i'm in love

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Fall Into You- Sarah Kelly
p.s. 4
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So this morning the Business office called and said "we have bagels! come have one!" so being the food loving woman that I am, I cruised over there.

There were five cute little bagels wrapped in wax paper and for whatever strange reason that only God could explain, i just grabbed one. I didn't care what kind it was. Jackie said- "oh, that's an onion one" to which I replied "cool" and proceded to put spread on it and walk it back to my desk.

If you know me even a little bit, you probably know that I'm a fairly picky eater. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination an adventurous eater. I don't like my food to touch. I know what I like and I'm happy with that. New foods are not exciting to me- they annoy me.

I've never had an onion bagel before. The thought of eating an onion flavored anything at breakfast kind of grosses me out whenever I go to the bagel shop.

But today I knowingly and willingly ate an onion bagel.

And it was amazing.

I'm in love.

Blog Tag

Chym and Stack tagged me this morning... I was so excited to be one of the "chosen ones," I almost peed my pants. (almost)



The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their 8 things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 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.





The Random Facts/Habits:
1. I won't sleep with socks on
2. My eyes turn green when I've been crying
3. I don't like my food to touch and I hate Mayonnaise
4. I'm afraid of finding dead people in bathrooms
5. I'm in love with Neil Diamond (I don't care that he's an old man)
6. I kind of think that Jack Bauer and Harry Potter are real people
7. I passionately hate the Yankees and the 49ers
8. My favorite smell is men's cologne



I tag The cutest matchmaker ever, Jessica Almost Jenkins, Jon, and Shanda

tease

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want to- sugarland
ps: 3
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Dear Thursday,
We're so over. All day you felt like Friday, only to prove yourself to truely be Thursday. Not fair. I'm breaking up with you. I've found today to be more Friday than you'll ever be.
No, we can't still be friends.
Please don't call me again (unless you're really going to act like Thursday),
Amber

office supply party

A few weeks ago the secretaries here at Vanguard had what was called an "office supply party" where everyone brings all their unwanted and unused office supplies and puts them on tables out on the patio and then go crazy over what everyone else brought outside that they didn't want. it was pretty incredible to watch, especially that I had an amazing view of the whole ordeal from my desk. it was actually quite disturbing- watching ordinarily hopelessly professional unamused administratives throw down and get crazy- throwing elbows left and right to get to this unused item or that "I can't believe no one wants this" thing (Rolodex's or desk organizers... so sad..)

The girl I work with in the office was giving me a hard time all day- "you're not coming to the party, Amber?"

oh yea. nothing sound better than to venture outside my office and possibly end up with a black eye because i unknowingly got between the 65 year old lady with Texas hair and her soon to be new stapler. sure. be right out.

But being the "new girl" I couldn't avoid the "supply party" all day (yes, this "party" lasted all day) and my co-worker guilted me into going outside and "having fun"

{translation: I wasn't being a "team player"}

So i went outside and saw some pretty amazing stuff... pretty much everything from the set of "Office Space" and everything else from the early nineties came outside closets and storage units to die. I was amused.

I was especially amused by some of the pieces of "art" that were shockingly free... go figure that no one wanted to look at a ceramic TILE with a picture of a tiger leaning on a rock with the WORLD spinning behind him... i snagged that one immediately and sneakily put it up on my co-workers wall (i think he secretly thinks it's cheesy and ugly but was chicken to admit it because he thinks that i really actually liked it and that it was an actual gift... haha... that's funny)

The other "piece" was a pink, dark pink, light pink, mauve and green painting of a tea pot with hoffing awful roses and other disgustingly girly flowers that came to the frame to die... it's bad.

so i came back into the office and she said "how was it??" with a big smile of expectation on her face and i couldn't resist: "it was great!" i said. and i started to tell her about the painting from the early nineties that i just discovered and just as i was about to say the word "nauseating" she squealed and said "Oh my gosh I loved that one! I didn't know if you'd like it so I left it out there" and ran out the door leaving me there in the reception area with my mouth hanging wide open. she runs back into the office HOLDING THE PICTURE in her hands (it's 1'x4') giggling saying "where should we put it?" running around listing all the possible "new homes" for our new favorite painting.


Now it's in our break room.

the new four-letter--word

So last night at the Tuesday night house we watched America's Got Talent. (after eating at Lucille's for the FOURTH time in four days... at this point the mere thought of eating there again in the next six months makes my stommach turn... I'll need to muscle through it at least once more in the next week or so... but it'll just be for dessert so I don't mind that too much.... but that's neither here nor there)

It was a fabulous two hour season finale featuring special guests who sang with each of the four finalists and it was especially fun to see the "Audition All stars" perform together singing We are the Champions... three words: flaming pogo stick


The best part was when David Hasselhoff performed "This is the Moment" from the Broadway play Jekyll and Hyde... it actually wasn't horrible.


During his "special performance" they panned the audience, whos members were holding up lighters, babies and signs with phrases like "i'd like to hassle the hoff" and "i heart hoff"... but my personal favorite read: "Hoff it"


We read them out loud and I looked at Brent and said, "that kinda sounds like a cuss word!" So we decided that from now on, "hoff" will replace any curse word imaginable.

For example...

D: "Amber, you need to go fill in at the switchboard so Rachel can take her lunch."
A: "Hoff that!"


other examples include:
*oh hoff...
*what the hoff?
*where in the hoff are my keys??
*this coffee tastes like hoff...
*hoff YOU, buddy! (best when used while driving)
*your hoffing car is a piece of hoff... how the hoff do you have hoffing duct tape holding your car together? that's hoffing amazing..

Or you could "full name it" for a more dramatic effect...

*don't hasselhoff with me!
*woah... she just got hasselhoffed!



See? now you, too, can tell stories that contain expletives while still "keeping it clean."


For example: Last week in US Weekly there was a quote from Matt Damon about his wife, Luciana, that I just love. I previously couldn't include it in my blog because it was inappropriate. But now, using HOFF instead of another four letter word, I can, and will, include it:


"People say, 'Do you like being married?' HOFF no. It's a ridiculous thing to do. But I like being married to her."


Isn't that sweet?

hoff yea...

that's funny...

Today I drove past a chiropractor's office that had a sign out front that said "Crawl-in's Welcome"



Our new phone book has an add pasted to the cover for a bail bond company that uses as their slogan "We're ugly, but we're honest"



Dear man at Rubio's who wouldn't take no for an answer when you asked me for my phone number,
I'm sorry that you were so pushy that I had to give you a fake number. I kept telling you no but apparently that wasn't a word in your vocabulary. I did very much appreciate the free churro and drink upgrade, but I still won't go out with you. Thank you for understanding.

Dear Rubio's,
Thank you for making such yummy churros. They taste better than the one's at Disneyland and I don't have to deal with a snotty nosed kid in line in front of me trying to wipe his boogers on my pant legs. They're so yummy that to get one for free is a super sweet deal, even if I have to endure being harassed by one of your employees.

Dear person who's number happened to be the one I gave to the man at Rubio's,
I'm sorry.
Good luck.

sucker

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Friday- mid-morning
Not myself- John Mayer
7.9
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Someone in my office just made the yummiest smelling popcorn... now i'm so hungry i think my stommach is eating itself. But starting yesterday, I take my lunch earlier than I'm used to- 11:30. why, you ask, am I taking my lunch early? because somehow having been hired in the IT department I now get to fill in whenever it is needed for the swithboard/front desk reception for the whole school. yup, that's right. they pulled the ole' "bait and switch" on me and since i'm 1. nice and 2. can talk to people in a friendly way I now get to fill in for Rachel (the last of the student workers to stay at the swithboard position). She's the only receptionist we have so it has now become my job to keep her as happy as possible and give her breaks, bring her food and pretty gifts so she doesn't quit.... but she'll quit. I guarantee it. and you know who'll end up being the FULL TIME switchboard receptionist when she leaves? yup. me.

reasons why i'm so not excited about this:
1. I did not attend Vanguard University. I don't know where anything is. I don't know who anyone is. I look like an idiot when people ask me "where's the counseling department?" or "where's financial aid?" and i stare at the little map they gave me for five minutes before saying "i think it's here..." and point to a random building on the map...
2. There is no possible way to dial a Vanguard extention directly. This means that EVERY call that comes to the university goes through the switchboard.
3. You can't even get up to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water when you're at the switchboard because you're the only person answering phones.

i miss my old job.

uhggh...

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Tuesday Morning
Falling Slowly- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
p.s. 8.7

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I couldn't sleep. All night.
I gave up at about 4:30 this morning and read a little bit, unpacked three more boxes (yay!) and now I've decided to blog about all the reasons why I couldn't sleep last night.
1) I'm distracted. For lots of reasons.
2) My new house is a quite a bit louder than my old house, so that'll take some getting used to...
3) I'm supposed to get my hair cut today. I know it sounds silly, but the last four times I've gone to get my hair cut, the lady has totally messed up. (no, I did not go to the same lady all four times) One time the lady "misunderstood" me and cut it about five inches too short and I ended up with a bob. (this happened because she was cutting my hair while my chair was facing away from the mirror- she "didn't like people watching" ... i wonder why...) The last girl I had do my hair took "artistic license" and gave me a 2inch wide chunck of blonde right on top of my head which is just now going away because i keep having to dye it to get it to be "normal" as well as a funky layer about four inches higher than the rest of my hair saying "now you can do more with it" and I said, yea, now my hair looks like I cut it myself, thanks. So I'm a little worried.
4) My phone kept ringing. all night. RINGING in the middle of the night! (We're talking 2am here, people) The whole reason I keep my phone ON at night is so if i'm NEEDED, I'm available. Like if my cousin needs a ride, or if my brother can only call me at that time or if so-and-so just broke up with so-and-so and needs to cry about it... I do not, however, leave my phone on so that I can be awakened by drunk-dialers on work nights...
uhggh....
I'm tired.

to be a gift

Monday Morning

PS: 2

Heart Song: Every Perfect Gift- Chris Tomlin

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Has anyone ever said to you, "you are a gift"?

My friend Amy tells me that all the time. At first I thought it was strange, to actually be a gift, but as I've gotten to know her (and the more she's said it) the more it makes sense to me and the more I like it.

In James chapter 1 v. 17 it says, "Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

I'll often walk away from a coffee date, lunch date or a day at disneyland and think "wow, that person is fabulous." Especially lately- I've had some pretty rad people breeze right through the doors of my heart without knocking, and I don't mind it one bit. God is blessing me in ways I never expected.

As I was walking to my car last night I thought about what Amy says to me all the time (it's something I say as well, on occasion, but only when I really mean it) and how every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. I was thinking about the wonderful people in my life and how I'm such a blessed woman.

You're a gift.

Stress

I've decided that today I will blog about the things in my life that stress me out...


*having to completely move out of my room in my parent's house by noon this saturday (this will be the third weekend in a row that I will have been moving my crap around from one place to another)
*bossy student workers
*sold out concerts
*people who don't return phone calls
*people that come into my office who are clearly certifiable
*when someone at work emails me, then walks across the campus to see if I've recieved their email
*my man-tastic stress relief lotion (see previous blog)
*dropping my cellphone for the 37th time
*the fact that I still haven't finished the new Harry Potter book
*waiting (for lots of things)
*the fact that the jeans I bought FOUR weeks ago are already too big (which means that I have to go shopping. i hate shopping)
*drinking a ginger ale thinking it's mountain dew

that's enough of that...

Things that do NOT stress me out:

*big hugs
*finding out that I will get a big fat raise on the 16th of this month (holla!)
*ice cream with strawberries
*my rainbow flip-flops
*singing at the top of my lungs whilst driving
*Neil Diamond
*24
*my fabulous friends
*my pink beach cruiser
*my grandma's frozen peaches
*running in the rain


What stresses you out?
What doesn't stress you out?

what I thought I wanted...

**this is not a normal blog... quite a bit heavier than usual, but it's what's on my heart...**

what I thought I wanted by Sara Groves

Tuxedo in the closet, gold band in a box
Two days from the altar she went and called the whole thing off
What he thought he wanted, what he got instead
Leaves him broken and grateful
I passed understanding a long, long time ago
And the simple home of systems and answers we all know
What I thought I wanted, what I got instead
Leaves me broken and somehow peaceful

I keep wanting you to be fair
But that’s not what you said
I want certain answers to these prayers
But that’s not what you said

When I get to heaven I’m gonna go find Job
I want to ask a few hard questions, I want to know what he knows
About what it is he wanted and what he got instead
How to be broken and faithful

Staring in the water like Esops foolish dog
I can’t help but reflect on what it was I almost lost
What it was I wanted, what I got instead
Leaves me broken and grateful
I’m broken and grateful
I want to be broken and grateful
I want to be broken, peaceful, faithful, grateful, grateful
I want to be broken, peaceful, faithful, grateful, grateful



I was driving home last night after a movie with some fabulous people and this song came on... and it hit me like a brick wall- I survived (insert situation here)...
but it wasn't ME. I didn't get myself through all that junk- jesus did. my redeemer. my healer. my savior. he held my hand and lead me step by step through the most disgusting wasteland of anger, pain, hurt, bitterness and despair... he walked right through it with me.
I wish I could say I trusted him with every step. I wish I could say that I was faithful.
but I can't say that. I doubted. I questioned. I pulled away.
but He never left. He never turned His back. even when it felt like it. feelings don't always tell the truth.
He IS.
he restored me. he healed me. he forgave me. he taught me to forgive. he taught me to forgive myself. he set me free.
He brought amazing women into my life who helped me cry. and helped me smile and laugh... a lot.
but looking back, i wouldn't trade it.


sunrise- nichole nordeman

[yes, more song lyrics. don't roll your eyes- no one's making you read this ;) ]


if i had the chance
to go back again
take a different road, bear a lighter load
tell an easy story...
I would walk away with my yesterdays
and I would not trade what is broken for beauty only
every valley, every bitter chill
made me ready to climb back up the hill and find that
You are sunrise
You are blue skies
how would i know the morning if i knew not midnight?
You're my horizon
You're the light of the new dawn
so thank you, thank you
that after the long night... You are sunrise

there's a moment when faith caves in
there's a time when every soul is certain God is gone
but every shadow is evidence of sun
and every tomorrow holds out hope for us
for everyone of us
you alone will shine
you alone can resurrect this heart of mine



so last night as I was driving home i was just so overwhelmed with gratitude. Thankful that 1) I didn't get what I thought I wanted and 2) God has used this time in my life to grow me more than I thought was possible.
I don't know why he wastes his time on me... maybe it's that whole "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" thing...

this is me... throwing a pubic...

so, I just got paid $96 to sit at a desk and do nothing all day.
and by "nothing," I mean nothing..

My brother and I would always laugh when we'd watch Office Space, joking that we needed to get jobs where we could do nothing all day and get paid for it...
But it's actually not that great.
Really.
It's quite boring.

and it's making me very VERY pubic. so much so that not only do I not want to go dancing tonight (it's what I do on monday nights... it's my thing) but I don't want to talk to anyone; I don't want to look at anyone. At least not in this office. Everyone is running around like crazy people with loads to do and I have to sit at this desk and answer the phone when it rings three times during the day and smile at people when the walk in the door only to have them walk right past me because they know where they're going and what they need and who they need to talk to...
they don't need my help.
nobody needs my help.


Now don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to have a job. I know there's lots of people out there that are unemployed and looking for work. I'm thankful and truely grateful that I've managed to find gainful employment- trust me. I was unemployed for several weeks before landing where I'm at now. I was going out of my mind doing nothing and not getting paid for it.
Now I'm getting paid to go crazy.

how a tension rod attacked me...

I'm "settling in" and unpacking and trying to find all my important stuff that I need for work tomorrow...

So I was putting together a tension shower shelving rod and it wouldn't stay "put together" and kept exploding all over the bathroom (it was spring loaded). At one point, I went to pick up a section of the rod and as I reached for it, I thought it was heavier than it actually was and I whacked myself with it in the forehead

now the left side of my face is throbbing and my left eyeball feels like it's gonna explode out of my head...

I could go pro at figuring out new and creative ways to hurt myself...

moving day

So I'm moved. Done.
This was the first time I've moved without a boyfriend in... four years. It's just always kind of worked out that I had some poor guy in my life to sucker into helping me move... (In the last four years, I've moved seven times)
So this time, as I was getting ready to make moving arrangements, I kind of didn't know where to start... but I rented a truck, hired a helper (who didn't show up) and moved myself. Natalie and her amazing husband Tim helped with the first half of the move, but today, I did the second half myself. MYSELF!
I discovered today that I am freakishly strong.
Freakish.
Like Monica on Friends.
But I'm not gonna lie- strong men make moving much easier... yea, it's so much easier to just stroke an ego and say "wow, you're so strong! your muscles are so big!" than to actually drag the huge wardrobe box down the stairs myself and then proceed to stuff it into a friends borrowed suv (thanks Courtney) and then drag it into my new room... yea, guys make moving easier...

but this time, I'M the one who gets to be strong.
today, I'M the one with the big guns.
and now my back is killing me.

Dead Sea Scrolls

Who wants to go che-che-check em out? They're at the Natural History museum in San Diego and I'll go either next weekend or the weekend after...
Let me know... I'm going with or without you ;)

A better blog to come about life, love and... other mysteries... when I'm not exhausted and it's not almost 3am...

love,
me

David Crowder Band

Is so fan-freaking-tabulous.

they're playing at the Anaheim House of Blues Sunday October 14- Let me know if you want to go!

much love,
Amber

let's get this party started- part 2

So if you know me you may know my friend Courtney- she's fabulous. She's so fabulous, in fact, that I moved in with her. Yes, I like her that much (I don't like very many people this much... my husband better be pretty freaking fantabulous)

So she had an interview today in the department I'm currently temp-ing in... that was a funny conversation... "hi, Courtney? this is Amber calling, not Amber your roommate, but Amber in the IT department at Vanguard University calling to see if you can come in for an interview sometime this week? How's Friday at ten? Great! see you at home for dinner!"
hahaha

her interview went okay... i still haven't gotten the 411 from my boss on how HE thought it went... we'll see.

anyways...
As courtney was walking out the door I got a call from that fabulous department I blogged about earlier this week- "hi amber? I know I said we'd try to get you in here on tuesday for a second interview, but can you come over right now?"
.......
"um... I'm in jeans and a t-shirt" (it's casual friday)
"oh that's okay, I'll tell him you looked really nice yesterday"
"Thanks."

The impromptu second interview went fine, I did, however, tell a baby fib... I'll go to confession later to for that one ;)

So I'll know by next week if I have a CAREER or just a job...

*fingers crossed*

um... awkward...

so have you ever been "set up"?? you have a time arranged for you to "meet" someone you don't know in real life- maybe you've talked on the phone or exchanged emails but you don't really "know" the person... you know them but you don't know them...
That made no sense.
Sorry.
Jeez... blogging in code is really difficult.

maybe I should have a more boring life with fewer secrets... it would certainly give me more to blog about...

one more...

Interview today at 12:30pm...
This is the mother of all job opportunities...
I'm so excited!
More info to come!


**Update**
Yup- I'm pretty much amazing and when the meeting was over they asked me to come in for a second interview early next week!
Holla!!!