What I learned in 2008

Folks, we are hours away from greeting 2009. This morning Good Morning America showed all the wackos that spent the night in Time Square for tonight’s big celebration. I call them wackos because its butt freakin’ cold in NYC, and you’d have to be a nut job to spend the night on NYC streets! But that’s just me.
Anyway, 2008 is leaving us and 2009 is well on its way. Now, I could spend this post reviewing all the good/bad things that happened to the world in 2008. But I’m fully aware you lived through 2008 too, so no need to rehash the past. For that reason, I decided to share the things I learned throughout 2008. Again, the title of this blog is: This is my world. SO here are the top things I’ve learned this year.

First, the bad…
1. Even though you accept a date invitation it doesn’t mean you’ll actually be taken out on a date. This was a REAL eye opener!
2. I can only go three days, four days tops, with less than six hours of sleep. If I go over four days I become irritable, dizzy, gain a massive headache, and have the erg to hit everyone with a baseball bat.
3. The fine people at Starbucks make a difference in my life. I am placing this under bad because the fine people at Starbucks are expensive friends.
4. Overpriced extended cable is nice. Last night was a lonely night with only 10 channels, but then Eli Stone came on and I was happy.

Now, the good…
1. I am the multi-task/juggle queen. This year I juggled- work, school, church, aerobics, training for a half marathon, Relay for Life, and being somewhat social.
2. Despite what a certain guidance counselor told me in high school, I am smart.
3. Weekend trips are just as fun as long trips.
4. Blog stalking can help you reconnect with old college friends.
5. I can travel international all by myself.

As you can see, I learned quite a bit in 2008. I’m sure there’s more but at 8:11am I can’t seem to think of anything else. Of course this list excludes all the fancy MBA crap I learned too.
Blogger World I'd like to wish you a Happy New Year!

Holy Cow!

Last night was my last night of extended overpriced cable. I told you guys my cable plan, right? I ordered the extended overpriced cable package for the month of December, that way I could watch all the cheesy ABC Family and Lifetime Christmas movies. Then after Christmas I was going to downgrade to the unexcited 24 channel package. Don’t laugh! I’m saving $34 a month by downgrading and I was able to see all my Christmas movies. I watched two super cute Christmas movies on Lifetime, and no one was anorexic or a teenage mother in either movie. I honestly didn’t know Lifetime made movies without those storylines.

So how did I spend my last night with the overpriced cable? I watched a marathon of Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC. Have you guys seen this show? It’s about Jon and Kate who have eight kids. Yes, you read right eight kids. They have a set of twins (the oldest) and then they have sextuplets- which brings their child count to eight. Before the overpriced cable was installed I had only seen the show a few times. However, last night’s marathon caught me up on the whole season. I cannot imagine having eight kids. Oh.My.Word! I mean, my grandma had seven kids but they were different ages. I don’t know about having two the same age and six the same age. Also, how do they tell the kids apart? Ok, so they look different now, but when they were babies I’m sure they didn’t. I would have to label them for the first few months so I could tell them apart.

I suppose watching four hours of Jon & Kate Plus 8 reaffirmed that I do not want eight kids. I didn’t ever want eight kids, but now I know for sure I don’t want eight kids. Unless TLC is going to do a show about my family and pay for us to go to Disney World, Hawaii, fly me to NYC for a make-over, and give us lots of free toys. Now if that’s the case I might be willing to pop out eight kids. But only if I get my own show!

Christmas Vacation

Blogger World, I survived Christmas. I survived the hustle and bustle of seeing the whole family, attending parties, eating food, and of course- opening all my presents. It was a world whim Christmas. This year I was only able to spend two days in Arkansas, opposed to the normal week. I had to be a big girl and come back to work. Responsibility is not all that it’s cracked up to be-just FYI. Even though my time was short with the fam, I still managed to have some highlights. Here are the highlights from Ok Chick’s Christmas…

Before we headed to Arkansas Sister #1, Sister #2, and myself opened presents with our parents. The highlight at this event was the present my mom received from my dad. My father bought my mom some Wrangle type jeans-you know the cowgirl jeans. This is funny for many reasons: #1- my mom has NEVER worn Wrangle cowgirl type jeans-NEVER! None of us own cowboy boots. #2- my dad bought the jeans two sizes too big. They've been married for a jillion years-he should know her size by now. #3- my dad admitted that he went to Langston’s because the mall was way too crowded and he didn’t want to fight the crowd.

The first party we attended in Arkansas was my great grandma’s Christmas party. The party was held at a local restaurant, The Broadway. When the waitress brought out the drinks I noticed something floating in my grandpa’s drink. I decided to grab my unused somewhat dirty spoon to fish out the floating substance. When I finally fished out the ice I realized a cigarette ash was stuck to the ice. Sister #1, Sister #2, and I laughed and tried to take a picture of the dirty cigarette ash ice. I figured it was a blog worthily story. However, the picture didn’t come out. But then after a couple seconds I realized if there were cigarette ashes in my grandpa’s drink, there’s a good chance some were in my drink. Needless to say, I didn’t drink anything the whole night.

Christmas Day was Christmas with my dad’s family. Since that side of the family is huge, we play Dirty Santa. Last year was the first year to play Dirty Santa, so everyone was learning the game. But this year, the gloves were off and it was every man for himself. For example, The Cousin stole a present from our great grandma. Our great grandma didn’t quite understand the game, and didn’t appreciate The Cousin stealing her Arbonne Body Wash. I thought it was hilarious! After I realized we were playing for real I got mean. I actually stole two different presents from the same aunt because she liked the gifts. One of the present, Razorback towels, I was hoping to keep, but someone stole them from me.

So…two days in Arkansas, a dozen presents opened, 1,000,000 calories consumed, and a couple verbal fights with my Garmin lady, and its back to the real world. Next year I’m wishing for a Christmas break that last two weeks.

Merry Christmas

Dear Blogger World,

Ok Chick is about to leave for the Land of the Hogs. But first I would like to wish everyone Merry Christmas! Have a safe and happy holidays. Enjoy the time with your family and friends.

xoxo,

Ok Chick

Ramblings...

Once again it’s time for Ok Chick’s annual (this being the second year) Christmas Ramblings; because it’s not like you haven’t had enough Christmas cheer shoved down your throat. Please enjoy the good, bad, and ugly of this holiday season through OK Chick’s eyes.

I am in a very Christmas mood this season. I’ve had my decorations up since the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving, I’ve made all my neighbors homemade goodies, I sent out a handful of Christmas cards, Sister #1 and Sister #2 decorated the outside of my residence, and I’ve attended many Christmas parties. See, I feeling the Christmas cheer! Side note: Sister #1 and Sister #2 spent an entire Saturday decorating the outside of our abode. The lights worked one night and one night only. We look like one of those redneck families that have Christmas lights around their house way past Christmas.

Yesterday I delivered my first Christmas present. I gave my friend Cheddar Bacon Popcorn. Have you had this stuff? SO GOOD! I highly recommend this favor. He gave me some Snowmen decorations. I’m a big fan of Snowmen. Snowmen decorations are great because you can leave them out until February. Therefore, you don’t feel that rush and pressure to put up all the Christmas decorations the day after Christmas. I mean, what’s more depressing then taking down all the Christmas decorations? Ok, so I can think of a few things that are more depressing, but you have to admit taking down Christmas decorations is pretty high on the list?

My department at work is not feeling the Christmas cheer. My department is the ONLY department that hasn’t had a Christmas get together during lunch or after hours. The other departments have had a lunch, a snack day, or happy hour in honor of this season. However, not mine. Nope, we like to work. Today, I tried to spread the cheer by bringing cookies. It didn’t work. I mean, they ate the cookies but no cheer. A fellow coworker and I decided tomorrow we’d have a snack day to celebrate this season, since our boss won’t take us to lunch. No one wants to participate. So now my coworker and I are bringing food for the whole department. No one wants to bring anything but I’m sure they’ll eat it tomorrow. I’m very tempted to stand by the door of the breakroom and pull a Soup Nazi on all their butts- NO FOOD FOR YOU!

You know that Christmas song that says…oh the weather outside is frightful? Well, that couldn’t be truer here in OK. This week has been cold. Down right cold, stinkin’ cold! For example, Monday I went to lunch with coworkers. I realized half way through lunch that I still had my coat and scarf on, while I was eating. I wasn’t eating outside; I was in a restaurant that had heat! Now, I realize I do not live way up north like my friend TC. So really, I have no idea what cold is so I’ll shut my trap on this subject.

Sister #1 and I have scored us a big catering job. It’s this weekend. We’re feeding 70 people at a fancy Christmas party. Let’s pray that this is a success. I’ve spent the past three nights making meatballs. We made 348 meatballs. I now hate meatballs, and I will never make them again. The plus side, we’re going to be serving food to rich people-hopefully we’ll get more gigs. Also, all the cooking has made it easy for me not to snack at night.

Blogger World, it’s time for me to wrap up this year’s Christmas Ramblings. I would like to close with a famous quote from that famous Christmas poem…"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

A Christmas blast from the past

This week’s Christmas Blast from the past comes to us from Sister #1. It’s actually one of my FAVORITE stories about Sister #1.

I can’t remember the year but I think our ages were- 14, 12, and 4? But, this was the Christmas Sister #1 and I wanted Fossil watches. It was all craze. Everyone was wearing a watch. I guess telling time became important that year.

Fast forward to Christmas morning in Arkansas: Everyone was in my grandma’s living room looking at the opened gifts. Sister #2 was playing with her 30 new toys, I was examining every thing I received, and Sister #1 was quietly sitting in the corner of the living room looking at her presents. My mom noticed Sister #1 started stacking her presents in a pile…

Mom- What’s that stack for?
Sister #1- In a serious tone- This is everything I am taking back to the store.
Mom- What?
Me- Laughing-You can’t return a Bible!
Sister #1- Yes, I can. I already have one, they say the same thing.
Mom- Sister #1 you cannot return all your presents. Did you not like anything this year? How about the cookbook? It shows you how to make cookies.
Sister #1- Mom, I asked for a watch, a red sweater, and a pair of pants. I’ve done the math. I can take everything back and buy the things I wanted.
Mom- You didn’t get a watch?
Sister #1- NO
Mom- Ok Chick, did you get a watch?
Me- No. Hey wait a minute; I wanted a watch for Christmas.
My mom gets up and walks to their bedroom at my grandma’s house, then walks past us and enters the kitchen to speak to my dad. After their brief, yet quiet conversation she goes back to the bedrooms. A few minutes later she comes into the living room with a weird look on her face.
Mom- Girls, Santa must have forgotten your watches. I’m sure he left them under the tree in OK. I bet he forgot we were going to be in Arkansas.
Sister #2- Santa forgot some of our presents? I get something else?
Sister #1- So I got a watch?
Mom- Yes.
Sister #2- I get another present?
Sister #1- Ok, I’ll keep some of this stuff. I’m still taking back the Bible.
Mom- You will not take back your Bible.
Sister #2- DO I GET ANOTHER PRESENT?
Me- Laughing-You do now.

When we got home from Arkansas my mom was right...Santa had left two Fossil watches under the tree. And since Santa is a fair Santa, he even left something for Sister #2.

8 Things about Me

8 TV Shows I Watch
1. 90210-new
2. Privileged
3. Food Network- all the shows
4. Grey’s Anatomy
5. Biggest Loser
6. CSI Las Vegas
7. Cosby’s
8. Still Standing
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8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Cheevers
2. Saturn Grill
3. Jason’s Deli
4. Maxine’s
5. Thai Place
6. Starbucks
7. Sauced
8. Zorba’s
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8 Things That Happened Today
1. Forgot to wash the shampoo & conditioner out of my hair.
2. Went to work hung over on Tylenol PM.
3. Ate birthday lunch with my coworkers.
4. Solved a major crisis at work.
5. Went to aerobics.
6. Watched TV.
7. Made 100 meatballs.
8. Smashed 150 candy canes.
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8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Summer
2. Christmas with the whole family.
3. Retirement
4. Christmas when my sisters and I have our own families.
5. Beating my dad at a race.
6. My corner office- I hope to have someday.
7. Sister #1 and I’s Second Chance Party.
8. My hair appointment. I haven’t made the appointment yet, but I looking forward to getting my hair cut!
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8 Things I Wish For
1. A healthy and happy family.
2. Everyone I know and don’t know to be in heaven.
3. A vacation
4. Tickets to OU/Tx game
5. A million bucks
6. A date
7. Write a book
8. World Peace
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8 People I Tag
1. TC
2. Renee
3. Bone
4. Emily
5. LB
6. DJ
7. Carrie
8. Girls Journey

Friday Fun Fact

Today’s Friday Fun Fact is going to be my new Favorites List. As I’ve said before, my list is constantly changing, and I feel that it is important to keep you guys informed. Also, I didn’t have any facts for today, so it was either talk about this or my breakfast.

1) I love this song! This song is the new favorite. It’s taken the place of Coldplay, which took the place of Chris Brown. During Thanksgiving, Sister #2 introduced the song to me. It’s currently her favorite too. I think Beyonce says it best….If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it. Amen, Beyonce, Amen!

2) It’s winter here in OKC. The winter weather makes it not so fun to run outside. Well, unless you have these cool pants. Last year I got these for Christmas. I love them for a few reasons. The first reason is they’re long. It’s hard to find running/exercise pants that are long enough for my tall self. The second reason is they make my legs look long and skinny. Hurry, everyone rush out and buy these pants!

3) I received this Bible when I graduated with my MBA. Recently, I’ve been reading it and I love it! It’s so easy to read. I get it. I get the whole Bible. Ok, not really but I’m working on understanding the big book.

4) As I’ve mentioned a few times, I got cable. It was a big deal for my household, which is me and Sister #1. I’m throwing away vacation money to have channels like The Food Network and ABC Family. My current favorite channel is ABC Family. Did you know that ABC Family plays Christmas movies up until Christmas Day? It’s true. Technically, I knew this information before I had cable. During Christmas time, my family would watch ABC Family when we were visiting my grandparents in Ark. My grandma loved Christmas movies.

5) I have discovered a new fruit- Pears. Who would have thought fresh pears would be so good? When I was a kid my mom would serve us canned pears, but fresh are so much better. I recommend everyone have a fresh pear this season. Oh and if you want to get real creative add some Goat Cheese with your Pear. It’s amazing. The Food Network gave me that tip!

There you have, the lastest greatest Favorites List.

A Christmas blast from the past

The year was 1994, or 1995, or maybe it was 1996? Well the year isn’t important. The important part is it was a week before Christmas and I was in high school. This particular year I wanted a blue jean jacket; a stylish blue jean jacket from Express. It’s what all the cool kids were wearing at the time. Actually, they’d been wearing it for a year but I was always two steps behind everyone.

One thing you should know about young OK Chick is I could not stand the wait of Christmas. It literally killed me knowing that presents were under the tree waiting for me. I usually killed the curiosity a couple ways:

1. I would snoop through every closet, bedroom, and attic to find all my presents.

When I got older and wiser I graduated to a lazier/sneakier approach….

2. I would wait until presents were actually wrapped and placed under the tree. When my parents would leave the house I would carefully open each present, see what I was getting, rewrap the present and place it back under the tree. If you ask me this was a brilliant idea. Stop judging me! I said I could not stand the wait. Did you think I was lying?

Ok, back to my story. So it was 1994, 1995, or 1996 and it was the week before Christmas. Of course, I had already opened/rewrapped all my presents under the tree and found the blue jean jacket from Express. I was way excited!
It was a school day morning. My parents had gone to work, Sister #1 was already at school, and Sister #2 was off to the baby-sitter, which left me home alone getting ready for school. On this day I had picked out a great outfit for school, but the outfit still needed something. It needed the blue jean jacket from Express; the one that was sitting under the tree. You have to understand, the outfit would be the greatest outfit in the whole wide world with that blue jean jacket. I sat on my bed debating a few scenarios:

1.Save the outfit for after Christmas, when I had the blue jean jacket.
2.Wear the outfit without the blue jean jacket.
3.Open up the blue jean jack, wearing it; and then rewrap the jacket before my parents got home.

All the scenarios were possible options. Scenario number 1 and 2 were safe and the right thing to do; and scenario 3 was risky. What if I spill something on the jacket or worse mom caught me wearing it? It was toss up, but I finally decided. So what scenario did young OK Chick decide? Duh! You know I went with Scenario 3. It was the greatest outfit in the whole wide world! I needed the blue jean jacket. One week before Christmas I actually wore one of my Christmas presents and rewrapped it without my parents knowing. This was also the day I stopped opening presents and rewrapping them. Maybe I’d matured, maybe I wanted to be surprised, or maybe I thought I better be good before Santa stops coming to my house-FOR LIFE. Say what you want, but that outfit was awesome.

Keep the change ya filthy animal!

Last night I was watching my new cable. As I was channel surfing I flipped past Home Alone. Now, how can you flip past Home Alone? You can’t, especially during Christmas. So for about thirty minutes I watched Home Alone. Blogger World, I’m happy to report that I can still recite the movie. I might not be able to remember all my computer passwords, but dang it- I can recite lines from Home Alone! Folks, that is a memory working at it’s finest.

In honor of Home Alone being an awesome movie, I would like everyone to try to use my favorite line from the movie in conversation....

I'm gonna give you to the count of 10, to get your lying, yellow, no-good keister off my property, before I pump your guts full of lead!

Good luck!

Friday Fun Fact

Saturday is Microwave Oven Day. Blogger World, I don't know about you, but I use my microwave very often. Actually, I used about an hour ago to warm up my lunch; like I said I use it often. A couple facts on the Microwave Oven....

1. Discovered by Percy Spencer while he was building magnetrons for radar sets with the company Raytheon.
2. The first microwave oven was 6 ft all and weighted over 700lbs, and it cost $5,000. Geez, that's a down payment for a Ford Focus!
3. The first food cooked in the microwave was popcorn.
4. It's estimated that 90% of American households own microwave ovens.

Now folks, this is why you read my Friday Fun Facts; you just never know what kind of crap I'm going to post. Happy Friday!

"Find a venue, overorder on the drinks, bulk buy the guacamole"

Doesn’t it seem kind of early for Christmas parties? Yes? Well, apparently not. Today is my office’s Christmas party. Woo Hoo! I can’t think of anything more I'd love to do, than spend quality off the clock time with my coworkers.

Ok, I really can’t complain about this year’s party. See, my party starts mid-day, which means I didn’t have to find a date. As a Dating Dummy this news is very exciting. No stress over finding the perfect social date. No stress over the perfect cocktail dress. No stress over entertaining the perfect social date during the party. Essentially, I have had a stress free pre-party time. It’s been magnificent! For all you single people out in Blogger World, I leave you with this mature phrase….

Nana-nana-boo-boo I didn’t have to find a Christmas party date and youuuu do!

Times Up

I have to say the Year of Yes started out with a bang. I had a guy ask me out three days after we declared 2008 the Year of Yes. Also, on that day another guy asked me out. THEN another guy asked me out a week after guy #1 and guy #2 asked me out! Can you believe it? Three different guys asked me out on dates. Oh, and these weren’t bad guys, they were cool guys. It wasn’t like I was gritting my teeth to say yes. I was saying yes happily! In my eyes, it appeared that the Year of Yes had been a fantastic decision! I was starting to think I had actually stirred myself in the right direction for dating.

This is a quote, rather long quote, from a post I wrote last year. One year ago, Holly and I declared 2008 the Year of Yes. We agreed that for the whole year we would say yes to all dates that came our way. Well time is up on YOY. Since I haven’t chatted about YOY in a few months, I thought I would do a quick recap of the past year.

Relationship Status at beginning- Single
Relationship Statue at end- Single

THE END…

As you can see YOY wasn’t quite the success I had intended. Sure, I got a couple dates, but nothing big. Ok, so I did date Guy #3 for some time, but other than that nothing. I have better success when I’m not going around saying yes to everything. I suppose next year I could say no to everything. I’m kidding, no need to flood my comment box. Who knows what next year will bring, but YOY was fun.

Bring on the Christmas music...

I'm officially in Christmas mode. My tree is up, presents bought, everything is wrapped, and placed under my tree. I'm way ahead of the game this year. Currently, I'm watching a Christmas movie on ABC Family. Last week I caved and got cable, and I totally love it! Anyway, since it is Dec. 1st, I am allowed to watch Christmas movies and be all cheery. The only thing I haven't finished this season is Christmas cards. My mom does Christmas cards every year, and she always includes a picture of "the girls"- as we are known in our family. I would like to preview this years Christmas Card picture. This year the whole family is in the picture. I would like to thank The Cousin for taking such a wonderful picture of my goofy family.