Halloween in Vegas - A Must Do!

L-R: Marilyn Michelle, Napoleon Fox, and Rainbow Carrie




Classic fun times!

Hurricane Kittens

Ok, so I know this might be hard to tell, but the kittens went ape on their bedroom the other day...the papasahn chair was moved about 2 feet, the ottoman tipped over, the scratch post tipped over...toys everywhere... Little brats!



And then they look so cute & innocent when they drink their milk...

October 16

Your French Name is:

Destry Marchand

What's Your French Name?

Your Sexy Brazilian Name is:

Keila Ribeiro

What's Your Sexy Brazilian Name?

Not so sure about this one:

Your Birthdate: February 23

With a birthday on the 23rd of the month (5 energy) you are inclined to work well with people and enjoy them. You are talented and versatile, very good at presenting ideas. You may have a tendency to get itchy feet at times and need change and travel. You tend to be very progressive, imaginative and adaptable. Your mind is quick, clever and analytical. A restlessness in your nature may make you a bit impatient and easily bored with routine. You may have a tendency to shirk responsibility. Very sociable, you make friends easily and you are an excellent traveling companion.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Also, from Mitzi:
ISU is once again a drinking school with a football problem.

Way too many details about the vacay...

So Steve & I got back fairly late Sunday night from vacation in Florida…we got in to Orlando late the previous Sunday night, and then got shuttled to our hotel on Disney property… We got up Monday morning, at like 5am Cali time, and proceeded to EPCOT for our first adventure. EPCOT is pretty cool, and the food options are fabulous for a theme park. We ended up staying until we got too hot in the middle of the afternoon (a mimosa didn't help cool me off either), and chilled @ the hotel until evening, when we went back to EPCOT to watch the laser/fireworks show. As always, I'm constantly amazed that Disney spends gobs more money on fireworks EACH night than my poor little Clay Center does once a year for the 4th of July! One evening's show is quite enviable for the CC folks…

Tuesday brought the journey to Animal Kingdom, which I hadn't been to before… And then I figured out AK isn't as cool as it could be, because the Omaha zoo is AWESOME and other zoos/animal places lack in comparison… We were done w/AK fairly quickly, and because it was rainy, that was OK. We went to Downtown Disney & the House of Blues for dinner, then walked/shopped for a while.

We decided to do MGM on Wednesday…and I worked up the nerve to go on Tower of Terror…there's something about dropping straight down that frightens me… I ended up grabbing the leg of the Asian guy sitting next to me, along with Steve's…he didn't say anything to me after I apologized profusely afterwards, so I think he really didn't care…or didn't understand English. The Rock-N-Roller Coaster was also pretty good, as were the rest of the tours & shows @ MGM. I even did Tower of Terror for a second time…but Steve made me sit on the aisle, and him, so I couldn't grab anyone again.

We then skipped on over to the Magic Kingdom, ate a late dinner, and partook in the extra hours for resort guests… We rode Space Mountain, then Splash Mountain (my favorite), then decided to call it a night…

Thursday morning, we headed back over to Magic Kingdom…we got to go on Pirates and Splash Mountain all by our lonesome…we purchased our Splash picture… Then we wandered and rode/saw everything… We headed out in the afternoon, and got mobbed by a pack of ducks as we waited for our bus…they wanted food from Steve :) The evening culminated with dinner @ Gloria & Emilio Estefan's Cuban restaurant Bongos, and we did a bunch of gift shopping, for ourselves and others.

We got up @ 5:30 the next morning (2:30 Cali time - yeeks!), so that we could get the shuttle back to the Orlando airport, and get a rental car. The Budget lady tried to give us a Taurus, but I wasn't having any of that…so then she gave us a Monte Carlo…except it wasn't a Monte Carlo, rather a Ford Focus. Not sure if she was trying to pull a fast one on us, but she ended up having to give us a free upgrade to a Seabring convertible. Oh shucks! We rolled out of town, and headed toward the Atlantic…and Cape Canaveral. Our journey brought us to Kennedy Space Center, where Steve was in aerospace engi-nerd heaven! We took a 2 hour bus tour where we saw things that go up the the ISS (International Space Station), then we got to go by the Vehicle Assembly Building, and then see Launch Pads 39A and 39B…and some 'gators and turtles also along the way. Our tour ended at the Apollo/Saturn V building, where Steve spent the next hour engrossed in the details of all 13 Apollo missions. I spent the hour sighing and feeling hungry. We went and ate (finally), then went to see a 3-D IMAX about the ISS, narrated by Tom Cruise. Very cool, best part of the day. Then I got to go shopping while Steve wandered through the rocket garden. Steve was very upset I couldn't find a good "Rocket Scientist" shirt for him.

We headed out for the drive across Florida with the top down…then we decided the dark clouds were too threatening, and put the top back up… Good thing, the sky dumped about 5 minutes after we did. We got to our relaxing hotel, ate dinner, then I passed out on our nice comfy bed with squishy feather pillows…

We got up to blazing temps on Saturday, and drove to Busch Gardens… I became angry because they required we put our little bag & water bottle in a locker, which cost $.50 each time we did that…it's bullsh*t that they are making money off something no other theme park does. Why can't I leave my bag sitting on the platform, especially since they were only running 1 set of cars for the coasters?? My favorite ride had strange issues right before we got on…not once, but twice! Grrr! Had to pay again for the stupid locker later, so we decided to hit all the coasters we could so we didn't have to pay anymore… Then Steve made me go on the SheiKra, and plummet down the 90-degree first drop. (see http://www.buschgardenstampabay.com/buschgardens/fla/sheikra.aspx for more details) Oh yeah, they make sure to pause you for like 15 seconds right on the edge of that drop…how freaky! Then we went on another coaster, and there was a family who got to go on early, because they had a wheelchair…for the kid who had a broken arm… Steve told me not to jump to conclusions, but then I see the family later, and the broken arm kid is skipping along - not in his wheelchair! I hate people who abuse the system!! But the middle of the afternoon, I'm roasting and getting sunburned, so I'm pissy; I keep paying for stupid lockers, so I'm pissy; and there are people manipulating the sytem, so I'm - that's right - pissy! We then left, chilled at the hotel for a while, then went out after dark, and found a Village Inn (they don't have them in Cali). Steve & I both got pie. We came back to VI in the morning for breakfast (yummy!), then went out to the Gulf Coast, just to walk around the beach. We didn't have a desire to swim, the water is too hot. But the sand is nice to walk in, and it wasn't too hot on the coast. Then we tottled back to the airport, had some flight delays, and finally made it home. Whew! What a trip!

PS - Radar seemed relieved to be in him home, and Sylvester didn't really care… We had a nice Monday, except I had to make-up one of my Becker classes in the evening…

Aren't they cute??

Kitten Fever

So Steve & I really wanted to get a kitten as soon as we moved out of the apt w/Scott...

So we got Radar :)


And then I came to the conclusion Radar needed a friend...

So we got Sylvester :)


As you can tell, I somehow managed to catch both of them with their respective tongues hanging out of their mouths...

So there are the kitties...

And no...I won't be getting the urge to get anymore...my allergies will kill me!

Pro-Choice?

OK, so I'm reading Glamour @ work...because I'm unassigned & have nothing better to do besides studying for the CPA exam.

And this article in Glamour says survey say only approx. 35% of 18-29 year old women currently have the pro-choice view. That means a whopping 15% decrease in the pro-choice view compared to women of just 10 years ago.

The article quotes Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg: "choice is the only social issue in which you haven't seen them move to the left."

Apparently, since we've grown up with legal abortion, we may take it for granted...according to some of the older pro-choicers. Katha Pollitt: "..they're able to say, 'Oh, I'm against abortion,' knowing that it's there for them if they really need it."

But we also are more confident in birth control methods - ie, the morning-after pill. Very long, interesting article. It's the August issue, w/Nicole Kidman on the cover...

Whiners

It seems like everyone is using their blogs to whine...about something...anything... And if they aren't whining...they're bragging...

What an interesting society of bloggers we're apart of...

Anyways, I was wondering when my fellow chicas would catch up to me on this guy commitment thing...turns out there are more that are now in the engaged/nearly engaged stage... So congrats everyone! And for my determined single gal pals, live it up! You're all in great cities, and have lots of fish out there to check out! ;)

But an interesting statistic...divorce is finally going down, but there are also more people co-habitating. Also accorrding to the National Center for Health Statistics, Steve & I were one of the 786 marriages in Nebraska in December 2004.

So I'm not sure where I'm going with all this...I think 7 months of working have killed any creative, witty writing abilities I may have, at one time, possessed.

Anyway, I'll sign off for now...

Wedding party 


This is the gorgeous wedding party of Michelle & Steve...

Back:
Carrie - bridesmaid, friend of ours from ISU, my first college roommie
Karissa - bridesmaid, Steve's lil lil sis
Kristina - bridesmaid, Steve's lil sis
Shea - usher, friend of ours from ISU, former roomie of Steve @ ISU
Dustin - usher, friend of mine since forever
Branden R - groomsman (fellow newlywed), friend/former roommie of Steve @ ISU
Kyle - groomsman, friend of ours from ISU (we helped set him up w/his fiancee!)
Jim - my "lil big" brother (ie, younger but twice the size)

Front:
Sarah - matron of honor, friend of mine since forever, twin to Abbie
Abbie - maid of honor, friend of mine since forever, twin to Sarah
Your truly :)
My hot hubby ;)
Ben - ring bearer, friend of Steve
Brandon G - best man, friend of Steve's since he moved to Nebraska
Bob - groomsman, friend of Steve's since he moved to Nebraska

West Coast drama...

I definitely haven't had a chance to slow down at all since last August. I've been going, going, going solid for 5 months now, and the slow down doesn't seem like it will be any time in the future. After the 4.0 semester ended, the holidays came raining down, coupled w/last minute wedding planning.

Speaking of the wedding, for those of you who couldn't make it, the wedding actually went beautifully. I think it was unique, intimate, and fun. No major glitches that I can think of, though granted I wasn't privy to a lot of the happenings at the event. Looking back, now I realize that I never should have slightly stressed about not knowing what was going on during the course of the big day - I had more than enough wonderful people willing to take on the role of helper and make sure I only had to worry about getting myself down the aisle w/out the stress of all the details. We currently have about 500 candid pictures taken by Melissa w/my digital, Steve's parents, and Lori & Trent. I'll see if Steve can't find some web space to post some of the pics online. We're still working on getting the formal shots from the photographer, but the delay is partially due to the bad weather in the midwest.

Speaking of bad weather, Steve & I flew out of Omaha about 2 days before a big snow storm blew in. And here is what has happened since Steve & I got to Torrance...

Jan. 3rd - 1st day of work in downtown LA for orientation. Steve drove me down to the office, then went back home to go car shopping. I officially start work & get my laptop on Day 1 - not a good sign when they need you to be connected ASAP. Steve picks my up in my new 2005 Honda CRV Special Edition...and proceeds to make me drive home!! Me, who has driven exactly twice on any LA freeway!! Yeah, I was stressed...


Jan. 4th - I make Steve drive w/me to work, in part so I don't have to pay for ridiculous parking lot costs in downtown LA. Orientation is not really exciting, but I'm getting paid. Steve comes back to get me, we start shopping for TVs...

Jan. 5th - EEEKS! I drive to work all by myself in my brand new vehicle...talk about raising the blood pressure! But somehow I survive and manage to get through the rest of the week.

Jan. 8th - Steve & I spend all day doing all sorts of shopping, including buying a new 30" widescreen HD TV and TV stand to accomodate the new TV. We had bought an Onkio surround sound system a couple days prior.

Jan. 9th-14th - Steve drops me off @ LAX so I can fly to Austin, TX for national training. We fly Southwest, which is a stupid airline because they don't assign seats, just a boarding group w/free-for-all seating when your group is called. STUPID!! (And on a side tangent, Southwest in all its wisdom only uses 737 planes, which makes maintenance easier, and Boeing uses as a selling point. However, I felt the planes weren't in as good of shape as they should be, considering the maintenance should be easier...I suspect the mechanics, etc. get lazy.) However, we finally arrive in Austin, and I check in and meet my roommate...who proceeds to shower 4 times in the next 32 hours...strange to deal w/someone who is slightly OCD apparently. Get through the week, get back to LA...then start the lovely life of an auditor during busy season (ie, guaranteed 11 hour days).