Andrea Unplugged

It’s Friday and you know what that means…(besides girls nights, sleeping in tomorrow, and not having to work for two days!)…it’s Top Five Friday. Today you get five random facts about me and my life.

1. I fractured my skull wake-boarding and had to get stitches, stay in neuro trama ICU for a night and then another night in a regular room. Normally not the athletic type.

2. Stuff like the following picture used to kinda piss me off but now makes me laugh and somewhat miss living in “the country”. I can barely trust my post office to actually deliver packages, and since I live in an apartment they definitely don’t “leave them at the door.” I almost wish for the days that when I ordered a package I knew it would get to my house and be waiting, rubber banded to the mailbox. (That’s so 1. the mail person doesn’t have to go to the door. 2. and so dogs and other animals don’t eat it before you get home.) How clever!

3. Lolcats makes me LOL and I find myself getting distracted for up to 20 minutes looking at the pictures and captions. And I’m not really a pet person. I even laugh at the website address icanhasacheezburger.com…It’s the little things.

4. I read Dear Abby every morning when I am checking my emails and reading my blogs. I also read Hints from Heloise too to see what the “hecklers” are going to say. The hecklers make sure to point out how obvious/bad some of Heloise’s hints are. For example one of today’s hints was this “I hated throwing away those large, plastic coffee cans, so I use them in the kitchen. Instead of going to the trash can every time I peel an onion or have something to dispose of, I line a can with a plastic bag from the produce department (another recycled item). When I’m done, I take the bag out, line with a fresh bag, and I’m ready for the next meal.” One of the hecklers commented “I have 4,782 of those plastic coffee cans and I couldn’t figure out what to do with them. The garage is full and I was thinking I might have to rent one of those private storage places. You have given me a use for them, thank you and thank God for Heloise, who else would spend time thinking up this crap.” Sometimes, the hecklers are pretty dang funny! You can find both Abby and Heloise’s columns here.

5. I graduated with my bachelors degree 5 years ago. Time sure has flown. And it’s nearly been 3 years since I finished my masters too. AND it’s almost time for my 10 year high school reunion. Sometimes I feel too young for any of it.

….so little time.

Ok, so I’m taking an afternoon break to check my emails and blogs and such, when I stumbled upon a few things.  As a little background info, I read a few money savings type blogs that tell you about freebies and specials at various places.  Well, I saw these two things in posts today that made me laugh.   Hope you enjoy.

1.  It is Wedgie Free Wednesday!!  That’s right ladies, in a crusade against wedgies, Hanes is sponsoring the giveaway of 500 pairs of No Ride Up Panties every week…on WEDNESDAY!  Click here to enter to win.

2.  Kum & Go “is recognized as the top rated c-store chain in the nation for delivering the ideal customer service experience.”  All I can say is TERRIBLE…and shake my head.     

I know I hyped this up so much, that you probably figured that I forgot about it. NO WAY! I certainly made sure to attend the Houston Art Car Parade this weekend while I was in Houston, and I had so much fun. Not that walking a mile from where we parked to get to the actual parade or standing in the hot sun with little shade was fun but there were so many interesting cars and people. When we first got there, my sister and I (Burt’s Bees addicts!) made sure that we found the Burt’s Bees Experience tent.

We thought we were going to get awesome goodies…we got seeds and baby wash.

The Starbucks booth was giving out free samples of iced coffee so I got some, for the ice!

The parade had officially started, but we decided to let it make it’s way back to our side of the street before we really started paying attention. While waiting, we saw this avid art car fan.

My mom said her bra size was probably “44 Long”. Poor thing.

I seriously took pictures of almost every car (there were 200+ cars)…even some that were sucky, because I didn’t want the people to see me taking pictures of other cooler cars, but not their car. Or sometimes I’d take a picture of cars with kids in them to make the kids feel special. I know, I’M SPECIAL! Anyhow, here are some highlights of the actual parade.

This big thing is “Our Lady of Transportation” and it was AWESOME…that’s why they won the top two highest awards in the parade.

Shattered Vanity, little mirrors neatly arranged all over the whole car.

Billy Basses and some lobsters that sang and danced in unison.

The Rocket was a political statement, complete with Satan, Dubya, and many other people complete with mini “rockets” protruding out of their “lower front waist areas.” The other pictures I have of the Rocket aren’t suitable for children’s eyes. Moving on.

The peacock’s feathers fanned up and down.

At some point, we saw this guy, with a spinner hubcap around his neck. It actually spun.

My dad LOVED the Land Yacht!

The chicken was pretty cool.

I do think it takes talent (in some cases A LOT of talent) and imagination. But to build an art car, I think you’ve also got to have commitment. From what I’ve read, some people get sponsorships to build their art cars, so I realize it could be a pretty big monetary commitment. However, you’ve also got to have the actual commitment to building or decorating and actual automobile with whatever you think is artistic.

Unfortunately, slapping a piece of plastic with some spray paint squiggles over your car does not constitute commitment since you can stop after the parade, ball up the plastic, and throw it away (or re-use it next year for those of you who are “going green”). I’m not impressed by your art car wannabe. Sorry guy!

Check out some of the other 2008 Art Car Parade entries at http://www.orangeshow.org/v2008/ and tell me… which ones do you like??

For today’s post, I was asked to share a favorite travel tip by Cherrye of My Bella Vita, and instantly I knew what my tip would be. Enjoy Travel Tip Tuesday!

Everyone who has traveled with me could tell you that I LOVE taking pictures. And thanks to the digital camera I can take plenty to make sure I get just the right shot I was hoping for. Even with up to 800 pictures on from a trip, inevitably, I sometimes don’t have the shot I was looking for, or the lighting was bad, or there were too many people. So I always make sure to buy post cards of the places I visit, not only to give to friends and family as souvenirs, but also so I have a great picture to add to my scrapbook in case mine didn’t turn out.

So, I leave you with a “postcard perfect” shot of the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City.

I was going to write about my great weekend at home with my mom and family, but am instead distracted by the undecipherable number of kids riding bikes and hollering with their 5ish baby daddies (who were all hanging around a car trunk, pretending to be boxing/fighting with each other when I got home…I’m not really sure what they were doing.) I did NOT notice them actually working on their car like another guy who was possibly doing a brake job (front wheel off, spraying some spray stuff…I dunno, not a car expert here) and 5ish baby mommas (who came back and LOUDLY announced that there was only “one girl working” at the place they went to get food from, that’s why it took so long) across the way from my apartment. This is also the same apartment that the Rent-a-Center truck comes to at least 3 times a week…that I know of. I am also 99% sure they are there to “pick up” (aka repossess) rented goods. Anyway, better post later.

Happy Mom’s Day!

I wish I had a camera with me at all times, and some greased-lightening, super-discreet camera taking abilities. I would totally have some awesome pictures including: “veggie weggie” dip (I get the rhyming but what a bad name) and a MAN wearing a short, white SUNDRESS and slingback kitten heels, scratching his bum (or maybe picking a “weggie”?) in a mall parking lot. Though I am pictureless this week, I present to you some great music to explore this coming weekend.

Top Five Songs that instantly put me in a happier mood!

Grace Kelly - Mika. I’m dancing in my seat RIGHT NOW listening to this one on my iTunes. He’s apparently a professionally trained singer, with an AWESOME falsetto.

Love and Memories - O.A.R. A great song, from a not so well known group. This song was one of the first (and maybe only) ones I ever heard from them on the radio. It’s upbeat without being too annoying.

When Did Your Heart Go Missing - Rooney. Another dance in your seat song.

Come on Eileen - Dexy’s Midnight Runners. OMG. I’ve always loved this song. And according to wikipedia “midnight running” is the high achieved from taking a recreational drug “dexy” that allows you to dance all night long.

It’s Raining Men - The Weather Girls. “Hi. We’re your weather girls, and have we got news for you.” This is a fun girl’s night song, even if you already have a man.

And since I sucked last week and had no list, you get a BONUS Top Five today!!!!!

BONUS!!!!! Top five songs for when I’m feeling low-key.

I Turn My Camera On - Spoon. This is almost too upbeat to be low-key, but not quite. It has a solid beat that makes you want to bob your head along to the song. Again, AWESOME falsetto. What’s it with me and falsettos??

Vultures - John Mayer. I HEART JOHN MAYER. Enough said.

Float On - Modest Mouse. Another one I kinda bob my head to the beat. Don’t laugh at me!

Black Rock - O.A.R. Black rock is a kind of introspective-ish song. There is an interesting mix of musical styles in this song, including a Jamaican kind of feel.

Soul Meets Body - Deathcab for Cutie. This song makes me feel like driving on the open road (not that I do that frequently) and something about the lead singer’s voice is almost mesmerizing.

What are your favorite “make you happy” and “low-key” songs? Happy Friday and Happy Weekend!

¡Ciao!  and welcome to a new (hopefully semi-regular feature) here at andreaunplugged.  When words elude me (which is pretty frequently), what a more appropriate way to entertain you than with a random photo .  I hope you enjoy.   

This one is from my Italy trip and was taken in Amalfi.  I don’t know if anyone was buying and we can only speculate if the product lives up to it’s claims. 

I ALWAYS get blogger’s block and can’t figure out what to write about. Then I look at pictures on my digital camera, and have tons of stuff to write about. Ok, not TONS but ENOUGH!

Anyway, I don’t know how I could forget about the day off I took a few weeks back. In my old job, even if I took a day or two off, I still had HUNDREDS of comp time hours left over. In fact, I “gave up” over 200 hours of (under the table)time that I worked outside my regular 40 hours a week when I left. Nonetheless, I’m much happier for “giving up” that time. And it has taught me to take off when I earn it. SOOOO….I took off a day a few weeks ago, and the boyfriend and I drove up north from here, just to get out of town. If I’m not mistaken, this is the same trip he told me my picture taking was out of control. I think the exact reason I was “out of control” was my desire to take a picture of the donut shop window advertising a “Chinese taco” (WTF is a Chinese taco?????)

We did see other beautiful sights including the Texas State Flower, the Bluebonnet…

The area downstream of the Sam Rayburn Reservoir….

And the Episcopal Christ Church of San Augustine, built in 1869…

Best of all, it was a WEEKDAY off of work. Nothing out of control about that!

In the words of the Carpenters:

Talking to myself and feeling old
Sometimes I’d like to quit
Nothing ever seems to fit
Hangin around, nothing to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

I’m not really all THAT down, just it’s a Monday AND it’s raining…so double whammy.  I’m taking a break from some data entry, eating a delicious crustless quiche that I made last night, jamming to the Ipod (being careful to switch it anytime some Eminem or any other bad song comes on..some songs are just not office appropriate, even at a university!)  The weekend was good…had an awesome girls night on Friday.  I LOVE GIRLS NIGHTS!!!!  We laughed so much, my stomach hurt the next day.  We also drank plenty of SUPER YUMMY sangria.  Check out the recipe here.   Saw “Made of Honor” with the boyfriend.  I thought it was really cute, even though I am a natural sucker for THOSE KIND of movies.  He thought it was ok, and is actually ok about seeing movies like that (he really liked “Mean Girls”).

Anyway…back to work.  Have a great week!

I don’t know what to write about today.  If you have any Top Five topics you want me to write about, feel free to give me some inspiration.  In the mean time, I leave you with a picture of me on a work trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  Happy Friday!