The Blogger Sisters

Braun's good friend, Joe

2007-12-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

Holler-ween (per brett)

2007-10-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

To see the pics in all their glory, go to www.picasaweb.google.com/cossette11

What are we doing for halloween?

2007-10-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

Well summer is officially over...and I never made it to wisconsin dells. Although this past weekend was a great way to go out. Things around here have stayed relatively the same for me but have changed a lot for brett. He's now taking two classes at northwestern, a commercial acting class, a gre prep class, and still tends bar. He's busy busy busy. Me? Not so busy. I'm meeting with beets now (brett's ex-trainer) and started to read a book. It's called Shantaram and I think it's going to be a good one. Brett's sis, Tracy, came to visit a few weeks ago and I missed a lot of the hanging out due to my bout with tonsilitis. It was not pretty. But brett's sister is:

This is a pic of her in a seattle magazine. She's a couple years younger than me but I always feel like the little sister when I'm hanging out with her. She's very intelligent and opinionated...she's also almost 6ft tall, so that may have something to do with it too.

Anywho, I recently had my mid-year review and I can't believe i've been doing what i'm doing for so long. I certainly enjoy my job and the delicious perks that come along with it but watching everyone move forward with their lives (i.e. grad school) makes me a little uneasy and anxious....and jealous and worthless and confused and old etc etc. Hopefully time will tell. However, bonus time is coming up and I think i'm going to get a new computer with that.

Cooper sustained an injury about 2 weeks back and this was the result:

He managed to scrape off a pad on his paw. (I initially blamed Erich after all the rough housing they had done the night before. Sorry Erich). Eeeewwww is right. So this was how I cured him:

He didn't much care for the socks I made him wear but the pad has grown back.

We're approaching our year of being her in the city and we decided to resign a month-to-month at our current apt. The idea of moving sounds awful so we went the lazy route. I got my wish and don't have to move to Lincoln Park.

Quick funny story: Brett got a call for a print job for Time Out this past weekend. He never knows what the job is going to be like til he gets there so this was no different. Well when he shows up, he and this black guy that were going to be in the picture together find out that the picture is going to be for an editorial on homosexual public sex. Brett and the guy had to go into a bathroom stall with the door closed, face each other, and drop their pants while the photographer laid down on the floor to take pictures of the bottom half of their legs/crumpled pants/feet. Best part?? They may not even use the picture.

But here's a picture of us that was in this past issue of Chicago Social magazine. It's from Elite's 25th anniversary party they had at the Park West. We are such 'fucking scenesters,' as steph put it.

I've been phished..

2007-07-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

and no, not by some elaborate scheme via the telephone telling me someone is dead. Instead, they've gone for my myspace account!!! How lame is that. Very. What's even more annoying is that after changing my password, i have to type the text in a picture that isn't there. I keep refreshing and nothing happens. Great. So I can't unblock my account.

There are some really trashy assholes that live next door that are lighting off the lamest fireworks. They're just loud. Nothing else happens. So it's scaring the crap out of poor coopy. It's amazing the sort of white rural trash that live scattered about the city. There's this really classy bunch just down the block. They have bed sheets tacked up to block all their windows and a nice orange shopping cart locked up to their lightpost in front. When it's nice out they all come out of the house and set up shop with tons of plastic chairs. They're practically falling onto Augusta. One of the girls had a huge t-shirt on the other day that said, 'I'M IN THE MOOD.' they're always accompanied by about 5 babies in strollers, 2 overweight moms trying to get them to shut up and one scrawny guy with a sick mustache. When's it's super nice outside, they drag out a picnic table and a grill and completely take over the whole sidewalk. As you can see, i've been studying them for quite sometime now.

The 4th of July is upon us and I still can't believe how many people go to the taste. It is so gross. It's hot, crowded, expensive, and an overall waste of time. It's not like they bring in unique vendors/food that we can only take advantage of there. If i want some corn on the cob, i'm pretty sure i don't have to pay $5 for it while trying to eat it uncomfortably standing up while i get bumped by sweaty people and baby strollers. I haven't been in years and I'm that much happier no one has forced me to go back.

My mom's birthday was this past weekend so to celebrate, she chose to go canoeing. We took a pleasant ride down the Des Plaines and watched the wildlife. We saw some huge herons in their nests, and..well, that's all i saw. Brett saw a bull frog and a turtle. Who knew that dirty river had animals living in it.

Well, this has all been very boring...as has been my night. This post just reflects how little I have to do right now. Happy 4th. See you soon?

Just one of them days (that a girl goes through..)

2007-05-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

i spent my entire 8 hour work day re-doing everything the weekend office guy does.
got to the gym actually looking forward to running my ass off to rid myself of anxiety.
lock my keys in the car.
kelly keeps me company while we wait for robbie and his slim jim.
get a $50 'no rush hour parking' ticket while we wait.
robbie arrives and saves the day.
go with kelly to visit brett at work so he can take my worries away with tequila.

Hello friends

2007-05-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks for coming to my birthday party. I had a blast.

Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2007-05-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

This past sunday funday was one that will be tough to top. We started out by taking brett's friend and his gf to visit U of C. I hadn't been there for a while, so it was pretty nice to see it again. We followed that up with white castle and a visit to the dog park. The day was so nice, we knew it was one that couldn't be wasted, so we took advantage of it. Here are the pics:

Sunday Funday

Today's my birthday so the festivities have begun. Dinner at Japonais tonight, Lalo's tomorrow, birthday party on saturday and a flamenco show on sunday. Fun! God i love my birthday.

We would like to know how to prepare, so please email brett if you're interested in saturday.

Pics!

2007-04-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

Will's Bday and The People's Barcrawl

UpDATES!

2007-03-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since I last posted. I've got lots of pics but my computer sucks so i'm only going to post a few. Last few weeks? Well, a little bit back, we were at pip's and pip got really drunk.

Thanks for having us over, pip and james. Pip, good luck and keep in touch!

Then there was boomsma's bday. A good time was had by all (i think). Well, i had fun.

Kelly was full.

Had a camera war with steph and will. I won.

And munch hammed it up for the camera.

Then was gary's and dan's show at the Park West. It was great! Went to tuman's for a, once again, excellent dp. That place never disappoints (except for Nascar).

Looking good day came earlier than usual

having fun, ladieeees?

Oh no you di'n't

If you look closely, you can spot the b.d. that was absolutely in love with kelly that night. she's wearing the adidas jacket right behind steph's hand. i noticed her staring and said to her, 'would you like to know her name?' she replied, 'yes please. i'm too shy to ask.' She then proceeded to hold kelly's hand for what seemed like an eternity offering rides and handjobs when kelly was on her way out. classic.

On a very important aside, I have my first official interview (ever....sad) for a full time office manager position at a spanish restaurant that's part of the company I'm working for now. I would have the weekends off!!!!.....and no commute is a major deal. It seems like it's in the bag and i'm probably jinxing just talking about it now, but oh well. It's been in the works for about a week and I think that I'll know for sure after tomorrow's meeting. We might have to do some celebratory or depressed drinking sometime soon. I'll keep you guys in the know.

Remember when it was this warm? I can't wait.

Valentine's Day Drama

2007-02-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

And no, not with Brett and me (believe it or not). With us, it was nothin but love. Here's me setting the mood with some little tealights.

And since cooper can't take a picture of us both, here's a picture of just me.

We decided to go to the Peninsula Hotel to The Lobby restaurant. They had some live music which was kinda fun to watch the piano and cello player. Dinner was absolutely delicious and althought I'm not a chocolate fan, the 'chocolate bar' was pretty impressive.

But now here's where the drama came in. While brett and i were finishing off coffee/dessert, i noticed this girl putting on her coat at a table behind brett in quite a huff. Not until it was too late, did i realize she was staring right at me. After tying her coat much too roughly, she flicked me off then stomped away!! I was in shock for a moment then when she started to walk away at a brisk pace, I just got up and went after her. (on a side note, i was far from intoxicated. i opted out of the usual martini before the bottle of wine and had taken it easy on the wine...I had a clear mind going). She knew i was on her tail so she whirled around and it went like this:

me: "was that directed at me?"
girl: "yeah, my husband has been staring at you this whole time! you guys need to figure something out (pointing at me and her random husband that came out of the wood work with this perplexed look on his face).
husband to wife: "are you serious?"
me: "obviously your problem is with your husband and not me."
girl: "you're right...and maybe you should pay more attention to the person sitting across from you."
me: "actually, i'm in love with the person sitting across from me and you need to fix your horrible relationship so that you don't do these things in public again....because it's really embarrassing."

She proceeded to turn around and pound the elevator button.

I WIN!...and I didn't have to hit anyone. It was awesome.

Xmass

2006-12-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

My xmas present from brett!

Sweater Party

2006-12-28T15:42:00.000-08:00

Helloooooooo

2006-12-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

So we're finally back in Chicago. It's been a heck of a couple weeks. Things with the trip didn't go quite as planned. There was a death in the family that we weren't expecting at all. It might sound weird, but it was kinda fun sleeping at the hospital several nights and bonding with the fam. Anyway, that kept me here for the first week I was supposed to be in Tahiti with brett and his family. So all in all, my 2 weeks in paradise was more like 6 days. The first day I got there, it was pouring rain and we almost sunk the dinghy. There were 7 of us in it and by the time we got back to the boat, we were waist deep in water. It was a little scary but brett remained cool as a cucumber insisting the boat wouldn't completely go underwater. As the rain continued, brett said, "ya know. this IS the start of the rainy season. It could just stay like this the rest of the time we're here." Great. So the next day when it was sunny, i fried myself just in case it was the only day i'd have with sun. Well it wasn't and now i'm a peeling freak. So in a nutshell, there were 11 of us on the boat, we sailed, snorkeled (with sharks one day!), ate a TON, drank and laid around. It was short but sweet.
So it's back to the grind. Oddly enough, i wasn't dreading coming back to work at all. I thought that was a good sign. Brett's going full speed trying to find some work..he's checking out bartending, temp agencies, and maybe do some modeling. Who knows. I recently found out that he had been signed for a GQ underwear ad but he couldn't do it because he already had tickets to go to stupid asia! Hopefully he'll start making some money. Here's a couple more pics from the trip.

We bought this tuna when we went into town in Bora Bora. His step-mom's sister is an amazing cook so she put this bad boy to good use.

Brett and his cousin, Carson, rolled these guys up

Our vessel

The Group

Have a Good One

2006-11-23T00:21:00.000-08:00

I tried to make everyone go around and say what they're thankful for when we were all together for a pre-thanksgiving dinner but most everyone chose to say something "funny." Maybe in a couple more years we can be "serious" and still know that we're just as funny and loveable. Anyway, I'm thankful for lots of things. I'm mostly thankful for my mom and all she's given me and my little sis. My family has come upon some really hard times lately and though all of you scoff, having some faith has gotten us through. We've got a long way to go, but i pray things get better. I'm also thankful for Brett. He's been a serious part of things for the last two years, and who knows what (or where) i'd be doing (and living) if i never met the guy. South America? Doubt it. Finally, I'm thankful for all you jerks. I'm happy that although i have a not so great job, I live here in the mix of all of this and you and am able to drop by/have you drop by at random and laugh and drink and be merry. I hope you all have a great holiday with family/friends/etc. and see you for the sweater party in december (my first! yeah!).

Labor Day

2006-11-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pics I forgot to post that I find amusing. Kb, Gary, Brett and I spent labor day drinking margaritas and watching SVU in the hottub.

Thanksgiving dinner w/ friends

2006-11-20T21:09:00.000-08:00

Carving

2006-11-20T21:08:00.000-08:00

2006-11-20T21:07:00.000-08:00

Eating

2006-11-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

The End

2006-11-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

Long Overdue Halloween '06 Pics

2006-11-13T11:44:00.000-08:00

More..

2006-11-13T11:40:00.000-08:00

And Some More..

2006-11-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

A Few Last Pics

2006-11-13T11:32:00.000-08:00

Napper

City Slickers

2006-11-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

So the move was a success. The week's been a blur...what with the setting up, moving, working, and tons of drinking. I now realize how living so close to friends can have you drinking any day of the week. Funny because the only two nights I didn't do anything was on friday on saturday. Friday night, my fam came over to check the place out and saturday night we had a birthday party for my aunt's 30th. Sunday night Simpsons and Family Guy didn't disappoint. Although, American Dad was surprisingly funny. JK came over with the group and he inspired us to play some drinking games. Monday, day off and am I glad it was. I really needed a recovery day and how steph was able to take JK to the airport at 4 in the morning is beyond my comprehension. Although I still haven't heard from steph. Are you alive? Brett and i went shopping for some groceries at Aldi and i know what you're thinking, 'aldi's gross' & 'that food wasn't meant to be eaten,' but I must say they have some normal stuff and it's dirt cheap! I highly suggest you go and check it out. We spent $130 there and I'm pretty sure that must've been a record breaker for that place. All the bottles of wine we bought were under 5 bucks and they even had cute lables. Anyway, i'm waiting for the comcast guy because of course, when he came yesterday, 2 out of the 3 things he had to install didn't quite go smoothly. So he has to come back, give us a new dvr box and install our phone. How was everyone else's weekend?

2006-11-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to those that responded to my last post. Much appreciated. But i do like steph, kelly, gary, jp, & rudy. To be honest, JP & Rudy saved our lives. I love you.

Does ANYONE have the day off tomorrow?

2006-10-31T08:42:00.000-08:00

I don't see why you would but I thought I'd give it a try. We're moving tomorrow so I took the day off..which means during the day moving. The only thing we're going to have a really hard time with is the couch. I'm pretty sure Brett and I can move everything else. It'll only take a lot longer than if we had other people with us but whatever. No biggie. As stated in my bulletin post on myspace, i invite you all to come over, when you are available, and help us build our furniture. Booze and snacks provided. Give me a call. PLEASE???

Thanks to Will/Ben/Erich for hosting the party on Saturday. It was a good time, boys.

2006-10-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I'm taking cooper for a walk and enjoying the crisp, fall day. After rounding the corner of the church by my house, I see this 75 year-old lady complete with coke bottle glasses and her dog. It was a medium-sized dog like cooper and so figured they'd do a little butt sniffing. So I say, "Cooper, look!" He sees him and gets excited and started walking toward them with his extendo leash. The old lady looks completely horror-stricken and grabs her leash tighter and says, "Oh god. Please no!" So i pull Cooper back and start to walk away while give her the evil eye. Her dog starts to go nuts and viciously bark at Coops. Then she says, "Stupid." Oh man did that make me mad. So I say, "Who's stupid? Maybe you should train your dog.....bitch." And that was my encounter with the old hag. Seriously, why do people have to be so weird?

Brett got back yesterday from his weekend away galavanting with friends on the east coast. They went to a nationally recognized crew race (fags) and just had your classic new england time. Picked him up yesterday, argued, then went to a thrift store. Bought several items for about $12 (everything is 50% off) and came home to get ready for dinner. One of my managers suggested a lettuce restaurant downtown called Osteria Via Stato. The restaurant has the sort've wine cellar feel to it, lit by candlelight. You can order dishes a la carte but what they're known for is their Italian Dinner Party. Basically they stuff you with antipasti, pasta, and a main course. You like something a lot, they give you more. My main course was their short rib and brett got the lamb chops. And for $15 more, you can select the Just Bring Me Wine where they bring you 3 different (full) glasses of wine to pair with each course. IT WAS SO GOOD. For dessert, their manager came over and gave us roasted almonds with sugared orange peel to eat with a smashed chocolate bar. So I highly recommend this spot if you're in the mood to stuff your face, & drink some wine in a cozy setting. When I was working at Kenny's this drunk who kept ordering captain and coke doubles said, "Ya know, I'm kind've anti-Lettuce. They drive out mom and pop places." And to that told him to shut up and that the company was started by 2 guys that put all their money into R.J Grunts, busted their butts, and became very successful. So to all 'mom & pops,' quit being so lazy.

I'm really excited for this weekend. Even though I have to work both Saturday and Sunday mornings, I'm going to suck it up and go out as if i don't have to. I wish I could do critical mass on friday but hauling 2 bikes downtown sounds like a major hassle....besides the fact that the only bikes we have are that shitty mountain bike i had down at u of i and brett's triathlon bike that's not too conducive for leisurely riding and drinking. Saturday, we'll be taking the train downtown and I'm going to have Moni pick us up. Hey, she's grounded and it will be the highlight of her night. Will, you guys should totally get a keg. Can't wait to see everyone's costumes! Later bitches

If only you could actually hear this...

2006-10-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to have received this voicemail on Friday night from a one Erich Sprague:

"Hiiiiiii Rubyyy. Have you seen the weather lately? It is beautiful. This is beautiful weather. Ya know, this is chicago. Cannot sweat in this. Pretty nice, ya know? Kinda warm during the day. Kinda cold during the night. Ya got good friends, got good tunes, got good tv...and then it gets colder and colder but then it gets a little bit warmer and warmer and warmer and then suddenly you're back in the groove. And so i say let's bridge that gap let's bridge that trough. Let's try and groove it all the way until march. Tonight will be the start. We'll say uh october 20th to march 20th. Start in of a wild ride. Called the parabola. The parabola of uh um uh uh alright just call me bye."

You know what really grinds my gears?

2006-10-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

Sweaters. They're perfect for this weather. So warm. So cozy. But the second you walk into your house, work, car, etc., you're sweating your ass off. So you have to peel it off but the damage is done. Your armpits, above the lip, forehead, everything..hot and sweaty. And that, my friends, is what really grinds my gears.

KB and I committed assault

2006-10-02T12:54:00.001-07:00

The night in Madison lived up to all expectations. Perhaps, surpassed? M. Barry reserved us a suite for next to nothing by asking for the corporate rate since we worked for American Family Insurance. Drank extreme sparks and golden girls by the hottub and scared off a couple that didn't say a word to each other. Kelly and I (somehow) gave brett a swirly. We successfully got ourselves kicked out of the only bar we went to. Steph yelled at the bartender, "..but i bought TWO rounds of shots from you!" Brett defended my honor and boys were actually scared of him. Kelly punched a coed in the jaw. He acted hurt. "Oh that didn't hurt," I say. So i slapped him upside the head. JP took his shirt off at any opportune moment and peed in the hallway of an apartment party. Will, well, you have to ask him. Coeds love will.

Tuesday morning nonsense

2006-09-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

So I'm going a little crazy. I'm on day 12 of working with no end in sight. Having 2 jobs blows but the money is so good at the bar, it's hard to let go! But come October I won't be scheduled and I'm gonna be the "on-call" person...which translates to me never working there again. Oh well. It was a good 2 month run. This past weekend was rather uneventful. I finished working on Friday at 6 and didn't have to work again til 3 on Saturday so I decided it would be my night to go out. I decided to do it "right." That means I got so drunk that I felt horrible all day on Saturday. Jen gave me a call and invited Brett and me to go to a club called Reserve to celebrate a friend's birthday. No booth and free bottles like last time but fun nonetheless, and the dj was awesome. For me, when i'm hungover, junk food and soda is the best remedy. Well, I stopped drinking soda on July 1st but had to have one on saturday morning and it was sooo good. I also made Brett stop at Long John Silver on the way home too. Make fun all you want, but have you tried it? It's delicious. So I felt horrible on Saturday and drank too much wine on sunday at home. That's about it. So who's gonna help us move? I know it's premature but if anyone's like me, you might need to get mentally prepared because i WILL need your help!

This weather is killing me

2006-09-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

Ruby here. Well, of course you probably knew that since quimby doesn't post. A couple of new things going on.

I got a job! I've joined the world of full-timers and benefit receivers and I'm excited. I'm working for a fancy restaurant as their part-time maitre'd and with the event planner. The commute kinda sucks but I'm used to commuting so it's no biggy. I've started training and things are going well. I was able to get the job so easily because I used to work for the GM's wife. The pay isn't bad but i'm going to keep bartending for as long as I can juggle both.

We signed a lease for an apartment! It's near Damen and Augusta..right across the street from Ola's. It's a nice rehabbed 2 bdrm with a private back deck and finished roof top deck...deck deck deck. Official move-in date is November 1st but the guy that lives there now is looking so it could be as early as October 1st.

That brings me to this past weekend. I wanted to celebrate and have a heck of a time but I was informed that the fun had been had on Friday and people were feeling more of a chill night. Great. Why do i always miss out on the fun? So i complained a bit and tried to rally the group but it wasn't happening. We went to steph's and thanks to a 30 of pbr, beam and some vodka, things got a little crazy. Lots of nakedness. Steph, don't post those pics. I love how no one said anything to kelly when she was like, "don't worry guys. Everyone looks small next to erich." I don't think anyone was really worrying. Hilarious.

Hi Guys!

2006-08-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

2006-08-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

2006-08-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

Why does Blogger hate me?

2006-08-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

So of course you can't enlarge any of the pictures that I uploaded using Blogger. Why? I burned this pics to a cd then used it to upload the pics. What went wrong? And of course this happens the one time I have the pictures displayed 'small' instead of 'medium.' I hate myself.

Weekend at Gubba's: Night 1

2006-08-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

I managed to take over 200 pictures that weekend. Here's a sampler:

Tommy's tommy-gun purchase filled with "Chicago" vodka

Poor Lulu

Hey laaadieees

Weekend at Gubba's: Day 2

2006-08-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is when the peeing started: Poor Jen

The upside-down pee attempt: failed..So Erich just peed himself laying down

Will's definitely peeing himself right now

Still didn't work

I recommend..

2006-07-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

..all you guys stop being such faggots and blog more. Steph, put up some pics from our ggwild night

Sad but true

2006-07-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

I'm going to bartend. Now as we've learned from previous mistakes, I can't exactly say where. Let me just say it's in the 'burbs and I'm not proud of it. I was there a couple days ago with my friend, Justin, and jokingly asked if they wanted me to bartend. Next thing you know, I'm in the head scheduling manager's office talking about my availability. While it's embarrassing and it may come off to those I see at the bar that I'm a loser, I need some serious cash fast. My goal? Move out of my house. Hopefully it's decent money and I won't have to be there too long. We'll see what happens. As my wise old friend advised, do it but don't let it deter you from looking for a "real" job. Now if I only knew what that was, I could start looking.

Confessions of a Drunken Guatemalen

2006-04-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

So Brett and I went out for the first time in BA to a "pub" called Shamrock. In two guides, they described it as a "true irish pub" since it´s owner is from Ireland. Well, there was nothing irish about this place that played music from counting crows to clubby hits. Downstairs hid The Basement Club. It had a totally different atmosphere and was what it promised, a club. Anyway, buenos aires is notorious for it´s late night starts so we headed out around 1am. There was a line but it moved quickly and had the pleasure of paying a cover charge of 25 pesos for the two of us. They did include some drinks so it wasn´t so bad. We stayed for a couple of hours and about 4 drinks later (each) headed back to the apartment. 4 drink you say? That´s nothin! Don´t I know it, but somehow we were drunk and next thing you know, we were fighting. I jokingly made fun of brett and that was it. He was slinging back swears like you wouldn´t believe and I wasn´t taking it. He even called me the "b" word! It was that serious. I told him that I wished I wasn´t here with him and that I wished I was here with someone else. Oops. I followed that puppy up with saying that I was going to book a ticket back home tomorrow to which he most definitely supported. Ha ha...ahh, good ol´drunken drama. Well, that fighting quickly got upstaged by my puking so that was the end of that. Again, 4 drinks? I must´ve been rufied. Anyway, tango lessons at 1pm the next day were a treat. Oh yeah, we´re taking tango lessons. Pretty sweet, eh? We look far from natural while clumsily learning the steps but our goal is to be able to dance to one complete song. We´ll see how many lessons that takes.

Chicago Pics

2006-03-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

Ruby here again. Here are pics from a few nights when i was in town. I spent too much time on this so look at it and love it.

Cindy didnt like these pics much but im putting them up since she doesnt blog with us

A little before-and-after action

Steph and JPs place

Wills furious because maura's happy
Jeff looks special
The ol solar plexus shot

I ripped schneiders coat while drunkenly begging him to stay
The evening ended with steph and me just singing to each other (and jp)

NEW YEARS (rainbo and robbies)

this is a great picture

ah..hofmann

hilarious

My House

Lava Lounge

Pathetic

2006-02-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

This is ruby. im posting on the blogger sisters because bretts family/friends have the address to our blog and im here to vent. im sitting in an internet cafe around midnight in Jericoacoara. im here because brett and i are fighting. heres what went down. we're with hugh, our australian friend that hasnt left our side since we got here on saturday, and we're at our friendly bar guys drink cart on the beach. we get a drink and start to head to a restaurant for dinner. the guys decide they dont like theyre drink and start complaining and complaining. they say its not very sweet, tastes like soap, etc etc. mine is great because i cant taste what theyre talking aobut since mine has pineapple. so we get to the restaurant and decide their drink isnt drinkable and want to go back and ask the guy for a new drink. mind you, the drink costs less than $1.50 US! are you kidding? the poor guys even topped us all off with more vodka. youre really going to go back and complain? ridiculous. so i say, fine, im fine with sitting at the table alone waiting for you guys to come back. at least 20 minutes pass and ive watched new tables come in, get their food, and finish up and theyre not back yet. i was getting pissed. they finally get back and i say, you guys were gone forever. hugh says something nice to make amends because he can tell im pissed. well, for brett, there goes the night. according to him, i was so unbelievably rude, he doesnt know what to say to poor hugh....despite the fact that he was the one pissed about a day ago that hugh wouldnt leave us alone and i was the one to say, oh cmon. we'll be alone soon. relax
well, now im the bad guy here pissed that they left at the table so long and later on brett says, you were so rude. i cant believe you said that you waited so long for us to get back. thats rude? give me a break. werent you the one a day ago talking shit about the guy and now youre worried about me being so rude? sorry. guess im not worrried about being honest in front of the person rather than talking shit behind their back. aaaarrrrghh. so annoyed

I'm leaving on a jet plane.........

2006-01-13T17:45:00.000-08:00

....if I don’t get too wasted in the airport bar.

I am in a Starbucks in Reno (if I had a camera phone I would take a picture and post it and you would say, “Hey that looks a lot like the Starbucks I go to”). It is my last weekend with Mikey before he goes to Washington DC, Boston (you win this round Tommy), and then Europe.

At around midnight last night, however, I wasn’t even sure I was going to make it here. My flight was supposed to leave LAX at 9:30 p.m. and the weather was great in Reno so I cruised into the airport a cool hour ahead of time. I got to the terminal and noticed people lounging here and there with cheap grey airport blankets all over them.
“Suckers!” I thought, prancing over to Gate 39. I kept hearing bits of sentences like, “horribly delayed,” “a missing part”, “sorry mam.”

Of course you know the outcome — it was in fact the plane to Reno delayed three and a half hours because King Kong had accidentely sat brown eye down on it in the shower after Californiacating with Naomi Watts. Apparently Alaska airlines only runs one plane back and forth between LAX and Reno and the surgical extraction was going to take hours and maybe even longer if the t-rexes and Adriane Brody showed up to remind Kong that white women don’t date black monkeys.

Fortunately I was talking to George and he had a plan of action. Plan B, if you will, involved the airport bar, a jumbo Ketel-One martini, and some drunken conversation about the meaning of the universe.

Hours passed. Another martini and two beers later my phone finally ran out of batteries. I was left with only a small group of 20-somethings at the bar to amuse myself.

Homeboy, as he kept calling himself, was a bearded man going to Mexico. He was sitting at my right. To my left was a really nice pudgy girl who was going to Minnesota, and sitting at the table behind me was a 29-year-old guy who lives in Hermosa and was going to Reno for his best friend’s wedding.

We all started talking and drinking more and committing federal crimes like leaving all our possessions with each other when we went to the bathroom. It was great, but gradually people started to leave until it was only me and the guy from Hermosa. He looked at his watch and said, “Hey we better go.” It was 12:15 a.m. and when we emerged from the bar nobody was there. No one was at Gate 39. We turned around, panicked, and then all of a sudden some guy appeared and said, “I’ve been looking for you two, we’re holding the plane.”

It was hilarious. We drunkenly stumbled onto the plane minutes before take-off and everyone in the plane just scowled at us. Two people in the front row asked me how the bar was. I said, “Great. How was King Kong’s ass?”

What??? Sorry guys this is the longest most pointless post ever but I am waiting for Mikey to get off work and I have nothing else to do. Long story longer I made it to Reno at 2 a.m., just in time to fall asleep, wake up, and go to a Starbucks where I now spend all my time apparently.

Late Retraction

2006-01-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

I know there's no point in posting this but i was wrong when i said that i wanted to go to Sangria. The place i'm thinking of is called Salud and it's a tequila bar on milwaukee.

Kum & Go

2006-01-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

I know i'm always saying, "hey, i'm going to be in town so we should..." and "hey, i'm leaving soon so we should..." and right now is no different. I'm leaving on friday and not doing anything on thursday so, hey, i'm going to be in the big shitty on wednesday night so we should:
go to sangria and have one nice drink then
go to lava lounge and have some three floyds gumball beer. it's delicious.

Won't you join me? kelly and steph, you guys obviously have to due to bfffffff status so i'll call you tomorrow to make plans. everyone else, hope to see you tomorrow. i'll post pics soon

My first friend in Manhattan Beach

2006-01-10T00:51:00.000-08:00

Well move over darkness! here comes the light (a very bright white freckly light).

Small worlds are never a good thing. They consist of teacups twirling around and little creepy children singing (am i right you amusement park freaks?) and midgets that shit all over themselves. Maybe I've mixed things up a bit here.

Anyway I went to starbucks tonight with hours of work to do because it is the latest open coffee place in Manhattan Beach. So I am sitting in starbucks along the wall writing about a lame ass trolley sevice and i can tell the guy next to me is looking at me so i turn to him and say "what." This was mistake number one. All of a sudden this greasy beach bum lookin guy is talking about his life as a jewelery and belt buckle (terrible spelling will follow so get prepared) maker for the stars. Apparently he was in an apartment with Ronnie Wood at one point and gave his wife and daughters little crosses which they paid him $4000 for. Then there was his stint with Chris Martin, Gwenyth and Apple--he was their nanny--just kidding, more crosses and jewlery and belt buckles. He was a nutjob but an oddly familiar nutjob I couldn't quite place him and then it dawned on me.

Tommy, do you remember when you, Mikey, and I went to that bar on sunset, or somewhere near there, before we saw Julia Sweeney's standup, and that guy that came over who couldn't seem to get into the Billy Idol concert next to the bar even though he had made him belt buckles or designed a t-shirt for him or something. Well it was the same crazy guy. A year had only made him crazier. I turned back to my computer to start working or at least appear like I was working and he continued talking. Apparently his parents had made it big in real estate and he could have been a millionaire but instead became an artist and he was good he was damned good but then some evil uncle took away all his money away and now at 39 he only has a mustang convertable, utility bills to pay, and some issues with anti-semitism (he is jewish so its more like self-loathing). He continued on this insane rant until his mother called and his attentions were directed at her.

"Ma I told you I didn't go to the rabi today"
"Yeah I'm at starbucks"
"Yeah i'm hanging out with my friend"
"She writes for the Easy Reader"
"Yes I have friends"
"I fucking told you Ma! I'm not goign to the fucking rabi!"

Everyone was scowling in our direction. Me and my new friend the semi retarded belt buckle maker were now a we in the eyes of the late night starbucks crew and I have to say in times like these, when all your friends--that is the two friends I ever had in Manhattan Beach-- are gone, you take what you can get.
I miss you all.

Come one Come all

2006-01-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

Come to my house tomorrow night. Random gathering at my house is now Munchoff's birthday party. Bring booze. I'm not as rich as i used to be....well, i will be as soon as i get my deposit back.

wow, it's like this thing knows me

2006-01-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

In the year 2006 I resolve to:
Start smuggling contraband in baby diapers.

Get your resolution here

Won't you come over and hang out?

2006-01-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

May i tempt you with booze and a hot tub?

Well, seems like my days of blogging are becoming more and more inconsistent. Now that i'm home and seeing everyone, i feel like there's no need, really. A friend from california so kindly reminded me to keep blogging, so here i am. Like steph said though, my posts suck. Thanks steph. Fake blood isn't that good either. Not having a job and any money is starting to wear on me. I'm so freaking bored! Being shunned from the group because of a past relationship doesn't help either. So here i am in my house alone with coops and my sister (whose social life is much more active than mine). I'm not a reader so that doesn't help although brett and cindy got me books to get me into the swing of things. Brett got me The Magus by John Fowles. He did his senior thesis on him and loves his writing. Cindy got me The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff for xmas (along with the Trapped in the Closet..chapters 1-12 dvd and it's awesome!). It's a book of short stories and those i'm better with. Let's see how long that takes me. I'd have to say that being alone has had some perks. Mainly, i've hung out with my family a lot. Even though my parents and grandparents are gone, i have aunts and cousins and over the last few days, i've just vegged at their houses. All i did yesterday and today was eat delicious meals, watch movies, and play games. Good stuff.

New years was a good time. Ben's apartment, Rainbo, and robbie's party. We had a pretty sweet dance party and it reminded me of good ol' times. i don't think i had one d.p in california. not one. It felt good to scream and jump up and down like an idiot. Unfortunately, without a stupid usb cord for my camera, i can't post any pics. Having half your belongings in illinois and the other half in arizona is not very convenient. Saying bye to cindy on new years was sad! it's weird that i'm not going to see my girlfriend for so long. We decided we'd keep this same blog and while i'm gone, she'll take over. yeah right you say? well, hopefully, she'll prove us wrong.

Similar to yishai translating shifts at work to how he spends the money, i'm thinking like hugh grant in About a Boy for the rest of the week. When i go to sleep, i'll slot about 10-11 hours of sleeping and see where that'll put me in the day. Then eating breakfast while watching a half hour episode of something on tv. Monica got me a 50 minute massage and follow it up with walking around the mall so that'll be my afternoon. Maybe some more food and by that time it's later and friends will call me to hang out? Ahh, one day complete. I don't know how people can remain unemployed for an extended period of time. Not that i'm trying to sound like some elitist or something because i hate working, but i think i'd go nuts. At least i have some returns at the mall to make, errands like the post office, and laundry to do. can't go crazy with days filled with things like that.

Goodbye Cali

2005-12-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

Alright so the time has arrived. Tonight's my last night in manhattan beach. I've had a good run but it's time for a change. This last week has been pretty crazy..lots of, "man, this is the last time that i'm gonna..." Stuff like that. Tonight's the last night i'm going to get drunk at hennessey's and the last time that i order a pizza from pedone's and it was our last lunch at dragon, etc. etc. Last night we went to an l.a. kings game. it was very fun. i gorged on hotdogs, mcdonald's, booze, and watched a sweet hockey game (even though they lost.) Our friend hillary had a going away party for us last friday and it was ridiculous. it was the first time i was still holding a drink in my hand as the sun rose and doing shots at a bar at 10am. very fun. the party was equipped with it all: good friends, good tunes, and keg stands. It was hilarious. We had our local mailman, DEA agent, hennessey's regular, and others in attendance. I obviously won't go into other detail since none of you know who i'm talking about. So the main point of this post is i'm leaving tomorrow and won't be able to blog/email/myspace for about a week. yes, i myspace. Farewell peoples and see you in chicago.

Rambler

2005-12-09T03:13:00.000-08:00

Went to a wine dinner last night. had a martini and 6 tastings/glasses of wine. at the end of the night, sitting on a stool, brett yanks me off it while feverishly patting my hair. turns out, my hair was in a candle and a larger flame developed. the place smelled like shit/burnt hair. my hair still smells nasty (because i haven't washed it yet, obvious). glad i'm not bald.

sad i'm missing, yet again, another sweater party/december baby parties.

"Koreans love break-dancing"

2005-12-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

A truer thing has never been said. i ended up going to the de la soul concert at ucla. for the last song, they invited the ladies to get up on stage with them. the majority of them getting down were asians. they loved it. they played in an auditorium very much similar to foellinger. it was a good show and i probably would've enjoyed it more if i had known more than two songs. before the show, we were at a friend's apartment drinking before the show. tyler comes strutting in with this brown lunch sack full of pot. a few weeks ago, his boss told him the name of this guys who prescribes weed to just about everyone. after faking a headache, tyler can now legally smoke weed. i couldn't believe how easy it was. he had all these baggies labeled nicely, a vial of this powder stuff that you sprinkle on your weed so you can get higher, and a joint that they rolled for him at the 'pharmacy' on his way out. isn't that crazy? personally, i won't believe it's legal til he blows smoke in a cop's face and they don't arrest him.

Late-night ramblings

2005-12-02T02:23:00.000-08:00

i'm slightly intoxicated. no ifs, ands, or buts about it. tonight was, as my boss turned friend puts it, thirsty thursday. yeah that's right. thirsty thursday. were we working hard?..or hardly working? who knows. tonight was a very slow night at the D's. i only made $84. sadness. my days here in manhattan beach are counted. i'll be leaving in 15 days. personally, i haven't been thinking so much about the trip lately. it doesn't really feel like it's happening. i remember before i left for spain, it didn't feel like i was actually going to be living in another country until my fake dad and brother picked me up from the airport and i got left in my fake bedroom all alone. i worried more about my too-short haircut on the airplane ride out there. i'm more thinking about going home. i can't wait. i can't wait to be with my family and my cooper. it's going to be sick. i'm going to walk that dog everyday. my mom says that his back legs hardly work because he's so fat and no one walks him. let's hope she's exaggerating a lot. anyway, i'm trying to squeeze things in before we leave. we're going to an l.a. kings game next week. that should be fun. i've never been to a hocky game before. so, when i say i'm trying to squeeze things in before we leave, i mean we're going to a hockey game. that's all i have planned. well, we're also going to a de la soul concert tomorrow but that's kinda against my will. i really have no interest, to be honest. i'm sure it'll be a good time though. ok, it's time to go to sleep. i miss you guys and can't wait to hang out again! i sound like i'm not going to talk to you guys for a while but i will. umm...why did i mention that? ok, bye

Enough is enough

2005-11-20T13:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, i think i have to stop blogging in the wee hours of the morning after heavy drinking. I sound like an idiot.

Brett went to seattle for the weekend. I've had lots of ruby time...which translates to, i have no friends and i've had to be alone by default. It actually hasn't been too bad though. yesterday was really the only day that there was absolutely no one around. I went to the beach to lay out for a little while then came back to the apartment to get ready for some co-workers party. Well, i had no one to go with so i watched mystic river and five simpsons episodes. I didn't end up going out until 11 because that's when my friend/boss got off of work. To make a long, boring story short, i got wasted and had a great night. At some point, i was putting my friends, bridgette and nicole, in headlocks. I don't know why
weird, huh? on an unnecessary note, i wore heels last night for the first time in forever and my whole lower body aches.

I can't even remember what my last, lost post was really about. I went to vegas last friday night to meet my cousins, cindy and omar. We stayed at the mandalay bay with them and it was sick. here's the view from the window:
ihad been to vegas just one time before, but i had forgotten how ridiculously over-the-top it is. I mean, these were just the pools for our hotel. it had a wave pool and a lazy river! I know, no big deal. everyone's been to vegas, but i was still very impressed with everything. my new favorite casino game is roulette. although, i lost $32, omar lost a lot more, but brett won $78. how exciting. we also went to this really cool aquarium exhibit that was in our hotel. that was about it. pretty uneventful but fun, nonetheless. oh, i also couldn't believe how many grown-ass adults still get married in vegas. i found it very sad. whatever. to each his own, i guess.

we got our travel immunizations a few days ago. i had to get four shots which really sucked: hep A, typhoid, yellow fever, and tetanus. We also have to take malaria pills but we can get those there. One of the pills is an antibiotic and the side effects are ridiculous....like vomiting, hair loss, seizures, vivid nightmares, psychotic events, etc. who would choose that pill? anyway, $295 later, i now can play with rusty nails and natives in the middle of the amazon and be protected.

When the cat's away...

2005-11-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

...

i hate myself

2005-11-18T02:55:00.000-08:00

I JUST WROTE THE LONGEST POST AND WHEN I TRIED TO SELECT THE TEXT TO COPY IT (SO THAT I WOULDN'T LOSE IT), IT ERASED. I WANT TO SCREAM

Halloween Dos (Dos Dos..Accidentes?)

2005-11-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

A Toddler Halloween

2005-10-31T12:53:00.000-08:00

last week..

2005-10-28T02:58:00.000-07:00

We went to a bar named hennessey's. wait. you think, that old place? you used to work there and brett still does. no, my friend. i'm talking hennessey's in redondo beach! they had karaoke there. we were drinking and to my surprise, brett went up and sang (a bit awkwardly because he really didn't want to be doing it.)

and i was drunk. pretty drunk. drunk enough that cindy would've been proud when i marched up there and sang a bon jovi song with our friend, kim..and by sing, i mean belt it out

geez

2005-10-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

so only 1 comment to the last post? so either you guys suck or cindy and i just aren't as amusing as we thought we were. granted, we had been drinking but nonetheless, afterwards, i found it amusing. i probably shouldn't be posting after an evening of a few cocktails, but here we are.
cindy's boobs look pretty hot in this pic, eh?

5 beers deep on a friday night

2005-10-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Click the link
http://dl5.rapidshare.de/files/6136302/72995546/have_you_ever-1.wmv
Scroll down and click free
Scroll down, see the 24 second countdown then click the 'have you ever-1wmv'
Enjoy

After watching this I realized three things:
I have bucked teeth
I have a fat face
Cindy looks like wilma flintstone with her new dyed 'do in that pony

Spraguer in Seattle

2005-10-11T23:57:00.000-07:00

Brett had a triathlon this past sunday morning in Hermosa beach. This little asian girl walked by me and thought to myself, why is that asian dressed so hip in that velour jump suit? then i took a small double take and thought to myself, oh that's because it's michelle kwan.
then i went to the finish line and looked across the way and thought, why does that girl look familiar? is that a mole above her lip? it was tiffani amber-thiessen.

too bad the people they were cheering for sucked. pretty random, eh?

I am a huge disappointment

2005-10-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

When i moved here a year ago, i noticed a common trend among those native to california. instead of "don't worry about it," they "no worries" all over the place. I thought it was the stupidest thing i had ever heard and made a (creepy) silent vow to never use the expression. Well so much for that. Today at work, someone apologized for something and before i knew it, "no worries" came out of my mouth. i was pissed at myself.

Pack my bags and call me jp/mb/nv

2005-10-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

I'm going traveling. Brett and I will be leaving miami and arriving in venezuela on january 15th. This plan has been in the making for a few months now but we recently purchased our plane tickets and made it official. the length of the trip is yet to be determined but it's looking like it's going to be at least 6 months and possibly last 8. The route has pretty much been decided.

We'll head down to Manuas, Brazil to start then take a boat on the Amazon out to the coast of brazil.
Spend Carnaval in Recife then slowly make our way down the coast.
Arrive in Buenos aires where we'll stay for a month or two
Go across to chile, up to peru, and ecuador (and possibly a trip to the galapagos!)
Colombia then up to central america.
Fly out of guatemala city

So that's that. I'm really excited/nervous/have no idea what to expect. There are a ton of websites from people that have or are still traveling in those areas so it's great to hear current advice. I thought perhaps, kit, we could email so i can ask questions?

We'll be getting into chicago around the 22nd or 23rd of december, spend xmas there, then brett's leaving for the east coast for two weeks before we leave. One major question is what we'll be doing when we fly back from this trip with little money and no where to stay but my home...and everyone knows that can't last long.

On another note, i just got back from a weekend in arizona. it was so hot and awesome. all i did was lay out by the pool and get nicely burnt. here's the house we bought (my mom and fred decided to keep it)
it's still not finished but it's going to be really nice.

anyone planning any ski trips to vail? (unfortunately) i'll be there dec 18th to about the 21st or so. oh and will anyone actually be in chicago for new years? this is probably the first time in a while that i won't have to work and it sounds like everyone's going to the east coast. why? stay home! alright, enough of my rambling. time for work!

goodbye to you

2005-09-09T03:19:00.000-07:00

wait isn't that an m.b. song redone by lou vega? or is that the other way around? now wait..who did the original mambo #5? did people really believe that, steph? that's crazy. anyway, tonight was my last hennessey's shift. it was the 'endless summer' party where we raffled off a crappy longboard and were privileged enough to wear rhinestone-studded stoli shirts shown here:
we're pretty classy pieces, eh? i also got to karaoke ace of base 'all that she wants,' which was awesome. ace of base is such a good go to for karaoke. one short story from tonight: this guy that's been drinking all night comes up to me and slurs, (as he slips me some money) "you're the classiest person i've seen here in such a long time. i just wanted to tell you that. you're beautiful and so classy." yeah ok. i'm so classy i'm going to smile, nod, and take your ten bucks. i'm the classiest whore you've ever met. hey, whatever works, you drunk fools.

recap

2005-09-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

The weekend started with a 13 hour pub crawl on saturday. we traveled from mb henno's to pier avenue in hermosa beach. there weren't too many of us but i'd say it was a success (besides the ridiculous fight brett and i got into by the time hour 13 rolled around..but that's a given). We finally got to go to the Poopdeck and what better way to celebrate than to play flippies. We had nametags, that i'm pretty sure highly offended many people (mine said Dirty Mexican), and i was in charge of blowing a sick nba endorsed whistle to signal our departure from each place. now, after writing this stuff, i can't help but feel we time traveled back to college. anyway, here are some pics:
yummy jager random but i had to take a pic of it
woke up sunday way too early, went to breakfast with tbag and others, visited brett at work, then took a nap. who knew a full day of drinking would be so exhausting. got back on the booze wagon and went to a bbbq for some girl from work. it was a serious adult party. they had two tables full of food and all the beer and wine you could drink. however, when the guy started playing the guitar around the bon fire and our latvian friend started singing extreme's more than words, we knew it was time to head home. on a side note, i quit hennessey's because of my horrible manager eryn. he's one of the biggest a-holes i've ever met and he knows that i utterly loathe him now. i mean, how many times can the man make me cry? he knows that i hate him and my presence alone at the bbq sent him (and his naive stupid girlfriend and his daughter) running. it was awesome. the evening was finished watching scary movie 3 (which is absolutely hilarious) and strong bad dvds. yup, will, i still watch that.
finally labor day. we woke up, made scrambies and bacon, headed to the beach, and drank gross warm rum and coke (i couldn't keep track of the number of times tyler brought up rum diary and how much you'll love rum after you read it..i'm not buying it). oh and i almost forgot how much i like bocci ball...and how good i am. i attempted to go boogy boarding and it was a disaster. i've said it once and i'll say it again: i hate the ocean. i know i know.. good thing i live right next to it. well, i don't have a problem looking at it and getting in waist deep but once those waves do what they please with me, the fun is over.
we ended the evening watching old dave chapelle skits and eating jack in the box.
this weekend as been horrible gluttenous so i have to get back on the workout train. off to the gym for me..yuck i can smell my b.o. right now

etc.

2005-08-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

last week our friend, nicole, decided to move back to new york. there was a party for her and so i took some pics. that's her right next to me and with our manager tyler and our not so normal aussie friend marcus.

we went to a sam adams brewery party at the house of blues on sunset last monday. it was a damn good time. for some bizarre reason, it was free for hennessey's and sharks cove (the bar next door) and no one went. there was about 8 of us on a coach bus which took us to the ol' HOB, all the sammys you could drink and free apps as well. it was some trivia night as part of the promotion so the evening ended with a sam adams jeopardy. here's a pic

the guy in the middle couldn't speak english very well and had to describe a cherry because he didn't know the word for it. here's the henno's crew that went:

last week was tyler's bday. we went to some mexican restaurant then went out to shellback's (a sort've fake dive bar in MB). it was fun because of the fact that they have the nudey photo hunt there. some creepy regular dan was there and bought us drinks like it was his job. he also puked all over the hennessey's bar yesterday afternoon at about two. that's disgusting. here are some pics for the tyler bday:

there's ol' drunk as tyler showing a nice little midriff. this shirt required some serious boob watch on cindy's part. man, do i have a witch's nose there or what? and going on in the rest of my really not happening life, i made brett go buy a blender today because i had a hankerin for a piña colada...so now as i post 20 min. before i have to go to work, i'm drunkish. now if cindy were to post, she'd tell you about all sorts of interesting shit. for instance, she went to reno last weekend and saw her future father-in-law's mate perform in a drag show (while dressed in drag) with male go-go dancers and such. she'd also tell you that this past weekend she covered the manhattan beach paddleboarders race where people from the ages of 20-70 paddled on their knees 32 miles from catalina island to manhattan beach pier. i'm sure something i stated there was incorrect so hopefully cindy corrects it.

random pics

2005-08-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

avp in hermosa
blazin trails and me
how embarrassing
friends chris and scott (she's the bowflex girl)
reminded me of mike kuharic (this was not a costume party)

seattle pics

2005-08-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

the garden party check my teeth
lots of hats
more hats
hats and hats
she caught me
sailing
some guy practicing ski jumps
seafair
man i'm cool

brett's sis and her brazilian man

more seattle pics

2005-08-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

will's boathouse where we stayed a night

the nick voss of seattle
photo shoot with getz

i despise photobucket

2005-08-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

notice all of the pictures missing?

seattle sux

2005-08-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

just kidding, faulds. brett and i got back from seattle on thursday night. we were there for about a week to celebrate seafair and hang out with some fam. seafair's basically a party on lake washington with a blue angels air show and all. it was a good time besides the fact that brett has a friend by the name of louisa who's clearly still in love with him but his excuse is, "she's protective of her friends." so then it's ok for her to treat me like shit. yeah, good one. anyway, so lots of boats and water over the weekend. Then we went with his mom and sis up to an island where they keep their sail boat. it was two more days of boating and eating. it was really pretty by the islands. i had no idea that there were so many. we only had to time to see two of them but they were both so different. the first day, we stayed where his boats docked, friday harbor. we went out to dinner, caught shrimp and little crabs with nets off the dock, and ended the night playing cards on the boat. next morning we sailed to Jones island where it's more of a state park. we had breakfast then hiked around the island. from there we sailed some more, docked in a different area and did some more sightseeing. it was a very relaxing trip.

we attended some interesting parties with his friends. the first one we went to was a studio 54 party. brett and i didn't dress up but everyone else did. there were a lot of one pieces. we also somehow got bamboozled into going to a "garden party" that his friends from highschool arranged as some fundraiser for a northwest's children's fund that they're a part of (it was hilariously froo froo and i really couldn't imagine any of us doing anything like that). it was expensive but since i didn't pay, i didn't mind going. the food was great and it was an open wine bar. of course, we drank too much, and by the end of the evening, we were fighting. typical. regardless, it was a good time and i've got some pics that i'll be posting shortly.

Got pasta?

2005-08-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

i haven't posted since i got back from chicago. i don't have much to say about it other than the fact that i didn't feel like i got to talk to you guys as much as i wanted to. steph's bday was a big drunken blur. don't get me wrong. i had a great time seeing everyone but it just wasn't enough for me, i suppose. i do hope at some point you guys get to come out and visit soon. i'm not even sure i'm going to be back for a very long time. my mom and fred bought a house in arizona so i'll be spending xmas there. that's so far away from now so i don't even know why i mentioned it.

so i got a different job. no, i haven't broken out of the service industry. I'm working at mama d's. it's some little italian restaurant down the street from hennessey's. i'm technically going to do both for as long as i can handle it. i need the variation in my life. so, in very short response to tommy's posting, i think i'll feel differently. it's allegedly much better money than ol' hennos..at least that's what this girl told me that's worked at both. so we'll see. it also has a much more professional atmosphere. the boss isn't sleeping with all his workers.

i tried out for a national acura ad on friday. allegedly according to the agent that's been sending me on these things, if i were to get one national ad, i'd make something around $30,000-$40,000. that's fucking ridiculous...but alas, i suck at acting and it's never going to happen. this time, we got randomly paired up right before going into the room on camera. i went in with this brazilian guy who had a very heavy accent so i had some issues understanding the man. unfortunately, we had to act like best friends at a dinner table having comfortable conversation. that lasted for about 30 seconds then the guy who's running the casting says, "ok, stand up and dance. i'm going to be put some music on and i want to see how you guys move." it was very embarrassing.

cindy, brett, and i went to see mikey play in north hollywood on saturday night. it was a very interesting bar with red velvet walls. our friend from spain, blaise, met us there too. at the very end of their last song, two of the band members went into convulsions and flung themselves into the audience and upside down behind a speaker.

4th of july and such

2005-07-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

so i know it's probably too little too late but here are some pics from the 4th. it was a fun weekend with nothing out of the ordinary. A lot of friends came into town from all over so it was, as tyler puts it, hotel hermosa around here. i didn't have to work sunday or monday so that was nice. we basically went to the beach, drank at the apartment, had some fireworks of our own, and watched some really crappy ones from the roof of the apt. next door....nothing too crazy. i guess the big difference from past 4th of julys was that i was freezing my ass off at night. i can't wait to get home, walk out of midway, and start sweating. i'll follow that up by jumping into my 97 degree pool. if you guys were planning on a refreshing dip, think again.
on that note, are we still on for monday? well i am so let's try and do it.

i went with brett to another triathlon this past sunday. after having watched tons of saby's marathons since i was little, i must say that triathlons are a much better spectator sport. granted neither of them really are but at least there's some variation. i couldn't imagine ever doing one of those. i'm pretty sure i would drown or get eaten by a shark before i can get to my bike. cindy's all about doing races so we can stay motivated to work out but it's just not my cup of tea.

so i heard the roadtrip was fun. so really, how many times did you play swords with the boys, steph? c'mon, give us the real details to the trip. i have to admit. i'm obviously a lame piece of crap because i think i would've fucking died in that van. for lack of a better expression, kudos to you steph. i think it's the smoking in the van and no sleeping that would've done me in. i'm such a loser.

Correction: I Know your father

2005-06-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ok so it wasn't paragliding. We changed our mind and did hang-gliding instead. it was ridiculous. I got up to 6,200 ft where i then proceeded to get x-tremely dizzy and almost threw up. The instructor told me to puke out the right side. thankfully, i didn't and i landed ok. It was worth it.

There's this Comedy & Magic Club down the street from us and as the legend goes, Jay Leno performs every sunday night because of some dumb contract he signed before he was famous. Apparently he gets paid next to nothing but still comes out every week and tests out his new material. I was yammering about how the story sounds fake as we passed the place sunday night. I looked in and there he was, huge face and all. He looked kind've short. So i thought that was kinda cool. I still think david letterman is better.

ok, we bought our plane tickets for chicago in july. I'll be home from july 15th til the 21st. I was thinking that on Monday, we could come over to my house for a good old fashioned pool party/bbq/pre-steph's birthday! so pencil me in, people

2005-06-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

i'm the little white thing in the upper left area

2005-06-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

landing

EXTREME!!!

2005-06-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

Brett and i are going paragliding tomorrow/today(friday)..let's hope i land safely!..or else, heck, kelly, you can have cooper.

2005-06-08T18:13:00.001-07:00

dodgers stadium...hey, think blue

2005-06-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

fat fat face

2005-06-08T18:12:00.001-07:00

dodgers game

2005-06-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

bridgette, i fucking hate your gross small dog

2005-06-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

a latvian dog party...can i ask for anything more?

2005-06-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

more blond bfffffs

2005-06-03T17:12:00.000-07:00

oh man..i pooped myself again

2005-06-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

where's the party, guys?

2005-06-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

memorial day roof bbq

2005-06-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

if i let you go, think you could fly?

2005-06-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

buck toothed mcgee

2005-06-03T17:00:00.001-07:00

satan

2005-06-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

new girl friends? steph and kelly with blond hair

2005-06-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

sisters? weird

2005-06-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

lost in time...but i love her jacket

2005-06-03T16:52:00.001-07:00

i love Her breasts

2005-06-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

i love Her smile

2005-06-03T16:51:00.001-07:00

steph and some dudes...i love Her hair

2005-06-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

how many pictures of steph did i take? i love Her

2005-06-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

classic