It's That Time of Year Again

SOFTBALL!!

In a couple of weeks, softball season starts again. This year, I am again playing on two teams. The Luck Dragons, and Capital Punishment/Crushers (whichever name Susanna decides to use this year). The LDs play Tuesdays at Tahoe Park and the CPs/Crushers play Thursdays at Howe Park.

Oh and in about a week, MLB Spring Training officially starts.

I've been inspired

OK, I know it's been almost a year since my last post and I suck. It hasn't been too exciting around here. And no, three elections in one year does not make my life exciting. It makes it tiring. Though, it was interesting.

I have been inspired by my friend Mo who has an amazing blog which discusses her restaurant choices, recipes, and adventures in New York. She rocks. Really.

So, short and sweet to begin with, but I'm going to take a page from the book of Mo and start blogging again. Probably not every day, but when I'm inspired, reminded, or harassed.

Softball tonight...

... has been cancelled. Some little piss-ant punks stole the copper wiring for the lights. No lights, no games. You can read the story from the Sacramento Bee here, on the Luck Dragons' blog here, or on the blog of our favorite (?) rival, the Solid Gold Hits here.

I prefer the second link (as it is the link to the Luck Dragons' blog), but I have to give props to Coach Nick of the Solid Gold Hits for putting together a great blog. If you have time, peruse the Luck Dragons' blog, the Hits' blog and the Slugs' blog (which you can link to from the Hits' blog). They are all great.

Wow, that is NOT cool, Google

After typing a multi-paragraph entry about softball, I go to check the links to make sure they work, and GOOGLE. DELETED. MY. POST. Not cool, Google... not cool.

I hope I remember it enough to retype it later. I'm too lazy to start over again.

Christie's Wedding (Part 2)...Six Months Later

OK, I know, I know... you've all been waiting for months for the rest of the wedding story. I thought I'd just let Alana tell this part because she's so good at it, but since she hasn't even sent me the pictures from her camera from the wedding, I'll just do it myself.

Since Alana and Carrie were bridesmaids, they got ready in Christie's room with her, and left Summer and to get ready on our room.

Since I am a good Catholic girl, I wore a wrap into church (no going sleeveless or strapless in church) and thank God the church was air conditioned. By 11am, it was already 115 degrees.

As Summer and I were sitting in church this girl walks in in a really (almost inappropriately) short black dress that looked like it came from 1986 (it had layered ruffles), some super-high "Come eff-me" hooker heels and this pair of diamond drop earrings. I looked at Summer, and she looked at me and we're lucky we were in church because some of the comments I had in my head would have gotten me struck down.

The wedding was beautiful. Adrian looked so happy when he saw Christie coming down the aisle and Christie looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress.

After the ceremony, it was time to PAR-TAY!! The reception was held back at the hotel and we all began drinking as soon as we got there. Martinis, wine and champagne. That reception was tons of fun with everyone dancing and having a great time. Summer and I promised Christie we wouldn't talk when it was time to give toasts because we know things, and if we had, when it came time for me to get married, payback would be a bitch.

I know I'm glossing over some of the details, but the best part hasn't even happened yet. That happened after the reception when we went back to our room. Summer and I went back to our room around 10:30-11pm and Alana came back around midnight. She comes in the room and one of Adrian's friends is with her. He's totally wasted and in the living room. Alana comes in the bedroom and climbs onto the bed with me and Summer and is telling us about this guy (who's name I can't remember anymore), when he just walks into the bedroom. He asks us what we are doing and we all said we're sleeping together and he got all happy and excited. So, he comes in and sit on Alana's bed and we're all just hanging out chatting. He asks Alana to take a walk with him (in guy-speak meaning... let's go have sex) and says he's going to go change. So he leaves and within two minutes is calling Alana on her cell phone telling her that he loves her and that she should move to California and live with him and he will take care of her and she'll never have to work again. This went one for a good hour or so, and finally Alana just had to start ignoring the texts and calls to get some sleep since her flight left at 6am.

Really, I can't do this story justice, and Alana does tell it much better than I do and it's so much funnier when she does it. I'll try to get her to email it to me and I'll post it later.

Photos to follow shortly.

Holy Crap! Two Days in a Row!

I know...shocking. But, I promised Christie that I would blog her wedding, so here it is. Well, part one at least.

Christie and Adrian's wedding. What can I say? It was one of the most fun weddings I have been to in a long time... that wasn't a family member's.

From the beginning though...

Friday, August 31, I flew on Southwest from Sacramento to Ontario. As Jami dropped me off at the airport, she not only told me to have fun, but also warned me to "not look like a terrorist." Ummm, OK. I zipped through (I think I'm stuck on the word zip, and it's suffixes) the check-in line and headed on up to wait for my flight. I was hungry, so I bought a pretzel that was way overpriced and not that good. Sat down at the gate and people watched for about an hour while detailing the people I was watching to Emily... along with complaining about life in general. Got on the plane, it was a really full flight and since I was in group A, I got a good aisle seat near the front of the plane. Everyone boarded and there was only one other person in my aisle of three and he was sitting at the window. "WOOHOO!" No person next to me. Of course, some slacker who clearly couldn't make the boarding on time jumps on the plane (she was the last person to board) and sits right next to me. DAMN!

Flight was OK. Nothing exciting, no panic attacks during take-off or landing or in-flight. Tried to play the "What's the stupidest thing in the Sky Mall catalog" game by myself, but it's no fun alone. Also tried to play the "pick out the air marshall" game, but I suck at that in general, so that was just as lame.

When we landed in Ontario, I got off the plane and went to the baggage claim. Right away, my cosmetics bag comes out on the carousel. I thought "Yay, I'll be outta here in a few minutes." Oh how wrong I was. Of course, the carousel breaks down, so Southwest off-loads all the bags at the cargo door. When all was said and done, my bag wasn't there. Neither were a few other peoples' bags. I was a little worried because of course, that was all my clothes, and I didn't think Christie would be happy with me if I showed up at the wedding in capris, a tank and flip flops. Although, that might have been kind of funny (you know you can laugh now Christie, the wedding is over).

Finally, the rest of the bags were found. They got stuck on the broken carousel. Whew! I grabbed my bag and after inspecting it to make sure there was no damage, headed outside to catch the shuttle bus to the car rental facility. The moment I stepped outside, I thought I was going to die. It had to have been 600 degrees. OK, maybe it was only 115, but it was miserable. Humid, hot and horrible. I called Summer and told her I was going home!

I get to Enterprise, where, thanks to Erika, I got a great deal on a rental car. I checked my map quested directions with the girl at the counter and headed out on the 80-mile or so drive to Palm Desert. Drove through Riverside, past a couple of Indian casinos (one of which, I *think* is part of the state referendum to overturn a new law... but that's a different story) and what do I see off to the right of me? A mile sign that says "Phoenix - 250 miles." HOLY CRAP! I was 250 miles from Phoenix, AZ. That's the closest I'd ever been. Of course, for normal people, that's nothing to write home about. Though I can see it now:

"Dear Mom,

Today, I drove past a road sign informing me that Phoenix, AZ was 250 miles away. It was very exciting.

Love,
Allie"

If I'd have thought of it, I would have stopped and taken a picture of it and attempted to take MY picture in front of the sign. I'm just that lame.

After no further diversions or stupid excitements (except for finding a drive-thru Starbucks) I made it to the hotel and checked in, where Alana had already checked into the room. I just have one question. In an area that is total desert, why is a hotel an OUTSIDE hotel? You'd think that the rooms would not open to Satan's lair and be enclosed and air conditioned. But fine. I got in the room and once I cooled off, unpacked and waited for Christie, Alana and Carrie to return from the rehearsal.

Since I didn't attend the rehearsal or the rehearsal dinner, I don't really have anything to say about that, so I'm going to leave that to someone who had been there.

After everyone returned from the rehearsal and dinner, we all met down at the pool where we hung out, until the security guards kicked us out because it was 11pm and apparently we were too loud. What do they expect? You gather 50 people around a pool drinking and swimming and of course it's going to be loud. We were probably half the residents of the hotel anyway.

Since recapping the whole weekend in one post would take forever and be the longest.post.ever., I'll leave you with to be continued...

Wow, I really suck at Blogging

I just realized that it's been over three months since I've blogged last. What can I say? I suck at it. I promise to try harder. What's been going on the past three months? Let start with end of August. Some lady hit my car while I was driving home from work. Totally broke off my drivers' side mirror and put tons of scratches and dents in the door. It's a good thing that I didn't have the top down or else my arm would have been on the door and probably would have gotten crushed. I was without my car for a whole week. I had a rental car, which was actually pretty cute. It was a Ford Focus. Quite zippy. Yes, I just said zippy. Took it to the dealer where the damage was originally estimated at $900. When all was said and done, it ended up costing AAA almost $1,400. Funniest thing about that accident... the woman that hit me. She was not so smart. So, she hits me, we exchange information and go home. The moment I walked in the door, I called my insurance company and filed the claim. I get a call the next day from my investigator and she can barely talk to me, she laughing so hard. Of course, now I want to know what's so funny about this accident. When she finally calms down enough to tell me about her conversation with the woman that hit me... let's call her "Mabel*," she tells me the whole story. Here is a reasonable recap of that conversation:

State Farm (SF): Hi, I'm calling about the accident you were involved in yesterday with one of my clients.
Mabel (M): Yes, I hit her while changing lanes. I just didn't see her.
SF: Have you notified your insurance company yet?
M: No, why would I do that?
SF: Because you hit another car.
M: But it was an accident. It's no one's fault.
SF: Umm, that's not how it works.
M: Really, why would I call my insurance company if it was an accident? Accidents are just that. Accidents.
SF: No, you really need to call your insurance company. You've admitted fault. You are responsible.
M: Fine, I'll call them, but I don't see why.

OK, now, I'm just wondering, does Mabel just drive down the street and DECIDE to hit someone on a given day? Is that what would cause her to call her insurance company? Does she just think to herself "oh, it's Monday, I think I'll hit a car today." No worries though, AAA (her insurance company) paid for all the damage and my zippy little rental. All is well... except for two days after I got it back, someone tried to break into the car by trying to pop the drivers' side door lock out. EFFER! There's much more to report, especially about Christie's wedding (but that's whole other post entirely) so, I'll do that a bit later. Again, I apologize for the large delay in postings, and I promise to do better.

*Name has been changed to protect the stupid