PROM!!!

Last night was the Time Warp Prom. It was a lot of fun- We'll definitely be going back next year. And we all agreed it was so much more fun than our real proms! A lot of people arrived dressed in themes: we saw the Captain and Tenille, George Michael, Slash, and numerous Madonnas and John Travoltas. Here's a few highlights from the evening:


The salon girls: Tracie, Andi, Tonia, Me



















Our friends (who don't work at the salon): Laura, Christina, Tina.
Actually, Tina works at the salon sometimes, she's our on-call receptionist.



















Me, hanging out at Tracie's house, waiting to go.





















Doing the Chicken Dance (and the table-chicken-dance)















Dancing to some fabulous 80's music!
Did you notice Laura's leggings?! Fabulous.















I took this from our table; you can see what a huge event this was. Our table was about a third of the way back from the dance floor, to give an idea of how may people were there. I was really suprised at what a big deal this is!

more vacation photos: Savannah

This is the Sorrel-Weed house: supposedly the most haunted in Savannah. We toured it, but didn't see any ghosts.















Joe, sitting on someone's front steps.


















This is the Williams house, where the man from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil lived (and died). We also toured this.




















The waving girl statue on the water. See how great the weather was?!

One more tail on the bird couch!

So for those of you who haven't heard it through the phone chain, it's time to get your baby-name hats on again! We've got until October to pick the bestest most fantastic name for the LaValley baby.
Yes, I said BABY.
And yes, we're keeping the Solstice. :)

Vacation pictures

Here's my first installment of vacation photos, since I know you're all dying to see them. =)


This is the street outside our hotel in Charleston; the building at the end is the open market entrance. Fun shopping.
















Kathy, Bob, and Joe outside a yummy restaurant we ate at. There's almost always a line outside to get in to eat the traditional "low country" food; another cool fact, Rachel Ray ate there. :)

















Part of "Rainbow Row" where all the houses are different colors.















The next few are all in Tybee Island. It was nice; I would have liked to spend a little more time there. It was great to walk on the beach!!

Snow??

Vacation was lovely, 85 and sunny all week. I got a little sun, we drove our car with the top down all week, I even got a mini-sunburn on my forehead...and then driving home, we drove back into this crap all over the place.
I am not happy with the weather.

Know who else I'm not happy with, "Hills" watchers? Heidi!
She's an idiot and Spencer is a punk.
And now we have to wait for next season to find out what happens? (Not that we don't already know: they'll break up and she'll want to move back in with Lauren, which will cause a fight btween her and Audrina....blah blah blah)

Anyway, back to vacation: it was so fun. I loved Savannah- I have a ton of pictures to share~ Maybe tomorrow I'll put some on here.
But for now, I have to get my lazy self up and get dressed so I can go over to mom and dad's for lunch and watch Rylee hunt Easter eggs in the snow.

Stay warm everyone!

Here I am.

I've been a bad blogger lately. It's been a busy couple of weeks- we went up to Joe's parents' house last weekend for a quick overnight...then work all week...then left after work Saturday for a Hair Show in Indiana and got back from that tonight....
Oh, I DID find my pink camera. Yay! Just in time for vacation. We're taking the Solstice so that means pack super-lite, so I can take the little camera. :)
We leave after work Saturday for our East Coast tour.
And I have been trying to finish my book in between everything else- whch is another reason I haven't blogged- and I'm almost done with it. Must finish before Saturday!

Another new fun toy- I got a phone that I can go online with. Too fun! I read everyone's blogs this weekend on the road. I havent figured out how to post a blog from my phone, still working on that one.

Off to bed!

We're headed to the (south) east coast for vacation this year. One of our stops is Savannah, and I had a couple people say that if we're going there, I MUST see/read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" before I go.
So I went to the library, checked out the book, and now am about a third of the way through it. So far, it's pretty good. I think I'm into it because a lot of the story is about the city itself, and I am looking forward to going there.... but since I've started reading it, everyone I've talked to who has read it says "I couldn't get through it."
So...has anyone out there seen/read it? Does it get worse? Should I keep reading? Or should i just rent the movie and get it over with? =)

Green, Pink.

In honor of the upcoming St. Pattie's Day, you are now enjoying my new and improved GREEN blog.

Want to see my latest obsession?? I've been stalking this for a little while now. I found it at Target the other day and I think I need to have it. It's perfectly compact and purse-sized, ideal for travelling, and it's PINK!
Determined to buy it this past Saturday, I strolled on up into Target, and went to the counter, to be told they were sold out.
No problem, I had them check the 2 closest Targets....also both sold out.

Circuit City?? Sold out.
Three different Super Wal Marts? Sold OUT.
Best Buy? Doesn't even carry it, but I bet if they did, they'd be sold out.
I did find a similar model on display at Best Buy, but guess what: sold out. And no longer carrying it.

They're supposed to be getting more at all of these stores, but none of them know when. So now I have to stalk the Target electronics counter every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (their delivery days) until they get them in.
Luckily, Target is right behind the salon, so that's no big deal.
Oh, and it's not an online item, it's in stores only, so that option is out also.

I am determined to get this before the end of March, to take on my trips with me....
Joe just rolled his eyes and said I'm a camera junkie.
Too bad it's true.

Hello, Idol fans!

Americal Idol update:
So far my new favorite is Chris. Last week I liked Blake, but I tend to agree with Simon, and aside from the whole beat-box thing, his act was a Jamiroqui rip-off of the video. If his hat was a little bigger, I wouldn't have known the difference.

Last week, I thought Chris was a decent Justin Timberlake impersonater, suit and all...this week I liked him better. Possibly because Jason Mraz is one of my all time favorite singers, and he sang one of his songs, but he did do a very nice job.

Sundance is my other favorite, just because he's awesome...so far.

Oh- and AJ was really good too. I think I overlooked him last week.
The others aren't even mildly interesting to me.

I was very creeped out by the guy who dedicated "Let's Get it On" to his parents.

Can't wait for tonight's episode! I'm an AI junkie.

Picture Time!

Here's some photos I finally loaded onto my computer. The first one is how I found Cissi sleeping in our bed the other day- she was too cute and cozy to move her!
The rest are from our cousin's scrapbook/sleepover back in January. (A.K.A. "The night Bella Dancerella disappeared!") :)



















Jenna and Rylee, being cute.















Snuggling on the bird couch.

















Me and Lisa and Cissi, being cute- haha. :)














Joe and Jenna having dinner.

















Deb, Kara, Amy, Lisa, Me: in our p.j.'s

Mystery Solved!

So...Joe was transferring his school videos to DVD today, and couldn't get the tape into the VCR. It would only go in part of the way.
He looked inside the VCR and saw something shiny.
And let me just say I've looked everywhere BUT the VCR for this thing!!!
Geez.

Today's Riddle:

WHY do the contestants on American Idol suck at singing?!

The ONLY one I liked was the guy who sang the Keane song (the one Simon said sounds like someone in 2007- Blake, I think?)
And even he wasn't all that great.

All those thousands of people who auditioned and THIS is the best they came up with??

And yet I can't stop watching it.....

Bloggy Weekend!

Wow- you can tell I'm just hanging around the house today- I'm blogging like crazy!
Here's my favorite comic from today's paper. I'm not as much of a comic fan as I used to be, because I think the quality of the Sunday funnies has gone way down and most aren't even FUNNY anymore.
But this one gave me a good chuckle...I'm still laughing at it.
Enjoy. :)

Junk Mail

I cleaned out my e-mail inbox today. I had 592 bulk e-mails to delete. I always have a good laugh at the names and subjects in the bulk e-mail inbox...they're everything from foreign to slightly creative to just plain stupid. Because I'm in waste-the-day-away mode today, I am posting a list of my favorite bulk e-mail subject lines, from senders including: Violetta Sidebottom, Gracie Goodq, Matthaes Ralf, Gaston, Elfriede, and lori1017 AND lori1176.
Here they are, in no particular order:

As marie or suffix

on a violin

his no nocturne

as camellia no salaried

he pasta

go ebullient on preparative

he waldo by grammatic

checkup troposphere

varigated philosopher

qaa thencefort

mitochondrial girl

There they are- the best of the worst. They're so creatively jibberish, I'm almost compelled to open them up, if it weren't a computer virus waiting to happen.

What is going on in that girl's head?

More importantly, what's going on ON Britney's head?!

She shaved it.

She's nuts.

This just may upstage the Anna Nicole story.

Here's a link, in case you haven't heard/read about it.

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=6551d873-8fde-48e0-bbfb-9a33f6824467

picture time!

Here's a couple photos of Cissi enjoying her new puffy vest.

Another Survey

I got this from my sister- I thought it was blog-worthy.


Name 3 things you would like to accomplish this year. paint my bedroom, organize the salon's back room, work my way through my huge stack of books to read!

If you were given a $50 bill and had to spend it immediately, what would you buy? dinner

Fill in the blank: I have never been able to make pink jello salad correctly!

What would you like to know more about? world news

If you were granted one wish, what would you wish for? right now? For Joe and me to get over these colds!!!

What was your favorite thing that happened to you yesterday? I laughed all day yesterday at work! I love that.

What would you name your first/next child? Tarquin

If there was a National Holiday in your honor, what would it be and when? Probably my birthday- National Have Fun day. No moping around, everyone has to be in a good mood. :)

What is your life long dream? I'm already doing it.

If you were given an all expense paid vacation to the destination of your choice – where would you go? Fiji

Fill in the blank: When I dance, I look like I'm having way too much fun to care what I look like.

What is the longest word you can think of? osteoarthritis

What is your biggest regret? That when I was growing up I actually believed that it was uncool to hang out with your family...when in fact it's probably THE coolest thing! :)

What are you most proud of? My staff at work for being so awesome.

If you could have one super power, what would it be? I've always thought it would be cool to fly.

As a child, what was your favorite meal? Mac & cheese with hot dogs; Bread and gravy; Meatloaf

What is one thing you always wanted as a kid but never got? A trampoline, but I think I got over that when we got a pool. Oh, and!a hamster. (ew)

If you could start a new fad that was guaranteed to catch on, what would it be? ascots.

What one feature would you add to your current vehicle? heated seats!!!!

If you were given $1000 to spend in an electronics store, what would you buy? a new lap top computer for Joe

If you could own/operate your own store, what kind of store would it be? uhhhh....guess. No, really, since I already have the salon, if i could do another, it would be a coffee shopl

Fill in the blank: I would like to be known as the world’s greatest hairstylist to the stars

If you could a member of any TV sitcom family, which one would you join? Family Ties

If time and money were not a factor, what new hobby would you like to pursue? ballroom dancing

If you were chosen to be the spokesperson for a product, which product would you choose? Bare Minerals Makeup

If one song were to describe your life, what song would it be? Oh that's hard. Only one song???

If you could have only one food for the rest of your life (and your choice would not effect your health), what would you choose? school pizza!

If you woke up and the house was on fire, what three things would you save? Joe, Cissi, my pictures

If you could change one thing about your spouse/significant other, what would it be?That's not a very nice question. Maybe I'd give him a better immunity to those kids' colds so he wasn't sick so much!

If you could hear what someone was thinking for an entire day, who would you choose? The president

Super what?

I didn't know today was SuperBowl Sunday until...yesterday. One of my clients asked me if I was going to a SB party, and I said "Oh, is that THIS week?" hahaha. I'm so oblivious to football...I'm bored right now just writing about it.

We're going to Vegas for Memorial Day weekend to celebrate Joe's 30th birthday. Isn't that fun??? It's definitely something to look forward to, to get through this stupid cold windy weather we're having.

Yes, I have already started shoping for summer, thanks for asking! I purchased two new pair of capri pants, and a swimsuit last week. I can't do anything with them right now, but it's nice to buy those kinds of clothes, as I sit here in my fleece sweats, a long sleeve t-shirt, an Urbana Jr. High hooded sweatshirt, and my slipper socks (thanks, mom! They're super warm!!)

Oh, and I'm sitting 2 feet in front of the fire. Yeah, I'm THAT cold.
And I'm drinking hot chocolate.

Anyone know what the groundhog saw??
Are we in for another month and a half of winter?
Or just 6 weeks?????

Winter Cold, Dawgs, and Dogs

I've made it this far through the cold season without being sick...and I think it's caught up with me. I'm not going to give in without a fight: I'm fighting back hard-core- chicken noodle soup, lots of water (OK, and coffee), lots of sleep, constant intake of Tylenol, and my favorite anti-flu, Occillococcinum. I get two bonus points if I spelled that right, too!! Its a homeopathic thing I heard about when I lived in Ann Arbor (it's all nature-lovin' stuff up there!) and I swear by it to stop a flu!

So, anyway, here I am in my p.j.'s on the bird couch, watching American Idol....I think if one more girl sings "Reflection" I might quit watching.
OK, that's a lie. I can't stop watching it.

And who else loves the guy with the 'fro who sang Kiss From a Rose?? Love him!! I'll vote for him.
OK, that's a lie too...I don't vote for that crap, it's not worth my cell phone battery.

And what's with the girl with the 6 feet of hair?! Oy. I'd like to cut that stuff right off and mail it to Locks of Love, ASAP!

Well, that's it for the AI review.... If my laptop could handle it, I'd load some photos in here, but it can't, so I won't.

Oh, and another thing: I saw a dog the other day that looked like Cissi....her owner said "she's a Chug- it's a designer dog, a hybrid of a Chihuahua and a Pug".

Designer?
Hybrid???

That's funny....I call mine a Pughuahua.

Obsession

I own 20 pairs of boots.

Nothing to blog about

It's another chilly January day in Ohio. We woke up to SNOW this morning: first snowy day of the season, hopefully the last. I'm already looking forward to spring... we're planning a spring break vacation ,with the in-laws; sounds like we'll be travelling to Savannah and Charleston. I'm excited! I've been to both, but only driving through. So that's another thing to look forward to, and hope that winter goes away quickly.
Although, in the mean-time, I do have a nice new fur-lined vest to keep me warm. Cissi has a puffy vest as well...I should get a picture of her in it on here.
Stay warm, everyone!

Monkey see, Monkey do.

I woke up to a National Geographic special about gorillas this morning. I think I might like to have a pet monkey. I'm still working out logistics of it all...can you take a monkey to Panera for lunch? Or to the mall? I mean, if you can take your dog to the mall (and around here you can!), why not a monkey?

And think about this: you could take a monkey on a walk, but save money on a leash, because it would just hold your hand, or ride on your shoulder.

You can dress a monkey up, and buy it new clothes. And with no hassle of putting money away for a college fund, there's more money for monkey clothes!

A monkey is smart, and you can communicate with it via sign language, yet still kennel it when you want to go on vacation. (unless you're going to the jungle, in which case, it's just common courtesy to take your monkey along. Or a banana factory.)

Monkeys eat anything, so no trips to PetSmart for monkey food. Just pick up an extra head of lettuce at Kroger and the monkey's good to go!

If we start running low on cash, we could always train a monkey to work a street fair juggling plastic bowling pins or something.

No day care needed: We'd just turn the spare room into a jungle gym and tile the walls, and we're good to go.

Heck, we could probably even train a monkey to let Cissi out at night!!!

And if we had a monkey, I'd definitely buy Joe a yellow hat.

Do the Time Warp

So, in Dayton every year, they have this thing called the Time Warp Prom. It's basically prom for the 25 and over crowd- (I've also heard it called "second chance prom").
One of our friends at work has wanted to go to this as long as I've known her, and we've always put it off. This year, the "prom" falls on the Saturday of her birthday, and all she wants for her birthday is to go to the dance, so we're going to take her.

There's about 8 or 10 of us girls who will be going together...complete with updo's and a limo, and a prom queen tiara for the birthday girl. It's not until April, but we just found out the date this week, so it's on my mind. Plus, I've got to find the perfect prom dress!!

I've been looking on eBay and have found a few potential dresses, but most are over my $20 budget. Plus, all the dresses in the 'vintage' section that I like have a 22 inch waist. What's that!?? Who wears that???? I think I'll have to cruise through the local goodwill formal section. Here's what I've found so far, for shopping inspiration:

bleach!

I spent my Sunday cleaning...deep cleaning both bathrooms. Not fun, but they're all nice and sparkly-clean now and they stink like bleach. Mmmmm....clean. :)

Holidays, Part One

Here are some holiday photos; Part Two is below this post.




This is what happens when you tell Rylee to "SMILE!"

















Awww...someone give this guy a grandkid! (Just kidding!!!!) Maybe a puppy though...what? No?? hahaha
















Joe got out of his sick-bed for some family photos.
(This is what happens when you tell Jeremy "SMILE!")

















These are the "real" LaValleys.

Holiday Parties, Part Two

Salon Christmas party (can you find the 5 hairstylists mixed in with all the receptionists???)
















Joe and I; Christmas at the lake

















Jenna, coming down off an easy-bake oven high.

















Nancy thinks it's a b.b. gun!

















Jake, playing "Where's Waldo?"

Call me Joan Rivers: Harsh critiques of last night's "entertainment"

So it's 2007 already! How did everyone say goodbye to 2006? Joe and I went out to dinner with mom, dad, and Grandma- good food, good company, good time! Then the 2 of us watched movies at home and watched the ball drop, and Dick Clark's Rockin'New Years Eve.
I just ate my yummy leftover prime rib from last night for lunch ,and watched yet another movie this morning. I think I'm catching up on a years' worth of DVDs this holiday season!
A few Rockin' Eve thoughts, for those of you who watched it:

1. Why don't they get better talent for the Times Square deal?
2. Dick Clark just made me sad. His wife was even sadder! (She makes me sing "greeeen acres!" Girl needs to tone it down a little.)
3. If *I* was going to "perform" on tv, on a major holiday show, I would probably practice my lip-sync skillz first. Rhianna sucks.
4.Yay to Natasha Bedingfield for actually singing, and singing well, at that!
5. Joe thinks Fergie looked pregnant. I said she probably just ate too many cookies.
6. What's with that Latin pop group?! It's as if the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys collaborated, in Spanish! Pathetic. Yet, oddly catchy tunes....
7. WHY is Meatloaf allowed to still perform in public? Who likes him? To his credit he DID sing. He's one who should have lip-synced (lip-sanc? sync'd?) Anyway, the man can't sing on key to save his life, and he needs to back away from Punky Brewster, or whoever that girl was who was singing with him. He's got to be 3 times her age! He kept getting up in her face. Dirty old man... He makes Ryan Secrest and his fake teeth look good.

Other random thoughts:
.Google is too cute, they made the 'oogl' of google look like 2007. Awwww.....
.For anyone who thinks the Michigan mitten-map is funny, check out my friend Aaron's blog to see a funny, pitiful holiday card. www.webbweweave.blogspot.com
.I can't wait for good tv (new episodes)to come back! I'm in serious Grey's Anatomy withdrawal. Seriously. (heheheh)
.I wish I knew how to make my blogger font different colors. That would be cool.
.I am in serious need of a scrapbook day!!! Any takers?? I'll host...I promise to have heat this time! =)
.I didn't make a New Year's Resolution. Last year I resolved to learn to like shrimp, and I think I did fairly well. I can't eat it cold, but I can do grilled/seasoned shrimp.
.I'm off to check out some new songs on iTunes, and then watch more movies!!
.Happy 2007!

just to clarify

It wasn't BAD oyster dressing that made Joe sick.
I just think Joe and oysters don't get along.
(I tried the dressing, and I was fine.)
Didn't want to give unnecessary bad press to Sudsy's cooking! :)

My twelve 'days' of Christmas!

Here's my countdown, Christmas style:

12 hours in the car, (Urbana to Huron, to Michigan, back to Urbana!)
11 hours of sleep every night of the holiday weekend- yay!!
10 Christmas cookies eaten per day (estimated...probably more in reality)
9 holiday meals
8 hours of Lifetime Christmas movies watched on Christmas day!
7 hours after I woke up on Christmas, until I finally changed out of my p.j.s!
6 plates of Christmas cookies in my kitchen- guess I'll freeze 'em.
5 days off work over Christmas
4 days off work over New Years weekend
3 magazines read, cover to cover, while in Michigan
2 days that Joe didn't get out of bed due to sickness. (Darn oyster dressing!)
1 Christmas mid-day nap

Holiday Sugar Buzz!

Since my holiday diet has consisted of taco bell and Christmas cookies (mostly the cookies) I'm running on a constant sugar high, and dressing up my dog sounds like a FABULOUS idea!! (Cissi begs to differ....) Thanks for the suggestion, Brenda!
(Cissi is currently hiding from me- she hates playing dress up.) I think the Santa hat pose should be next year's Christmas card. :)

I like to photograph my dog.

I love this picture!!

I saw this a couple weeks ago, when I was driving home from work. It was so funny, I had to circle the block and pull over so I could take a picture with my phone. (And THAT is why we need cameras on our phones!)
I think it may be the funniest thing I have seen this Christmas season.
I believe this calls for a good neighborly round of "We've got spirit, yes we do; we got [Christmas] spirit, how 'bout YOU?!" (Obviously, they don't...)



(In case you can't tell, it's half of a double lit up, half with NO holiday spirit!)

Happy Holidays!!!

I'm Bringing Eighties Back!!

So we're starting a new movement at work, trying to bring back some old slang. We figure if side ponytails and leggings can make a comeback, so can 80's words!!
So far, so good. We use these in conversation at the salon (people crack up, really!) and we've got a representative to OSU, a scattering of local high schools, Tiffin University, Springfield City, Urbana, even the elemetary schools.

But now, we're taking it to the next level, and this is where I need YOU~
Between all of my faithful readers, I've got representation in Michigan, Texas, most of Ohio, Virginia, and Kosovo! (Yes, we're taking this international!)

All you have to do is insert a few old words back in to your vocabulary. It's fun, and funny too! You'll get a good laugh, others will too, and eventually when they're saying "I'm Hip" on Laguna Beach, we can say we brought it back.

(Yes, we often entertain ourselves at work in this way...just go with it.)

Here's your list:
I'm Hip
Sike!
Word, Word Up, Word to your mother; any combination of these is fine
and if you can pull it off: "Gag me with a spoon"!

Any other suggestions are welcomed.
Thanks for helping to bring a little fun to others. :)

What, another survey?

Here's a holiday-themed survey I swiped from Amy's blog:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped!

3. Colored lights or white lights on tree/house? I like white inside, colors outside.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, but I have some.

5. When do you put up your decorations? Um...I should probably do that soon, huh?

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? stuffing, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, cheeseball

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Kara and I in our room at our 'old' house, listening for Santa's sleigh bells; riding home from Grandma's at night in the van, listening/singing Christmas music, looking for christmas lights; thinking that the flashing light on the top of the radio tower was actually Rudolf's nose!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? early- maybe first grade- I remember mom telling me not to tell my friends!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, growing up, mom let us open one (usually the underwear!), then when we were older, my sisters and i opened ours on the 24th; now, joe and I open one each on Christmas eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Um....just white lights. :)

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love watching it.

12. Can you ice skate? kind of

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? probably my Cabbage Patch! :)

14. What's the most important thing about Christmas for you? family time

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? pie, cookies, candies, peanut brittle, basically all of it!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Driving to see the lights

17. What tops your tree? nothing

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum, definitely.

25 days until Christmas!

Today's list: Things I like/Things I don't like. It has nothing to do with my title and I don't care. =)

Things I like:
1. iTunes and finding great old and new music! Songs I bought today include Still Cruisin' by the Beach Boys, Stuck in the Middle With You, Chains Hang Low (yes! I did!) and my fav of the day, the new Gwen Stefani song, Wind It Up. It samples the Goat/Marrionette/Yodeling song from Sound of Music!!!

2. Thursdays, because it's Grey's Anatomy night

3. Good hair days

4. Christmas parties- our work party is Sunday

Things I don't like:
1. Broken computer keyboards

2. Rain on a good hair day

3. knowing that it's going to snow tonight and I don't know where my window scraper is

Time for some quality time with the TV.