Here's Your Sign

No...im not talking about traffic signs or astrological signs. Im of course refering the Blue Collar Comedy Headliner Bill Engvall who famously spouts off hilarious redundancies made by poor unsuspecting idiots who lack the common sense to THINK before they SPEAK.
After a day of HORRIFIC events (insert stories of dumb dogs, credit card fraud issues, student loan repayment issues and cleaning the whole house as a nice surprise to Larbear's parents before they came home from their trip)...Larbear just informed me of a couple funny stories that happened to him.
He is a native New Englander and works at a home improvement store while he goes to school...today a customer came in and asked him,
"Scuse me sir, do you carry tahps?"
"Tahps?"
"Yes, Tahps..."
To which he had to really pause before it came to his head..."Oh....taRps....!"
Gotta love the accent.
It amuses me EVERYday!

Next, which brings to me the title of this blog, walking up and down the aisles hauling big equipment and merchandise wearing his BRIGHTLY colored work attire he encountered someone that pulled him aside and asked,
"Excuse me, do you work here?"
LOL
HERE'S YOUR SIGN....
Im sure that dude sure felt like a dumba$$!
BAHAHAHA!

In other news...if you havent noticed ive been trying to figure out a new look for this blog...I'm quickly losing patience with blogger so i am considering moving to wordpress and setting up a new blog...i promise i will leave the link and keep you up to date!
KEEP READING! I promise to keep writing about all my new england adventures!

And VERY IMPORTANT! Happy Veteran's Day to all you Vets out there who have served our country! Hats off to you and thank you for your service!!!

HELP!! I HAVE CODING PROBLEMS!!!

Hey!In an effort to make my blog more appealing to the eye i decided to get ambitous and find a new template...for some reason though it wont let me upload ANYTHING...any template i choose i get the same error message and i cannot figure it out....so here goes...Im asking for anyone who understands this lovely mumbo jumbo to HELP!!!
The template im trying to upload is here: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/esther#post-209
and the error message i keep getting is:
Please correct the error below, and submit your template again.Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly.XML error message: Content is not allowed in prolog.
Alright all you smarties....PLEASE HELP ME!!!Thanks a million!Mucho love!xoxoxo

Amazing Wedding Cakes!...and other tasty snacks;)

In my new "New England Life" things haven't exactly ventured out of domestic yet. So, in my conquest to organize, launder, and re-arrange my life into "settled" I came across my new FAVORITE show!! I promise I'm not the kind of girl who sits around watching lifetime, the oxygen channel and WE tv but this show happens to fall on the WE tv and completely captivated me! Its called Amazing Wedding Cakes. They are so impressive, at times outlandish and its just awesome watching the creativity that goes into these genius cakes! Click HERE for a preview to see what they are all about. More so, they aren't just wedding cakes like the show is called, there are fun birthday cakes for celebrity clientele, engagement cakes, and of course the shows namesake, Amazing Wedding Cakes!!!

My THURSDAY THIRTEEN is back!

Thirteen New England Word Pronounciations that make me Laugh (and that I LOVE!) 1. Caw (Car) 2. Manchestah (Manchester) 3. Brawr (Bra) 4. Vaniller (Vanilla) 5. Sephorer(Sephora) 6. Lobstah (Lobster) 7. Stoah (Store) 8. Birch Beah, Root Beah, or just plain Beah (Beer) 9. Weinah (Weiner) 10. Fuhnacha (Furniture) 11. Sofer (Sofa) 12. Ideer (Idea) 13. Cawpet ( Carpet)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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USMC Ball 2008

So I left Michigan last Thursday, October 30th (unfourtunatly on my Bestie's birthday:( )
SORRY BESTIE!!!!

One of the biggest reason for leaving when we did was so that we could make it back in time for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. It's a very important tradition that takes place every year on November 10. Larbear's reserve unit hosted their chapter of the Birthday Ball on the 1st of November so we hustled butt to make back in time to rest up after our long drive and get all gorgeous for the ball!!

There was a small fiasco with my dress being stuffed into my tiny red honda and having some slight creases pressed right on the a** of my dress. Thankfully one of Larbear's best friend's mom is a professional dressmaker. She saved the day and steamed my dress just in time for us to get all primped and pressed.
The ball was in the Radisson in Nashua. It was a very nice reception with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres for a couple hours then the ceremony followed by dinner and dancing.

We met a really cool couple over dinnerin a funny way. Thankfully, they had been evesdropping when they came around with dinner tickets and heard me saying something about mine being a vegetarian dish...they came around with dinner when Larbear and I were away from the table so Haley stepped in, explained that she was pretty sure i had a vegetarian dish and saved my dinner! Larbear and I spent the rest of our night exchanging stories and talking about common interests with them and I made my very first New Hampshire friend! Haley and I have plans to go shopping sometime next week where she will show me around. Her and her husband are a little new to the area as they just moved here a month ago. So im totally excited to have a new friend and go out exploring!

And of course, Larbear and I were the HOTTEST couple at the ball!!!

East Coast Update

Well...Im sure most people completely stopped reading my blog since Ive barely posted in the 2008 year....it seemed just as people started reading my blog life happened and I quit blogging...

SORRY!

As I write this, I'm sitting in a cafe in New Hampshire, sipping a steaming cup of java and working on updating my resume...

I HAVE MOVED FOLKS!

Yes...that's right. West Coast girl moves to La France, then to the Midwest, and now to the East Coast. Holy crap. Could I settle down already?!?

I'm still getting adjusted.

Having lived in the abyss of my college town for about 4 years too long im now finding out what its like yet again to not know where the heck im going. I have managed to find a few important things:

• The closest mall that possesses my favorite stores such as: Sephora, Banana Republic, Virginia's Little Secret (known to most as Victoria's)& other fun shopping stores!



• Walmart, for all my daily (& unpacking) essentials



• Lowe's where Larbear works so I can meet him for lunch or bring him in goodies to share



• Panera for my favorite soup and salad moments!!!

Now if I could just find a job.....

New England is charming. They have cute houses, welcoming people, yummy food (disregarding their love affair with seafood--blech!). New Hampshire is charming in that it has NO INCOME TAX and NO SALES TAX! W00Hoo! So yes, Ive already loved my purchases that ive made so far and to my calculations, buying them here instead of in michigan or indiana like previous has saved me close to about 12 dollars so far!! Hey im sure it totally adds up after awhile! And my gift cards that ive used will go farther!!!

So im just getting settled in...im re-arranging my new room, un packing my little red civic which practically needed a crow bar to pry all my crap out with...who knew you could cram so much stuff into such a teeny tiny little car!?!?! Amazingly, I dont think i forgot anything important either. Except my teapot. I wanted my teapot. It unfourtunatly was at my parents house, which was a whole 2 hours OUT of our way on our drive to NH.
HoHum. I can wait til christmas I guess.
So wish me luck on my new adventure in New England! Im looking for lots of fun things to do and explore and for a new job!

How scary & Exciting!!!

PUPPY LOVE!

I am feeling the puppy bug sooooo sooooo bad!!! I finally found one online that I want....not like I want like I usually do with every puppy. I REALLY want this one....what do you all think? She will be ready to go home in about 2 weeks... Im working on Larbear...but he is stuck on the minor issue of us not having our "own" place. Lame.

alright...here she is:

Knowing me like you do...of course i would plan on changing her name. Snickers is way to generic of a name for me...and my aunt just named her cat snickers.

So I'm reaching out to you all....

Should I splurge and get Miss Snickers?
	No....you really need to wait like Larbear says.
	YES! She is too cute too pass up...you'll find a place soon! No worries!
pollcode.com free polls

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!

Can Military big-wigs be funny?!?!?

So my friend Julie, who I was super good friends with in High school just got back in touch with me. Its fun getting back in touch with old friends.
Her dad is a Lt. General in the Army. Big-wig.
He is on the news all the time and yesterday was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Check him out...
Apparently Jon wants to take over a country with him...hahaha

HEY BABY CAN I GET YOUR DIGITS???

Alright. I wanna know what people think of blind dates. A week ago we had a customer come into the Bistro who came barreling into the bar asking for a drink to quiet down his nerves. He then explained he was from chicago and meeting a girl from Grand Rapids that he had gotten her number from while driving at 60mph on the freeway. Apparently she looked hot in her ride or something. Anywho. He had me go check her out when she came in, he wanted to know if she was really cute or not. Anyways, they hit it off...I thought it was kinda a bad start considering one of the first subjects they talked about were previous relationships and their exes. WEIRD. But whatever. They seemed to enjoy it.
They were still talking and enjoying each other's company when I left that night.
Well anyways, tonight...surprise surprise, they came in again, a week later, holding hands. They sat down and enjoyed a meal. By the end of the night though we were all making fun of the fact that he talked and she laughed, THE WHOLE TIME. They left to go to a movie at the end of the night. But i was left thinking about blind dates. Essentially that is what they had. I guess they have worked out in the past, not for me at all. HEck no. Ive ended up with the strange ones with hygiene issues, strange hair color, or guys who are out to prove something. I am so not into dating bigfoot. Usually I never find ANYTHING in common with them and they just feel awkward and strange, not as exciting when you get asked out by someone you've liked for awhile. So what do you think? Do you think blind dates are exciting? would you consider going on one? If some guy screamed at you from a passing car for your number, would you give it to him?
Me, personally, HELL NO.
HAHAH.

Rob and Big ROCK!

Okay so I'm obsessed. I work all the time so I don't watch TV on their normal airtimes. I instead get online, go to the network site, and watch my show this way. I love it. I hate having to schedule my time around my favorite TV shows. so not worth it. If I could, I would totally DVR or TIVO everything, but living with Grammy makes this not an option (she hardly has any channels and nothing to record them with anyways). So this last weekend Lar was gone training with the Reserves. His first time since joining. Thankfully this means he will not be deploying to Iraq any time soon. And if he does get orders, he can just quit, since he is what they call "non-obligore" (sp?)

So while he was gone I decided to have some "me time". I haven't had much of that lately. My mom is constantly wanting any "free-time" that i might have to be spent with Grammy. It has completely drained me emotionally and physically. So I said "phooey" with everything and took a day for me.
Going back to "My obsession".
I LOVE Rob and Big. Like,I want to be their neighbors. I LOVE LOVE LOVE their dog Meaty. I want a puppy so bad!!!! These boys seriously make me laugh so hard. All the time. Its seriously such a funny show. I cannot get enough of it. Ive watched all the current episodes online at MTV.com and Saturday I decided, since it was a "Me-day" to go buy their DVD of season 1&2. I did. But while I was at the store, I was checking out, and the Walmart cashier girl picks it up and looks it over, frowns and says, "damn, thats 'espensives DVD! DAAAAAAAMMMNNN!"
Excuse me? I was totally irritated she told me that. True, it wasnt cheap. But it was like $26, not exactly a pocket-drainer. But who the crap did she think she was? THATS SO RUDE! I should have told her that she overpaid for her cheap ass Kmart looking extensions. Seriously, who judges who on whats too expensive, at least to their face? I was totally irritated. Rob and Big were totally worth the $26 bucks. I loved it. I had a spa day, exfoliated, masked up, and had a great day. Even if some dumbass walmart girl thought it wasnt worth the money.
I still can't get over how funny those two are. If you haven't seen the show, you MUST go to MTV.com and watch one, or all of them.
So that is how I spent my weekend.
It was simple and short, but a much needed reprieve.

I'm F#@*ING Ben Affleck...

AHHHHHHHH! I never get blogging time! Life has been super crazy. My job and my internship(which I love!) keep me very busy!
Lar showed me this on youtube when I got home. It made me laugh so hard!!!! Hope you all enjoy!

Whistling Puppy...SO CUTE!

Omigosh this is the cutest thing ever!
I want a puppy so bad! Maybe by this summer Ill have enough money to get my own place so I can get one!!!
Ps...if anyone can figure out what kind of puppy this is...let me know! I think its ADORABLE!



puppy whistles - Watch more free videos

Hope Everyone has a great weekend. The sun is shining here....:)
yippie!

My Grampy is gone....

JULY 1, 1926--JANUARY 18, 2008

Jasper Jay Herford

BERRIEN SPRINGS — Jasper Jay Herford , 81, of Berrien Springs died Friday night, Jan. 18, 2008, at Lakeland Community Hospital in Niles. Friends are invited to visit with the family from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, at the Allred Funeral Home, 212 S. Main St., Berrien Springs. Inurnment will be in Rose Hill Cemetery. Messages for the family may be left online at http://www.allredfuneralhome.com./ Those wishing to make a memorial contribution in Jay ’s name may do so to the Amazing Facts Bible Ministry. Jay was born July 1, 1926, in Zanesfield, Ohio, the son of Ernest and Dana Mae (Allmon) Herford . He proudly served his country with the United States Army during World War II. He was assigned to the 62nd Field Hospital at Rhineau, Germany, where he was a surgical technician in the surgical supply section. Following the war, on Oct. 4, 1947, he married JoAnn Shuler in Elkhart, Ind., and they recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. He had been employed as manager for Spitzer Specialties in Sawyer before his retirement. Jay was a longtime member of the Berrien Springs Village Seventh-day Adventist Church. He also was a member of the American Legion StoverWagner Post 85 in Berrien Springs. In his leisure time, he enjoyed woodworking. He especially enjoyed visiting with his friends, and he would often be seen around town in the local restaurants and the hardware store talking and discussing current events with his fellow townspeople. Left to cherish his memory are his wife, JoAnn; three daughters — Susan, Gretchen and Wende; one son, Darrel; six grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; one sister, Judy ; and one brother, Ernest “Fred” Herford of Berrien Springs. He was preceded in death by a sister, Mabel Hile.

I miss him. I still can't believe he is gone or grasp what really happened that day. Even though I bitched and moaned about all the crap Lar and I were going through, he was still my Grampy. And his actions then were only recent ones. Short lived as well. His final days were peaceful. His death with very unexpected to us and im still in shock.
I miss him. I will always miss him. His chuckle. His crisp, blue eyes. Our talks. Our projects. His Jokes. His phrases. Dinner. Breakfast chats. Him buzzing up town on his scooter. His organ music. His tomato garden in the summer. His hugs.
Everything.

This is why I have been absent for quite some time. Lar and I have had some major adjustments in our life. We moved back in with Grammy and now only keep an eye on my aunts place. I have to maintain the house as my grammy is just so lost now. I also have gone back to waitressing and maitre'd-ing a couple nights a week at a local restaurant. AND I have an internship as well. I really enjoy it and even though I miss my grampy--I'm glad I still have the memories.
There are so many. I hope I never forget any of them.

2008....

Well the new year brings a lot of new thoughts to my mind.





1. 2008...holy hell. I am so not where I thought I would be by now. Where the heck has time gone?!?!?



2. Its been almost 7 years since I first got on that plane to France and started what I thought was the beginning of the rest of my life. Crazy enough though, the only thing I've accomplished is my bachelors degree and meeting my amazing significant other Larbear. I guess i just figured id be further in life...



3. Did my rear end actually swell up during the holidays? Holy crap...in my entire life I've never EVER gained weight in my booty...i guess hitting your mid-twenties really means you have to start fighting these things off before they happen...I mean I generally am a workout queen...I love my time at the gym and actually look forward to it...so i missed a couple weeks around the holidays but i did try my best to work out when i was on vacation as best as i could....Its so hard though when you have family plans ALL the time! I guess planning better will be on my new years resolutions! (that and getting back down to my normal size! ugh!)





4. My grampy almost died the day after Christmas. Lar and I were visiting his family in New Hampshire and my mother called me, very serious, very upset and sounding quite hopeless. He was really bad off. He had surgery on the 21st of December and was sent home the day after the surgery. With a post-op UTI...It spread up to his kidneys and things weren't looking positive at all. My Grampy though, i swear has more lives than a cat. He pulled through and after 3 weeks in the hospital he is home safe and sound.



5. Lar and I are finally moving out! Yippee!!!!!!! My Aunt had to leave early on her annual trip down south. Lar and I agreed to house-sit for her while she is gone...which means that gives us 4 months to ourselves and also 4 months to figure out what will we do and where we will be going...staying around here in Michigan or moving on to new places...it also gives us a much needed space between my grandparents and us (Even though we will only be about 12 miles apart).



6. I started back at the restaurant again. I will be waitressing and also Maitre'd-ing a couple times a week. Hopefully I will also get to do more Administrative duties....it was proposed during my reinstatement "chat" that it might be possible for me to move into event sales for the restaurant. EXCITING! This is something I would like...However, if something came along outside the state and with better financial incentive....i could definitely be persuaded:) I've been really frustrated with the job search lately...so although not necessarily glamorous, knowing i will have a paycheck is soooooo relieving!

I have a list of New Years Goals...Ill post them laters,
For now, im off to go bowling with the boyfriend!