2 down, a bunch more to go

Last night was my second night of class. Grad school is hard! I thought getting my MBA was a great plan, but I'm starting to rethink if I made the right decision. I may not be smart enough for this!

Last night I had Finance. I sat perfectly still for the first hour and half. We were discussing the stock market, which I find very interesting. The second part of class was over math. I'm not a math person, so the second part of class was hard for me. I hate to say this, but I was lost before we'd even gotten started. AHHH it's going to be one long year.

Searching for a Cause

How many times have you thought to yourself, I sure wish every time I Googled something 1 cent went to a charitable organization? Never? Well me neither, until today. Blogger World, my dear friend Holly has discovered a great thing. Good Search. Good Search is very similar to Google, except every time you search for something on Good Search 1 cent goes to the charity you have chosen. How great is that? You aren’t even doing anything and you are giving.

My friend, Holly, gives great information on her blog about this...

Partners Ken and JJ Ramberg partnered with Yahoo! to create Good Search, a search engine that would get in on some of that advertising revenue and send it into the hands of reputable charities. According to their website, there are 42,000 non-profits participating and they have raised $3,400 for Darfur and
other similar causes since their launch in 2005.

You might be thinking 1 cent isn’t a big deal, which is true 1 cent is not to some people. But think how many times you Google random things. I use Google for everything; and when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING. I use for finding caking recipes to searching myself. Oh come on…everyone does it!

So today’s mission is to get on goodsearch.com and help out. Who knows your search might save someone.

Dancing with the Stars

The list is out! We finally know who will be on next season’s Dancing with the Stars. I’m sure this excites no one, except me. Well my aerobics instructor is probably pumped about the list being released…. she’s really into this show.
Here’s the list….

• Melanie "Mel B" Brown, 32, Spice Girls ("Scary Spice") singer (pro partner: Maksim Chmerkovskiy)
• Sabrina Bryan, 22, actress/singer (The Cheetah Girls) (pro partner: Mark Ballas)
• Helio Castroneves, 32, racecar driver (pro partner: Julianne Hough)
• Mark Cuban, 48, businessman (owner of NBA's Dallas Mavericks) (pro partner: Kym Johnson)
• Jennie Garth, 35, actress (Beverly Hills, 90210) (pro partner: Derek Hough, older brother of Julianne Hough)
• Josie Maran, 29, supermodel (pro partner Alec Mazo)
• Cameron Mathison, 38, actor (All My Children) (pro partner: Edyta Sliwinska
• Floyd Mayweather, Jr., 30, boxer (pro partner: Karina Smirnoff)
• Wayne Newton, 65, singer (pro partner: Cheryl Burke)
• Marie Osmond, 47, singer/doll designer (pro partner: Jonathan Roberts)
• Albert Reed, 22, supermodel (pro partner: Anna Trebunskaya)
• Jane Seymour, 56, actress (pro partner: Tony Dovolani)

I was skimming the list and the first name caught my eye. Scary Spice is going to be on Dancing with the Stars? Isn’t this going to be a HUGE conflict with her Spice Girls Reunion Tour? How is she going to tour with the other Spice Girls if she has to rehearse for tons of hours? I’m planning to attend the SG Reunion Tour, but I’m not shelling out the money if Scary Spice isn’t going to be there. I mean it won’t be the same without her. Ok, I will shell out the money even if she isn’t there. Also, didn’t Scary Spice, I refuse to call her Melanie or Mel B, recently have a baby? Who is going to take care of that baby?

The second name that caught my eye was Mark Cuban. What has this man not done? He’s done it all. He owns an NBA team, he owns…well I don’t know what else he owns but he owns the Mavericks. I wonder if he’s single?

I also noticed we have a Cheetah Girl on this season. If you do not know, The Cheetah Girls were popular on The Disney Channel before High School Musical was born. After HSM took over Disney Channel and the world, The Cheetah girls were pushed to the backseat or The Disney Channel 3. I’m not for sure which girl this is, I only saw The Cheetah Girls once. I wish it was Raven, now she’s funny!

Oh and how can we forget Wayne Newton? I’m going to be honest…I thought he was dead. When I saw him on the list I was like, well I guess he’s alive and kicking. Good for Wayne! Proving to American that the he can still move.

I'm not even going to comment on Marie Osmond. I'm now taking bets for how many times we have to see her brother sitting in the audience!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

This morning I checked USA Today's Top 25 page. If you have not heard of this, every Monday USA Today is publishing a Top 25 List. They are doing it to celebrate the paper's 25 years. It's pretty interesting. They have done numerous topics, but this week the topic caught my eye. Top 25 Changes in the way we travel. As a person who likes to travel, I had to read the list. Here is USA Today's Top 25 Changes in the way we travel....

1.Online Booking
2. TSA airport security
3. Airline e-tickets
4. Roll-aboard luggage
5. Smoke-free flights
6. Boutique hotel chains
7. Airports as mall- Did you know Pittsburgh’s airport was the first airport to add shops? It happened in 1992.
8. Indian Casinos
9. GPS car navigation systems
10. Self-service ticketing kiosks
11. Airbus A380 Super Jumbo
12. Airline code-sharing
13. Seat-back entertainment systems- AMEN for this! Northwest Airlines was the first to have it back in 1988.
14. Yield management
15. The Mirage, Las Vegas- The Strip’s first mega-resort.
16. Westin’s Heavenly Bed- They are heavenly!
17. Trip Advisor
18. Flights without meals
19. Sovereign of the Seas
20. Ascent of low-cost airlines
21. Allinity credit cards
22. High-tech roller coasters
23. Queen Mary 2
24. Flying beds- Air France introduced the first flat bed seats in 1995, but it was only for 1st Class.
25. End of commercial supersonic travel- Bye bye Concorde.

Movin' Time

And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...

Milton and I have a lot in common. Ok, not a lot just one thing. No, I’m not obsessed with my stapler. I knew that’s what you were guessing. Nope, like Milton I too have been moved many times. Today marks the fifth time I’ve been moved at work. Yesterday they sent out an email saying my department was being moved down the hall. At least I’m not getting moved to the basement or to a smaller office. I use the term “smaller” pretty loosely because my new office might be about ten inches bigger. It’s all about how you look things. Ten inches today, twenty inches tomorrow.

How did you meet?

This morning on the radio the DJs were chatting about where couples have met. An article in Glamour Magazine came out this week breaking down the places/ways couples have met. Here’s the breakdown…

38%- School/Work
34%- Family/Friends
13%- Night Clubs/ Bar
3%- Dating Service
3%- Church
1%- Dating Service
1%- Gym
1%- Chance

I don’t know if I should cry or jump for joy after hearing this breakdown. Let’s start with the positive, since it’s good to be positive. I have heard being a positive person is very attractive to the opposite sex. Do you like how I make things up?

Positive #1- I am going back to school next week. There’s a decent chance I could meet someone in class. I’ll be in class two nights a week for a year, that’s plenty of time to meet someone.
Positive # 2- I work at a huge company with lots of single guys.
Positive # 3- 34% met because of friends/family. I have great friends.
Positive # 4- I attend a huge church with a large size singles group.
Positive # 5- I still have a 1% chance of meeting Prince Charming while walking down the street.

Ok, now let’s be realistic! I don’t want to say negative because that is negative, and being a negative person is not attractive. I’m not making that one up; I think it’s true. But I have learned that a single person needs to be realistic; otherwise you’ll be waiting for an overweight fairy to come change you into a smoking hotty, where you meet a McDreamy type guy, and lose one of your new Jimmy Choo shoes the overweight fairy just gave you! Come on, let’s be realistic.

Realism #1- Last week I went to orientation for school. I would have to disagree with my decent chance of meeting someone at school.
Realism # 2- I will not be meeting someone at work, moving on…
Realism # 3- I have heaps of singles friends who do not like to play matchmaker.
Realism #4- I attend church with a large size singles group who are friends with each other. But they are great friends!
Realism #5- I ONLY have a 1% chance of meeting Prince Charming while walking down the street. I have better chances of meeting the real McDreamy on the street!

Good thing I have my Single Trips to look forward to every year! Shoot the rate I’m going, I will see the whole world before I get married. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because it assures me I will have lots of fun stories for my kids to hear!

"We're all in this together"

Saturday morning I will be up and out of my house before 7:00am. I know it’s early, isn’t it? I believe God made Saturdays for sleeping in and doing yard work. I have to be honest; I haven’t slept-in on a Saturday in quite some time. I usually go to aerobics or work at the kitchen store on Saturdays. But this Saturday I’m going to run a race. This race will complete summer goal # 3. WOO HOO!

Also, tomorrow I will be going to my last musical of the summer. I’ve been looking forward to this musical for many months. Saturday night I will be watching……….
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL! Ok, I know everyone is rolling their eyes right now, but I do not care. My little sister and I are pumped to see this musical. I enjoyed the movie HSM, so I’m hoping the musical is just as entertaining.

Speaking of HSM…the second one is premiering tonight on Disney Channel. I will be attending a HSM2 Party Sunday. I’m dead serious. I’m pretty excited. Monday morning I will have a full review over HSM2.

Early Morning Walk

I’m a fan of getting eight hours of sleep. Actually, my body and mind are big fans of me getting eight hours of sleep. I remember in the glory days of college, I never got eight hours of sleep. Every night was a huge giggle party that ended at two or three in the morning! I don’t know what has happened in the past four years? I went from Party Girl to Golden Girl! Ahh, I believe the phrase I’m looking for is-I got old! But this week I feel like I’m back in college. Oh no, I’m not having parties until two or three. HA! No, my body is not requiring eight hours of sleep! This week I’ve gotten up at three or four in the morning. It’s starting to get really annoying. What in the world can you do at three or four in the morning? I can’t go to aerobics because it starts at 5: 35; I can’t go back to sleep, and I refuse to go to work that early. So what am I suppose to do? I’ve been staring at my ceiling fan a lot, which I realized needs to be dusted BAD!

This morning was no different than the previous mornings. I was wide-awake at 4:22am. I laid in bed thinking, should I get up to dust my ceiling fan or go for a walk. After a thirty-minute debate I was out of bed getting ready for an early morning walk. I got dressed, laced up my running shoes, and headed out the door. Instead of grabbing my iPod, like normal, I decided to leave it on the charger. I wanted no distractions while I was walking. This morning I was able to walk two miles in silence and just think. I thought about God, life, and breakfast. By the time I’d finished my two miles I’d walked thirty minutes. As I turned to head back to my casa I felt a great sense of peace. My walk was such a treat that I did not realized I needed. I was able to clear my mind and thank God for all the wonderful creations he’s created. While I was walking I did encounter one lonely runner. As he ran past me a verse came to mind, which I will end with:
1Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Ramblings...

Next weekend my friend Tracy and I are having a dinner party. Today during lunch I thought I’d visit Food Network’s website to pick up some ideas for our menu. I was clicking around FN website when I found the Holiday/Party page. Did you know that Food Network has a menu for every imaginable type of party? They do. Anyway, when I was looking through the long list of party ideas I saw a page called, Single Person Cooking. I have no idea why this is on the party page but I was intrigued. I immediately thought- I’m single, I like to cook, this is probably information I need to see. I assumed they would offer advice on things like affordable cooking, cooking class around the US, and cooking date ideas. When I clicked on Single Person Cooking it directed me to a page called Table for One. Now why does the Food Network assume because you are single you eat alone! Couldn’t a single person have roommates? Couldn’t a single person have a child? Couldn't a single person live at home? COULDN’T A SINGLE PERSON HAVE FRIENDS!! I will no longer be visiting Food Network’s website!

Speaking of food I had peaches for lunch. Fresh peaches are the best. A few weeks ago I went to the Farmer’s Market. It was my first time to go to the Farmer’s Market. It was so much fun! Everything is so fresh. I bought green beans, onions, red potatoes, peaches, and homemade Tomatoes Bread. All of the things I purchased have been amazing. I think everyone should visit their local Farmer’s Market.

The Roommate is coming back as The Roommate. If you remember about seven months ago she left us to go be The Roommate to someone else. Remember I wrote a whole post on the shortage of drinking glasses due to her leaving? It was actually one of my funnier posts. But like all my good post, it went down the drain with my deleted blog.

I have discovered something that is to die for-Dark Chocolate Snickers. Oh they are good. I don’t even like Dark Chocolate and I’m hooked on these. I do not recommend you try them, because you too will get hooked. The administrative assistant by my office has them in her candy jar. A few days ago I needed some sugar so I tried one. Now I have one everyday.

This past weekend I went to Dallas. My goal was to only spend $25 while I was there. I accomplished my goal. My $25 paid for a movie, dinner, water at the Rangers game, breakfast, and gas. As you can see $25 does not pay for much. I recommend going to Dallas when you are rich. I saved money by not eating lunch and bringing my own snacks. Go me for being cheap!

Last night I went to orientation for my MBA program. About thirty minutes into orientation I had a minor panic attack. I guess my brain finally realized what I’d signed up for, one year of school. The thought what have you gotten yourself into went through my brain a lot.

I’m done rambling for the day. I realize that most of my ramblings had to do with food. I promise I’m not hungry-I just ate lunch.

Stacey's Game

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (if you don’t have a blog, email me)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


1. I read every night before I go to bed. I usually read for about thirty minutes. If I don’t read before I go to bed, I find I can’t sleep.

2. I’m going back to school in a couple weeks. I finally stopped talking about getting my MBA, and decided to just go do it.

3. I easily get scared at night. I have been known to call my sister and make her come home because I’m scared.

4. I can only flirt with guys I’m not interested in dating. If I am interested in you, I’m usually too scared to talk.

5. I played basketball for over 9 years, just to quit when I got to high school.

6. I love to have parties at my house.

7. My baby sister and I are 10 years apart. My dad and one of his baby brothers are 10 years apart, and my dad’s baby brother (different brother) and I are 10 years apart.

8. When I discover a new movie I like, I watch it over and over again. Then I put the movie away and won’t watch it for a long time

*** The lucky people to be tagged are- Holly, Bone, Hub, Carrie, DJ, Chigbee, and Tabs

Killing Time

I’m bored! I have successfully completed my task for the day. It’s only 2:32pm and I have completed everything, which never happens in a normal day. Now I sit here in my cub trying to figure out what to do for the remanding 2 hours. Normally two hours would seem like nothing, but today it seems like an entirety! I hit the bordem stage around 1:00, because that’s when I came back from lunch. At first I was pretending to be busy but now I’m not even pretending. I’m flat out goofing off. I’ve asked everyone for work and no one has any. Now I’m frustrated because I can think of all the things I should be doing at my house. There are some of the things I could be doing instead of sitting here burning daylight.

Making my back porch resemble something like this...Grocery Shopping, which is one of my favorite things to do.

Pack for another weekend trip to Dallas.

Finish reading my book.

Make some delicous Blueberry Muffins. I’ve been craving some for about a week.

And while I’m making muffins I might as well make cupcakes. I have no idea why, but I really want cupcakes today!

As you can see I was so bored I color coded each point. Don't worry next week I'll be back to black font.

My reasons for loving OKC

This morning I was reading Good Girl Lit, which is one of my new favorite blogs. Today’s post is about how great San Francisco is. As I was reading the post I thought to myself…I should do a post about OKC. True, San Francisco is pretty cool but Oklahoma City is cool too.

OKC has come a long ways in my twenty-six years. I grew up outside of OKC and didn’t intend to live here forever. I always figured I’d leave after I got older and was married. Well now I’m older, not married, and still living here. Each day I’m finding it harder by the day to leave.

So to retaliate to Good Girl Lit, here are my reasons for loving OKC.

1. Bricktown. We have our very own version of San Antonia’s Riverwalk, and it’s located in Bricktown. The Cannel is stocked with water taxis ready to carry you to restaurants, shops, clubs, or hotels that line the Cannel. Also, if you’re Bricktown during a baseball game you can catch the fireworks after a game.

2.The food. Sure we have our share of chains, but we also have some very cool and delicious locally owned places. My favorite is a sandwich joint called City Bites. I rate food this high because I love eat.

3. Football. Here in OK you are either a Sooner or a Cowboy. Many states have more than two major state universities, which splits the state. But Oklahoma we keep it simple- you either bleed Crimson or bleed Orange.

4. Lake Hefner. Most of the lakes in Oklahoma are man made. Since we can just make a lake, we decided to put on in the middle of OKC. Lake Hefner is great for taking the sail boat out for a spin, if you own one and I don’t.

5. Tornados. Yes, OKC is in the middle of Tornado Alley. Spring is a super exciting time around here.

6. Marathon. I know most cities have marathons, but we have ours to honor people. Every year around the end of April, thousands of people run through the streets of OKC to honor people that died in the OKC bombing.


7. Stockyards. Yes, we have stockyards in OKC. If you want the best hamburger in town you need to go there. Hey, we have to keep the cowboy spirit alive!


8. Traffic. We don’t have any. Sure, we have some rush hour traffic but it’s nothing like Houston, NYC, LA, or any other monstrous city.


9. Paseo District. Walk through the Paseo District and you feel like you’ve just gone through Portland, Oregon. Paseo is the Art District of OKC. There are many art galleries throughout this mini district, along with some of the greatest restaurants in OKC. Paseo is a great place to wonder the streets and listen to the music of local bands.


10. Shakespeare in the Park. The name pretty much explains it, but in the summer you can catch a Shakespeare play while sitting in the comfort of your own lawn chair.


I think I should work for the state and write our brochure!

Chew on this...

Today, August 7th, is Raspberries 'N Cream Day.
Here’s a healthy recipe for all you coffee lovers out there….

Ingredients:
4 oz. Almond Breeze, Unsweetened Chocolate
2 oz. Torani Sugar Free Raspberry Syrup
1 1/2 tsp. instant coffee 1 tsp.
Fat Free French Vanilla Coffee-mate powder
1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa
3 packets Splenda
1 1/2 cups crushed ice OR 8-10 ice cubes
2 tbsp. Fat Free Reddi-wip (a one-serving squirt)


Directions:Place coffee, cocoa, Splenda and Coffee-mate in a glass. Add 1 oz. hot water to glass, and stir to dissolve ingredients. Next add Almond Breeze and Torani syrup and stir briefly. Now place contents of glass in a blender. Add ice and blend on high speed until well blended. Pour into a tall glass, and finish off with whipped cream. Enjoy!

Recipe came from Hungry Girl website.

"You think they will shoot me if I kiss you"

I’m a sucker for romance. I love to read romance novels. Ok, before we go any farther with this post I want to clarify romance novels. I’m not talking about the novels where a half naked lady and a big strong man occupy the cover. I like the cute romance novels-boy meets girl, boy asks girl out, and then get married. The realistic novels, the ones where it makes you believe it is possible to meet a man, have him ask you out, and then get married. I think my romance novel fetish is perfectly normal and healthy. If I can’t have the wonderful romance life, at least I can read about it!

Along with the cute romance novels, I also enjoy romantic comedies. I don’t find this odd one bit. All women enjoy a good romantic comedy. Hello, Julie Roberts and Meg Ryan wouldn’t be famous if we didn’t! But I’m not talking about those romantic comedies; I’m talking about the ones high school girls like. Yes, I’m a big fan of teenybopper romance movies. I know it’s shameful but I love them! My new favorite movie is a teenybopper romance. I discovered it about a month ago. I loved it so much I went to Wally World and purchased the DVD. Chasing Liberty is my new favorite. It stars Mandy Moores and some other semi-famous actor/actresses. The reason I love this movie is for a couple reasons. 1. It takes place in Europe
2. A really cute guy is in it.

Blogging world meet my new crush…

Isn’t he dreamy??? In the movie he’s a Secret Service Agent. Why are Secret Service Agents in movies so cute? Jason Bourne, this guy, the guy in the Katie Holmes movie (where she’s the President's daughter), and the movie where Colin Farrell is SSA. Are all SSA cute? I don’t know one so I’m really asking. Anyway, this is Matthew Goode-new crush.

Happy Birthday Suzy...

This post is for my friend Suzy, or as you know her-Sushi for Beginners. Today is her birthday. I’ve decided with this new blog, I will do blog dedications for my friend’s on their birthdays. Since Suzy is my first friend to have a birthday, she’s the first to experience the blog dedication.

Suzy and I have been friends for a couple years. We met through church, but became better friends through Relay for Life. When you spend endless hours emailing about Relay for Life, you become tight. After two years of Relay for Life committee we decided to take the plunge and become friends.
Suzy’s a swell gal. She enjoys cooking me food, going to musicals, and setting me up with her coworkers. Ok, one coworker. My favorite thing about Suzy is her sense of humor! She is one of the funniest people I know, really she is. I’m very thankful that Suzy is in my life. I’m lucky to have such a great friend.

So here’s to you Suzy….HAPPY BIRTHDAY!



Editor’s Note- As I was rereading this, I realized this post sounds more like a singles ad than a dedication. Again, Suzy is my first dedication so hopefully I will get better. But if you are interested in dating Suzy please contact me.