"i mean, what, were they frying chicken in the next room?"

~shelby

okay, so. I've been in Oklahoma for roughly sixty hours now and I've taken....oh...four hundred forty plus pictures. That's seven pictures an hour. Except if you take out the time I've been sleeping, well....that's a lot of pictures per hour. Yikes!

I'm not sure I really have time to tell you all about the things I've done--or the liberty to do so--but some key words and pictures and phrases are as follows:

penis mints--"oh, these are big!"
the one with the ________.
pink pink pink
so, I'm gonna ask y'all to do something really raunchy
wanna dance?
mmmm...sushi.
and "oh, I have been here before."

so far I've:
thrown/attended jessica's bachelorette
eaten at sonic. and big al's. and chimi's. and had sushi.
attended a wedding with my granny (and got to see lots of people I know, some less than I would've liked)
gone to dinner with jackie and shelby
been solicited/propositioned by a man holding a bachelor party
gotten my very own caravan cattle company cup
two stepped (and twirled. I love the twirling part. thank you for the head-snap, ballet!)
slept on a twin bed (I can't even remember if I've done that since college!)
met a set of twins
gone to woolaroc
been at my fave intersection
gone to TU and saw all the crazy new stuff!
seen real life buffalo, a baby donkey and its mama and aided in saving a turtle
and other stuff.
and now I'm about to go bowling. (note: I still refuse to say "fixin' to.")

tomorrow should be a little more low-key. :)

so, pictures. and then I must bid you adieu.

yay, blogger cooperated for the rest!

that doesn't leave much time for dilly-dallying.

[jessica] is marry' [cody] in a little less than [two weeks]. So all [I] have to do is get in, [enjoy] the wedding, [have a bachelorette party for] the princess, make [my] escape... after I kill Count Rugen.

'cept for that count rugen part.

life for carrie? h-to-the-ectic. softball today. like, twice. workity-work-work. packing. preparing. wrapping presents for jessica that I so so so want to tell y'all about 'cause they're HILARIOUS 'cept then she might read it and that would be no fun, no fun at all.

last night Matt and I ate cookout for dinner and I learned a few things.
1. it is possible to burn your tongue on french fries.
2. hazel understands the beauty of perfect timing. that cat has some mad skills. perhaps in another life she was a comedian.
3. the prestige is a good movie (for reals go rent it!)
4. oreo mint shakes are far superior to mint chocolate chip ones. we had a taste test.
5. my baking skills are akin to my calculus skills. I can make lemon meringue and pumpkin pies from scratch, but I am really awesome at burning pillsbury in-a-roll chocolate chip cookies. likewise, throw some complicated green's theorem or whatever at me, and I can kick its ass, but ask me to take a derivative? not so much.

so a list for y'all...
in the next, oh, let's say 38 hours...
two softball games
another trip to priscilla's
lots of wrapping (and locating boxes in which to wrap said items)
laundry
packing
arrange for a cab
8 hours of work plus the rest of today
a happy hour with the kaydees
a trip to target
more bachelorette setup
finding various power things--cell phone, battery charger, ipod charger, etc
make more lists, I'm sure
talk on the phone
ask jessica question #12,085,679,111
reschedule my doctor appointment
find my jewelry
talk myself out of bringing more pairs of shoes than days I'll be there
confirm the dates I've set
call woolaroc
print out stuff
etc.

note: no wrapped packages on airplanes, peeps! thanks for the heads up sjg. guess I'll be wrapping in tulsa, hmmm?

and speaking of the princess bride, I find this all very interesting.

so, I've a plan and I hope hope hope it'll all come together?
think it'll work?

beers, brothers and a boyfriend.

oooh, AND an engagement! hooray for Renee and Mike! I can't wait to see the ring!!! :)

so, saturday I was bizzzzy with bachelorette stuff, getting games and decor and stuff. and buying makeup of the actually-make-my-skin-look-practically-flawless persuasion. and finding shoes. which I'm not sure if I either love or hate. I need an opinion, but I think it's an in-person kind of thing. they're cute little wedges, I just don't know if they're cute on me!

then my boyfriend matt and I [yes, I said boyfriend. :) ] had some yummy dinner and went to see the avett brothers play. they're a pretty universally-likable type of music--a combo of country, grunge, bluegrass, rock and who knows what else. and anyone who can sing, play the guitar/banjo and play percussion at the same time while incorporating an upright bass, a cello and a violin kinda makes my day.

plus, they put on a gooooooood show. all sorts of dancing and movement and wow. we had fun. and drank a lot of heineken. and had good talks afterwards. :D

and on sunday morning I got a huge compliment. our pastor asked me to stay after church to talk to him for a bit, and he wanted to know if I'd be willing to be one of our three youth leaders. I need more info, and I need to think about it, but it's definitely on my list of things I want to do in life. It was pretty awesome to be asked, though.

also, sunday was three months for matt and me, so we had a little dinner o' celebration--we sat outside on the patio and enjoyed some yummy spicy ranch chicken wraps (thanks for the recipe, katie!) and I made some zabligione that turned out sickly sweet. and he brought me some pretty flowers. cuteness indeed.

i am considering beginning to pack for Tulsa tonight, or at least begin setting out clothes and stuff, 'cept I've yet to look at the weather. maybe I should do that, eh?

my goodness I am sooooooo looking forward to friday!

the hammer.

so, a lot of you know this about me--in pretty much any sport I'm either reallyreallyreally on or reallyreallyreally off. that's how I roll.

on friday the operation: set-up didn't go as we might have hoped, but it WAS a lot of fun. except for the part where I suuuuuuuuuuucked at bowling for the first game. like, got a 46. and and and? I threw the ball backwards. yeah it was awesome, I laughed so hard I cried. good lord.

anyhoodle, we're three frames into the second game (one of which I'd rolled two gutters, go me!) and james says, "alright, it's your turn now, hammer."

and know what? I bowled a strike. I continued bowling strikes and spares for the remaining frames of the game, except for a 9 and an 8. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. I ended up with a very respectable 112, and Matt and I were the best bowlers that game. cool stuff.

here's a blurry picture of me post-game. pity you can't see where he crossed out my name and wrote "the hammer" instead. from now on when I bowl, if I have a say in it, my name will be TH. :)

on the ball.

that's what I am. see?

yeah, those are from last night. we're 4-0, baby! and I hit REALLY REALLY REALLY well. (despite the fact that my stance here looks miiiiiiserable, except I actually blame that on how slow slow slow the ball is coming--I mean, goodness, I knocked one right down the third base line, that's how ahead of the ball I am) and I've got to say, that picture of me catching--hilarious! it's kind of scary playing that position and not having a mask on. except we'd get the cheap mask where you can't see anything. plus I refuse to do that whole rip-the-mask-off-my-face thing like I used to. it just isn't cool unless you're sporting shin-guards and a breastplate thingie and wielding the catchers-glove-o'-doom. :)

and here's the group at amante's--you'll notice that i'm the only girl. they were amused by this. however, I'm also the one who brought the beer!


also, operation: make lists for tulsa is in full swing. i'm going crazy with the listage. i'll take pictures of cute ones, I knooooow you'll love looking at that.

happy weekends and too-da-loos for all.

also, I am addicted to eating this:

and i've really been enjoying eating these foods. I'm glad they're all healthy.

also, sorry if I just made you hungry. :)

this is how a nerd gushes. and babbles. and thinks.

okay, i'm a nerd. but i think this is damn cool. it's part the humanitarian in me. and part the chemical engineer. and part the inventor. and part the former wastewater employee. but i dig it. like a ditch.

also, sad news for nerds everywhere, no more mr. wizard. he's gone to that great big science lab in the sky. :(

I'm starting to really really think about what all it is that I need to bring with me to t-town. I think I'm going to have an embarrassing amount of luggage. But then again, I will be there for nine days, so that's not toooooooo bad if I have kind of a lot, right? I am also nervous about seeing my grandparents. Despite the 6 inch diameter-of-an-apple size tumor my granny has they won't operate until July 2nd, the day AFTER I leave. poor granny.

also, this will show you what a nerd I am--I was quite excited to find that Mattie, my mazda 3, rolled to 33333. Like, so excited I noticed about 27 miles before it happened and waited so I could take a picture. 'cause, y'know, she's a mazda 3. did I mention I love my car? yep, I sure do. also, kinda weird that i've shown you my dashboard twice in such a little time.


tomorrow I am doing something I've never done before--I am participating in a set-up. it is with my friend susan and my co-workers/cube-neighbor's cousin's fiancee's friend ted. I promise it's less complicated than that sentence suggests. we're going to the mellow mushroom and then bowling. I apologized to matt 'cause I realized that we keep.going.to.these.places--this is our fourth time going to the mellow mushroom and also our fourth time going bowling. or is it fifth? I think just fourth. but anyway, he was just "well, it has been almost three months and really? that's not a bad average."

and every time he talks about atlantic city I get more excited about going. people keep telling me I should be nervous, but I'm not, even a little. I get to meet his family, and I get to meet his friend little brother Mario, and I'm going to take pictures in PA too, and I just can't wait. but one trip at a time, carrie. one trip at a time.

this dress? cuteness. i can't wait for it to arrive. sterling helped me pick it out.

oh, and I haven't been blogging 'cause work is running me ragged. and then I have softball. or choir. but I found time today. :)

and thank the good lord in heaven, tomorrow is friday, glorious friday.

down to single digits.

it.
is.
almost.
tulsa.
time.
get.
excited!

I am soooooo looking forward to going to Tulsa. I love it that when I visit it's a whirlwind of activity. like, really really love. So far? (in an order that suits my fancy, but isn't indicative of importance): two weddings, a party, a fancy dinner, a night on the town, a kaydee reunion, some visiting with some high school friends, shopping, woolaroc, missouri, kansas and arkansas, my family, big al's and mazzios and chimi's. I'm sure I'll find time for zio's, too. Ooh, and hobby lobby. And blue bell. And mmmmmmmmm.

thank goodness for this thing to look forward to, else I just might lose my head. work is mkaing me INSANE. like in the membrane, insane in the brain. it's just crazy-ass busy. and today I'll be here until at least seven, maybe later, doing this plating thingie. and i'm not happy about that one.

yesterday wasn't particularly good either. oh, parts were good--sushi with kara, matt coming to my softball game, the really good hit I got, but then? I discovered that both my earring (the hoop I wear in the cartilage of my left ear that no one really sees but I love anyway) and my tickets to the avett brothers show were nowhere to be found. So I went to walmart to get another hoop, and the jewelry counter was closed. This morning stubborn Carrie went to target to try to buy a replacement, only to find target was out, so I had to go to wally world AGAIN. oh, and did I mention I pretty much tore my apartment apart looking for the tickets? at least the people at the box office kindly let me know I could bring in my confirmation email and they'd take care of it that night--yeesh!

also, today, for the first time, i had new...well...answers.com says it's a veggie. my friend and softball cohort johannes made a rhubarb pie last night and brought me a piece. it was very yummy, and he's totally right. it must be eaten outside. it kind of tasted like a cherry pie, but different. and it seems i'm not allergic--yay!


and a request: please try to work the following phrase into your day "fancy meeting you here!" it's quite fun to say. I got to say it today (in jest) and it made me want to use it more often. :)

ps: i am still enjoying my hair. it is so friggin gloriously quick in the morning--spectacular! and I got to wear it in little tiny low pigtails last night, and it was CUTE and I didn't look like I was trying--y'know, 'cause when you're twenty-six and wearing pigtails it often looks just like that. yay for fun easy-to-style bouncy hair!

bara bap bara ra ra bara bap bara ra ra ra...

~the fratellis

soooo.
my hair? is le chopped off.

friday night was a bowling-fun double date with mary alise and michael. i bowled some terrrrrrible games, yeesh. it took until the FOURTH game for me to get a strike. for reals, that's miserable for me. props to Mary Alise though--she did AWESOME, I'm proud of her. and? overall, we tied.

saturday was bizzzzy.

first, the kaydee baby shower for our dear audrey. deb's apartment is geeeorgeous. and we had SO MUCH FUN. it's a pity that my camera died, but frances was there to save the day. :) aren't we cute?

next, after taking misty home i went to the mall. and I left feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders--because it HAD. here I am with the ponytail off--loree cut it a little shorter since the length didn't really matter.

and here's the finished result. i lurrrve it.

then marla and I went shop-shop-shopping. and I bought all sorts of cuteness. and apparently? I'm on a yellow kick. I wanted to buy yellow EVERYTHING, it was kind of over the top. she was so cute though-- every time I was all bouncy with my hair or played with it she gushed. it made my day. and? she encouraged me to buy some cutecutecute shorts, and we found her a hat!

then (and yes, we're STILL on Saturday) Matt and I enjoyed some beer pong. and some time at lucky b's/around the corner. and it was fun. 'cept for the part where I tried to give chris some lady-advice, and matt and chris thought i was bonkers. oh well. i still say I'm at least on the right track. but whatever...i mean, i AM the one that has girl parts, you'd think that would give me credibility!

oh AND it pee-oh-you-are-ee-dee last night. matt and i got SOAKED on our way into bob's apartment. which was, i'm going to guess, ten or twelve steps. good lord.

also, today I bring you another corner of my home--my patio. you saw it featured last year, on this very weekend as a matter of fact, but this time it's even better. today, after brunch at the cracker barrel (or crackel barrel, as matt likes to call it), watching Stormbreaker and going to my church picnic (where some people didn't recognize me at first 'cause of my hair!) I potted. and planted. and arranged my christmas lights outside. pretty, no? i have lots and lots and lots of plants. i may have to make tomato deliveries. and I CANNOT WAIT to make a pizza using my home-grown basil, spinach and tomatoes. it will be yummy. maybe you can come over and enjoy it with me.

and, please stop what you're doing, take your hands away from that mouse/keyboard and give good ol' carrie a little clappity-clap. because it seems she has FINALLY outsmarted her computer and managed to make a DVD burn correctly. I'm going to really really be able to back up all my photos, it's amazing.

alright, bedtime now. hope your weekend was as fun as mine!

one more thing: I never pass up the opportunity to make a pun if I can help it. sometimes in public i let them go, but if it's on my blog? it's fair game. consider this your fair warning. :) (and turner, I mean you, too!)

hair today, gone tomorrow.

so, I make it, what--ten days?--with my brilliant plan.

tomorrow I am getting my hair chopped off. yes, for reals. it's about that time--it's been more than three years since my hair was shorty mac, and I feel the need.

so here's the skinny:

yesterday I'm reading about locks of love. on tuesday while rocking some softball action I kept thinking about how hot my hair was--even just the ponytail on the back of my neck was killer in the 530 June heat of north cack. and i read again about the requirements. and I saw it...no bleached hair.

now, I'd noticed this before, but I was like, my hair's darker, I've never bleached it... au, contraire, mon ami. my hair is darker because I now darken it 'cause I used to highlight it, and know what highlighting is, kids?

bleach.

I read up some more, and it's unfortunately true. they don't use highlighted/bleached hair in wigs at locks of love. So.

1. I don't have to have 10 inches to donate now.
2. I checked with Jessica to make sure that me having short hair at her wedding won't make her wig out (good pun, no?)
3. I'm just going to cut off what I feel like, get a kicky bob and donate the ponytail to locks of love so they can sell it.

and then my neck and head will be hap-hap-happy. And I won't have to deal with having hair so long that sometimes the pieces get stuck in my armpit. And I will still get to help a charity.

and this pleases me.
immensely.

:D

so, here's what i'm thinking...something a little like this. I like the length but I have have HAVE to be able to tuck the pieces behind my ear.

now I'm just going to think about what I'll do with it when I play sports. Maybe rock the 'do in a little-girl-two-ponytail-type fashion? maybe indeed...

mama said there'll be days like this, there'll be days like this my mama said

(mama said, mama said)
~the shirelles

and she was right.

there are a crazy amount of things going on right now.

some good.
some bad.
some sweet.
some sour.

and then the ones that don't fit anywhere.

briefly, I will begin with the not-so-happy.

my grandparents are unwell. again. both at the same time. my grandfather fell and broke his femur and his ankle and who knows what else, and either popped his un-popable fake hip out or broke something in his hip, the details are fuzzy. what i do know is that if they operate on him he will not survive, his heart can't make it. so they're going to try to use the wedge of the bed to set his leg.

and then my granny? she has a six inch long tumor in her color. about the diameter of an apple. she had a blood transfusion just a week and half ago because she was severely anemic, and they believe the two are related.

this is one of those times when I wish I lived closer to tulsa. i'm glad i'm going there soon.

if you're the praying type, prayers would be appreciated.

next up, my job is making me insane. there's a communication disconnect, and today my project director explained to me the following: if you have a solution and a precipitate forms in it, you've lowered the concentration of the solute in the solution. people, I have a DEGREE IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING. you learn this shit in high school, if not before. I almost yelled at him. I had to clench my teeth to stop myself. It wasn't pretty, and I'm rather certain I might have been able to kill someone just by looking at them in that moment. I was steaming angry. I'm a lot cooled off now.

okay, so that's the bad. here's some good.


for some reason I actually thought this was pretty cool. i got in my car this morning, started it and found this little guy just hanging out on my dashboard. i guess they just make webs proportional to their size? i rescued him and put him outside.

today i also bought a ticket for my atlantic city trip. i am so so so excited to go. it will be so much fun to meet matt's family. (I don't think I told you before but that's why I'm going!)

oh and? my license plate came yesterday. don't you know I put it on IMMEDIATELY! I am a little bummed though--I thought it was going to be in blue writing. I may actually call, 'cause I'm afraid the kaydee frame makes it look a little Christmasy. Mattie likes it though. :)

also, softball was rock-tastic last night. we're now really truly top o' the league, and it RULES. like, we're 3-0, we're beating our record from last year even if we lose all the rest, and I was named as an MVP again! yay for nick and me! (we're co-mvps--again!) I got on base both times I hit, they were both good hits, I caught a pop fly AND Nick and I had some good plays at second. that was woooooooonderful.

i'm feeling a little better already...off to finish my lab stuff then choir!

the early bird catches the biggest worm, the early bird catches the biggest worm, bring on the cow, bring on the cow, c'mon mama and bring on the cow!

okay, so that's a nice little recollection from being in the travel troupe of EHS. just roll with it, okay?

the reason I thought of it is this: oh dearie, let me give you a rundown of the last, oh, twelve hours of my life.

12:45 AM finally, finally go to sleep. I'm such a night owl. and i always start projects too late!

4:05 AM wake up, look at the alarm clock, pull another blanket over me, go back to sleep.

6:00 AM wake up. be very very awake. try to go back to sleep. get pissed about having another hour and a half to sleep but being awake. snuggle with the kitties.

6:15 AM snuggle with the kitties some more.

6:30 AM gah! I still have another hour to sleep. contemplate getting up. decide to try to go back to sleep.

6:52 AM decide to just get the hell out of bed, it's not like I'm sleeping anyway. get in shower.

time passes slowly, as I'm moving at roughly the same rate as molasses coming out of a jar.

7:40 AM after showering, eating breakfast, getting dressed, checking the weather and my email, etc., realize that if I show up at work at 8am people just might have a heart attack. so instead, I decide I'll get to work at 9am, and inbetween...

I WILL CLEAN.

for reals, people. I put away my multitude of baskets of laundry. I went through clothes in my closet and decided that I no longer needed them. I re-arranged my clothes so I could more easily reach the ones I wear more often (putting the dress pants in the back). I sorted. I sifted. I organized. All before 830AM.

what is the matter with me? and how do I make this maintain a normal level instead of going in fits and starts, mmmmm?

I realized, too, that I have all of these dress clothes from my old job, and I need to just get rid of 'em. A lot of 'em are suuuuuper small. Like things that are size 2 or XS, and there's no way in hell they're ever going to fit me again. (which I am totally okay with) Thing is though, they're kind of nice, and I don't exactly want to just part with 'em. I'd like to get back a bit of my investment. And I'm *thinking* about selling 'em for cheap on ebay.

I know Corrie had some luck with it--but is it worth the trouble? Will people really buy the clothes? A lot of it is JCrew and Gap and a couple things are United Colors. And they're in good shape. Opinions/input/advice if I do choose to try the ebay route? I know it'll take a little time, but every five dollars counts, right? And I won't be eligible for any tax deductions since I don't have enough other write-offs...

hmm.

cleaning and ebay. all before noon. what would my mother say?!? she'd prolly ask if I was feeling alright, that's what.

yeesh.

also, goal for self: finish application to NCState before going to Oklahoma. We'll see if it'll really happen or not, but that's what I'm'a'gonna shoot fer.