Super Super Saturday

Real quick:

Today has been good. Got out early to go shopping for decorative/functional items for my new desk and found...Nothing. At least not for the desk. I came home armed with lots of pretty things for me to wear.

I was going to write more but a horn just beeped outside signaling that my ride is here for a girls night, so I'm off until tomorrow!

Loooove!

Miss Amber Lane

Dine' Avec Ma Mere Se Sois

I don't really know french (but I can fake it) so if this is grammatically incorrect I apologize (I got a D in French as a freshman in high school- switched to Spanish and got a 99% - literally a 99%)

Anyhow- Ma mere is coming over to my house tonight for dinner. I asked her a week ago wanting to show her our new downstairs set up. Not at thinking that I would spend the week battling a UTI, my girly time, and a wicked case of not feeling so hot about myself last night (PS Facebook sucks when it comes to other people posting pictures of you that you don't want posted- there is NOTHING you can do about it but de-tag and that still doesn't prevent the masses from viewing the album and seeing them anyway)

So Ma mere is coming over tonight and I have no plans for what I'm actually going to make for dinner. My mom is not a picky eater and she enjoys almost all varities of food but the problem is that I've been cooking dinners that Ben would enjoy lately and these are specifically things my mom won't care for: lemony chicken (mom doesn't like lemons) hamburger casserole (mom won't admit it but she's a little fancy) and pork chops (mom doesn't really like pork) so I'm drawing a blank because I just don't have time to prepare something awesome and to show off my mad culinary skills.

I'm thinking I'm going to go to Kroger buy some steaks and call it a dag on day.

BUT!

If anyone has any awesome, fast, mom-wowing dinner ideas - send them my way STAT!

Bleh

Feeling not so hot about myself right now.

Megan just came over with all her professional wedding pictures- there is a montage of them while I was giving my speech where I look like I am with child.

Do you ever wish you could go back to the time pictures were taken and tell yourself to stand up straight and suck the "F" in?

I do. Especially now.

I think I may have camera/mirror dyslexia. I can look at myself in the mirror and think damn I look pretty good today and take a picture of myself and think damn that looks pretty hot and then someone else will take a picture of me and I think... EWWWWWW!

Oh well. I'm not going to get down on myself or throw a pity party or fish for compliments. I've been eating like crap/not working out (at least not since my bout with the super boring and tedious shred) and I have to own up to it and deal with the results of that today.

So there's that.

Thank God tomorrow is Friday!

Yay. Just one more day standing between me and the end of one of the crappiest weeks in a long time!

So that's good.

Sleep Sweet, Dream Big

Miss Amber Lane

With The Fishies

Today I really wanted to sit at home with my prescriptions and cranberry juice.


Instead I had one heck of a busy day. I arrived at work just before 9am and immediately began gathering a group of residents and loading them onto the bus to go to the Newport Aquarium. All together 12 residents attended and 3 team members including me. It was quite the adventure- let me tell you. Logistically speaking it was a nightmare with nowhere to park, multiple elevators, and a ton of walking. Bathrooms were also few and far between and there were school groups there that got some of my resident's feathers in a ruffle -but everyone seemed to really have a good time other than that so it was definitely worth it!

Here are a few pictures of the fishies and critters we saw. I wish I could show you pics of the residents- after all they are the best part- but unfortunately HEPA says no.

So instead I give you:

Fishies:



Turtles:




Alligators:




Froggies:


(My super cute assistant - you can't tell in this pic but she's almost 6 mos. preggo- she won't be able to lay on things like that for much longer- her belly will be too big!)

Jellyfish:


Penguins:



And one tired Activities Director with a monster headache (courtesy of antibiotic side effects and a stressful day!)



After the aquarium we all had lunch at Big Boy then went back to the community to finish up the day.

As soon as I got home tonight Boo and I hopped in the car and drove up to IKEA to buy a new desk for downstairs- its not the color I wanted and its a little bigger for the space than I thought would look good so I'm waiting to see how it works out.

Ben put the desk top together tonight but I have to wait for him to borrow tools from his dad to put the cabinet that will sit next to it together and tighten the legs enough for me to actually sit things on it. Once its all up and running I'll share it with you.

For the rest of the night I'm planning to revel in Wednesday night ABC shows and get some rest. Matter of fact- I may actually go to bed sooner than later- my aching head could use an early siesta.

Happy Hump Day All. Just two more work days before the weekend!

Hooray!

Miss Amber Lane

) :

Hi ya'll.

I'm only here right now to keep the spirit of National Blog posting month alive. I do not at all feel like writing here tonight- as it has been a very long day that ended with two prescriptions and me wanting to climb under a rock.

Long story short- with no gruesome details - I have an infection that will more than likely be knocked out (or at least the symptoms anyway) by the time I rise and shine tomorrow. Right now its just a nuisance that I wish I weren't dealing with right now.

But alas...

So sickness and all- I posted.

I rock.

Here's to a good night and a pleasant tomorrow (100000 cool points if you catch the reference here)

Much love!

Miss Amber Lane

Under Pressure

Last Monday I was cleaning our bedroom when The View came on TV. I was only half paying attention as the ladies were covering Hot Topics when they began discussing Halloween. There was the usual chatter about who does what for Halloween, do they let their kids trick-or-treat, do they pass out candy, etc. etc.

When it was Sherri Shepard's turn to speak she revealed that she doesn't dress her small son up for Halloween, nor does she allow him to trick-or-treat. I thought to myself for that split-second that her child was really missing out - traditional Halloween is like a rite of passage in America- when Sherri revealed that the reason why she doesn't allow her son to dress up isn't because Halloween is un-safe, un-religious, or whatever- she said that she doesn't dress him up for Halloween because its yet another time in life where there is just so much pressure to be the best, look the scariest (or if your a woman: sexiest) and spend the most money on the perfect costume and she wants to help her child avoid the pressure since most other pressures in life are inevitable.

The other ladies agreed, remarked on how costumes used to cost under $10.00 and came with a cheap flammable gown of some type and a plastic mask on a string and that was that. Then they move on and the topic was closed.

At least on TV it was. The statement that Sherri made has stuck with me for the past week. And maybe not so much the entire statement as one specific word: pressure.

Pressure swirls around me everyday pushing me and pushing me. For me personally- and maybe for many of you out there in blog land as well- its the pressure to be and HAVE it all.

To be practically perfect in every way.

Of course I know that I'm not- yet I have a really difficult time admitting my weaknesses.

Well sort of. Its kind of like I'm on a perpetual job interview - I'll admit my weaknesses but only if they can also be read as strengths.

I might say: I'm very organized, I'm a stickler for details, I'm always on time, I expect the best from everyone.

What I really mean is: I'm a control freak, I'm anal retentive, I'm disappointed by almost everyone I meet because I have unrealistically high expectations.

Perfection is unattainable but that doesn't stop our desire for it.

Its a little scary to me because its a desire that started slowly within me as a child when I would write notes in class or stories by hand then re-copy them later so that my note book was always freakishly neat. Its snuck up on me for years gradually gaining momentum as I got older evolving from pretty handwriting as a child to more materialistic desires in college.

When I was a freshman in college to me the height of fashion was Express and Nine West. Pantene Pro-V was top of the line hair care and I was sworn to love Max Factor's cosmetics forever. I was sitting in the student union with a girlfriend of mine and she pulled out a small Louis Vuitton from inside her over-sized school tote bag. I had seen other Louis bags around campus and had admired them for their understated elegance but had never thought much about them beyond this. My friend immediately informed me that hers was fake- bought from a street vendor in NYC and I remember thinking to myself, "fake why ever would anyone need to buy a fake bag" as I had not yet become privy to the world of high fashion and its high price tags. I later googled the designer and my innocence was stripped. Nine West purses turned to Kroger bags, Pantene turned to Suave and I was left realizing that there was a whole world out there that I never even knew that I wasn't a part of. Sometimes I wish I still didn't.

Now that I've started my "adult life" its evolved even further the past several years have been dedicated to the pressure to be one step ahead of my boss, to have the best ideas, the best team spirit, to be perceived as bright, pretty, smart, sexy, cute, perky, bubbly, adaptable, structured, in the know, accessorized, stylish and the list goes on and on and on and on.

And I have to admit lately these feelings have been trickling out of my real life and into my blog life. Its the pressure to have the best decorated Christmas tree, the best photographed weekend snapshots, the prettiest outfit for an outdoor wedding, the most expensive handbags in your outfit of the day picture, the most followers, the best giveaways, the quirkiest things to say, the most extravagant wedding, the most weight lost, the most fun family, the cutest baby, the prettiest, cleanest, most expensive house.

Its exhausting!

Aren't we all so damn tired?

I'm going to be completely forthright with you ladies. Not to sound cliche - but I'm just going to keep it real. I don't want to be the girl who tries to keep up with the Jones'. Like Sherri Shepard: I'm not going to add any extra pressure to my life when the rest is unavoidable. So if its alright with you I'm going to keep letting you: my virtual friends (also virtual strangers) into my life but I'm not going to mop, straighten, sweep, re-decorate an area of my house just to take a picture of it. I'm not going to suck in (any more than normal anyway) for pictures of myself that I'm going to post. I'm just going to be me.

An honest to God girl in my mid 20s. Making good money but paying a hecka lotta bills, renting a townhouse instead of owning a home, with no kids, too many cats, watching too much TV, not working out enough, eating Mcgriddles for breakfast too many times a week, only washing my hair every three days, shopping too much, praying too little, sometimes drinking myself into a mess, living a life, loving a man, and trying my best to be a good person one day at atime by dropping a little change in my Karma bank every now and again.

I don't have the answer to how not to succumb to pressure- but I do have a prescip. to Atovan so I think I'm gonna be just fine.

But tell me- don't ya'll feel it sometimes too? How do you shake it off? What gets you over yourself and out of your own way to be the best you that you can be- even if it means (gulp) you're not perfect?

Halloween Pictures

K. So I'm going to give you a little bit of warning. There are a ton of pictures here. Not only that but you will probably see some of me in the exact same pose- just making a different face. Emily and I like to take us some pictures so we went to town here- feel free to gloss over and move on as necessary- I understand!

Passing out candy and having our first drinks of the night
I wish you could see that my apron says: Glamour Ghoul on it!

Close up of my makeup

Emily giving in to her favorite vices as we pass out treats to children
(our whole neighborhood does this though let me tell you..even parents with their children were carrying beers in coozies)

Us again

Emily retouching her eye makeup
(Somebody I know needs to clean the toothpaste off her bathroom mirror huh?)

Making a photo op of Emily blowing on my bite marks so they would dry more quickly

Showing off my bustle (and bust apparantly)

I'll bite you!

Whole costume!

Too pretty to be scary...

Well ok...the fangs are a little scary

And kinda tricky to keep in- I shoulda got some polygrip (Emily eventually swallowed one of hers by accident)

Boo and his big sword

Smokin!

Me and my girl!

I look like I'm having the best time ever and we hadn't even left the house yet

Getting ready to bite Boo- he looks terrified huh?

Love this one- wish you could see my fangs though!

Blackberry pic for a quick fb upload

Being self indulgent. I really liked my makeup!

This picture was an accident but it turned out kinda cool

Spooky Halloween moon

We made a cameo at a party and Will met us there
We were a trifecta of Vamps (Boo was a vampire hunter btw)

Ladies to the left I would like to introduce you to my future brother-in-law putting his fake wiener in Emily's face.

Then we headed out to the bars and I made friends with vodka crans. Yes even after Emily and I started and finished a bottle of Three Os Bubble.

Ben is cute.

I love this one - I look spell bound

The trifecta - uh where are her teeth?

This one cracks me up

and this one clearly demonstrates the state I was in by the end of the whole thing.

It was a blast. Now its time to move on to a more adult holiday such as Thanksgiving. The holidays are upon us!

Its also National Blogging Month!
Through the month of November I'm participating in NaBloPoMo and you should too! Its just a blog a day for a month (today I feel ya'll are gonna get multiple from me as I sit on the couch in pjs, watching the sand lot and goofing off)
The button is over there to the left. Click on it to get more information!

Ciao For Now Bellas!

Miss Amber Lane

Trick or Treat!

More to come later today!