Summer thoughts

I was tempted to write (again) about the movie being filmed nearby because Michael Cera was there on Monday, but I am trying to avoid turning my blog into a People magazine - the Michigan edition. :) So I thought I'd write about something else. (Notice I snuck that celebrity spotting in here while at the same time claiming that I'm trying to avoid doing that?)

Moving on...Yesterday, for the first time this summer, I made it over to Washtenaw Dairy. As most of you know, this place is known not only for its delicious ice cream, but also for its generous servings. I got a peanut butter brownie SINGLE scoop (pictured above) and look how ginormous it is! Also, look at that delicious strip of peanut butter on the lower right side. It was so good. Granted, I could only finish about a quarter of it but it was heavenly.

As I was eating the ice cream cone, I started wondering if there was anything else I had to do before the summer's over. We still have one more month of summer, so I have a little time left to make and accomplish some goals. So, off the top of my head, here's a list of things I still want to accomplish this summer.

1) Have a summer romance (see earlier post for expectations on this subject)
2) Have my own celebrity spotting when "Whip It" is filming in Saline
3) Become best friends with Drew Barrymore (#2 and #3 go hand in hand)
4) Go to Mackinac Island
5) Go to another Tigers game
6) Ride my bike to work (Justin doubts my ability to do this)

Lest you think I'm totally shallow, know that I do have some slightly deeper goals (slightly). But I won't bore you with those. So if any of you want to go to a Tigers game or Mackinac Island, or maybe you know the perfect rebel for a summer fling - let me know! One month to go!

Movie mania!

Is Michigan the new Hollywood? There's been so much movie buzz lately, it's starting to feel that way. As you all know (those of you who regularly read my blog), Drew Barrymore is filming a movie in Saline, Ann Arbor, and Ypsi for the next month or so. There's been all sorts of excitement about movie sets, working as extras, and celebrity sightings.

Well, this morning at work, I found out that another movie is being filmed just three blocks away. They will be filming there for four days, so hopefully I'll have more stories for you as the week goes on. The movie is called "Youth in Revolt" and based on the imdb description, it doesn't sound like anything I'd be interested in seeing! But that doesn't take away from the fact that it's really cool to have a movie filming so close by.

On my afternoon break, I walked over to the set to check it out. Kathy warned me that she had walked over there earlier, (hoping to be discovered) when she was rudely ordered to get off the set. Having been warned, I kept my distance but noticed that lots of people were just walking around the set. So I took my chances and walked over to where all the action was. I took a picture of a fake house on the set with my cell phone, as seen above. Apparently they are going to crash a car into it this week and on the news they said that there are supposed to be a lot of explosions. That oughta make work more interesting! I'm hoping to spot Ray Liotta and/or Michael Cera, both of whom are in this movie.

After hearing on the news tonight that some Hollywood people (I know, I know... if I want to make it in this business, I really need to learn the jargon) want to build a studio in this part of Michigan. Don't believe me? Check this out: (link). I'm excited because even though I will never be an actress, at the very least all this movie action is giving me something to blog about. But don't worry, if I do get discovered and make it big, I won't forget the little people.

Home again!

Yesterday I got back from vacation. In case you were wondering, I did not have a summer romance while on vacation. But let's be honest, we all knew that I'm not a summer fling kinda gal (not that there's anything wrong with girls like that).

Anyway, when we got back into town, Katherine and I met up with our old friend Dallan. (Dallan, you're in the blog!) We met up with him, his wife Bethany, and their two adorable kids at a restaurant in Detroit called Sweetwaters. Have you guys been there before? It was way good! We also saw some other friends, Tiffany and Edgar, who were there as well. They are two of the most "chill" people I've ever met. This is part of our conversation:

Edgar/Tiffany: "How are you? What's new?"
Me: "Not much. How about you guys?"
E/T: "Nothing's new."

pause...

Edgar: "Well, we are expecting."

I'm absolutely sure they're excited about it, but the way they said it was with the same enthusiasm as saying, "Well, we already ordered, but the waitress is coming back."

After that we met up with some friends and saw The Dark Knight, which was dark! I was scared out of my mind the whole time. But it was still good :). Anyway, I feel like the last couple posts (including this one) have been updates on my day to day life, which isn't really the direction I wanted to go with this blog, so I'm going to try to go back in another direction starting.....now. (Well, the next post, that is.) Thanks for humoring me by reading these ones.

Vacation update

Hi friends! Just thought I'd check in really quick with an update from my vacation in northern Michigan. In case you were wondering, I haven't had any summer romance yet this week, but the week isn't over yet! And I've been scouting out the best locations to meet the kind of rebel built for a summer fling. I'm thinking this restaurant/bar called the Crow's Nest might be just the ticket. Either that or the local bowling alley. I'll keep you posted. ;)

Anyway, the vacation has been nice and relaxing. Some highlights include:

• Floating down the river to Lake Michigan - very relaxing! The people in the above picture are total strangers by the way. It's a graphic I found online to illustrate my river float experience. I'll upload pictures when I get home :)
• Seeing a weasel up close and taunting it. Finding out later that weasels carry diseases. It's stories like this that make me realize why I'm still single.
• Spending a lot of time at the beach, getting sunburned.
• Going on hikes and to the Michigan wildlife museum (it's more fun than it sounds!)
• Walking out to the lighthouse, watching the S. S. Badger go out.
• Eating way too much ice cream.
• Spending quality time with the fam, especially my nephew James, who totally cracks me up.

So that's been my week so far, for the most part. I have high expectations for the next few days. I'm sure you'll hear all about it when I get back! See you then!

Summer lovin', had me a blast!

Ever since I was young and first saw Grease (or was it Dirty Dancing?), I've always understood the importance of summer romance. Girl goes on vacation and meets a gorgeous bad boy, girl learns how to dirty dance, girl moves to boy's high school, girl wears leather pants and starts smoking, they fall in love and live happily ever after. I might be mixing up the movies here, but you get the point. Summer romances can be life changing!

Well, bad news. It's mid July and I haven't had a summer romance yet. Truth be told, I don't think I'm the "summer fling" type. But for some reason, I'm always disappointed when I don't have one. It's possible that I'm too old to be thinking about summer romance but I guess all those movies from my youth have really stuck with me. The good news is I still have part of July and all of August.

The way I see it, I have three options for summer romance. Two of them I summarized above (learn to dirty dance or move to a new school and meet up with my old summer flame). The other option is from the movie The Great Outdoors. In this scenario, I go to a resort town, meet a jaded local, and convince him that I'm not like the other girls who visit that town - I'm different. Better. This movie tops the charts when it comes to the cheese factor. Those of you lucky enough to have seen it will know what I'm talking about. ("Cammie....if you're out there....")

I'm thinking that since I'm not in school anymore the Grease scenario is out. The Dirty Dancing one sounds like fun, but involves way too much drama. Plus I'm not sure I'm flexible enough for that one (physically or morally). I guess that leaves the Great Outdoors option. I happen to be leaving for a week's vacation tomorrow so this one might work out perfectly.

But the question is, what characteristics do I look for in a summer fling? When I was 13 it was easy. I had a huge crush on this guy I met on vacation. He had everything I was looking for in a guy: a moped, a rebel attitude, and he was super cute. You have to remember I was heavily influenced by Richard Marx and Paula Abdul back then. But now...I'm not sure a moped would do much for me anymore. And I haven't listened to Richard Marx or Paula Abdul in weeks.

When I look for the common thread with all these movies and with my crush from all those years ago, there's one thing all the love interests share: the rebel attitude. While this can be cute when you're 13, it's a little dangerous in an adult man. But then again...if I must, I must! Summer romance, here I come!

Guilty Pleasures

If you ask me what my favorite T.V. shows are, I'll tell you the truth: Lost and the Office. But what I won't tell you is that I also love the Golden Girls and I won't turn the channel if I find that Full House is on. Yeah, it's true. I didn't say I was proud of it! There's just something so deliciously mind numbing about these shows.

It's the same with me and movies. I don't have a favorite movie, but I could probably come up with something if forced. What I wouldn't tell you though is how much I like Sister Act, Troop Beverly Hills, and For Richer or Poorer (love that last one!). Don't worry, I won't ask you to watch any of those with me. They're my guilty pleasure movies.

Recently I've started a new guilty pleasure and those of you familiar with Facebook will know what I'm talking about. It's called "pieces of flair." Facebook has a lot of applications you can add, and I try to avoid most of them. But as of yesterday, I'm hooked on pieces of flair. I'm hoping by the end of the week it'll be out of my system. I'm sure some of you are hoping that too (although some of you are loving it just as much as I am! Yeah, I'm talking to you: Katherine, Sarah, and Justin! Sorry I dragged you into this...) What it is is a cork board that appears on your Facebook page, and you add (and send) pins to it that express things about you, like these ones that were sent to me:

I'm sure that many of you are looking at this thinking, "Elizabeth, you are much too old for this." And to you I say, "I agree!" But, what can I say. That's why it's called a guilty pleasure I guess. To my friends on Facebook: If I send you a piece of flair, just add the application and enjoy the ride. Don't fight it.

Spaced out

Sometimes the wires in my brain seem to get crossed. Does that ever happen to you? I was just trying to put together a simple salad, but because I was spaced out and not really paying attention to what I was doing, I kept forgetting steps (like putting dressing on it). It reminded me of a time a few years ago when I was eating a hamburger and I was half way done with it when I realized I'd forgotten to put the meat in it! I had just been eating some lettuce, ketchup, mustard, and pickles on a bun - no meat. And I didn't even notice it for probably five or six bites. What the!?

Or a few weeks ago at work, I was lifting my glasses up to my eyes and just as my hand was about two inches from my eyes, I realized it was not my glasses in my hand, it was my fork! That could've been a disaster.

After that happened, I told Kathy and Justin about it. When they were done laughing at me, they confessed to having done things like that in the past. Kathy said that one time she poured a glass of water directly on her open cell phone, like she was in a trance! Justin confessed to pouring orange juice on his cereal, along with some other hilarious things that I won't put in here for fear that he'll stop telling me stuff!

What about you guys? These stories crack me up, plus I like knowing I'm not alone! Anyone else get their wires cross occasionally?

Mr. Pretty Legs Update

I have to say, I am very glad a few of you told me that if I was going to talk about the Mr. Pretty Legs competition, I had to go to it. I did go. And I am now able to answer the age old question: what do men wear under their kilts? Did I see more than I needed to see, you ask? Yes. But I'll get to that in a little bit.

Let me start from the beginning. As Katherine and I were walking into the tent, last year's Mr. Pretty Legs was being announced. We walked up to him and I congratulated him on having won last year, and asked for a picture. He agreed to it. Judge his legs for yourself in the picture on the left.

Then this year's contestants lined up to be judged! They were given sheep's head masks to cover their faces so the judges wouldn't be swayed, then as their numbers were called they strutted and danced all over the stage. I don't know if it was the masks, the alcohol, or the fact that they were being cheered on, but they were working it up there. (Am I allowed to say working it?)For the most part it was PG, maybe PG-13, but one guy pushed the limits and had to be reminded that this was a family show. Unfortunately, that reminder/reprimand came only after he lifted up his kilt to show us his rear! That was more than I needed to see. But I suppose it could have been worse. I thought you might like to see some of the contestants:

After all the contestants had a chance to show us why they should win, the final four were announced (the one on the far right is the nekkid-underneath dude).

And here's a video I took announcing the winner. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure you can't see anything! Afterwards Katherine and I took a picture with the winner (aka "the flasher"). He asked me if I wanted him to show his butt again (I'm censoring) and I quickly said, "no thanks! I already saw that once!" And he said, "they were asking for it! They wanted it!" I don't think anyone did, by the way. But I could be wrong.

I feel I should add here that I'm no stranger to kilts. My grandpa immigrated to the U.S. from Scotland and as a family we go to a Scottish festival every year. My dad served as a missionary in Scotland, my parents had a Scottish themed wedding reception, and one of my favorite movies is "So I Married an Axe Murderer" which has a Scottish undertone. But I've never seen kilts like I saw them tonight, and I mean that in both a good way and a bad way. I will say though, that it was definitely a fun evening, and one we won't soon forget!

Mr. Pretty Legs

Every year for the past, oh....some-odd years, Saline has hosted the annual Celtic Festival. There's a parade, and a bunch of stuff I don't know about. Why don't I know about it? Because I've never been. People who don't live in Saline but have heard about the Celtic Festival are always surprised to find out that I've never been - after all, it's the only thing they've ever heard about happening in Saline! But the thing is, I don't even know what a Celt is. I mean, are Celts from Celtland? I'm kidding... but I really do need to look up where Celtic people are from. All right, I just looked it up and the Wikipedia information was less than helpful. I guess it will remain a mystery. This video did help clarify a little bit: (awesome promo video).

Moving on, this year things have changed and I'm in! That's right, for the first time, I am going to the Celtic Festival! I'm going for two reasons:

1) Katherine is in charge of the kids section and needs help and by helping her, I can get in free.
2) The Mr. Pretty Legs competition

That's right- you heard me! The only thing is, I'm not sure if the actually Mr. Pretty Legs competition (or is it a pageant?) can be half as hilarious as the information given on the registration form which starts with: "Calling All Men In Kilts!" It then lists the official rules which are: must be male, must wear a kilt, must be 18 years old (or older, I'm assuming). Then it lists the judging criteria, which is my favorite part of the form:

• How well you carry yourself across the stage
• How your kilt sways (my favorite criteria, by far)
• Overall impression from the waist down (I'm not sure what that means)
  
• Judges combined opinions
• Audience applause

There is also a note at the bottom of the form that says, "Please note: the current first place winner is not eligible to compete until 2009." Um....did they really have to put that on the registration form? I mean, doesn't that only apply to one person and couldn't they have just contacted him directly about it?

So anyway, Kathy, my friend at work, found the registration form online and gave it to Justin who filled it out. His answers cracked me up, so I thought I'd share some of them with you:

Name: Justin "Legs" Smith (his last name isn't actually Smith, I'm just protecting his identity ;))
Address: 1116 Slenderlegs Ave
Email: kilts4life@gmail.com

Do you think all men should wear a kilt, and why?
Yes, if you're over the age of 18, it should be a requirement.

How many different kilts do you own? 87 (22 of which are homemade)

Why do you think you should win? I've got the walk, the legs, and 8 years of experience.

Hilarious. I'm most likely not actually going to go to the competition, but the forms alone truly entertained me. In my high school we had a Mr. Pretty Legs competition as part of home coming, but I never really thought much of it. I remember looking at pictures of the guy's legs for voting purposes and thinking that they all looked alike. But I guess kilts change everything!

No me gusta

After reading an article recently about optical illusion speed bumps, I had to admit something to myself that caught me by surprise. It shouldn't have really. It's something I've kind of known about myself since I was a kid but it sounds really weird to say it out loud: I hate optical illusions. I really hate them. They make me feel confused and kind of sick to my stomach and I've just never been comfortable with them. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but try to understand.

When I was a kid, I sometimes had sleep overs at my friend Trina's house. She was a fun girl with a nice family but for some reason her parents found it appropriate to hang this picture up in their basement (I know I could put the picture in the blog, but I really don't want to have to look at it any more than necessary). Oh gosh, even looking at it to make the link really creeped me out. I would stare at that picture when I was trying to fall asleep, focusing and unfocusing my eyes. I kept trying to make myself see the woman looking in the mirror and not focus on the skull. Why anyone would hang up a picture like that in their house is beyond me.

And remember this one? You either see an old lady or a young lady then you have to refocus your eyes to see the other one. But who would want to? I always see the young lady first, then when I look for the old lady, it's always an unpleasant surprise when she appears. I'm not ageist or anything, she's just kind of odd looking. I think it's the bump on her nose (that we all know is the other girl's nose!).

(Shudder). I really don't like that one. When I mentioned the speed bump optical illusion story to Katherine, she told me about an artist named Julian Beever who does chalk drawing optical illusions, like this one:

Why, why!? Katherine tried to comfort me by showing me pictures of these optical illusions from a different angle. When you look at them from a different side, they look flat. That did give me some comfort.

I mean, I get it. It's kind of cool to have two pictures in one, or for a picture to be 3-D. But I just don't need the stress. If I'm driving down the road and slam on my breaks when I approach a speed bump that turns out to be an illusion, I'm going to feel kind of silly when people on the sidewalk laugh at me. And I especially don't want to be looking at what I thought was a peaceful drawing of a woman getting ready for a night out on the town, then have it turn out to be a skull! It's unsettling! I feel better now that I got that out there.

Office hilarity

I enjoy my job. It's a nice work environment, there are good benefits, and the people are really nice. But, as in any office, sometimes things can get a little dull. So my co-workers and I have come up with ways to entertain ourselves from time to time. Before you start picturing really complex pranks, check out this video to get a better idea of the level of pranking I'm talking about:

Windward Reports

Our favorite type of office prank is to cut out a picture of each other (either from Facebook or our office photo album), cut it apart so it fits on the body of the picture we're working with, glue it to a hilarious picture, then hide it either on the other's corkboard or in a journal they're working on so they find it when they don't expect it. Cracks us up every time. (I told you not to get your hopes up for some really complicated jokes!)

Anyway, last week Kathy and Justin and I were talking about The Rock, AKA Dwayne Johnson, and I mentioned that he is my current celebrity crush. Kathy gave me the good news (good news for me, bad for the Rock and his now ex-wife) that the Rock is single again. This was great news considering that the only thing keeping the Rock and me apart was the fact that he was married! Now I can make my move! I hope you caught the sarcasm there.

So, today at work Kathy and Justin were asking me how things went with the Rock the other night. I knew I was missing something, but couldn't figure it out. Kathy said that the dress I wore looked like it was pretty revealing. Once again, I knew something was up, but didn't know what she was referring to. Finally, after Justin drew my attention to something on my cork board, I noticed that on it was a picture of me with The Rock! Before you worry about my fashion sense and sense of decency, I want to assure you that that is only my head glued to a woman's body and I would never wear a dress like that. The funny thing is, when I saw the picture I was so embarrassed at the idea of wearing a dress like that! I think I even blushed. And I knew it wasn't me!

I took two days off last week, so that gave Justin and Kathy time to create several hilarious pictures of me doing ridiculous things, but this one is my favorite. I just wish it were a real picture because it looks like it was a good time. But if that had been me, I would've worn a shrug.

I win.

Thank you to all the readers who believed my story! I was sad to hear that some people actually believed Kristin's version of the story. Like I (or any sane person) would hold a curling iron to someone's neck and say "burn baby burn!" Ha! I want to thank Kristin for publicly admitting that my story was the true (well, truer) version of what happened. The twelve year old versions of Kristin and me were a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure. We were absolutely cracking up this week reminiscing about how funny we thought we were back then. Thanks for voting!

Biker chick

Let me start out by saying that I'm not much of a risk taker. I've always thought motorcycles (or as I referred to them, "donor cycles") were just so dangerous! And although it kind of looked like fun I never thought I'd ever actually ride one.

But today, that all changed. Ok, I'm being way over dramatic about this - I'm just going to get to the point. Today I rode a motorcycle for the first time and I have to say, I really liked it. At first I was very nervous - I think my friend I was riding with probably has bruises from me holding onto him way too tight at first! But after a few minutes, it wasn't scary and in fact, I really enjoyed it. I have a confession: at one point on the ride, we drove past a parked motorcycle that had a "for sale" sign on it, and for a split second I actually wondered how much they were asking for it.

I know that most of you are not believing me that there is any biker chick in me at all. And maybe you're right. But maybe you're wrong! (I guess we both know you're probably right.)

The truth must be heard!

Years and years ago, on a July third much like today, something happened to my friend Kristin. This story has been told and retold over the years but Kristin and I have very (very) different versions of what happened. She and I are both going to tell our stories today and let you, readers, decide which of us is telling the truth. I like to think my reputation will speak for itself and that it will be clear who is being honest.

So here's the story. The true story.

It was July 3rd, 199-. Kristin and I were having a sleep over at Kristin's house. We had sleep overs all of the time, and it was always the same. Kristin made me sleep on the floor with only a decorative pillow to sleep on. It was not very comfortable. On this particular night, I decided that I'd had enough and I wanted a real pillow.

Let me back up. This may seem like a digression, but it is very important to the story. Kristin had this bad habit of leaving her curling iron plugged in all day so that by the end of the day, it was about 1000 degrees hot. She kept it on a table by her bed.

Back to the story. So, Kristin and I were sitting on her bed and I asked her if I could please use a real pillow that night. She said no, that she loved her pillow and wouldn't give it up. I begged and told her it was hard for me to sleep on the floor with only the decorative pillow to rest my head on. She smirked and said that was too bad. I looked over at the soft, fluffy pillow next to her and decided I'd have to fight for this. (I was desperate for a good night's sleep!) I grabbed the pillow but she reacted fast and grabbed it back. It turned into a tug of war. Unfortunately for Kristin, I was (and still am) stronger than her. She lost her grip on the pillow and fell off her bed. On her way to the floor, she caught the cord of the curling iron with her neck which made the iron flip off the table and onto her neck. Sizzzzzle! I was mortified!

We ran to get help. Everyone gathered around the kitchen table to look at Kristin's neck and decide how serious it was. Ryan consulted his Boy Scout manual and determined that it was a third degree burn. I rode with Kristin and her mom to the emergency room where we spent the majority of the night. I was very concerned about her neck, but it was clearly an accident and not anyone's fault. I can't help it that Kristin has weak arms!

Years later I found out that Kristin had been telling quite a different version of the story. To read her version, click here. Kristin will post it sometime today. I think it will be clear who's telling the truth.