Florida Fun

This past week was spent down in Florida with my mom, aunt, and sister. We went everywhere in Orlando that was related to Disney; Epcot, MGM, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, my sister even did a ride-along in a Nascar-car at this speedway thing. The trip started off really sweet with the airport. We were scheduled on a direct flight from MSP to Orlando, and right before they announced people to board, they asked if anyone would volunteer to be bumped. My sister looked into this prospect and found out that we would each get a $300 voucher for the airline if we took a flight that would head to Memphis then to Orlando, getting us there 2 hours later. We had nothing planned for that day, so we went ahead and did that. I'll have to use it within a year, so I've been trying to figure out where to use the voucher for ever since.

The rest of the trip went well, we ended it in St. Petersburg and Tampa on the last 2 days, yesterday involving my sister and I parasailing 800 feet above the Gulf of Mexico. This is actually my favorite picture out of the whole trip. It's my mom and aunt taking off for their 600' parasail right before my sis and I went up:

So today I woke up to a 40 degree "warm" temperature for this region feeling especially depressed noticing that the last time I experienced salt, it was as the sea spray while on the boat on the Gulf of Mexico. Today I experienced salt in the form of it being stuck on my car, sprayed onto there by the streets of Wisconsin. Bummer. Oh well, it's back to the real world and real life, however that may be. For now, it means I have my first homework assignment of the new semester to do.

Adventures at a bridal expo

Today was the city's annual bridal expo, and boy was that an adventure. A couple of my bridesmaids and I ventured downtown to check things out. We got there in time for the noon fashion show, which included various local businesses' bridal-associated attire. After the false fire alarm halfway through the show, which left many of us paying more attention to the emergency exit options, things started getting interesting. The fashion show included the one place I've affectionately come to know as "the bitchy lady store." The store itself is a nice place, it just has one bad egg that ruins it for me. The first time I set foot into the little shop, the "bitchy lady" immediately said to me, "If you're not here to buy anything today, you're wasting your time," which really seemed to mean that we were wasting hers. Every time I went in after that, she treated me like she had something better to do and that I wasn't worth the effort. I ended up buying the same wedding dress elsewhere for cheaper, thus ruining the commission she would've made off my gown. I thought that was probably silent revenge enough; that was until she came walking across the fashion show stage. She was the last dress of the bridal section of the show, the grand finale if you will, and apparently she wanted to go for shock value. What she got was 300 brides-to-be and associated people laughing at her and whispering to each other during her entire strut through. She had on a blood red, scrunched long-trained skirt, strapless monstrosity that suited her well, considering she went for the demonic impression every time I met with her. On her head she wore a jeweled netting which invaded the entire top of her head, then regurgitated a veil out the back for the heck of it. Hee hee. Actually, I'll be lucky if I don't have nightmares about that tonight...
We then ventured on to the many vendors scattered around the convention center, and I learned just how on-the-ball a lot of brides are these days. Most people could plan a wedding in a year and get everything they wanted without a problem. Today I found out that if I don't act soon, I won't get my first choice of photographers. Keep in mind, I have a year and a half before the wedding rolls around. Times are definitely changing... I'm torn between two photographer groups. The pricing almost evens out to be equal, one is a husband/wife duo, and the other is one woman. I meet with the hubby/wife crew tomorrow morning to check out their stuff. There are so many questions, options, and so much money that gets considered between these two that my head is going to explode! I came out of that expo so overwhelmed, I can seriously almost say that I'm tired of wedding planning right now. Don't call the newspapers yet, I said almost.
I better get to bed so I can get everything done tomorrow that I need to before leaving for Florida this Wednesday. Yesterday I did my laundry, so I finally have socks again, and put my new flannel sheets that my sister got me for Christmas on my bed. They're Cinderella sheets. I always wanted Cinderella sheets, I just never thought I'd be 22 when I finally got them. Oh the joys of moving home to a twin sized bunk bed... I'm actually looking forward to sleeping in them; they're extremely soft, and I haven't gotten new sheets since I moved out to college, 4 1/2 years ago. Maybe they'll keep me from having nightmares about the bitchy lady in the red/netted abomination.

good vs. evil

So yesterday was a mixed kinda day.
It was great in the fact that I got to go to the cities with southerncanadian and M to look for bridesmaid dresses. We pretty much found it at Wedding Shoppe Inc. on Grand Ave. in St. Paul. It's a Bill Levkoff dress, under $150, and has detachable spaghetti straps so the girls can wear them for dancing and wandering around at the reception if they'd feel more comfy doing so. I had southerncanadian try on the bridesmaid dress I have posted below, and it looked gorgeous, but it was above the $150 ceiling I'd like to put on these things, and I'm not sure how the cris-cross boob thing would look on some of the girls. The bottom was not form fitted, that model is just standing dumb like I thought. Anyway, back to the current dress, the dress color will be an ice-blue, and the sash will be a darker blue.

Now for the bad part of yesterday. I got home and picked up the mail. What did I find? A thin letter from University of Minnesota. You guessed it, rejection letter number one. I got so pissed that I kicked a dent in the wall downstairs. Apparently because of that, I signed myself up to patch it and repaint that hallway. Woopee.
Not helping matters, my mother is now dating someone new and told me she wants to invite him to our family's Easter to introduce him to everyone. I told her straight up that this was an inappropriate time to do that, that if she wanted to introduce him, she should take him to Hudson out to dinner to meet her siblings that way. I then told her if she wanted to bring him to Easter after introducing him elsewhere, that would be fine. She apparently doesn't see a difference in this and considers me the selfish one in all of this.
I hate my life this week.

R.I.P. Stuey <><

Stuey
Stuey the goldfish, 2, of the new 10-gallon tank in my bedroom died today.
Funeral services were held in the adjacent bathroom toilet bowl at 4:00 pm this afternoon where he received an honorary burial at sea.
He was a happy little fish, always content with his surroundings, and was able to live in extreme conditions such as delayed bowl cleanings and whatever else dorm life dished out to him. He had recently moved out of his tiny 1-gallon mobile-bowl into a brand new 10-gallon tank, fully equipped with filter, bubbly thing, and light bulb. Cause of death is unknown, although those close to him think the luxourious lifestyle might have been just too much for the little guy to handle.

Poll the readers

Question of the day:

What is your new year's resolution?

new year

Happy new year! Okay so I'm a day late, but this is my blog so I can do whatever I want. Christmas ended up going a little bit better than the rant I made below, TJ's family was really nice about everything. I felt pretty bad about the gift-giving; TJ's parents ended up buying me at least $200 worth of stuff, including a $100 gift card to Younkers, and all I got them was a couple of candles that spell JOY when you set them next to each other. TJ hadn't gotten them anything yet by Christmas day, so on the 26th, we both pitched in for a $60 gift card for a really nice and ritzy-expensive restaurant called Biro. As soon as we handed it to his mom, she started bawling and said, very seriously, that we shouldn't have gotten them that, we should've saved our money. Blink Blink. She then informed us that her father, TJ's grampa, wasn't doing so well, that he might not last through the day. He passed away a couple hours later. TJ's parents went down to Florida for the funeral and left TJ and I to watch the house and dog.
So far all I've been doing is sitting on my butt watching movies and tv. I wanted to go for a run this morning, considering it's almost 40 degrees here, but it's now thunderstorming, pouring rain. So, once again, I'm sitting on the couch watching Unsolved Mysteries right now about hauntings. I'm glad that it's daytime while I'm watching this, TJ's house is old and really big, so my being alone in the basement makes me a little creeped out.
The most exciting thing that's happened around here lately was that one of my best friends and her fiance came up to ring in the new year. It was pretty fun.
I'm having trouble sleeping lately. I'm getting really nervous about dental schools now that it's January. Marquette told me they'd make a decision on me this month, after they receive my updated grades from this past semester. I got decent grades, and even managed to argue one of them up from a B+ to an A-, in a 4 credit class even, so I'm really starting to get nervously excited about things. I think it will help when I head home and get to go running again. I'm seriously considering the offer I got to be an aerobics instructor at one of the health clubs back home. I've already got my job at Olive Garden lined back up, so at least I know I'm set with making money one way or another back home. I'm really hoping I find out I'm in dental school before I start classes, so I can just work and make some money next semester.