peaches & cream

Last night was my pseudo five year high school reunion (which I'll post more about as soon as I get pictures from my peeps...hear that peeps?) and I guess I've been in kind of a nostalgic sorta mood during the past week or so since I found out about this reunion. Jessawill and I were just talking on the phone about how much fun last night was, and that got us to talking about old friends, which got us talking about Mesquite (not the bush or the barbecue sauce), which NATURALLY got us talking about sno-cones. Bob's Sno-Cones to be precise. <--If he had a website address, I'd have made that a link to it, but he doesn't, but that's just about as Bob as Bob can get. No frills, just super terrific sno-cones for young and old alike.

My favorite flava, hence the title of this post, was of course the delectable peaches and her illustrious cream. Just thinking about it now is making me salivate, which I find to be a very graphic word. Jess's favorite flava was grape, and "Josh" apparently "doesn't remember" Bob's Sno-"Cones." *rolling eyes* Whatever, Josh.

What's YOUR favorite flava?

NY's E......resolve this!

Check this out.

betwixt and between...

So Christmas is over, and New Year's is just around the [proverbial] bend, and all I can say is that three 4 day work weeks in a row is a-okay with me! 1-2 no day work weeks would be even better, but I'm not complaining. I try to live my life as if the grass is always greener anywhere else. Helps me stay positive. Wait a second..... *squinting*

So this week - Wednesday to be precise - there is to be a ramshackle 5 year reunion for Dr. Ralph H. Poteet High School's graduating class of 2005 at the Iron Cactus in downtown D-town. It should be interesting, for a couple of reasons.

Incidentally, I like orange juice. *will anyone notice that she did not, as one might have supposed, list out the "couple of reasons" the "reunion" should be interesting?*

No, actually I'm looking forward to it. There should be a few people there that I'm really looking forward to seeing and catching up with, combined with the peeps I'm still -tight- with, er.....yo. I'm guessing that there will be about, oh....30 people or so in attendance, made up of those who are either:

-residents of the DFW area
-in town and willing to small talk
-friends of the host/hostess
-wanting to see how poorly *fingers crossed* the lives of their nemeses turned out
-looking to have a good time with some past friends/acquaintances (and by acquaintances I mean Tom Collins)

I personally fall into the a, b, c, and e categories, but to each his own. I always wished I could attend the Class of 1998 and 1999 reunions as well, because I had quite a few friends in those age groups, and I vaguely remember that the thought of my not being able to attend these prospective reunions causing me some mild discontent back in h.s. That's me, always looking to the future, prepared to be dissatisfied. Ha ha. That actually made me laugh out loud.

I'll keep you posted (literally!) on how the reuniting goes.

Tis the Treason...

I'm leaving this evening to go to Wichita, KS to see ye olde mom, sister, grandma, grandpa, and uncle. Now I know that "ye olde" implies that they are YOUR mom, sister, grandma, etcetera - when, in fact, I am talking about mine. I just like the way "ye olde" sounds better than "my" or "me olde." Maybe we all just need to calm down.

I'm excited about going up there because I always feel really at home and relaxed, and I'll get to see my family and hang out and eat glorious food (Mom and Grandma are both excellent cooks, a skill I've yet to hone) and sleep in. *sigh* I can't wait. I also can't wait until I make more money and can shower my friends with lots of gifts. I exchanged gifts yesterday with Stephanie, Elissa, Candiss, Levi and halfway with Erin (she gave me hers, and I've yet to give her mine). I've still got a few more exchanges to do, including the ever multiplying family. I LOVE MY FRIENDS!!!

We were going to have "The Girls" Christmas exchange tonight and all pick Julie up from the airport together, unwrap presents, eat, drink, and be merry and stay up all night talking about earrings and pumps, but she's not getting in until EXACTLY 4 hours after I leave. (see: 7:24 pm v. 11:24 pm) *weeping* Alex usually plays the role of Julie whenever we get together, but tonight......tonight he'll be Becki. Tonight I'll know the bittersweet sting of knowing they're all hanging out and wishing I could be there. Billy Corgan couldn't have said it better when he said.......Tonight.......TONIGHT! SWEET MOTHER OF MOSES, TONIGHT!! (maybe not that last part) I empathize with you Julie! But I also know that whenever we get together we always wish you were there, and there's a little "recently moved to NY girl" shaped hole in our gathering!

All is well, though, and we're going to do our exchange when I get back. TWICE! Merry Christmas! I love this time of year. Family, friends, and a general appreciation for the great things in our lives. And it was good.

Ahoy!

If you live in the Dallas-ish area, and you haven't been to P.D. Johnsons, I suggest you do. You do been there. *pause* Right. Anyway, the only reason I titled my post "Ahoy" is because a guy that works at P.D. Johnsons frequently comes into my work to give us to go menus and delicious deserts, and he brought us some chocolate chip ('s ahoy) cookies today. I haven't eaten any of them, because they're probably made with poison, but they sure do LOOK like they aren't.

You're not foolin' anyone Chucky!

Anyway, here's a fun game that I learned from the internet "connect with a friend!" website whose name I shan't mention. *coughmycoughspacecough*

Go to google.com and type in "YourName is" in quotes and see what comes up. Now obviously you won't type the words "your" "name." I'd type "Becki is" or "Rebecca is," get it? *nudge nudge*

Por ejemple:

Rebecca is very articulate with a nice UI.

Rebecca is dead but she hasn't gone away.

Rebecca is an example of New Testament Apocrypha.

Rebecca is always fending off Sam's advances.

Becki is short, at tops maybe 5'3''with blonde hair sprinkled with sides of gray.

Becki is our youngest heart buddy.

Becki, is litigation.

Becki is not responsible for various illnesses going around.


Excellent. Yes.

Checking it thrice...

I like lists. So I decided to compile a couple of my own. Here they are, in glorious splendor and no particular order:

Top 5 television programs I make an effort to watch when they actually come on:

1. America's Next Top Model (and yes, I wish I was a little bit talla)
2. Project Runway (but I don't have cable, so this becomes problematic)
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Sex and the City (tbs editing, what what!)
5. Desperate Housewives (lame, but I still watch it)

Top 10 television series on DVD I rent as soon as they come out because I don't have cable and/or don't know when they come on:

1. The Sopranos (I am always hungry when I watch this show)
2. Six Feet Under
3. Scrubs
4. Arrested Development
5. Sex and the City
6. Weeds
7. 24
8. Family Guy
9. Lost (or at least I'm about to start)
10. And of course, The Office (BBC)

Top 2 Favorite Toobing Trips

1. "The Girls" Austin 2003
2. "The Girls" Austin 2001 (summer of the umbrella)

Top 1 Favorite Shoe Size

1. Size 6 1/2 (this is NOT my shoe size)


Okay, that's all for now. Stay Tuned. I'm going to my friend Benom's wedding in Marshall, TX (159 miles eastbound on Interstate 20, it seems). I hear they've got some Christmas lights that will put the Gonzalez neighborhood display to shame! Who remembers?!

Woooooosssssshhhhhhh......

Oh my gosh!!! I listen to the Kidd Kraddick in the morning show religiously, and I hear them play 1 Minute From the Beach, 60 Seconds From the Strip, etc, but I've never been able to get through, and/or was too nervous to call!

Let me briefly explain how you play these games, even though I KNOW all of you are devout morning show listeners and you all already know. *peering knowingly over bifocals* You get 60 seconds to identify 3 celebrity voices and you have 5 clues total, with a maximum of 3 clues per person, the first of which is, as Kidd likes to call it, "the dreaded occupational clue."

Okay, so anyway, I'm listening this morning, and I hear them start playing with some woman, and she gets the first one wrong. She thinks that it's Mario, latino pop star extraordinaire, when I know that it's clearly Frankie J, the other latino pop star extraordinaire. I'm not even totally sure how I knew that, but I did. So he says they're going to take caller 13 (ALWAYS a prime numba, what what!) and play again so I decide whimsically to call in, knowing that, per usual, I won't get through. Also, I usually won't call in unless I've heard two of the correct answers, so it took some cojones, but I dialed nonetheless.

*GASP*

I get through to who I can only assume is Dianthe. Yesss.....

"Am I caller 13?" I ask nervously.

She avoids my question.

"What's your name and where are you calling from?" she went on.

So I told her, and she said to turn off my radio and not to mention KISS FM because they're syndicated and have different names in different cities. Then I held for about 10 minutes, while I frantically - or as frantically as I could given the traffic - tried to get to work so I could be parked if he picked me to play. As it turns out, I didn't make it to work, so I just had to pull over at a Shell (product placement) Station.

So they play the first clip and the timer starts.

"FRANKIE J!" I shout.

"That's right!" Kidd says. "That was a hard one. Here's the next clip."

"Clue!" I shout.

"Actor." Kidd says.

"Clue!" I shout.

"Rehab."

"ROBERT DOWNEY JR!" I shout again.

"No, ha ha, that's not it."

"CLUE!" I shout again.

"Irish."

"Ooh! Colin Farrell!" I, yet again, shout.

"That's right! Here's the last clip."

"Clue!" me.

"Actress/singer."

"CLUE!" shout.

"Lizzie."

"Oh, oh........oh, HILARY DUFF!!"

"That's right!! You're going to Lake Tahoe!" Kidd said.

"Yesss." I said. Now, I really wanted to scream and get crazy excited, but I was too nervous to even say anything. When they asked me who I was going to take, I said, "My friend Amber because were one two singles friends group."

What? Exactly....Geez, my one opportunity to impress the morning show cast and convince them to take me on as Rich's replacement, and I blurt out and unintelligible "sentence." *sigh* Another day......another free trip.

Here's a picture of a Tahoe outdoor spa I found on Google images:






And here's a picture I took with my mind of what I think Tahoe will look like:









I LOVE YOU KIDD KRADDICK IN THE MORNING!!

p.s. thanks to Jessawill, J-Ro, Jad, Julie's sister Kim, Julie in spirit and Julie's mom for hearing me on the radio and contacting either me or Julie to let us know you heard!!

it's shake 'n' bake! and I watched!

I went over to my friend Rian's house last night to help her with some unpacking, because she and Josh finally closed on their cute little house! I really didn't do a whole lot, but I stocked their pantry full of food they had put in boxes. It's AMAZING how much work goes into moving into and fixing up a new/old house. ESPECIALLY the painting. I would definitely love to paint my own house, but I'm so afraid I'll screw it up. I can see it now..... It's dinner party time (because that's what people with houses do, no?) and everyone's gathering around after we eat to play a nice game of Balderdash™ or Loaded Questions™ (because that's what people.....riiiiiight) and suddenly no one can focus on the game because the unblended (word?) paint lines on the wall are simply too distracting! The party will be a complete disaster, and I will be a pariah among my peers! Oh, the shame!!

Things like that make me want to just hire someone to do it, which of course means that I'll have to have a high enough paying job (or a low enough debt to income ratio - thank you MBNA) that I can afford something like that. Speaking of things that people pay to have done, last night Annie was talking about this Christmas party that she and her husband Michael went to for the latter's work. They had their Christmas lights professionally done, and she said they were fabulous! I was wondering how much it would cost to have something like that done. Methinks it would be about....I don't know $500 at most? EEEEEEEENHHH. *that's my incorrect buzzer noise* I don't know if they were looking into it or not, but Josh said that the company they got a quote from said that the initial cost of buying the lights and putting them up was $3800 *gasp!* and then for them to come take them down and store them in boxes with your name on them is another $1700. At this point, I was searching underneath scattered newspapers from unpacking to retrieve my chin, which had indubitably (I just wanted to say indubitably) fallen to the floor. I can't believe it! Hmm..........down payment on a car? Or a ridiculously well lit front lawn? When will the reasonably balanced decision options end? Oh well. I'll just marry rich, and get both! All I really need is money to be happy anyway. And on a completely unrelated topic, I've included a picture of myself as a sort of signature.





And on another completely unrelated topic, here's the ring I wear to clean house.

H.ow T.o M.ake L.earning

I am on the road to teaching myself html, and boy do I suck at it. Well, I guess I won't be that self depricating, but there is SOOO much to it. These are the things I definitely know how to do:

1. Insert an image into my template. (thanks Photobucket!)
2. Create a link.
3. Make boxes around the title's of my posts, though I can't control the length of the box. (I tried this on Thursday or Friday, but it looked like crap so I changed it back.)
4. Create a bulleted link.

And I'm spent. Actually, finding this html color chart (assuming that it's at all credible) on google images was pretty exciting. I might play around with that if work is slow today. Boy oh sweet, sweet boy I can't wait until I have a computer at home!

I have been seeing so many really cool website layouts lately, and I want to have more than this take-out template (but many thanks Jeffrey Zeldman) that came ready made when I started this blog, although I DID create the section for Reading, Listening and Watching. I can't quite figure out (as is apparent in my last post) how to nicely line up images. All I have are left, center and right options, and that seemingly doesn't mean much. Julie said something about a style editor or something of the like, and maybe I'll have to look into that.

Until then, a left, center and right day to you all!

book sweaters...

Here are some book covers I like:

call whating?

Breaking news:

I'm not technologically gifted. Now the title of this post implies a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. I'm just not so keen on things that, in order for me to fully access and enjoy them, I must peruse a manual of some kind. At home, I have two things that have become victim to my "I don't know.....so I'll just wait until someone is here in my room that does know" attitude. Actually, three things. For my recent graduation in August, I got the following:

iPod (I think it's of the photo persuasion)
digital camera (7.1 pixels, suckas!)
photo printer.

Now of these three things, I've managed to recently activate my warranty on my iPod, and use my digital camera in NY. However.....I don't know (haven't looked to see) how to upload my pictures onto a computer, so now that it's full, I'm stuck. And I don't have the iBook I'm saving up for yet, so I don't want to use a PC to download music onto my ipod, as I've heard that causes problems. The fact that I haven't used my iPod yet probably surprises me more than anyone, because I love me some Muzak.....and music.

For instance, *adjusting wire rimmed spectacles* did you know that singing without instruments is called a cappella because when the Sistine Chapel was first built, the acoustics were so fantastic that they could sing without instruments and it sounded a) gorgeous and 2) awesome. So when other people sang with no instruments elsewhere, they were doing so like it was done a cappella sistina (at the Sistine Chapel). See? I do remember stuff from Music History. (Thank you Linton Powell.)

Right, so.......that's all I got. J-Ro, help!

GAH!

I absolutely HATE it when I'm stamping an invoice (sounds almost as exciting as it is) and I forget to change the date to today's date. GAH! I mean, I guess hate is a strong word, and I truly don't HATE much, but I really really really get ticked off at myself when this happens.

This got me thinking. What other things really chap my hide (did you know that hide also means to beat severely; to flog? yoink!)? Usually they are silly, menial things that I do, i.e. playing puzzle on SNOOD and losing on a level that's usually no big deal to pass. Overconfidence is death, children.

What do you hate that you do?

p.s. It's really freaking cold today. Texas, you so crazy!

62° Links

Elsewares

Spike Jonze Gap commercial

Serial Cut™

All the folders you could ever want, and absolutely no way to order them. Let's play a game. It's called "Find the Contact Info." You go first.

Sleuth-sayer...

Here I am at work on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, and Liz and I were just IMing back and forth. She called me Beckster, and it triggered in me a distant and off the wall memory. Roadster. That's right, folks. Roadster. The kind of car Nancy Drew drove in all those "pull the covers up to your chin and read till you can't reads no more" thrillers (or tame children's mystery books). Man, I have loved to read ever since I was little, and I definitely collected ALL (or what I thought was all until I did some research before writing this post) of her mystery books. Blue hardcover, baby! As it turns out, the blue hardcover books make up numbers 1-38 of 173....I was close?

What was it about this girl-detective that had me so enamoured? Was it the spare change of cute clothes she kept in the trunk of her roadster...."just in case?" Was it the empowering idea of a girl solving these unsolvable mysteries? Paving the way for other, smaller sleuths (liken to myself)? Was it her dreamboat boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, or her best friend Bess Marvin? Or even her father, attorney Carson Drew? Who knows?! I just know I loved her and her crime solving ways! I won't pretend that anyone else wants a complete list of all the books I had, but my favorite one was #2 The Hidden Staircase, and my favorite title was #3 The Bungalow Mystery. Don't you just love the word bungalow? It's so dang cute! It's what I would categorize as a "chubby word." It doesn't necessarily have to MEAN chubby, though it sometimes does. Like spelunking, plump (obviously), boots, jovial, podgy, robust, etc... I guess most of the words I think are chubby have an "uh" sound in them. Interesting.

Anyway. Nancy Drew. Those eyes.

Little Lamb...

Today is my sister Rachel's 16th birthday. I can't believe it!! Show her some love!

Parton me, sir...

So J-Ro, Jessawill, Alex (who shall henceforth be called "Julie") went to go see Dolly Parton on Thursday last. I meant to post about this Friday when it was all fresh in my mind, but work simply wouldn't allow it! I had people to save......what?

Anyhoot, I don't know how many of you (who?) are Dolly Parton fans, but I've been a convert circa.....2001ish. Waaaaay too late, if you ask me. I mean, of course I knew that she sang 9 to 5 (thank YOU Designing Women, specifically Charlene - as upon remembering this show, I went to a website to make sure I got the character names right, and was then prompted to find out "which Designing Woman" I am), and of course there was "I Will Always Love You," which Bobby B's lady made so Bodyguardily recognizable. But after that, the only real association I made with Dolly Parton was her extreme.........blessedness and her big 80s hair.

I remember the moment when, we'll call it "the change," happened. I was riding in the car with J-Ro and as we were selecting our background music for the ride, she said she'd put in Dolly Parton's greatest hits. "Blasphemer!" I cried! "No way!" She, per usual, ignored me and popped the disc in. Instantly, the haunting melody of Jolene began to play, and there were no two ways about it. I was smitten. Then of course, there were the songs that confirmed my love, i.e. Bargain Store, Coat of Many Colors, These Old Bones, and My Tennessee Mountain Home.....the list goes on. She's just freaking great!

She told stories about most all her songs before she played them, and she's so cute that I just wanted to pinch her little surgically altered cheeks and put her in my pocket! Along with saying "anyhow" about every 12-17 seconds, here are a few quotes from her concert:

"Howdy ya'll, I hope I don't kill myself comin' down these stairs!" - opening of the show

"I bet ya'll are impressed that I'm playin' this solo on the guitar, it's really hard!" - while playing said solo

"I bet ya'll wonder how I play with these nails. I just had to figure it out!"

"I just don't shut up!" *insert high pitched raucous laugh* - after telling another story

"Now this won't hurt me, but some woman in Korea is screwed!" - while trying to remove a strand of hair (wig) from her lip gloss

In addition to Dolly's gloriousness, we had a little pre-show entertainment from this guy standing right behind us talking to one of the staff at Nokia. It was a conversation straight out of Best in Show (or any Christopher Guest movie for that matter). This guy kept talking in a slow, thick southern accent about how the seating chart online was misleading.

"It makes you think your seats are below the boxes, when really they're above the boxes instead. Now we're comin' to see Gretchen Wilson and our seats are in row L. Do you think that would be above the boxes or below the boxes?"

"You know, it's a good thing Dolly's going on at 9:30, because if she went on at 8 like it says on the tickets, well there's people parkin' on the grass out there, and they'd be comin' in and she'd already be playin' cause it's after 8 now."

Oh, sweet sweet Dolly concert. I pine! I perish until we meet again!

Oh, plus "Julie" bought us all dinner! Thanks, Julie!!

High collar and baggy pants say "I'm a pro!"

So it's finally December. And it most certainly doesn't look like this picture of 'December' I found on ye olde internet. The temperature here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area has been remarkably inconsistent, and I can go from wearing my down, fur-rimmed coat to a t-shirt in the span of a day. I guess I can't really complain about it, because if I truly cared enough about experiencing actual "seasons" I know I'd have to move out of this red red hot hot state. We've still got the rest of this month, January and February to see if Texas is going to realize that it's winter and we shouldn't still have to use the air conditioner. Sheesh, Texas. Come on!

Now that it's December, I have precisely 30 and 1/2 days to decide what to resolve to do with my life next year. Last year I resolved to further embrace my femininity, and I must say I'm on my way. No more are the days of going to thrift stores with this thought in mind:

"I don't care what size it is...if it's funny, I'm buying it!"

My friends helped me out last birthday by getting me "girly" things.....things that sparkle, things that are shiny, and things that make me 2-3 inches taller than I am. Through all this I was able to find a balance between sequin girl in stilettos and Becki feeling comfortable whilst also passing off as a "Daughter of Eve." *reading Chronicles of Narnia to refresh me memory ere the movie comes out!* I think I've done okay.