it feels so good when he sticks it in my ear.

That’s what my best good friend Ariel has to say about an otoscope.

VERY funny at dinner. Even more amusing when taken completely out of context. Those people at Waraji must have thought we were bonkers. And Michael? He totally knows how to take a joke far far too far. But of course we all joined in.

And, I learned some new things during this convo. 1. Ariel hates earwax. 2. no one else really cares for it either. 3. Michael likes to clean out both of his ears with qtips at the same time! Weirdo.

SO, anyhoo, my birthday day was SPECTACULAR!!!

I got flowers from my two best friends. And it was so neat--it just so happened that the florist put three yellow roses and three white daisies in the arrangement--esp. cool since there's three of us, the yellow roses mean friendship and white daisies are our favorite. :)

I got the supercool picture I bought in the mail. (ps, totally go check out her art it’s incredible!) can't wait to hang it up!

And then I got sushi and presents! My friends are the awesomest. Thanks for making a potentially sucky birthday not suck at all! Thanks for the cupcakes and the phone messages and the flowers and the presents and the cards and the sushi and the FUN. And I know there’s more birthday things arriving in the mail soonish. Yippee!

Also, this is good lipgloss. technically lip jelly--more like lipgloss in chapstick form. yum!

And I’m so buying this shirt, which I found because I checked out the other flavors of lipgloss one because I liked that one so much already. isn't it cute?

ooh, and? tonight is LOST. and it's wednesday so that means art day! which I may just have to celebrate today. I've had a painting stuck in my head, and I want to get going. But only if I'm a good girl and watch my lecture first!

also, it's really weird that all of the constant parts of my daily life are in flux--my office is new, my lab is moving, and I'm moving around my bedroom, too. that's an awful lot of changes all at once!

and a clarification about the number 26--it's the only number that is sandwiched exactly between a square and a cube (5 squared is 25, 3 cubed is 27). make more sense now?

rude awakening

so, what gives?

today I have a new office in a new building and I'm packing up to move to the new lab.  I'm in the process of relocating my belongings in my home as well--moving them all upstairs!

and then, despite all of these changes in my daily routine I am still further hassled...by waking up to the beeping of my smoke detector--not going off, but because the battery died.  gah!

twenty six.

is the ONLY number that is between a square and a cube.

word on the street is that there's not another like it. and this pleases me immensely!

oh, and ps? one should not have to move oodles of gas cylinders on one's birthday. there should be a law or something.

and pps--I told my mom about this last night, and she laughed, and told me she liked that I was going to go from being a square to being a cube this year. and about how I was adding a dimension. seemed funnier at the time...

a quote for my birthday

courtesy of my mary engelbreit calendar....

One good wish changes nothing.
One good decision changes everything.
-anonymous

I like it.
Fun weekend! My friends are super-terrific! I'll post more pictures soon--like when I'm not trying to get my office and lab ready to move. But here are the BEAUTIFUL flowers that Sterling sent me on Friday.

What an EXCELLENT way to start my birthday weekend.

And then everyone came to g-loft and george's garage. The service at g-loft was crummy but they gave us a bottle of champagne. I think this pic turned out pretty well.

and here's deb, audrey, ariel and me on the couch--I think we were laughing 'cause Dmitri was such a good photographer...

and here's me getting terry back for the punch in the jaw... ;) He claims I got a punch instead of a spanking. hmmm....

ALSO, exciting news! My bff Jessica is ENGAGED!!! Yippee!

happy Kappa Delta Founders' Day and National Mole Day, peeps. and happy bday to me! thanks for all the well-wishes!

cashiers

pronounced cash-ers. it's in western north carolina, and it's beautiful!

first of all, I'd like to tell you that I WAS ON TIME. As you likely know, this is quite uncommon for me. I'm perpetually late. It's a thing. I can't help it. I am only on time if it's REALLY REALLY REALLY important. Which it was. And I was!

see, on thursday night I got a very yucky headache, and it was making me dizzy. thus, driving to ariel's home and sleeping didn't seem like a brillant plan anymore. so I woke up crazy early and drove to her house to get her. and I was there on time.

ariel and I had a ridiculous amount of fun going there--an adventure of spilling sun-dried tomato pesto in my lap while driving, wrong turns, scary drivers, pink skull headscarves, sonic and gabbing. lots and lots of gabbing. we tried to be good and study some, but it didn't work out as well as we'd hoped. we did, however, develop a team name. GO TEAM CARRIELL! we had a lot of fun decorating the place once we finally arrive. it's amazing what you can do with some wrapping paper and ribbon!

friday night we went out to dinner, and something happened that made me FURIOUS. I'm sitting at dinner, talking to this other girl Mandy, and a guy pulls a chair up to our table. This has been happening all night, no biggie. Well, at some point I leaned over to get something out of my purse, and apparently my jeans were sitting a little low. And not only did this guy have the nerve to point it out, he actually stuck out his finger and poked my ass!!! Let me tell you, I do wish I'd actually slapped him in the face. I did slap his hand and chew him out, and he left after that (and after telling me to grow up, which is ridiculous, because he's the one hitting on girls twelve-fifteen years younger than him). other than this incident, we had a most excellent time at dinner--it was scrumptious and the wine was delish! and this little girl danced for us, and we sang happy birthday to "pop" the man at the table next to us with his children and grandchildren. good times.


saturday, tho. saturday was brutal, at least in the am. my tummy wasn't feeling so happy when I woke up (and likely I was just exhausted--from the um, lessee, 4 plus...carry the one...oh yeah, like 14 hours of sleep I'd gotten in the past three nights) but I took some pepto and off we went...to CLIMB. A. FRIGGIN. MOUNTAIN. And by climb, I mean run up at a blindingly speedy pace. About 2/3 of the way up I couldn't handle just stopping for a minute. I needed to sit and rest, or I was going to spew. And there was no Garth to say, "if you're gonna spew, spew into this." So, thank goodness the brilliant Ariel sent the rest of the crowd on their merry way and we sat down and took it slowly. Amazingly we made it to the top, despite having to go up a few sections like this:
that, my friends, is a rock face. it might look lame here, but it was a bit more intense in person, and even worse with an ailing tummy. but getting to the top was soooo worth it. see?

next, after our not-as-miserable, but-still-hard-on-the-knees trek down, we went and had pizza! and walked around in highlands! and saw bridal veil falls!

and came home. because we were tired.and saturday evening was a superb combo of cranium, spring rolls, wine and lingerie. so. much. fun. sunday am we had a quick breakfast, snapped a quick pic and were on our way.

we stopped at the thorpe reservoir

and chugged along--and to make the weekend complete, we listened to "if i was a rich girl," the indigo girls and had olive garden for lunch on the way home. and we got home early-ish. up until this time on sunday, it was a good weekend indeed!

i heart myspace.

Your Brain's Pattern

Your mind is a multi dimensional wonderland, with many layers. You're the type that always has multiple streams of though going. And you can keep these thoughts going at any time. You're very likely to be engaged in deep thought - and deep conversation.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

I mean, it's full of all sorts of stuff and people and thoughts from all over the place. And it has quizzes like this. silly, perhaps. but that doesn't mean I don't seriously dig myspace.

as a potential renter, would you rather...

see rent listed as a lump sum or as an amount plus half of utilities?

whoa.

last night I dreamed about my face peeling. like, you know how sometimes you get those sunburns and huge sheets of skin peel off? Or, you know those clear face masks that peel off in sheets? It was like that.

it's the first dream I've remembered in a while.

and whoa.

from dreammoods...

Face

To see your own face in your dream, denotes the persona you choose to show to the world as oppose to the real you. It may refer to confrontations and your willingness to deal with problems and issues in your life.

To dream that you face is flawed or pimply, represents erupting emotions. You may have suffered an attack on your persona or your reputation.

Peel

To dream that you are peeling something, represents the shedding away of old ways, habits and conditions. It may also mean that you are finally getting rid of and discarding unneeded exterior pretenses.

um, odd. definitely odd, considering.

On another topic--anyone ever been to albuquerque before? Jessica, Renee and I are thinking about going there for our ten year friendiversary. Guess we need to get each other presents of tin/aluminum or diamond jewelry. :)

tired of being a statistic.

I mean, we're always going to fall under some type of a statistic, right? I understand that. But seriously?!? Tired.

I'm already 25 and divorced. (And for your high-horse, up-on-a-pedestal, you-gave-up-too-soon people, you cannot be further from the truth. I hate it when people label others pathetic for getting a divorce. Sometimes that applies, but not in my case. Trust me. Anyhoo. Tirade over.) And now I fall into another statistic--'cause Otto and I are no longer a couple, as of a little while ago. been trying to find a way to type it, but it's kind of hard to see it all written out. don't like to air my dirty laundry on my blog, y'know? anyhoo.

sigh.

and yes, I'm fine, and no, I'm not going to blog all about it. If you want juicy details, there aren't any. And if you want to know the story anyway, you'll ask, and likely I'll tell. I'm not bitter about it, I'm just bitter about the judgement that some people will have about it. It pisses me off. And it's not nice to say things like, "yeah, well, it's not like we weren't expecting this to happen." Because, well, no matter how you meant them, they're hurtful.

Anyhoo. Think this is it. Prolly for the best, but it still hurts. Happier post soon, I'm sure.

tonight, I'm going to look at furniture 'cause a store that sells cute stuff is closing. I have zero idea how expensive said cute items are, so we'll see how it goes.

(RED)

have you heard about this? absolutely incredible. we should ALL participate in this.

buy a shirt? make a difference.
buy some shoes? make a difference.
buy a watch? make a difference.
use an amex? make a difference.

by doing the kind of thing you just might have been doing already.

who i am.

this weekend this song really "spoke" to me. especially the bold parts.

who i am.
-jessica andrews

If I live to be a hundred
And never see the seven wonders
That'll be alright
If I don't make it to the big leagues
If I never win a Grammy
I'm gonna be just fine
Cause I know exactly who I am

I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done my momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends that love me
And they know just where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am

So when I make a big mistake
And when I fall flat on my face
I know I'll be alright
Should my tender heart be broken
I will cry those teardrops knowing
I will be just fine
Cause nothing changes who I am

I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done my momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends that love me
And they know just where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am

I'm a saint and I'm a sinner
I'm a loser; I'm a winner
I am steady and unstable
I'm young, but I am able

I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done my momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends that love me
And they know where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am

I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done my momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends that love me
And they know where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am
That’s who I am

stressed out

you know how sometimes you need a run-on sentence to describe all of the things that are the matter with your day? that's how I feel. at least it involved sushi and good music.

if only I could finish these damn excel spreadsheets so I can go out of town this weekend! yeesh!

on a happier note, I got my hair did. I like it. Might make it a little redder, just for kicks. heck, why not, right? we'll see. this pic makes it look a little more red than it actually is, but oh well.

oh, and a joke.
what are the only two things a chemical engineer can be certain of?
death and texas.

oh, what punny joy! also, watch out for sterling gates, that boy is trying to be the male version of me! well, sorta. same car, but he's got the 5 door and I have the 4 door. same wallet, but different colors. same fave band. used to have the same cell phone. and now he's buying black chuck taylors! if he dyes his hair reddish and buys a pink backpack, it's on!

and check out andrew bird. i like his stuff and his lyrics are clever.

and while smiling have spoken my name.

ten cool points if you know the name/words/something identifying about the title. hint: it's part of hymn.

'cause sunday I joined Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church. It's the first church I've joined all by myself, and up until yesterday I was a member at Trinity in Oklahoma, which, clearly, made attending difficult.

I'm really excited! It worked out nicely too, since after church they had a how-you-can-get-involved science-fair-style thing in the fellowship hall. I'd love to join the choir, but since they have two services I'm not so sure I want to--I'm not keen on being there for two services every Sunday. I did sign up for more info for that, though, and I'm also looking at joining the bell choir since they don't play as often. We'll see.

and, fun stuff? I got a PG-UMC coffee mug full of candy, a PC-UMC sticker AND a PC-UMG cookbook. I made out like a bandit. :) Some of the recipes look pretty yummy, and if they are I'll share.

and THEN I got to go to Uno's, and THEN Katie and began cutting the strips for my quilt. I think it's going to be beautiful. We both really really like the fabric. I had fun talking to her, comparing our cukes and having tea--in the british fashion. Very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to more quilt work soon! It's therapeutic!

oh, and now is as good a time as any to tell the mother teresa thing from a few weeks ago. so, I went to hear this speaker for NWFD--molly barker from girls on the run. she was talking about girls and self esteem, and how at some teen-ish ages girls start being more concerned about "fitting in" and what's "cool," and less interested in pursuing their hopes and dreams and passions and skills. and these girls deny a skill or ability or dream or idea they have-they stop raising their hand in class, stop being confident and start being self-conscious. and this program is all about not doing that. they encourage the girls to do what they can do, to excel, to dream to reach for the stars...and to realize that when you're doing what your meant to do, THEN you will be the most beautiful.

and that's when she brought up mother teresa.

it seemed to molly (and I think a lot of people would agree with her) that mother teresa did what she was *supposed* to do. and she noticed that when people saw/talked about mother teresa, no one was thinking "ew, she's old." or "my, she needs botox." or "goodness, she could lose a few pounds." No, all they saw was how beautiful she was, how wonderful and strong and true, because mother teresa was being mother teresa. she was embracing who she was, and she was using the gifts that she had been given.

it really hit me when she pointed that out--because it's so true. and what an excellent perspective.

oh my fur and whiskers!

check this out!

on saturday it took seven and a half hours and five phone calls to get our dv-r delivered. We were "supposed" to have a four-hour delivery window, and Otto got up at 8am to wait for the guy. I'm calling his supervisor today, actually. when we played imaginiff on saturday at the merritt's my annoyance at the cable guy made otto choose to describe me as "grouchy as a bear" instead of the other five options--the most popular ones were "proud as a peacock" and "sly as a fox."

here’s otto driving like a granny on the way to the merritt’s…

and while at the home of the lovely merritts and after eating some delish food (including my pumpkin pie!) ariel realized she'd forgotten to give us the bread. she offered to give some to everyone to take home. she split the loaf between audrey and me, giving audrey the half in the bag and me, well, just the bread. no bag. no saran wrap. no ziplock. no nothing. which required picture taking...

so, back the the dv-r thing--y'see, I got so annoyed at the cable fellow because, I had something to do on Saturday. I wanted to enter that picture in the state fair competition. And I did--with about nine minutes to spare. Since they wanted good NC scences I was going to enter my "a breath of fresh air at oregon inlet" photo--the one of the shell with the ocean behind it. HOWEVER, Target's one hour printing of an 8x10 is pathetic, and I had to come up with another plan quick. But I'm quite glad I did, 'cause I entered this one. And imho it looks FANTASTIC! with the white mat and the black frame. Next week Otto and I are going to the fair to see my competition--it will be judged by the end of the week. The only crummy part is that since I didn't mail it in I have to go pick it up--on my birthday--between 8am and 4pm. Which means I'll have to work late that day to make up the time, if I do end up working that day..we'll see.

anyhoo.

there's only one problem with the photo submission, though. I kind of filled out the form twice--once for the pic I submitted and once for the shell one. and I kind of got 'em mixed up and didn't realize it until I was home . which means that my current pic is submitted under the wrong name...oopsie. oh well. they aren't judging the name, right?!? can I blame that on the cable guy? hmmm...

oh, and one more exciting photo thing. on friday I had lunch with a prof at ncstate who is also a photographer. I met him in april at the pca-nc event and I went to his show last month. we talked about grad school and photography, and he told me about an organization here and a new art store for me to check out, and said that he'd introduce me to some of his gallery contacts once I put together a portfolio. when I got back to work I emailed him my website, and here's what he had to say..."SH!T. You are damn good. What are you buying my junky flower photos for??? Your site looks great too! I've changed my mind, I am NOT going to introduce you to any of my gallery contacts;)!" it totally made my day. if you want to check out his stuff, it's at gorgaphotography.com. his website is still under construction, so just click on photos and you'll see 'em. anyhoo, happy carrie.

vodka, anyone?

so, last week as I'm watering my plants, noticing how the basil is looking a little peaked and how there are about to be a bunch of ripe hot peppers and I see it! this watermelon growing in the bushes! somehow I'd never managed to notice it before--but it there, growing and nicely green! earlier this summer I was disappointed that my little tiny watermelon was a attacked by the squash bugs, who were kind enough to decimate my zucchini before moving on to my pumpkin (which I rescued) but for some reason they skipped over this guy.

now, I realize it's october. and this is a watermelon. and the two don't really mix.

unless vodka is involved...

oh and ps? word to the wise. don't use vanilla vodka to spike a watermelon. it might sound like it could be bearable--after all, how strong is that vanilla flavor, really...? strong enough. the kind of strong where you eat a bunch of said spiked watermelon in hopes of shutting down your tastebuds, and you just might end up very drunk with your friend ariel, easily coerced into finishing off the rest of that same vanilla vodka and having a very hung over fifth of july...

blah.

Watched LOST last night--How strange, strange, strange. At least now we know where the polar bear in season one comes from, potentially. I thought the beginning was a Henry Gale flashback. Tonight I’m going to the amex thing to see what that says. I'm so so annoyed that there are only six episodes before the break until Feb. Yikes!

so there's mysteries and premiere info on cnn now--on c-n-n!!!

and today was on of those mornings where I didn't want to wear anything I owned. well, that's not 100% true. what I really wanted to wear was my white tshirt. all by itself. it's a skosh thin, but certainly not too thin to wear in public unless I didn't wear a bra. however, for work, it most certainly IS too thin to wear by itself. and since a significant portion of my clothes need to be given to goodwill 'cause they're too short in length, I was left trying to find something to wear that 1) didn't reveal my midsection when I shrugged or moved, 2)could be worn with my new kicks and 3) had long or at least 3/4 sleeves 'cause it tends to be cold in my building. it wasn't a fun morning.

But I’m fully and appropriately clothed, and that’s swell. also, I'm extremely tired. I'm getting 7.5-8 hours of sleep a night--what gives?

Time for ½ price sushi lunch even though I really should be watching a lecture…

is it friday yet?

my very own pony--now I don't need one for my birthday!

this was weird last time. hopefully it works now.

our night at beefmastor--better late than never.

Create Your Own!

I think the slide show says PLENTY, other than recounting our tales of the drunk doctor who was flirting with his wife's single best friend all night, me shamelessly promoting my photos to her when she was telling us about her PR and artsy job, Otto getting drunker and drunker and drunker and the sh*t Michael got from the waiter for having gone to Clemson--they could tell because of our koozies. It was a very very good time--well, until the next day at least. Michael even cooked us breakfast!

na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na

'cause we just need a little controversy.

and that, sterling my sweet, is the eminem reference. not yours. note the spelling. thanks for the idea though. made me laugh so hard I cried.

oh, and also...hum dei la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la

"because that's the way we roll."

-jessica a. hargrove

thank goodness for good friends. and cell phones with unlimited weekend minutes. and chai.

also, sometimes boys are idiots. that's the fact of the matter. girls are idiots sometimes too, sure, but boys take the idiot cake. with a side of idiot icecream.

eh.

anyhoo.

I'm quite pleased to say that this was an EXCELLENT weekend for shopping. And it's getting all fall-like in NC, and I'm enjoying that immensely. It's so funny how the seasons here compare to OK--we get a little hotter and a little colder in Tulsa, but the hottest and coldest seasons last longer in OK than NC, it seems to me.

Tulsa has shorter springs and falls with longer summers and winters, where NC's summers and winters only have the intense heat/cold for a month and maybe a little change.

And, I LOVE LOVE LOVE October.

because it's my birthday month.
and it's kaydee's founding month.
and it has national mole day.
and it's time for pumpkin pie.
and pumpkin bread.
and halloween.
and costumes.
and pumpkin carving.
and it might get cold enough to use my down comforter.
and I get to put mums on my doorstep.
and hot chocolate, chai and cider come into season.
and there are special beers just for this month!
and the leaves start to change.
and all sorts of cool people have birthdays this month (some cooler than others, mind you!)
and you can wear corduroy and tall boots and scarves.
and I get to go to Ikea (I think).
and it begins my travels--to the outer banks, richmond, mathews, los angeles, potentially charleston, oklahoma and potentially houston too.
and it's time for candy corn and those pumpkin candies.
and it's the right temp for hoodie sweatshirts.
and baked potato soup.

and I love love love love love October. LOVE it.

so enjoy the first Monday in October. :)

and, in other exciting news, my pumpkin that I grew is turning orange. I'm HOPING it will be ready to carve by Saturday...we shall see.

it's not a huge one--it's smaller than a basketball--but I like it.