A Teaser for the Next Post...

Chad and I are off to Cali once again. This time thank goodness it's in an airplane (thanks to Rach and her lovely benefits as a flight attendant)!!! So, when we get back I'll have lots of stories of Wicked, Shamu, Rachel's wedding, cheerleading competitions, crazy outings with the Moss family, and of course all the quirkiness California and Los Angeles has to offer! See you on the flip side, yo!

Update

Well my sister heard back from UCLA late last night. Unfortunately she did not get in, but this was her dream school application so it didn't hurt too much that she didn't get in. Truth be told, I don't know that she was really wanting to go to UCLA anyway. Adrienne is somewhat competitive, but not enough to handle what could await her at UCLA. She has a bunch of friends who are planning on attending UC San Diego and I think it would just be an all around better fit for her. So far her current plan is UCSD, now it's just a matter of funding...

Your Tax Dollars at Work

So I must say, it's been one of those weeks at work. Some weeks I'm so productive and get a ton done at work, but other weeks- nothing! I must say this week (and it's only Wednesday!) has been one of those nothing weeks. I just have had no motivation. I think it might be because I know I'm leaving for a few days next week, but who knows. Well turns out I'm not the only one in my office who is struggling this week. My coworker, Megan, and I have been dealing with our anti-work attitudes together.

So since we have a very stressful and emotional job, we try to have a little fun sometimes even if that means annoying our coworkers in neighboring offices. A while back Megan and an old coworker found a huge roll of shrink wrap lying on the floor of the office. Rather then try to find it's rightful owner, they hid it in one of their offices with plans to cause a little mayhem later. Later never really came, and the shrink wrap sat in Megan's office.

So with our anti-work attitudes in check today we decided we needed to go on a hunt for the shrink wrap as it had been misplaced since we had changed offices about a month ago. Megan quickly returned to my office with the giant roll of shrink wrap in hand! Our friend and coworker, Diana, is leaving us and moving to Wisconsin so we've been giving her a hard time about it. Diana decided she was going to leave early today and Megan and I decided she needed to be punished for leaving early and for leaving us for Wisconsin.

Well long story short, we wrapped her desk and everything on it in shrink wrap! It was great fun and I was laughing so hard my eyes started tearing up! I guess work isn't so bad all the time, but I don't know how people would feel about knowing that this was what their state employees were doing with their time today!

Miss Smartypants

My sister, Adrienne, is finally in her last semester of her senior year in high school. For some it's the end, while for others it's just the beginning. My sister is one who is just starting out on her big adventure that is called life. Most know that if you plan on going to college, the last part of your junior year and beginning of your senior year are awful. Adrienne took both ACTs and SATs and applied to schools, and applied for scholarships. Well after months, even years, of headaches her efforts are finally paying off! She just found out that she has been accepted to UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, and University of Utah! She's also applied to UCLA, but hasn't heard back yet. I'm just so proud of her! She's worked so hard to get where she's at and I know that she's going to have a blast when she goes to college! Congrats Adrienne!

A Star is Born!

Well I don't know how he did it, but Chad somehow talked me into letting him by the game Rock Band for his XBox 360 a few weeks ago. Honestly, there are days when I think the XBox is the devil, but then there are the times when I to find enjoyment in all it has to offer. And I must admit that Rock Band is just one of these such times. For those who have not experienced it think Guitar Hero, but with drums and a singer in addtion to the guitar! It's the total experience! It's for sure not a game for the quiet reserved type, especially if you plan on singing in front of everyone.

So this weekend resulted in two fun filled late nights of all out jamming. Friday night Samantha and LaMar came over and stayed until 1:30 in the morning! I don't know if it was the excitement of playing or the chocolate fondue that kept us up that late, but we had a blast! The highlight of the evening was Sam and LaMar singing the Timmy song from South Park. Sunday night Jarad and Ashley joined us for our second jam session. Jarad told us that he was so excited he had been dreaming about Rock Band the night before! I found it pretty funny when Jarad suddenly got really shy and didn't want to sing. Are you serious Jarad? How long have we been listening to you belt it out whenever you feel so inspired? And now you're shy!? Ashley did some serious trash kicking on the drums.

Now normally I am more on the quiet and reserved side when it comes to things like this, but for some reason the rock star in me comes out whenever I play Rock Band. I've found that I absolutely adore singing on the game! Seriously, the thoughts of being a lead singer in an actual band or even trying out for American Idol have actually passed through my mind during and after playing. I know it's crazy, but hey we can all dream can't we!

We love you Tom!

On Tuesday the 11th, Chad and I decided to venture out of our humble abode and head downtown for the...wait for it... Angels and Airwaves show! Heck yes! Chad and I met up with our friends, Samantha and LaMar, who we had planned on attending the show with at about 5:30ish. Doors were supposed to open at 6, so we figured this was just about perfect timing. Well 6 pm came and went and we're still in line waiting. Now, this would be fine and good except that for some reason on this very night it decided to feel like it was about 2 degrees outside! 6 turned into 7, and 7 quickly approached 8 and still waiting! I think we were told "10 more minutes" about five times.

Well long story short, after watching the owner at the nearby Chinese reataurant yell at a girl wanting to use the bathroom, after LaMar and I went to buy some soup just so that the mean owner would actually let us use the bathroom, after my toes went completely numb, and finally after we had actually considered selling our tickets we got in! At about 8:30! The show started right away with a band called Ace Enders. I didn't catch much of them since we were actively trying to find a perch on the balcony to watch the show from. Next came the Color Fred, who I was anxious to see. For those who don't know, Fred from Taking Back Sunday left the band to do his own thing and the Color Fred is it. I was quite impressed. Fred has always been one of my favs in TBS, so I knew it would be good. After they finished up, good ol' locally grown Meg and Dia were up. Pretty awesome couple of chicks, but for some reason Dia felt it would be okay to not wear shoes on the stage! Um, hello!? Does she even know how many boys have spit on that stage!? I just hope she did not have any open wounds on her feet!

And last, but certainly not least...Angels and Airwaves! They've been to Utah before, but this was the first time Chad and I had been to see them. Let's just say they completely delivered and made the wait well worth it. The lights, the sound, the dancing from Tom- all fantastic! I have to say, Tom has still got it and even though the music he plays with AvA is more on the serious side then Blink was, he still has not lost a bit of his humor and is still the same guy we grew to love back in the old days!

I'm a blogger!

So I must admit that as I get older I seem to be becoming more technology illiterate (or maybe it's just a lack of interest in learning how to use new things!). It all started back in college (years ago!) when I got a palm pilot. My first thought was wow! Now I'm going to be super organized and know when everything is due and it's so super cool! Well after attempting to use the thing for a while, I finally gave up and went out and bought one of those cheap little paper planners. I still consider myself pretty in-the-know when it comes to the latest and greatest gadgets and coworkers often come to me with their computer crises, but I still prefer old school 16 bit Nintendo to whatever new high-tech gaming system is out now and still like my little Dell laptop that I've had for a few years now over the next generation of Mac Books, or whatever.

Apparently one of the new great things in the tech world is to start a blog and to share fun and exciting thoughts with friends and family, or even the whole world if you so choose. So in an attempt to stay in-the-know about cool new stuff like this, I have decided to create a blog! Now who knows who will read it or if anyone will even be all that interested because truth be told, I don't have all that many friends! But hey, Chad and I have some wacky adventures every now and again that are pretty entertaining and believe me, stories that I could tell from life as a state social worker could provide hours of entertainment! So here it is, for our friends and family who are interested in finding out just what is going on with Chad and Tara lately...I give you our new blog! If I can figure out how to work this thing!