

Mom: "Where's Lakeside Mall??"

Dad: "Your mom doesn't know the East Side."

Well, she'll learn. Just like me.

So far I love our apartment. It is huge, the location is great, and I love that the place I call home is the same place where Shaun is. That's my favorite part. For sure.

If you still need my address and new ph # email me.

Banksy On It

Thanks Matt. And Banksy.

What a Retard*

Yesterday I realized the true depths of Britney Spears' stupidity. I know what you are thinking, my dear reader: But Maria, we thought you were smart enough to have realized this long before now. Alas, I admit, sometimes I overestimate people.

Two days ago I traveled to no less than 3 stores in search of Justin Timberlake's new CD, which has the somewhat odd title of Futuresex/Lovesounds. After going to 3 different places with no success, I postponed my quest. Yesterday I finally managed to locate a copy, at Meijer of all places, while on my lunchbreak. Since then I have been unable to stop listening to it. It is as if some strange power of nature is protecting my stereo with a force field that keeps me from being able to turn it off -- or turn the volume down.

A few months ago I bought a copy of GQ magazine, only to have Shaun point out astutely, "Babe, that is a men's magazine."

To which I replied, "Yes, but it has Justin Timberlake on the cover."

Exhibit A:

So, after listening to the CD, and repeating his new single, "My Love," (probably written for Cameron Diaz) and loving it more than I've loved a song in a while, I started to think, "Britney is a moron. Who would ditch Justin Timberlake for that toolbox Kevin Federline?? A retard, that's who."

As much as I doubt that any of you are going to defend the self-dubbed K-Fed (that makes me giggle!), I will assume that one of you might say, "But Maria! He is kind of cute sometimes."

To respond I have exhibit B:

I thought that this was Sean Paul the first time I looked at it, but nope! It is Britney's husband and the selected father of her (soon to be) two kids.

Could he look like more of an idiot?? ....Probably. He could be standing next to her.

Case closed.

*Do not lecture me on this use of the word retard.

powered by ODEO

Kristina and Chad

Yesterday Shaun's wonderful little sister, Kristina, got married to a great guy named Chad. Here is a sample of the pictures that I took at the wedding. Personally, I think they came out GREAT! These are mostly from the reception, but there might be one or two in there from the rehearsal and the ceremony. A good time was had by all, and the bride and groom looked amazing. They were surrounded on all sides (several times over) by people who love them and wanted to wish them well at the beginning of this new adventure in their lives. I think they leave on Tuesday to take their honeymoon in beautiful Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. All the best and more to Kristina and Chad, and have FUN!

I have to say that I felt very honored to be invited to share this event in their lives with them, but even more so because everyone treated me as if I were just a part of the family. I couldn't feel luckier to have such open arms around me.

Stuff

So I've been working a lot of overtime lately. Good for my paychecks, bad for my social life. Labor Day weekend I had one day off, Saturday, and Nik was in town so I spent the day with her and Kira and Linda. We got our hair done, had some lunch, did some bargain shopping, and vegged out with pizza and the MTV VMA's, which I recorded earlier in the week.

This weekend was much more relaxed, thank God. On Friday night I went with Shaun to the new BW3 on Mound and 12 Mile Rd. where all his co-workers came out to wish him luck in his new position and say goodbye. A ton of people showed up and I think he was even a little surprised at how many people came out for him, but it's no surprise to me, Shaun is the nicest guy ever! Everybody loves him! Plus he's going to do amazingly well as a salesman, I just *know* it!

Yesterday I went out to Mom's office and she cleaned my teeth (it'd been 2 years since my last cleaning, eek!), and then Shaun and I went to lunch with her at my FAVORITE Mexican restaurant of *all* time, El Nibble Nook. Then we came back to my house and watched football, napped, ate pizza, did laundry, you know, just stuff. But it was really nice to just chill. Last night we went back over to his place, he played poker for awhile, I put a bunch of songs on my iPod. While digging around in the pictures on his computer I found these pics of me and Nik from when we went to Pearl Jam in May:

Next weekend is Chad and Kristina's wedding and I can't wait to wear my dress!! Shaun is going to be looking sharp in his tuxedo and this time I am DETERMINED to get more pictures of US all dressed up! Kristina is going to look so, so beautiful in her dress. Exciting stuff!

That's about all I've got to say at this particular moment in time. Later y'all!

Greatest Boyfriend Ever:

PR

It's official. I love Project Runway almost as much as I love Sex & the City. I say almost because, for me, Sex will always be the greatest TV show of all time. But I digress.

With the evolution of reality television and its launch into orbit around the world, the quality has -- of course -- diminished significantly. I remember watching The Real World on MTV before you had to be a model who would make out with all your roommates after knowing them for 4.8 seconds. The first 3 seasons were actually an interesting social experiment. Bring a group of people together that would otherwise probably not meet each other and see how they might influence each other's lives. Now it's just total shite.

Project Runway is the only reality show that I watch, and I LOVE it. Shaun has been good enough to put up with my *having* to watch it every Wednesday (don't worry baby, I will remember this when I have to watch football so you can check your fantasy players' stats or whatever the hell). Last week I was truly and seriously pissed about who got kicked off (I am still in shock) and I was actually yelling profanities at the television set.

I think I like the show so much because the contestants actually have to have talent, genuine talent, in order to succeed. And it gives me good fashion tips. Plus I like seeing what Heidi's going to wear each week. But anyways. I actually know some men, heterosexual men at that, who do enjoy the show, although I will allow them to remain nameless in order to avoid being lambasted for liking a *gasp* FASHION show!! Hahahaha.... Well at least between PR and Entourage I have 1.5 solid hours of TV that I love each week. Now I just need Nip/Tuck to come back!!

Surprise!

Pardon the delay, dear readers. I've been rather busy.

Last weekend many months of careful planning paid off. I successfully surprised Shaun on Sunday by taking him to a Tigers game with his friends, sisters, Mom, and a good chunk of my family too! I think he was truly in shock when he saw everyone, and even though the Tigers lost we all still had a great time. Sunburn and all!

Something else that I wasn't planning on happened too. On Saturday night Kira picked me up to take me to what I thought was going to be dinner with just me and her. I was excited because I haven't seen her in about two months, (no kidding, two months!) and I was just looking forward to the two of us sharing some wine over dinner and catching up. But instead I got a surprise party too!! I also got an iPod Nano (SWEET!), some beautiful jewelry from Kathy and Shimron (thanks guys!), and my favorite perfume, Happy by Clinique, from Mom and Dad. All in all, a great weekend.

Thanks to everyone who helped with both events, and thanks to all our guests for coming, especially those who came downtown 2 nights in a row!! Also, anyone who took pictures either day please email the pics to me, only these two really turned out OK and I need more!

Weekend in D.C.

Weekend in D.C.

Some pics of me and Nik and her roomie and good pal, Soo. Woo hoo, sexy ladies!

Brothers & Sisters

Jesse is about a month old in this picture, according to my mom. She thinks the picture was taken in February (his birthday is 1/24), which would make me 3 1/2 years old.
So today my kid brother left to join the Navy Reserve. First he goes to boot camp in Chicago, and after his training there he'll go to San Diego for his skills training. He won't be done with everything until February, and at that point he might decide to go active duty. The morning I left for D.C. I realized that Jesse has never been on an airplane before. He said he was pretty nervous about that....

At first when he was thinking about joining I was really against the idea. I don't have very much confidence in our nation's leaders right now and I just felt that he was putting himself needlessly in harm's way. But what I've realized is that Jesse was already in harm's way, just by being stuck here, unhappy, and not knowing what to do with his life. It is in situations like those that people tend to make bad decisions and wind up in a world of trouble, or worse. Thinking about it like that has helped me realize that this is probably the best thing my brother has ever done with his life, and I just hope that he succeeds and is happy with his choice.

I think he'll be just fine.

Washington D.C.

So I am in D.C. visiting Nik and Bec and Jet and all I have to say at this point is that I freaking miss my girls! After being in Jetta's presence for about 30 seconds she was like, "So, when are you moving to D.C.?" Don't I wish I could afford to go away for grad school!? Alas, it is not so.

After dinner we went to the bars and it was fun just to kick it around town with the ladies. Nik's roommate and good friend, Soo, came out with us. Since Nik and Soo and I are all taken we had fun deflecting the guys. (And deflect them we did, Shaun!! Hahaha....) Although I have to say I missed him like CRAZY last night because we went to this club that was playing Daddy Yankee and tons of reggaeton music, (at one point the DJ was mixing Andean flute music in with the tracks and ALL I could think about was Ecuador) and I just knew that Shaun would have loved it.

Today I hung out with Bec for a while, we went to lunch at a great little Mexican place and then got some ice cream at a family style dairy place. After lunch we went back to her apartment and played with her new doggy that she adopted. Her place is really cute, all hardwood floors and lots of windows (including one in the bathroom AND one in the kitchen -- amazing!). Tomorrow she and Jetta leave to go to Puerto Rico for 10 days. After Beca's I came back to Nik's where she and Soo and Leigh proceeded to BBQ up a storm and served up a phatty meal for everyone.

Tomorrow Nik and I are going to Ozzfest (System of A Down, what?!?!) and it should be awesome. Ozzy decided to play the tour again this year and he is always entertaining, but truly the only reason we are going at all this year is because of System -- who are on the verge of becoming the greatest rock band of all time. Last time we went to System we had floor "seats" at the Palace - which are not seats at all because it's general admission -- and I think we actually scared men we were moshing so hard. No moshing this time around because we have pavillion seats, but that's cool because we can wear sandals and wear our hair down without having to worry about it getting accidentally ripped out of our scalps. It's gonna be sweet!

Now it's bedtime because I am tired as HELL. But more will follow, maybe even with pictures!

Goodnight all!

When the Going Gets Tough...

The tough get going.

So Shaun and I just made it through our first real rough spot and it feels good -- now that it's over. While we were fighting it felt like someone was crushing my heart with the weight of 1000 dictionaries. The really big, unabridged ones. I think we mostly had a communication breakdown, and my feelings were hurt and his feelings were hurt. The other night we sat and talked for a long time, and yesterday I woke up feeling better than I have in a good month or so.

I crazy love that man. Even when we're fighting, which really is not very often, I still know how much I love him. We both just need to remember patience and consideration sometimes.



This is us at Kira & Jeff's wedding. The wedding photographer took this one, which I love because it is so candid. And Nik looks HOT in the pic too! Bonus!

Quartet

Quartet


So I didn't have to go to ANY jobs today! I slept in my hammock, went to CVS to find some magic-nail-fixing-potion, and then went to Best Buy and bought the above four CDs. When I went to the check out the cashier, male, young, looked at each of my CDs and then looked at me and then looked back at the CDs and said, "Kind of an interesting collection of music. This all for you?" I said, "Yep." But I really wanted to say, "Mind your effing business." So far all of them are great.

My Dad Loves Fireworks

He always has loved fireworks. Since before I existed. Case in point: these pictures. They are from way before I was born. Just look at the freaking wallpaper for Pete's sake. It looks like an M.C. Escher drawing.

Tonight he held out his hand to reveal a little bundle of green paper in his palm -- a little bundle that happened to have a fuse attached to it. When I said, "What's that?" he grinned through his beard and said, "That's loud." Then he walked outside.

Moments later he came back inside, empty handed, and said, "Just wait. In a little bit that's going to be loud."

"What'd you do? Light it and walk away?"

"I stuck a lit cigarette to the end of it, that way it'll go real slow."

Five minutes later a huge BOOM! resonated through the house. My car alarm started going off. He came back into the kitchen to get my keys so he could turn off my car alarm.

Later he calls us outside for another one. This one he sets on the driveway, clear of the phone line that runs to our house from the street, lights with his Zippo with the picture of the trout on it, and runs away before the sparks start shooting up. We stand in the driveway and admire the display -- so do the kids across the street, who can be heard squealing, "Oooohhhhh!! Fireworks!!"

Yep. My dad loves fireworks.

Going to the Chapel...

Going to the Chapel...

And Matt and Beth got married! So, the much anticipated wedding was yesterday and it was a BLAST! Beth looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress -- no surprise there! -- and everyone else looked fantastic as well. Shaun is hot stuff in that tuxedo! The wedding ceremony was much shorter than I was expecting it to be, and after we left the church we went back to Matt & Beth's for a little while to hang out, take pictures, and snack on cheese and crackers before the reception.

The reception was beautiful, great food, decent DJs, and of course, lots of great company. Shaun's best man speech was sweet and to-the-point, he caught the garter belt (that's 3 in a row for him!), and once everyone started dancing we didn't stop til midnight! All in all, a great wedding! I can't wait to see everyone else's pictures, but here are some of mine for now!

And On The 14th Day She Rested

Today is my first day off since June 9th. I am loving that I do not have to go back to work until Monday!! And what a fun weekend to have off. Brian and Steph are in town for Steph's friend's wedding tomorrow, so I got to hang with them this afternoon before they headed out to the Tigers game. Also, Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim are in town, so we are all having dinner together tonight. And tomorrow is Matt and Beth's wedding!

Should be a party three day weekend if ever there was one.

Oh, and I got paid today! Stay tuned for pictures y'all.

I Can't Drive 65, and Other Bedtime Stories

So I know it's been about a million years since I updated. My bad. I've been getting more hours at Gap recently and I've been taking them because I need the dinero. Shaun now has two jobs as well, so between the two of us we have four -- who says there's an unemployment problem in Michigan?? I am OVER employed if you ask me. I have to work twice as hard just to afford my bills. But anyway, no excuses, shit has just been boring lately.

On Friday night I went out with Linda and Kathy to the Post Bar in Novi. It is pretty much the lamest bar on the planet. If I could talk my friends into it I would never go there again. Or Woody's in Royal Oak: also freaking lame! Friday everyone but me got totally and utterly annihilated -- so I brought everyone back to my house to sleep it off and then drove people home and to work the next morning. I swear I am the greatest friend of all time! (Haha, just kidding ladies, you know I got your backs!)

Today while driving to work I nearly had an aneurism while stuck behind some dillhole doing 65 in the fast line. My theory is thus -- if you want to be a law abiding citizen then whoo-hoo for you! But do NOT get in the fast lane of a FOUR LANE highway and impose your ideals about obeying the speed limit on the poor, unsuspecting people behind you. I go 80 whenever possible and when you get in my way, and then refuse to switch lanes and make me bob and weave and go three lanes out of my way to get around you, you're getting the bird, and that's all there is to it. Yes, I have road rage and I'm proud of it. I usually only express it while in the car alone. I try not to make other people suffer through the profanities that tumble out of my mouth when I get stuck behind someone that has zero business behind the wheel of a car anyway.

This weekend is Matt and Beth's wedding and I am super excited. I went to Nordstrom RACK with Kira (it was my first time there) and holy crap! I got a beautiful dress for $99 that was originally $365!! And some cute shoes for $50 too. Deal, deal, deal. Gap is having the biggest sale in the history of mankind right now, and I think it's the Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale as well, so Friday might be a shopping day!

In other news my Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim (Mom's little sis and her hubby) are coming to Detroit (*gasp* it's a miracle!) this weekend, and also Brian and Stephanie are going to be in town, so with the out-of-towners and the wedding this promises to be a very busy weekend.

Now I am going to go make some popcorn and watch Entourage again. It's my new Sex and the City. If you don't know about Entourage, you need to call your cable company and order HBO, hands down it's the best show on TV.

Peace out homies. More updates after this weekend. I'll have a LOT of new pics to put up.