I had been ill off and on all last week, but it hit hardest Friday. And by that I mean I got DOWN with the sickness, LOL! Literally knocking me on my butt, and right into bed. I missed most of the Alabama vs Arkansas game, but woke up in time to hear Rammer Jammer being sung by the crowd in T’town. I missed WordCamp Birmingham entirely and am really bummed about that. (can someone let me know where the lecture notes are posted?)

I also missed a Ladies Night Out meeting, but was pretty sure I was going to miss it even before I got sick. I haven’t been to a meeting in a while and have been dying to join one of the karaoke outings.

Well, after 3 full days of sleep I am feeling much MUCH better! Of course I’ve spent half the morning clearing out emails and voicemails and will probably be doing so for most of the rest of the day today, LOL!

I took some time this morning to submit a new fanlisting that I’ve started:

I’ll be sure to post when it’s approved and “gone live.”

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Lucky me … it’s the gift that keeps on giving! ??:

So I got a shot and more pills. Meh. Oh well, at least now my head is clearer and though I’m still coughing up a lung quite a bit, I do feel a LOT better and have gotten most of my voice back. (much to Jim and Jessie’s chagrin I’m sure! )

I read that the Lunarpages crew are having their final 12 vote. None of mine were included, but two of my design submissions are now featured in their WordPress Theme Gallery, so that’s pretty cool in itself. Entering the contest was more about testing the waters and getting some (hopefully) unbiased feedback on my designs — so all in all, it was a good learning experience.

Though 5 years of free hosting WOULD have been nice … LOL!

Being at home by myself this week, I was reminded of why I stopped working from home and went back to work in an office environment — it’s boring! ;P The quiet time was nice, but after only a couple of days, I was wishing I was well enough to go in to work. Don’t get me wrong, I got a good bit of work done, but by the end of the day I was running out of things to do to entertain myself until time for Jim and Jessie to get home. I watched stuff on YouTube, I played online games, … in fact, this was the first time I played online Backgammon. I used to play Backgammon a lot when I was little with my Gramps. I think if he were around now, he’s probably love to hit up some Backgammon online.

I also spent some time working on a mockup Blogger design for the lovely ladies in the Cotillion that I had started a while back:

It’s based on an earlier design that they used at a previous location (on mu.nu I think). Overall, I’m very pleased with how well it turned out. I’ve still got a few bugs here or there to tweak. It’s harder than designing a WordPress theme, but I think that’s because it’s been such a long time since I’ve played around in Blogger code … so much of it has changed since I last had an account there.

Moving on … anyone got anything exciting planned for the weekend? Jim and I are planning on meeting up with Captain Fantastic and the lovely Miranda tomorrow and heading to the gun show in Bessemer. My Ladies Night Out group is also meeting up tomorrow night, but I don’t know yet if we’ll be done in time to go.

In all honesty, I don’t care what we end up doing. I’m just happy to get out of the house!

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“Not a piece of (meat)”

I was introduced to this amazing group via Jen, of my Ladies Night Out meetup group. It’s great seeing support here and there like that!

I don’t think they have a “real website”, but they are on MySpace if any of you locals are interested in attending and/or supporting one of their events: www.myspace.com/notapieceof

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I did manage to snap off a few shots before I left:

As you can tell, Jennifer enjoyed her dessert a little too much!

Jocelyn prettied herself up (she left us to go out man hunting, lol)

This first one’s a bit fuzzy, but here’s the rest of the group getting a kick out of Jocelyn and enjoying dessert:

I headed home shortly after that to find that one of my favorite shows was on and about to start with a new episode. (Perfect timing!) Also, Jim had gone by our favorite Cajun place and picked up some red beans and rice (my favorite dish there!) so I could have them for breakfast this morning. Isn’t he sweet?

So yeah, the weekend is indeed off to a good start!

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“People of the net” — that’s you guys ‘n gals, and I love every last one of ya’s!

A couple of days ago I reached out to many of you asking for a vote for my theme in Lunarpages’ WordPress Theme Design contest. Several went beyond that and did some reaching out of their own: Beth and Father Luke, each posting on their blogs on my behalf; several of my MySpace friends sent IMs and emails to their friends and groups requesting votes for me; my coworkers each voted and even emailed their SO’s requesting they vote as well; Jen, the lovely leader of my Ladies Night Out meetup group, emailed the group asking everyone to go vote.

I’m very grateful to you all. When last I looked, I was tied for first — I don’t expect to win, but it would be nice.

If you haven’t voted already, please consider taking a moment to do so here.

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Pictures

Since I was a goober and did not have my camera, I took pictures on my Helio Ocean. However, Alison did have her camera, so her pictures are combined in this photoset with mine:

Note: these pics are work-safe … I only uploaded the clean ones ;P

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Things at home are ok. I’ve talked to Grandmother a couple more times but haven’t had a chance to go by there and see her yet. I’m hoping to do so next week. Jessie’s entered what I’m calling the “Terrible Tens” … her behavior has worsened both for me AND her mother, but I think that it’s because for once both of us are giving her the swift kick in the butt that she’s been desperately needing (instead of just “us”!). Both of us are enforcing strict rules in both houses, making her do her homework, and study for her tests and she’s resenting every minute of it from BOTH of us! Plus her mother is making her do chores over at her house finally, which is a great relief and is exactly what Jessie needs. We’ve been trying to instill responsibility in her, and now that her mother is helping out, Jessie’s fighting back and hopefully will soon realize that it’s futile to fight BOTH of us. :twisted:

Sooner or later, MOMS ALWAYS WIN.

Welp, I’m starving and it’s lunchtime. I have more to post about … and have to seriously make up for that dmoz debacle. *ugh* I call mea culpa on that one — though I wasn’t the only one taken in, I shoulda known better … :oops:

‘Til next time …

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*shrug* who knows …

This weekend was *supposed* to be my weekend off but I was roped into helping Jim with a project for his (my former) employer. I’m unhappy to be spending my off-days this way, but we could use the money. On the other hand, I’ve been on the go every weekend for the last 4 months straight — I’m fucking tired!

Oh well, I guess I’ll deal …

We worked the better part of yesterday then got out for a bit to run a few errands. We played around in CostCo … they had some Nintendo DS Lite bundles on sale (Jessie wants one, and will probably get it for Christmas) along with a handful of Wii bundles. They had a TON of back to school stuff, including a complete Lisa Frank kit that Jim and I picked up for Jessie’s birthday next week. They also had very nice RC helicopters that I so wanted to play with!

We got in last night and it was back to business. I finished up pretty late, read a few emails, then headed to bed. Speaking of which …

We were supposed to start mailing invitations this week, but that may be put off a week. I have a few relatives and friends for whom we have no mailing address and aren’t returning phone calls, emails, etc. So, if you know you are one of these people, and you have a voicemail, email, or whatever kind of message, get off your duff and answer me if you want your bloody invitation!

Can you tell I’m pretty close to another Bridezilla moment?

We’ve recently learned that Jim’s brother has received orders to ship out to Afghanistan. It sucks because he has three very small kids at home who miss and need him very much. It sucks because he’ll miss our wedding. It sucks because his wife and kids moved in with Jim’s mother and now I need a new place to get ready the morning of the wedding.

Yes, that last one is very selfish … and as much as I love his family dearly, his kids aren’t the best behaved and that morning I will be the biggest bundle of nerves you’ve ever seen and all it will take is just ~one~ of those little sweeties getting on my nerves for me to snap and just lose it altogether, so I’ve decided not to put myself (or them!) in that position. What sucks is that I don’t know of any place big enough for myself and my entourage to gather to help me get ready that’s close enough to my place and/or the Gardens, so this is another setback I didn’t need. Oh well, shit happens. I’ll deal.

At least everything else is turning out ok so far. I have a pretty good idea how the favors are going to be setup, though I didn’t get to use the boxes that Jen gave me because they were a bit small, and I wanted to include more goodies for our guests. I found a vendor who had larger boxes for a decent price so after payday, I’m stacking up on favor supplies!

I think Jim thinks I’m spending too much time and money on the reception decorations and plans, but I have a great idea and think I can pull it off using some very authentic items to go with our theme. (too bad the food won’t be authentic, *sigh*)

Oh well, you work with what you got, right? And considering that we are paying for this ourselves, I think we are doing ok … anyone who thinks otherwise can kiss the fattest part of my ass.

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Subject: New Event: Nicki’s Wedding Shower

Announcing a new event for Birmingham Ladies Night Out!

What: Nicki’s Wedding Shower

When: Saturday, September 8, 4:00 PM

Where: Click the link below to find out!

Event Description: We will be celebrating Nicki’s upcoming wedding by throwing her a shower at my house. Further details will be sent via e-mail to allow some level of surprise for Nicki.

<snip>

—
This message was sent by Jen

YAY! I’m an official Ladies Night Out event! LOL :mrgreen:

Something tells me it’s a shower I’ll never forget, so I’m sure it will be a fun meetup! This has been a very LOOOOOONG exhaustive day, and unfortunately, I have several more of them planned before the wedding. (Plus I did promise a friend that I’d go automotive detailing supplies browsing with him one weekend … dunno WHEN that will be!)

Happy, happy, … tired and busy as all fsck, but happy. :cool:

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Any ladies lurking about town, in condo hotels, extended stays, or around the city in general, please feel free to join us at the Blue Monkey Lounge tonight to celebrate Jocelyn’s 30th birthday and Jen’s “departure from Hades” (sorry, Angie ).

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Jim and I were out most of the day. This morning I went by Merle Norman and got my first trial makeup run. Jim really liked what they did and I’m happy with it overall, but I don’t care for the color of lipstick they chose (was BRIGHT red) … I think I’ll definitely go darker on the next run to see how it turns out.

What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good burgundy or crimson!

We hit up several stores around town looking at various wedding supplies. We’re looking for a good photo album, but most of what we’re seeing either aren’t big enough or aren’t practical. We hit up the Hobby Lobby in Gardendale and perused the spacious crafts, paints, and so on … but not a whole lot of wedding stuff. (bummer)

We tried the local Wal-mart, and while they didn’t have a whole lot of photo albums, they did have a lot of other things. We looked at their silk trees and flowers section … I’m thinking of making my bouquet of those instead of real flowers. It would definitely keep longer! Still haven’t found a decent flower girl basket for Jessie yet. I take that back — there were several “decent” ones, but nothing I liked.

We booked around the Galleria a bit and I found my wedding jewelry:

I hate that I didn’t get those other earrings, but after seeing these I couldn’t pass them up! They were a bit more, but were nicer quality crystals and are much fancier.

What do y’all think?

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I’ve caught up on most of my RSS feeds, read about other friends who are marrying over the summer months. Caught up on my sister-in-law’s site and read about their recent dealings with a real estate agent who’s captivated her dogs. LOL!

There’s a Ladies Night Out meetup tomorrow night. I plan on going and quite honestly NEED the time away. Clients at work have been driving me batshit crazy all week and I think I am due at least ONE drink! ??:

Jim’s driving me batshit crazy right now because in his eyes WordPress is imperfect. He’s frustrated because WordPress is blog software instead of a CMS — uh … YEAH? :lol: I know he’s not frustrated with me, but he thinks I’m mad because he’s mad. I told him I’m not, but that I’m just too tired to argue.

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