It's hot and humid and I hate it. My LEAST favorite time of year. I'm only okay with this hot weather if I'm in a pool. 

It never helps that for the past EIGHT years, I've moved right at the end of July. Which is horrid. And stressful. And I HATE that I keep having to ask my family and friends to help me move. So, July and August rolls around I'm probably not the most pleasant person. My temper is short and my already low amount of patience decreases further. 

And ya know what? People are annoying me. The people who I can read daily on Twitter is low. It's not  my friends or bloggers I love that are the culprits. It's those other people. Local acquaintances or general strangers. People complain (I'm doing it in this very blog entry) and that's fine to a certain extent. But it's when you complain ALL the time or you complain for the attention you get on my nerves. It's also an entirely other issue to just straight up attack people or entities because it's not your style of music or that's just not your thing. Let it be. And to simply state "I'm opinionated" really is just an excuse to be an asshole. 

So, are you being an asshole today? 

Pointless "debates': something already taking up too much of our time

I don't like the idea of abortion, but people trying to control someone's personal decision drive me crazy.

Republicans who make abortion their number one voting priority drive me crazy. People who think we should deregulate political donations or the financial industry or because it interferes with the liberty and freedom (even if our children grow up to be ignorant and contribute nothing to society because we won't fund schools) because it was what our nation was founded on, drive me crazy. 

Osama Bin Laden believed America should be punished so he orchestrated a plot to fly planes into our buildings but that doesn't make his actions justifiable. You can believe  abortion is wrong but that doesn't make it RIGHT. And for God's sake let's try and EDUCATE and FEED and CLOTHE the people we have on our planet now. Stop trying to force your beliefs on everyone else. That's the point of freedom.

happy news and family emotions

My baby sister is getting married!
I am truly excited and am so glad she found such a wonderful fiance. (Honestly, I don't know how he puts up with her! Joking. Mostly.).
She's definitely going to be the sister (between the two of us) who is going to want the big wedding. I'm excited to be able to put my wedding planning skills to use. Well, I hope I do. I've always been the bossy older sister but if there is one thing I've learned about weddings, it's that the wedding should be about the people getting married and what they want. Not what everyone else wants. So hopefully, if nothing else, I impart that wisdom on her. Our mom, I'm sure, will get overly involved. I might event get a little pushy. I hope she doesn't let us.
Might you be thinking my next point would be to belabor the point that my younger sister is getting married before me? Nope. Don't need to. She's been with her boyfriend fiance! for four years and while I thought I would have been married by now, I honestly don't feel that pressure. I did that four (and a half) year degree thing which kind of takes a toll on earning money and actually being an adult. I've had a few years and have gotten over, gotten used to, accepted the amount of bills I owe. And other than financially struggling with bills, I'm happy. Lawrence is wonderful, I know a new job will come my way at some point and I've got a move to an awesome house with an amazing boyfriend.
Life is good. And I know my sister had been ready to start planning a wedding (and have babies) so I'm glad her and her fiance are now on the same page.

Other weekend highlights. I didn't go to Des Moines this weekend despite my mom's birthday on Saturday and Father's Day on Sunday. My mom was having a hard time over the weekend. She's crazy excited about Alli and Nick getting engaged but she had her first Father's Day since my grandpa died. Why do I know this? My dad told me. My dad and mom are divorced. They still get along - mostly- as long as my dad doesn't act like a jackass towards me ore my sister (it's been known to happen). My dad told me all this last evening when I called him to wish him a Happy Father's Day. He's gotten a bit emotional over the past year. Turning 50 maybe had something to do with it. I think his youngest daughter's engagement and his eldest daughter moving in with a boyfriend probably doesn't help. I also haven't been back to Des Moines since February and my has taken to telling lies: she hasn't seen me since December when we were back from Christmas? Not true Mom, not true.

Anyway, I feel bad not being back recently but since they're planning on visiting me at the end of July (to help with the move) I think we can all just relax until then. I hope so, at least!

Happy summer to all!

loud noises

"You're not dressed very gangster."

With a skeptic look on my face, I glanced at Phil as I settled into the passenger's seat of his car. "Do you think I own anything that is gangster?" I asked. (I grew up in the suburbs of Des Moines, Iowa and now live in Lawrence, Kansas; a town best described as hipster).

"I've seen you wear one or two things," he replied.

I didn't end up changing so I was wearing my Gap shorts (What? it was really hot!) and pink cardigan to the Bone Thugs 'N' Harmony concert last night. If I wasn't going to come close to "gangster" why even try? "Polar opposite" seemed more hilarious anyway.

After dinner, we made our way to The Granada. Phil has been a "Bone" fan for awhile and had mentioned earlier in the week that he wanted to go. I didn't realize until the next day that he wanted me to go with him. He was going to buy tickets, so why not? I don't go to enough concerts and we had no plans anyway.

On Friday, Lawrence.com's Twitter account was giving away tickets. Thanks to Wikipedia, I was able to answer a trivia question and win two tickets. (I may be reviving my Twitter contest winning streak I started two years ago. I won tickets for a country concert at The Granada and Mat Kearney tickets at The Beaumont Club as well as some free food. Most recently I wont VIP seats at The Dole Institute's lecture with Bob Woodward; a lecture that was my perfect mix of geekdom. Politics AND Journalism. Swoon.)

Lonely Hearts Club opened and for not being much of a rap fan, I enjoyed their performance. They also had various other (local, I think) rappers including Steddy P w G-Train (I only know this because of The Granada's website, for serious).

By the time Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony started there was more smoke inside The Granada then I had experienced since Lawrence's smoking ban in '04. But when the performers themselves aren't abiding by city rules, I don't think you can expect to control the habits of 1,000 or so fans.

I don't think I moved through the whole first song. During the openers, it was impossible not to move a bit to the beat. But this? This was LOUD. Not only could I feel the speakers, there was enough sound for my ear drum to be pulsing continuously.

After three songs, Phil motioned and we moved from the front area of the venue and went all the way behind the bar, close to the doors. Phil was disappointed that the acoustics were so bad. It did not need to be that loud and the feedback was bad. I was glad it wasn't just me. We stayed for a few more minutes but Phil decided we didn't need to stay.

Which is worse?

Is it worse to LIKE something because it IS popular?

OR

Is it worse to NOT LIKE something because it is popular?


Either way, your opinion is based on the opinions on other people thus, not your own. You are still trying to project an image. Either that you "fit in" what a lot of people are talking about to portray a certain image or you don't like it because you don't want to like what EVERYONE else is liking in order to portray a certain image.

Either way, are you happy?!

Online Groupon Deal - wall decals!

From what I can tell, you can get this anywhere, even though the deal is based in Des Moines.

$15 for $30 worth of wall decals (I LOVE these things!)


If you sign up via my referal link (above) and make a Groupon purchase, I get Groupon credit. :)

summer music

There's certain music that just IS summer for me. Dave Matthews, Kings of Leon, Kenny Chesney. 


And when the summer comes
The river swims at midnight
Shiver cold
Touch the bottom, you and I,
with muddy toes





You can hear the cries from the carnival rides,
The pinball bills, skee ball slides,
Watching the summer sun fall out of sight,
There's a warm wind coming in from off of the ocean
Making its way past the hotel wall to fill the streets







What a night for a dance, you know I'm a dancing machine.
With a fire in my bones, and the sweet taste of kerosene,
I get lost in the light, so high I don't wanna come down,
To face the loss of the good thing that I had found.