Hip-Hop Ya Don't Stop

This week: -0.8 lbs

Total to date: -14.8 lbs

Let us also note that I attended an awesome hip-hop class at Lifetime fitness in Canton with my friend Brooke on Monday evening. She was so incredible to get me a pass to join her. I was so afraid to go because I thought I would totally embarrass her. See Brooke is like "my" Audrey Hepburn. She is this icon that I've just adored since jr. high and high school. She was always very popular, pretty, cheerleader-y etc. One thing that always made me like her was that she was nice to me. I remember running into her at Meijer in jr. high (I was a total hot mess in Jr. High - who wasn't?) and she actually said hello to me and was very friendly! I thought, wow, this popular cool girl actually said hello to me and was very nice. From then on, I always admired her..SO, having reconnected with her a few years ago through Jenny (who always was very nice to me and would walk home with me from the bus stop because she lived on the same street and was very tall, pretty and skinny and funny) we have become friends. Needless to say, I was thrilled (and kinda honored) to be invited to attend this class. OMG!!! This class was totally amazing and I could have went on dancing/moving for another hour or more. It was so fun. I felt like such a bad-ass even though I know I sucked but OMG it was fun. I can't get over it. I wish the place wasn't so far away from my home because I would totally join even just to take that class twice a week.
I am looking into alternatives closer to me. If anyone knows of any good hip-hop classes in Washtenaw County, let me know!

Another note on courtesy...

So, tell me if I'm wrong but these pet peeves of mine are on hyper-drive lately. I am having an event on Sunday. Invites went out about 3 weeks ago. I did online invites through evite.com. This is a nice thing to do for casual get togethers and people can view the invitation online and RSVP very easily. The most awesome feature that I found on there is that you (the host) can see if/when someone opens their invitation. Now, what is really ticking me off is that I see that some people have looked at the invite and not responded. That's fine, I understand opening it, waiting to see what your plans are, etc. Here's my issue...
Someone I invited, recently had an event of their own and on their social network status constantly said things like "come on people! Send in your RSVPs" or "I wish people would hurry up and RSVP" etc. So, this person has not yet RSVPd to my event which is the day after tomorrow. What gives? I know it's stupid and petty but that kind of stuff annoys me. It's kind of a "you have to do for me" attitude with an "I don't have to return the favor" spin on it.
So, this really annoys me right now and falls under the courtesy and etiquette things that make me crazy. Gotta go! I'll be back to bitch more after this break :)

A Birthday to Remember...

Last Sunday was Emily's first birthday party. Anyone who's anyone was there LOL Family included myself, Kurin, Grandma and Cedo, Grandma Debbie, Great Grandma Gay, Benjamin, Uncle Kevin, new Aunt Melissa, Cyndie, Aunt Brenda, Karen, Aunt Faye and Uncle Clyde, Teresa, and JoAnna, Aunt Violet and Uncle George, Aunt Marianne and Uncle Anwar with Kristine, Mark and Christina with Isabella, Ron and Cherryl with George and Jack. Friends that came were Auntie Danielle and Jeff with Orion, Leslie with Izak, and Audra with Madison and Mackenzie. I hope they all had a good time. We had thought that it would be nice out so we could utilize my parents' deck with the awning but it was a bit chilly so we all ended up in the house - a little too cozy if you ask me. I get all weird in crowded situations - that is why I do not go shopping the day after Thanksgiving..I usually have a panic attack (no joke). So, I was a hot mess both literally and figuratively. It was hot in the house with 800 people inside but I was also flustered because these 800 people were talking to me, asking me stuff, I'm trying to make sure all goes right blah blah. Thanks to my parents who basically did everything like, oh, providing the food and the house!
I got the beautiful cake at Queen of Hearts bakery in Depot Town. It was phenomenal. I never even got a piece! Gone!


The food was great - my parents made a couple of different Italian type casseroles with a nice salad and bread along with appetizers.
Bebe' even got her own little mini-cake complete with mini-ladybug decoration :) She was a little confused at first as to what to do with it so I assisted her in getting started.

She had a really good time. All of the kids were so good. I had no idea what to have for them so I didn't have any games or anything - they were all so well-behaved and entertained themselves. Emily and Izak (6 weeks apart) had a fab time together. Besties!
Bebe' got entirely too much stuff. Tons of beautiful outfits and lots of fun toys and books. We are very happy to have such a wonderful group of family and friends.

You Wasting My Life!

A tribute to a dear friend (no, there's nothing wrong with her or anything..I just appreciate her and the humor she brings to my life)...

I work with a a wide variety of people of all different ages, races, and nationalities. One of my favorite people to work with is Dr. L.H. (I will refer to her as L for this post). L is Chinese and she - is - awesome. What makes L awesome? Probably the greatest thing is her sense of humor.
Allow me to give you an example (it's funny to those who work with her so it may not be that funny to you but it's cute): At one point in time, several years ago, L thought that our superiors felt that she didn't work hard and wasted a lot of time (which in my opinion is totally untrue and I think she knows that now as well). One day, one of these superiors saw L with a large container of water and that she was using a very tiny container to move the water to another large container (rather than pouring one into the other). He asked, "L, what are you doing?" Her answer, as she continued what she was doing, "Oh....I just wasting time." Well, even that got a laugh out of the superior.
Often times when asked how she is or how things are going when she is stressed or being funny, her reply will often be "oh, you know, just wasting my life" or "same ole shit (said "sheet").
She is one of the nicest people that I know and I enjoy listening to her tell stories about her two children who "drive her crazy!", China and Chinese culture. I was fortunate enough to attend a conference with just her about 6 years ago in Bethesda, MD (Washington D.C. area) and we had a great time.
What triggered me to write this is an incident from yesterday. It was just something small but again, her sense of humor can just make my day. Yesterday, L came into our area and we always like to tease her by saying things like "uh-oh, here comes L" even though we all love her. I'm not exactly sure what happened but I just heard her yelling across the lab "..something, something, drive me crazy! duck, duck chicken!" Really fast. When I repeated it, she cracked up laughing because obviously she had not said duck, duck, chicken but some kind of Chinese swear words.
In conclusion, I just wanted to say to L, I adore you my little Asian friend and will always enjoy your company..even when you lie to me and say that you know Jackie Chan (I always ask her if she knows him) and even the times you make me eat chicken feet. :)

Warm Weather Weekend

Lots done this weekend. I went to Plymouth's Art in the Park on Saturday morning with my mom. Found some cute altered jackets for bebe'. Scored some awesome jewelry for myself.

I was then lucky enough to attend a graduation party for my dear old friend Caroline. I've known Caroline since she moved into our school district in I think 4th grade. So a really, really long time. She graduated from EMU and had a luau themed open house. I rarely get to see Caroline so this made my summer. I also got to see her brother Jason who I was also friends with in high school (he being a couple of years older...class of '94).

Jason and I with Alex and Emily...Emily is as fascinated with Jason's hat as I am that he no longer has his "Ponch from CHiPs hair" LOL

and his wife Stephanie who I have become really good friends with.

This is Stephanie and I with Emily and Alex - she's pretty much awesome

Caroline has a 10 year old son, DeCarlos; Jason and Stephanie have a son Griffen, daughter Mackenzie and 19 month old Alex. It's a real treat when I get to see them so that was the highlight of my weekend. Also, Jason makes bad-ass cakes and did a fantastic job on the cakes he made for his sister's graduation (see above).

Caroline, myself, Emily and Stephanie..I'm hoping Stephanie's shot came out better...

BIG EMILY NEWS: Bebe' has started crawling. Yay! She is so funny. She crawls all over now and loves to go after everyone's feet. She is also fascinated by feet at the moment, particularly those wearing flip-flops (and if you make them flip or flop, she loves it). Her favorite feet however are my dad's grotesque Fred Flintstone feet. Anyway, she is crawling all over. It's super-cute and she's really working up her appetite and then she gets super tired at night. It's so sweet. Unfortunately, this also makes me, mommy, very sad because I don't want her to get bigger anymore. I'm scared that I won't be able to handle her and I'm afraid of what the future holds for her. I will worry about that more later.

One more bright spot for the upcoming week - Drew & Mike are BACK!! Reunited tomorrow morning at 6am and I am extremely thrilled. I discovered them about 6 or 7 years ago and can't go a morning without them. I always feel "off" if I miss them - I even stream it when I'm out of town and in a different time zone. This is exciting and I hope they do well...I'm sure they will.

Gut-Rot

My newest blog post was going to be about my fun weekend and things I accomplished but with the recent happenings at work, I don't have the heart to talk about such things.
Yesterday, the company I work for laid off a couple of dozen people and reduced the hours of another couple dozen. I've been here for 8 years and I've never seen it like this.
It was so sad, I can't imagine being in the position those people were put in. I feel empty, like a survivor of some kind of weird tragedy. I know it's happening all across the country and especially here in Michigan but no one here ever thought it would come to this.
So please keep my friends in your thoughts. We are/were a close-knit company and hopefully they can return in a few months.