Day 01:

Your current relationship, if single discuss how single life is.

Righto. I have been in a relationship with a man named Michael for well over two years. My mom moved during high school so I went with her, and it happened to be in the same neighborhood as this obnoxious guy. I met him on the second day of school, on the bus, and we instantly made jokes. As it turned out, we had three classes together, so I saw him every day that year. It pissed me off at times. He was such a jerk! But weren't all guys in high school jerks? And he had ADHD...so he bent me out of shape sometimes.
Anyway, whenever we would fight (which was maybe once or twice a year), we didn't speak to each other or look at each other or want anything to do with one another. These fights were unlike any other fight I'd had with a friend before.
I'd had a couple boyfriends during high school, but those never lasted terrible long. Michael was always nice to them. Our senior year, he was the one who had a girlfriend. I was nice enough to her, but I couldn't stand her. I was insanely jealous, and I wasn't sure why because I didn't see myself dating my best friend at all. By senior year he drove us all to school. I was the only one who never paid him for gas because he knew I didn't have any money. I never had money. I didn't have a car of my own so it made it difficult to work, especially since mom wouldn't let me borrow her car. He bought me lunch because I didn't qualify for reduced lunch and neither me nor my mom could afford the expensive lunches at that school. He would buy salad for lunch, but I got his two sides and his milk. Every day this would happen. After the end of my last relationship, Michael and I were on the rocks as well. We bickered over that last boyfriend because he was no good and we both knew it.
We were still mad at each other at graduation. I was too proud to tell him I was sorry, but I was very sorry. I was so proud, that I didn't even see him graduate, though he says he saw me.
I'm not quite sure what brought us together. We had both mentioned in high school that while there, there is no such thing as a serious relationship. It's just not possible.
We'd made up at some point, and spent the first part of the summer with each other and friends. Halfway through I began working as a cashier at the grocery store he had been at for years. At that point he knew more than the managers, and that intimidated me. Here I am not able to press those damned buttons in the right order and there his is bookkeeping and department hopping. All of our friends and sort of friends in HS said we should date, and we both said gross no way. All of the people at the store saw us together and within the week, told us that we should be dating. Still we said no, gross. Yucky.
At that point I was on the rebound with that same old ex, and he was talking to a friend of his that I found to be a pretty gross individual. She was just nasty and mean. Not a very nice personality. She always called people bitches and sluts. Gee whiz. Anyway them talking to each other burned me up inside. I never let it show, but I hated the way she looked at him with a passion.
Anyway---to make a very long story a little bit shorter: We went on a real date (we were very nervous) and hit it off of course (why wouldn't we? We spend so much valuable time with each other that we grew up to reflect each other's personalities) and after a couple of weeks (I remember nervously kissing, that was pretty cute haha) we cast aside those other people and threw out or doubts and fears and went for it.

This relationship was well received by most, but others were not so approving. Said nasty girl actually threatened to beat me up, so I told her she was an animal. Seriously, beat me up? Over a guy? Get over it. Two mutual friends of ours said they were happy for us, but in reality they weren't. They said to me that I won't have any friends like them left because I spend so much time with Michael. They said it will never last anyway, and when it's over our friendship will be ruined because of it. For reasons unsaid I have chosen not to be friends with them anymore. That barbaric girl decided to come out of the closet and move to Cali with her internet girlfriend. I shit you not.

So back to the original point of this post. For over two years, Michael has been my everything. We know everything there is to know about each other. Habits, favorite phrases, temperaments. He knows my silent upset face and exactly what it means, especially when I say, "nothing." His family absolutely loves me, and my family loves him. So much so that he has a key to my house, like the rest of my mother's children. Mom told me he made it onto the list of favorite sons-in-law. His parents have offered to let me live with his family.

We have been given many opportunities to take shortcuts, but we're staying as old-fashioned as we can with it. We do not live together, nor do we plan on living together until we get married (Unless something comes up that makes living together the best option). We haven't planned our future around each other, but we have talked about it and made some room for the likely possibilities. Sometimes we both have this deep urge to run to the courthouse and get it over with now, but that never lasts long. We know better than to let go of our dreams so easily. We talk about weddings, we talk about gets, we talk about houses in neighborhoods close to our families. We talk about what our parents did and our siblings, and how their plans differ from our own.
We're boring in a way, because we already know what the future holds for ourselves and what we will do to get there. But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Peace, love and pudd'n pops
AMZ

Deux Ans, Mon Amour

I skipped the weekly update for last week. Forgive me, Sjaan, I was actually busy for once this summer.
Last Wednesday, Michael and I celebrated our second anniversary. I had planned on cleaning up his car and making it look nice. I got him seat covers, a CD case for his 100+ CDs, a trunk organizer, and enough cleaning supplies to make it look brand new. What I did not expect, however was a multitude of obstacles. They were varying and pain in the ass-y, so I will skip them.
5 hours after taking his car, I headed back to his house in a white and brown dress, new heels, and no make-up aside from a little play on the eyes.
Michael looked particularly handsome. He sacrificed his facial hair to please me. It was worth it.
We kept it simple as far as dinner goes, we decided to keep it simple. We went out, had a grand old time enjoying each other’s company and doing that mushy eye-contact thing.
Friday we left for vacation at the home of a relative of his with his family. In short, we went through hell and back to get there. I talking about a blown transmission, 5 hours in a foreign place, and a rental van that couldn’t gun it up the side a mountain like we wanted it to.
I don’t remember the last time I was that relaxed. We spent five or so days there. During the day we spent time with each other and talking about our lives. When it started to get dark, Michael would go into the living room and play piano while the sun was bright red in the windows, sinking into the ground. At night, we wined and dined and made the most of our time with Michael’s cousin.
One day I convinced Michael to drive us to a particular distillery 30 or so minutes away to get my mom a certain kind of bourbon that can only be bought on site. The GPS ended up taking us in circles for an hour or so. We grabbed the booze ASAP and flew back to the house. The last day we were there I convinced him to go with me to a local chocolate shop to buy Bourbon chocolates for my mom also. For some reason I thought liquor would be a good gift for someone who seldom drinks.

I am trying to describe my trip in a way that doesn’t infringe upon the privacy of Michael’s relative. I mean, if someone came to my house and had a great time, then went home and posted the good, the bad, and the ugly on the internet, I would destroy them. Anywho, here are a few photos:  

   

This was a wonderful break in our hectic lives. Now we’re back to work, and soon back to school. Life goes on, my friends. I can honestly say that I am happy.
Things are going amazingly well. 

Peace, Love, and Pudd’n Pops,
AMZ

 

Youth without Morals

Have you ever noticed that you never want to know something more when it isn’t any of your business?
This is the second week in a row that I wrote down blog topics while working, but left them there at the end of the day. Exhale. Okay.
The last couple of weeks have gone the way they usually do: Awesomely.
Morgan and I went to a supersecretharrypotter party! Sjaan and her friend threw it. I went home with my very own pigmy puff and the knowledge that you shouldn’t microwave butter too long, because every space in your microwave will be filled with it when it explodes!  The next day there was a birthday party for Michael’s mother at her own mom’s house. I like going over while his extended family is in town for a visit. Michael’s cousin Casey, whom I get to see often because he lives in town, was there. He happened to mention in conversation how often I talk about marrying Michael. He didn’t say it like it is a bad thing at all though. He happens to be one of the few people that reads this stuff haha. Anyway writing about things like marriage are great for the writer, but I suppose I come off sounding like a crazy person (Though I am a bit of a crazy person anyway). I seem to have gotten far from the original topic…Michael’s mom. “The Big 5-0.” She seemed happy to have everyone there! I love Michael’s mom. She is very beautiful in my opinion, especially when she smiles. :)
This past Friday was Morgan’s birthday party. We (the large group of college women) designed our own cupcakes, went to see Toy Story 3, and went back to her house to hang around and watch movies. While we never got around to watching movies, we were all entertained…in some way or another. After most of us went to sleep around 3am, we woke up at 8:30 for breakfast at ihop.

My favorite show about bad things happening to dumb teens who make mistakes, ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’, is back on tv for the summer season. This show, in addition to ‘16 and Pregnant’ and ‘Teen Mom’ pretty much make up my television schedule during the year. Maybe its because I sometimes inwardly gloat at the fact that I have never had a child or been pregnant. Maybe it is because even though choice to have to have sex, which isn’t exactly responsible, they’re adult enough to carry the baby to term and ignore the disturbingly popular choice among youth to abort. Remember kids, only abstinence is 100% effective. That .001% that you guys think will never effect you from condoms and birth control—surprise surprise—often get pregnant. What is that, odds of 1 in 1000? Those aren’t good odds, children.
 If you kids think you’re adult enough to take it all off, you’re adult enough to take care of a child. You’re adult enough to give up everything in your life that you don’t need for the sake of the life you created. God, that burns me so much, people like that. I’m sure that child is so sorry for inconveniencing your perfect life. I go to a woman’s college, and it’s a wonderful place, but sometimes maybe there aren’t enough men around to balance out the feminism. I’m talking real men here, not ‘guys.’ A real man who would take responsibility for his actions and care for the life he has created. Too many women on campus have decided that no man will have any say in a child’s life if it is illegitimate…she decides his or her fate. The best (and by best I mean most appalling) line I’ve heard is that children ruin a woman’s body, and not a man’s. A man can easily walk away from the child’s life, while a woman is ‘stuck with it.’ We’ll see how many men will be willing to be in a real relationship with someone with that attitude. Michael is the type of guy who will let no person in this world decide the fate of his child for him, nor will he let anyone prevent him from being a father to his child. I couldn’t agree more :)
Anywho, This beautiful, and ridiculously slim, woman my age at my college just gave birth to a son as beautiful as she! She waddled around campus at the end of the semester and took all of her exams. She finished her Sophomore year! I’ve been told she plans on finishing school, so I plan on holding her to it :)

I know I'd written about this before, in the post about superfeminism, but pregnancy and child-rearing deserves it's own half-post.

Liar Liar

 

Michael and I used to have a couple of friends from high school. We were all just kids then, so it was fine and, well, expected to act like a kid. But here we are, not too much older, but living in a different phase of our lives. We are expected to act a certain way. I’m not saying we have to lose our inner child and become hardened adults, we are just expected to step up and assume our roles as college students and adults. I’ve stepped up, Michael has stepped up, and so have many other people our age.

But here is where we and our couple of friends differ. We all grew up, stepped up, and left the juvenile attitudes behind. They didn’t.

It seems like anytime they feel like someone is lying to them, the plaster slanderous things about them on their social networking sites and refuse to even remember that person in a positive light. And you know what? More often than not, they’re wrong. It’s all in their head. No one is lying to them, no one’s pants are on fire, but it doesn’t matter because they’ve written that person off.

They have a hard time listening to the brutal honesty that the world does not revolve around them.

Michael and I have decided to wash our hands of them. Well, he decided it first, but obviously if he feels that way I am going to back him 100%. I’m tired of the judgmental attitudes, the reverse racism, alcohol and marijuana abuse, and all the rest of it.

When the bad outweighs the good, there is really no reason to continue down that road.

Peace, Love, and Pudd’n Pops,
AMZ

Keep your real friends close…

This is how I try to get out of doing things at work.
Well is seems as though I have a month or so off from work so I plan on being at least a little constructive.
Caution: This blog post is not for readers that have unrealistic views and opinions of the female body. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
I have decided to lose some weight. Or get fit. Whichever one comes first I suppose. Do you remember seeing these from the post just after the new year? Because this weight loss mumbo jumbo sounds familiar. There’s nothing like laying on your bed in your undies and such, as gravity takes as much of your body as it can to spread outward, to make those stretch marks very…obvious. I go through phases of putting cocoa butter on the bad areas to make already stretched marks look less noticable and to keep new ones from coming. I’m all about promoting elasticity. Haha.
Anywho, I’m tired of being overweight. It’s bad for me. I’m far from dead and all that negative stuff, but I could be doing much better. No, for the love of God this is not me conforming to Hollywood ideals and starving myself to become pencil thin. You’ve seen those little dogs they carry around. They’re skinny, and they always shiver! Besides, have you seen these hips? I’m destined to have NO LESS than 40 inch hips. I don’t want to be “skinny,” “hot,” or any of those things. I want to be HEALTHY. Due to my month long vacation/temporary lay-off from work, this seems like a good time to kick of a healthy lifestyle.
June seems to be a month of packed weekends for me. SupersecretHarryPotterParty, A birthday party, a field day, a fathers day, and maybe even a baby shower. OY! In between these loaded weekends I have days full of…nothing. Oh and I mean nothing.
I have to put this post on hold for now. I am going to Michael’s house to help him wash his dogs. Have I told you about his dogs? He has three black labs, and they all need a washin’. This is love people.
It’s almost time for anniversary number two. That isn’t a very long time in the grand scheme of things, but with so much going on in our lives with school and work and everything changing, this is a bit of a long time. Insert something cheesy: The beginning of forever, destiny, growing old together. Dum-dum-du-dumm, Dum, dum-du-dumm…
I don’t want to go spoiling the ending for you.

The lesson for today: Keep your real friends close, and keep your enemies on your Facebook friends list so that your happiness can cause them great discomfort, perhaps even indigestion.
Peace, Love, and Pudd’n Pops,
AMZ

“Rise and rise again, until the lambs become lions”

Working for my mother’s boss this summer is going exactly as I expected. Hundreds of copies, packets, mailings to be put together in a short amount of time. I wake up at 5 a.m., work is from 7-5, then mom and I walk. I usually get home around 7 p.m. Nothing like a 12 hour day to make you feel like a grownup. I guess.
The other day, I gave into the marriage urges and convinced Michael to go to Barnes and Noble with me to look at books about tying the knot. I was under the impression that he would enjoy going just to be with me, but be miserable because there typically isn’t much for a groom to do in the ways of wedding planning. (I would like to make it clear that he is extremely excited by the mere thought of marrying me, just in case I let him appear negative about the subject) But wait! Can it be!? Why, yes, it is! Books for the men to look at! Thus he dove right into it, reciting occasional lines and tips from the man manual to contribute to the research. Apparently, the best man originated from  the time when a man had to be able to rely completely on his best friend to fend of his woman’s parents because he had taken her against their wishes for them to be married. The best man had to be able to punch out her parents if need be. What a pal indeed. I need to remind myself, yet again, that he and I are not engaged right now, so all of this talk and excitement really shouldn’t be happening. I tried on my sister’s ring last week on mother’s day. It felt yucky. I couldn’t stand the feeling of having something touch my fingers constantly. I suppose I will be forced to get over this discomfort for the sake of having an awesome ring on my finger…

 

Anywho, Friday night Michael and I went with his brother and his girlfriend to dinner and to see Robin Hood. I will spare you the details of dinner, mostly because if I talked about it the way I wanted to, there’s a chance I would make an enemy or two. Let me just be clear that from now on I plan on speaking my mind and not holding back what I have to say.
The most important part of this evening was the movie. Now, I am the type of girl that cannot stand epics. Take Troy, for example, this is Michael’s favorite movie. I can’t stand it. Robin Hood had enough humor and Russell Crowe being handsome to keep me interested.
Why, hello there.

                                                                                                       
This is one man both 
myself and mother agree is goofy-smile-on-your-face-when-you-look-at-him handsome.

 

 

 

The moral of this post is that if you’re a man, this movie is quite action-y, and if you’re a woman, this movie is quite russel-crowe-partially-nudey. Michael is probably going to have a fit when he reads this…haha!

At Hogwarts, it’s true we ruled the school. And you can never be as cool…

Summertime, Summertime, Summertime. It’s exam week again. This exam week is much more difficult than last Spring’s because this year I actually like the people I call my friends…
I need a nap, and a glass of wine. Okay, it’s not so much that I need a glass of wine (I’m far too young to hit the bottle) its that I need the good times and camaraderie that I associate with all of my wine experiences.  Vinoooo. I will settle for hummus, Damascus bread, and Tabouli at Al-Amir though!
I’ve been listening to a lot of different music lately, thanks to Sjaan. I like when different people from my life can get along. Michael thinks Sjaan is awesome. And no doubt he knows not to mess with the warrior, or else he would get covered in tea like I almost was.
Earlier this evening, Jenn texted me and sjaan and I don’t know who else: “You you guys are on campus come to wesley basement and get some cupcakes.” Um. What? Sjaan and I were studying at the time, and we made a mad dash down 4 twisty flights of stairs. When we got to the basement kitchen we flew around the corner heading straight for the hot funfetti cupcakes, me then her. Only it was a trap! Ackbar was right! There was something slippery on the floor, and I took the turn too quickly. Down I went! Sjaan saw me take the dive and skidded to a halt before she reached the slippery spot. I quickly got up, dusted myself off, and walked eagerly to the cupcakes. Chocolate Funfetti icing too? Score. They were painfully delicious.

There are a lot of things I’d like to say but can’t, because, quite obviously, this is the internet, and I just used more commas than I should have.
I am going to miss my friends a great deal this summer. I’m hoping that there will actually be a get-together or two. Because going to HarryPotterWorld or whatnot at Universal Studios is a bit of a stretch, Morgan has settled on all of us seeing Toy Story 3 for her birthday. I think I can do that, considering I live ten minutes away from her.  She is going to Washington, D.C next semester, then Spain the next, then is traveling across Europe the following Summer. I’m jealous. Maybe I will manage to convince her to start a blog about her travels…okay it isn’t likely, but I am going to try.
My friends are starting to get wedding fever. I am too. Not really. I haven’t started to look for places, etc. but I have been thinking about the future lately. Okay I’m lying. You have no idea how many wedding blogs I’ve begun to follow this week.  How pathetic?

What’s That You’re Drinking? Why This? This is Mud.

While I sat in my Social Work class, falling asleep because of the dim lighting and informative film from the 80’s, I decided to start writing a list. It was called: Things to Blog About. Among the things on this list are eating sideways, Facebook formalities, and shite coffee.
Something I scribbled on the top of the list was: When rude girls stare in the dining hall. Okay, when my friends and I are eating lunch and enjoying life, talking about bestiality and watching our friend Jenn laugh so hard that she chokes on water, do me a favor: Don’t stare. Yes, that is water coming from her nose. It’s quite obvious that you have a problem with us. You being the large group of girls openly gawking. So either say something (an adult thing to do), or get over it (also an adult thing to do). Nothing like a bunch of histrionic child-like girls openly jeering. As I have said before: If you don’t stop staring, I will start charging admission. (It’s only the capitalist thing to do).
Parenthesis are “in” in this post, as are colons.
I only have one more scoop of amazing vanilla-nut-butter-cookie flavored coffee left in my fridge, and alas, this is not enough coffee to get me through the week. In order to remedy this painful situation I woke up at 8 this morning, as usual, (and with a mean case of David Bowie morning hair) but this time I committed myself to walking to the terrace for a cup of their brew and a scone. Well. As it turns out, it doesn’t open until 8:30. Ah well, such is life. I went back up at 8:30, got my scone and cup o’ Starbucks coffee. By the smell of this foul liquid, I would be needing an assault of creams and sugars to tame the bitter. 6 sugars, 5 creams. A cautious sip. /Gag/. 2 more sugars and 2 more creams. Awful still, but I’ll take it. Count ‘em up people: 8 sugars and 7 creams to help me realize the painful truth: Starbucks coffee will still taste like cardboard and rear-end no matter what magical potions you put in it to improve the taste.
I wanted to talk about something important. Not deathly important, but still important enough. All of you do it, whether you are bold enough to admit it is up to you. You see friends, I am talking about Facebook Formalities. What exactly is a Facebook formality? Well boys and girls, a Facebook formality is the acceptance and maintenance of Facebook friends that aren’t actually based on a real friendship. This could be completely harmless, like being friends with your old boss, that cool teacher from high school you know you will never speak to once you become friends, or even those classmates from high school that you know you will never talk to once you become friends. On the other side of this it could be dangerous. That harpie ex-friend of yours that oozes so much narcissism that it makes you ill to hear their name, the classmate or coworker that gets on your last nerve, that airhead that is so full of themselves and addicted to their destructive lifestyle (sleeping around, tanning, drinking, this list goes on forever) that it makes you wonder how come they haven’t realized that their life is full of fail yet. “_____ ______ I love my life! I am so happy and I love my amazing friends so much!” Stop lying haha, we all know that just means you’re miserable and putting on a show for the Facebook Formalities. Facebook formalities are so full of bunk. Dear Friend, I hate you.
On a positive note, I guess I need to go talk to a priest. You see, I am (kinda-sorta-mostly-almost) Catholic. *Story Time* Mom was pregnant with me, while raising two children. I think they were about 5 and 3. The two of them were baptized in the Catholic Church, so mom wanted the same for me. Well being so busy with momming, she didn’t make it to church as often as she would have liked. When she took me in to be baptized, the priest said something along the lines of, “I’m not going to baptize your child because you have low attendance and will obviously not raise her in the church.” Well. Mom said he could go to hell, flipped him the bird, took me home, blessed the kitchen sink, and tossed me in! The end.*
Anyway, I am kind of Catholic, and Michael is Episcopalian, but has from a young age wanted to get married in a Catholic Church. That leaves us with two options: Either he can convert to the true Christian religion, or we (God, and priest willing) can get married in a Catholic church purely because I am Catholic and if we swear on the powers that be to raise our offspring in the Catholic Church. I am hoping for the first one, but will take the latter. This is where talking to a priest comes in. In order to convert, as I am told by ma cousine, Erin, He will have to take an adult course (which lasts about a year) in order to become part of the Church. He is a full time student with a full time job and a full time relationship—when could he possibly have time for courses? What I am wondering is whether or not he should do it before we get married (God willing) or afterward in the magical lull between college stress and the stress of kids. When our money is our own and so is our home! et cetera. Mom said he is going to be an amazing father. I’d have to agree with that.
Peace, Love, and Pudd’n Pops,
AMZ

Don’t Be Such a Beach.

This one is going to be longer than usual, so brace yourself.

A lot of fun-type things have happened over the last week. Wednesday, at least I think it was Wednesday, Michael came over and we inhaled a sickeningly large amount of Sonic food. But wait, the fun doesn’t stop there. All of my college friends, minus a few of my favorites, went to the basement and made brownies and watched Beauty and the Beast. Who doesn’t like brownies? Who doesn’t like Disney? Exactly.
That was like a visit to my childhood, except Michael was included that time. Aside from the fact that I have a personal thing about unnecessary talking/singing during movies, it was pretty awesome.
Afterwards the brownies went back upstairs with us, minus the Michael, and we gorged ourselves on brownies and milk on Jenn’s floor. That was the second time in one night that I consumed way too much for no reason. We ended up watching another movie: Fantastic Mr. Fox. The one time that I actually enjoyed a George Clooney movie. Why? Because I couldn’t see his face. It was a pretty cussin’ awesome movie. I definitely recommend it, mostly because of all the big names that are in it.
Underlying icky feeling of the night? Tension between some and awkwardness between others leaves me feeling yucky.
Thursday I went to class, packed up, and went home early so that I could get ready to go to the beach on Friday. Let me be clear with this: I had the full intention of skipping my classes (because I ooze rebellion). I told my mom that my only two Friday classes were canceled. Well, here comes Friday. I get a text saying that our English class was canceled because my professor was sick. Really? I fail at skipping classes.
For those of you who have never had anything to do with me when I am going on vacation, I just want to let you know: I have a packing problem. I have been told that I get it from my grandmother. I have to be prepared for anything and everything. Why is that? Well, I have this funny thing about being unprepared. I will kick myself for longer than necessary if I didn’t bring something so simple. I started typing a list of the random crap I packed just to give you an idea, then I realized I was about two paragraphs into this list and nowhere near done. I deleted it for the sake of your sanity.
Friday Michael and I packed up the Solara and headed to the beach with the ipod on shuffle. We had to make a quick detour at my dorm because, well, I forgot to pack shorts. Beach vacation, and a shoulder bag full of jeans. Fail Number Two! We stopped before that and grabbed some Chick fil a meals for lunch. In order to run into the dorm in time, I had to eat pretty quickly. It was gone in five minutes, and I still had plenty of Dr. Pepper to spare. Ahh, satisfying. Driving, driving, driving. Music and banter. But wait, blue lights? That’s right folks. Michael got his second speeding ticket in a year. This one is for going 80 in a 60. I don’t know how many points this one will cost him, but it is going to be $185. It’s like plucking a stone from the side of my phantom engagement ring.
When the mom car (mom, my sister, and my sister’s kids) arrived we all got settled in our respective rooms. Ocean ocean, yeah yeah. We went to a great restaurant called Sea Captain’s House. Oh yeah, fantastic.
Saturday I had a wonderful and nutritious breakfast of lucky charms, while Michael chowed down on last night’s steak. To sum up that entire day: The ocean is still cold, SPF 90 really does work, The pool is freezing, the lazy river feels like pee, and the hot tub melted my skin off. But wait, there’s more! I love Riesling, and Kahlua and cream, Putt-Putt at the beach is always fun, even if mom effortlessly kicked everyone’s ass, and there is nothing like watching tv and drinking margaritas with the family to make you feel like you’re at home.
Sunday morning Michael and I walked around the beach to find shells. We found some cute ones, some ugly ones, and some in between. I found a tide pool full of baby clams that were eating. The girls carried a fist full of those clams around in a beach bucket and mom got worried that we were killing them. We buried Michael in the sand. I made him into a beautiful mermaid! The girls made his boobs a little lopsided though…
I finally manned up and jumped into the ocean. I ended up staying there for a very long time. Michael and I vowed not to not go home tan so we rebelled against the SPF 90 and went bare. Ow.
When we left the beach, Myself, Michael, my sister, and the girls went in the same car because we wanted to get home for our lives to pick back up on Monday. Mom didn’t have to work until Tuesday, so she was staying to continue to lay on the beach, dine in fancy restaurants, and visit the bar. She cried as she saw us off, telling us she loved us. Oh mummy. I love you. Well ten minutes down the road she calls to tell us that she is coming home! Poor momma couldn’t even last an hour by herself. Eventually when we made it home and myself to my dorm, she called and told me that she doesn’t want me to leave.
You see, Michael and I had originally planned on moving to Atlanta after school so that Michael could take advantage of a business opportunity. That fell through, so we are probably going to be staying near home. My mom thought she could be independent; that she wouldn’t need any of us. We need each other, and that’s perfectly alright.

Peace, Love, and Pudd'n Pops
AMZ

Did that noodle really just come out of my face?

The heat has been turned off in my dorm room, but the air has not been turned on yet. If you turn on the vent it will dump out warmer than desired stale air that only makes the fact that it is at least 85 in our rooms worse. So, because it is better to suffer together than apart, I am hiding in a friend’s room. I intended to work on an English paper…but since I have forgotten my flash drive with my prewriting on it, and because it is all the way down the hall and down one flight of stairs, I have decided just to update le blog. Okay, so it isn’t that far away, but it is hotter than Dante’s Inferno in this place and moving just makes it so much worse. Opening the windows solves nothing because of the pollen blizzard that is blowing around outside. I could make a pollen angel or pollen man out of this crap.

Michael’s brother accidently let it be known how much money Michael has in the bank. To his brother, this wasn’t a big deal. To Michael is was a tragedy. To myself, I finally found how much money is in the engagement fund. Trust me people, it was something for me to be excited about.

I enjoyed my Easter Sunday. I didn’t get gifts or go on an egg hunt. I just spent the day with my mom. We ate a small dinner of mashed potatoes, turkey loin, deviled eggs, carrots, and corn. We had a bottle of wine, and some pudding pie for dessert. I suppose what I enjoyed the most about it was that I spent two hours at the kitchen table talking to her and enjoying myself. We talked about marriage and weddings (her previous one and my…impending one). We talked of futures, of family, of finances.
It was pretty swell.

Speaking of hilariously painful happenings, Friday I committed myself to working in my room. I skipped the campus food and went for a college classic: Ramen. So here I am, slurping ramen (from my RAMEN BOWL!) and watching tv. Cough. Choke. Gag. Then I am okay again. Except…my nose is on fire. Ten minutes later I try to purge my face of this demon pain. Wam Bam—I blew a noodle out of my nose! It hurt like hell, but it was fantastically hilarious. So much that I took a picture of said demon noodle and sent it to Michael.

Anyhoozles, I have to go and be collegiate.

Peace, Love, and Pudd’n Pops,
AMZ

Oh Shit…that’s a massive spider

I am sitting on the green today. It’s crazy nice outside right now. It smells like freshly cut grass, and it is cool enough to sit out because the dew is still evaporating. The children are running around playing games, which I love, because the sound of children laughing makes me love I dunno, being alive. It definitely sets off the baby clock. “Must. Have. BABIES.” at least that’s what I think it’s saying. Of course then my common sense jumps in like, “oh shit no, you’re finishing college and getting married first.” Oh yeah. College and marriage first.

This is a horse. Made of potatoes. My friend sculpted this beast.

In a couple of weeks, there will be a program called Project Hair Care. It’s all about getting your hair cut and donated to make wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer. I decided that after two years of growing my hair out, this is the best thing to put it towards. Besides, the warm weather has rolled around and I’m aching for a pixie cut. And also, I’m sick and damned tired of my showers being taken up by hair washing. I mean I am in the shower for ten to fifteen minutes, and at least two-thirds of it is gone to washing my hair. No way man.
I thought about how this may affect my relationship with Michael. I mean, I will look a little like a boy. That always seems to be a topic of conversation among some men. How they wouldn’t like their girls anymore because they look like “guys” or “lesbians.” Think about it in the reverse. Would you love your clean cut guy if he had longer hair than you? Hint: I wouldn't. GAG. Ah but here’s the catch about that: cutting my hair won’t magically turn me into a man, nor will I be transformed into a lesbian. So, because I will be exactly the same as I was before, only much more aerodynamic and efficient when it comes to showering. It would be more like...a breeze enhancement device. I don’t have anything to worry about. I can’t wait actually, because I know it is such a great cause. I will be making some woman very happy somewhere.

I will have to finish this later. Much to my dismay, the green doesn’t have bathrooms (though that’s actually a very good thing). So my bladder is crazy full. Plus there is a massive spider on my computer. God know whether or not it was crawling all over me before it decided to crawl on the computer…

Peace, Love, and Pudd’n Pops
AMZ

Free Muffins and People Watching

I had a nice night tonight. I finished a homework assignment that I had been nagging myself to do all week. It only took me a few hours to do too.

After I finished my homework, Michael and I went to Starbucks to hang out. That was cool, because the lady at the counter gave us a bunch of muffins and scones that were left over like I used to do at Panera at night.

Michael and I have a pretty good relationship. We don't argue often, and when we do, it is mostly because we both want to be right about something, regardless of what the topic is. He is there for me when I need him, which I love, because as much as I hate to admit it, I've really needed him sometimes. Especially those times when I have been too proud to ask. We're...I don't know...real. That's it. We're just real with each other. There are no secrets, there are no doubts, there are no lies. I mean, so real I expect this man to tell me when I have a booger or something. He has this belief that when you are with the right person, you become one entity. I don't mean like an alien creature or something...or a super saiyin fusion (Only the coolest of kids will get that one). I mean something that transcends a signature on a marriage contract, or even a lavish ceremony of some sort. It is much simpler than that. It's just...togetherness. We like to people watch together. I know that sounds rude...and very creepy, but if we see something in public worth sneaking a snicker at, we don't have to tell each other about it. We both just know. I honestly believe I will kick myself in the ass for the rest of my life if I don't marry him.

I found out that I am going to be an RA next year. That means that I will have an important position on campus, and most importantly, I won't be able to talk shit about people I don't like. Not that I allow myself to do that much anyway. I have always preferred to take the mature route and just let you get what's coming to you anyway, but damn have I entertained the thought of just letting some people know how I really feel about them, and what kind of person they really are. But hey, I wouldn't want to be that girl.

Sgt Pepper, my lonely betta fish (oh yeah.), is staring at me with a hopeful look in his little fish eyeballs. I'd like to think it's because he loves me. I mean, he wags his tail when I come near him! But I know it is really because he is hungry. He eats too damn much anyway. "Feed me you whore!" He shouts silently. Sgt Pepper, don't call people whores. That's rude.

I bought a Nerf over-the-door basket ball hoop. I adore it. I added it to the collection to go with the awesome Nerf gun that Morgan gave to me. You can see I had a toy-limited childhood. I'm going crazy over foam darts. Forget you guys. You'd go crazy over it too if you knew it had a laser on it and pretended to snipe inanimate objects across the room. I killed the microwave the other day. It's okay though, that bastard deserved it.

Anywho. I'm probably mouthing off too much. It's 130 in the morning and I am full of benadryl and antibiotics.

Peace, Love, and Pudd'n Pops

Bagels and Lazy Dogs

I am sitting in the terrace at school eating a bagel and blogging. I don't have class until 1:30 this afternoon. Ahh, I love college. I have a netbook now, so I am taking my blog mobile instead of writing it in my dorm room that faces main street, or a computer lab full of clicking keys and beeping cell phones.

I have had this feeling for the past few days that I need to take advantage of all of the amazing things that are happening to me lately. Like my amazing friends. I started coming out of my shell this semester and there have been a handful of awesome people waiting for me when I got there. I am starting to have more fun being random than usual and I love it.

It snowed the other day...sort of. It was more like snow cone slush dumping from the sky, but Jenn and Miranda and I had fun walking around in it for a while. Why are South Carolinians so intrigued by snow? Well, I guess the most obvious reason would be because it NEVER happens here. Because it never happens here, we are pretty psyched about it :) Snow is an amazing occurrence in nature,to me, because it is white, and pure, and fluffy. It can fall on you quietly and gently, and you can pat it off of yourself without getting wet. That's my favorite part. I love the rain too. The sound, the smell, the everything. Except I don't love the feeling of wet jeans or soggy hair. So snow has the best parts of rain without the soggy parts.

My cousin (sort of :P) Casey has started his own blog recently. I have to tell you, that kid has a passion for politics that overshadow most people his age. He is only seventeen, but he has prettymuch figured out where he lies on the political spectrum. I'm so proud! ='D

I have made an amazing discovery this past week: Skype. I am now officially frustrated with Michael simply because I have web-chatted with him every day this week. He actually just finished reading my blog for the first time in a while. Gawrsh. I'm embarrased to know that some people read this nonsense.

Michael's dog Blaze said hi to me while Michael was AFK. (Blaze said, "Yeah, he takes up all of the room in my bed.")

Spring Break starts tomorrow afternoon. I am excited. (Can't you tell?). I don't have plans to go to Daytona and take my top off like the others. I am just going to stay home and relax because, well, I deserve it. I am going to sit around in my jammies, hang out with Michael and our families, and do some work around the house. I am going to, for the most part, ignore my homework. I am probably going to try to do it all this afternoon. I may try to spend some time with my much neglected friends from back home too.

Tomorrow I will find out whether or not I get a certain job. I am hopeful, because my backup plann of going to D.C. seemed to have crashed and burned on me earlier this week. It's either this, or some sort of drastic money-making scheme.

This is it for now

Peace, Love, and Pudd'n Pops